Self-taught and ambitious, Darwin genuinely believed he was 'rather below the common standard in intellect' and had gainedlittle from formal education. Yet he also knew he had seized his one great stroke of luck-the voyage of the Beagle - and forged a lasting body of knowledge through solitary determination andsheer hard work. His memoir concentrates on his public career andtowering scientific achievements, but is also full of lively anecdotes about his family and contemporaries.

Self-taught and ambitious, Darwin genuinely believed he was 'rather below the common standard in intellect' and had gainedlittle from formal education. Yet he also knew he had seized his one great stroke of luck-the voyage of the Beagle - and forged a lasting body of knowledge through solitary determination andsheer hard work. His memoir concentrates on his public career andtowering scientific achievements, but is also full of lively anecdotes about his family and contemporaries.Among these, he paints avivid portrait of his bullying father, and pays a loving tribute to his devoted wife Emma, who was distressed by their religious differences. The figure that emerges from these pages is one who stands isolated, dogged by illness and confined to solitude by his ailing body, with a mind that rejected the arts and the 'damnable doctrine' of Christianity.

This volume also includes a fascinating fragment about Darwin's earliest memories, which he jotted down while pondering the impact of evolution on human psychology.

ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS

CHRONOLOGY

INTRODUCTION

FURTHER READING

NOTE ON THE TEXTS

An autobiographical fragment

1876 May 31 - Recollections of the Development of my Mind and Character

Cambridge, 1828-1831

Voyage of the Beagle: from Dec. 27, 1831 to Oct. 2, 1836

From my return to England Oct. 2 1836 to my marriage Jan. 29 1839

Religious Belief

From my marriage, Jan. 29 1839, and residence in Upper Gower St. to our leaving London and settling at Down, Sep. 14 1842

Residence at Down from Sep. 14 1842 to the present time 1876

My Several Publications

BIOGRAPHICAL REGISTER