Towards the end of his biography of Charles Darwin, AN Wilson quotes the philosopher Karl Popper: “If our civilisation is to survive, we must break with the habit of deference to great men” – a sentiment that he has wholeheartedly embraced. Wilson is not in the slightest danger of being accused of writing a hagiography. Over 400 or so pages, he rips apart Darwin and the validity of On the Origin of Species. The result is a book that will be make quite a few people angry and others happy.
Wilson races through the early years (which is a relief) and settles into the story with Darwin’s time at Edinburgh and Cambridge universities, before the Beagle voyage – a period in which Darwin’s father wrote a scathing, accusatory letter to his son: “You care for nothing but shooting, dogs and rat-catching, and you will be a disgrace to yourself and all your family.”
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