Mr Darwin's Incredible Shrinking World: Science And Technology In 1859
The Age
Saturday October 4, 2008
Mr Darwin's Incredible Shrinking World: Science and Technology in 1859
Peter Macinnis Murdoch Books, $29.95 DARWIN MIGHT feature in the title, but the book is really about Darwin's times. In particular, 1859, when On the Origin of the Species was published. Darwin, Peter Macinnis says, was not only an agent of change but was himself reflecting an age of change. All times are times of change, but Macinnis thinks 1859 was a watershed. And there are significant events to be cited; Suez Canal and London Underground begun, first oil well dug, trans-Atlantic travel shrank the seas (first tourist book published), the bra patented - and Darwin's book arrived. But you could also argue that lots of significant things happened either side of 1859. More important than dates (and mention of 1859 does become repetitive) is the picture of the times that emerges; the beginnings of a global economy, global communications and, scientifically speaking, the rise of specialisation and professional science.
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