Which better explains Darwins theory of evolution Origin of Species or Voyage of the Beagle?
Primary sources are rarely the best way to understand a subject. Darwin wrote in tremendous depth in these books, examining the theory in truly minute detail, but they’re hard to get into. Voyage of the Beagle is more of a travel memoir. As a historical document you can read it to learn how Darwin elaborated on his theory, but it’s not a good intro to evolution. Origin of Species is better, and astonishingly complete. Too complete, really, unless you like reading page after page about pigeons. Darwin writes like a scientist, not like a popularizer. I know very few scientists who have read it in its entirety. The other problem with both of these books is that they predate our understanding of DNA. Darwin’s theories were remarkably prescient, but he didn’t know the mechanisms by which inheritance works and mutations happen. Those mutations are the key to creating new species, and it’s a lot clearer if you understand DNA. (It’s amazing that Darwin was so correct in his predictions even wi