Natural History research

[swan_tower]

So, I mentioned before that I have a new series.

It will surprise nobody who's been around for the Onyx Court books that I intend to do a bit of research. :-)

NOT AS MUCH AS BEFORE. (Thank god.) But there are some things I want to read about, to get some good material for compost into my head, so this is the first of a couple of posts asking for recommendations.

The first topic up is, of course, the discipline of natural history. Can anybody recommend a good biography of Darwin, something that focuses on the fieldwork end of things? His education, the voyage of the Beagle, that kind of thing; I'm less concerned with what happened after he published his theories. Or books on other natural historians, or the development of the field. I've got a few things to read already, but knowing the internets, it's entirely possible that somebody reading this post has a random love for the topic of nineteenth-century natural history, and knows exactly what I ought to be reading to understand it. If that's you -- or if it isn't, but you know a couple of things you'd recommend -- speak up in the comments.

If you're not familiar with this topic at all, stay tuned; there will be other requests to come.

Comments

[unforth.livejournal.com]

This is exactly what I was going to say. I read Voyage of the Beagle a couple of months ago, and it's AWESOME.

[unforth.livejournal.com]

Oh! But unless you like reading scientific names and then taking half a paragraph to figure out what on earth type of creature he's talking about, I suggest you get an illustrated copy. I don't know for sure which one is good. (the one I read was part of an anthology, and not illustrated) If you decide to go for On the Origin of Species, too - which is good, but not as "travelogue" - I was recommended this one by a professor who I work with.

That said, I wouldn't suggest launching in to Origin without a grounding in biology (which you may or may not have). Darwin gets a lot right, but he gets some wrong, and while reading it might be informative for the writing of a book, I don't know that it would be as valuable if you don't have the grounding to tell the difference (which is to say - I think that it's informative what he gets wrong, and might shed some light on how to accomplish an interesting and not bad way of getting things "wrong," but it only accomplishes that if you know enough about natural history to know what he's getting wrong.

Anyway, here's a few other things I've thought of:
1. John Muir. I know you've encountered him as part of the game. He wrote a number of books about his journeys, and though I haven't read them, I gather they are quite good (they're on the list).

2. Gould's Wonderful Life. S.J. Gould ain't always right, but this is a beautifully written book that contains a lot of background on some scientific expeditions that took place in the early 20th century - not quite on time period, but in truth I'd recommend it anyway. This book had a throw away line that changed the whole way I see the world, which makes me rather partial to it. ;)

3. While it's not natural history, I would suggest that one of the classic travelogues of a regular person from the time period might (or might not) be interesting. The first one that springs to mind is Fanny Trollope's Domestic Manners of the American's (another book on my too-read list that comes highly recommended).

Anyway, I'll see if I can think of anything else. ;) Most of the Natural History books I know and what to read I anticipate being wildly boring and only of interest to enthusiasts (I've been slowly but surely delving in to reading historical science works - Lyell's work on geology is next after I finish the 1500 pages of Darwin...)