The Annotated Origin: A Facsimile of the First Edition of On the Origin of Species - Softcover

Darwin, Charles; Costa, James T.

Softcover

ISBN 10: 0674060172 ISBN 13: 9780674060173

Publisher: Harvard University Press, 2011

Synopsis

Charles Darwin's "On the Origin of Species" is the most important and yet least read scientific work in the history of science. Now James T. Costa - experienced field biologist, theorist on the evolution of insect sociality, and passionate advocate for teaching Darwin with Darwin in a society where a significant proportion of adults believe that life on earth has been created in its present form within the last 10,000 years - has given a new voice to this epochal work. By leading readers line by line through "The Origin", Costa brings evolution's foundational text to life for a new generation. "The Annotated Origin" is the edition of Darwin's masterwork used in Costa's course at Western Carolina University and in Harvard's Darwin Summer Course at Oxford. A facsimile of the first edition of 1859 is accompanied by Costa's extensive marginal annotations, drawing on his extensive experience with Darwin's ideas in the field, lab, and classroom. This edition makes available an accessible, useful, and practical resource for anyone reading "The Origin" for the first time or for those who want to reread it with the insights and perspective that a working biologist can provide.

About this title

Review:

On the Origin of Species has too long been one of those worthy books whose fate is to be lauded but unread. Jim Costa's deft commentary--an authoritative and engaging mix of history and science--will change that. The Origin is forbidding and inaccessible no longer--it has evolved! The Annotated Origin restores, for modern readers, the freshness and excitement that made it a bestseller when it first appeared. Charles Darwin, I'm sure, couldn't wish for a better 200th birthday present.--Andrew Berry, editor of Infinite Tropics: An Alfred Russel Wallace Anthology

Brilliant.--Bernd Heinrich, author of The Snoring Bird: My Family's Journey through a Century of Biology

Clearly worth attention... Costa makes use of his experience as a field naturalist and his knowledge of the modern literature of evolutionary biology to illumine many passages in Darwin's work.--Richard C. Lewontin"New York Review of Books" (05/28/2009)

Ably edited by James Costa, The Annotated Origin contains many of the annotations that the original Origin of Species lacked, and provides the reader with a comprehensive grounding in the natural history that Darwin marshaled in support of his revolutionary theory.--Allen MacNeill"EvolutionList.blogspot.com" (11/11/2009)

Despite being 150 years old, the Origin is a living text for biologists. It is full of unsurpassed natural history observations, a model of careful scientific argument that still can catch the imagination with the grandeur of the views it puts forward. Jim Costa has provided an exceptionally lucid explanation.--Janet Browne, author of Charles Darwin: The Power of Place

The Annotated Origin is a culminating and, in an original manner of its own, the most useful of the centennial Darwin publications. It gives you the choice of reading page by page the original Origin, or its modern interpretation, or both together.--Edward O. Wilson

Jim Costa does a wonderful job of annotating Darwin's groundbreaking classic On the Origin of Species. In more than 900 notes, he explains, expands, contextualizes and updates much of what Darwin had to say about evolution and its causes... Costa's thoughtful and informative notes enable readers to gain a much fuller appreciation for Darwin's genius and breadth of knowledge--a fine tribute in the great scientist's bicentennial year.-- (03/09/2009)

It's entirely possible--I think it's likely--that when the overwhelming and heartwarming cascade of attention to the 2009 anniversary of Darwin's 1809 birth and 1859 publication of On the Origin of Species has at last subsided, the palm for Best in Show will go to James Costa's beautifully-produced and scrupulously, joyously annotated version of the Origin. The idea is so simple that it flies considerably below the fray of mammoth biographies and shrill pie-fights with the so-called 'New Atheists': take the text of one of the most seminal and subversive books ever written, and add a thoroughly informed and entertaining running commentary. This is exactly what Costa does, and it bears all the marks of being a labor of love... This is the finest book of its kind ever produced. It should tide you over quite well until 2059.-- (10/29/2009)

I should like to recommend the best, and most informative book to emerge from the [Darwin Year] extravaganza. It merits reading with complete attention, for it is also a fairly honest book, presenting Darwin in his historical context, and in the evolution of his own thinking, while drawing lines of connection, wherever they can be found, between the original insights and the best lab and field work of 'neo-Darwinism' today. The book is by James T. Costa, entitled The Annotated Origin. The first edition of Origin of Species is reprinted on wide pages with annotations down the outside columns. There are supplementary aids, including an excellent biographical directory of Darwin's predecessors and contemporaries. No one seriously interested in Darwinian phenomena should dare not to buy this book.-- (09/27/2009)

Costa has placed a facsimile of the first edition of Charles Darwin's On the Origin of Species side-by-side with a thorough page-by-page commentary. He applies his considerable experience as a field biologist in addressing critical passages in Darwin's work. Previous efforts to annotate important books concentrated mainly on works of literature, but this effort examines one of the most important books in the history of science... Costa's annotations provide enormously helpful information about all of Darwin's editions of the Origin, and students from all levels of the natural sciences and the history of science will welcome this work.-- (01/01/2010)

About the Author:

James T. Costa is Executive Director of the Highlands Biological Station and is Professor of Biology at Western Carolina University.

About this edition

• Publisher: Harvard University Press
• Publication date: 2011
• ISBN 10: 0674060172
• ISBN 13: 9780674060173
• Binding: Paperback
• Number of pages: 576