''Darwin for Beginners'', republished as ''Introducing Darwin'', is a 1982

graphic Graphics () are visual images or designs on some surface, such as a wall, canvas, screen, paper, or stone, to inform, illustrate, or entertain. In contemporary usage, it includes a pictorial representation of data, as in design and manufacture, ...

study guide to

Charles Darwin Charles Robert Darwin ( ; 12 February 1809 – 19 April 1882) was an English naturalist, geologist, and biologist, widely known for his contributions to evolutionary biology. His proposition that all species of life have descended ...

and

Evolution Evolution is change in the heritable characteristics of biological populations over successive generations. These characteristics are the expressions of genes, which are passed on from parent to offspring during reproduction. Variation ...

written by Dr.

Jonathan Miller Sir Jonathan Wolfe Miller CBE (21 July 1934 – 27 November 2019) was an English theatre and opera director, actor, author, television presenter, humourist and physician. After training in medicine and specialising in neurology in the late 1 ...

and illustrated by

Borin Van Loon Borin Van Loon (born 1951 in East Anglia) is a British illustrator and comic book artist, best known for his illustrations for the '' Introducing...'' series of graphic books on complex subjects. He is an author, collagist, and surrealist paint ...

. The volume, according to the publisher's website, "unravels Darwin’s life and his contribution to biology, and traces the path from his scientific predecessors to the later modifications that his own evolutionary theories required."

Publication history

This volume was originally published in the UK by

Writers and Readers Publishing Cooperative For Beginners LLC is a publishing company based in Danbury, Connecticut, that publishes the ''For Beginners'' graphic nonfiction series of documentary comic books on complex topics, covering an array of subjects on the college level. Meant to ap ...

in 1982, following the collapse of this organisation in 1984, in part due to a disagreement over the selling off of the US rights to this title, the book has subsequently been republished in the US by Pantheon Books and in the UK by

Icon Books Richard Appignanesi (born December 20, 1940) is a Canadian writer and editor. He was the originating editor of the internationally successful illustrated '' For Beginners'' book series (since 1991 called the '' Introducing...'' series), as well ...

. Work on the book proved difficult at times, according to illustrator Borin Van Loon, as the schedule of the author Jonathan Miller was, "always taken up with ''lighting Rigoletto'' at the

Royal Opera House The Royal Opera House (ROH) is an opera house and major performing arts venue in Covent Garden, central London. The large building is often referred to as simply Covent Garden, after a previous use of the site. It is the home of The Royal Ope ...

or making a television series on the human body. Selected editions: * * * * * * * Related volumes in the '' For Beginners...'' series: * Related volumes in the '' Introducing...'' series: * * * *

Reception

Professor David B. Richman, writing in '' Reports of the National Center for Science Education'', described the book as, "a rather charming graphic account of Darwin's ideas." Professor Richard C. Lewontin, writing in ''

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'', describes the book as, "a superb introduction to a very tricky subject." ''

Los Angeles Times The ''Los Angeles Times'' (abbreviated as ''LA Times'') is a daily newspaper that started publishing in Los Angeles in 1881. Based in the LA-adjacent suburb of El Segundo since 2018, it is the sixth-largest newspaper by circulation in the U ...

'' reviewer Charles Solomon, however, dismisses it as, "a competent but by no means extraordinary biography." Professor

Jon Seger Jon Allen Seger is an American evolutionary ecologist, and Distinguished Professor of Biology at the University of Utah. He helped develop the theory of bet-hedging in biology. His work has appeared in leading scientific journals such as ''Nature' ...

, writing in ''

New Scientist ''New Scientist'' is a magazine covering all aspects of science and technology. Based in London, it publishes weekly English-language editions in the United Kingdom, the United States and Australia. An editorially separate organisation publish ...

'', describes the style of author Jonathan Miller, who he point out is primarily known as a TV physician, as, "that of a television documentary." While Miller's text is, according to Lewontin, "historically correct, scientifically impeccable," with, "all the emphasis in the right place." Van Loon's illustrations are, according to Lewontin, "a constant reminder not to take the life of the mind more seriously than it deserves." Seger describes, "the stream of rapidly changing images," as, "full of action," although at times, "pointlessly vulgar." Miller and Van Loon have, concludes Seger, "not produced a work of scholarship," but have, "brought to life an important chapter of scientific history."

References

{{Reflist Non-fiction graphic novels Biographical comics Comics based on real people Books about Charles Darwin Popular science books Educational comics Books about evolution 1982 in comics Cultural depictions of Charles Darwin Comics set in the 19th century