Thank you to Decision Publisher for providing this book for review consideration via NetGalley in exchange for an honest review. All opinions are my own.
Mr. Book just finished Charles Darwin: Where Species Come From, by David Stevens. The book was published in October 2026.
David Stevens provides an interesting look at Charles Darwin, offering insight into his life, his scientific work and the time period in which he lived. The book does a good job of introducing Darwin as both a person and a scientist, while placing his accomplishments in their historical context.
One of the book’s strengths is that it goes beyond the familiar stories about Darwin and explains how his ideas actually developed. Stevens describes the years Darwin spent gathering evidence to support his theory of natural selection, including his extensive studies of barnacles and pigeons. He also explores Darwin’s relationship with Alfred Russel Wallace, who independently developed a similar theory, and the circumstances that finally pushed Darwin to publish his work. These accounts provide an interesting look at how scientific discoveries were made and presented in the 19th century.
The book also includes some fascinating details about Darwin’s personal life. His father expected him to become a physician, but Darwin abandoned his medical studies after witnessing operations performed without anesthesia. Stevens also recounts how Darwin learned taxidermy from John Edmonstone, a formerly enslaved man living in Edinburgh. These stories help bring Darwin and the world in which he lived to life.
The biggest problem with the book is that it is simply too short. There is much more to Darwin’s life and work than Stevens covers, and many of the subjects discussed deserved considerably more attention and detail. The stories about his scientific research, his relationships with other scientists and the development of his theories are interesting enough that they could have supported a much longer book.
This is a good book, and Mr. Book enjoyed reading it. But rather than leaving him satisfied with what he had learned, it left him wanting much more. A longer, more comprehensive examination of Darwin’s life and accomplishments could have made this a much better book.
Mr. Book gave this a B. Goodreads and NetGalley require grades on a 1-5 star system. In my personal conversion system, a B equates to 3 stars. (A or A+: 5 stars, B+: 4 stars, B: 3 stars, C: 2 stars, D or F: 1 star).
This review has been posted at Mr. Book’s Book Reviews, Goodreads and NetGalley.
Mr. Book originally finished reading this on October 21, 2026.
