A joy to read, though the adaptation takes a few liberties
Rating: 4.5 / 5
Initially, I was ready to give Inman's book 5 stars without doubt. The prose is fluid and engaging, making Darwin's complex Victorian journey incredibly accessible. In fact, one specific passage gave me such a joyful reading experience that I paused to appreciate it:
"I have no doubt that our understanding of these connections will eventually shed more light on the emergence and extinction of life on Earth than any other class of evidence."
It was so well written that an uneasy feeling crossed my mind: Did Darwin really say it exactly like that?
He didn't. Darwin's original reads: "This wonderful relationship in the same continent between the dead and the living, will, I do not doubt, hereafter throw more light on the appearance of organic beings on our earth, and their disappearance from it, than any other class of facts."
Inman’s version captures the spirit perfectly, but this moment led me to compare a few other passages. I found that while the book is a fantastic "easy reading" version, there are moments where the adaptation shifts the meaning or nuance of Darwin's original voice.
The most significant omission appears in Darwin's reflection on geological erosion. Inman writes: "It is not possible for the mind to comprehend, except by a slow process, any effect which is produced by a cause repeated so often, that the multiplier itself conveys an idea, not more definite than the savage implies when he points to the hairs of his head. “Can any mountains, any continent, withstand such relentless force?” I think to myself as my mind slowly changes."
Darwin's original is far more substantial. "It is not possible for the mind to comprehend, except by a slow process, any effect which is produced by a cause repeated so often, that the multiplier itself conveys an idea, not more definite than the savage implies when he points to the hairs of his head. As often as I have seen beds of mud, sand, and shingle, accumulated to the thickness of many thousand feet, I have felt inclined to exclaim that causes, such as the present rivers and the present beaches, could never have ground down and produced such masses. But, on the other hand, when listening to the rattling noise of these torrents, and calling to mind that whole races of animals have passed away from the face of the earth, and that during this whole period, night and day, these stones have gone rattling onwards in their course, I have thought to myself, can any mountains, any continent, withstand such waste?"
This is one of Darwin's key insights about deep time and gradual change, essential to his later evolutionary thinking. Inman reduces it to a vague poetic observation.
For those interested in the finer details, here are the specific examples I found:
1. "Agent" vs. "Event" (Scientific Nuance)
- Inman: "But we look for some extraordinary event and marvel when a species finally disappears."
- Darwin: "...and yet to call in some extraordinary agent and to marvel greatly when a species ceases to exist."
- Note: This is a subtle but significant shift. Darwin was critiquing the tendency to look for a specific power or force (an agent), not just a happening (an event).
2. "Rob" vs. "Steal" (Intensity)
- Inman: "The worst offenders are the sentinels. With weapons in hand... they steal with a degree of authority..."
- Darwin: "The sentinels were the worst of all; for... from having arms in their hands, they robbed with a degree of authority..."
- Note: Since Darwin explicitly mentions they had weapons, changing "robbed" to "steal" softens the menace of the scene. "Stealing" can be secretive; "robbing" with weapons implies a threat.
3. "The Lady" vs. "A Lady" (Accuracy)
- Inman: "...saying it was a pity to leave a lady without a husband!" (Regarding a pirate stealing a statue of the Virgin Mary).
- Darwin: "...it was a pity the lady should not have a husband."
- Note: Darwin writes "the lady," referring specifically to the statue. Changing it to "a lady" makes it sound like a generic comment about women rather than a specific joke about the religious icon the pirate had stolen.
4. "Indians" vs. "People" (Context)
- Inman: "I often think that the carrion vultures, man’s ever-present companions on these desolate plains, seem to wait patiently on the nearby cliffs as if saying, 'Ah! When the people come, we shall have a feast.'"
- Darwin: "'Ah! when the Indians come we shall have a feast.'"
- Note: Darwin was observing a specific conflict on the Argentine plains during a specific era. Changing "Indians" to "people" makes the observation generic and loses the historical context. It is unnecessary effort to sanitize the historical reality.
5. Missing the Irony
- Inman: "He maintains that only the Spanish admiral was truly gallant."
- Darwin: "...and that the only really gallant action on either side was performed by the Spanish admiral."
- Note: Removing "on either side" slightly weakens the joke. The Spaniard wasn't just praising his Admiral; he was actively dismissing the bravery of the English fleet as well!
6. Slight Exaggeration
- Inman: "Yet, like many people in England who are centuries behind... To them, it is enough that God has made the mountains."
- Darwin: "...like a few in England who are a century behindhand ... and that it was quite sufficient that God had thus made the mountains."
7. Missing Context - Who is Molina?
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Both versions mention: "...which Molina mentions..."
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Problem: Neither explains who Molina is
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Note: Juan Ignacio Molina (1740-1829) was a Chilean Jesuit naturalist and the leading authority on Chilean natural history in Darwin's era. Darwin quoted him repeatedly, including in The Origin of Species. While Darwin's original readers in 1845 would recognize the name, modern readers have no context. For an adaptation designed for "easy reading," Inman should have added a brief explanation (e.g., "the naturalist Molina" or a footnote). Without this, readers cannot understand the significance of the reference or know how to research it further.
8. in all probability vs likely "Within a very few years after these islands shall have become regularly settled, in all probability this for will be classed with the dodo, as an animal which has perished from the face of the earth."
"Soon after these islands become regularly settled, it is likely this wolf will join the dodo among animals extinct from the face of the earth."
Conclusion
None of these changes ruin the book—it remains a wonderful, readable adaptation that I would highly recommend to anyone wanting the "gist" of the voyage without the dense Victorian prose. However, for the purists, it is worth noting that some of the specific scientific and historical flavor has been smoothed out in the process.