Malay Archipelago

Book review – On the Organic Law of Change: A Facsimile Edition and Annotated Transcription of Alfred Russel Wallace’s Species Notebook of 1855-1859

8-minute read
keywords: evolutionary biology, history of science

Having just reviewed James T. Costa’s biography of Victorian naturalist Alfred Russel Wallace, I was keen to read more about one of the most remarkable episodes in the history of science: how two scholars independently hit on the same idea (evolution by natural selection) and how history has largely forgotten one of them. An important piece of evidence to support this claim is one of several notebooks that Wallace kept during his journeys. In On the Organic Law of Change, Costa unlocks this little gem for a broad audience by providing a facsimile, transcription, and a mountain of annotations to place this work in its historical context. You are getting a two-for-one, as I am reviewing this book simultaneously with its companion book Wallace, Darwin, and the Origin of Species, a book I have long been meaning to read.

(more…)

Book review – Radical by Nature: The Revolutionary Life of Alfred Russel Wallace

10-minute read
keywords: evolutionary biology, history of science

The year 2023 marks the 200th anniversary of the birth of Victorian naturalist Alfred Russel Wallace. Best remembered as the father of biogeography, and only relatively recently pulled out of Darwin’s shadow as co-discoverer of the principle of natural selection, he was an all-round fascinating person. I have long wanted to read more about him. Evolutionary biologist, entomologist, and Darwin and Wallace scholar James T. Costa gives an in-depth, intimate, and updated story of his life. This first of three reviews will prepare me for a descent down the rabbit hole on how two scholars independently hit on the mechanism driving evolution.

(more…)