Asher Sisneros

Toward the end of Charles Darwin’s life, he produced an autobiography. My English teacher, Dr. Gary North, raves about Darwin’s writing style in this book. I cannot say that I share his enthusiasm. The book was dull. First, I will provide a brief synopsis of Darwin’s life according to the book and then list my many grievances with his writing style. 

Darwin’s mother died when he was eight years old. His recollection of her was vague. He said, “I can remember hardly anything about her except her deathbed—”¹ His father wanted him to become a physician. But after a brief stint at Edinburgh, Darwin lost sight of that vision. He also mentions admiring his uncle, Jos, for his character. Aside from these three statements—his mother’s death, his uncle Jos, and his father’s wishes for Darwin’s career—he only speaks casually about his family. His family wasn’t a priority in this book. I find that bumfuzzling because a note in the first chapter states that it was written for his children. I’m uncertain why he made vague mention of his family in a book for his children. 

With his decision to pursue a career as a clergyman, he strived to attend one of England’s top universities: Cambridge. Unfortunately for Darwin, he was a terrible student. He described his time at Cambridge as an utter waste. Because he found school dull, he learned nothing. What he learned went in one ear and out the other. His youthful hobbies included shooting birds and collecting beetles. It appears that he simply shot them for sport; because he doesn’t mention eating them. 

However, while being a physician and clergyman were attractive pursuits at the time, neither was what Darwin became famous for. History would recognize him as a man of science. The curious thing about this is Darwin couldn’t stand studying science in school. So, how did that hated science end up doing so much to shape it? 

That process started when he attended the voyage on the Beagle. Captain Fitz-Roy requested any volunteer that’d join their expedition as a naturalist. As Darwin says, “The voyage of the Beagle has been by far the most important event in my life and has determined my whole career.” On this voyage, Darwin became intrigued with nature. When Darwin made it home and finished his trip, his father remarked that he was a changed man.  He started studying it and taking notes on his observations. Darwin turned those notes into books, and they were published. From that point on, Darwin dedicated his life to making observations in nature and writing about those observations. The final chapters of the book address his different theories. 

The final verdict:

What are my thoughts on the book? It’s kinda boring. No, it’s the most boring autobiography I’ve ever read. Dr. Gary North says this is an incredibly well-written autobiography, but I disagree. It is the polar opposite of Mark Twain’s autobiography. While Twain’s book was a pleasure to read because of the light-hearted storytelling, it lacked structure. Darwin’s autobiography has that structure but lacks any good stories. Now, I will grant that I am partially biased. The readers of Darwin’s autobiography are interested in his developments in science. They likely want to know how Darwin got interested in science and started writing about it. That book does that. As someone uninterested in Darwin as a human, much less his work, I hated the book. I know that there is an audience for the book. 

For my autobiography, I intend to replicate this structure. However, I will make the book more digestible by having a light-hearted, funny writing style.