Darwin and the barnacle Book

When I picked this up I thought it would be a lot more about Darwin's notes and discoveries regarding the barnacle (which he studied daily for 8 years, writing 4 volumes on it, and studying, describing, and analyzing these pin head sized creatures honed his chops for writing "The Origin of the Species." Did you know that ancient barnacles were hermaphrodites, had both male and female parts and were often self-fertilizing. Over time, the male parts became their own male creature, often just a sac of sperm, often embedded inside female organisms. More time passed and the males added additional parts to become more than just sperms, and could be found outside the female, living as parasites, but far more independent creatures than their ancient ancestors. SO INTERESTING! There is an ancient Greek myth about how we all began as hermaphrodites, and the Gods split us into two distinct sexes, which is why we spend our lives searching for our other half. Even Christian theology states that male and female were joined into one (Adam) before God created the female as a distinct and separate human. Gah, science is so awesome. Religion isn't bad either. ;)

Okay, so my criticism: Stott does cover the barnacle and Darwin's interactions and labors over it extensively, but she also throws in a TON of biographical information about Darwin, his family, his friends, their families, world history that only slightly relates (the siege of Sebastopol, anyone?) to the topic matter at hand. I don't mind the biographic details, but it was not what I was expecting. And if you want a biography on Darwin I would suggest one of the following: "Charles & Emma" by Deborab Heiligman for a less serious/shorter book; or the two-part biography from Janet Browne, "Charle Darwin: Voyaging" and "Charles Darwin: The Power of Place."