Darwin's Dogs: How Darwin's Pets Helped Form a World-Changing Theory of Evolution Book

I think this is one of the best books I've read lately, and I managed to read the entire thing in one Sunday, without really trying. I just found it very charming. It's a well-written, concise explanation of the development of Darwin's theory of evolution through the lens of his relationship with his many dogs throughout his lifetime. It is scientifically sound and informative, which is great, but the most unique thing it does is give you a real sense of Darwin the person. It felt like I had gotten to know a very personal part of him, in ways you wouldn't usually expect. I have always been a huge fan of Darwin--he was smart and observant, but humble and self-conscious, and relatively respectful of women and children. He loved his wife even though later in life he began to suspect that the fact that she was his (first) cousin might have contributed to the factors leading to the death of his first daughter, which he never got over. They just hadn't figured genetics or heredity out yet.

This book provides a whole 'nother element to my view of him. While he was growing up, his family had numerous dogs that they adored and anthropomorphized rather like we do today, and this continued with his own wife and kids. When his sister wrote to him while he was away at school, they referred to one of his dogs as his "nephew" and they often prefaced the names of their dogs with "Mr." or "Mrs." (which I love, because I do that all the time with my cats). They even had one of their small dogs whose leg was badly broken all fixed up my local surgeons (!). When his sister wrote him to tell him of this while he was in Chile during his Beagle journey, she talked about this before mentioning the cholera epidemic that had struck their area and killed a bunch of people.

This was probably rather unusual, given that during that time animals were generally regarded for their utility and nothing more (as they still often are in rural areas today, for instance). The book also does touch on some of the general romanticizing of dogs that started
growing during the Victorian period, so they certainly weren't the only family like this. But it's still fun to read about.