Details Books During This Thing of Darkness
| Original Title: | This Thing of Darkness |
| ISBN: | 0755327144 (ISBN13: 9780755327140) |
| Edition Language: | English |
| Characters: | Charles Darwin, Robert Fitzroy, Bartholomew James Sulivan, Orundellico |
| Literary Awards: | Booker Prize Nominee for Longlist (2005) |
Harry Thompson
Paperback | Pages: 626 pages Rating: 4.49 | 2039 Users | 261 Reviews
Declare About Books This Thing of Darkness
| Title | : | This Thing of Darkness |
| Author | : | Harry Thompson |
| Book Format | : | Paperback |
| Book Edition | : | Anniversary Edition |
| Pages | : | Pages: 626 pages |
| Published | : | 2005 by Review |
| Categories | : | Historical. Historical Fiction. Fiction |
Relation As Books This Thing of Darkness
1828 - Brilliant young naval officer Robert FitzRoy is given the captaincy of HMS Beagle, surveying the wilds of Tierra del Fuego, aged just twenty-three. He takes a passenger: a young trainee cleric and amateur geologist named Charles Darwin. This is the story of a deep friendship between two men, and the twin obsessions that tore it apart, leading one to triumph and the other to disaster...Rating About Books This Thing of Darkness
Ratings: 4.49 From 2039 Users | 261 ReviewsWrite-Up About Books This Thing of Darkness
Story about the voyage of the Beagle its captain Fitzroy and its naturalist Charles Darwin.This is Thompsons first novel (and last he died of cancer shortly after publication) after non-fiction travel books and a biography (of Peter Cook).The story combined: travelogue; biographical detail; Patrick OBrien type epic seafaring adventure (which I found hard to follow and uninteresting); and philosophical debates. Latter is particularly and explicitly around Evolution but also about: Race and itsLoved it, loved it, loved it!! This is by far my all time favorite book. It's a 10 for sure. It's very accurate and well researched account of Captain Robert Fitzroy and his voyage mapping out the South American coast, on the HMS Beagle. After finding natives he returns to England with them in an effort to civilize them. About a year later, he makes a second voyage returning them believing they can in turn civilize their own, with tragic results. It's on this second trip he commissions a young
An absolutely colossal, astounding, and devastating work. I have a new hero, and his name is Robert FitzRoy.
When I finished reading this book, the first statement that made it through my mind was something said by Morgan Freeman's character Detective Somerset by the end of the movie Se7en: 'Ernest Hemingway once wrote, "The world is a fine place and worth fighting for." I agree with the second part.'This book chronicles the adventure of Captain Robert FitzRoy and the crew of HMS Beagle, joined by Charles Darwin later on as the ship's naturalist-cum-village-idiot, as they traversed the Atlantic to the
I loved this book and thought it well written, very thought-provoking and one that stayed with me for a long time. It shows "everybody's hero" Charles Darwin in quite a different light, in fact, I won't ever hear his name in the future and think, hey he was an all-round good egg - far from it! Thompson is a spell-binding storyteller and Robert FitzRoy's "thing of darkness" certainly struck a chord with me, a fellow sufferer. I didn't want the novel to end, when it did, I felt bereavement,
Fascinating.At times brutal.Well written.Delves deep into Fitzroy's character, his state of mind, his successes and setbacks, his perseverance in the face of ignorance, dirty politics, nepotism and cronyism. An under appreciated steadfast hero.
Brilliant! What an amazing book. 744 pages, all told, but well worth the three weeks it took me to read. What an incredible piece of scholarship and of writing. Bravo!
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