The Alfred Russel Wallace Reader: A Selection of Writings from the Field
Long overshadowed by his contemporaries Charles Darwin and Thomas H. Huxley, Alfred Russel Wallace was an English naturalist and pioneer evolutionist who researched biological diversity through extensive exploration and travel. Independent of Darwin, Wallace developed a theory of evolution through natural selection, which ultimately spurred Darwin to complete and publish his own Origin of Species. Famous for drawing "Wallace's Line," the boundary line separating the Asian and Australian...
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"Explore[s] the extraordinary range of Wallace's interests, which encompassed ecology, evolution, spiritualism, and socialism." -- Science Edward O. Wilson Wallace is one of the most important figures of nineteenth-century biology and in character among its most admirable. He is also one of the very few, like Darwin and Maxwell, whose importance grows with time. This volume, a well-written biography interleaved with Wallace's own writing, brings the great naturalist to life. —University Research Professor Harvard University
List of IllustrationsForewordAcknowledgmentsA Note to the ReaderIntroduction: Biographical Sketch11Wales18Wallace Begins Surveying23Enclosing Common Land28Wallace Discovers Botany in Wales29The South-Wales Farmer34At Neath542The Amazon61On the Rio Negro67Sinking of the Helen86On the Monkeys of the Amazon983The Malay Archipelago103Collecting Birds of Paradise112On the Tendency of Varieties to Depart Indefinitely from the Original Type1424The World152Limits of Natural Selection in Human Evolution160Spiritualism and Human Evolution163Impressions of the United States188Remembrances of Alfred Russel Wallace by His Children William G. and Violet Wallace195Notes205Books209Bibliography211Index215
\ Edward O. WilsonWallace is one of the most important figures of nineteenth-century biology and in character among its most admirable. He is also one of the very few, like Darwin and Maxwell, whose importance grows with time. This volume, a well-written biography interleaved with Wallace's own writing, brings the great naturalist to life. —University Research Professor Harvard University\ \ \ \ \ Janet BrowneI strongly recommend this book. Wallace has long been left out of the story of evolution and it seems highly appropriate to present autobiographical and reflective writings from the one man who matched Darwin intellectually, who shared the evolutionary moment with Darwin, and whom Darwin admired. Wallace's attractive personality, good writing style, intriguing views on all kinds of subjects, and unusual life story will make this book of interest to historians, biologists, as well as those interested in the wider debate over evolutionary theory.\ \
