This is the second book that I throw my serious students after I make them read the Voyage. While the subject is serious, there is more than a hint of play throughout, and one can just imagine Darwin observing his own children for clues to discuss as each chapter unfolds. Although this book is of course not nearly as important as the Origin or even Descent, it is essentially part of the Long Argument, and is a great way of bringing behavioural topics to the fore in any discussion of evolution. A pity it is that many modern popularizers of "evolutionary psychology" seem to have missed parts of the form and substance that Darwin expresses here.

Ever since I received Paul EkmanÕs new edition of DarwinÕs classic work, the book has been my constant companion. I carry it with me from room to room, picking it up to read whenever I have a few minutes.

You can open to just about any page and discover yet another gem. Whether you find a bit to read by chance, or whether you like to be guided by the fascinating table of contents and index, or whether you prefer to begin at the beginning, Darwin is always interesting and accessible. In view of our troubled world, I find it helpful to remember that empathy is an essential part of human and animal nature. It seems the study of emotion must lead us toward a deeper understanding of these universal, powerful forces that energize and transform our lives.

ÒExpressionÓ is really an old friend. As a young dance therapist in the 1960s, I was impressed first by DarwinÕs ability to describe the dynamic process of expressive movement. Obviously it is the emotions that motivate and shape the way we move. I learned then that his observations were gathered over a period of 30 years. His subjects included not only all kinds of animals, but also human infants, children and adults from every walk of life and from many different cultures. He approached the study of emotional expression from the perspective of art, literature and inner experience, as well as from muscles and the nervous system. Although it was first published over 125 years ago (1872) DarwinÕs work continues to inspire and inform contemporary research in many fields.

The new edition is simply outstanding. Paul EkmanÕs editing is clearly a Òlabor of love,Ó and at the same time a thorough, original scholarly contribution. I particularly like the way he places DarwinÕs work in a cultural and social/political context. EkmanÕs commentary offers rich resources as he quietly updates, re-frames or differs, yet more than anything, confirms and extends DarwinÕs observations. It is as if Ekman and Darwin were engaged in a kind of dialogue, each learning from the other. Thereader is a privileged witness.

Joan Chodorow

Every so often there is a book that is worth reading simply for the pleasure of the words in it, separate from whatever the author is trying to say or tell the reader. This is such a book. The effect is akin to being immersed in the depths of a symphony of words. Otherwise Peattie does an excellent job of explaining the evolution and development of the earths flowering plants. His writing is easily understood and opens botany to the more or less uninformed reader. Read this book for pleasure or for information. You will be pleased you sampled it. This is my second copy. I lent the first out and lost a friend to the book

In this distinguished history of the plant kingdom, Donald Culross Peattie, botanist and nature writer extraordinaire, imaginatively demonstrates that the fates of all living things are bound together. This is nature writing at its best. In the intervening years since this book was written, scientists have made many new discoveries, but few nature writers have surpassed the stylistic beauty and illuminative insight displayed by the author in Flowering Earth. I recommend it to anyone interested in nature. The thoughts expressed are timeless

This is a really cool bit by Darwin, who spent some serious time observing earthworms. He made his friends help him sometimes too, it seems. Ninety-five bucks is a lot of money though. Check a univerity library or something and Xerox it.

This is by no means an exhaustive or long-winded work, but it is a quick and easy reference tool for Dickens fans. If you want to find a name, date or idea in a matter of seconds, and read a summary of it, then this is your book. If you are a scholar searching for a comprehensive concordance to the works of Charles Dickens, this book will lack detail and depth.

This book contains a wealth of facts, compiled during Darwin's life on matters which were highly controversial at the time. His prior book, Origin of Species, provided the scientific framework for thinking that mankind might, in some way, be a descent from the animal kingdom. For personal reasons, there was some doubt, at the time, whether it would ever be diplomatic to admit such a thing to the human beings themselves, right in their very faces. The title which Darwin placed on this book showed how easy it would be to imagine that the fundamental distinction was closely linked to the question of whom an individual might choose to have sex with, given the great parallels to a wide range of behavior in the animal kingdom. I have looked in this book for evidence that philosophy is a set of ideas adopted mainly in relation to sex, but the philosophy of the fittest for that kind of activity seems to be a bit more modern than Darwin. On a scale of stillborn to born with a brain, Darwin was definitely born with a brain, but it didn't make him crazy enough to suggest that which we may imply ourselves. There are a lot of facts in this book, compared to the number of suggestions, but it shows a considerable amount of thought.

Although there are many racist and sexist ideas, this was the climate in which Darwin wrote this book. Many of the details are grossly in error, but the book was written over 100 years ago. Many advances in knowledge have been made since then. The basic premise, and the fact that Darwin looked to the African apes as a point of origin for humans is the real beauty of the book. Darwin is many times falsely blamed for "Social Darwinism" which he never proposed nor advocated. Just because someone uses Darwin as a justification for negative ideas and or actions, does not mean that Darwin should be vilified for it. Descent was not a social commentary, but a scientific treatise, and should be treated as such.

A beautiful, historical account of a great naturalist's work. It is important to keep in mind that the book was written 129 years ago, though, since the use of the language would not be considered "politically correct" nowadays.

Darwin was someone "who viewed life on earth in terms of an evolutionary framework grounded in science and reason" (taken from the Introduction by H. James Birx). It is difficult to believe that an educated person would misinterpret his ideas as being sexist or racist. Only the ignorant (or a creationist in disguise) would attempt to discredit the work of one of the greatest minds of all times by giving it the wrong label. Reading Daniel C. Dennett's "Darwin Dangerous Idea" (highly recommended) might help to put it in the right context.

Overall, this text is not bad, although several instructional areas are out-dated material, ie: marking "shell casings, "bullets", on the face,etc. Also, todays training does not include marking handguns on every piece that can be removed, ie: frame, cylinder, barrel, grips, etc.