Do the Darwin
Posted by: Rebecca Vnuk
Reference books don’t generally have much personality, but here’s an exception: Darwin’s Universe: Evolution from A to Z, which the author, Richard Milner, describes as the “evolved descendent” of his earlier Encyclopedia of Evolution: Humanity’s Search for Its Origins. The volume combines scholarship with humor to explore Darwin and his pathbreaking insights.
In the foreword, Stephen Jay Gould (a childhood friend) writes “Milner’s different approach follows the variety of his own life,” and you can get a sense of that variety from Darwinlive, described as the “Home of Darwinian Scholarship, Music, Art, and Entertainment.” Darwinian entertainment? This might conjure up visions of American Idol but in fact it refers to Milner’s one-man musical, “Charles Darwin: Live & in Concert.” On the Darwinlive Web site, you can hear excerpts and you can also purchase the CD. Last spring, the North Cambridge Family Opera Company performed some of the songs as part of an oratorio celebrating Darwin’s 200th birthday. And Milner himself has performed all over the world, most recently on a cruise ship in the Galapagos Islands. Milner will also be on board the rebuilt H.M.S. Beagle as it retraces Darwin’s voyages.
Who says reference can’t be fun?
For more on Milner, check out this interview from NPR. And here’s a video from The New York Times:
