Charles Darwin's on the Origin of Species: A Graphic Adaptation »

Michael Keller, an award-winning journalist and writer, has a bachelor of science degree in wildlife ecology from the University of Florida and a master’s degree from the Columbia University Graduate School of Journalism.

Nicolle Rager Fuller is a professional illustrator, with a bachelor of arts degree in biochemistry from Lewis and Clark College and a graduate certificate in science illustration from the University of California-Santa Cruz. She lives in Washinton, DC, with her husband.

A stunning graphic adaptation of one of the most famous, contested, and important books of all time.

Few books have been as controversial or as historically significant as Charles Darwin’s On the Origin of Species by Means of Natural Selection, or the Preservation of Favoured Races in the Struggle for Life. Since the moment it was released on November 24, 1859, Darwin’s masterwork has been heralded for changing the course of science and condemned for its implied challenges to religion.

In Charles Darwin’s On the Origin of Species, author Michael Keller and illustator Nicolle Rager Fuller introduce a new generation of readers to the original text. Including sections about his pioneering research, the book’s initial public reception, his correspondence with other leading scientists, as well as the most recent breakthroughs in evolutionary theory, this riveting, beautifully rendered adaptation breathes new life into Darwin’s seminal and still polarizing work.

Library Journal

"It is like confessing a murder," wrote Darwin, foreseeing that his complex work would upset millennia of theological tradition about the origins of life forms. Indeed, the creationism wars continue today. Now Rodale's lovely and multitextured version introduces a more accessible Darwin, no less complex—or fascinating. The graphic novel follows Origin's original chapters, combining snippets of Darwin's text with quotes from letters, illustrative examples from his time and from the present, and occasional invented dialog. Fuller's images of people seem clumsy, but her full-color plants, animals, charts, maps, and scientific accoutrements are attractive and effective. In drawings of three saber-toothed cats, for example, we can observe the "imperfection of the geological record" when only one animal perishes in a bog preserving the full skeleton. An afterword from Keller brings the scholarship up-to-date, from Mendel's pea plants to Wilson's sociobiology. A brief bibliography would have been a useful addition. VERDICT This new version well conveys both the science and the wonder of Origin. Highly recommended for high school age and up. Consider also Jay Hosler's more lighthearted The Sandwalk Adventures for tweens and up.—M.C.

Part 1 Beginnings of A Theory 5

Part 2 On The Origin of Species 37

1 Variation under Domestication 41

2 Variation under Nature 47

3 Struggle for Existence 51

4 Natural Selection; or the Survival of the Fittest 61

5 Laws of Variation 79

6 & 7 Difficulties of the Theory and Miscellaneous Objections 87

8 Instinct 105

9 Hybridism 113

10 On the Imperfection of the Geological Record 117

11 On the Geological Succession of Organic Beings 125

12 & 13 Geographical Distribution 133

14 Mutual Affinities of Organic Beings: Morphology: Embryology: Rudimentary Organs 151

15 Recapitulation and Conclusion 165

Part 3 Afterword 171

Acknowledments 191