A character study traces the naturalist's development from curious child and Beagle voyage naturalist to a lifelong investigator at Down, interweaving personal life—marriage, family, chronic ill health—with scientific labor leading to the theory of evolution by natural selection and later work on human descent. The author organizes the life into thematic chapters—observer, thinker, discoverer, loser, lover, destroyer, scientific spirit—examining habits of observation, experimental method, controversies surrounding publication, and the moral and emotional dimensions of scientific pursuit, balancing description of daily routines and experiments with reflections on intellectual impact and the tensions between private affliction and public achievement.
