'Darwin's Audubon'
by Gerald Weissmann


I never used to like essays until a few years ago when a friend suggested I read Sven Birkerts' "Guttenberg Elegies", a set of essays about the fate of reading in an electronic age. Emboldened by this, I bought "Darwin's Audubon". Dr Weissmann is a highly respected doctor and rheumatology researcher, as well as being an art historian and a liberal skeptic.

 Darwin's Audubon - book cover

This is a difficult book to characterise, because of the vast range of its subject matter, but perhaps its sub-title says it best - Science and the Liberal Imagination. Among the topics covered are how the vectors for Lyme disease were tracked down, an amazing eye witness description of the Nobel Prize ceremonies and a fascinating tale of Christopher Columbus and Reiter's syndrome. To me though, the tour de force is the harrowing tale of losing a patient to the complications of a botched back street abortion in the era before abortion was legalised.

Before I leave Dr Weissmann's book I'd like to say that this book is also one of the best examples of the art of book making that I have come across for a long time - from its excellent typography and design through to its solid and comfortable binding. Definitely recommended.

Alan Lenton
1 December 1999


Darwin's Audubon
by Gerald Weissmann
0306459817
Plenum 337pp $28.95


Return to the reviews page

Back to the Phlogiston Blue top page

If you have any questions or comments about the articles on my web site, click here to send me email.