Alex's Week 5: New and Hot and Beagle preview.

Here is the updated version of my post:

Link here: http://thestar.com.my/lifestyle/story.asp?file=/2007/4/29/lifebookshelf/17157269&sec=lifebookshelf

So quite interestingly, Malaysia recently celebrated its 50th anniversary for national independence. This article was a book review written by some guy on the British Council last Sunday. Basically he wanted something Malay-themed, and he picked "The Malay Archipelago" Volumes 1 and 2 by Alfred Russell Wallace. It's a pretty interesting book review because it gives you a general background of what Wallace did in the frame of Darwin's world and you see how the two sort of fit together.

The next thing to note is that the book (from the sound of the review, at least) sounds just like a travel guide. What i mean is that this book apparently tells a lot of anecdotes and interesting stories about the places Wallace visited. And in that respect it's sort of like the Voyage of the Beagle, I think. How interesting that these two men wrote such similar books. Both arriving at the theory independently, whereas one came up with the theory in the South Pacific, the other did it near the indian ocean. From my impression though, The Malay Archipelago seems like a really fun read. Whereas unfortunately, The Voyage of the Beagle isn't particular compelling thus far. =[


However:
Who says Darwin doesn't have a sense of humor? I'm reading the voyage of the beagle right now and there this one passage that is HILARIOUS. It's near the beginning of the book. I will share in class.