My rating: 8/10
A book that is often forgotten or neglected but, as the title suggests, it's first of all a travel book more than a scientific treaty. Darwin, then twenty-two, with a narrative talent that might surprise, but is actually quite natural for an educated gentleman of the early 1800s, recounts in a personal diary his journey to South America (and then New Zealand and Australia) which inspired his revolutionary studies on natural evolution. Most of the pages are dedicated to Patagonia and Tierra del Fuego, of which Darwin meticulously represents customs, politics, landscapes, geology, anthropology, and of course the fauna and flora. The pages devoted to the Galapagos are quite exciting; it is natural to see through Darwin's eyes the natural wonders that inspired his well-known theories; there is no shortage of ironic accents and british humour: in the description of iguanas, Darwin's antipathy to the large lizards which today are the symbol of the Galapagos seems to emerge, describing them, with almost polemical accent, as horrible and extraordinarily stupid lizards; one wonders how they tormented him during his stay on the islands, to the point of feeding so much resentment! Describing an episode of cannibalism Darwin refers to the remains found as a "delicious feast". So, don't expect a boring treaty from a young, great scientist, this is travel literature.
Darwin's biographies represent him as a listless student, whose father had reclutantly sent him on his naturalistic journey around the world; yet it is particularly exciting to follow the reasoning of the young scientist describing with extreme acumen, competence and curiosity the natural world, trying to decipher its hidden messages.
What, most of all, is amazing is the extremely current sensitivity with which Darwin deals with issues such as slavery, human rights and ecology (or the level of the rental prices in Sydney), anticipating themes such as the extinction of species and the protection of the ecosystem, unsuspected in a diary that is almost two centuries old.
In any case, while reading, it is difficult to suppress the desire to visit the places that the great scientist describes with such passion and analytical spirit.
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