As Henry Drummond noted in 1883, "This is the age of the evolution of Evolution. All thoughts that the Evolutionist works with, all theories and generalizations, have themselves evolved and are now being evolved."
This remarkable work on the Vestiges of Robert Chambers is itself a history of the evolution of evolution, describing in wonderful detail the context of a book that perfectly fits Drummond's description. Springing from eighteenth century intimations, first theorized by Lamarck, the idea of evolution finally bursts into public consciousness with Chambers' Vestiges, whose sudden popularity, if not notoriety, made it one of the first modern bestsellers in an age of technological breakthroughs in communications, transport, and printing. Laying the groundwork for laters theories, it nonetheless is too often dismissed as pseudo-scientific when, in fact, the author was aware of certain aspects of the pre-Darwinian ideas of evolution that only now are resurfacing, after being shunted aside by the Darwin tide to come. The account in this work is an engaging hybrid of cultural history mixed into the biography of Chambers' book, and is useful for the student of evolution in its account of the social relations of science, from the gentleman scientist to the grub street popularizers, and indirectly brings to life the later relationship of Huxley to Darwin. The age of Darwin in which we live has made him the sole authority and source of a science of evolution and this distorts the facts, and has obscured the reputation of this and other books. Indeed part of the confusion over selectionist theories sprang from the need for Darwin to artificially separate himself from previous ideas of evolution, by a novelty of claims, since the idea of evolution had seen its foundations laid. It is good to remember the full tale. The reality is that Vestiges was the first thunderclap of the evolutionary idea, whose correct intimations mixed with much speculative confusion were filtered out of the positivist account of Darwin, that provoked its own firestorm of reactions, for not the least reason that it was as evolutionary as the work of Chambers, and did not truly foot the bill for a theory of descent.

From the Sunday Times, 18 February 2001

Bigger than Darwin

VICTORIAN SENSATION: The Extraordinary Publication, Reception, and Secret Authorship of Vestiges of the Natural History of Creation by James A Secord Chicago U P pp624

MIRANDA SEYMOUR

Tennyson, with whom this accomplished work begins and ends, was an avid reader. In 1844, he spotted a review of an anonymously authored book which, according to the critic, convincingly linked the natural sciences to the history of creation. The poet, like many other readers of Vestiges of the Natural History of Creation, had already formed what we might consider advanced views on this subject. Man had resulted from a slow gestation beginning with simple invertebrates; man's ability to reason and distinguish between good and bad was part of his development. Tennyson had already completed much of In Memoriam, arguably the most powerful of Victorian poems. After reading Vestiges, he used its notion of an ever-ascending condition to celebrate the idea of a link "Betwixt us and the crowning race".

Tennyson's readers knew exactly what that reference meant. It is we who have lost it. Hailing Darwin as the great originator, we have forgotten that Vestiges, in the mid-19th century, had a greater impact, reaching far more readers and being discussed at all levels.

This is the central point of James A Secord's book. The idea he illustrates in a hundred entertaining ways is that we, as readers, like making narratives. We want things tidy, with beginnings and ends. It's reassuring to suppose that the concept of evolutionary culture began with Darwin's Origin of the Species in 1859. Reassuring, and wrong, not just because Darwin's grandfather had been writing about evolutionary matters in the previous century, but because geologists had reached Darwin's conclusions on evolution - not natural selection, which blew up a storm rather later - years before he published his turgid and, in many respects, quite cautious book.

Mary Shelley's Frankenstein, first published (anonymously) in 1818, was not directly responsible for the upward surge of new ideas about creation and spontaneous generation. Shelley's extraordinary book did, however, provide the creationists and their opponents with a potent image. Discussions of man's origins were regular among the circles in which she herself moved; her own interest in fossil history led her to consider writing a book on the subject. The suggestions made by Vestiges were, then, original only in the elegance of their formulation. (Even its opponents conceded that the prose was superb.) Revealingly, the gossips and critics were able to produce at least 10 authors who might have produced such an argument. Two of them, intriguingly, were women.

"Sensational" was the description always given to Vestiges. In Britain alone, it went through 14 editions and sold 40,000 copies: why? It helped, of course, that Vestiges looked small and user-friendly, its scarlet cover causing one irate reviewer to compare it to "the accomplished harlot". It was, unlike Darwin's later work, easy to follow and illustrated with homely analogies. Above all, it was a curiosity. The anonymity by which the Scottish publisher, Robert Chambers, screened himself for 40 years became one of the book's hottest selling points.

Not even Secord, whose knowledge is impressively omnivorous, is certain why Chambers continued to hide his identity for so long. The decision was first taken, it seems, from a combination of prudence and shrewdness. He wanted to sell copies; he knew that his unscientific status would be held against him. Anonymity, while frequent in fiction, was unusual in the fields of biography and history. To be anonymous in this area was to attract attention and speculation. Guessing the author became part of the enterprise in a period that extended into decades during which Vestiges and its authorship were passionately discussed. An anonymous sequel, published in 1845, may have sold only 3,000 copies, but it achieved the more important goal for Chambers of keeping up interest.

Transmutation was the brand-new theory of creation that Chambers put on offer in his book, prefacing it with the bold, Frankenstein-led query: "In what way was the creation of animated beings effected?" The notion of endless ascent was not received with unanimous respect. Florence Nightingale joked that she found it impossible to climb down again, "and was obliged to go off as an angel". Darwin, scratching for fleas while he furtively studied the British Museum's copy, thought the geology and zoology were hopelessly amateur, although he agreed with the general conclusions. Philip Gosse, rejecting the idea that fossils indicated a pre-biblical history, wrote a response, Omphalos; 75% of the published copies were pulped through lack of demand. Vestiges continued to sell. Punch joked about a lonely book that is spurned at the door of every famous author who might have claimed it. Chambers, confronted with an inquiry about "that horrible book" and whether he had read it, kept his counsel.

It is hard to overpraise this book. Magnificently illustrated, erudite, thoughtful and stimulating, it has the added bonus of a wickedly subversive style. I liked, to single out a small example, Secord's throwaway description of a Punch journalist: "Douglas Jerrold was a known infidel (and ate his peas with a knife)." One of the illustrations shows a group of "advanced thinkers" chatting by the fire. The light catches their faces; they look intensely alive, and enthralled. Reading Victorian Sensation gives you the illusion, at least, of joining them.

I have used this planner for 4 years. Excellent resourse to keep in your purse or pocket and easy to store on the shelf later for reference. This is my #1 planner choice.

Spending time searching the web and digging in the CFRs has consumed many hours of my time. The 2000 OSHA Handbook has made search time evaporate. It's not all the needed information but most of it in my business. It's all those little things you miss looking at the large paragraphs in the CFRs. I would reccommend this book to anyone involved in worker safety. From the worker to the manager.

Really, I am getting furstrated trying to purchased this checklist. So Can I please get two of the checklist books at least in Two weeks. The ISN # is 0-7817-2642-5

Catherine Chambers, does a marvelous job of tying all the origins of this superstitious holiday together in an entertaining format. It explains the birth of traditions of All Hallow's Eve, All Saints Day, and All Souls Day in Europe, Latin America and the influences upon them in early North American culture. How a ritual of warding off evil spirits and the harbringers of the dark winter evolved into a festival of ghosts and goblins called Halloween! Find out how legitimate pranksters were appeased by the giving of treats during the holiday that soon became a well loved tradition. Overall, a great read for kids and adults as well!

"American Piano Trios", by Arno Drucker, belongs in the library of every music school in the country and on the bookshelf (sandwiched between Cobbett's and Groves) of every educator and serious music lover. This is a book of astonishing thoroughness and scholarship. Who could guess that the heritage of AMERICAN chamber music - in this case, Piano Trios - would be so vast and sumptuous.

I knew Samuel Barlow in New York many years ago, but I had no idea that he was a composer, much less a composer of a piano trio and an opera, Mon Ami Pierrot, which "was the first by an American to be produced at the Opera Comique in Paris (1935)." Hundreds of American composers, from Samuel Adler to Ellen Zwilich, are listed with some fascinating biographical sketches and descriptions of their music. There are names, addresses, and in some cases, Web sites, of virtually every piano trio active today.

Arno Drucker has blessed us, those of us who are passionate about chamber music, with an indispensable resource guide.

Lenore Carrol's fictional autobiography of ninteenth century Kansas City Madam Annie Chambers traces her life from the 1850's through her death in the 1920's. A blind charity case, having given up her disorderly house to a local mission, Annie recounts from her rocking chair the wide open days of Kansas City. A heartfelt look at one infamous woman. The book is flavored with well researched local history combined with what seems a true social sense of the time. Annie matter of factly describes the day to day existence for a woman in "the life". Less prosaic episodes describe Annie's personal erotic odyssey. Not for Senator Helms, more for Newt. Lenore Caroll fills the pages with a quick, seemingly transparent style that hypnotically evokes the memories of a life. She is a great writer, and this is a great book. Hopefully "Annie" will be back in print soon.

This book is an excellent reference guide for the experienced and inexperienced production economist. The last chapter is essentially a recap of the other six chapters, so if you're short on time, that's all you need. But, reading the first six will give a better idea of what he's really talking about. I recommend it highly.

I simply want to say that it's about time some media form recognized this bald trend that has occurred intentionally for the first time in history. I wish it was discussed by media more often. Many women do find bald men attractive/sexy but do not often talk about it. Baldness used to be a menacing or low self-esteem thing perceptually but not anymore. Celebrities and professional athletes deserve credit for popularizing the look and making it a positive attribute. The bald head tends to look better on black men than other types, thus black women tend to like it better and understand it better than other types of women. Baldness ironically can be either a sign of sexiness, confidence, and attitude or a lack of these same qualities depending on the man and the woman; sometimes whether you are bald by choice or not makes a difference. Anyway I'm glad this book was written. Your next move with this book should be to turn it into a television special or a movie. The movie could profile two men who are bald: One whose life is better because of it and the other whose life is worse off (A comedy of course).

Thanks for your time

Baldy

This is a jewel; a paperback (with Dover's usual great binding quality) that contains both the Art of Fugue and the Musical Offering.

The Art of Fugue was originally written in open score, to emphasize that the performance instrument was not specified. This edition gives the open score with a two-stave (piano-type) reduction below.

Of course, with a solid binding like that, it's not going to stay open on your piano.

If you want to play / doodle the great Contrapunctus 1 from TAOF (like I did), and if you've got the hairclips to keep the pages down (like I wish I did), this book is for you! Gofer it. Arch