Evolution's Workshop ─ God and Science on the Galapagos Islands

When Charles Darwin landed on the Galapagos Islands in 1835, he was the first to recognize that their isolation and desolation were advantages for a naturalist: Here the workings of nature are laid bare for study. Still, much more happened on these islands than Darwin's lone visit. Evolution's Workshop describes how specimen-hunting and science have supported each other (or not) on the Galapagos over the past three centuries. In lucid prose, Edward Larson introduces the extraordinary parade of top researchers who have studied on the islands, the warring institutions that have sent expeditions, and the major discoveries that have emerged as a result. He shows why these islands have been called the workshop of evolution: It is here that the tools and blueprints of nature are visible, and here that the great theories have been built.

Edward J. Larson is the Richard B. Russell Professor of History ad Law at the University of Georgia.