DARWIN'S GHOSTS The Secret History of Evolution

Stead examines the thinkers Darwin considered to be intellectual forerunners of his theory of evolution and natural selection, beginning with Aristotle. The book is mostly history, which narrator Jean Gilpin renders with admirable clarity, but Stead also lards it with imagined scenes and quotes from literary works, giving Gilpin the chance to act and emote. She switches modes smoothly, giving each type of passage its due without being distracting. Through it all, her reading is crisp, well paced, expressive, and precise. Her French pronunciation is good; her German and Italian somewhat awkward or incorrect, but there’s only a smattering of those. This is an interesting book, for those who don’t mind a little imagination mixed in with their history and science, and Gilpin delivers all of it well. W.M. © AudioFile 2012, Portland, Maine [Published: SEPTEMBER 2012]