Darwin Slept Here: Discovery, Adventure, and Swimming Iguanas in Charles Darwin's South America

He had just hiked the mountains overlooking Beagle Channel, and found himself engrossed in Darwin's account. Like Simons, Darwin was in his mid-twenties when he traveled to South America. Simons followed Darwin further into the continent-to stand where Darwin had, and to explore the histories, legends and people that had fascinated the great scientist two centuries before. He trekked to as many of the locations Darwin wrote about as he could find, to see if he could view these places through Darwin's eyes, and to learn what South Americans know about Darwin. Innovative and amusing, Darwin Slept Here offers a new look at a familiar subject, by a fresh, compelling writer to watch.

About the Author :
Eric Simons is a graduate of the environmental and science writing program at UC Berkeley Graduate School of Journalism. His work has been published in such places as Mother Jones, The LA Times, and Sierra Magazine. He lives in San Francisco with his wife.

Review :
"A bracingly fresh portrait... here is Darwin as only another young naturalist could find him... nothing less than exhilarating."- Michael Pollan "Hard to put down - lighthearted adventures that keep a reader wanting more." -"San Francisco Chronicle" "Simons celebrates a refreshingly different Darwin: a twenty-something traveler fond of hurling iguanas into the sea and charging up any tall peak he could find...." - "Outside Magazine" "February marks the 200th birthday of Charles Darwin and, naturally, he publication of a slew of new books about him. But while most--like the fine, brainy "Banquet at Delmonicoas" by Barry Werthaportray the naturalist as an earnest, white-bearded thinker, journalist Eric Simons celebrates a refreshingly different Darwin: a twenty-something traveler fond of hurling iguanas into the sea and charging up any tall peak he could find. With copies of "The Voyage of the Beagle" in hand, Simons headed for South America, retracing parts of his famous 1831 trip and doing what Darwin did when he wasnat studying finches: riding with Argentinean gauchos, hunting rheas and ogling senoritas. aThereas a danger in labeling someone as a genius; it makes them inaccessible, a Simons writes. aBut Darwin the personawell, he was a lot like us.a --"Outside Magazine" aEric Simons has given us a bracingly fresh portrait of the Young Darwin, the man long ago lost behind the great white beard. Here is Darwin as only another young naturalist could find him, and to see the world through those avid eyes, groping for the theory the would explain all he has so brilliantly observed, is nothing less than exhilarating.a -Michael Pollan, author of "The Botany of Desire" and "The Omnivoreas Dilemma" "Too often we forget that major accomplishments often stem from youthful abandon. Twenty-something Charles Darwin had a rippin' good time mingling with South America's gauchos and iguanas. Discovering this inspired young Eric Simons to retrace the great naturalist's rambling tracks. The result is this wildly entertaining reminder that science and exploration can be a blast." -Bob Sipchen, Pulitzer Prize winningjournalist and the author of "Baby Insane and the Buddha" "Vivid and exotic, Eric Simon's tale invites comparisons to Chatwin as he leads readers among guanacos and ostriches, assassin bugs and armadillos, through rough seas, swift currents and ascending jungles. This is a book full of zest and discovery with the deeper mission of appreciating one of humankind's great breakthroughs in the understanding our past." -Lou Ureneck, author of "Backcast"