The Annotated Origin

Charles Darwin’s On the Origin of Species is one of the most important and yet least read scientific works in the history of science. The Annotated Origin is a facsimile of the first edition of 1859, and is accompanied by James T. Costa’s marginal annotations, drawing on his extensive experience with Darwin’s ideas in the field, lab, and classroom.

On the Origin of Species has too long been one of those worthy books whose fate is to be lauded but unread. Jim Costa's deft commentary--an authoritative and engaging mix of history and science--will change that. The Origin is forbidding and inaccessible no longer--it has evolved! The Annotated Origin of Species restores, for modern readers, the freshness and excitement that made it a bestseller when it first appeared. Charles Darwin, I'm sure, couldn't wish for a better 200th birthday present. -- Andrew Berry, editor of Infinite Tropics, An Alfred Russel Wallace Anthology Despite being 150 years old, the Origin is a living text for biologists. It is full of unsurpassed natural history observations, a model of careful scientific argument that still can catch the imagination with the grandeur of the views it puts forward. Jim Costa has provided an exceptionally lucid explanation. -- Janet Browne, author of Charles Darwin: The Power of Place Brilliant. -- Bernd Heinrich, author of The Snoring Bird: My Family's Journey Through a Century of Biology The Annotated Origin is a culminating and, in an original manner of its own, the most useful of the centennial Darwin publications. It gives you the choice of reading page by page the original Origin, or its modern interpretation, or both together. -- Edward O. Wilson

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