Darwin Slept Here: Discovery, Adventure, and Swimming Iguanas in Charles Darwin's South America Hardcover - 2009

Media reviews

"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 Delmonico's by Barry Werth portray the naturalist as an earnest, white-bearded thinker, journalist Eric Simons celebrates a refreshingly different Darwin'Eric 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.' -Michael Pollan, author of The Botany of Desire and The Omnivore's 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 winning journalist 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