The Voyage from the Beagle – or, to give it its full title, Journal of Studies into the Normal History and Geology from the Countries Visited During the Voyage Round the World of H.M.S. Beagle Under Command of Captain Fitzroy, R.N. – is much more than merely an account of Darwin’s technological observations in his 1831-36 travels across the globe: it is fine travel composing in its right. The Voyage from the Beagle foreshadows Darwin’s life-changing On the Origin of Varieties, in its continuous intellectual search. Darwin – still just in his early twenties – by no means just accepts what he views, but really wants to understand it; he stocks his thinking in clear, engaging, witty, even lyrical writing. Read and abridged by highly-acclaimed evolutionist and article writer, Richard Dawkins.