<p>Galileo once wrote that 'the Bible tells us how to go to Heaven, but not how the heavens go'. From the Greeks to the present day, thoughtful people have struggled to reconcile the discoveries of science with religious belief and authority. In the age before Darwin many powerful clerics were also notable scientific scholars and leading scientists were often at least conventionally pious. Observing life ever more closely, an extraordinary generation of English geologists, fossil hunters and naturalists were compelled to accept that their planet was older, more complicated, diverse and cruel than they had previously imagined. Questions about God and the Bible inevitably began to arise. But for these men, unlike for Darwin, science and religion could share a philosophical basis: a careful, rational study of nature, instead of denying God, would confirm that life is, after all, the product of God's unique creation. This belief became known as natural theology. Its greatest exponent was William Paley but the work of others such as John Ray, Robert Plot, William Whiston, Thomas Burnet, John Woodward, Erasmus Darwin and countless more writing between 1665 and 1800 gives us an extraordinary glimpse into minds at the forefront of an epic enquiry. Taking his title from Paley's famous analogy that as a watch requiried a maker, so nature in all its intricacy had to be the creation of a supreme designer, Keith Thomson's wonderful book brings to life their dilemmas, and is a winning portrayal of intellectuals struggling with their belief systems in an age of revolutionary science.</p>

The Watch on the Heath : Science and Religion Before Darwin

Science & Math

Keith S. Thomson

Biological Sciences

Harpercollins Reference Hbacks

Thinking About Images (Introducing Media Studies)

Education & Teaching

Schools & Teaching

Hodder Arnold H&S

'After having twice been driven back by heavy south-west gales, Her Majesty's Ship Beagle, a ten-gun brig under the command of Captain Fitzroy, sailed from Devonport on the 27th December, 1813.' With these words, Charles Darwin began his account of the voyage that was to change his life and ours. Almost 190 years later, we know a great deal about Darwin and his adventures on the HMS Beagle, but almost nothing about the ship. Hardly some dashing frigate or three-decker ablaze with guns and glory, the Beagle was, a "coffin brig", more likely to sink than make two successful circumnavigations of the Earth. For such a famous ship,surprisingly little is known about the Beagle. Keith Thomson has created a biography of the ship - her construction, her voyages, and even her final resting place.

Hms 'Beagle : The Story of Darwin's Ship

History

Military

Phoenix Paperbacks

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Books by Keith S. Thomson