Darwin's luck : chance and fortune in the life and work of Charles Darwin / Patrick H. Armstrong.

London : Continuum, 2009.

xv, 195 pages : illustrations, map, portraits ; 25 cm

Includes bibliographical references (p. [xiii]-xv) and index.

Charles Darwin's origins -- To lose one parent is a misfortune : childhood and adolescence -- Cambridge : it's who you know as much as what you know -- The offer and its acceptance -- Sailor's luck -- Scientific development aboard HMS Beagle : seeing things in the right order -- Darwin's women -- From London's 'dirt, noise, vice and misery' to an 'extraordinarily rural and quiet village' -- The Down and up of family life -- The dawning of a dangerous idea -- The origins of the Origin -- Afterwards -- Last things -- Good luck or bad luck?