Blasphemy in History (Mental Voyage Series Book 7)

The Victorians, inveterate collectors, had a tendency to acquisitive observation and Darwin was far from the only person on board making such copious observations and samples. The privations and opportunities of this voyage were manifold, and it appears that the ship remained in communication with the Empire through periodic port calls, at which times Darwin was dispatching specimens and notes back to Britain, while the crew were able to receive mail!

Darwin, as a consequence, arrived home with his reputation as a leading man of science secured. This account has been amended subsequent to the voyage with credit given here and there to absent collaborators. I was as a young teenager a huge fan of books by Gerald Durrell and David Attenborough.

Darwin is Durrell on steroids. If you have a science-inclined teenager available, give them this book, as it is no detraction from either other author to say that I wish I had had this book back then. It is a treasure-trove of natural history anecdotes while at the same time being a true classic in the history of science, and at the same time more accessible than "Origin of Species", the magnum opus, itself.

As Darwin probably did more to shape the modern scientific mind than any other single contributor, that makes this voyage one of the most significant in history. For that reason alone I would recommend anyone read this account.

That it is a joy to read is an incidental benefit Feb 27, keith koenigsberg rated it it was amazing Recommends it for: A captivating narrative of scientific exploration, and probably the best adventure travel book I've ever read. Certain to uplift your mind and your spirit. First, although he is occasionally a bit long-winded in a Victorian way, and also occasionally goes into deep scientific detail which the modern lay reader will be tempted to skim, the majorioty of the volume is terse, modern, and exciting. Second, there is an actual adventure, as Darwin relates his personal experiences ascending jungle rivers and distant mountains, avoiding bandits and hostile Indians, mingling with savages and roughnecks, eating whatever grub they have to offer and sleeping with them under the stars.

The wildlife he encounters poses a certain danger, though he rarely mentions it; thus when he describes the "great black bug of the Pampas," which gorged itself on his blood one night in Chile, he left out the fact that it was probably the source of the Chagas disease that plagued him for the rest of his life. Third, it is the work of popular science, comprised of his acute observations and his intuitive reflections upon them, first made in the field, afterwards contemplated at home and then enriched by careful reading. As a result, it preserves the thrill, the intellectual stimulation and the scientific discoveries of a historical exploration.

It lives up to the blurb that one editor, Leonard Engel, gave it: THE VOYAGE is a testament to one man's curiosity--his insatiable curiosity about practically every stone, plant and bug that he happens to see, and his wonder about how they got that way. How on earth did he transport several tons of collections back home?

He makes you feel that, with the right attitude, you can walk out in your yard and make your own discoveries. Whether describing the spider that sails through the air on its own web, the gaucho who strips naked to swim his horse across a river, the face of a man habituated to slavery which Darwin rails against , Darwin's eye is keen and his heart is warm. It is entertaining, though to see that he was in many respects a man of his time, ranking the "savages" as to their intelligence and their potential to be "civilized" and "Christianized".

He is often less PC than you would hope. Reading this book, one returns to a time when mankind believed in progress, when one bright young man could respond to the wonders of the world and find an eager audience. All the while, of course, he was seeking natural explanations for the mysteries of creation and gravitating toward his theory of evolution. Nov 30, Gwern rated it liked it. Frequently exceedingly dry and of no interest except to naturalists, and probably not always them either: Darwin's voyage was so long ago that much of his information and speculation is simply outdated his talk of 'miasmas' is one instance where later information makes his material of purely historical interest.

In general, the 'pacing' is quite odd: Which is not to say he doesn't occasionally drop in interesting or acute observations, for he does. The shepherd-dog of South America quite took my fancy, for example. They are just rare welcome morsels in the general desert of this door-stopper. If I had to recommend it to my past self, I would tell him to skip the bulk but to read the Tierra del Fuego sections where the events are both interesting and evocative of the long uncivilized past of man and perhaps his future , the Galapagos section for its substantial historical interest, and maybe the brief conclusion.

As well, Darwin's original illustrations would benefit mightily from additional material like color photographs and maps. Mar 24, Rob rated it it was amazing Shelves: This book obviously shows its age as a work of science writing, but it is a magnificent travelogue. Darwin's voyage, detailed in this account, transformed his beliefs and laid the groundwork for his theories of evolution.

His descriptions of the indigenous peoples he encountered, as well as the fellow expatriates and travelers he met, make for an entertaining cast of characters, set against an ever-changing, but continually marvelous background of islands and foreign lands. We meet a wide range This book obviously shows its age as a work of science writing, but it is a magnificent travelogue. We meet a wide range of fascinating people throughout the trip: Darwin's reflections on civilized man vs.

Nevertheless, it would make interesting ground for discussion.

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The science discussed in this book is elementary by today's standard. In fact, Darwin's conclusions are so seemingly obvious that it's difficult to believe that this voyage and his discoveries established his presence in the scientific community. On one hand, this makes sense because he first became popular for the fossil collecting he did on this journey. On the other hand, his apparently obvious theorizing may be a testament to his importance as a scientist because it is so ubiquitous today.

The things we "know" today, even as children, were great mysteries of nature at one point, and Darwin is one of the most important illuminating voices in human history. I think this would be a great choice for young adults, even junior high aged students. The writing may be a little dense and difficult for young readers from time to time, but it is a coming of age story, full of fantastic adventures that shock and entertain. The ideas Darwin mulls over in this diary are still relevant today, and there's little in this book as controversial as his theories in On the Origin of Species.

I would love to teach this book to my students one day, but I don't know if that will ever be a possibility. The book is in the public domain and available online here: Aug 05, Mary Soderstrom rated it it was amazing. The Best Book I Ever Read on a Holiday We're going to take a little vacation, and along with getting house-sitters lined up, I've been thinking about what to take to read. Don't know yet, but I keep coming back to the best book I ever read while on a trip. It's Darwin's The Voyage of the Beagle. Now available as a free pdf, 35 years ago the edition I took along was a quality paperback that still is in one piece despite being consulted many times.

It was just the right size to tuck in a backpack or The Best Book I Ever Read on a Holiday We're going to take a little vacation, and along with getting house-sitters lined up, I've been thinking about what to take to read. It was just the right size to tuck in a backpack or to pull out at night in the twilight as we canped our way the US headed for California.

We hadn't been in Montreal very long, and this was our first trip back to visit family. We hiked quite a bit, and thought about what we were seeing. For example, I couldn't figure out the geography of the Colorado Plateau: I'd done some reading about the Sierra Nevada before we left California a few years befoe, so I had some idea about uplift and mountain building. The theory of plate tectonics was just being elaborated too, so there was much uncertainty about how things all happened.

A couple of text books picked up once back in Montreal helped me make sense of things. But Darwin had no textbooks to explain the many things he saw in the five year voyage around the world. His observations were his own, rendered with the enthusiasm of a young man he was only 22 when he started out and were pertinent enough to guide his thinking until the end of his life. Nov 13, Brett rated it really liked it Shelves: A book replete with historical value and awash with interesting tidbits scattered through the text. In the Voyage of the Beagle, written by young Darwin during his five years on the ship and in its many ports, we are treated to the earliest notions that would ultimately become ideas of such tremendous force that they would change the way we think of ourselves in relation to all of nature.

But those reviews that suggest this is a laugh-a-minute travelogue are a bit ingenuous. There are many intere A book replete with historical value and awash with interesting tidbits scattered through the text. There are many interesting passages where Darwin observes foreign cultures, describes patterns in nature, and generally reflects on his experiences.

There are also lots of long sections devoted to cataloging beetles and spiders or theorizing on the origins of various types of reefs. This is important scientific material, but not exactly compelling reading to dilettantes such as myself. The best part of the book is feeling very smart, because we know where Darwin's observations will eventually lead, even though he does not yet realize it.

So we can see the ideas just forming an outline and gain a little window into what it looks like right at the beginning of something that will soon become an avalanche. I really enjoyed this book a lot. It was a delight for me to discover that Charles Darwin was a real geek, brimming with an enthusiasm for all things geological or entomological or zoological that shines through in spite of the incredibly dry and haughty reading by David Case I was listening to the audiobook.

Darwin went on an unimaginably wild five-year adventure all the way around the world, but he refers only in passing to any of the danger or drama encountered: To him the fossils and geo I really enjoyed this book a lot. To him the fossils and geological strata are far more exciting. He seems to have lost his enthusiasm after crossing the Pacific, and his descriptions of New Zealand and Australia are peremptory and scathing compared to what came before, but he does regain some of his fervent curiousity upon theorizing about the origin of atolls Edit: So it would appear that he lost his enthusiasm after Tahiti.

I do wish I could have read an annotated and illustrated edition, because it can be hard to imagine the various animals described or the route taken, and Darwin provides no context for the Beagle's trip. Sep 07, Ardyth rated it really liked it. His notes were meticulous, and I imagine in person he was as pesky as a 21st century four year old. Some readers will find all this detail makes for dry reading, but I thought it was an inspiring lesson in attention and careful reflection on the information one has gathered on a topic.

Darwin also remarks on less scient My first Darwin. Darwin also remarks on less scientific topics which occurred to him during the voyage: He closes with a discussion of whether travelling around the world is to be recommended or no. All this in the journal of a new graduate, young and fresh and excitable. I can see why it was a hit. Sep 20, Stephen McQuiggan rated it really liked it. I'd rather have a barbed wire enema than read about the strata of granite or the formation of basalt - but once you wade through the geology you realize what a gem this book is.

It's very much of its time - there's an underlying superiority in his talk of 'savages' and civilized man, a by-product of Britain's rampant colonialism - but it is drenched with wonder too. Darwin's joy at unexplored nature is infectious, and his frequent descriptions of the indigenous tribes of S. America are fascinati I'd rather have a barbed wire enema than read about the strata of granite or the formation of basalt - but once you wade through the geology you realize what a gem this book is.

America are fascinating; and in the case of Jemmy Button and York Minster, slightly tragic. The world seems so much bigger here. When he wasn't knocking foxes on the skull with a rock hammer, Darwin was digging up some deep questions. This review has been hidden because it contains spoilers. To view it, click here.

Jo Stone-Fewings reads from the journal of his historic voyage. View all 3 comments. I have to confess that I'm a card-carrying Darwin fanboy: The theory of evolution is clearly one of the pinnacles of scientific discoveries. Darwin deserves enormous respect for articulating the theory. His thoughts had been gradually formed thanks to his earlier work, including the observations made on the voyage of the Beagle. It would blasphemous for me to rate the book about Darwin's celebrated trip described in great details by the great man himself anything but 5-stars.

The Galapagos islan I have to confess that I'm a card-carrying Darwin fanboy: The Galapagos islands, Tierra del Fuego, Patagonia Thanks to Darwin, these places have always been the places of legend since my childhood. It is on the eve of my upcoming pilgrim trip to the Galapagos islands that I am reading the book for, shall we say, spiritual ablution.

In this book, you'll find out about descriptions of the amazing nature and about the great man himself: Here are a few examples: How people survive two or three days under such circumstance, I can not imagine I thank God, I shall never again visit a slave-country. To this day, if I hear a distant scream, it recalls with painful vividness my feelings, when passing a house near Pernambuco, I heard the most pitiable moans, and could not but suspect that some poor slave was being tortured, yet knew I was as powerless as a child even to remonstrate.

Did you know those were years old echos of Darwin's closing sentence of "The Voyage of the Beagle"? I read this because, interested in biology and evolution, everything to do with Darwin picks my curiosity; and I was curious about the backgrounds to his major contribution -descent with modification through natural selection. I wasn't much interested in his views of various places and encounters with foreign people. Harsh as it sounds, such passages to me read like a touristic brochure and they felt off my hands. I acknowledge his strong stances against slavery he witnesse I read this because, interested in biology and evolution, everything to do with Darwin picks my curiosity; and I was curious about the backgrounds to his major contribution -descent with modification through natural selection.

I acknowledge his strong stances against slavery he witnessed it first hand in Brazil while I was puzzled and shocked by his strong prejudices against some people, but all in all couldn't get really fussed about the human aspect. Readers with an interest in anthropology will have to forgive me What really fascinated me is the inspiring insight such diary gives into Darwin's mind.

Biology, ecology, palaeontology, geology His acute intellect embraced many fields, and what a brilliant ability for synthesis he had! His descriptions of animals and plants including his nagging questioning about why so many different varieties of the same species are enthralling. His skills in bringing together geology and the poor fossil records available to him to conjure up a better understanding of Earth history is admirable. His flair, even if vague as yet, for the long term consequences of human impact on ecology e.

Most of all, his ability to overlook even his own preconceived ideas to try and face facts as they are is more than remarkable. Even his explanations on the formation of coral reefs is captivating and still long-standing! But as a cornerstone in natural sciences, its wide ranging and right on spot insights cannot be underestimated. A very interesting read. Well first I would like to say that I read a shortened version. The extreme descriptions of nature that would be of more interest to a scientist than a regular person were removed. There were still a lot of descriptions of nature in the book.

Darwin really writes everything he sees. It was pretty exciting reading about this journey of his. It is historically significant and I also can imagine how it must have been back then to travel and discover the world seeing new things one never saw. His des Well first I would like to say that I read a shortened version. His descriptions of the animals were pretty interesting. When it came to geological issues I could have lived without it. The chapter about Galapagos islands was great.

This is the main reason I started to read this book since I am soon going there, although to different islands than the ones Darwin described. He also talks about people he sees living there and their cultures. I found it pretty interesting. He was pretty progressive and was against slavery where people were tortured and abuse of horses. People seem to be turned off by his disrespect to native cultures but I don't really agree.

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He spoke with a lot of interest and sometimes even admiration of them. He didn't consider their cultures as civilized as European ones. But back in the days before the world got touched by extreme political correctness it was fine not to consider a civilization where people make scientific researches, travel the world, live in houses to be equal to the one where people don't cultivate land, don't know the Earth is round, sleep just on the floor in the bushes etc. Voyage of the Beagle 26 16 Sep 01, These baubles have never been allowed in the works of Cicero , Virgil and Horace.

Despite this protest, two sets of illustrations for Candide were produced by the French artist Jean-Michel Moreau le Jeune. Klee illustrated the work, and his drawings were published in a version edited by Kurt Wolff. Candide contains thirty episodic chapters, which may be grouped into two main schemes: By the former scheme, the first half of Candide constitutes the rising action and the last part the resolution.

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This view is supported by the strong theme of travel and quest, reminiscent of adventure and picaresque novels, which tend to employ such a dramatic structure. For this infraction, Candide is evicted from the castle, at which point he is captured by Bulgar Prussian recruiters and coerced into military service, where he is flogged , nearly executed, and forced to participate in a major battle between the Bulgars and the Avars an allegory representing the Prussians and the French. Candide eventually escapes the army and makes his way to Holland where he is given aid by Jacques, an Anabaptist , who strengthens Candide's optimism.

Soon after, Candide finds his master Pangloss, now a beggar with syphilis. Pangloss is cured of his illness by Jacques, losing one eye and one ear in the process, and the three set sail to Lisbon. In Lisbon's harbor, they are overtaken by a vicious storm which destroys the boat. Jacques attempts to save a sailor, and in the process is thrown overboard.

The sailor makes no move to help the drowning Jacques, and Candide is in a state of despair until Pangloss explains to him that Lisbon harbor was created in order for Jacques to drown. Only Pangloss, Candide, and the "brutish sailor" who let Jacques drown [48] survive the wreck and reach Lisbon, which is promptly hit by an earthquake, tsunami and fire that kill tens of thousands.

The sailor leaves in order to loot the rubble while Candide, injured and begging for help, is lectured on the optimistic view of the situation by Pangloss. Candide is flogged and sees Pangloss hanged, but another earthquake intervenes and he escapes. Her owners arrive, find her with another man, and Candide kills them both. Candide and the two women flee the city, heading to the Americas. The old woman reciprocates by revealing her own tragic life: Just then, an alcalde a Spanish fortress commander arrives, pursuing Candide for killing the Grand Inquisitor.

Leaving the women behind, Candide flees to Paraguay with his practical and heretofore unmentioned manservant, Cacambo. He explains that after his family was slaughtered, the Jesuits ' preparation for his burial revived him, and he has since joined the order. After lamenting all the people mainly priests he has killed, he and Cacambo flee.

In their flight, Candide and Cacambo come across two naked women being chased and bitten by a pair of monkeys. Candide, seeking to protect the women, shoots and kills the monkeys, but is informed by Cacambo that the monkeys and women were probably lovers. Cacambo and Candide are captured by Oreillons, or Orejones; members of the Inca nobility who widened the lobes of their ears, and are depicted here as the fictional inhabitants of the area. Mistaking Candide for a Jesuit by his robes, the Oreillons prepare to cook Candide and Cacambo; however, Cacambo convinces the Oreillons that Candide killed a Jesuit to procure the robe.

Cacambo and Candide are released and travel for a month on foot and then down a river by canoe, living on fruits and berries. After a few more adventures, Candide and Cacambo wander into El Dorado , a geographically isolated utopia where the streets are covered with precious stones, there exist no priests, and all of the king's jokes are funny.

The king points out that this is a foolish idea, but generously helps them do so. The pair continue their journey, now accompanied by one hundred red pack sheep carrying provisions and incredible sums of money, which they slowly lose or have stolen over the next few adventures. Candide and Cacambo eventually reach Suriname , where they split up: Candide's remaining sheep are stolen, and Candide is fined heavily by a Dutch magistrate for petulance over the theft. Before leaving Suriname, Candide feels in need of companionship, so he interviews a number of local men who have been through various ill-fortunes and settles on a man named Martin.

This companion, Martin, is a Manichaean scholar based on the real-life pessimist Pierre Bayle , who was a chief opponent of Leibniz. Candide, however, remains an optimist at heart, since it is all he knows. After a detour to Bordeaux and Paris , they arrive in England and see an admiral based on Admiral Byng being shot for not killing enough of the enemy. Martin explains that Britain finds it necessary to shoot an admiral from time to time " pour l'encouragement des autres " to encourage the others. Upon their arrival in Venice , Candide and Martin meet Paquette, the chambermaid who infected Pangloss with his syphilis, in Venice.

Although both appear happy on the surface, they reveal their despair: Paquette has led a miserable existence as a sexual object, and the monk detests the religious order in which he was indoctrinated. Candide and Martin visit the Lord Pococurante, a noble Venetian. Prior to their departure, Candide and Martin dine with six strangers who had come for Carnival of Venice.

These strangers are revealed to be dethroned kings: Candide buys their freedom and further passage at steep prices. One day, the protagonists seek out a dervish known as a great philosopher of the land. Candide asks him why Man is made to suffer so, and what they all ought to do. The dervish responds by asking rhetorically why Candide is concerned about the existence of evil and good.

The dervish describes human beings as mice on a ship sent by a king to Egypt; their comfort does not matter to the king. The dervish then slams his door on the group. Returning to their farm, Candide, Pangloss, and Martin meet a Turk whose philosophy is to devote his life only to simple work and not concern himself with external affairs. He and his four children cultivate a small area of land, and the work keeps them "free of three great evils: Candide ignores Pangloss's insistence that all turned out for the best by necessity, instead telling him "we must cultivate our garden" il faut cultiver notre jardin.

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As Voltaire himself described it, the purpose of Candide was to "bring amusement to a small number of men of wit". Candide is confronted with horrible events described in painstaking detail so often that it becomes humorous. Literary theorist Frances K. Barasch described Voltaire's matter-of-fact narrative as treating topics such as mass death "as coolly as a weather report". European governments such as France, Prussia, Portugal and England are each attacked ruthlessly by the author: Organised religion, too, is harshly treated in Candide.

Aldridge provides a characteristic example of such anti-clerical passages for which the work was banned: Here, Voltaire suggests the Christian mission in Paraguay is taking advantage of the local population. Voltaire depicts the Jesuits holding the indigenous peoples as slaves while they claim to be helping them. The main method of Candide ' s satire is to contrast ironically great tragedy and comedy. A simple example of the satire of Candide is seen in the treatment of the historic event witnessed by Candide and Martin in Portsmouth harbour.

There, the duo spy an anonymous admiral, supposed to represent John Byng , being executed for failing to properly engage a French fleet. The admiral is blindfolded and shot on the deck of his own ship, merely "to encourage the others" French: This depiction of military punishment trivializes Byng's death. The dry, pithy explanation "to encourage the others" thus satirises a serious historical event in characteristically Voltairian fashion.

For its classic wit, this phrase has become one of the more often quoted from Candide. Voltaire depicts the worst of the world and his pathetic hero's desperate effort to fit it into an optimistic outlook. Almost all of Candide is a discussion of various forms of evil: There is at least one notable exception: The positivity of El Dorado may be contrasted with the pessimistic attitude of most of the book.

Even in this case, the bliss of El Dorado is fleeting: Another element of the satire focuses on what William F. Bottiglia, author of many published works on Candide , calls the "sentimental foibles of the age" and Voltaire's attack on them. The characters of Candide are unrealistic, two-dimensional, mechanical, and even marionette -like; they are simplistic and stereotypical. Gardens are thought by many critics to play a critical symbolic role in Candide. Cyclically, the main characters of Candide conclude the novel in a garden of their own making, one which might represent celestial paradise.

The third most prominent "garden" is El Dorado , which may be a false Eden. This is analogous to Voltaire's own view on gardening: Candide satirises various philosophical and religious theories that Voltaire had previously criticised. Primary among these is Leibnizian optimism sometimes called Panglossianism after its fictional proponent , which Voltaire ridicules with descriptions of seemingly endless calamity. Also, war, thievery, and murder—evils of human design—are explored as extensively in Candide as are environmental ills. Bottiglia notes Voltaire is "comprehensive" in his enumeration of the world's evils.

He is unrelenting in attacking Leibnizian optimism. Fundamental to Voltaire's attack is Candide's tutor Pangloss, a self-proclaimed follower of Leibniz and a teacher of his doctrine. Ridicule of Pangloss's theories thus ridicules Leibniz himself, and Pangloss's reasoning is silly at best. For example, Pangloss's first teachings of the narrative absurdly mix up cause and effect:. It is demonstrable that things cannot be otherwise than as they are; for as all things have been created for some end, they must necessarily be created for the best end.

Observe, for instance, the nose is formed for spectacles, therefore we wear spectacles. Following such flawed reasoning even more doggedly than Candide, Pangloss defends optimism. Whatever their horrendous fortune, Pangloss reiterates "all is for the best" " Tout est pour le mieux " and proceeds to "justify" the evil event's occurrence. A characteristic example of such theodicy is found in Pangloss's explanation of why it is good that syphilis exists:. Candide, the impressionable and incompetent student of Pangloss, often tries to justify evil, fails, invokes his mentor and eventually despairs.

It is by these failures that Candide is painfully cured as Voltaire would see it of his optimism. She was definitely my favourite character, but her relationship to canines seemed very inconsistent throughout the book. Also her relationship with time, or time throughout the whole book. This I initially thought suggested that she could see the future. But she isn't able to make an electric lightbulb, which is strange because the principle behind it isn't that complicated and if she already knows how it works, I don't see why it doesn't.

And, actually the temporal setting of the story is weird too because there are loads of anachronisms if it is supposed to be set in the distant past, but it explicitly says that the world is only years old. But for me that's also problematic in that it takes a lot of the sting out of the novel.

If it's a different timeline, none of the parallels to modern reality that we see in the novel, which seem to be Findley setting up modern crises in the conflicts of the ark like militarization actually mean anything. If people on the ark kill a creature, it won't matter because it isn't going to be part of our world anyway. So that bugged me. I suppose I was just supposed to ignore that and be grateful for temporal inconsistencies because it "deepened the artistic meaning" stupid classics but I am a fantasy reader reading what is justifiably characterized as a fantasy novel, and while I am very willing to suspend my disbelief about magic, I am not about plot holes.

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In a less revered book such inconsistencies would suggest sloppy writing. The other con is also spoilery. I know it was inevitable, and the use of a unicorn was ironic, and fit well into the characterization of all the people involved, but I still didn't like it. I suppose I should wax eloquent about the beautiful writing, and it was very nice, though I generally prefer to ignore the writing unless it specifically creates a mood for the book which contributes to the plot.

This didn't, so I found it a bit distracting. But nice distracting, like trying to read while a kitten is crawling on your lap. It was also surprisingly funny. I'd say that I couldn't believe a book about the end of the world could be this funny, but I've read Good Omens. So I will stick to "it was surprisingly funny.

For instance, the singing sheep. On one level, they are obviously funny. But also, my strongest previous relationship to the Noah story was singing one of the children's chorus parts in the opera? Noye's Flude when I was about 10 I was the female jackal. So the singing sheep were really funny to me, since a lot of what they were singing were lyrics from the opera.

I like to think that other people would also find it funny in their own personal way, which I really appreciate. This review is getting really long so I am going to cut it short, and just briefly summarize a couple of other things that I liked. I really liked some of the characters. The good characters were even better. They were exactly what I liked - none of them were ideal or two dimensional, but they all were resilient and interesting.

Lucy was my favourite character, but Mrs. Noye was really the best and I loved the scenes with her alone. The book also had some really zingy one liners that were substantiated nicely. For anyone who's old enough to get through a rape scene, and likes fantasy. Fortunately, if you're too proud to read that genre, you can just pretend it's a classic and read it without fear on the subway. Aug 23, Cait rated it it was amazing Shelves: So good, and so creepy. A different take on the tale of Noah and the Ark. There is definitely more going on in this story than the simple "two by two" that I was taught as a child.

I'll never think of the story the same way again. This book is seared into my brain. Fantastic read, really recommend it. One of my favourites. Jul 24, Paul Boucher rated it really liked it. Found it clever and subversive. Oct 21, Jenn rated it it was amazing. Feb 04, Philippa Dowding rated it liked it. What was so bad about humanity that Yaweh God wanted to drown everyone and start again? What was Noah really like? Just how big WAS that ark, and what did Noah's family not to mention the animals think of the whole ark adventure? If these questions have plagued you, then you might enjoy this strange and fantastical tale about Noah's Ark.

I met Timothy Findley a few times when I was an English student, once as an undergraduate and once as a graduate student at University of Toronto in He What was so bad about humanity that Yaweh God wanted to drown everyone and start again? He was charming, warm, sweet, funny, and a great reader, it was a joy to listen to him read his work. At the time, he was one of Canada's top fiction authors, along with Atwood and Ondaatje. He died way too soon. When I first read this book in as part of my graduate class in Canadian contemporary authors , I loved it.

There's a magical moment at the heart of every Findley book, and I remember thinking the scene with Mrs. Noyes and the Faeries in the river was the best thing I'd ever read. I also loved Mottyl the cat, and the story that she tells from the animal's point of view, which parallels the human story. Fast-forward to , and I realize how much I've changed as a reader. I still enjoyed the book, and the scene with Mrs. Noyes and the Faeries was still as fine as anything I've ever read, but the extended descriptions and the flourishes with the prose got to me. I found I grew tired of all the funny asides and the ornate descriptions of the creatures in the pre-diluvian world.

Still, it's a wonderful piece of speculative fiction, one that every student of Canadian literature or stories of the fall, should read. There's an incredible imagination at work here, as always with Findley, and it's definitely worth reading if you've ever wondered exactly HOW to load animals onto an ark, and what squabbles Noah and his family might have had with each other in such close quarters, over an extended period of time.

There's also, obviously, quite a bit of religious examination cloaked in the daily familiar, in the hyper-real and even occasionally the magically real. Why does God get to torture us? Who's worthy of saving? In the end, I think Findley suggests that the animals were far more patient and forgiving of each other, and therefore far more worthy of the voyage, than their human counterparts.

Odd, strange, quite beautiful at times, read it once for sure. Feb 21, Elliot A rated it it was amazing Shelves: I read this book for a course I took in the fall of There are only a few books that will haunt you for almost five years and this one will exactly do so. It is creepy, vulgar, blunt, with a side of rare and raw humour. It throws human behaviour at its worse in your face and shows you the depth of a person's character. Egocentrism, lack of communication and the oh-so-familiar topic of gender hierarchy within the "traditional" family and family dynamics in general are only a few of the topic I read this book for a course I took in the fall of Egocentrism, lack of communication and the oh-so-familiar topic of gender hierarchy within the "traditional" family and family dynamics in general are only a few of the topics addressed through this very un-Biblical re-telling of the great flood.

Some of the sections in the book can be quite horrific, others show the brutality of a person's actions to the point of making the reader sick and frustrated at the same time. I found it sometimes very difficult to make it through a chapter. Sometimes the story would stretch out endlessly without continuing at all and then suddenly picking up again to reach a comfortable pace of action. Overall, this story was truly amazing for so many different reasons. However, it requires some patience to get through and the subject matter as a whole may not suit everyone.

I generally love Findley's writing and storytelling style but what I recall of reading this book many years ago long enough ago, in fact, that I don't remember clearly when was how disoriented I felt at every twist and turn of the plot. Findley's story and the characters th I generally love Findley's writing and storytelling style but what I recall of reading this book many years ago long enough ago, in fact, that I don't remember clearly when was how disoriented I felt at every twist and turn of the plot.

I may try to fill in more details if I find a chance to read it again but for now, just be advised that the book doesn't offer much opportunity for mental repose. Re-read it and discovered that my impression this time around was a little different but not significantly so. If you enjoy Findley's style as a rule, I'd recommend it for sure. Timothy Irving Frederick Findley was a Canadian novelist and playwright. He was also informally known by the nickname Tiff or Tiffy, an acronym of his initials. His paternal grandfather was president of Massey-Harris, the farm-machinery company.

He was raised in the upper class Rosedale district of the city, attending boarding school at St. Andrew's College although leaving during grade 10 for health reasons. He pursued a career in the arts, studying dance and acting, and had significant success as an actor before turning to writing. He was part of the original Stratford Festival company in the s, acting alongside Alec Guinness, and appeared in the first production of Thornton Wilder's The Matchmaker at the Edinburgh Festival.

Eventually he became the domestic partner of writer Bill Whitehead, whom he met in Findley and Whitehead also collaborated on several documentary projects in the s, including the television miniseries The National Dream and Dieppe Through Wilder, Findley became a close friend of actress Ruth Gordon, whose work as a screenwriter and playwright inspired Findley to consider writing as well.

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After Findley published his first short story in the Tamarack Review, Gordon encouraged him to pursue writing more actively, and he eventually left acting in the s. Findley's first two novels, The Last of the Crazy People and The Butterfly Plague , were originally published in Britain and the United States after having been rejected by Canadian publishers. Findley's third novel, The Wars, was published to great acclaim in and went on to win the Governor General's Award for English-language fiction.

It was adapted for film in His writing was typical of the Southern Ontario Gothic style — Findley, in fact, first invented its name — and was heavily influenced by Jungian psychology. Mental illness, gender and sexuality were frequent recurring themes in his work. His characters often carried dark personal secrets, and were often conflicted — sometimes to the point of psychosis — by these burdens.

He publicly mentioned his homosexuality, passingly and perhaps for the first time, on a broadcast of the programme The Shulman File in the s, taking flabbergasted host Morton Shulman completely by surprise. In , Findley was honoured by the French government, who declared him a Chevalier de l'Ordre des arts et des lettres. Findley was also the author of several dramas for television and stage. Elizabeth Rex, his most successful play, premiered at the Stratford Festival of Canada to rave reviews and won a Governor General's award.

Shadows, first performed in , was his last completed work. Findley was also an active mentor to a number of young Canadian writers, including Marnie Woodrow and Elizabeth Ruth. Books by Timothy Findley. Quotes from Not Wanted on the And I left that place because it was intolerant of rain. Now, we are here in a place where there are no trees and there is only rain. And I intend to leave this place - because it is intolerant of light. Somewhere - there must be somewhere where darkness and light are reconciled.