The bicentennial of the birth of Charles Darwin and the 150th anniversary of his ground-breaking publication On the Origin of Species will be celebrated throughout the world in 2009 with major exhibitions and a major motion picture about his life. Author James Taylor commemorates the anniversaries with a book that takes the title of one of Darwin's great works to present an updated and comprehensively illustrated version of the travels of the Beagle. He includes a full history of the storied vessel and the complete plans and designs of the ship, along with biographies of Darwin and Capt. Robert Fitzroy, paintings, portraits, caricatures, photographs, artifacts, and journal extracts. In compiling this extraordinary wealth of materials, Taylor has woven together all strands of the Beagle story to produce a thoroughly engaging and highly informative book.