Our observance of Darwin Day 2024 — the birthday of the iconic scientist — continues. Why didn’t Charles Darwin finish and publish his promised sequel to On the Origin of Species? Is it possible to separate Darwin the Myth from Darwin the Man to find the answer? On a new episode of ID the Future, I begin a conversation with author and professor Dr. Robert Shedinger about his new book, Darwin’s Bluff: The Mystery of the Book Darwin Never Finished. 

Most Darwin scholars take for granted that he satisfied the question of the origin of species. They promote a mythological view of Darwin as a scientific and cultural icon who forever changed the world with his theory of evolution by natural selection. But what if we study his life and work without making that assumption? Quite by accident, Dr. Shedinger began reading the voluminous private correspondence of the enigmatic naturalist. The letters to family, friends, and other scientists of his day revealed to him a very different Darwin from the myth — a Darwin prone to insecurity, false modesty, and rhetorical craftiness.

In Part 1, Dr. Shedinger explains the importance of comprehensively engaging with Darwin’s correspondence. He also reveals the frailties of Darwin that help us see him in a very different light. Harboring a secret fear that he’d become what his father said he would — a disgrace to himself and his family — Darwin desperately sought status and recognition in the scientific community of his day. After formulating his theory of natural selection, no contradicting argument or evidence could dissuade him from it. But what if he was wrong? In his study of Darwin, Shedinger dares to ask this question, perhaps the most important Darwin question of all.

Download the podcast or listen to it here. This is Part 1 of a two-part conversation. Look for Part 2 next!

Dig Deeper

• Order your copy of Darwin’s Bluff today!