On the basis of a five-year voyage along the coast of South America and a great deal of thinking and observation in his native England, Charles Darwin not only reinvented the natural sciences but irrevocably altered humanity's picture of itself. The theory of evolution alone would make him one of the most important scientists in world history. But Darwin's curiosity also attached itself to rain forests and coral reefs, orchids and earthworms, "savage" man and carnivorous plants, child psychology and the utility of the emotions.

The Portable Darwin contains five chapters from The Origin of Species, complete and unabridged; significant extracts from the works that precede and develop the theory of evolution - The Voyage of the Beagle, The Descent of Man and The Variation of Animals and Plants; scientific papers, travel writings, letters, and a family memorial; plus a chronology, bibliography, and an introduction, notes, and epilogue by Duncan M. Porter and Peter W. Graham.