Image of the Day: The Creative Evolution of Darwin's "Origin of the Species"

[n2doc]

In a brilliant new work, Ben Fry, one of the demigods of information graphics, traces the evolution of Charles Darwin's Origin of the Species correction by correction, edit by edit, revealing the stunning creative process of one of the great geniuses of the modern era. Fry's info-graphic image is titled "The Preservation of Favoured Traces"--a play on Darwin's famous phrase, the preservation of favored traits. You have to click the links to see Darwin's mind at work.

Darwin's work evolved over the course of several editions he wrote, edited, and updated during his lifetime. Among the changes Fry points out in the second edition, for example, Darwin adds a notable “by the Creator” to the closing paragraph, giving greater attribution to a higher power. In another example, the phrase “survival of the fittest” — considered central to the theory of natural selection and often attributed to Darwin — is shown instead to have been borrowed from British philosopher Herbert Spencer, and didn't appear until the fifth edition of the text.

http://benfry.com/traces/

(it is a flash animation, or else I would try to post it here. Well worth looking at)
http://www.dailygalaxy.com/my_weblog/2009/09/-image-of-the-day-the-creative-evolution-of-charles-darwins-origin-of-the-species.html

[Ian David]

1. It looks like he's defragmenting a hard drive. n/t