In 1831, Charles Darwin embarked on an expedition that, in his own words, determined my whole career. The Voyage of the Beagle chronicles his five-year journey around the world and especially the coastal waters of South America as a naturalist on the H.M.S. Beagle. While traveling through these unexplored countries collecting specimens, Darwin began to formulate the theories of evolution and natural selection realized in his master work, The Origin of Species. Travel memoir and scientific primer alike, The Voyage of the Beagle is a lively and accessible introduction to the mind of one of history's most influential thinkers.

达尔文（1809-1882），英国博物学家，进化论的奠基人。1825年至1828年达尔文在爱丁堡大学学医，后进入剑桥大学学习神学。1831年从剑桥大学毕业后，以博物学家的身份乘海军勘探船“小猎犬号”作历时5年（1831-1836）的环球旅行，观察和搜集了动物、植物的地质等方面的大量材料，经过归纳整理和分析，形成了生物进化的概念。1859年出版《物种起源》一书，全面提出以自然选择为基础的进化学说。该书出版震动当时的学术界，使当时生物学各领域已经形成的概念和观念发生根本性的改变。