The Expression of the Emotions in Man and Animals - by Charles Darwin (Paperback)

About the Book

Highly readable 1872 study by the great naturalist examines how people and animals display fear, anger, and pleasure. Abounding in anecdotes and quotations, it continues to inspire contemporary research. 21 figures, 7 plates.

Book Synopsis

In this highly readable study, one of the great pioneers of modern science examines how people and animals display varieties of emotions via their facial expressions. British naturalist Charles Darwin -- who expounded the theory of evolution by natural selection, the principle that launched a scientific revolution -- based this survey on his personal observations. Most of his findings were proven by later research, and today's behavioral scientists continue to draw upon this work for both knowledge and inspiration.
A bestseller when it was first published in 1872, Darwin's inquiry addresses issues related to human origins and psychology in terms of evolutionary values. His methods include the study of facial expressions in infants and children, the insane, animals, painting and sculpture, and among people in different cultures. Also notable is the fact that this is one of the first books to employ photographs in the interests of science. Abounding in anecdotes and literary quotations, the work offers a direct approach that makes it accessible to professionals and amateurs alike -- in fact, to anyone with an inquiring mind.

About the Author

Charles Darwin was born in England in 1809 and attended the University of Edinburgh to study medicine. When he decided against that vocation, he enrolled at Cambridge where he earned a degree in theology. During an expedition to Africa and South America, Darwin continued his studies in natural science and began writing about his theories of natural selection. His work led to the publication of On the Origin of Species, a book that changed the world.

Charles Darwin: Original Thinking
Each generation of students comes to Darwin's epoch-making works, several of which are the basis of our publishing program in biology and related fields: The Essential Darwin, 2006; The Descent of Man, 2010; The Expression of the Emotions in Man and Animals, 2006; and On the Origin of the Species, 2006.

In the Author's Own Words:

"A mathematician is a blind man in a dark room looking for a black cat which isn't there."

"I feel most deeply that this whole question of Creation is too profound for human intellect. A dog might as well speculate on the mind of Newton! Let each man hope and believe what he can."

"Ignorance more frequently begets confidence than does knowledge: it is those who know little, not those who know much, who so positively assert that this or that problem will never be solved by science."

"There is grandeur in this view of life, with its several powers, having been originally breathed into a few forms or into one; and that, whilst this planet has gone cycling on according to the fixed law of gravity, from so simple a beginning endless forms most beautiful and most wonderful have been, and are being, evolved."

"Man with all his noble qualities, with sympathy which feels for the most debased, with benevolence which extends not only to other men but to the humblest living creature, with his god-like intellect which has penetrated into the movements and constitution of the solar system -- with all these exalted powers -- Man still bears in his bodily frame the indelible stamp of his lowly origin." -- Charles Darwin