Charles Darwin Online

eldavojohn writes "The entire works of Charles Darwin have been made available online. It includes scanned works that were owned by his family — many of which were signed by the author. The University of Cambridge hopes to have this completed by 2009 and is only estimated to be about half way done. If you have any love for books whatsoever, I suggest you take a look at how they present the user with each book. Take the very first edition of On the Origin of Species, for example, where they use frames to display the text on the left with the original image on the right. From the Reuters article: 'Other items in the free collection of 50,000 pages and 40,000 images are the first editions of the Journal of Researchers, written in 1839, The Descent of Man, The Zoology of the Voyage of HMS Beagle, which includes his observations during his five-year trip to the Amazon, Patagonia and the Pacific, and the first five editions of the Origin of Species.'"

Comments

5 years?!

[Godji]

...during his five-year trip to the Amazon...

Ouch, they must have had really slow Internet at the time. I mean now I can get to Amazon and back in like 30 ms!

Re:For those interested in a modern intro to the m

[Marxist Hacker 42]

Here in the US, I've found that many people call themselves "Christian" rather than any denomination, as they they're the "real" Christians or something. It's very confusing.

Yes, indeed it is- which is why I avoid calling myself a Christian.

Where exactly is this bit in Peter about good works? I'll have to remember that next time I talk to a Christian.

Actuall, Peter was the "Cloud of Witnesses", the Saints. James is the one who said "Not by faith alone are we saved, but by every good work"- a direct refutation of the common Evangelical Protestant doctrine of Sola Fides/Sola Gracias- by faith and grace alone are we saved. I never remember the verse number (I'm about the furtherest thing you can get from a Bible thumper) but a search of any online English bible for the words "Faith Alone" will turn it up.

The statues bit comes from what I've heard many Protestants say about Catholics. They seem to think that Catholics actually worship the statues they have in churches, rather than them being just statues to look at and remind you of certain people like the rest of the sane world.

Part of the problem there is that Catholics have a different meaning of the word "Pray" than other Christians do- we use it in the Old English form of a petition, or even just talking to a beloved but dead family member. It has nothing to do with worship for us.

What's wrong with Quantum Mechanics? It's a little weird, but it has accurately predicted many things and hasn't been superceded by anything else yet. Of course, it breaks down for many cases, just as Einstein's and Newton's theories break down for some cases which is why Physicists have been looking for the "holy grail" of unification theories for quite some time.

The theological problem with Quantum Mechanics is the same problem we have with Islamic Fundamentalists right now- an unpredictable universe. A random event just isn't rational from our understanding of God and the Universe; but there's a way out theologically, simply by redefining the word random to that which human beings cannot predict. A fine line, but the more the philosophy behind science progresses, the closer we get to knowing the mind of God, the more miraculous His creation seems, and the smaller his actual act of creation is.