NCSE is pleased to offer a free preview (PDF) of James T. Costa's Darwin's Backyard: How Small Experiments Led to a Big Theory (W. W. Norton, 2017). The preview consists of the preface, in which Costa explains his goal to describe "how we can draw upon Darwin in exploring nature and better understanding evolution and how science works" and chapter 2, "Barnacles to Barbs," which discusses Darwin's own research on cirripedes and pigeons.
The reviewer for Science writes, "[Costa] has done something very important with this new book: He has brought Darwin fully to life. ... Costa has written an intimate and big-hearted book. In its pages, readers will discover the real Darwin, a complicated man behind a revolutionary theory." Costa is a professor of biology at Western Carolina University and executive director of the Highlands Biological Station.