On the short list of my most talented friends Eric Simons has always hovered near the top. An excellent and generous guy, he was one of my best friends in college and remains so now. He’s an alarmingly good writer to boot. (And I don’t say this simply because I still owe his brother twenty bucks).
Eric with a plaque dedicated to Darwin, near the top of Cerro La Campana in Chile.
Now, at the ripe old age of 28, he’s published his first book, Darwin Slept Here, a travelogue retracing a twenty-something Charles Darwin’s footsteps through South America. I’m lucky enough to have an advance copy, and it’s proved to be a great read. If you like travel writing, scientific biographies, or smart authors for that matter, the book drops January 22nd. Do yourself a favor and pick up a copy.
Eric and a few other friends turned me on to travel writing during college and as a result I’ve had a number of the most rewarding reads of my adult life. William Least Heat-Moon, Tony Horwitz, and a few others of their ilk have become some of my favorite authors.
Travel essays can provide lots of good social context and a narrative backdrop for even the most tangled and complicated of issues. While I was at Seed, writing short reviews of books by Bruce Stutz and others, I predicted that “With some of the biggest scientific puzzles of the new century centering around climate and geography, travel writing promises to be the next big thing in science journalism.”
As a scientific biography, Eric’s book hits all the right notes in this regard. Sifting through his numerous travels in South America for parallels to Darwin’s experiences there, Eric manages to provide new context for some of the defining events in Darwin’s young life and to retrieve many oft-overlooked aspects of Darwin-the-man, and his development, from caricatures of Darwin-the-scientist.
But the point of this post isn’t to suggest that Eric’s book underscores some point of mine—in fact that might be something of a stretch. For one, the book is far more of a travelogue than a popular science narrative. Darwin’s rides with the Argentine gauchos and the development of his political conscience are as much the order of the day as any “geologizing” that Darwin may have done (though Eric spins together a compelling case that all these things are inextricable). Moreover, I think the author would be just as pleased, if not more so, to find his book filed in stores alongside Blue Latitudes as with The Elegant Universe. I suspect the book, handled with Eric’s usual great talent and meticulous self-editing, won’t disappoint either audience.
The cover of Eric's upcoming book.
One other thing about Eric’s book, which should further help you decide whether this is a biased review: I’m in it. That’s right. I’ve read books, reviewed books, even edited passages of them for publication in a magazine (I once subjected His Holiness the Dalai Lama to my red pen, a thought which frightens me each time I reflect on it). But this is the first time I’ve ever been a character in one. Eric invited me along on the last leg of his trip and I was at a total loss to say no.
Eric’s been kind to me. I come off as a brilliant, but often reluctant traveler, with a jocular sense of humor and an occasionally foul mouth. Of course, it’s a caricature. Condensing weeks’ worth of travels to a few pages, while opening up the complexities of Darwin’s personality and the landscape he explored means caricaturing a lot of other things. And so I’m there to provide color and comic relief. I’m certainly not as bright or funny as Eric makes me out to be. Nor, I imagine, was I quite so reluctant. Truth be known, I was quite eager for adventure during most of our trip. But focusing in on those moments where I was flustered does a great deal to flavor the narrative, and I for one enjoy the book more for it. As for my choice of language, I apologize to genteel readers and submit that before our trip I’d just spent a full year in New York City, where much of the vocabulary is not to be found on SAT lists.
In any case, the point is, buy the book. With or without my cameo, it’s something special.
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Josh, I’m Eric’s grandfather. I just sent him my take on his book, which was totally without bias of course.
Your reveiw is much better than mine. I compared Eric to Darwin and said if he, Eric, had been living in Darwin’s day he probably would have traveled and explored the unknown too. Eric has always had am enquisitive mind and loves to explore.
You played an important part in his travels as well as in his book. I think he is fortunate to have you as a friend.
Thanks so much. It’s very nice of you to say. I’m just happy to have gotten to go along for the ride—and now to meet you, of course, albeit it virtually.