I enjoy the hopeful, fascinated mindset of the 19th century scientists, and Darwin was one of the greats. This autobiography had a chatty style that lays out the corse of his life, his research methods and mentors, and the various subjects that fascinated him. It was written for his family and heavily edited to remove information about the Darwin family. I very much want to read the unedited annotated version released by his descendent Nora Barlow.