According to some critics, Stone has been remarkably restrained both in his choice of title for this massive novel, and in the selection and presentation of its contents. They believe that he successfully joined together the three genres of biography, history and fiction and solved the problem of crossbreeding through his lucid narrator, the structure of the novel, and the handling of details.

The structure of the novel is built to introduce the reader first to Darwin, the fact-finder and scientist, then later to Darwin, the family man. In the first section of the novel, Stone describes Darwin's off-shore and on-shore experiences on a surveying trip to South America. Describing the journey in lavish detail, he gives proper emphasis to the visits that young Darwin took to the Galapagos Islands and the data he found there which ultimately sowed the seed for "The Origin of Species."

(Stone even...