Under the pen of contemporary writers the Galapagos Islands are either a Garden of Eden or a hellish lava moonscape. Charles Darwin, the English naturalist and most influential of Galapagos' explorers, was not initially impressed. Time and considerable contemplation would eventually lead him to see the volcanic islands as a living laboratory of natural history. Twenty three years would transpire between the voyage of the Beagle, in 1836, that carried Darwin to the islands, and publication of his On the Origen of Species. This singular work by the highly religious and shy naturalist would unleash fiery debate worldwide and change the paradigms of human thought forever.