While I was doing a few book launch events, folks remarked about the preface and the opening chapter. The former is an actual quote from the Introduction to Hereditary Genius, by Sir Francis Galton. The latter is a fictional letter, written in 1863 by a colleague of Charles Darwin and Sir Francis Galton.
I received compliments that the writing style of the letter seemed authentic to the period, reinforced by comparison to the preface (written in 1869).
I shared with them two resources. First, you can read actual correspondence to and from Charles Darwin at this amazing site:
Second, Hereditary Genius is available to read and download. Sir Francis Galton was a pioneer of statistics and the first person to apply statistical methods of testing to differentiate humans. He also coined the term "nature versus nurture."
You can find all his works here - galton.org
These first hand accounts of early scientists and their thought processes are really amazing. They were developing and uncovering core scientific principles using only their own powers of observation.
I think we've lost some of that creative ability today, with too much information spoon fed to us with the click of a button.
Anyway, I'll stop ranting and let you get on with it.