The Canticle of the Creatures. With the theory of evolution set out in "On the Origin of Species" to explain the “mystery of mysteries” of biology, Darwin moves beyond earlier conceptions of an unchanging nature, as well as teleological views of evolution. I aimed for a distilled idea, combining the peacock and the book for two reasons: the peacock (and its tail) is the archetypal example of sexual selection in the history of evolution, while the column I illustrated focuses on books that have changed the course of science.