On the Origin of Species the publication of "On the Origin of Species" and the bicentenary of Darwin's birth were scheduled for 2009. They celebrated the ideas which "over the last 150 years have revolutionised our understanding of nature and our place within it". In a survey conducted by a group of academic booksellers, publishers and librarians in advance of Academic Book Week in the United Kingdom, "On the Origin of Species" was voted the most influential academic book ever written. It was hailed as "the supreme demonstration of why academic books matter" and "a book which has changed the way we think about everything".
Reactions to On the Origin of Species breeding that would eventually form part of "The Variation of Animals and Plants under Domestication". He wrote to Asa Gray and used the example of fantail pigeons to argue against Gray's belief "that variation has been led along certain beneficial lines", with the implication of Creationism rather than Natural Selection. Over the winter he organised a third edition of the "Origin", adding an introductory historical sketch. Asa Gray had published three supportive articles in the "Atlantic Monthly". Darwin persuaded Gray to publish them as a pamphlet, and was delighted when Gray came up with the title of "Natural Selection Not