Description
Every Living Thing tells the dramatic, globe-spanning and meticulously researched story of two scientific rivals and their race to survey all life on Earth. In the 18th century, Carl Linnaeus, a pious Swedish doctor with a huckster’s flair, believed life belonged in tidy, static categories, while Georges-Louis de Buffon, an aristocratic polymath and keeper of France’s royal garden, viewed it as a dynamic swirl of complexities. Both were stunned by the diversity of life and fell far short of their goal, but their work produced sharply divergent views of nature, humanity’s role in shaping the planet’s fate and humanity itself. Linnaeus and the explorer “apostles” he sent into the world introduced concepts such as mammal, primate and Homo sapiens, while also promoting racist pseudo-science. Buffon coined the term reproduction, anticipated ideas about evolution and genetics, and argued against prejudice. Drawing on more than a decade of research, Jason Roberts traces their rivalry, discoveries and enduring legacies across three centuries.
Information
Author: Roberts Jason
Language: English
Publication date: April 11, 2024
Manufacturer: Hachette UK Distribution Ltd.
Genres: English literature, Books, Foreign language books, Books on science in english, Non-fiction literature in english
Type: Paperback book
Pages: 408
ISBN/EAN: 9781529400472