Every living thing : the great and deadly race to know all life
Roberts, Jason (President of Panmedia Corporation)2024
Book
Total copies: 1
In the 18th century, two men dedicated their lives to the same daunting task: identifying and describing all life on Earth. Their approaches could not have been more different. Carl Linnaeus, a pious Swedish doctor with a huckster's flair, believed that life belonged in tidy, static categories. Georges-Louis de Buffon, an aristocratic polymath and keeper of France's royal garden, viewed life as a dynamic, ever-changing swirl of complexities. Both began believing their work to be difficult, but not impossible - how could the planet possibly hold more than a few thousand species? Stunned by life's diversity, both fell far short of their goal. But in the process they articulated starkly divergent views on nature, on humanity's role in shaping the fate of our planet, and on humanity itself. The rivalry between these two unique, driven individuals created reverberations that still echo today.
Main title:
Every living thing : the great and deadly race to know all life / Jason Roberts.
Author:
Imprint:
London : riverrun, 2024.
Collation:
xii, 407 pages : illustrations (black and white) ; 24 cm
Notes:
Includes bibliographical references and index.
ISBN:
9781529400465 (hbk)
Dewey class:
508.0922
Language:
English
Subject:
LinneĢ, Carl von, 1707-1778Buffon, Georges Louis Leclerc, comte de, 1707-1788Natural history -- Classification -- History -- 18th centuryBiology -- Classification -- History -- 18th centuryPopular Science and NatureHistory of scienceBiology, life sciencesGenetics (non-medical)Botany & plant sciencesNature & the natural world: general interest
BRN:
737803