We have updated our Privacy Policy Please take a moment to review it. By continuing to use this site, you agree to the terms of our updated Privacy Policy.
An exploration of two geniuses with limitless minds and the conflict that has lasted beyond their lifetimes.
Every Living Thing centres on the rivalry pledged between two scientists, Linnaeus and Buffon, who, from 1743 to 1778 raced each other to complete an inventory of all life on Earth. Their focus was on scientific immortality and the core conception of our relationship to the natural world. Their catalogues were starkly different and showed a divergence of opinion on the creation of nature and humanity. Buffon advocating for a natural system of classification, while Linnaeus was dedicated to naming and classifying objects of nature.
This book coins this competition the Nature Wars, and combines comprehensive narrative, interweaving the personal journeys of Linnaeus and Buffon, telling their moments of accomplishment and loss, persistence and sacrifice.
Reflecting on this rivalry, Every Living Thing confronts how the Nature Wars are still being waged today. Current innovations in science and technology, as artificial intelligence seeps into our daily lives and modern DNA labs are forcing us to reconsider the legacies of these great thinkers, and with this, re-imagine our relationship to the natural world.
Every Living Thing is an enthralling account of historic rivals who were forced to comes to terms with the vast and complex reality of life on Earth, exploring the evolution of science from the 18th Century to the present times, it tells of the displacement that has occurred as new discoveries create dramatic shifts in the mechanisms of the world.
Every Living Thing centres on the rivalry pledged between two scientists, Linnaeus and Buffon, who, from 1743 to 1778 raced each other to complete an inventory of all life on Earth. Their focus was on scientific immortality and the core conception of our relationship to the natural world. Their catalogues were starkly different and showed a divergence of opinion on the creation of nature and humanity. Buffon advocating for a natural system of classification, while Linnaeus was dedicated to naming and classifying objects of nature.
This book coins this competition the Nature Wars, and combines comprehensive narrative, interweaving the personal journeys of Linnaeus and Buffon, telling their moments of accomplishment and loss, persistence and sacrifice.
Reflecting on this rivalry, Every Living Thing confronts how the Nature Wars are still being waged today. Current innovations in science and technology, as artificial intelligence seeps into our daily lives and modern DNA labs are forcing us to reconsider the legacies of these great thinkers, and with this, re-imagine our relationship to the natural world.
Every Living Thing is an enthralling account of historic rivals who were forced to comes to terms with the vast and complex reality of life on Earth, exploring the evolution of science from the 18th Century to the present times, it tells of the displacement that has occurred as new discoveries create dramatic shifts in the mechanisms of the world.
Newsletter Signup
By clicking ‘Sign Up,’ I acknowledge that I have read and agree to Hachette Book Group’s Privacy Policy and Terms of Use
Reviews
Barely a dozen letters of the alphabet suffice to categorize every star in the cosmos, but when it comes to naming and classifying living things, the job gets more complicated. As Jason Roberts reveals in this vibrant scientific saga, taxonomists take up their mission with a mix of insight and foresight, colored by their moment in history, not to mention their foibles, their vanity, and their all-too-human prejudices. The thousands of definitive two-part labels given to plants and animals since the 18th century tell a story at once important, outrageous, enlightening, entertaining, enduring, and still evolving.
A lively, panoramic contribution to the history of science.
Illuminating . . . an enthralling look at a pivotal period in the history of biology.
Jason Roberts brings an amazing episode in the European scientific enlightenment of the 1700s to life in following the entwined careers of Buffon and Linnaeus. Naming all the species on Earth was their aim, and these two very different, brilliant polymaths progressed a long way in their aims. Jason Roberts strides confidently through a great sweep of history, introducing all the characters with verve and humour
Absorbing and lucidly written . . . In this fascinating and constantly surprising book, Jason Roberts brilliantly mines the philosophical and practical differences between the two men, demonstrating how de Buffon, although eclipsed by his rival in later centuries, may have the last laugh.