What Linnaeus Saw: A Scientist's Quest to Name Every Living Thing (e-book) (used book) | bookbook.eu

Description

The globe-trotting naturalists of the eighteenth century were the pioneers of their day: innovators who lived at the intersection of science and commerce. Foremost among them was Carl Linnaeus, whose system for classifying and naming plants and animals is the foundation of modern scientific taxonomy.


Karen Beil chronicles Linnaeus’ life in readable, relatable prose. She follows him from his boyhood exploring the woods of Sweden to his student days in Holland, where he moved among leading scientific thinkers and had access to the best collections of plants and animals in Europe. We see him attempt to identify a mysterious animal given him by the king (it turned out to be a raccoon), growing a rare banana plant in Amsterdam, and debunking stories of dragons.


Thoroughly researched and generously illustrated, What Linnaeus Saw offers a vivid glimpse into the life of one of modern science’s founding thinkers.