Sign-In
Cart
Every Living Thing: The Great and Deadly Race to Know All Life
Paperback
Biographies GeneralGeneral World HistoryNature Writing
Publisher Price: $23.00
Please select the version of book you would like to purchase.
ISBN10: 1984855220
ISBN13: 9781984855220
Publisher: Random House Trade
Published: May 27 2025
Pages: 432
Weight: 0.80
Height: 1.00 Width: 5.10 Depth: 7.80
Language: English
Awards: Pulitzer Prize
ISBN13: 9781984855220
Publisher: Random House Trade
Published: May 27 2025
Pages: 432
Weight: 0.80
Height: 1.00 Width: 5.10 Depth: 7.80
Language: English
Awards: Pulitzer Prize
PULITZER PRIZE WINNER - An epic, extraordinary account of scientific rivalry and obsession in the quest to survey all of life on Earth [An] engaging and thought-provoking book, one focused on the theatrical politics and often deeply troubling science that shape our definitions of life on Earth.--The New York Times A fluent and engaging account of the eighteenth-century origins of Darwinism before Darwin.--The Wall Street Journal
WINNER OF THE PEN/E.O. WILSON LITERARY SCIENCE WRITING AWARD - A KIRKUS REVIEWS BEST BOOK OF THE YEAR In the eighteenth century, two men--exact contemporaries and polar opposites--dedicated their lives to the same daunting task: identifying and describing all life on Earth. 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 swirl of complexities. Each began his task believing it to be difficult but not impossible: How could the planet possibly hold more than a few thousand species--or as many could fit on Noah's Ark? Both fell far short of their goal, but in the process they articulated starkly divergent views on nature, the future of the Earth, and humanity itself. Linnaeus gave the world such concepts as mammal, primate, and Homo sapiens, but he also denied that species change and he promulgated racist pseudoscience. Buffon formulated early prototypes of evolution and genetics, warned of global climate change, and argued passionately against prejudice. The clash of their conflicting worldviews continued well after their deaths, as their successors contended for dominance in the emerging science that came to be called biology. In Every Living Thing, Jason Roberts weaves a sweeping, unforgettable narrative spell, exploring the intertwined lives and legacies of Linnaeus and Buffon--as well as the groundbreaking, often fatal adventures of their acolytes--to trace an arc of insight and discovery that extends across three centuries into the present day.
Also from
Roberts, Jason
Peer Review: Reform and Renewal in Scientific Publishing
Roberts, Jason
Etkin, Adam
Gaston, Thomas
Paperback
$12.49
We Stay the Same: Subsistence, Logging, and Enduring Hopes for Development in Papua New Guinea
Roberts, Jason
Paperback
$52.50
Lonely Planet Southeast Asia Phrasebook & Dictionary: Essential Phrases & Vocabulary 3,500 Word Two-Way Dictionary Travel Confidently Order Food, Book
Evans, Bruce
Roberts, Jason
Handicott, Ben
Paperback
$9.49
We Stay the Same: Subsistence, Logging, and Enduring Hopes for Development in Papua New Guinea
Roberts, Jason
Hardcover
$65.00
Also in
Nature Writing
Braiding Sweetgrass: Indigenous Wisdom, Scientific Knowledge and the Teachings of Plants
Kimmerer, Robin Wall
Paperback
$19.80
The Story of Birds: A New History from Their Dinosaur Origins to the Present
Brusatte, Steve
Hardcover
$31.50
The Hidden Life of Trees: What They Feel, How They Communicate--Discoveries from a Secret World
Wohlleben, Peter
Paperback
$17.06
Braiding Sweetgrass: Indigenous Wisdom, Scientific Knowledge and the Teachings of Plants
Kimmerer, Robin Wall
Hardcover
$38.00
To Catch a Fish: Essays on the Joy, Frustration, Curiosity, and Allure of Fishing
Kurlansky, Mark
Hardcover
$23.75
The Fullness of Time: Marking the Day by Birdsong, Blooms, Shadows, and Stars
Haynes, Cathy
Hardcover
$28.80
I Have This Thing for Flowers: Essays on the Roots of Relationships
Sawchyn, Alysia Li Ying
Hardcover
$26.09
World of Wonders: In Praise of Fireflies, Whale Sharks, and Other Astonishments
Nezhukumatathil, Aimee
Paperback
$18.00
Exploring the Maine Woods - The Hardy Family Expedition to the Machias Lakes
Hardy Eckstorm, Fannie
Carbone, Tommy
Paperback
$18.00
Outsider Animals: How the Creatures at the Margins of Our Lives Have the Most to Teach Us
Zuk, Marlene
Hardcover
$28.45
Werner's Nomenclature of Colours: Adapted to Zoology, Botany, Chemistry, Mineralogy, Anatomy, and the Arts
Syme, Patrick
Werner, Abraham Gottlob
Hardcover
$41.24
We Love You: An Optimistic Guide to Life on a Rock Floating Through Space
Min, Andy
Sullivan, Thomas
Hardcover
$22.49
The Call of the Honeyguide: What Science Tells Us about How to Live Well with the Rest of Life
Dunn, Rob
Hardcover
$28.80
The Whispers of Rock: The Stories That Stone Tells about Our World and Our Lives
Khatwa, Anjana
Hardcover
$28.50
The Living Great Lakes: Searching for the Heart of the Inland Seas, Revised Edition
Dennis, Jerry
Paperback
$18.00
The Nature Fix: Why Nature Makes Us Happier, Healthier, and More Creative
Williams, Florence
Paperback
From $10.99
Braiding Sweetgrass / Una Trenza de Hierba Sagrada: Sabiduría Indígena, Conocimiento Científico Y Las Enseñanzas de Las Plantas
Kimmerer, Robin Wall
Paperback
$18.99
First Adirondackers: 12,000 Years of Indigenous Peoples in the Adirondack Uplands
Stager, Curt
Fadden, David Kanietakeron
Paperback
$25.60
What Is Intelligence?: Lessons from AI about Evolution, Computing, and Minds
Aguera Y. Arcas, Blaise
Paperback
$35.10
The Shortest History of Our Universe: The Unlikely Journey from the Big Bang to Us
Baker, David
Paperback
$16.10
Werner's Nomenclature of Colours: Adapted to Zoology, Botany, Chemistry, Mineralogy, Anatomy, and the Arts
Syme, Patrick
Hardcover
$15.15
Natural Magic: Emily Dickinson, Charles Darwin, and the Dawn of Modern Science
Bergland, Renée
Paperback
$21.80
The California Naturalist Handbook, Second Edition
Edelman, Deborah
De Nevers, Greg
Merenlender, Adina
Paperback
$33.20
Bonefish Dreams: Stories, Facts, and Tips from Travels to the World's Best Destinations
Foster, Frank
Paperback
$24.95
World of Wonders: In Praise of Fireflies, Whale Sharks, and Other Astonishments
Nezhukumatathil, Aimee
Hardcover
From $12.99
Radically Wild: True Tales of Adventure, Wilderness Survival, and Hard Lessons
Sunderwald, Scott
Paperback
$24.22
House of Rain: Tracking a Vanished Civilization Across the American Southwest
Childs, Craig
Paperback
$21.84
Fen, Bog and Swamp: A Short History of Peatland Destruction and Its Role in the Climate Crisis
Proulx, Annie
Paperback
$17.09
In the Range of Fire and Ice: A Human and Natural History of Washington's Cascades
Williams, David B.
Hardcover
$28.45
Astonished by Beauty: A Field Guide to the Practice of Paying Attention
Fleischner, Thomas Lowe
Paperback
$16.10
National Geographic Backyard Guide to Edible Wild Plants
Wood Buzzard, Heather
Hernandez, Mimi Prunella
Paperback
$23.74
Permafrost Is an Archive: And Other Inheritances from the Alaska-Yukon Borderlands
Cook, Corinna
Paperback
$21.84
Seabirds as Sentinels: Auklets, Puffins, Shearwaters, and the View from Destruction Island
Wagner, Eric
Hardcover
$31.30
Kinship Medicine: Cultivating Interdependence to Heal the Earth and Ourselves
Johnson, Wendy, MD MPH
Paperback
$19.90
The Hour of Land: A Personal Topography of America's National Parks
Williams, Terry Tempest
Paperback
$20.90
Plants That Kill: A Natural History of the World's Most Poisonous Plants
Dauncey, Elizabeth A.
Larsson, Sonny
Hardcover
$35.15
The Light Between Apple Trees: Rediscovering the Wild Through a Beloved American Fruit
Kumar, Priyanka
Hardcover
$28.80
The Secret Knowledge of Water: Discovering the Essence of the American Desert
Childs, Craig
Paperback
$18.99
The Inner Life of Animals: Love, Grief, and Compassion--Surprising Observations of a Hidden World
Wohlleben, Peter
Paperback
From $9.99