Robert Huxley

A beautiful book presenting the men (and a few women) who changed the way we see and interact with the natural world and who ushered in modern scientific method. Sometimes they went kicking and screaming, clinging to the old ways and views, sometimes they went happily, opening new ways of seeing and thinking. A lot of the problem was (is) religion and how thoroughly it stifles thought, experimentation and invention. Sigh.

I wish each mini-biography had done a better job at making the individual stand out, but alas, they all tend to run together. Despite that, it is interesting to read how each differed in his approach and made strides toward a more concrete understanding of the natural world. It’s astonishing to think that people actually believed some of the things they did. Of course, all understanding has to start somewhere, but it is still enough to make you cringe to think that people thought maggots erupted spontaneously in dead flesh or that new rocks/earth came from the oceans.

There are just enough drawings and paintings to tantalize and I may look for more examples from some of the people in this book, like Maria Sybilla Merian. Most were incredible artists and conceptualizers. I’m always amazed that such talent went along with curiosity and the need to find out how things work. The single-mindedness of purpose is astounding.… (más)

En aquesta obra, experts de renom internacional relaten la història dels grans pioners d'Europa i els Estats Units, desde l'Antiguitat clàssica fins el segle xix, època en la que la història natural va deixar de ser una afició per a convertir-se en la professió especialitzada que és avui dia. L'obra reuneix les vides de personatges famosos, com Aristòtil, el gran filòsof; Carl von Linneo, l'home que va endreçar la natura ; el viatger i col·leccionista Joseph Banks; Georges Cuvier, el pare de la teoria de l'extinció, o els intrèpids Alexander von Humboldt i Charles Darwin, que desafiant tempestes, pirates i malalties, van canviar el curs de la ciència i les revolucionàries teories dels quals van posar en dubte les idees i les creences de la seva època.… (más)