Review: Every living thing
Editorial Review - Kirkus ReviewsFinding and naming plants, animals, bugs and germs might seem a dull scientific career, but Dunn (Zoology/North Carolina State Univ.) proves that it's the opposite in this vivid history full of colorful characters and spectacular discoveries. In his first book, the author points out that every culture since the dawn of history named every visible living thing in its vicinity. Each taxonomy was unique, but this didn't matter until 17th-century biologists began communicating. To make certain they were discussing the same creature, they used increasingly long descriptive terms in their common language, Latin. It took single-minded Swede Carl Linnaeus (1707–1778) to rationalize this lugubrious system by reducing every name to a description of related species (Canis are dog-like mammals) followed by a unique descriptive term (Canis lupus are wolves, Canis latrans are coyotes). While best known for this achievement, Linnaeus's lifetime goal was to catalog every living thing. He did well with larger life forms but paid little attention to insects and microbes which, Dunn emphasizes, make up 99 percent of life both in numbers and sheer bulk. The author offers entertaining accounts of scientists who, mostly over the past 50 years, filled in this gap. Terry Erwin squirted insecticide high up a single tropical tree and collected the thousands of unknown arthropods that rained down. Carl Woese examined the nucleic acid of bacteria and discovered microorganisms so different that they weren't bacteria at all but a new, primitive kingdom called archaea. Edson Bastin cultured microorganisms from the bottom of oil wells, beginning the successful search for life deep inside the earth. Even sophisticated readers will blink as the author reveals the dazzling diversity of life, its ability to thrive in areas formerly thought barren (miles under the sea, under ice caps, under the earth's crust, in space), and the ingenuity of scientists searching for it.
Review: Every Living Thing: Man's Obsessive Quest to Catalog Life, from Nanobacteria to New Monkeys
User Review - Zl - GoodreadsThis book came recommended by a colleague. The author explores the personalities of biological discovery, especially those associated with taxonomy and biodiversity. Including Linnaeus, Antonine von ... Read full review
Review: Every Living Thing: Man's Obsessive Quest to Catalog Life, from Nanobacteria to New Monkeys
User Review - Cassandra Silva - GoodreadsWhat really hooked me on this book was the topic. I have always felt (and am glad to not be alone in this regard) that the world wherein the very small reside is far under represented in scientific ... Read full review
Review: Every Living Thing: Man's Obsessive Quest to Catalog Life, from Nanobacteria to New Monkeys
User Review - Maureen Keene - GoodreadsThe portraits of the scientists and their particular obsessions were fascinating. Read full review
Review: Every Living Thing: Man's Obsessive Quest to Catalog Life, from Nanobacteria to New Monkeys
User Review - Jigsaw - GoodreadsWell written, and the topic is interesting, but he seemed to repeat himself a lot. Every time he mentioned a discovery regarding how life is more widespread/diverse/plentiful than we might imagine ... Read full review
Review: Every Living Thing: Man's Obsessive Quest to Catalog Life, from Nanobacteria to New Monkeys
User Review - Dianne - GoodreadsWell, to be honest, I browsed intensively rather than read every word, but do like this book and the idea of it quite a lot. A great preface by EO Wilson; all in all, we've barely scratched the surface of total organisms on our planet that we can madly categorize. Read full review
Review: Every Living Thing: Man's Obsessive Quest to Catalog Life, from Nanobacteria to New Monkeys
User Review - gabrielle - GoodreadsThis book made me miss working in a lab *so much*. Read full review
Review: Every Living Thing: Man's Obsessive Quest to Catalog Life, from Nanobacteria to New Monkeys
User Review - Adrienne - GoodreadsSo enjoyable to learn a bit about the naming of animals, insects and plants. But then, how can we be so grandiose and tentative a the same time? Grandiose in that we think we've named everything ... Read full review
Review: Every Living Thing: Man's Obsessive Quest to Catalog Life, from Nanobacteria to New Monkeys
User Review - Eric Feltz - Goodreadsthis book is elegantly written, and presents the stories of discovery that take shocking, revolutionary turns on what life is and how it exists, and the smarty-pants scientists who get kicked around ... Read full review
Review: Every Living Thing: Man's Obsessive Quest to Catalog Life, from Nanobacteria to New Monkeys
User Review - Marty - GoodreadsIt is one of the most fun and interesting nonfiction books I have ever read. IT gives you the feel of how science really advances. It seems both more controversial and more alive than I have ever perceived before. Read full review
