Every Living Thing |
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3 June 2025
Jason Roberts' Every Living Thing is an interesting dual biography of Carl Linnaeus and Georges-Louis Buffon. I had heard of Linnaeus only as the originator of double names, genus and species, for living things and Buffon was entirely unknown to me. The former is Swedish and the latter French. Their contemporaneous careers as naturaists were somewhat intertwined and at odds in their later years. Buffon was the head of the Jardin du Roi for the last king of France before the revolution and his image to posterity was tarnished by this association. On the other hand Linneaus' reknown only grew with time. The tale of these 18th centruy scientists is well written, but unfortunately the book does not end after the two men pass away. Instead what follows is a rambling account, sometimes history, sometimes science, and sometimes just Roberts' opinions, that eventually wends its way to the present day.
