Every Living Thing

PULITZER PRIZE WINNER ΓÇó An epic,extraordinary account of scientific rivalry and obsession in the quest to survey all of life on Earth ΓÇ£[An] engaging and thought-provoking bookone focused on the theatrical politics and often deeply troubling science that shape our definitions of life on Earth.ΓÇ¥ΓÇöThe New York Times ΓÇ£A fluent and engaging account of the eighteenth-century origins of Darwinism before Darwin.ΓÇ¥ΓÇöThe Wall Street Journal WINNER OF THE PEN/E.O. WILSON LITERARY SCIENCE WRITING AWARD ΓÇó A KIRKUS REVIEWS BEST BOOK OF THE YEAR In the eighteenth centurytwo menΓÇöexact contemporaries and polar oppositesΓÇödedicated their lives to the same daunting task: identifying and describing all life on Earth. Carl Linnaeusa pious Swedish doctor with a hucksterΓÇÖs flairbelieved that life belonged in tidystatic categories. Georges-Louis de Buffonan aristocratic polymath and keeper of FranceΓÇÖs royal gardenviewed 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 speciesΓÇöor as many could fit on NoahΓÇÖs Ark? Both fell far short of their goalbut in the process they articulated starkly divergent views on naturethe future of the Earthand humanity itself. Linnaeus gave the world such concepts as mammalprimateand Homo sapiensbut he also denied that species change and he promulgated racist pseudoscience. Buffon formulated early prototypes of evolution and geneticswarned of global climate changeand argued passionately against prejudice. The clash of their conflicting worldviews continued well after their deathsas their successors contended for dominance in the emerging science that came to be called biology. In Every Living ThingJason Roberts weaves a sweepingunforgettable narrative spellexploring the intertwined lives and legacies of Linnaeus and BuffonΓÇöas well as the groundbreakingoften fatal adventures of their acolytesΓÇöto trace an arc of insight and discovery that extends across three centuries into the present day.