Naming Nature: The Clash Between Instinct and Science

Nonfiction, Science & Nature, Science, Biological Sciences
Cover of the book Naming Nature: The Clash Between Instinct and Science by Carol Kaesuk Yoon, W. W. Norton & Company
View on Amazon View on AbeBooks View on Kobo View on B.Depository View on eBay View on Walmart
Author: Carol Kaesuk Yoon ISBN: 9780393072761
Publisher: W. W. Norton & Company Publication: August 24, 2009
Imprint: W. W. Norton & Company Language: English
Author: Carol Kaesuk Yoon
ISBN: 9780393072761
Publisher: W. W. Norton & Company
Publication: August 24, 2009
Imprint: W. W. Norton & Company
Language: English

Finalist for the 2009 Los Angeles Times Book Prize in Science and Technology: the surprising, untold story about the poetic and deeply human (cognitive) capacity to name the natural world.

Two hundred and fifty years ago, the Swedish botanist Carl Linnaeus set out to order and name the entire living world and ended up founding a science: the field of scientific classification, or taxonomy. Yet, in spite of Linnaeus’s pioneering work and the genius of those who followed him, from Darwin to E. O. Wilson, taxonomy went from being revered as one of the most significant of intellectual pursuits to being largely ignored. Today, taxonomy is viewed by many as an outdated field, one nearly irrelevant to the rest of science and of even less interest to the rest of the world.

Now, as Carol Kaesuk Yoon, biologist and longtime science writer for the New York Times, reminds us in Naming Nature, taxonomy is critically important, because it turns out to be much more than mere science. It is also the latest incarnation of a long-unrecognized human practice that has gone on across the globe, in every culture, in every language since before time: the deeply human act of ordering and naming the living world.

In Naming Nature, Yoon takes us on a guided tour of science’s brilliant, if sometimes misguided, attempts to order and name the overwhelming diversity of earth’s living things. We follow a trail of scattered clues that reveals taxonomy’s real origins in humanity’s distant past. Yoon’s journey brings us from New Guinea tribesmen who call a giant bird a mammal to the trials and tribulations of patients with a curious form of brain damage that causes them to be unable to distinguish among living things.

Finally, Yoon shows us how the reclaiming of taxonomy—a renewed interest in learning the kinds and names of things around us—will rekindle humanity’s dwindling connection with wild nature. Naming Nature has much to tell us, not only about how scientists create a science but also about how the progress of science can alter the expression of our own human nature.

View on Amazon View on AbeBooks View on Kobo View on B.Depository View on eBay View on Walmart

Finalist for the 2009 Los Angeles Times Book Prize in Science and Technology: the surprising, untold story about the poetic and deeply human (cognitive) capacity to name the natural world.

Two hundred and fifty years ago, the Swedish botanist Carl Linnaeus set out to order and name the entire living world and ended up founding a science: the field of scientific classification, or taxonomy. Yet, in spite of Linnaeus’s pioneering work and the genius of those who followed him, from Darwin to E. O. Wilson, taxonomy went from being revered as one of the most significant of intellectual pursuits to being largely ignored. Today, taxonomy is viewed by many as an outdated field, one nearly irrelevant to the rest of science and of even less interest to the rest of the world.

Now, as Carol Kaesuk Yoon, biologist and longtime science writer for the New York Times, reminds us in Naming Nature, taxonomy is critically important, because it turns out to be much more than mere science. It is also the latest incarnation of a long-unrecognized human practice that has gone on across the globe, in every culture, in every language since before time: the deeply human act of ordering and naming the living world.

In Naming Nature, Yoon takes us on a guided tour of science’s brilliant, if sometimes misguided, attempts to order and name the overwhelming diversity of earth’s living things. We follow a trail of scattered clues that reveals taxonomy’s real origins in humanity’s distant past. Yoon’s journey brings us from New Guinea tribesmen who call a giant bird a mammal to the trials and tribulations of patients with a curious form of brain damage that causes them to be unable to distinguish among living things.

Finally, Yoon shows us how the reclaiming of taxonomy—a renewed interest in learning the kinds and names of things around us—will rekindle humanity’s dwindling connection with wild nature. Naming Nature has much to tell us, not only about how scientists create a science but also about how the progress of science can alter the expression of our own human nature.

More books from W. W. Norton & Company

Cover of the book Night of Sorrows: A Novel by Carol Kaesuk Yoon
Cover of the book The Post-American World: Release 2.0 by Carol Kaesuk Yoon
Cover of the book The Birth of the Pill: How Four Crusaders Reinvented Sex and Launched a Revolution by Carol Kaesuk Yoon
Cover of the book Constitution Café: Jefferson's Brew for a True Revolution by Carol Kaesuk Yoon
Cover of the book The Intelligent Body: Reversing Chronic Fatigue and Pain From the Inside Out by Carol Kaesuk Yoon
Cover of the book The Wine-Dark Sea (Vol. Book 16) (Aubrey/Maturin Novels) by Carol Kaesuk Yoon
Cover of the book 137: Jung, Pauli, and the Pursuit of a Scientific Obsession by Carol Kaesuk Yoon
Cover of the book The Wolf and the Watchman: A Father, a Son, and the CIA by Carol Kaesuk Yoon
Cover of the book Neurodevelopmental Disorders: A Definitive Guide for Educators by Carol Kaesuk Yoon
Cover of the book Can Democracy Survive Global Capitalism? by Carol Kaesuk Yoon
Cover of the book Experience on Demand: What Virtual Reality Is, How It Works, and What It Can Do by Carol Kaesuk Yoon
Cover of the book A Dissociation Model of Borderline Personality Disorder (Norton Series on Interpersonal Neurobiology) by Carol Kaesuk Yoon
Cover of the book Einstein's Clocks, Poincare's Maps: Empires of Time by Carol Kaesuk Yoon
Cover of the book Space Chronicles: Facing the Ultimate Frontier by Carol Kaesuk Yoon
Cover of the book The 8 Keys to End Bullying Activity Book for Kids & Tweens: Worksheets, Quizzes, Games, & Skills for Putting the Keys Into Action (8 Keys to Mental Health) by Carol Kaesuk Yoon
We use our own "cookies" and third party cookies to improve services and to see statistical information. By using this website, you agree to our Privacy Policy