Book review: A Penguin Random House epic by Jason Roberts
Every Living Thing: The Great and Deadly Race to Know All Life by Jason Roberts is an epic and extraordinary double biography.
Set in the 1700s, it tells the entwined stories of Swedish doctor Carl Linnaeus and the keeper of France’s royal garden, Georges-Louis de Buffon.
This Penguin Random House work is a Pulitzer Prize Winner in Biography and has picked up many extra awards.
So keep reading to find out more about these two rivals, their breakthroughs and how Roberts’s work can boost our own life-story creating.
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What Every Living Thing is all about
Every Living Thing tells the story of notable natural historians: Linnaeus and Buffon.
The 432-page biography traces their efforts to classify and unravel the mysteries of nature from the 1600s through to modern times.
Interestingly the savants’ motives were born out of curiosity, financial hardship, quests for fame and sometimes rivalry.
As a result, we owe much of our modern classification systems and scientific disciplines to their lifelong efforts.
“In Buffon’s own words: ‘Nature is not a thing for this thing would be everything. Nature is not a being for that would be God. But one can consider her an immense living power, which embraces everything, which animates everything.’”
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Interesting discoveries from Every Living Thing
There are so many fascinating insights in Every Living Thing it is hard to narrow them down.
Firstly, both botanists survived illegal sword duels as young adults, which were a common way to settle mostly petty disputes.
Second, they initially included bizarre mythical creatures in their list of known creatures.
For example, the Vegetable Lamb, which was believed to grow connected to a plant by an umbilical cord and the Barnacle Tree, which hatched geese!
Finally, most people at the time thought the Earth had only a few thousand different creatures because that was all that could realistically have fit in Noah’s Ark as described in the Bible.
“As we’ve come to realise, the other species with which we share the planet exist in mind-boggling numbers. Even with the elimination of duplicated or imaginary species, we’re forced to confront the fact that we’ve barely begun the tally of life’s diversity.”
Takeaways from Every Living Thing
When you read Every Living Thing you will discover key lessons for your own life-story creating.
To begin with, notice how Roberts presents Linnaeus and Buffon’s characters in a balanced way that highlights their positive tendencies and negative flaws.
Also how Roberts helps us better understand the rivals’ actions and thoughts by clearly detailing the historical and social climate of the times.
Lastly, observe the way he works to keep his story entertaining and suspenseful rather than writing a dry historical essay.
“As they gathered behind him, their faces a mixture of expectation and pride, Linnaeus scrutinized the (Seven-Headed Hydra of Hamburg) body’s transitions. From the forest of necks to the club-like tail, he leaned in close to better to take the measure of all the 322 jagged teeth. Then Linnaeus began to laugh.”
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Final say
Every Living Thing: The Great and Deadly Race to Know All Life by Jason Roberts details the lives and legacies of two naturalists living more than a century before Charles Darwin.
Although their views were diametrically opposed, their scientific influences can still be felt today.
Read this Penguin Random House publication to uncover a trajectory of discovery across the centuries.
But also to enjoy a thoroughly entertaining and well written life story.
Happy creating!
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Your say
What hobbies have you pursued during your life? Did you have a lifelong passion like Linnaeus and Buffon? I always love hearing from different people. Drop me an email or leave a reply in the comments section at the end of this article.
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