Charles Darwin's Barnacle and David Bowie's Spider
How Scientific Names Celebrate Adventurers, Heroes, and Even a Few Scoundrels

FUN WITH TAXONOMY In biology, taxonomy (from the ancient Greek taxis nomia meaning ‘arrangement method’) is the scientific study of naming, defining, and classifying groups of biological organisms based on shared characteristics. (Wikipedia). There is, it turns out, a fairly flexible set of guideline......more

Minu arvamuse leiab blogist [URL not allowed]......more

A well-written and quick tour of all the aspects related to the scientific naming of species. I was very pleased to see that the author included a strong focus on women and indigenous contributors to taxonomy throughout the ages.......more

Imma be straight, the reason I went into this book was the title. When science and names and the word scoundrel are in a book title, I tend to throw caution out the window and just go for it. The problem was that while informative, it was a little too dry, which made for a rather drab level of engage......more

What's in a name? I mean, does a "rosa minutifolia" smell any sweeter than a "rosa stellata?" Heard's history of the naming of species through Linnaeus' system certainly doesn't cover all species, but provides a fun and cultural look at what goes into the process. Species bear the names they are giv......more