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Every Living Thing

Man's Obsessive Quest to Catalog Life, from Nanobacteria to New Monkeys

By: Dr. Rob Dunn

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Paperback | 1 May 2010

At a Glance

Paperback
288 Pages

Dimensions(cm)
17.3 x 20.4 x 1.8

Paperback

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In a series of vivid portraits of determined—even obsessed—scientists, Rob Dunn shows that we are not even close to knowing life on earth. We are like our ancestors: ignorant. And yet, biologists and lay people alike have through history repeatedly claimed victory over life. A thousand years ago we thought we knew almost everything; a hundred years ago too. But, even today we are unable to see what is beyond our immediate radar. Discoveries we can’t yet imagine still await.

Dunn traces the history of human discovery from the establishment of classification in the 18th century to today’s attempts to find life in space. The narrative telescopes from a scientist’s attempt to find one single thing (a rare ant-emulating beetle species) to a scientist’s attempt to find everything (all the insects living in a section of the Smoky Mountains). With poetry and humor, Dunn reminds readers how tough and exhilarating it is to study the natural world, and why it matters.

Industry Reviews

"If you have any interest in life beyond your own, you should read this book...Between the covers of EVERY LIVING THING you'll learn both about life's amazing diversity and that process of their discovery. Savor this fascinating volume and then help to preserve life's wonders." -- Paul R. Ehrlich, author of THE DOMINANT ANIMAL: HUMAN EVOLUTION AND THE ENVIRONMENT

"His writing is concise and entertaining. So entertaining that I found myself laughing out loud and following my husband around saying, "Listen to this!" over and over again as I read." -- Internet Review of Books

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You Can Find This Book In

Non-Fiction Science Science in General History of Science Biology, Life Sciences Life Sciences in General Taxonomy & Systematics Popular Science Earth Sciences, Geography, Environment, Planning The Environment Applied Ecology Biodiversity

Ecological Science

Preface	p. ix
Introduction	p. xi
Beginnings
What We All Used to Know	p. 3
Common Names	p. 23
The Invisible World	p. 40
Fogging (The Tree of Life)
The Apostles	p. 59
Finding Everything	p. 87
Finding an Ant-Riding Beetle	p. 111
Roots
Dividing the Cell	p. 133
Grafting the Tree of Life	p. 149
Symbiotic Cells on the Seafloor	p. 165
Origin Stories	p. 181
Other Worlds
Looking Out	p. 193
To Squeeze Life from a Stone	p. 209
The Wrong Elephant?	p. 224
What Remains	p. 246
Endnotes?	p. 257
Index	p. 265
Table of Contents provided by Ingram. All Rights Reserved.

Every Living Thing

Man's Obsessive Quest to Catalog Life, from Nanobacteria to New Monkeys

At a Glance

Paperback

Industry Reviews

Shipping

How to return your order

Defective items

You Can Find This Book In

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