Naming Nature: The Clash Between Instinct and Science

Yoon, Carol Kaesuk

ISBN 10: 0393338711 / ISBN 13: 9780393338713

Published by W. W. Norton & Company, 2010

About this Item

Seller Inventory # I-9780393338713

Bibliographic Details

• Title: Naming Nature: The Clash Between Instinct and Science
• Publisher: W. W. Norton & Company
• Publication Date: 2010
• Language: English
• ISBN 10: 0393338711
• ISBN 13: 9780393338713
• Binding: Soft cover
• Condition: New

About this title

Synopsis

Finalist for the 2009 Los Angeles Times Book Prize in Science and Technology. “A lively blend of popular scientific history and cultural criticism.”―New York Times Book Review

Biologist Carol Kaesuk Yoon explores the historical tension between evolutionary biology and taxonomy. Carl Linnaeus struggled in the eighteenth century to define species in light of their mutability while still relying on intuitive, visual judgments. As taxonomy modernized, it moved into labs, yielding results counterintuitive to humanity’s innate predisposition to order the world. By conceding scientific authority to taxonomists, Yoon argues, we’ve contributed to our own alienation from nature. 27 black-and-white illustrations

About the Author

Carol Kaesuk Yoon received her Ph.D. PhD in ecology and evolutionary biology from Cornell University and has been writing about biology for The New York Times since 1992. Her articles have also appeared in Science, The Washington Post, and the Los Angeles Times. Dr. Yoon has taught writing as a Visiting Scholar at Cornell University’s John S. Knight Writing Program, working with professors to help teach critical thinking in biology classes. She has also served as a science education consultant to Microsoft. She lives in Bellingham, Washington.