Letters to Linnaeus

xii, 324, col illus. . PB. Vg. From the library of Keith Hyatt (1932-2021), acarologist at the Natural History Museum, London, and prominent member of the London Natural History Society, with his name inside front cover. In 1758, Carl Linnaeus published the 10th edition of Systema Naturae, in which he named all of life as he knew it. Over 250 years his system of binomial scientific naming, beautiful and powerful in its simplicity and adaptability, has enabled universal communication about nature. The letters collected in this book reveal Linnaeus' personal impact, advances and developments in science since his death, the profound impact he has had on generations of naturalists and what we might expect in the next 250 years.In order to celebrate the 250th anniversary of the publication of Linnaeus' landmark work, editors Dr Sandra Knapp (Natural History Museum, London) and Professor Quentin Wheeler (Arizona State University) asked a wide range of scientists around the world to write a letter to Linnaeus describing his impact on natural science today. The result is a beautiful book that incorporates more than 60 letters, interwoven with several from Linnaeus' own correspondence. Letters to Linnaeus includes insights from scientists engaged in a range of disciplines including E.O. Wilson (Pulitzer Prize-winning biologist); Richard Fortey (Author of Dry Store Room No. 1); Sir Peter Crane (Former Director of Royal Botanic Gardens, Kew and now John and Marion Sullivan University Professor at the University of Chicago); Norman I. Platnick (Bonnet Award-winning arachnologist of the American Museum of Natural History) and Hugh Downs (American broadcaster and former anchor of 20/20). [9780950620794].…