The snark is not merely entertainment — the portrait is central to the main thesis of Roberts’s engaging and thought-provoking book, one focused on the theatrical politics and often deeply troubling science that shape our definitions of life on Earth..

Let me end by stressing how much this failed biology major enjoyed Roberts’s lively study of Linnaeus, Buffon and the later thinkers they influenced..

A fluent and engaging account of the 18th-century origins of Darwinism before Darwin.

This account of Buffon’s many scientific contributions is noteworthy even if some readers may find this history of taxonomy, well, a tad taxing..

A lively, panoramic contribution to the history of science..

Enlightening.