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Naming Nature - The Clash Between Instinct and Science
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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.

Reviews

"A beautiful riddle of a book."
*Time Out New York*

"Impossible to put down."
*Booklist*

"Starred Review: Superb."
*Kirkus Reviews*

"A sensuous delight to read."
*O, The Oprah Magazine*

"Starred Review: Optimistic, exhilarating, and revolutionary."
*Publishers Weekly*

"Bracing and brilliant."
*Boston Globe*

"Ingenious . . . compelling."
*San Francisco Chronicle*

"A beautiful riddle of a book." -- Time Out New York
"Impossible to put down." -- Booklist
"Starred Review: Superb." -- Kirkus Reviews
"A sensuous delight to read." -- O, The Oprah Magazine
"Starred Review: Optimistic, exhilarating, and revolutionary." -- Publishers Weekly
"Bracing and brilliant." -- Boston Globe
"Ingenious . . . compelling." -- San Francisco Chronicle

In this entertaining and insightful book, New York Times science writer Yoon sets out to document the progression of the scientific "quest to order and name the entire living world-the whole squawking, scuttling, blooming, twining, leafy, furry, green and wondrous mess of it" from Linnaeus to present-day taxonomists. But her initial assumption of science as the ultimate authority is sideswiped by her growing interest in umwelt, how animals perceive the world in a way "idiosyncratic to each species, fueled by its particular sensory and cognitive powers and limited by its deficits." According to Yoon, Linnaeus was an umwelt prodigy, but as taxonomists began to abandon the senses and use microscopic evidence and DNA to trace evolutionary relations, nonscientists' gave up their brain-given right (and tendency) to order the living world, with the devastating result of becoming indifferent to the current mass extinctions. Yoon's invitation for laypeople to reclaim their umwelt, to "take one step closer to the living world" and accept as valid the "wondrous variety in the ordering of life," is optimistic, exhilarating and revolutionary. (Aug.) Copyright 2009 Reed Business Information.

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