Naming Nature: The Clash Between Instinct and Science

Naming Nature: The Clash Between Instinct and Science PDF

Author: Carol Kaesuk Yoon

Publisher: W. W. Norton & Company

Published: 2010-08-02

Total Pages: 353

ISBN-13: 0393338711

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Examines the history of taxonomy, describing the quest of scientists to name and classify living things from Carl Linnaeus to early twenty-first-century scientists who rely more on microscopic evidence than their senses, which has encouraged an indifference to nature that is responsible for the extinction of many species.

Naming Nature

Naming Nature PDF

Author: Carol Kaesuk Yoon

Publisher: W. W. Norton & Company

Published: 2009

Total Pages: 356

ISBN-13: 9780393061970

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Finalist for the 2009 Los Angeles Times Book Prize in Science and Technology: the surprising, untold story about the poetic and deeply human (cognitive) capacity to name the natural world.

Naming Nature: The Clash Between Instinct and Science

Naming Nature: The Clash Between Instinct and Science PDF

Author: Carol Kaesuk Yoon

Publisher: W. W. Norton & Company

Published: 2009-08-24

Total Pages: 352

ISBN-13: 9780393072761

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Finalist for the 2009 Los Angeles Times Book Prize in Science and Technology: the surprising, untold story about the poetic and deeply human (cognitive) capacity to name the natural world. Two hundred and fifty years ago, the Swedish botanist Carl Linnaeus set out to order and name the entire living world and ended up founding a science: the field of scientific classification, or taxonomy. Yet, in spite of Linnaeus’s pioneering work and the genius of those who followed him, from Darwin to E. O. Wilson, taxonomy went from being revered as one of the most significant of intellectual pursuits to being largely ignored. Today, taxonomy is viewed by many as an outdated field, one nearly irrelevant to the rest of science and of even less interest to the rest of the world. Now, as Carol Kaesuk Yoon, biologist and longtime science writer for the New York Times, reminds us in Naming Nature, taxonomy is critically important, because it turns out to be much more than mere science. It is also the latest incarnation of a long-unrecognized human practice that has gone on across the globe, in every culture, in every language since before time: the deeply human act of ordering and naming the living world. In Naming Nature, Yoon takes us on a guided tour of science’s brilliant, if sometimes misguided, attempts to order and name the overwhelming diversity of earth’s living things. We follow a trail of scattered clues that reveals taxonomy’s real origins in humanity’s distant past. Yoon’s journey brings us from New Guinea tribesmen who call a giant bird a mammal to the trials and tribulations of patients with a curious form of brain damage that causes them to be unable to distinguish among living things. Finally, Yoon shows us how the reclaiming of taxonomy—a renewed interest in learning the kinds and names of things around us—will rekindle humanity’s dwindling connection with wild nature. Naming Nature has much to tell us, not only about how scientists create a science but also about how the progress of science can alter the expression of our own human nature.

The Art of Naming

The Art of Naming PDF

Author: Michael Ohl

Publisher: MIT Press

Published: 2019-02-26

Total Pages: 312

ISBN-13: 0262537036

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From Tyrannosaurus rex to Heteropoda davidbowie: scientific naming as a joyful and creative act. Tyrannosaurus rex. Homo sapiens. Heteropoda davidbowie. Behind each act of scientific naming is a story. In this entertaining and illuminating book, Michael Ohl considers scientific naming as a joyful and creative act. There are about 1.8 million discovered and named plant and animal species, and millions more still to be discovered. Naming is the necessary next step after discovery; it is through the naming of species that we perceive and understand nature. Ohl explains the process, with examples, anecdotes, and a wildly varied cast of characters. He describes the rules for scientific naming; the vernacular isn't adequate. These rules—in standard binomial nomenclature, the generic name followed by specific name—go back to Linnaeus; but they are open to idiosyncrasy and individual expression. A lizard is designated Barbaturex morrisoni (in honor of the Doors' Jim Morrison, the Lizard King); a member of the horsefly family Scaptia beyonceae. Ohl, a specialist in “winged things that sting,” confesses that among the many wasp species he has named is Ampulex dementor, after the dementors in the Harry Potter novels. Scientific names have also been deployed by scientists to insult other scientists, to make political statements, and as expressions of romantic love: “I shall name this beetle after my beloved wife.” The Art of Naming takes us on a surprising and fascinating journey, in the footsteps of the discoverers of species and the authors of names, into the nooks and crannies and drawers and cabinets of museums, and through the natural world of named and not-yet-named species.

Naming Infinity

Naming Infinity PDF

Author: Loren Graham

Publisher: Harvard University Press

Published: 2009-03-31

Total Pages: 252

ISBN-13: 0674032934

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In 1913, Russian imperial marines stormed an Orthodox monastery at Mt. Athos, Greece, to haul off monks engaged in a dangerously heretical practice known as Name Worshipping. Exiled to remote Russian outposts, the monks and their mystical movement went underground. Ultimately, they came across Russian intellectuals who embraced Name Worshipping—and who would achieve one of the biggest mathematical breakthroughs of the twentieth century, going beyond recent French achievements. Loren Graham and Jean-Michel Kantor take us on an exciting mathematical mystery tour as they unravel a bizarre tale of political struggles, psychological crises, sexual complexities, and ethical dilemmas. At the core of this book is the contest between French and Russian mathematicians who sought new answers to one of the oldest puzzles in math: the nature of infinity. The French school chased rationalist solutions. The Russian mathematicians, notably Dmitri Egorov and Nikolai Luzin—who founded the famous Moscow School of Mathematics—were inspired by mystical insights attained during Name Worshipping. Their religious practice appears to have opened to them visions into the infinite—and led to the founding of descriptive set theory. The men and women of the leading French and Russian mathematical schools are central characters in this absorbing tale that could not be told until now. Naming Infinity is a poignant human interest story that raises provocative questions about science and religion, intuition and creativity.

Karl, Get Out of the Garden!

Karl, Get Out of the Garden! PDF

Author: Anita Sanchez

Publisher: Charlesbridge Publishing

Published: 2017-03-21

Total Pages: 52

ISBN-13: 1580896065

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Do you know what a Solanum caule inermi herbaceo, foliis pinnatis incises, racemis simplicibus is?* Carolus (Karl) Linnaeus started off as a curious child who loved exploring the garden. Despite his intelligence—and his mother's scoldings—he was a poor student, preferring to be outdoors with his beloved plants and bugs. As he grew up, Karl's love of nature led him to take on a seemingly impossible task: to give a scientific name to every living thing on earth. The result was the Linnaean system—the basis for the classification system used by biologists around the world today. Backyard sciences are brought to life in beautiful color. Back matter includes more information about Linnaeus and scientific classification, a classification chart, a time line, source notes, resources for young readers, and a bibliography. *it's a tomato! A handsome introductory book on Linnaeus and his work — Booklist, starred review A good introduction to a man in a class by himself — Kirkus Reviews Lends significant humanity to the naturalist — Publisher's Weekly The biographical approach to a knotty scientific subject makes this a valuable addition to STEM and biography collections — School Library Journal

The Naming of Names

The Naming of Names PDF

Author: Anna Pavord

Publisher: A&C Black

Published: 2010-12-15

Total Pages: 751

ISBN-13: 1408820765

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For centuries, some of the most brilliant minds in Europe searched for the rules of nature's game. In a world full of plagues and poisons, many medicines were made from plant extracts and there was a practical need to differentiate between one plant and another. Alongside this was an overwhelming desire to make sense of the natural world. Scholars, aided by the artists who painted the first pictures of plants, set out looking, writing and classifying, but 2,000 years were to pass before any rules became clear. Anna Pavord takes us on an exhilarating and fascinating journey through botanical history, travelling from Athens in the third century BC, through Constantinople and Venice, Padua and Pisa to the present day.

The Naming of the Telescope;

The Naming of the Telescope; PDF

Author: Edward 1906- Rosen

Publisher: Hassell Street Press

Published: 2021-09-09

Total Pages: 140

ISBN-13: 9781013981654

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This work has been selected by scholars as being culturally important and is part of the knowledge base of civilization as we know it. This work is in the public domain in the United States of America, and possibly other nations. Within the United States, you may freely copy and distribute this work, as no entity (individual or corporate) has a copyright on the body of the work. Scholars believe, and we concur, that this work is important enough to be preserved, reproduced, and made generally available to the public. To ensure a quality reading experience, this work has been proofread and republished using a format that seamlessly blends the original graphical elements with text in an easy-to-read typeface. We appreciate your support of the preservation process, and thank you for being an important part of keeping this knowledge alive and relevant.

The Power of Naming

The Power of Naming PDF

Author: Melanie Dewberry

Publisher: Hay House, Inc

Published: 2017-04-18

Total Pages: 224

ISBN-13: 1401950027

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Who are you, really? This is the central question. The question you might have been asking yourself all these years. Who are you without your title, your gender, your talent, your weight, your income, or your personality? If you strip away all of your niceties, all those embellishments that you’ve added to your persona to be accepted, what is left? If you wriggle out of all the identities that others have foisted on you, if you release all the ways you smooth out your rough edges so you can belong and feel safe, who are you? What is your core identity? The Power of Naming: A Journey toward Your Soul’s Indigenous Nature is a beautiful guide to answering your soul’s yearning to be known, to live on purpose, and to be authentic. To hear and elicit your name, you will need to be honest with yourself and admit that deep down inside you have always had at least an inkling of your essence, but you’ve played a game of hide-and-seek with your soul. Through The Power of Naming, peaceful warriors are born, false identities and labels are cast off, and a deeper understanding of the true soul is unearthed. As you work through the chapters of this book, learning to apply the teachings imbued with the author’s rich Native American and African American background, you will rediscover who you are and experience a new sense of freedom, love, and alignment with your highest self.