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Every Living Thing

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What to expect

An exploration of two geniuses with limitless minds and the conflict that has lasted beyond their lifetimes.

Every Living Thing centres on the rivalry pledged between two scientists, Linnaeus and Buffon, who, from 1743 to 1778 raced each other to complete an inventory of all life on Earth. Their focus was on scientific immortality and the core conception of our relationship to the natural world. Their catalogues were starkly different and showed a divergence of opinion on the creation of nature and humanity. Buffon advocating for a natural system of classification, while Linnaeus was dedicated to naming and classifying objects of nature.

This book coins this competition the Nature Wars, and combines comprehensive narrative, interweaving the personal journeys of Linnaeus and Buffon, telling their moments of accomplishment and loss, persistence and sacrifice.

Reflecting on this rivalry, Every Living Thing confronts how the Nature Wars are still being waged today. Current innovations in science and technology, as artificial intelligence seeps into our daily lives and modern DNA labs are forcing us to reconsider the legacies of these great thinkers, and with this, re-imagine our relationship to the natural world.

Every Living Thing is an enthralling account of historic rivals who were forced to comes to terms with the vast and complex reality of life on Earth, exploring the evolution of science from the 18th Century to the present times, it tells of the displacement that has occurred as new discoveries create dramatic shifts in the mechanisms of the world.

Critics Review

Barely a dozen letters of the alphabet suffice to categorize every star in the cosmos, but when it comes to naming and classifying living things, the job gets more complicated. As Jason Roberts reveals in this vibrant scientific saga, taxonomists take up their mission with a mix of insight and foresight, colored by their moment in history, not to mention their foibles, their vanity, and their all-too-human prejudices. The thousands of definitive two-part labels given to plants and animals since the 18th century tell a story at once important, outrageous, enlightening, entertaining, enduring, and still evolving.
Dava Sobel, author of The Glass Universe, Galileo’s Daughter, and Longitude
A lively, panoramic contribution to the history of science.
Kirkus
Illuminating . . . an enthralling look at a pivotal period in the history of biology.
Publishers Weekly
Jason Roberts brings an amazing episode in the European scientific enlightenment of the 1700s to life in following the entwined careers of Buffon and Linnaeus. Naming all the species on Earth was their aim, and these two very different, brilliant polymaths progressed a long way in their aims. Jason Roberts strides confidently through a great sweep of history, introducing all the characters with verve and humour
Professor Mike Benton
Absorbing and lucidly written . . . In this fascinating and constantly surprising book, Jason Roberts brilliantly mines the philosophical and practical differences between the two men, demonstrating how de Buffon, although eclipsed by his rival in later centuries, may have the last laugh.
Country Life
Gripping
Economist
A tale of scientific rivalry and the race to categorise all life on Earth. Carl Linnaeus and Georges-Louis de Buffon never met. But by the middle of the 18th century both were famous-and at loggerheads. Thanks to its surprising twists and turns, this book is an unnaturally good read.
Economist (The Economist's recommended 2024 holiday reads)
An epic account of an impossible scientific undertaking and a rare blend of deep research, page-turning storytelling, and the beauty of the natural world . . . Every Living Thing brings history to vivid life and animates an essential story with an ever-present sense of wonder
Charles Duhigg
Roberts has such a keen eye for colourful detail that Every Living Thing is never dull (I commend to your attention his account of Buffon, Benjamin Franklin and the decaying moose) . . . He is also a superb historian of
science who in the last section of his book brings the story of the naming of species engagingly up to date
Literary Review
Fluent and engaging
Wall Street Journal
Skillful
Times Literary Supplement
Author Jason Roberts
Narrator David de Vries
Duration 14 hours and 3 minutes
Release Date
ISBN 9781529400441
Format Audiobook
Publisher Quercus
Genre Biology, life sciences, Botany and plant sciences, History of science
Availability AU, GB, IE

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