Linnaeus: Nature and NationDrawing on letters, poems, notebooks, and secret diaries, Lisbet Koerner tells the moving story of one of the most famous naturalists who ever lived, the Swedish-born botanist and systematizer, Carl Linnaeus. The first scholarly biography of this great Enlightenment scientist in almost one hundred years, Linnaeus also recounts for the first time Linnaeus' grand and bizarre economic projects: to "teach" tea, saffron, and rice to grow on the Arctic tundra and to domesticate buffaloes, guinea pigs, and elks as Swedish farm animals. Linnaeus hoped to reproduce the economy of empire and colony within the borders of his family home by growing cash crops in Northern Europe. Koerner shows us the often surprising ways he embarked on this project. Her narrative goes against the grain of Linnaean scholarship old and new by analyzing not how modern Linnaeus was, but how he understood science in his time. At the same time, his attempts to organize a state economy according to principles of science prefigured an idea that has become one of the defining features of modernity. Meticulously researched, and based on archival data, Linnaeus will be of compelling interest to historians of the Enlightenment, historians of economics, and historians of science. But this engaging, often funny, and sometimes tragic portrait of a great man will be valued by general readers as well. |
What people are saying - Write a review
Reviews aren't verified, but Google checks for and removes fake content when it's identified
LINNAEUS: Nature and Nation
User Review - KirkusA rich biographical study that documents the strange, often unfortunate relation between the well-known scientific thinking and the forgotten economic theories of famed Swedish naturalist Carl ... Read full review
Linnaeus: nature and nation
User Review - Not Available - Book VerdictKoerner's biography of Carl Linnaeus (best remembered for his work in botany and as the originator of a taxonomic classification system of plants) shows that this scientist was interested in a great ... Read full review
Contents
Introduction To Apply Nature to Economics and Vice Versa | 1 |
Natural Philosophy | 14 |
Floral Names | 33 |
Copyright | |
5 other sections not shown
Other editions - View all
Common terms and phrases
Academy of Science added Anders animals argued Bäck became become binomial botanic botanist called cameralist Carl Linnaeus century claimed collections death described dissertation earlier early East economic edition English European example explained famine farmers father Flora flower followed foreign garden German grow Gustav hoped human Ibid import Johan journey Kalm king land Lapland Lapp later learned letter Linnaean Linné live London manufactures means medicine memory names natural history naturalists never North noted Olof once Osbeck pearl Pehr Peter plantarum plants political practice production professor published quoted reprinted returned Rudbeck Sami Samuel Society Solander species Stockholm student Sweden Swedish Swedish Academy theory thought Thunberg tion trade trees turn typical Uppsala University Vita voyage writing written wrote Younger
Bibliographic information
| Title | Linnaeus: Nature and Nation |
| Author | Lisbet Koerner |
| Edition | illustrated, reprint, revised |
| Publisher | Harvard University Press, 2001 |
| Original from | the University of California |
| Digitized | Jul 1, 2009 |
| ISBN | 0674005651, 9780674005655 |
| Length | 298 pages |
| Subjects | › Biography & Autobiography / General Biography & Autobiography / Science & Technology Medical / Medical History & Records Science / History |
| Export Citation | BiBTeX EndNote RefMan |