In the 18th century, two men dedicated their lives to the same daunting task: identifying and describing all life on Earth. Carl Linnaeus believed that life belonged in tidy, static categories. Georges-Louis de Buffon viewed life as a dynamic swirl of complexities. Stunned by life's diversity, both fell far short of their goal. But in the process they articulated starkly divergent views on nature, on humanity's role in shaping the fate of our planet and on humanity itself. The rivalry between these two unique, driven individuals created reverberations that still echo today.
|