Ordering Life: Karl Jordan and the Naturalist Tradition
Johnson’s far-reaching and insightful account not only sheds new light on the many internal and external challenges that naturalists faced in the later part of the nineteenth and the first half of the twentieth centuries, it also reveals the power of scientific biography in making sense of the complex, multifaceted transformations that the naturalist tradition experienced during this period.(Mark V. Barrow, Jr., author ofNature's Ghosts: Confronting Extinction from the Age of Jefferson to the Age of Ecology)For those with an interest in the history of natural history.(Ian Paulsen, GrrlScientistGuardian)A very readable account of the long-lived naturalist/entomologist Karl Jordan (1861-1959).(Choice)Any college-level natural history holding will find this enlightening.(Midwest Book Review)Karl Jordan’s innovative methods of classifying insect species are highlighted in this biography of the early 20th century entomologist.(Science News)Ordering Life, by Kristin Johnson, is one part biography to three parts history and philosophy of science. 'Jordan serves as a useful guide', Johnson writes, 'not only to understanding how knowledge about biodiversity is obtained but how the answer to that question has changed over time and why'.(Louise FabianiTimes Literary Supplement)There are layers of richness in Johnson's book and readers will doubtless draw their own conclusions for Johnson's pleasong style leads the reader by means of historical narrtive rather than proselytization.(Malcolm J. ScobleBiological Journal of the Linnean Society)