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How Zoologists Organize Things

The art of classification
Brief Description
Humankind's fascination with the animal kingdom began as a matter of survival—differentiating the edible from the toxic, the ferocious from the tractable. Since then, our compulsion to catalogue wildlife has played a key role in growing our understanding of the planet and ourselves, inspiring religious beliefs... Read More
Format: Paperback / softback
$4500
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Discover how categorisation has shaped our view of the natural world with How Zoologists Organize Things. The book unveils wild truths and even wilder myths about animals, as perpetuated by zoologists - revealing how much more there is to learn, and unlearn.

Book Hero Magic formatted this description to make it easier to read. While it's new and still learning, it may not be perfect - your feedback is welcome! Description

Humankind's fascination with the animal kingdom began as a matter of survival—differentiating the edible from the toxic, the ferocious from the tractable. Since then, our compulsion to catalogue wildlife has played a key role in growing our understanding of the planet and ourselves, inspiring religious beliefs and evolving scientific theories.

How Zoologists Organize Things unveils wild truths and even wilder myths about animals, as perpetuated by zoologists—revealing how much more there is to learn, and unlearn.

Long before Darwin, our ancestors were obsessed with the visual similarities and differences between animals. Early scientists could sense there was an order that unified all life and formulated a variety of schemes to help illustrate this. This human quest to classify living beings has left us with a rich artistic legacy, from the folklore and religiosity of the ancient and Medieval world through the naturalistic cataloguing of the Enlightenment to the modern, computer-generated classificatory labyrinth.

This book tells the fascinating, visual story of this process. The wonderful zoological charts reflect prevailing artistic trends and scientific discoveries, as well as telling us as much about ourselves as they do about the creatures depicted.

Book Details

INFORMATION

ISBN: 9781836006503

Publisher: Quarto Publishing PLC

Format: Paperback / softback

Date Published: 24 July 2025

Country: United Kingdom

Imprint: Frances Lincoln

Illustration: 180 color illustrations

Audience: General / adult

DIMENSIONS

Spine width: 23.0mm

Width: 171.0mm

Height: 236.0mm

Weight: 790g

Pages: 256

About the Author

David Bainbridge is a reproductive biologist, popular science writer, and the Clinical Veterinary Anatomist, the world-top-ranked Department of Physiology, Development and Neuroscience at the University of Cambridge. As well as many academic and clinical publications, he has written seven popular science books, widely reviewed, discussed and translated. He is a fellow of St Catharine's College, Cambridge, whose alumni include John Ray, the originator of the biological term "species." David Bainbridge is the definitive voice on zoology classification. 

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