The Naming of Names: the Search for Order in the World of Plants (Hardback)
Unavailable
Sorry we can't get this title, the button below links through to AbeBooks who may have this title (opens in new window).
|Short Description for The Naming of Names The Naming of Names traces the search for order in the natural world, a search that for hundreds of years occupied some of the most brilliant minds in Europe. Redefining man's relationship with nature was an important feature of the Renaissance. But in a world full of plaques and poisons, there was also a practical need to name and recognise different plants: most medicines were made from plant ex...
Full description- Publisher: Bloomsbury Publishing PLC
- Published: 17 October 2005
- Format: Hardback 480 pages
- See: Full bibliographic data
- Categories: Botany & Plant Sciences
- ISBN 13: 9780747579526 ISBN 10: 0747579520
- Sales rank: 652,686
Other books
Full description for The Naming of Names
The Naming of Names traces the search for order in the natural world, a search that for hundreds of years occupied some of the most brilliant minds in Europe. Redefining man's relationship with nature was an important feature of the Renaissance. But in a world full of plaques and poisons, there was also a practical need to name and recognise different plants: most medicines were made from plant extracts. Anna Pavord takes us on a thrilling adventure into botanical history, travelling from Athens in the third century BC, through Constantinople, Venice, the medical school at Salerno to the universities of Pisa and Padua. The journey, traced here for the first time, involves the culture of Islam, the first expeditions to the Indies and the first settlers in the New World. In Athens, Aristotle's pupil, Theophrastus, is the first man ever to write a book about plants. What should these things properly be called, he asks. How can we sort and order them? The debate continues still, two thousand years later. Gradually, over a long period in Europe, plants assumed identities and acquired names. Artists painted the first pictures of them. Plants acquired the two-part names that show how they are related to other plants. But who began all this work, and how was it done? Sumptuously illustrated in full colour, The Naming of Names gives a compelling insight into a world full of intrigue and intensely competitive egos.
