Vous voulez voir cette page en français ? Cliquez ici.

 

or
Sign in to turn on 1-Click ordering.
 
 
More Buying Choices
18 used & new from CDN$ 16.50

Have one to sell? Sell yours here
 
   
The Naming Of Names
 
 

The Naming Of Names (Hardcover)

by Anna Pavord (Author)
3.0 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (2 customer reviews)
List Price: CDN$ 60.00
Price: CDN$ 37.80 & eligible for FREE Super Saver Shipping on orders over CDN$ 39. Details
You Save: CDN$ 22.20 (37%)
o o o o o o o o o o o o o o o o o o o o o o o o o o o o o o o o o o o o o o o o o o o o o o o o o o o o o o o o o o o o o o o o
Usually ships within 4 to 6 weeks.
Ships from and sold by Amazon.ca. Gift-wrap available.

Ordering for Christmas?? This item requires additional time to ship and will arrive after December 25. Need a last-minute gift? Send an Amazon.ca Gift Certificate.

8 new from CDN$ 35.00 10 used from CDN$ 16.50

Product Details


Product Description

From Publishers Weekly

Pavord, author of the The Tulip and an expert gardener, traces the history of plant taxonomy from the ancient Greeks to 17th-century British botanist John Ray in this hefty tome, and though her passion for plants is apparent on every page, readers who don't share the same level of enthusiasm will be frustrated by Pavord's encyclopedic approach. Pavord, in prose as rich and colorful as the too-infrequent illustrations, contextualizes plant classification within larger intellectual, political and cultural spheres, but she verges dangerously close to writing a textbook; the vast amount of information she packs into brief, rapid-fire sections can overwhelm. In the best sections, she slows down to draw detailed portraits of researchers and describe how each contributed to the slowly evolving (and, until the late 1600's, unnamed) science of botany. Ray, for instance, marked "a quiet, lonely, dogged consummation" with "no fireworks, no claps of thunder, no swelling symphonic themes" when, shortly before his death and suffering from gangrene, he penned the six fundamental rules of botany. Pavord's prose dazzles, but it's not enough to carry readers with a casual interest in plants or gardening through an otherwise dense history.
Copyright © Reed Business Information, a division of Reed Elsevier Inc. All rights reserved. --This text refers to an alternate Hardcover edition.


Review

'A passionate masterpiece' MAIL ON SUNDAY on THE TULIP 'Written by a scholar, reads like a thriller' DAILY TELEGRAPH on THE TULIP

Tag this product

 (What's this?)
Think of a tag as a keyword or label you consider is strongly related to this product.
Tags will help all customers organize and find favorite items.
Your tags: Add your first tag
 

 

Customer Reviews

2 Reviews
5 star:    (0)
4 star:
 (1)
3 star:    (0)
2 star:
 (1)
1 star:    (0)
 
 
 
 
 
Average Customer Review
3.0 out of 5 stars (2 customer reviews)
 
 
 
 
Share your thoughts with other customers:
Most helpful customer reviews

 
4.0 out of 5 stars An excellent treatment of an interesting topic, Oct 27 2007
By R. Myhr (Ashburn, Ontario Canada) - See all my reviews
(REAL NAME)   
Let's be clear -- this is not a book intended for the casual reader, who might pick up a bit of scientific non-fiction from time to time, the reader of Stephen Jay Gould's wonderful popular essays for instance. It's for people with a specific interest in plants, botany and natural history, and the people who populate (and have populated) those worlds.

That said, this is a fine, well-written and engaging work for anyone who has had some engagement with the topics covered. The history is sound, as is the science, and the discussion of the people is vivid and entertaining.

Read it and you'll learn a lot -- and be entertained in the process.

Was this review helpful to you? Yes No (Report this)



 
2.0 out of 5 stars 2-3 Stars - Scholarly, Sep 17 2006
By Craig Jenkins (Toronto, Canada) - See all my reviews
(TOP 500 REVIEWER)    (REAL NAME)   
I struggled with the rating for this book. It delivers what it promises - a work which impressed with what must have been volumes of research, recapping the development of botanical taxonomy throughout the ages.

Even those like myself, inordinately bent to non-fiction, may struggle as I did with what is an almost scholarly retelling. While in some ways that is a compliment, it also covers the fact that this became a fairly dry read.

It's a shame - there are glimpses of the characters along the way. When one reads from John Ray (1627-1705):

"I predict that our descendants will reach such heights in the sciences that our proudest discoveries wil seem slight, obvious, almost worthless. The will be tempted to pity our ignorance and to wonder that truths easy and manifest were so long hidden, and were so esteemed by us, unless they are generous enough to remember that we broke the ice for them, and smoothed the first approach to the heights".

One can hardly resist the urge to know more of such a man. With foresight and humility that belie his contributions to what was then a burgeoning field, we can almost come to regret the coldness of the scientific endeavour progress has wrought.

Was this review helpful to you? Yes No (Report this)


Share your thoughts with other customers: Create your own review
 
 
Only search this product's reviews



Look for similar items by category


Look for similar items by subject


Feedback


Your Recent History

 (What's this?)

After viewing product detail pages or search results, look here to find an easy way to navigate back to pages you are interested in.