Other Voices

Karen Magnuson Beil has always been fascinated by names. Her latest book, “What Linnaeus Saw: A Scientist’s Quest to Name Every Living Thing,” is an insightful look at the life of the 18th-Century Swede who developed the modern system of naming organisms. Carl Linnaeus — mocked by one of his critics as “a second Adam” — lived at a time when Europeans’ view of the world and their place in it was rapidly expanding. Linnaeus, a traveler and explorer in his youth, later sent his students to the New World to gather as many new plants and animals as they could find. His far-flung network of correspondents included the work of Jane Colden, who lived in the Hudson River highlands and used the Linnaean names to describe the plants she observed and recorded in exquisite drawings; Beil terms Colden America’s first female botanist. Beil writes in such a way that the reader is left to make discoveries as the story unfolds. “Science is a mystery,” Beil says in this week’s podcast. It involves trying and failing and trying again, she said, adding, “I wanted readers to feel curious and ready to ask questions.” Beil, who lives in Guilderland, believes it’s important to cultivate young scientists. She also writes of Linnaeus as someone whose enthusiasm made science accessible. “We need more science popularizers,” said Beil, “so everyone understands the role of nature and our role as human beings.”