The Resource The seeds of life : from Aristotle to da Vinci, from shark's teeth to frogs' pants, the long and strange quest to discover where babies come from, Edward Dolnick
The seeds of life : from Aristotle to da Vinci, from shark's teeth to frogs' pants, the long and strange quest to discover where babies come from, Edward Dolnick
Resource Information
The item The seeds of life : from Aristotle to da Vinci, from shark's teeth to frogs' pants, the long and strange quest to discover where babies come from, Edward Dolnick represents a specific, individual, material embodiment of a distinct intellectual or artistic creation found in Austin Public Library.This item is available to borrow from 3 library branches. This resource has been enriched with EBSCO NoveList data.
Resource Information
The item The seeds of life : from Aristotle to da Vinci, from shark's teeth to frogs' pants, the long and strange quest to discover where babies come from, Edward Dolnick represents a specific, individual, material embodiment of a distinct intellectual or artistic creation found in Austin Public Library.
This item is available to borrow from 3 library branches.
This resource has been enriched with EBSCO NoveList data.
- Summary
- "Why cracking the code of human conception took centuries of wild theories, misogynist blunders, and ludicrous mistakes. Throughout most of human history, babies were surprises. People knew the basics: men and women had sex, and sometimes babies followed. But beyond that the origins of life were a colossal mystery. The Seeds of Life is the remarkable and rollicking story of how a series of blundering geniuses and brilliant amateurs struggled for two centuries to discover where, exactly, babies come from. Taking a page from investigative thrillers, acclaimed science writer Edward Dolnick looks to these early scientists as if they were detectives hot on the trail of a bedeviling and urgent mystery. These strange searchers included an Italian surgeon using shark teeth to prove that female reproductive organs were not 'failed' male genitalia, and a Catholic priest who designed ingenious miniature pants to prove that frogs required semen to fertilize their eggs. A witty and rousing history of science, The Seeds of Life presents our greatest scientists struggling-against their perceptions, their religious beliefs, and their deep-seated prejudices-to uncover how and where we come from"--
- Language
- eng
- Extent
- ix, 309 pages
- Contents
-
- Prologue: England in the early 1630s
- Part one: Peering into the body. Onward to glory ; Hidden in deep night ; Swallowing stones and drinking dew ; Unmoored in time ; "Double, double toil and trouble" ; Door A or door B?
- Part two: The search for the egg. Missing: one universe (reward to finder) ; Sharks' teeth and cows' eggs ; The egg, at last ; A world in a drop of water ; "Animals of the semen"
- Part three: Russian dolls. Dolls within dolls ; The message in God's fine print ; Sea of troubles ; The rabbit woman of Godliman ; "All in pieces, all coherence gone" ; The cathedral that built itself ; A vase in silhouette
- Part four: The clockwork topples and a new theory rises. Frogs in silk pants ; A drop of venom ; The craze of the century ; "I saw the dull yellow eye of the creature open" ; The nose of the Sphinx ; "The game is afoot" ; Caught!
- Isbn
- 9780465082957
- Label
- The seeds of life : from Aristotle to da Vinci, from shark's teeth to frogs' pants, the long and strange quest to discover where babies come from
- Title
- The seeds of life
- Title remainder
- from Aristotle to da Vinci, from shark's teeth to frogs' pants, the long and strange quest to discover where babies come from
- Statement of responsibility
- Edward Dolnick
- Title variation
- Seeds of life
- Title variation remainder
- from Aristotle to Da Vinci, from sharks teeth to frogs pants, the long and strange quest to discover where babies come from
- Subject
-
- trueScientists
- trueConception
- trueExperiments
- HISTORY -- Social History
- History
- trueHuman anatomy
- trueHuman reproduction
- Human reproduction
- Human reproduction -- History
- Human reproduction -- Mythology
- Human reproduction -- Mythology
- Human reproduction -- Social aspects
- trueHuman reproduction -- Social aspects
- trueReligion and science
- SCIENCE -- History
- SCIENCE -- Life Sciences | General
- trueScience -- Methodology
- trueScientific discoveries
- Language
- eng
- Summary
- "Why cracking the code of human conception took centuries of wild theories, misogynist blunders, and ludicrous mistakes. Throughout most of human history, babies were surprises. People knew the basics: men and women had sex, and sometimes babies followed. But beyond that the origins of life were a colossal mystery. The Seeds of Life is the remarkable and rollicking story of how a series of blundering geniuses and brilliant amateurs struggled for two centuries to discover where, exactly, babies come from. Taking a page from investigative thrillers, acclaimed science writer Edward Dolnick looks to these early scientists as if they were detectives hot on the trail of a bedeviling and urgent mystery. These strange searchers included an Italian surgeon using shark teeth to prove that female reproductive organs were not 'failed' male genitalia, and a Catholic priest who designed ingenious miniature pants to prove that frogs required semen to fertilize their eggs. A witty and rousing history of science, The Seeds of Life presents our greatest scientists struggling-against their perceptions, their religious beliefs, and their deep-seated prejudices-to uncover how and where we come from"--
- Assigning source
- Provided by publisher
- http://library.link/vocab/ext/novelist/bookUI
- 10564917
- Cataloging source
- DLC
- http://library.link/vocab/creatorDate
- 1952-
- http://library.link/vocab/creatorName
- Dolnick, Edward
- Dewey number
- 612.6
- Illustrations
- illustrations
- Index
- index present
- Literary form
- non fiction
- Nature of contents
- bibliography
- http://library.link/vocab/resourcePreferred
- True
- http://library.link/vocab/subjectName
-
- Human reproduction
- Human reproduction
- Human reproduction
- SCIENCE
- HISTORY
- SCIENCE
- Human reproduction
- Human reproduction
- Human reproduction
- http://bibfra.me/vocab/lite/titleRemainder
- from Aristotle to Da Vinci, from shark's teeth to frog's pants, the long and strange quest to discover where babies come from
- Label
- The seeds of life : from Aristotle to da Vinci, from shark's teeth to frogs' pants, the long and strange quest to discover where babies come from, Edward Dolnick
- Bibliography note
- Includes bibliographical references (pages 267-296) and index
- Carrier category
- volume
- Carrier category code
-
- nc
- Carrier MARC source
- rdacarrier
- Content category
- text
- Content type code
-
- txt
- Content type MARC source
- rdacontent
- Contents
- Prologue: England in the early 1630s -- Part one: Peering into the body. Onward to glory ; Hidden in deep night ; Swallowing stones and drinking dew ; Unmoored in time ; "Double, double toil and trouble" ; Door A or door B? -- Part two: The search for the egg. Missing: one universe (reward to finder) ; Sharks' teeth and cows' eggs ; The egg, at last ; A world in a drop of water ; "Animals of the semen" -- Part three: Russian dolls. Dolls within dolls ; The message in God's fine print ; Sea of troubles ; The rabbit woman of Godliman ; "All in pieces, all coherence gone" ; The cathedral that built itself ; A vase in silhouette -- Part four: The clockwork topples and a new theory rises. Frogs in silk pants ; A drop of venom ; The craze of the century ; "I saw the dull yellow eye of the creature open" ; The nose of the Sphinx ; "The game is afoot" ; Caught!
- Control code
- 1799654
- Dimensions
- 25 cm
- Extent
- ix, 309 pages
- Isbn
- 9780465082957
- Lccn
- 2016054195
- Media category
- unmediated
- Media MARC source
- rdamedia
- Media type code
-
- n
- Other physical details
- illustrations
- System control number
-
- (Sirsi) i9780465082957
- (OCoLC)960294702
- Label
- The seeds of life : from Aristotle to da Vinci, from shark's teeth to frogs' pants, the long and strange quest to discover where babies come from, Edward Dolnick
- Bibliography note
- Includes bibliographical references (pages 267-296) and index
- Carrier category
- volume
- Carrier category code
-
- nc
- Carrier MARC source
- rdacarrier
- Content category
- text
- Content type code
-
- txt
- Content type MARC source
- rdacontent
- Contents
- Prologue: England in the early 1630s -- Part one: Peering into the body. Onward to glory ; Hidden in deep night ; Swallowing stones and drinking dew ; Unmoored in time ; "Double, double toil and trouble" ; Door A or door B? -- Part two: The search for the egg. Missing: one universe (reward to finder) ; Sharks' teeth and cows' eggs ; The egg, at last ; A world in a drop of water ; "Animals of the semen" -- Part three: Russian dolls. Dolls within dolls ; The message in God's fine print ; Sea of troubles ; The rabbit woman of Godliman ; "All in pieces, all coherence gone" ; The cathedral that built itself ; A vase in silhouette -- Part four: The clockwork topples and a new theory rises. Frogs in silk pants ; A drop of venom ; The craze of the century ; "I saw the dull yellow eye of the creature open" ; The nose of the Sphinx ; "The game is afoot" ; Caught!
- Control code
- 1799654
- Dimensions
- 25 cm
- Extent
- ix, 309 pages
- Isbn
- 9780465082957
- Lccn
- 2016054195
- Media category
- unmediated
- Media MARC source
- rdamedia
- Media type code
-
- n
- Other physical details
- illustrations
- System control number
-
- (Sirsi) i9780465082957
- (OCoLC)960294702
Subject
- trueScientists
- trueConception
- trueExperiments
- HISTORY -- Social History
- History
- trueHuman anatomy
- trueHuman reproduction
- Human reproduction
- Human reproduction -- History
- Human reproduction -- Mythology
- Human reproduction -- Mythology
- Human reproduction -- Social aspects
- trueHuman reproduction -- Social aspects
- trueReligion and science
- SCIENCE -- History
- SCIENCE -- Life Sciences | General
- trueScience -- Methodology
- trueScientific discoveries
Genre
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<div class="citation" vocab="http://schema.org/"><i class="fa fa-external-link-square fa-fw"></i> Data from <span resource="http://link.library.austintexas.gov/portal/The-seeds-of-life--from-Aristotle-to-da-Vinci/isuAj3H6OWw/" typeof="Book http://bibfra.me/vocab/lite/Item"><span property="name http://bibfra.me/vocab/lite/label"><a href="http://link.library.austintexas.gov/portal/The-seeds-of-life--from-Aristotle-to-da-Vinci/isuAj3H6OWw/">The seeds of life : from Aristotle to da Vinci, from shark's teeth to frogs' pants, the long and strange quest to discover where babies come from, Edward Dolnick</a></span> - <span property="potentialAction" typeOf="OrganizeAction"><span property="agent" typeof="LibrarySystem http://library.link/vocab/LibrarySystem" resource="http://link.library.austintexas.gov/"><span property="name http://bibfra.me/vocab/lite/label"><a property="url" href="http://link.library.austintexas.gov/">Austin Public Library</a></span></span></span></span></div>