- Hardcover: 480 pages
- Publisher: Bloomsbury Publishing PLC; 1st Edition edition (17 Oct 2005)
- Language English
- ISBN-10: 0747579520
- ISBN-13: 978-0747579526
- Product Dimensions: 25 x 19.4 x 4.4 cm
- Average Customer Review: 4.2 out of 5 stars See all reviews (5 customer reviews)
- Amazon Bestsellers Rank: 227,238 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)
The Naming of Names
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Product Description
Review
'A passionate masterpiece' MAIL ON SUNDAY on THE TULIP 'Written by a scholar, reads like a thriller' DAILY TELEGRAPH on THE TULIP
Review
'A thrilling adventure into botanical history, and a compelling insight into a world full of intrigue and intensely competitive egos' Royal Horticultural Society 'Her glorious book, inspired by a passion that matches theirs, is itself a memorial to all those who collected, drew and named plants in the past, sumptuously illustrated' Sunday Times 'A book to be dipped into at delicious leisure, to savour over time' Vogue 'I simply adored The Naming of Names, Anna Pavord's beautifully written, gloriously illustrated history of how brilliant men from the days of Aristotle attempted to classify the world's plants' Jilly Cooper, Daily Telegraph Books of the Year
--This text refers to an out of print or unavailable edition of this title.
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Customer Reviews
Most Helpful Customer Reviews
9 of 9 people found the following review helpful
Format:Paperback
I would most certainly recommend this book but have one big question. Anna Pavord cannot write a dull sentence, the book is beautifully produced and it provides a truly in-depth treatment of its subject; but who exactly is it aimed at?
For the general reader there is probably just too much information on the arcane development of plant nomenclature; yet it is insufficiently referenced and rigorous to have serious academic pretensions (which, to be fair, it doesn't claim to have).
Please don't let me put you off trying the book. I learned a huge amount about a subject I would previously have found deathly-dull. And it's a lovely object to have and to hold. It's just that all the while I couldn't help feeling it should have been conceived as a rather different book.
For the general reader there is probably just too much information on the arcane development of plant nomenclature; yet it is insufficiently referenced and rigorous to have serious academic pretensions (which, to be fair, it doesn't claim to have).
Please don't let me put you off trying the book. I learned a huge amount about a subject I would previously have found deathly-dull. And it's a lovely object to have and to hold. It's just that all the while I couldn't help feeling it should have been conceived as a rather different book.
45 of 48 people found the following review helpful
Format:Hardcover
Having read Anna Pavord's "The Border Book", which is interesting and easy to follow, I felt that she would be an excellent person to write a down to earth, yet compelling book on how plants got their names.
This is not a book that does that. Anna writes beautifully about her travels and passion for the pioneers in plant naming. She also gives a great deal of detail as to how the process of plant naming has evolved through the ages, but this is a book on the process of naming, not the plants themselves.
That said I am enjoying the book and it is easy to read. My only real criticism is that she has an annoying habit of quoting in Italian or Latin, pre-supposing that the reader is familiar/fluent with these languages. A revised edition would do well to give the translation in brackets alongside the quote.
In summation. If you want a good bedside read about the people who gave birth to the process of classifying and standardising plant nomenclature, then this is great bedside or coffee table read. If you're interested in the plants themselves, this may not be for you. For all that it is a good book all the same.
This is not a book that does that. Anna writes beautifully about her travels and passion for the pioneers in plant naming. She also gives a great deal of detail as to how the process of plant naming has evolved through the ages, but this is a book on the process of naming, not the plants themselves.
That said I am enjoying the book and it is easy to read. My only real criticism is that she has an annoying habit of quoting in Italian or Latin, pre-supposing that the reader is familiar/fluent with these languages. A revised edition would do well to give the translation in brackets alongside the quote.
In summation. If you want a good bedside read about the people who gave birth to the process of classifying and standardising plant nomenclature, then this is great bedside or coffee table read. If you're interested in the plants themselves, this may not be for you. For all that it is a good book all the same.
2 of 2 people found the following review helpful
Format:Hardcover
A beautiful book in the physical sense as well as the words. I got it in hard back for this reason. Very compelling accounts of individual botanists and herbalists through history from Theophrastus to Lineaus.
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Most Recent Customer Reviews
OPUS INSIGNE
This marvellous book stands out by different criteria: its beautiful illustrations, the fascinating struggle of taxonomy, the generally unknown topic of the ancient world of plant... Read more
Published 2 months ago by A.P.J. (Tommie) Hendriks
Authoratitive. A first class book of reference for all who have an...
A first class referenece book for all who an interest in plant names, as well as an intriguing narrative
Published on 17 May 2010 by L. W. L. Chelton
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