Research Catalog
Seeds of life : from Aristotle to Da Vinci, from shark's teeth to frog's pants, the long and strange quest to discover where babies come from
- Title
- Seeds of life : from Aristotle to Da Vinci, from shark's teeth to frog's pants, the long and strange quest to discover where babies come from / Edward Dolnick.
- Author
- Dolnick, Edward, 1952-
- Publication
- New York : Basic Books, [2017]
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1 Item
| Status | Format | Access | Call Number | Item Location |
|---|---|---|---|---|
Available - Can be used on site. Please visit New York Public Library - Schwarzman Building to submit a request in person. | Text | Use in library | JFE 17-6976 | Schwarzman Building - Main Reading Room 315 |
Details
- Description
- ix, 309 pages : illustrations; 25 cm
- 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"--
- Subjects
- Bibliography (note)
- Includes bibliographical references and index.
- Call Number
- JFE 17-6976
- ISBN
- 9780465082957
- 0465082955
- LCCN
- 2016054195
- OCLC
- 2016054195
- Author
- Dolnick, Edward, 1952- author.
- Title
- Seeds of life : from Aristotle to Da Vinci, from shark's teeth to frog's pants, the long and strange quest to discover where babies come from / Edward Dolnick.
- Publisher
- New York : Basic Books, [2017]
- Type of Content
- text
- Type of Medium
- unmediated
- Type of Carrier
- volume
- Bibliography
- Includes bibliographical references and index.
- Research Call Number
- JFE 17-6976