Specimens

by Richard Conniff

The Search for Life on a Little Known Planet and How It Changed Our World was originally published in The New York Times. It examines the search for life -- not wishful thinking about extraterrestrials, but the myriad strange life forms with which we share this planet. It looks beyond Darwin's accomplishments to find a number of colorful characters whose discoveries of new species have transformed our lives in ways we scarcely recognize. The writer is Richard Conniff, whose other books include "Spineless Strange Tales from the Invertebrate World," "The Natural History of the A Field Guide," and "The Species Heroes, Fools, and the Mad Pursuit of Life on Earth."

Genres: Science, Biology

48 pages, Kindle Edition

First published January 3, 2012

About the author

Richard Conniff, a Guggenheim Fellow and winner of the National Magazine Award, is the author most recently of House of Lost Worlds: Dinosaurs, Dynasties, and the Story of Life on Earth. He writes for Smithsonian and National Geographic and is a contributing opinion writer for the New York Times, and a former commentator on NPR's All Things Considered. His other books include The Natural History of the Rich, Swimming with Piranhas at Feeding Time, and The Species Seekers. He lives in Old Lyme, Connecticut.