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The Power of Life: The Invention of Biology and the Revolutionary Science of Jean-Baptiste Lamarck
496 pages, Hardcover
Published March 24, 2026
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March 28, 2026A nice excerpt at LitHub: https://lithub.com/on-a-bet-jean-bapt...
Excerpt:
"In his early thirties, while engrossed in these studies, Lamarck also became romantically involved with a woman named Rosalie de la Porte. The two moved in together to an apartment right at the geometric center of Paris in the rue des Deux Ponts, which vertically bisects the Île Saint Louis, where it sits in the middle of the Seine separating the Left and Right Banks. They would remain together until her death fifteen years later, and they would have six children together.
Rosalie de la Porte was apparently good for Lamarck’s productivity. Soon after they got together, in 1778, Lamarck produced his two first works—French Flora in three volumes and a baby girl named for her mother, Rosalie Joséphine, who would remain her father’s closest companion for the rest of his life. Much later, when Lamarck was old and blind, this Rosalie would be his amanuensis, reading to him, conducting research for him, and even writing for him."
I've had mixed luck with histories of science. But Lamarck is having something of a reconsideration as progenitor to Darwin. So, maybe.
Excerpt:
"In his early thirties, while engrossed in these studies, Lamarck also became romantically involved with a woman named Rosalie de la Porte. The two moved in together to an apartment right at the geometric center of Paris in the rue des Deux Ponts, which vertically bisects the Île Saint Louis, where it sits in the middle of the Seine separating the Left and Right Banks. They would remain together until her death fifteen years later, and they would have six children together.
Rosalie de la Porte was apparently good for Lamarck’s productivity. Soon after they got together, in 1778, Lamarck produced his two first works—French Flora in three volumes and a baby girl named for her mother, Rosalie Joséphine, who would remain her father’s closest companion for the rest of his life. Much later, when Lamarck was old and blind, this Rosalie would be his amanuensis, reading to him, conducting research for him, and even writing for him."
I've had mixed luck with histories of science. But Lamarck is having something of a reconsideration as progenitor to Darwin. So, maybe.
Review of advance copy received from Netgalley
A footnote in any grade-school or college biology course will tell you about the man who first proposed a theory of self-transforming organisms - that animals play an active role in shaping their own evolution. The power of that statement birthed a life-long devotion to the field of life - biology, though it father, Jean-Baptiste Lamarck was mocked by his adversaries and personally insulted by Napoleon for making such a wild claim. But Lamarck persisted, wading through the rapidly changing political and historical landscape of his life and through the vicious opposition of his rivals to answer questions that remain foundational to our modern worldview: What is a living being, and what is science?
Melding centuries of biography, history, politics, and science, researcher Jessica Riskin sheds light on the work of the often-forgotten, and horrendously underappreciated work of the first biologist, whose radical ideas offered a more inclusive, collaborative, and enlightened approach to a field we now take for granted. As Riskin reveals, denying the agency of living beings has informed two centuries of eugenic policies and environmental destruction, allowing people to regard the living world as so much raw material to shape and exploit for economic, industrial, and imperial gain - and if we don't learn from the mistakes of the past, we'll continue to make them to our detriment.
If I could go back and reshape my undergraduate education, I would have double-majored in both biology and history instead of doing just a minor. There is no science without understanding the complex, multi-factorial world in which the major events we get in PowerPoints and footnotes comes to pass. I have met Mr. Lamarck at many points throughout my education - generally he gets a handful of multiple-choice questions or a short essay regarding his contributions to science - and after reading this well-researched account of his life and its impact, I can't help but agree with the author that Lamarck is woefully underappreciated.
We learn a lot about contributors to science and other various stellate points in history with a dearth of context, and watching Lamarck's attempts to answer the pressing questions of his day while also navigating the fraught political and historical context of living in a country between empires; managing the life and death grief of raising a family in a pre-antibiotic world; and wrestling financially and politically with his peers to stake a claim and save his neck (literally) from the throes of poverty was fascinating. This is all interesting in itself, but the author's step further into the present and future, carrying Lamarck's (intentional or unintentional) inclusive, collaborative, and enlightened approach to science to what we've done, are doing, and can do better was a fitting and poignant tribute centuries too late to a man who was rarely appreciated in life for what would be one of the greatest contributions to a field in which so many spend their entire lives.
I think this is a great historical for those within and without science who remember Lamarck and others like him in a nebulous context, and who have a love and appreciation for biology and what it can do in a world that increasingly feels like it leaves nature behind in the pursuit of a "move fast and break things" mentality. I learned SO MUCH and was completely blown away by this book, and would love to see more of its kind - love letters to the movements which changed the course of science, interwoven with the deeply intimate and personal lives of the very mortal, very human men and women who ushered them into existence. Congratulations to Jessica Riskin on a beautiful book, and can't wait to explore your other writing!
Melding centuries of biography, history, politics, and science, researcher Jessica Riskin sheds light on the work of the often-forgotten, and horrendously underappreciated work of the first biologist, whose radical ideas offered a more inclusive, collaborative, and enlightened approach to a field we now take for granted. As Riskin reveals, denying the agency of living beings has informed two centuries of eugenic policies and environmental destruction, allowing people to regard the living world as so much raw material to shape and exploit for economic, industrial, and imperial gain - and if we don't learn from the mistakes of the past, we'll continue to make them to our detriment.
If I could go back and reshape my undergraduate education, I would have double-majored in both biology and history instead of doing just a minor. There is no science without understanding the complex, multi-factorial world in which the major events we get in PowerPoints and footnotes comes to pass. I have met Mr. Lamarck at many points throughout my education - generally he gets a handful of multiple-choice questions or a short essay regarding his contributions to science - and after reading this well-researched account of his life and its impact, I can't help but agree with the author that Lamarck is woefully underappreciated.
We learn a lot about contributors to science and other various stellate points in history with a dearth of context, and watching Lamarck's attempts to answer the pressing questions of his day while also navigating the fraught political and historical context of living in a country between empires; managing the life and death grief of raising a family in a pre-antibiotic world; and wrestling financially and politically with his peers to stake a claim and save his neck (literally) from the throes of poverty was fascinating. This is all interesting in itself, but the author's step further into the present and future, carrying Lamarck's (intentional or unintentional) inclusive, collaborative, and enlightened approach to science to what we've done, are doing, and can do better was a fitting and poignant tribute centuries too late to a man who was rarely appreciated in life for what would be one of the greatest contributions to a field in which so many spend their entire lives.
I think this is a great historical for those within and without science who remember Lamarck and others like him in a nebulous context, and who have a love and appreciation for biology and what it can do in a world that increasingly feels like it leaves nature behind in the pursuit of a "move fast and break things" mentality. I learned SO MUCH and was completely blown away by this book, and would love to see more of its kind - love letters to the movements which changed the course of science, interwoven with the deeply intimate and personal lives of the very mortal, very human men and women who ushered them into existence. Congratulations to Jessica Riskin on a beautiful book, and can't wait to explore your other writing!
May 11, 2026
Riskin's book is very useful in providing the life, writings, and thoughts of Jean-Baptiste Lamarck. He supported the idea of evolution by inhertance of acquired characters and is summarily dismissed in light of Darwin's theory of evolution. Nonetheless, Lamarck was important for the progress of biological understanding.
Lamarck argued that plants and animals evolved. They underwent changes over time that suited them better for survival in their environment. That proposal removes divine creation from the explanation for the diversity of living creatures, a view that not only went against the biological ideas of the early 19th century but also against the political and religious ideas of the time. How Lamarck survived this blasphemy is remarkable. Equally remarkable is how he survived the French revolution and the susequent republics and monarchies that led to the loss of the heads of many of the leading figures.
Given Lamarck's evolutionary theory, he constructed trees of relationships, quite distinct from the linear chain of being that was the accepted depiction of life on earth. These early trees became fully realized with the trees of Ernst Haeckel, later in the century. Haeckel was the main European supporter and promulgator of Darwin's theory.
As much as I enjoyed learning about Lamarck, I had difficulty finishing the book. Riskin wants to resurrect Lamarck and the last line in the book, emphasized by italics, is "Lamarck was right". Was he?
Darwin's theory of evolution by random variation and natural selection remains the overriding organizing concept in biology. Just like Einstein's theory of relativity, there is the idea that if you can poke a hole in Darwin or Einstein and deflate their balloons, you will become famous like David when he slew Goliath. Over the decades, Darwin and Einstein have been pelted but they have survived.
One major complaint is the treatment of August Weismann. Around the beginning of the 20th century, Weismann tried to disprove Lamarck by cutting off the tails of mice and showing that their offspring still had tails. More importantly, Weismann proposed that the germ cells which give rise to sperm or eggs were segregated very early in development from the somatic or body cells. Offspring would only be changed if there were changes in the germ cells, so cutting off a mouse's tail, a somatic structure, would have no effect on inheritance.
Observations by Boveri on Ascaris supported the Weismann germ-somatic separation. Although that turned out to be a special case, germ cells are segregated from somatic cells very early in development of almost all animals (although not in plants). If there is any environmental effect on inheritance it has to go through the germ cells. Riskin brings up some possible examples, epigenesis in particular, but the effects of any of these influences on the germ cells has to be demonstrated before Riskin can make her final declaration on Lamarck.
Lamarck argued that plants and animals evolved. They underwent changes over time that suited them better for survival in their environment. That proposal removes divine creation from the explanation for the diversity of living creatures, a view that not only went against the biological ideas of the early 19th century but also against the political and religious ideas of the time. How Lamarck survived this blasphemy is remarkable. Equally remarkable is how he survived the French revolution and the susequent republics and monarchies that led to the loss of the heads of many of the leading figures.
Given Lamarck's evolutionary theory, he constructed trees of relationships, quite distinct from the linear chain of being that was the accepted depiction of life on earth. These early trees became fully realized with the trees of Ernst Haeckel, later in the century. Haeckel was the main European supporter and promulgator of Darwin's theory.
As much as I enjoyed learning about Lamarck, I had difficulty finishing the book. Riskin wants to resurrect Lamarck and the last line in the book, emphasized by italics, is "Lamarck was right". Was he?
Darwin's theory of evolution by random variation and natural selection remains the overriding organizing concept in biology. Just like Einstein's theory of relativity, there is the idea that if you can poke a hole in Darwin or Einstein and deflate their balloons, you will become famous like David when he slew Goliath. Over the decades, Darwin and Einstein have been pelted but they have survived.
One major complaint is the treatment of August Weismann. Around the beginning of the 20th century, Weismann tried to disprove Lamarck by cutting off the tails of mice and showing that their offspring still had tails. More importantly, Weismann proposed that the germ cells which give rise to sperm or eggs were segregated very early in development from the somatic or body cells. Offspring would only be changed if there were changes in the germ cells, so cutting off a mouse's tail, a somatic structure, would have no effect on inheritance.
Observations by Boveri on Ascaris supported the Weismann germ-somatic separation. Although that turned out to be a special case, germ cells are segregated from somatic cells very early in development of almost all animals (although not in plants). If there is any environmental effect on inheritance it has to go through the germ cells. Riskin brings up some possible examples, epigenesis in particular, but the effects of any of these influences on the germ cells has to be demonstrated before Riskin can make her final declaration on Lamarck.
Review of advance copy received from Netgalley
The importance of science cannot be overstated in these times. Sometimes science gets it wrong. In examining one man’s, Jean-Baptiste Lamarck, early 18 C evolutionary theory and his creation of a new science: biology, Jessica Riskin looks at how science changes and how in spite of ridicule, shaming and attempts to quash opinions, science can find a way to truth. Giving Lamarck a fresh look especially as many of his theories are rationale and correct, especially is calling into question that man’s existence shouldn’t be based on exploitation, this book supports another one I read, I Told You So (Matt Kaplan), where new ideas get rejected but the truth eventually finds a way.
Lamarck was a French naturalist who posited the first evolutionary theory. His theory of self-transforming organisms has been rejected by evolutionary theorists who believed man was passive in the process (sort like the creationist belief in 7 days, man could only change of God intervened). Riskin presents a blistering taken down of evolutionary theories. She has well researched the topic and the history that follows is captivating. It’s a fascinating read altogether and illustrates how hard it is to change people’s opinions - except through persistence!
At the end, Riskin writes evolutionary biology is “full of exhilarating unrest” which bodes well for the future. While I’m not sure I understood everything, I did find that books such as this one is why reading nonfiction is so incredibly important. Thank you, Ms. Riskin.
I’d like to thank NetGalley and Riverhead Books for allowing me to read this ARC.
Lamarck was a French naturalist who posited the first evolutionary theory. His theory of self-transforming organisms has been rejected by evolutionary theorists who believed man was passive in the process (sort like the creationist belief in 7 days, man could only change of God intervened). Riskin presents a blistering taken down of evolutionary theories. She has well researched the topic and the history that follows is captivating. It’s a fascinating read altogether and illustrates how hard it is to change people’s opinions - except through persistence!
At the end, Riskin writes evolutionary biology is “full of exhilarating unrest” which bodes well for the future. While I’m not sure I understood everything, I did find that books such as this one is why reading nonfiction is so incredibly important. Thank you, Ms. Riskin.
I’d like to thank NetGalley and Riverhead Books for allowing me to read this ARC.
April 23, 2026
His theory was reduced to one idea–that giraffe’s necks grew long because they had to stretch to reach the leaves on trees. Lamarck believed that species had the power to change themselves at a time when most accepted the Biblical story of creation which denied the idea of change or evolution.
Riskin’s book is filled with information but is never dry.
What Jean-Baptiste Lamarck accomplished in a time of political turmoil is amazing. Lamarck began as a botanist until the French Revolution when he was arbitrarily assigned his job as zoologist in charge of insects and worm study. (Then, he was lucky to still have a job—and his head—with Robespierre in charge!) He went on to create a new taxonomy of animals–invertebrates. He came to believe “they revealed the essence and foundation of animal life” through the “gradation” of their forms.
Life, as Lamarck now came to see it, was the manifest capacity to create in the face of all nature’s forces of destruction.” from The Power of Life by Jessica Riskin
His study of Murex mollusks convinced him that they “selectively” created and altered their shells, a radical idea that “life…consisted simply of the capacity for a kind of organic, self-directed movement.” He called it the power of life, the force that drove living things to change and improve itself over time. Creatures could respond to their environment!
Riskin shows how Lamarck was the father of ideas we now accept, tracing the impact of his ideas across two hundred years, including the work of Darwin, the Eugenics movement, and epigenetics. She ends: Lamarck was right.
Thanks to Riverhead Books for a free book.
Riskin’s book is filled with information but is never dry.
What Jean-Baptiste Lamarck accomplished in a time of political turmoil is amazing. Lamarck began as a botanist until the French Revolution when he was arbitrarily assigned his job as zoologist in charge of insects and worm study. (Then, he was lucky to still have a job—and his head—with Robespierre in charge!) He went on to create a new taxonomy of animals–invertebrates. He came to believe “they revealed the essence and foundation of animal life” through the “gradation” of their forms.
Life, as Lamarck now came to see it, was the manifest capacity to create in the face of all nature’s forces of destruction.” from The Power of Life by Jessica Riskin
His study of Murex mollusks convinced him that they “selectively” created and altered their shells, a radical idea that “life…consisted simply of the capacity for a kind of organic, self-directed movement.” He called it the power of life, the force that drove living things to change and improve itself over time. Creatures could respond to their environment!
Riskin shows how Lamarck was the father of ideas we now accept, tracing the impact of his ideas across two hundred years, including the work of Darwin, the Eugenics movement, and epigenetics. She ends: Lamarck was right.
Thanks to Riverhead Books for a free book.
May 10, 2026
What stayed with me after reading The Power of Life was the book’s insistence that biology did not emerge as a stable science but as a fierce intellectual struggle over what life itself actually is. Jessica Riskin presents Lamarck not as a historical footnote overshadowed by Darwin, but as a thinker wrestling with questions that still feel unresolved.
I appreciated how the book situates scientific ideas inside the political and philosophical upheavals of revolutionary France. The tension between mechanism and vitality runs through the narrative in fascinating ways, especially as Lamarck attempts to explain living systems without reducing them to inert matter. The book also carefully traces how scientific reputations are constructed and distorted over time. Rather than treating Lamarck simply as the man associated with inherited traits, Riskin reconstructs the broader intellectual ambition behind his work and the cultural anxieties surrounding early biology itself. I found the historical detail especially effective because it reveals science as an evolving human argument rather than a clean sequence of discoveries.
This book will reward readers interested in the history of ideas, scientific philosophy, and the messy origins of modern biology. I finished it thinking about how definitions of life always carry deeper assumptions about change, agency, and what it means to be human.
I appreciated how the book situates scientific ideas inside the political and philosophical upheavals of revolutionary France. The tension between mechanism and vitality runs through the narrative in fascinating ways, especially as Lamarck attempts to explain living systems without reducing them to inert matter. The book also carefully traces how scientific reputations are constructed and distorted over time. Rather than treating Lamarck simply as the man associated with inherited traits, Riskin reconstructs the broader intellectual ambition behind his work and the cultural anxieties surrounding early biology itself. I found the historical detail especially effective because it reveals science as an evolving human argument rather than a clean sequence of discoveries.
This book will reward readers interested in the history of ideas, scientific philosophy, and the messy origins of modern biology. I finished it thinking about how definitions of life always carry deeper assumptions about change, agency, and what it means to be human.
May 25, 2026
3.5 stars. This was an interesting read that taught me a lot about Lamarck’s life, his maverick approach to science (especially bold for the time), and his strong belief that science is for everyone, not just the elite. I enjoyed how it was broken up chronologically by the subjects Lamarck was studying at a given time, and appreciated the through-line of how often he had to reinvent himself professionally, but that he never strayed from his innovative (yet controversial and divisive) ideas. I thought the final chapter was very strong.
In my opinion, this book would benefit SO much from stronger editing. There are copious amounts of needless detail that really detract from the story and seem like they were shoved in because the author wanted to share every piece of information she discovered throughout her research. It was also incredibly repetitive in a way that made me feel if you removed the duplicative statements it would have cut the story by 100 pages.
In my opinion, this book would benefit SO much from stronger editing. There are copious amounts of needless detail that really detract from the story and seem like they were shoved in because the author wanted to share every piece of information she discovered throughout her research. It was also incredibly repetitive in a way that made me feel if you removed the duplicative statements it would have cut the story by 100 pages.
April 13, 2026
An educational read.
May 29, 2026
Superb, not only as a biography, but as a history of the dawn of modern biology.
April 11, 2026
Fantastic Read!
Fantastic read by a gifted historian. Thoroughly informative and enlightening. An account of one man's true understanding of the natural world.
Fantastic read by a gifted historian. Thoroughly informative and enlightening. An account of one man's true understanding of the natural world.
Displaying 1 - 10 of 10 reviews