What do you think?
Rate this book
The Seeds of Life: From Aristotle to da Vinci, from Sharks' Teeth to Frogs' Pants, the Long and Strange Quest to Discover Where Babies Come From
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.
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.
320 pages, Hardcover
First published June 6, 2017
42 people are currently reading
1520 people want to read
About the author
Edward Dolnick
12 books189 followersEdward Dolnick is an American writer, formerly a science writer at the Boston Globe. He has been published in the Atlantic Monthly, the New York Times Magazine, and the Washington Post, among other publications. His books include Madness on the Couch : Blaming the Victim in the Heyday of Psychoanalysis (1998) and Down the Great Unknown : John Wesley Powell's 1869 Journey of Discovery and Tragedy Through the Grand Canyon (2001).
Ratings & Reviews
Friends & Following
Create a free account to discover what your friends think of this book!
Community Reviews
Displaying 1 - 30 of 68 reviews
April 21, 2020
This isn't just a look at how babies are created, but at the path biology took. Dolnick did a great job explaining the thoughts of the day & how that influenced the conclusions scientists drew from their experiments & observations. I was continually amazed by just how recent our understanding of cells was & the wild ideas that had reigned before. For instance, because of religion, they thought for a long time that all humans had been created, so babies were carried from generation to generation like a bunch of Russian dolls stacked one inside another.
Of course, the Catholic church stifled science. When Galen wrote that wounds were a window into the human body, The early church insisted that it was sinful to peep through any such window. Humankind’s task was to rise above the body, not to immerse itself in the contemplation of its muck and fluids. “It is far more excellent to know that the flesh will rise again and will live for evermore,” wrote Saint Augustine, around the year 400 CE, “than anything that scientific men have been able to discover in it by careful examination.”
Since God had hidden the body’s secrets from prying eyes, Augustine argued, it was impious to try to subvert his intentions. The anatomists’ “cruel zeal for science” had led them astray. Curiosity was a sin, not a virtue, and in fact a deadly sin. Augustine railed against it with fury. To study nature or even the inanimate world, Augustine wrote, was to indulge “the lust of the eyes.” This was perversion.
What a grotesque worldview! Curiosity a sin?!!!
Thankfully, European culture slowly outgrew such idiocy, but even so many of the scientists were very religious & that colored their thinking badly. They also had sheer incredulity to overcome, though. For over a century they knew about sperm cells, but couldn't believe they had anything to do with reproduction. They were believed to be parasites! It's hard to believe from a modern perspective, but Dolnick made their thinking clear & showed the logic.
It was a fascinating journey that was well narrated. Highly recommended!
Of course, the Catholic church stifled science. When Galen wrote that wounds were a window into the human body, The early church insisted that it was sinful to peep through any such window. Humankind’s task was to rise above the body, not to immerse itself in the contemplation of its muck and fluids. “It is far more excellent to know that the flesh will rise again and will live for evermore,” wrote Saint Augustine, around the year 400 CE, “than anything that scientific men have been able to discover in it by careful examination.”
Since God had hidden the body’s secrets from prying eyes, Augustine argued, it was impious to try to subvert his intentions. The anatomists’ “cruel zeal for science” had led them astray. Curiosity was a sin, not a virtue, and in fact a deadly sin. Augustine railed against it with fury. To study nature or even the inanimate world, Augustine wrote, was to indulge “the lust of the eyes.” This was perversion.
What a grotesque worldview! Curiosity a sin?!!!
Thankfully, European culture slowly outgrew such idiocy, but even so many of the scientists were very religious & that colored their thinking badly. They also had sheer incredulity to overcome, though. For over a century they knew about sperm cells, but couldn't believe they had anything to do with reproduction. They were believed to be parasites! It's hard to believe from a modern perspective, but Dolnick made their thinking clear & showed the logic.
It was a fascinating journey that was well narrated. Highly recommended!
August 2, 2017
Pop-science history in comic mode, I found this endlessly fascinating and funny! Dolnick traces the history of the scientific inquiry into the mystery of where babies come from, starting with the investigations of Leonardo Da Vinci, in the 1490s, (though he summarizes the thinking up to Leonardo, going back to the Egyptians & Greeks) all the way up to Oscar Hertwig's observation of the fertilization of a sea urchin egg in 1875. His stories of enterprising scientists and the challenges, both technological and conceptual, that they faced are effectively linked (though, as he says, the story is not one that proceeds in an orderly way, but, rather, by fits and starts, with mad dashes down blind alleys) and amusingly told, complemented by instructive illustrations and delightfully wide-ranging and occasionally illuminating footnotes.
To give a sense of Dolnick's style, here is a bit from the chapter “Frogs in Silk Pants,” on Lazzaro Spallanzani, who made a close study of frog sex in the late 1740's, from which comes the illustration on the cover of my edition.
You have to admire that sort of dedication and ingenuity, right? This is a wonderfully entertaining and engaging story.
To give a sense of Dolnick's style, here is a bit from the chapter “Frogs in Silk Pants,” on Lazzaro Spallanzani, who made a close study of frog sex in the late 1740's, from which comes the illustration on the cover of my edition.
”He sat at his workbench with cramped fingers and weary eyes, cutting and sewing dozens and dozens of tight-fitting, miniature boxer shorts made of silk. For frogs.
The point of the boxers was to prevent the male's semen from reaching the female's eggs. Would the females become pregnant even so, as the “seminal aura” sent out its ghostly waves? Or would the shorts, which were wax-coated as an additional safeguard, serve as a full-body condom?
Spallanzani did not describe the boxers in any detail, and though he was a skilled artist, he made no drawings (it is tempting to picture the shorts as adorned with hearts or even with frogs). “The idea of the breeches, however whimsical and ridiculous it may appear, did not displease me,” he wrote gamely, “and I resolved to put it into practice,” He wrestled the males into their outfits. Undeterred, they sought out the females with their customary eagerness, Spallanzani wrote, “and performed, as well as they could, the act of generation.”
Then he gathered up the eggs. Half came from the females, who had mated with boxer-clad males, half from females whose partners had carried on au naturel. Spallanzani peered at the two sets of eggs. Which would grow into tadpoles?”
You have to admire that sort of dedication and ingenuity, right? This is a wonderfully entertaining and engaging story.
October 4, 2018
I don't know if it is because I have a background in biology, but this book was immensely entertaining. I didn't come out learning anything I hadn't already learned in intro BIO courses, but for the layperson, it's a wild ride of scientific inquiry. I definitely recommend as a quick primer on our species' search for the "seeds of life".
January 14, 2018
Who isn't fascinated by sex? Or, more properly, the question of where we come from? As might be expected Edward Dolnick introduces a fair amount of humor into this topic that makes people nervous and shy. The question, however, is of perennial interest—where do babies come from? The answer isn't as straightforward as it might seem.
This is a history of science book written like a detective novel. It traces ideas of human reproduction mainly from the period of Leonardo da Vinci (Dolnick does discuss Aristotle, but the focus in more on the late Middle Ages and beyond, when science was really kicking in) up through the Victorian Era when the factual understanding of conception was discovered. This is a fascinating book. A little repetitious and a touch long, it nevertheless retains the reader's interest throughout.
As I used to tell my students, as noted on my blog (Sects and Violence in the Ancient World) there are problems understanding reproduction biblically. Ancient people thought, for the most part, that full babies were contained in semen and woman merely provided a place for babies to grow. There were other ideas about, as Dolnick discusses, but the idea of male priority was closely tied with this view of the world. All cells, including sex cells, are too small to see without a microscope. The book spends quite a bit of time on van Leeuwenhoek for this reason. His use of the microscope to examine semen was, however, deeply laced with religious ideas. There's no separating morality from sexuality. Remember none of these people knew about genetics. Not even Darwin did.
William Harvey is another major player in this story. Some of the stories are a little disturbing, since these explorers had to examine recently living and mating animals to get an idea of what was going on. The study of electricity and the belief in the "life force" also played a role here, tying Frankenstein into the mix. Many other scientists are discussed along the way, but the reader won't soon forget Lazzaro Spallanzani and his sewing underwear for frogs to discover the role of semen contacting eggs in external fertilization. Finally in 1875 Oscar Hertwig cracked the code, noting that both sperm and ova were necessary to reproduce sexually.
Lots of colorful characters, strong-headed in their opinions, and often misguided in them as well, populate this fascinating story. Bringing science and sex together may seem a strange combination, but it produces some interesting progeny.
This is a history of science book written like a detective novel. It traces ideas of human reproduction mainly from the period of Leonardo da Vinci (Dolnick does discuss Aristotle, but the focus in more on the late Middle Ages and beyond, when science was really kicking in) up through the Victorian Era when the factual understanding of conception was discovered. This is a fascinating book. A little repetitious and a touch long, it nevertheless retains the reader's interest throughout.
As I used to tell my students, as noted on my blog (Sects and Violence in the Ancient World) there are problems understanding reproduction biblically. Ancient people thought, for the most part, that full babies were contained in semen and woman merely provided a place for babies to grow. There were other ideas about, as Dolnick discusses, but the idea of male priority was closely tied with this view of the world. All cells, including sex cells, are too small to see without a microscope. The book spends quite a bit of time on van Leeuwenhoek for this reason. His use of the microscope to examine semen was, however, deeply laced with religious ideas. There's no separating morality from sexuality. Remember none of these people knew about genetics. Not even Darwin did.
William Harvey is another major player in this story. Some of the stories are a little disturbing, since these explorers had to examine recently living and mating animals to get an idea of what was going on. The study of electricity and the belief in the "life force" also played a role here, tying Frankenstein into the mix. Many other scientists are discussed along the way, but the reader won't soon forget Lazzaro Spallanzani and his sewing underwear for frogs to discover the role of semen contacting eggs in external fertilization. Finally in 1875 Oscar Hertwig cracked the code, noting that both sperm and ova were necessary to reproduce sexually.
Lots of colorful characters, strong-headed in their opinions, and often misguided in them as well, populate this fascinating story. Bringing science and sex together may seem a strange combination, but it produces some interesting progeny.
October 4, 2017
Where do babies come from? Every child asks that question, but so did Aristotle, Darwin, and many other brilliant minds through the ages. Some of their ideas are as crazy as anything a child might dream up, and In The Seeds of Life Edward Dolnick has written a book that is both highly informative and highly entertaining and gave me more laughs than most comedies!
As a woman I was both offended and amused at the renowned thinkers of ages past whose were convinced that women, as the inferior sex, must play a subordinate role in the giving of life. I do have to admit that their inability to see an egg inside female specimens made the theory that the man contributed all the material for the new baby seem a little less farfetched (Somehow they never seemed to come up with an idea of why, in that case, so many children look like their mothers.). Their failure to develop a more accurate view also seems more forgivable when we learn that it was not until 1875 that anyone saw the process of fertilization play out. In that year a German scientist named Oscar Hertwig dropped some sea urchin semen near an egg and watched through his microscope while the semen penetrated through to the egg’s interior. For that observation we should give some credit to microscope pioneer Antony van Leeuwenhoek but not too much. For all his smarts Leeuwenhoek was a devoted proponent of the theory that only the male contributed the material that would form the future baby.
In addition to wondering where the material for new life comes from, there is also the question of what causes that life to spark into existence, a question that produced many ideas both reasonable-seeming and outlandish, such as, in the wake of Newton’s theory of gravity, a proposal that gravity is the force that gives life.
There are little sidetrips into related and equally interesting scientific history, such as Harvey’s discovery of blood circulation and Ben Franklin’s experiments with electricity.
I could go on at length about my favorite bits from The Seeds of Life, but I recommend instead you read the book and pick out your own favorites. Whether you’re interested in science or history or just enjoy interesting facts and a true detective story, this book will delight and entertain you.
As a woman I was both offended and amused at the renowned thinkers of ages past whose were convinced that women, as the inferior sex, must play a subordinate role in the giving of life. I do have to admit that their inability to see an egg inside female specimens made the theory that the man contributed all the material for the new baby seem a little less farfetched (Somehow they never seemed to come up with an idea of why, in that case, so many children look like their mothers.). Their failure to develop a more accurate view also seems more forgivable when we learn that it was not until 1875 that anyone saw the process of fertilization play out. In that year a German scientist named Oscar Hertwig dropped some sea urchin semen near an egg and watched through his microscope while the semen penetrated through to the egg’s interior. For that observation we should give some credit to microscope pioneer Antony van Leeuwenhoek but not too much. For all his smarts Leeuwenhoek was a devoted proponent of the theory that only the male contributed the material that would form the future baby.
In addition to wondering where the material for new life comes from, there is also the question of what causes that life to spark into existence, a question that produced many ideas both reasonable-seeming and outlandish, such as, in the wake of Newton’s theory of gravity, a proposal that gravity is the force that gives life.
There are little sidetrips into related and equally interesting scientific history, such as Harvey’s discovery of blood circulation and Ben Franklin’s experiments with electricity.
I could go on at length about my favorite bits from The Seeds of Life, but I recommend instead you read the book and pick out your own favorites. Whether you’re interested in science or history or just enjoy interesting facts and a true detective story, this book will delight and entertain you.
November 29, 2024
My favorite fact from this book is that barnacles have the largest penis-to-body size ratio.
Overall, an interesting history, but won't change my life.
Overall, an interesting history, but won't change my life.
February 18, 2021
Can't say this is a practically useful book, but it is an interesting one. I really appreciated the fact that even though people believed some ridiculous things about the process of conception in the past, the author always treated their views with respect and took time to explain why reasonable people could have believed rather ridiculous things given what they knew and didn't know back in the time. That sort of respect for historical figures goes far in my book. Combined with an entertaining style and a great historical survey, it created a rather pleasant reading experience. Don't know what I'm going to do with my newfound knowledge of what people from the 1600s-1850s believed about conception, but maybe I can eventually use it to answer some trivia question correctly?
Rating: 4 Stars (Very Good).
Rating: 4 Stars (Very Good).
May 29, 2018
I received a copy of this book for free courtesy of the GoodReads first reads program in exchange for an honest review.
This book proved irresistible to me. It is a history of the perplexing question as to where exactly babies come from, and all of the bizarre theories that it bred over time. Instead of mocking the beliefs of the earlier civilizations, it takes a wry and respectful view. In truth, it is amazing that we know the answer to that question even now, and the fact that things such as mammalian eggs were theorized long before they could even be seen is astonishing.
This book is full of wonder, and it does much to restore wonder to the act of reproduction. While it is a bit bizarre that, for instance, even after spermatozoa were seen they were for ages thought of as little more than parasites - the author explains how natural the thought was, given that at the same time period the world was proven to be full of such animalcules. Equally bizarre might be seen the thought of ovaries as 'female testicles' and testicles themselves serving as nothing more than counterweights - until you really start to think how little of reproduction is in fact intuitive.
The book is amusing, even laugh out loud funny at times, but deeply respectful all the same. It restores to life a humor and wonder that we sometimes take for granted, given what we now know. Sure, every biology textbook in the world takes these facts as elementary - but isn't it amazing all the same? I can't recommend this book enough to anyone curious about the history of where babies come from, and what we've believed over the years.
This book has proven a delightful, informative, and surprisingly fascinating history of one of life's most basic questions.
And yes, there is a chapter about frogs wearing pants.
This book proved irresistible to me. It is a history of the perplexing question as to where exactly babies come from, and all of the bizarre theories that it bred over time. Instead of mocking the beliefs of the earlier civilizations, it takes a wry and respectful view. In truth, it is amazing that we know the answer to that question even now, and the fact that things such as mammalian eggs were theorized long before they could even be seen is astonishing.
This book is full of wonder, and it does much to restore wonder to the act of reproduction. While it is a bit bizarre that, for instance, even after spermatozoa were seen they were for ages thought of as little more than parasites - the author explains how natural the thought was, given that at the same time period the world was proven to be full of such animalcules. Equally bizarre might be seen the thought of ovaries as 'female testicles' and testicles themselves serving as nothing more than counterweights - until you really start to think how little of reproduction is in fact intuitive.
The book is amusing, even laugh out loud funny at times, but deeply respectful all the same. It restores to life a humor and wonder that we sometimes take for granted, given what we now know. Sure, every biology textbook in the world takes these facts as elementary - but isn't it amazing all the same? I can't recommend this book enough to anyone curious about the history of where babies come from, and what we've believed over the years.
This book has proven a delightful, informative, and surprisingly fascinating history of one of life's most basic questions.
And yes, there is a chapter about frogs wearing pants.
June 22, 2017
A fascinating journey through misogynistic scientists (the author is very apologetic about that, it's sweet) fumbling in the dark to discover just what DOES need to happen for a baby to be created. Mr. Dolnick's sharp wit (and oh, he has some zingers, I had to share his comment about Columbus 'discovering' the clitoris with everyone I know) and his insightful commentary make what could be a dry (or simply patently awful) subject a delight.
This book is one of the most entertaining history of science books I've read, helped in part by the ridiculous experiments biologists concocted in an attempt to discover the origins of life. (There are, in fact, frogs in pants and I think that's DELIGHTFUL.)
This book is one of the most entertaining history of science books I've read, helped in part by the ridiculous experiments biologists concocted in an attempt to discover the origins of life. (There are, in fact, frogs in pants and I think that's DELIGHTFUL.)
July 27, 2017
We take so much of our understanding of the world for granted, so it's really hard to remember that there was a time- a long, long, LONG time- when no one knew where babies came from. They knew that sex had something to do with it, but that's as far as it went clear up until around 150 years ago. Well written, with lots of humor and not technical at all, and there really was a scientist who really did sew tiny little pants for frogs. How charming is that?
January 23, 2018
This is not a bad book. There are some useful bits of information about things people knew and when they knew it. There is also some insight into how the state of the world - what examples were and were not available - influenced their perceptions in areas being investigated. This is a light account that rambles and is longer than necessary.
December 23, 2023
Fascinating - the author is a great story teller and knew who and what to focus on. I enjoyed the read and couldn't put it down for the first half - the second half felt a little wandery and ended so abruptly.
July 21, 2017
Excellent story about the process of scientific discovery, specifically here on how we determined the secret of fertilization over the centuries. Obviously better instrumentation is a key player, microscopes and their improvements. What stood out for me though was the importance of metaphors available to society at large. The author made a convincing case to me that without the prevalence of automated systems, like automatons and mechanized pianos, it was hard for scientists before the 18th century to propose a model for life that was self-directed.
November 27, 2021
I read a book review of The Writing of the Gods: The Race to Decode the Rosetta Stone, by Edward Dolnick, which sounded really interesting. I know the Rosetta stone is famous for allowing linguists to discover how to read Egyptian hieroglyphs, but that is all I know about it (I did see it on display in the British Museum once!). But our library only had The Writing of the Gods on order, not yet on the shelves. Plus, there was already a long wait list to get a copy, so it would be a while before I would get a chance to read it. I decided to try a different book by Dolnick, to see if I liked his writing. I checked out The Seeds of Life and discovered that I am impressed by Dolnick's research and writing skills. Now I want to read more of his books, The Clockwork Universe: Isaac Newton, the Royal Society, and the Birth of the Modern World sounds intriguing...
The full title of this book is The Seeds of Life: From Aristotle to da Vinci, from Sharks' Teeth to Frogs' Pants, the Long and Strange Quest to Discover Where Babies Come From - I don't know why non-fiction books need to have a sentence-long title, but this book is indeed a quest to discover where babies come from. It covers about 300 years of scientific research, blunders and crazy theories. The book begins with Leonardo Da Vinci and his trailblazing research into anatomy. Up until that time, humanity had very little idea what actually happened inside the human body. Certainly bodies had been cut open during warfare or torture, but no one actually studied the purpose of the organs, or how the system worked. When William Harvey published in 1628 his understanding that the heart is actually a pump that keeps blood moving through the body, people were outraged, because conventional wisdom is that the heart contains the soul and is the seat of consciousness and emotion. To declare that the heart is merely a mechanical device for pumping blood goes against accepted understanding.
Dolnick is careful throughout his book to portray those early scientists as smart, but confused. Remember, says Dolnick, people believed that life could spontaneously generate (anyone who has left out decaying meat can easily see that it will soon generate maggots and beetles and flies). People had no notion of heredity - the early scientists could not explain how it happened that a child could bear the have characteristics of both the father and mother - did God know ahead of time that those two people were fated to meet? People knew that depositing semen into a woman could make her pregnant, but how that process actually worked befuddled everyone. Even when the early microscopes were invented, they were not powerful enough to see the tiny human egg. When sperm cells were seen wiggling under the microscope, the scientists assumed that those were just infecting "animalcules" that seemed to inhabit everything - saliva, pond water, or anything else placed under the lens. It wasn't until the nineteenth century that the microscopes become powerful enough to permit scientists to see cells. It wasn't until cells were discovered that the process of conception was understood (though it would be another hundred years before DNA was discovered to explain how heredity worked). Dolnick's point is that the early scientists were hampered by prevailing wisdom, existing belief, and the inability to see the tiny cells that start each human life.
Dolnick walks the reader through the different beliefs that were held down through the centuries. Different scientists contribute new knowledge. Some devise ingenious experiments - such as the Italian Spallanzani, who dressed his male frogs in silk pajamas - and thus proved that sperm from the frog must actually touch the eggs from the female in order to fertilize them (thus ending the theory that semen had a magic aura that caused eggs to become fertile.)
I found the book was full of interesting topics, such as the excitement created by the discovery of electricity. Was electricity the spark of life? Dolnick tells us of the famous experiment by Galvani, where electric shocks applied to the legs of a dead frog caused the muscles to twitch and the legs to jump (this led to some gruesome experiments where the dead bodies from hanged criminals were rushed to exhibition halls - electric shocks were applied to the corpses, and the dead man's limbs would spasm, and sometimes the eyes would open or the chest would appear to rise and fall. These experiments gave Mary Shelley the idea to write a tale about Doctor Frankenstein bringing a dead body back to life). Every chapter had a new insight about what people were thinking and how they wrestled with the ongoing mystery of how humans come to be. The book ends in 1875 when a man named Hertwig witnesses under a microscope for the first time a sperm cell enter a transparent sea urchin egg and fertilize it. The egg begins to divide, and divide again - life had begun.
I definitely want to read more of Dolnick's books. The Seeds of Life is a great example of non-fiction writing - interesting, clear in its explanations, and full of neat anecdotes about people and events that happened in our past. I recommend this book.
The full title of this book is The Seeds of Life: From Aristotle to da Vinci, from Sharks' Teeth to Frogs' Pants, the Long and Strange Quest to Discover Where Babies Come From - I don't know why non-fiction books need to have a sentence-long title, but this book is indeed a quest to discover where babies come from. It covers about 300 years of scientific research, blunders and crazy theories. The book begins with Leonardo Da Vinci and his trailblazing research into anatomy. Up until that time, humanity had very little idea what actually happened inside the human body. Certainly bodies had been cut open during warfare or torture, but no one actually studied the purpose of the organs, or how the system worked. When William Harvey published in 1628 his understanding that the heart is actually a pump that keeps blood moving through the body, people were outraged, because conventional wisdom is that the heart contains the soul and is the seat of consciousness and emotion. To declare that the heart is merely a mechanical device for pumping blood goes against accepted understanding.
Dolnick is careful throughout his book to portray those early scientists as smart, but confused. Remember, says Dolnick, people believed that life could spontaneously generate (anyone who has left out decaying meat can easily see that it will soon generate maggots and beetles and flies). People had no notion of heredity - the early scientists could not explain how it happened that a child could bear the have characteristics of both the father and mother - did God know ahead of time that those two people were fated to meet? People knew that depositing semen into a woman could make her pregnant, but how that process actually worked befuddled everyone. Even when the early microscopes were invented, they were not powerful enough to see the tiny human egg. When sperm cells were seen wiggling under the microscope, the scientists assumed that those were just infecting "animalcules" that seemed to inhabit everything - saliva, pond water, or anything else placed under the lens. It wasn't until the nineteenth century that the microscopes become powerful enough to permit scientists to see cells. It wasn't until cells were discovered that the process of conception was understood (though it would be another hundred years before DNA was discovered to explain how heredity worked). Dolnick's point is that the early scientists were hampered by prevailing wisdom, existing belief, and the inability to see the tiny cells that start each human life.
Dolnick walks the reader through the different beliefs that were held down through the centuries. Different scientists contribute new knowledge. Some devise ingenious experiments - such as the Italian Spallanzani, who dressed his male frogs in silk pajamas - and thus proved that sperm from the frog must actually touch the eggs from the female in order to fertilize them (thus ending the theory that semen had a magic aura that caused eggs to become fertile.)
I found the book was full of interesting topics, such as the excitement created by the discovery of electricity. Was electricity the spark of life? Dolnick tells us of the famous experiment by Galvani, where electric shocks applied to the legs of a dead frog caused the muscles to twitch and the legs to jump (this led to some gruesome experiments where the dead bodies from hanged criminals were rushed to exhibition halls - electric shocks were applied to the corpses, and the dead man's limbs would spasm, and sometimes the eyes would open or the chest would appear to rise and fall. These experiments gave Mary Shelley the idea to write a tale about Doctor Frankenstein bringing a dead body back to life). Every chapter had a new insight about what people were thinking and how they wrestled with the ongoing mystery of how humans come to be. The book ends in 1875 when a man named Hertwig witnesses under a microscope for the first time a sperm cell enter a transparent sea urchin egg and fertilize it. The egg begins to divide, and divide again - life had begun.
I definitely want to read more of Dolnick's books. The Seeds of Life is a great example of non-fiction writing - interesting, clear in its explanations, and full of neat anecdotes about people and events that happened in our past. I recommend this book.
May 22, 2019
I had known that Western, horticultural societies had, for perhaps thousands of years, believed men provided all the material for babies in the form of "seeds" implanted in the "soil" of the woman's uterus, because of course men provided all of life; but hadn't thought about how this enabled men to not "worry about" the results of raping women, because their "seed" would be passed down unsullied by the women who were simply literally dirt.
This book is a FASCINATING look at the mostly Western struggle to figure out how babies are created, although I appreciate that Dolnick does include a brief foray into non-Western ideas. It really wasn't until 1875?!?! that scientists identified the human egg and determined that both egg and sperm were cells and both necessary to create life.
I DIDN'T know, that for hundreds of years after sperm were first seen swimming in semen, they were assumed to be parasites - as were other "animacules" or parasites seen swimming in pond water or other liquids. They thought the liquid of the semen provided some "spark of life." Or odder still, from Aristotle on, one "camp" thought that perhaps semen and menstrual blood mixed together to grow babies - arguing that women stopped bleeding while pregnant and of course people continued to have sex, so continuing to add semen. Ick. This makes the whole theory of the South American Barí - that babies need repeated "washes" of semen to grow - as nutrition - seem much more reasonable. If a child dies, a woman may, in a later pregnancy, take on a second "father" to help with the "feeding" of the baby. Of course this second father has other obligations - bringing fish and other valuable proteins to the mother which actually does provide nutrition for the baby - and continued financial obligations to the child after birth. Not a bad system.
Rarely do I read a book where the footnotes are so darned entertaining! Never skip the footnotes they are delightful. It is in footnotes that we learn of Darwin's horror upon learning that female wasps inject caterpillars with a poison that paralyszes it, lays her eggs which slowly devour the still living caterpillar saving the heart for last. "I cannot persuade myself that a beneficent and onipotent God would have designedly created these wasps"
The entire historical review of the desperate search for the mechanism of creation is just fascinating. I am an absolute sucker for a good medical history - it is like reading a murder mystery in reverse - how can you not see the obvious when you know the answer? Seeing the wrong twists and turns that distracted learned and knowledgeable men. . . men for hundreds, thousands, of years, is fascinating. Of course mammalian eggs are terribly difficult to see, so understandable. And most importantly, as Dolnick eloquently points out "Observing was one thing, understanding another." Biology is so complex - understanding how sperm and egg cells - even after they were "discovered" - "knew" what to do, how to grow, was just mind blowing.
Terrific book - fascinating topic. Well researched, very well written, well explained. Just terrific - read it!
This book is a FASCINATING look at the mostly Western struggle to figure out how babies are created, although I appreciate that Dolnick does include a brief foray into non-Western ideas. It really wasn't until 1875?!?! that scientists identified the human egg and determined that both egg and sperm were cells and both necessary to create life.
I DIDN'T know, that for hundreds of years after sperm were first seen swimming in semen, they were assumed to be parasites - as were other "animacules" or parasites seen swimming in pond water or other liquids. They thought the liquid of the semen provided some "spark of life." Or odder still, from Aristotle on, one "camp" thought that perhaps semen and menstrual blood mixed together to grow babies - arguing that women stopped bleeding while pregnant and of course people continued to have sex, so continuing to add semen. Ick. This makes the whole theory of the South American Barí - that babies need repeated "washes" of semen to grow - as nutrition - seem much more reasonable. If a child dies, a woman may, in a later pregnancy, take on a second "father" to help with the "feeding" of the baby. Of course this second father has other obligations - bringing fish and other valuable proteins to the mother which actually does provide nutrition for the baby - and continued financial obligations to the child after birth. Not a bad system.
Rarely do I read a book where the footnotes are so darned entertaining! Never skip the footnotes they are delightful. It is in footnotes that we learn of Darwin's horror upon learning that female wasps inject caterpillars with a poison that paralyszes it, lays her eggs which slowly devour the still living caterpillar saving the heart for last. "I cannot persuade myself that a beneficent and onipotent God would have designedly created these wasps"
The entire historical review of the desperate search for the mechanism of creation is just fascinating. I am an absolute sucker for a good medical history - it is like reading a murder mystery in reverse - how can you not see the obvious when you know the answer? Seeing the wrong twists and turns that distracted learned and knowledgeable men. . . men for hundreds, thousands, of years, is fascinating. Of course mammalian eggs are terribly difficult to see, so understandable. And most importantly, as Dolnick eloquently points out "Observing was one thing, understanding another." Biology is so complex - understanding how sperm and egg cells - even after they were "discovered" - "knew" what to do, how to grow, was just mind blowing.
Terrific book - fascinating topic. Well researched, very well written, well explained. Just terrific - read it!
August 23, 2022
Very interesting look at how people explored the question of exactly how new humans (and other animals) are created. At some points it reminds me of Slime Mold Time Mold's post
Reality is Very Weird and You Need to be Prepared for That
. People spent time looking at animal models to try and figure out how new creatures are generated, and they did hit some weird stuff, but I think some of the particularly weird reproduction mechanisms were not well-enough-known to throw a monkey wrench in the proceedings. For over a century it seems that Preformationism was the order of the day, and the main question was whether the preformed next generation lived in the man or in the woman. I can only imagine an alternate history where they had many ready examples of parthenogenic creatures at hand, and they concluded that preformationism is obviously right and that the male contribution to the act of reproduction was just as a trigger.
Preformationism seems obviously wrong today, in a world where we know the right answer and can see confirmatory evidence — like the fact that traits are consistently passed down from both parents, but some of the arguments made by the preformationists in the book actually make you think twice (if you can put yourself in a world where we don't know about DNA and don't have extremely powerful microscopes where we can watch embryo formation). For example, those on the spermist side argued that apple seeds don't generally grow on their own if left out, but planting them in fertile ground will result in an apple tree — and always an apple tree; the general plan is clearly set in the seed, and any characteristics specific to the ground that it is planted in generally have to do with nutrient uptake and the like. The analogy on the ovist side works similarly — you need enough water and fertilizer and the right conditions to trigger an apple seed to grow, and presumably semen is providing that.
The main thing that I found disappointing about this book is that it ends way too soon. We get basically up to the point where they start figuring out the real story and then it just ends abruptly. I'd like to have learned more about how they actually started nailing down some of the details of how conception and development work.
3.5 of 5 stars
Preformationism seems obviously wrong today, in a world where we know the right answer and can see confirmatory evidence — like the fact that traits are consistently passed down from both parents, but some of the arguments made by the preformationists in the book actually make you think twice (if you can put yourself in a world where we don't know about DNA and don't have extremely powerful microscopes where we can watch embryo formation). For example, those on the spermist side argued that apple seeds don't generally grow on their own if left out, but planting them in fertile ground will result in an apple tree — and always an apple tree; the general plan is clearly set in the seed, and any characteristics specific to the ground that it is planted in generally have to do with nutrient uptake and the like. The analogy on the ovist side works similarly — you need enough water and fertilizer and the right conditions to trigger an apple seed to grow, and presumably semen is providing that.
The main thing that I found disappointing about this book is that it ends way too soon. We get basically up to the point where they start figuring out the real story and then it just ends abruptly. I'd like to have learned more about how they actually started nailing down some of the details of how conception and development work.
3.5 of 5 stars
January 4, 2020
Skąd się biorą dzieci? Oczywiście przedstawiciele naszego gatunku wiedzą od zawsze, co należy zrobić. Na szczęście byli też ludzie, których interesowały detale związane z głębszą istotą tego pytania. Popularyzator nauki Edward Dolnick w "Nowym życiu. Jak największe umysły wszech czasów odkryły, skąd się biorą dzieci" postanowił opisać fascynujące dzieje odsłaniania tej tajemnicy. Choć książka jest bardziej popularna niż naukowa, to czytało się całość świetnie. Lekki język, adekwatny poziom dygresyjności, sprawne przechodzenie między faktami formalnymi a ogólnymi przekonaniami czy procesem myślowym badaczy, to główne atuty tekstu. Gdyby nie niepotrzebne 10% tekstu (ale tylko w sensie treści, nie formy), to nie miałbym żadnych uwag, byłby ideał popularyzacji nauki.
Krótko o minusach. Na początku książki Dolnick niepotrzebnie dołączył Leonarda da Vinci i jego pedantyczną potrzebę poznania anatomii, by móc realistycznie realizować malarskie wizje. W sposób dość przypadkowy opisał starożytne i średniowieczne rozumienie 'ludzkiej biologiczności'. Całość wydała mi się przyszywanym wstępem do kluczowych kolejnych rozdziałów. Trochę zastrzeżeń mam również do niewielkiego fragmentu o galwanizmie z przełomu XVIII/XIX wieku. Jest w nim sporo o fascynacji elektrycznością, ale niemal nic o istocie tematu książki.
Cała reszta, to świetna lektura. "Nowe życie" brawurowo pokazuje główkowanie ludzi nad przebiegiem procesu poczęcia na poziomie biologii i formowania się różnych koncepcji w kluczowym okresie, czyli w wiekach XVII-XIX. Jest o odkryciu plemników, komórek jajowych i o szalonych pomysłach doświadczalnych, które budowały postęp w zrozumieniu.
Ogromny plus należy się autorowi za pokazanie dominujących, i zderzanych z sobą przez wieki, koncepcji natury narodzin nowego życia. Jest preformacjonizm (w dwóch wersjach akcentujących żeński bądź męski dominujący wkład w poczęcie, czyli owulizm i animalkulizm), samorództwo, witalizm i epigeneza. Te trudne pojęcia Dolnick wprowadził bardzo zgrabnie, ciekawie obudowując je opowieściami z różnych epok. Zyskiem z lektury nie jest zapamiętanie formalizmu, ale uświadomienie sobie kłopotu, jaki badacze i w ogóle wczesno-nowożytni ludzie mieli z ogarnięciem istoty życia. Przez stulecia czymś zdumiewającym i niemożliwym wydawało się stworzenie planu budowy nowego organizmu z niczego. Stąd zakładano, że wszystkie przyszłe istoty istnieją, jak matrioszki, już w pierwszym organizmie. Fenomen takiego myślenia trapił wielu bohaterów książki (str. 154):
"Leeuwenhoek kontynuował śledztwo, przekonany, że przyszłe zwierzę musi być w jakiś sposób ukryte we wnętrzu plemnika. To kwestia logiki. Jak drzewo mogłoby wypuścić gałęzie, gdyby nie kryły się one już wcześniej w nasionie? Coś nie mogło wziąć się z niczego."
Z tym pytaniem do pełnego wyjaśnienia trzeba było czekać aż do 1875 roku, gdy Oscar Hertwig pierwszy zaobserwował cud połączenia dwóch haploidalnych komórek. Zdumiewające, jak długo natura chroniła przed ciekawskim człowiekiem swoje tajemnice!
Po co Spallanzani szył bokserki dla samców żab? Jak de Graaf dzięki królikom odkrył zmieniające się w jajnikach pęcherzyki? Czemu Leeuwenhoek od razu po odbyciu stosunku poleciał do laboratorium i swoich mikroskopów? Odpowiedzi na takie pytania czekają w książce. Mnóstwo zabawy, ciekawej wiedzy, kuriozalnych błędów, wiekopomnych odkryć.
"Nowe życie" można czytać, jako wstęp do pogłębionych badań nad historią embriologii. Można, ale nie trzeba. W jednej z ostatnich scen "Seksmisji", Lamia i Maks wypowiadają kwestie:
- Co to!? Co to?!
- To ŻYCIE!
Gdyby Dolnick był Polakiem, to zapewne ten dialog stanowiłby główne motto jego książki.
Gorąco polecam, mimo kilku doklejonych fragmentów.
ŚWIETNA - 9/10
Krótko o minusach. Na początku książki Dolnick niepotrzebnie dołączył Leonarda da Vinci i jego pedantyczną potrzebę poznania anatomii, by móc realistycznie realizować malarskie wizje. W sposób dość przypadkowy opisał starożytne i średniowieczne rozumienie 'ludzkiej biologiczności'. Całość wydała mi się przyszywanym wstępem do kluczowych kolejnych rozdziałów. Trochę zastrzeżeń mam również do niewielkiego fragmentu o galwanizmie z przełomu XVIII/XIX wieku. Jest w nim sporo o fascynacji elektrycznością, ale niemal nic o istocie tematu książki.
Cała reszta, to świetna lektura. "Nowe życie" brawurowo pokazuje główkowanie ludzi nad przebiegiem procesu poczęcia na poziomie biologii i formowania się różnych koncepcji w kluczowym okresie, czyli w wiekach XVII-XIX. Jest o odkryciu plemników, komórek jajowych i o szalonych pomysłach doświadczalnych, które budowały postęp w zrozumieniu.
Ogromny plus należy się autorowi za pokazanie dominujących, i zderzanych z sobą przez wieki, koncepcji natury narodzin nowego życia. Jest preformacjonizm (w dwóch wersjach akcentujących żeński bądź męski dominujący wkład w poczęcie, czyli owulizm i animalkulizm), samorództwo, witalizm i epigeneza. Te trudne pojęcia Dolnick wprowadził bardzo zgrabnie, ciekawie obudowując je opowieściami z różnych epok. Zyskiem z lektury nie jest zapamiętanie formalizmu, ale uświadomienie sobie kłopotu, jaki badacze i w ogóle wczesno-nowożytni ludzie mieli z ogarnięciem istoty życia. Przez stulecia czymś zdumiewającym i niemożliwym wydawało się stworzenie planu budowy nowego organizmu z niczego. Stąd zakładano, że wszystkie przyszłe istoty istnieją, jak matrioszki, już w pierwszym organizmie. Fenomen takiego myślenia trapił wielu bohaterów książki (str. 154):
"Leeuwenhoek kontynuował śledztwo, przekonany, że przyszłe zwierzę musi być w jakiś sposób ukryte we wnętrzu plemnika. To kwestia logiki. Jak drzewo mogłoby wypuścić gałęzie, gdyby nie kryły się one już wcześniej w nasionie? Coś nie mogło wziąć się z niczego."
Z tym pytaniem do pełnego wyjaśnienia trzeba było czekać aż do 1875 roku, gdy Oscar Hertwig pierwszy zaobserwował cud połączenia dwóch haploidalnych komórek. Zdumiewające, jak długo natura chroniła przed ciekawskim człowiekiem swoje tajemnice!
Po co Spallanzani szył bokserki dla samców żab? Jak de Graaf dzięki królikom odkrył zmieniające się w jajnikach pęcherzyki? Czemu Leeuwenhoek od razu po odbyciu stosunku poleciał do laboratorium i swoich mikroskopów? Odpowiedzi na takie pytania czekają w książce. Mnóstwo zabawy, ciekawej wiedzy, kuriozalnych błędów, wiekopomnych odkryć.
"Nowe życie" można czytać, jako wstęp do pogłębionych badań nad historią embriologii. Można, ale nie trzeba. W jednej z ostatnich scen "Seksmisji", Lamia i Maks wypowiadają kwestie:
- Co to!? Co to?!
- To ŻYCIE!
Gdyby Dolnick był Polakiem, to zapewne ten dialog stanowiłby główne motto jego książki.
Gorąco polecam, mimo kilku doklejonych fragmentów.
ŚWIETNA - 9/10
June 3, 2017
For the entirety of our existence, we have wondered “where do babies come from?” Yet this question proved to be so incredibly complicated and intricate, that only in the last century and a half have we been able to discover answers with any sort of surety. Seeds of Life examines the scientific pursuit of the origin and continuation of life from the 16th century through the 19th. Scientific giants such as da Vinci, Leeuwenhoek, and Harvey would find themselves stymied by this question. In an age of scientific enlightenment and accomplishment, the inability to answer such a seemingly basic question was frustrating to the extreme. The pursuit of this answer led to bitter feuds and rivalries, and at times split the scientific community asunder.
Dominick does a great job of bringing this story to life in an engaging and easy to follow way. It is no mean feat to cover such a topic over such a broad time frame, but Dolnick sets the story as a form of detective novel, with various players entering the fray, only to crash on the shoals of an unanswerable question. Dolnick makes the story easy to follow, and adds welcome (and some would say, inevitable) humor to the topic.
Folks who enjoy their nonfiction with a dash of humor will enjoy this book. If you’re a fan of Mary Roach (indeed, Bonk is a great follow up to this book), or were entertained by Unmentionable by Therese Oneill, this is a great book for you. Even if you aren’t usually a nonfiction person, this is the perfect book for dipping a toe into the genre. It may not be an explosion-laced extravaganza, but it is an entertaining and fast reading true story. You’re bound to have fun with this book.
An advance copy of this book was provided by the publisher via Goodreads Giveaways in exchange for an honest review.
Dominick does a great job of bringing this story to life in an engaging and easy to follow way. It is no mean feat to cover such a topic over such a broad time frame, but Dolnick sets the story as a form of detective novel, with various players entering the fray, only to crash on the shoals of an unanswerable question. Dolnick makes the story easy to follow, and adds welcome (and some would say, inevitable) humor to the topic.
Folks who enjoy their nonfiction with a dash of humor will enjoy this book. If you’re a fan of Mary Roach (indeed, Bonk is a great follow up to this book), or were entertained by Unmentionable by Therese Oneill, this is a great book for you. Even if you aren’t usually a nonfiction person, this is the perfect book for dipping a toe into the genre. It may not be an explosion-laced extravaganza, but it is an entertaining and fast reading true story. You’re bound to have fun with this book.
An advance copy of this book was provided by the publisher via Goodreads Giveaways in exchange for an honest review.
September 9, 2019
I liked this, but nowhere NEAR as much as I liked (or really loved, because I LOVED) the author's "Rescue Artist" and "The Forger's Spell". Dolnick's book about how scientists struggled to figure out where babies come from really was interesting, if at times just a little boring for me.
But it was just amazing to me to realize that this mystery was not solved until 1876. Looong after space, time, anatomy, and lots of other stuff was down - how conception happened was still just out of reach. Scientists were PRETTY sure it was all about the sperm - they could see that stuff, and it was definitely important. They acknowledged the woman's role in it, but she seemed more like the field that just nurtured that important seed. She really didn't contribute anything. And so what if a child grew up the spitting image of his mother? A trivial matter.
It was fascinating, if dry at times. But what can one expect from a book about 200 years of failed scientific experiments until finally they have their lightbulb moment? I don't hold it agains Dolnick. He is a good writer who makes history come to life in an entertaining way and this was a subject I'd certainly never given much thought to and thought was very interesting
But it was just amazing to me to realize that this mystery was not solved until 1876. Looong after space, time, anatomy, and lots of other stuff was down - how conception happened was still just out of reach. Scientists were PRETTY sure it was all about the sperm - they could see that stuff, and it was definitely important. They acknowledged the woman's role in it, but she seemed more like the field that just nurtured that important seed. She really didn't contribute anything. And so what if a child grew up the spitting image of his mother? A trivial matter.
It was fascinating, if dry at times. But what can one expect from a book about 200 years of failed scientific experiments until finally they have their lightbulb moment? I don't hold it agains Dolnick. He is a good writer who makes history come to life in an entertaining way and this was a subject I'd certainly never given much thought to and thought was very interesting
September 4, 2017
Looking for science as mystery, travelogue, religious tract and comic set piece? "The Seeds of Life" has your number.
This is a scientific (and even sexy) romp through the ages as Ed Dolnick leads us on an informative, witty, page-turning journey through biology, physics and bizarre human inquiry.
Mr. Dolnick deftly manages to steer us through labs, morgues, churches, royal fens and rabbit holes as the leading scientists of the centuries fumble and stumble to win the X Prize of human inception. Down blind alleys, between the sheets, through rudimentary microscopes and at the sides of the greatest thinkers on high, we chase the big question. The author holds the answer close to the vest until the very end. By the time the truth comes, Reconstruction is underway, robber barons are ramping up and baseball's in formation.
The search hopscotches across Europe and through agonizingly slow phases of discovery -- preformation, vital force, ovists v. spermists. Be ready for frustrating misogyny, religious squabbles and painfully hilarious saps of electricity.
I'd have sided with the ovists.
This is a scientific (and even sexy) romp through the ages as Ed Dolnick leads us on an informative, witty, page-turning journey through biology, physics and bizarre human inquiry.
Mr. Dolnick deftly manages to steer us through labs, morgues, churches, royal fens and rabbit holes as the leading scientists of the centuries fumble and stumble to win the X Prize of human inception. Down blind alleys, between the sheets, through rudimentary microscopes and at the sides of the greatest thinkers on high, we chase the big question. The author holds the answer close to the vest until the very end. By the time the truth comes, Reconstruction is underway, robber barons are ramping up and baseball's in formation.
The search hopscotches across Europe and through agonizingly slow phases of discovery -- preformation, vital force, ovists v. spermists. Be ready for frustrating misogyny, religious squabbles and painfully hilarious saps of electricity.
I'd have sided with the ovists.
June 15, 2021
This was great. Scientists were perplexed about where babies came from clear up until 1875, when microscopes (and open minds) were finally good enough to actually see sperm and egg combine. So recent! Up until then, they really couldn't figure it out. Some thought there were full, tiny humans in each sperm and all the egg did was nourish the sperm --- so the mother was biologically unrelated to the child. Others thought all life came from the egg, and all the semen did was provide some "aura" or vital force to make the egg start becoming a person. Some believed the sperm were just parasites that lived in semen, the same way drops of water contain lots of "tiny animals." One scientist maintained that God created all generates of animals at the same time, one nested inside another like Russian dolls. My favorite scientist hand-sewed dozens and dozens of silk boxer shorts and dressed frogs in them. He found that frogs that wore boxers did not fertilize the females' eggs. Besides good microscopes, they needed cell theory, which didn't emerge until 1830-1860s. All their ponderings, experimenting, and theorizing makes for delightful science history!
December 19, 2017
Where do babies come from?
This is an exploration into the discoveries that lead to fertilization's discovery. Though I did find a few chapters a little tedious I think overall this book hit the mark.
The author is very clear on not being judgmental on the lack of foresight of the scientists' centuries long discovery into life and treats them with some reverence. I do wonder if this book could have been divided into more discoveries on specialization, puberty, development in the womb, but maybe he will write another?
The author does a good job infusing wit, commentary, characterization (Buffon and Leeuwenhoek especially), and occasional drawings to highlight and energize the story. Some of the best ones where the pants on frogs 🐸 story in the title and the 'slap your forehead' near discoveries and odd logic of the old scientists.
This is a good book for the history and science nerds. It's not overly dense so even a history fan who didn't enjoy science in school might still enjoy.
This is an exploration into the discoveries that lead to fertilization's discovery. Though I did find a few chapters a little tedious I think overall this book hit the mark.
The author is very clear on not being judgmental on the lack of foresight of the scientists' centuries long discovery into life and treats them with some reverence. I do wonder if this book could have been divided into more discoveries on specialization, puberty, development in the womb, but maybe he will write another?
The author does a good job infusing wit, commentary, characterization (Buffon and Leeuwenhoek especially), and occasional drawings to highlight and energize the story. Some of the best ones where the pants on frogs 🐸 story in the title and the 'slap your forehead' near discoveries and odd logic of the old scientists.
This is a good book for the history and science nerds. It's not overly dense so even a history fan who didn't enjoy science in school might still enjoy.
October 6, 2018
Some episodes are interesting (e.g. I am very impressed by Spallanzani's experiments, especially the frogs with boxers!), but the author sometimes cannot control himself from digressing too far.
It doesn't seem a necessary trade-off:the rigor and the engaging storytelling should be able to coexist in public science books. Unfortunately sometimes it can still be observed that when the author tries to make the tone less dry then there is a feeling of the lack of rigor (though only a little).
As the author writes in the acknowledgement, we tend to judge the blunders of previous generations with present-day provincialism. Kudos to the author that he indeed conveys why scientists in old days sometimes went astray and made wrong interpretations. Though there are still cases that are described too simplistically, I think it's understandable considering the scope of the book and the difficulty to reconstruct the past.
It doesn't seem a necessary trade-off:the rigor and the engaging storytelling should be able to coexist in public science books. Unfortunately sometimes it can still be observed that when the author tries to make the tone less dry then there is a feeling of the lack of rigor (though only a little).
As the author writes in the acknowledgement, we tend to judge the blunders of previous generations with present-day provincialism. Kudos to the author that he indeed conveys why scientists in old days sometimes went astray and made wrong interpretations. Though there are still cases that are described too simplistically, I think it's understandable considering the scope of the book and the difficulty to reconstruct the past.
September 3, 2017
Though written in a rather amusing style, this book has considerable substance. The title says it all--yes, one researcher did sew tiny pants for male frogs as part of his experiment.
However, there are several points in general that Dolnick's narrative reveals. One, no surprise, but bears repeating, is that we all are handicapped by our current cultural assumptions and "norms". It is hard to think outside the box, when you are not aware that you are in a box. Secondly, language is figurative and the metaphors one uses, or one's culture uses, can trip us up. For example "string theory"--these things are not literally strings, but that is the current metaphor and may lead us unconsciously to the wrong path of investigation.
Having read this book, I find I like Dolnick's style and am looking forward to read some of his other science books.
However, there are several points in general that Dolnick's narrative reveals. One, no surprise, but bears repeating, is that we all are handicapped by our current cultural assumptions and "norms". It is hard to think outside the box, when you are not aware that you are in a box. Secondly, language is figurative and the metaphors one uses, or one's culture uses, can trip us up. For example "string theory"--these things are not literally strings, but that is the current metaphor and may lead us unconsciously to the wrong path of investigation.
Having read this book, I find I like Dolnick's style and am looking forward to read some of his other science books.
October 18, 2024
This is a historical look at the age-old question “where do babies come from?” Some theories are really charming, like the islanders who believed that spirit fish swam into a woman’s womb (if the passage was first well lubricate and widened by sex). Others equate women as empty fields upon which men plant their seed, though they couldn’t explain why so many children look like their mothers. Aristotle believed testicles served no real purpose other than as some sort of counterweight, like the weights women hung on their looms to keep threads from getting tangled. Others believed sperm is a tiny drop of brain.
November 24, 2022
This is a well-written and engaging account of the long struggle through history to figure out where babies come from.
They came close so many times and then totally whiffed on it leaving it to future generations to eventually discover the truth about the sperm and the egg. As the author points out, it would be easy to hold early scientists (or natural philosophers) in contempt for not seeing what’s obvious to us today but stepping beyond the things you were raised to believe are self-evident, and seeing realities no one is ever comprehended before is hard.
This was worth my time.
They came close so many times and then totally whiffed on it leaving it to future generations to eventually discover the truth about the sperm and the egg. As the author points out, it would be easy to hold early scientists (or natural philosophers) in contempt for not seeing what’s obvious to us today but stepping beyond the things you were raised to believe are self-evident, and seeing realities no one is ever comprehended before is hard.
This was worth my time.
July 4, 2017
The mystery of how babies are born took centuries to unravel. This is the story of all the missteps and harebrained theories develped and discarded along the way, told in a clear and fascinating manner. For example, did you know that people believed for a long time that all future generations of a person, from Eden to the end of time, were created all at once and were carried inside the body, Each one smaller than the next, down to infinate smallness?
September 11, 2017
We take for granted that the basic building blocks of life are cells, that traits are inherited from both parents, and that sperm cells are required to fertilize an egg. None of this was always known though, and the author does an excellent job stepping the reader through both the many dead ends and breakthroughs over centuries that finally led to our current understanding of how life is created. The book has a wonderful flow to it, making it a quick, rewarding, and at times humorous, read.
September 20, 2017
A "Where Do Babies Come From" book for adults. Exploring the age old question along the many paths of scientific experimentation and discovery that finally led to the facts.
The book meanders over the many missteps, missed clues, misogynistic ideas, side quests, brilliant minds, surprising revelations, amazing and ridiculous ideas, and larger than life personalities that combined over 200 years to lead scientists to the truth.
This was a great read.
The book meanders over the many missteps, missed clues, misogynistic ideas, side quests, brilliant minds, surprising revelations, amazing and ridiculous ideas, and larger than life personalities that combined over 200 years to lead scientists to the truth.
This was a great read.
June 5, 2018
This book is a lot of fun. Of course, we all know "where babies come from," but most of us don't realize just how complicated and frustrating the question "How are babies made?" has been to some of the greatest philosophers and scientists in human history. Dolnick brings this search for understanding to light in an entertainingly delightful way. For my money, he ended just a bit too abruptly, but the ride up until the very end is wonderful.
Displaying 1 - 30 of 68 reviews