The Seeds of Life
From Aristotle to Da Vinci, from Shark's Teeth to Frog's Pants, the Long and Strange Quest to Discover Where Babies Come from
New York : Basic Books, [2017]
Format: Book
Description: ix, 309 pages : illustrations ; 25 cm
"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"-- Provided by publisher.
Subjects:
Human reproduction -- History.
Human reproduction -- Mythology.
Human reproduction -- Social aspects.
Human reproduction -- History.
Human reproduction -- Mythology.
Human reproduction -- Social aspects.
ISBN:
9780465082957 (hardcover)
Availability | |||
---|---|---|---|
Call Number | Location | Shelf Location | Status |
SCIENCE Life Dol | Main (Downtown) | Third Level, Nonfiction | In |
SCIENCE Life Dol | Cooper (Forest Acres) | Nonfiction | In |
SCIENCE Life Dol | Edgewood | Nonfiction | In |
SCIENCE Life Dol | Southeast | Nonfiction | Out (Due: 5/28/2024) |
Includes bibliographical references and index.