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The Man Who Organized Nature

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The Life of Linnaeus

Gunnar Broberg (translation Anna Paterson)| 2023, Princeton University Press

A new biography offers a vivid portrait of Linnaeus’s life and work. Carl Linnaeus (1707–1778), the father of modern biological taxonomy, formalised and popularised the system of binomial nomenclature used to classify plants and animals. Linnaeus himself classified thousands of species; the simple and immediately recognisable abbreviation “L” is used to mark his classifications.

This biography, by the leading authority on Linnaeus, offers a vivid portrait of Linnaeus’s life and work. Drawing on a wide range of previously unpublished sources—including diaries and personal correspondence—and new research, it presents revealing and original accounts of his family life, the political context in which he pursued his work, and his eccentric views on sexuality.

The Man Who Organized Nature describes Linnaeus’s childhood in a landscape of striking natural beauty and how this influenced his later work. Linnaeus’s Lutheran pastor father, knowledgeable about plants and an enthusiastic gardener, helped foster an early interest in botany.

The book examines the political connections that helped Linnaeus secure patronage for his work and untangle his ideas about sexuality. These were not, as often assumed, an attempt to naturalise gender categories but more likely reflected the laissez-faire attitudes of the era. Like many other brilliant scientists, Linnaeus could be moody and egotistical; the book describes his human failures and medical and scientific achievements. Written in an engaging and accessible style, The Man Who Organized Nature—one of the only biographies of Linnaeus to appear in English—provides new and fascinating insights into the life of one of history’s most consequential and enigmatic scientists.

Read the article How Carl Linnaeus Set Out to Label All of Life by the 2016 Pulitzer Prize for Feature Writing winner journalist Kathryn Schulz: “A new biography  …attempts to provide the fullest possible account of his life yet fails to grapple with the fundamental question it raises: if categorization is crucial to making sense of the world, how should we classify Carl Linnaeus?”

Bibliography 

Broberg, G. (2023) The Man Who Organized Nature: The Life of Linnaeus. Oxford, UK: Princeton University Press

Zooming out, getting the picture

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Alexander von Humboldt

One of the crucial skills of public leaders and managers is to be able to get the bigger picture of society, and from there to connect things and to act accordingly. Mayors and city managers, among others, need to keep the main focus on the bigger picture, while aldermen and directors have their specific discipline, craftsmanship and portfolio.

Overview and content go hand in hand, both complementary pieces of the puzzle of public governance. Zooming out is a form of art, necessary to understand the city as an ecosystem. For this art, Alexander von Humboldt and Roelof A.A. Oldeman have been of great inspiration. The ability of zooming out is the essential skill for true knowledge, they say. Two quotes.

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Bees and Government

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Hymenoptera morphology. Source Wikipedia.

“Honey bees are brilliant at collective decision making”, according to biologist Thomas B. Seeley (2010) on the Harvard Business Review Blog. All leaders can learn from the way bees communicate, debate and decide. How to mobilise all available knowledge, expertise, insights, views and opinions within the organisation in the process of choosing the right direction. This is all about strategy in its highest form. The bees seem to be masters in this.

Seeley lines out the next crucial factors for optimal decision making:

  • Remind the group’s members of their shared interests and foster mutual respect, so they work together productively.
  • Explore diverse solutions to the problem, to maximise the group’s likelihood of uncovering an excellent option.
  • Aggregate the group’s knowledge through a frank debate.
  • Minimize the leader’s influence on the group’s thinking.
  • Balance interdependence (information sharing) and independence (absence of peer pressure) among the group’s members.
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