Sign in with Facebook
Loading...
Sex, Botany And Empire
Enlightenment botany was replete with sexual symbolism -- to the extent that many botanical textbooks were widely considered pornographic. Carl Linnaeus's controversial new system for classifying plants based on their sexual characteristics, as well as his use of language resonating with erotic allusions, provoked intense public debate over the morality of botanical study....more
168 pages
Published
Friend Reviews
To see what your friends thought of this book,
please sign up.
This book is not yet featured on Listopia.
Add this book to your favorite list »
Community Reviews
(showing
1-30
of
76)
Jan 20, 2013
Alex
rated it
3 of 5 stars
·
review of another edition
Shelves:
ebooks-local,
genre-science
The title of this book is misleading. It should have been called Botany and Empire: The Story of Joseph Banks. Linnaeus didn't appear much, although his classification system was all throughout the book as Banks collected botanical specimens. The parts about sex totaled perhaps three pages when added up. Those bits were about how Linnaeus classified plants by their reproductive organs (which was very scandalous) and a little bit about Banks' adventures in Tahiti.
But! It was a decent book on how...more
But! It was a decent book on how...more
Quick read about imperial science and botany. I knew nothing of Joseph Banks before reading this. Had never heard of him, in fact. Shortcomings aside, he was a very important figure in the realm of science and discovery, and I plan on doing a bit more reading on him.
Other reviews claim that this book does not go into enough detail on Banks's life. While this may be true, just looking at the length of the book, I don't see how one could expect otherwise. It's less than 200 pages long, after all,...more
Other reviews claim that this book does not go into enough detail on Banks's life. While this may be true, just looking at the length of the book, I don't see how one could expect otherwise. It's less than 200 pages long, after all,...more
I was expecting more from this book than it delivered. A disappointment.
Sure we find out all about Sir Joseph Bank's public life, which I knew most of anyway, being a semi-literate Aussie. But we learn next to nothing of his personal life. To me that is not a well rounded biography.
We learn he dumped his fianceé after being on his South Pacific trip with Captain Cook, where Aussie was discovered, for 3 years. There are 2 lines somewhere in the middle of the book that state he married a woman we...more
Sure we find out all about Sir Joseph Bank's public life, which I knew most of anyway, being a semi-literate Aussie. But we learn next to nothing of his personal life. To me that is not a well rounded biography.
We learn he dumped his fianceé after being on his South Pacific trip with Captain Cook, where Aussie was discovered, for 3 years. There are 2 lines somewhere in the middle of the book that state he married a woman we...more
view 2 comments
Short and breezy, but well-researched account of the effects of Joseph Banks' engagement with Linnaean plant-hunting and classifying. For one thing, Australia was colored red on the map for two centuries. The sex here is twofold, both the classifying of plants based on their sexual organs, ie flowers (oh, the horror! Women, read no further!) and the sexual exchanges offered by the Tahitian women on Banks' voyage there....to witness the Transit of Venus, appropriately.
Interesting history of how scientific exploration became funded by the state and the ulterior motives behind it. Barely a book about Linneaus, Banks outshines him thoughout with his discovery of Australia, friendship with the King, and the importation of plants and animals all over the world. KInd of depressing,he seems to be the first man to bring exotic plants to similar climates for their ability to make money for the British empire.
A great rendition of Linnaeus and the struggles of early science.
Things I never thought I'd say: Too much sex, not enough science. Oh, and lest we forget about that whole "empire" part of the title, there's plenty about old dirty white men and their bad, bad imperialist tendencies. You know, in case you care about that sort of thing.
Brief but worth reading; this book tells the stories of Carl Linnaeus and Joseph Banks. A fair bit of commentary on how the interests of science bookended nicely with empire-building is included, as is a lot of scandalous botany=rooting talk. Fun!
Jul 07, 2008
Lulu
rated it
4 of 5 stars
Recommends it for:
anyone interested in botany as well as the development of science in the British Empire
I thoroughly enjoyed this book -- it was an informative and easy to read account of the creation of a system of plant identification by Carl Linnaeus as well as the use and promotion of this system by Joseph Banks on his global explorations.
Dec 03, 2012
Icon Books
rated it
5 of 5 stars
·
review of another edition
Shelves:
anniversary-list,
favorites
Nov 08, 2012
Bruce Oppenheim
marked it as to-read
Nov 08, 2012
Jeanette
added it
There are no discussion topics on this book yet.
Be the first to start one »
