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The story of natural history as seen through the lives, observations, and discoveries of the world's greatest naturalists."How the sciences of geology, biology, ecology and paleontology developed over three centuries is wonderfully illuminated in this volume." -- Publishers WeeklyWe owe a debt of gratitude to the naturalists who described, experimented, collected, and gave us the means to understand the natural world. They came from all over the globe, from classical times to the end of the nineteenth century, when natural history changed from a mainly amateur pursuit to today's specialized scientific profession.Braving dangers -- including storms, pirates, and disease -- in pursuit of cataloging the natural world, pioneers such as Alexander von Humboldt and Charles Darwin changed the course of science with their groundbreaking theories.