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O wonder!", cries Miranda in The Tempest, "How many goodly creatures are there here!". Shakespeare was spot on as usual. A simple list of every creature now known to live on Earth would fill seven fat volumes, Colin Tudge calculates. It could run to 70 or more were we to include the living species yet to be discovered. "And if we could find out all the creatures that have lived in the past we would need a substantial library - just to make the barest list," he writes. "How can we possibly cope? Classify, is the answer."
Taxonomy may sound dull, but Tudge makes a brilliant case for it. A seasoned science writer with a delightfully light touch, he can make the most arcane subject appealing. But The Variety of Life is far more than just another good popular science book. It's a celebration of the "huge privilege" it is to share the planet with so many fantastical creatures.
Tudge has clearly been plagued by well-meaning friends who endlessly enquire, "who is this book for?". With characteristic doggedness, he has carried on regardless. The result is a beautifully illustrated introduction to everything that's ever lived. It bears the hallmarks of genuine enthusiasm, as opposed to the dead hand of commercial opportunism.
Tudge spent a decade on the book, with a mission in mind: to bring taxonomy, or the science of systematics, back to the centre of biological teaching and thinking. Classification is not "a dull pursuit for obsessives," he argues. Rather, it is a vital guide to the world's bewildering...