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Strassel Allysia Finley More Editorials Commentary Future View Houses of Worship Cross Country Letters to the Editor The Weekend Interview Potomac Watch Podcast Foreign Edition Podcast Free Expression Podcast Opinion Video Notable & Quotable * Books & Arts Reviews Film Television Theater Masterpiece Series Music Dance Opera Exhibition Cultural Commentary Art Architecture Sections Arts Books More WSJ Puzzles What To Watch Arts Calendar * Real Estate Sections Commercial Real Estate More Real Estate Video * Life & Work Sections Cars Careers Food & Drink Home & Design Ideas Personal Finance Recipes Travel Wellness Columns Your Health Work & Life Carry On Bonds Turning Points On Wine On The Clock More WSJ Puzzles Space & Science * Style Sections Lifestyle Fashion Film Television Music Art & Auctions Columns My Monday Morning Off Brand On Trend * Sports Sections Baseball Basketball Football Golf Hockey Olympics Soccer Tennis Columns Jason Gay Search WSJ Logo 'The Man Who Organized Nature' Review: Linnaeus the Namer Share Resize --------------------------------------------------------------------- Listen (4 min) BEST OFBooks & Arts in Review The Best Reading for Summer'Be Mine' ReviewThe Best Books of June 'Orwell' Review 'The Individualists' Review This copy is for your personal, non-commercial use only. Distribution and use of this material are governed by our Subscriber Agreement and by copyright law. For non-personal use or to order multiple copies, please contact Dow Jones Reprints at 1-800-843-0008 or visit www.djreprints.com. https://www.wsj.com/articles/ the-man-who-organized-nature-review-linnaeus-the-namer-673a3305 1. Books & Arts ----------------------------------------------------------------- 2. Books ----------------------------------------------------------------- 3. Bookshelf 'The Man Who Organized Nature' Review: Linnaeus the Namer The Swedish naturalist Linnaeus bestowed an orderly taxonomy on the natural world, but his own love of animals and plants was quirky and personal. By Christoph Irmscher July 14, 2023 10:14 am ET Share Resize --------------------------------------------------------------------- Listen (4 min) imageAn 1833 engraving of Linnaeus in Lapland dress. Photo: Alamy Whether we realize it or not, we live in a Linnaean world. Every time we reach for a field guide or use an app on our phone to identify that bird singing in the tree outside--a robin, Turdus migratorius; a northern cardinal, Cardinalis cardinalis; an eastern bluebird, Sialia sialis--we pay silent tribute to the man who, a long time ago, gave each living thing its own two-part Latin name (one for the genus, one for the species). In his uncompromising "Systema Naturae" ("System of Nature") the Swedish naturalist Carl von Linne (1707-1778) imposed order on what, at least to human brains, looked like unmanageable chaos. Linnaeus, as he is known in the Anglophone world, himself becomes a living thing again in Gunnar Broberg's splendid new biography--except there are no handy two-part labels that would completely describe him. Copyright (c)2023 Dow Jones & Company, Inc. All Rights Reserved. 87990cbe856818d5eddac44c7b1cdeb8 [wsj-logo-b] Continue reading your article with a WSJ subscription Subscribe Now Already a subscriber? 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All Rights Reserved. Copyright (c)2023 Dow Jones & Company, Inc. All Rights Reserved This copy is for your personal, non-commercial use only. Distribution and use of this material are governed by our Subscriber Agreement and by copyright law. For non-personal use or to order multiple copies, please contact Dow Jones Reprints at 1-800-843-0008 or visit www.djreprints.com.