Every Living Thing audiobook cover - The Great and Deadly Race to Know All Life

Every Living Thing

The Great and Deadly Race to Know All Life

Jason Roberts

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Health & NutritionEducationScienceNature & the Environment

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Every Living Thing
The Rivals & Their Visions+
Competing Philosophies+
Scientific Errors & Biases+
The Dark Legacy of Classification+
Historical Reckoning & Impact+

Quiz — Test Your Understanding

Question 1 of 7
How did Carl Linnaeus and the Comte de Buffon fundamentally differ in their view of nature?
  • A. Linnaeus believed species were fixed and unchanging, while Buffon saw nature as fluid and capable of change.
  • B. Linnaeus believed in evolution over millions of years, while Buffon strictly adhered to the biblical creation story.
  • C. Linnaeus focused on animal behavior and habitats, while Buffon focused exclusively on counting flower petals.
  • D. Linnaeus believed the Earth was ancient and species could go extinct, while Buffon believed nature was a divine library.
Question 2 of 7
What was a major difference in how Linnaeus and Buffon approached the categorization of humanity?
  • A. Linnaeus refused to classify humans alongside animals, while Buffon grouped them with primates.
  • B. Linnaeus divided humans into distinct 'races' based on geography and perceived traits, while Buffon argued that all humans formed one single species with endless variety.
  • C. Linnaeus classified humans solely based on their usefulness to society, while Buffon classified them by their physical size.
  • D. Linnaeus believed humans were exempt from biological classification, while Buffon created the genus Homo sapiens.
Question 3 of 7
Which of the following is an example of a scientific error made by Buffon due to his overarching theories?
  • A. He classified dogs and wolves as entirely separate species.
  • B. He claimed that plants reproduce sexually but could not explain mushrooms or ferns.
  • C. He insisted that animals in the Americas were degenerate, weaker versions of Old World creatures.
  • D. He created a fifth classification for humans that included mythical beasts and dragons.
Question 4 of 7
How were Linnaeus’s systems of classification eventually misused by later generations?
  • A. They were used to prove that the Earth was only six thousand years old and reject the theory of evolution.
  • B. They were adopted by the French Revolutionaries to destroy aristocratic science and ban the study of genetics.
  • C. They provided a scientific vocabulary of fixed hierarchies that empires and regimes used to justify colonialism, racism, and genocide.
  • D. They were used to argue that tropical environments made certain groups naturally suited for slavery.
Question 5 of 7
Why did Linnaeus’s system of taxonomy ultimately triumph over Buffon’s ideas in history?
  • A. Linnaeus’s system was proven completely accurate by the subsequent discovery of DNA.
  • B. The French Revolution erased Buffon’s legacy, while the expanding British Empire found Linnaeus’s fixed categories highly useful for justifying colonial rule.
  • C. Buffon’s books were never published during his lifetime, leaving Linnaeus without any real scientific competition.
  • D. Linnaeus was incredibly popular and beloved at the time of his death, whereas Buffon died in complete obscurity.
Question 6 of 7
According to modern genetics and ecology, how does nature actually operate compared to the historical models of Linnaeus and Buffon?
  • A. Nature operates as a strict hierarchy where species are permanently fixed and ranked by importance.
  • B. Nature operates as a web of cooperation and mutual dependence, rather than a ladder of ranked categories.
  • C. Nature operates exactly as Buffon predicted, with all species degenerating as they move further from the equator.
  • D. Nature operates through pure competition, proving that biological hierarchies are scientifically necessary for survival.
Question 7 of 7
How did Charles Darwin's later work interact with the legacies of Linnaeus and Buffon?
  • A. Darwin completely rejected both men's work as scientifically invalid and created his own taxonomy.
  • B. Darwin used Buffon's classification system to prove Linnaeus's theory that all species are permanently fixed.
  • C. Darwin found the seeds of natural selection in Buffon's ideas about change over time, but built his theory using Linnaeus's classification system as scaffolding.
  • D. Darwin relied entirely on Linnaeus's 'apostles' and their field notes to formulate his theory of evolution.

Every Living Thing — Full Chapter Overview

Every Living Thing Summary & Overview

Every Living Thing (2024) explores the bitter rivalry between Carl Linnaeus and Georges-Louis de Buffon to catalog every living thing, a competition that gave birth to modern biological science while also planting the seeds of scientific racism. It reveals how historical accidents and political forces ensured that the wrong man’s ideas triumphed, leaving us with Linnaeus’s rigid classification system even though Buffon was right about evolution, extinction, and the interconnected nature of life.

Who Should Listen to Every Living Thing?

  • Science fans who enjoy discovering how scientific knowledge developed through human rivalry and error
  • History buffs who appreciate colorful characters and surprising connections to modern issues
  • Anyone curious about how political forces shape the scientific ideas that survive

About the Author: Jason Roberts

Jason Roberts won the 2025 Pulitzer Prize for Biography for Every Living Thing. His first book, A Sense of the World, chronicling the blind adventurer James Holman, became a national bestseller and National Book Critics Circle Award finalist. Based in Northern California, he regularly writes for publications like McSweeney’s and The Believer.

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