Ebook: The Perfumier and the Stinkhorn: Six Personal Essays on Natural Science and Romanticism

Cover Page; Title Page; Copyright Page; Contents; 1. The Greenhouse and the Field; 2. The Lichen and the Lens; 3. The Crab Apple and the Grafting Knife; 4. The Perfumier and the Stinkhorn; 5. The Nightingale and the Sonogram; 6. The Map and the Word.;In these elegant, short essays, revered nature writer Richard Mabey attempts to marry a Romantic's view of the natural world with that of the meticulous observations of the scientist. By Romanticism he refers to the view that nature isn't a machine to be dissected, but a community of which we, the observers, are inextricably part. And that our feelings about that community are a perfectly proper subject for reflection, because they shape our relationship with it. Scientists eshew such a subjective response, wanting to witness the natural world exactly, whatever feelings subsequently follow. Ou.