About this Event
Join us at Mrs. Dalloway's Bookstore on Tuesday, March 31 when Jessica Riskin comes to the store to present her new book The Power of Life: The Invention of Biology & the Revolutionary Science of Jean-Baptiste Lamarck. Jessica will be joined in conversation by Thomas W. Laqueur and will sign books after the presentation.
to order a copy of The Power of Life.
“A truly remarkable achievement, at once a delightfully wry and wildly entertaining biography of Jean-Baptiste Lamarck and a riveting intellectual history of the tumultuous emergence of “biology” (a word Lamarck coined)."
—Jill Lepore, professor of American history, Harvard University; author of These Truths and We the People
In the early nineteenth century, the French naturalist Jean-Baptiste Lamarck proposed the first evolutionary theory of life and, with it, a new science: biology. Yet for centuries, evolutionary theorists have endeavored to discredit Lamarck and his theory of self-transforming organisms, rejecting the idea that animals play an active role in shaping their own evolution. In his lifetime, he was mocked by his adversaries and personally insulted by Napoleon. In this virtuosic melding of biography, history, politics, and science, Jessica Riskin sets out to correct the record. Riskin tells the story of Lamarck’s life and work as an intense struggle between rival forces to answer questions that remain foundational to our modern worldview: What is a living being, and what is science?
New findings suggest Lamarck’s basic claim was, in many ways, right, and a reconsideration of his life and work is long overdue. Denying the agency of living beings has informed two centuries of eugenic policies and environmental destruction, allowing people to regard the living world as so much raw material to shape and exploit for economic, industrial, and imperial gain.
Deeply researched, strikingly original, and beautifully written, The Power of Life shines a much-needed light on an underappreciated biologist whose radical ideas offered a more inclusive, collaborative, and enlightened approach to science.
JESSICA RISKIN is the Frances and Charles Field Professor of History at Stanford University, where she teaches modern European history and the history of science. She is the author of The Restless Clock and Science in the Age of Sensibility and is a regular contributor to a number of publications, including Aeon, the Los Angeles Review of Books, and the New York Review of Books. She lives in Berkeley, California.
THOMAS W. LAQUEUR is the Helen Fawcett Distinguished Professor of History Emeritus at the University of California, Berkeley. An internationally renowned cultural historian, he has published books on topics ranging from working class religion and education during the industrial revolution to the history of sexuality and the body. He is a member of both the American Academy of Arts and Sciences and the American Philosophical Society, and recipient of the 2007 Mellon Foundation Distinguished Achievement in the Humanities Award and the 2016 Cundill Prize for Historical Literature. His work has been translated into twenty languages.
THIS EVENT is free but registration is requested. Registration ends at 6:00 pm on March 31.
BECAUSE SEATING is limited, please register only if you plan to attend.
DUE TO SPACE limitations, we may not be able to accommodate every person at an event, so early registration is encouraged.
WALK-INS will be accommodated only if space allows.
WE ASK that attendees arrive between 6:45 and 7:00 PM for the event.
PLEASE leave your non-support companion animals at home.
OUR shared restrooms are not accessible after 6:30 PM, please plan accordingly.
Event Venue & Nearby Stays
Mrs Dalloway's, 2904 College Avenue, Berkeley, United States
USD 0.00
