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Chrysalis: Maria Sibylla Merian and the Secrets of Metamorphosisby Kim Todd
Synopses & ReviewsPublisher Comments:Before Darwin, before Audubon, there was Merian. An artist turned naturalist known for her botanical illustrations, she was born just sixteen years after Galileo proclaimed that the earth orbited the sun. But at the age of fifty she sailed from Europe to the New World on a solo scientific expedition to study insect metamorphosis; an unheard-of journey for any naturalist at that time, much less a woman. When she returned she produced a book that secured her reputation, only to have it savaged in the nineteenth century by scientists who disdained the work of "amateurs." Exquisitely written and illustrated, Chrysalis takes us from golden-age Amsterdam to the Surinam tropics to modern laboratories where Merian's insights fuel a new branch of biology. Kim Todd brings to life a seventeenth-century woman whose boldness and vision would still be exceptional today. Review:"Metamorphosis has long fascinated humankind, but few people more than Maria Sibylla Merian (1647-1717), who spent her life illustrating this mysterious process in insects. Merian grew up in Germany, married, had two daughters, left her husband to join a Labadist (pietist) community in West Friesland, moved to Amsterdam and, at age 52, traveled to Surinam to search for insects. Beyond that, little is known about this remarkable woman except for a few letters and her beautiful engravings and watercolors, most of them published in her books on insect metamorphosis. Todd (Tinkering with Eden) fleshes out her biography with colorful descriptions of Merian's world and the people she knew, emphasizing that she was as exceptional in her art as in her life. Unlike other naturalists at the time, she depicted insects together with their host plants, an innovation that influenced many later 18th-century students of insect life. Merian fell out of favor in the 19th century, but today, when scientists have come to appreciate the importance of environment to insect development, her star is rising again. Todd's vivid account should do much to further the renewed interest in this unusual woman and her pioneering approach to insect illustration." Publishers Weekly (Copyright Reed Business Information, Inc.) Review:"Metamorphosis has long fascinated humankind, but few people more than Maria Sibylla Merian (1647 — 1717), who spent her life illustrating this mysterious process in insects. Merian grew up in Germany, married, had two daughters, left her husband to join a Labadist (pietist) community in West Friesland, moved to Amsterdam and, at age 52, traveled to Surinam to search for insects. Beyond that, little is known about this remarkable woman except for a few letters and her beautiful engravings and watercolors, most of them published in her books on insect metamorphosis. Todd (Tinkering with Eden) fleshes out her biography with colorful descriptions of Merian's world and the people she knew, emphasizing that she was as exceptional in her art as in her life. Unlike other naturalists at the time, she depicted insects together with their host plants, an innovation that influenced many later 18th-century students of insect life. Merian fell out of favor in the 19th century, but today, when scientists have come to appreciate the importance of environment to insect development, her star is rising again. Todd's vivid account should do much to further the renewed interest in this unusual woman and her pioneering approach to insect illustration. 8-page color insert not seen by PW." Publishers Weekly (Copyright Reed Business Information, Inc.) Review:"A breathtaking example of scholarship and storytelling, enriched by ample illustrations of Merian's work." Kirkus Reviews Review:"Todd...emulates Merian's richly contextual approach in her vivid descriptions of every facet of her subject's vibrant world as she insightfully chronicles Merian's extraordinary life." Booklist Book News Annotation:In 1699, this artist-naturalist's lifelong passion for studying
metamorphosis took her from Amsterdam to the rainforest of Surinam.
Merian accomplished this as a single working woman in her 50s more
than a century before Darwin's expedition. Despite initial
recognition for accurate renditions of the life cycle of insects (as
vs. then prevalent ideas about the spontaneous generation of life),
Merian's observations were later devalued by male scientists. In
prose as elegant as Merian's watercolor illustrations highlighting
this reconstruction of her fascinating life and times, an award-
winning nature writer (for Tinkering with Eden) gives her deserved
due for her pioneering ecological approach. Todd adds personal notes
on researching this subject.
Annotation ©2007 Book News, Inc., Portland, OR (booknews.com) About the AuthorTodd, a former newspaper reporter, holds a B.A. from Yale University and an M.F.A. from the University of Montana. Table of ContentsCONTENTS PROLOGUE • ONE: The Most Noble of All the Worms • TWO: Godly Miracles in a Little Book • THREE: That Which Is Found in the Fens and Heath • FOUR: Le Grande Monde • FIVE: An Awesome and Expensive Trip • SIX: Far Out into the Wilderness • SEVEN: The First and Strangest Work That Had Ever Been Painted in America • EIGHT: The Modern World Is Very Sensitive • NINE: Because of Its Color So Special • CONCLUSION • ACKNOWLEDGMENTS • NOTES • SOURCES • INDEX • What Our Readers Are SayingAdd a comment for a chance to win!Average customer rating based on 1 comment:
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