The Wonderful Mr Willughby

June 15, 2018

Birkhead (behavior, evolution, Univ. of Sheffield; Bird Sense) creates a thoroughly researched and documented work concerning an obscure 17th-century naturalist who pioneered the modern taxonomic method of classifying animals by their physical characteristics in his Ornithologiae libri tres (1676). In addition to birds, Francis Willughby (1635-72) also studied fish and insects and was a Fellow of the Royal Society. His accomplished mentor and friend John Ray (1627-1705) completed Ornithologiae. Birkhead details how Willughby traveled extensively with Ray and other scientists, vividly capturing their European routes with maps and black-and-white illustrations. A helpful appendix has thumbnail sketches of "principal players in Willughby's life," such as philosopher René Descartes, physician William Harvey, scientist Antonie van Leeuwenhoek, botanist Carl Linnaeus, and administrator Samuel Pepys. Willughby and Ray laid some of the groundwork for the system of nature later developed by Linnaeus. VERDICT In spite of Willughby's short life, Birkhead ably constructs a full time line of his influence on modern science. For readers, especially ornithologists, with deep interests in natural history and the history of science.--Henry T. Armistead, formerly with Free Lib. of Philadelphia

Copyright 2018 Library Journal, LLC Used with permission.

March 26, 2018
Although surprisingly little documentation exists about Francis Willughby (1635–1672), Birkhead (The Most Perfect Sense), a science professor at the University of Sheffield, has managed to piece together a compulsively readable portrait of the driven, influential British naturalist. Willughby died young, yet, together with the better known John Ray, who began as his tutor at Cambridge, he shaped the way natural history is viewed to this day. As Birkhead explains it, Willughby was present at “the inception of modern science,” and he and Ray “transformed the study of zoology in general, and birds in particular,” setting new standards for the observation, description, and classification of animals. Using the diaries of Ray and other traveling companions, Birkhead chronicles Willughby’s two-year sojourn across Europe in the 1660s, when he studied as much wildlife as he could, and also experienced a significant amount of continental culture at a time of intellectual and scientific ferment. The author shares many of the ornithological questions Willughby pondered, such as the nature of territoriality, migration, and annual molting, alongside modern science’s answers, thus demonstrating in many cases Willughby’s prescience. Though at times the details become a bit dense, Birkhead has produced an enjoyable and informative piece of scholarship, with ample appeal for bird-watching or nature-enthusiast layreaders as well.