The Power of Life: The Invention of Biology and the Revolutionary Science of Jean-Baptiste Lamarck

In the early nineteenth century, French naturalist Jean-Baptiste Lamarck proposed the first evolutionary theory of life and coined the term biology.

Mocked in his time and later discredited, Lamarck argued that living beings actively shape their own evolution.

Jessica Riskin corrects the historical record through a masterful blend of biography, history, politics, and science, highlighting Lamarck's struggle against rivals and showing how his ideas on the agency of life remain relevant today, countering views that treat organisms as passive material.