从古典时期到19世纪出现大批探索自然的思想家和探索家。本书根据伦敦自然历史博物馆的档案，介绍了39位先驱的成就，包括亚里士多德和林奈对自然进行分类， Joseph Banks和von Humboldt不惧险阻的寻找新品种， Antony van Leeuwenhoek用自制显微镜发现了细菌，James Hutton对地质学的研究， 玛丽安宁发现了大量化石，乔治·库维尔思索灭绝，查尔斯·达尔文宣称物种的起源。 这些先驱者为今天的专业科学家奠定了基础。

From Classical times to the 19th century, the great quest to discover and define the intoxicating diversity of the natural world attracted a host of intrepid thinkers and explorers. Aristotle and Linnaeus set out to classify nature; Joseph Banks and von Humboldt made perilous journeys to collect and record it. Antony van Leeuwenhoek discovered bacteria with a homemade microscope and James Hutton revealed the immense age of the Earth. Mary Anning hunted fossils; others insects, birds and plants. Georges Cuvier pondered extinction, and Charles Darwin proclaimed the origin of species. With their radical thinking and commitment to close observation, these pioneers laid foundations for the specialist scientists of today. Here thirty-nine of them are brought vividly to life by an array of experts, with illustrations from the unmatched archive of the Natural History Museum, London.