The Young Charles Darwin
“I have never seen a Darwin biography with such a richly detailed account of the scientific and educational milieu
in which the young scientist was nurtured and that formed
the basis of his ideas and achievements.” Richard Milner
“Thomson, who manages to be stylish, scholarly and entertaining all at the same time, investigates Darwin’s early years and how he arrived as his revolutionary ideas.”
Scientific American
A Passion for Nature
“Thomson’s mastery of the emerguing disciplines that so engaged Jefferson gives his account of Jefferson’s passion particular authority … an extraorinarily lucid and informative brief account of the natural historian who played such a
crucial role in our nation’s history.” Peter Onuf, Journal of
the Early Republic
“Thomson beautifully demonstrates the significance of
the natural world to Jefferson. The descriptions are vivid,
the illustrations apt, the interpretations judicious.”
Sara Gronim, Isis
The Legacy of the Mastodon
“Thomson charts the rise of vertebrate paleontology
as a combination of practical American innovations and philosophical ones – the transcontinental railroad and Jeffersonian ideals.” New Yorker
“A delicious read, instructive and amusing.” Nature
Before Darwin
“Superb … illustrates the importance of the history of ideas
in understanding how science works.” Quarterly of Biology
“Engrossing and rewarding.” Wilson Quarterly
Living Fossil
“One of the classic stories of zoology, told with uncommon authority and grace.” Edward O. Wilson
“Fascinating reading for scientist and non-scientist alike.” George D. Langdon