Outline of Science, Vol 2

In 1922, the boundaries of human knowledge felt infinite. This second volume of Thomson's celebrated survey takes readers on a journey from the microscopic realm into the beating heart of the natural world. Through primitive microscopes, we glimpse cells and microorganisms invisible to the naked eye. Thomson then turns his attention to the human body and mind, unraveling the mysteries of physiology and consciousness with clarity that never condescends. The book's heart belongs to its natural history chapters: birds on the wing, mammals in their element, insects marching in their incomprehensible multitudes. There is something profoundly moving about reading this book now, nearly a century later. You encounter the science as it was understood then, before DNA and plate tectonics, when the world still held fresh mysteries. Thomson writes with the warm enthusiasm of a man genuinely delighted by creation. For readers who want to understand how our ancestors saw the living world, and who find joy in watching a curious mind make sense of birdsong and blood cells.