Items related to The Signature of All Things
At the beginning of a new century, alma whittaker is born into a perfect philadelphia winter her father, henry whittaker, is a bold and charismatic botanical explorer whose vast fortune belies his lowly beginnings as a vagrant in sir joseph banks's kew gardens and as a deck hand on captain cook's hms resolution alma's mother, a strict woman from an esteemed dutch family, has a knowledge of botany equal to any man's it is not long before alma, an independent girl with a thirst for knowledge, comes into her own within the world of plants and science but as her careful studies of moss take her deeper into the mysteries of evolution, the man she comes to love draws her in the opposite direction - into the realm of the spiritual, the divine and the magical she is a clear-minded scientist; he is a utopian artist but what unites this couple is a shared passion for knowing - a desperate desire to understand the workings of this world and the mechanisms behind all of life the signature of all things is a big novel, about a big century it soars across the globe from london, to peru, to philadelphia, to tahiti, to amsterdam peopled with extraordinary characters - missionaries, abolitionists, adventurers, astronomers, sea captains, geniuses and the quite mad -above all it has an unforgettable heroine in alma whittaker, a woman of the enlightened age who stands defiantly on the cusp of the modern
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Review:
An Amazon Best Book of the Month, October 2013: As a small girl, Elizabeth Gilbert scrawled her name in the most extraordinary book in her house: an original illustrated folio of Captain Cook’s voyages. Decades later, her parents discovered her signature and gave her the book, reigniting her passion for scientific exploration in the century leading up to Darwin’s theory of evolution. She became fascinated with the women—always wives or daughters of scientists—who made their own discoveries, in spite of the cultural constraints that kept them from true exploration. Her invented heroine, the insatiably curious Alma Whittaker, daughter of a scrappy botanical baron, spends most of her life confined to her family estate in Philadelphia, yearning for a life of greater passion and liberty. She channels her desires into botany, thrilling to the miniature universe of moss in the forests surrounding her house, developing a new taxonomy that becomes a theory encompassing all living things, parallel to Darwin’s. When she finally turns herself loose on the world, it’s to claim her place in a lineage of explorers. An earthy, elegant, deeply sensual novel of daring breadth and imagination, The Signature of All Things gives us the cosmos in the life of one woman, in her worlds within worlds. –Mari Malcolm
About the Author:
Elizabeth Gilbert is an award-winning American writer of both fiction and nonfiction, named one of the most influential people in the world by Time magazine in 2008. Her books have been New York Times bestsellers, including the #1 New York Times bestseller list for Committed. Her short story collection, Pilgrims, received the Pushcart Prize and was a finalist for the PEN/Hemingway Award, and her novel, Stern Men, was a New York Times Notable Book. Her 2002 book, The Last American Man, was a finalist for both the National Book Award and the National Book Critics Circle Award. She is best known for her memoir Eat, Pray, Love, which has been published in more than thirty languages and was made into a film.
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- PublisherBloomsbury Publication
- Publication date2013
- ISBN 10 1408853914
- ISBN 13 9781408853917
- BindingPaperback
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The Signature of All Things
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Bloomsbury Publishing PLC
(2013)
ISBN 10: 1408853914
ISBN 13: 9781408853917
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Book Description Softcover. Condition: Bon. Salissures sur la tranche. Ammareal reverse jusqu'à 15% du prix net de ce livre à des organisations caritatives. ENGLISH DESCRIPTION Book Condition: Used, Good. Soiling on the side. Ammareal gives back up to 15% of this book's net price to charity organizations. Seller Inventory # C-684-145
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Book Description Paperback. Condition: Good. No Jacket. Pages can have notes/highlighting. Spine may show signs of wear. ~ ThriftBooks: Read More, Spend Less 1.25. Seller Inventory # G1408853914I3N00
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