Edward o wilson autobiography template

Preserving Our Biosphere – A Tribute to Edward O Wilson

I had the new experience yesterday evening of reading a book by someone I thought was alive that same morning but had found, during the day, that they’d died. Reading on, it was unsettling, upsetting, and made their urgent plea all the more urgent. As they are not fighting anymore, they are among the relics and ruins of the fight to preserve our biosphere. 

A Bright Light

Just occasionally, a person comes along who shines brightly amongst humanity. Darwin, Gandhi, Nelson Mandela, Martin Luther King and Muhammad Ali are fairly recent and popular examples. For me, Darwin’s embers are still glowing brightly. But for other people, with different priorities or interests, the glow of their fire can die away until they are almost forgotten. Few people I talk to have heard of the author mentioned above. Although his name will have flitted across things they have read or watched on TV. Once hooked onto his trajectory though, it becomes clear he was a mega-mind naturalist and possibly the clearest and most prolific thinker (on nature at least) of our generation. 

Edward Wilson

Edward O. Wilson, the American Harvard University professor, one of my favourite authors, didn’t die yesterday, but that’s when I felt it. He died on Boxing Day, the day after I was given yet another of his books for Christmas, whilst I was still in the middle of reading one. As a boy, his nickname was ‘Snake-Wilson’ but he made his name studying ants. He wasn’t my first Edward Wilson though. 

Before I discovered Snake O. Wilson, my naturalist artist hero was Edward A. Wilson of the Antarctic. He died with Scott in the tent on that famous Last Expedition. However he left behind a treasure trove of field sketches, finished artwork and nature observations. He also left about 40 pounds of geological specimens in the sledge for his bereaved colleagues to take back to Britain. The rival Norwegian Party, who made it to the p

This is a graphic adaptation of the great E.O. Wilson’s memoir Naturalist. I haven’t read the original but I have pretty much read all of this graphic book, and enjoyed it very much.

On the back cover it is claimed that this book is ‘Perfect for all, young naturalists and accomplished scientists alike‘ and whereas one sees words like that often on the backs of books, and I usually snort at them, in this case I think there is a good chance that it is true. I don’t fall into either category but I enjoyed it very much and I can’t be sure, but I think I may well have enjoyed it more than the original ‘conventional’ book.

So, you can imagine that this book made me think more about E.O. Wilson, a sometimes somewhat controversial figure but undoubtedly an eminent biologist but also of the graphic book format.

Wilson is known for many things; for expertise and enthusiasm for ants, for being a story teller about evolution of creatures including of their social behaviour and for being an advocate for the natural world. This book tells that story of development from a kid interested in nature, especially ants, to a senior figure. Any life is interesting but the life of someone well-known and influential in the areas that interest you is very likely to be interesting if well told, and here it is well told.

The graphic format works well for such a tale. We see the ‘hero’ of the story at various ages and sitting in an office, lecturing to students, going on marches, being at home, doing fieldwork in Australia, New Guinea and closer to home. The pictures on the page nudge us to particular visions of what happened rather than leaving us to conjure them up ourselves. And they allow the ‘hero’ to walk under water, to be surrounded by ants when just thinking of them and to pop up next to events in his life where he wasn’t really present. Of course, it made me start to ponder what types of non-

"Ottaviani (Hawking) skillfully adapts Wilson’s spirited 1994 memoir into a graphic narrative full of personality, but without skimping on the science….This hearty graphic memoir is poised to inspire a new generation of naturalists."
Publishers Weekly

"Ottaviani’s adaptation is astonishingly detailed…Butzer’s illustrations are charming... Wilson’s life is undoubtedly a rich and fascinating one."
Booklist

"This is a wonderful idea brilliantly executed…The story captures Wilson’s warm, gentle humor, his sense of adventure, and his passion for his work. It is an accessible story that still conveys the science of the original edition. It’s a must-have for Wilson fans…but will also reach a new generation of readers. A perfect gift for the comic book fan or budding naturalist on your list."
Cool Green Science

"Through Ottaviani’s interpretation of Wilson’s words, as well as Butzer’s skillful capturing of thoughts and events in his colourful and accessible art, Naturalist: A Graphic Adaptation manages to both inform and entertain. It tells the story of Edward O. Wilson’s remarkable life and career in a way that impresses and inspires, and reading it with hopefully prompt others to follow the same path as Wilson and do what they can to increase knowledge and understanding of the natural world."
 
Culture Fly

"A convincing, and compelling, version of Naturalist…this version is readable and approachable, and was well worth doing."
New Welsh Review

"Entertaining, absorbing, informative, insightful, thoroughly 'reader friendly' in presentation, and inherently interesting from first page to last, Naturalist: A Graphic Adaptation will prove to be a uniquely welcome and enduringly popular addition to community and college/university library biography collections."

Edward O. Wilson is an entomologist and biologist known for his pioneering work on evolution and sociobiology, and is often referred to as the father of sociobiology and modern biodiversity studies. He has authored many books, including Sociobiology: The New Synthesis (1975), On Human Nature (winner of a 1979 Pulitzer Prize), The Ants (winner of a 1991 Pulitzer Prize), Consilience: The Unity of Knowledge (1998) and Kingdom of Ants: José Celestino Mutis and the Dawn of Natural History in the New World (2010). He has received over one hundred awards, many of them international, in science and letters. He is the Pellegrino University Professor Emeritus at the Museum of Comparative Zoology, Harvard University.