Amazing Rare Things: The Art of
Natural History in the Age of
Discovery by Rea Alexandratos
Inspiring Book
From the fifteenth century onwards, as European explorers sailed forth on
grand voyages of discovery, their encounters with exotic plants and
animals fanned intense scientific interest. Scholars began to examine
nature with fresh eyes, and pioneering artists transformed the way nature
was seen and understood. In Amazing Rare Things, renowned naturalist
and documentary-maker David Attenborough joins with expert colleagues
to explore how artists portrayed the natural world during this era of
burgeoning scientific interest.
The book focuses on an exquisite selection of natural history drawings and
watercolors by Leonardo da Vinci, Alexander Marshal, Maria Sibylla

Merian, and Mark Catesby, and from the collection of Cassiano dal Pozzo
—works all held in the Royal Library at Windsor Castle. Attenborough and
his coauthors offer lucid commentary on topics ranging from the 30,000-
year history of human drawings of the natural world, to Leonardo’s
fascination with natural processes, to Catesby’s groundbreaking studies
that introduced Europeans to the plants and animals of North
America. With 160 full color illustrations, this beautiful book will appeal to
readers with interests that extend from art and science to history and
nature.
Personal Review: Amazing Rare Things: The Art of Natural
History in the Age of Discovery by Rea Alexandratos
David Attenborough technically retired after "Life in Cold Blood" capped his
"Life" series, which has now covered every living thing in the world. Now
he does whatever he wants, which generally means geeking out over one
obscure thing after another; he recently completed a one-hour special
about amber, just because he things amber is cool. And now there's this,
which is basically him waxing geektastic about famous nature illustrators.
Flip through it and find a Da Vinci drawing of a dissected bear's foot on one
page, with Attenborough babbling about how kickass that is on the next. If
you don't think that sounds awesome, this is not the book for you. Neither
am I the friend for you.
It's not all Attenborough - he just wrote the wonderful introduction and
contributed extensive comments on many of the plates. Other folks wrote
each of the four essays on important figures in natural illustration's history.
And I saw a typo in the Da Vinci one, which pissed me off. I hate typos. But
this book still totally rules my face.
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