In a series of vivid portraits of determined--even obsessed--scientists, Rob Dunn shows that we are not even close to knowing life on earth. We are like our ancestors: ignorant. And yet, biologists and lay people alike have through history repeatedly claimed victory over life. A thousand years ago we thought we knew almost everything; a hundred years ago too. But, even today we are unable to see what is beyond our immediate radar. Discoveries we can't yet imagine still await. Dunn traces the history of human discovery from the establishment of classification in the 18th century to today's attempts to find life in space. The narrative telescopes from a scientist's attempt to find one single thing (a rare ant-emulating beetle species) to a scientist's attempt to find everything (all the insects living in a section of the Smoky Mountains).

With poetry and humor, Dunn reminds readers how tough and exhilarating it is to study the natural world, and why it matters.