COLLEGEVILE PA – Award-winning author Richard Conniff, a science writer who tells the story of bold and colorful adventurers who risked death to discover strange life forms in the farthest corners of the planet, will be the featured speaker Feb. 26 (2013; Tuesday) at 4:30 and 7 p.m. in the Lenfest Theater of the Kaleidoscope Performing Arts Center at Ursinus College, Main Street.

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Richard Conniff

Conniff will discuss daredevil species seekers. They range from Carl Linnaeus, the father of modern taxonomy, and Thomas Jefferson, who laid out mastodon bones on the White House floor, to a Harvard anatomist who helped introduce the world to the most spectacular species discovery of the nineteenth century.

Conniff’s book on the topic, “The Species Seekers: Heroes, Fools, and the Mad Pursuit of Life on Earth” is described by BBC Focus as “a swashbuckling romp” that “brilliantly evokes that just-before Darwin era,” and by New Scientist as “an enduring story bursting at the seams with intriguing, fantastical and disturbing anecdotes.”

A book signing will follow his talks.

Photo from Ursinus College