A review by bunrab
The Naming of the Shrew: A Curious History of Latin Names by John Wright

4.0

Very amusing. Toward the middle it starts to get more bogged in the details of how to write a description that will make your name for your newly discovered species "legal" but even there, there are touches of humor. And the first few chapters, wherein we discover that many zoologists, mycologists, and botanists read fantasy series and watch SF movies, are a riot - species named after the witches in Terry Pratchett's Discworld series, for example. If you are a fan of useless scientific trivia, this book will amply repay the reading.