Following natural history writings from Aristotle to Darwin, The Store-House of Wonder and Astonishment celebrates the combination of discovery and error passed along for nearly two thousand years. Into this mix comes the repressive influence of the Church on scientific thinking, followed by European colonial attitudes in the New World. But underlying the sense of superiority over people as disparate as Jews, the Irish, and indigenous tribes was the everlasting human yearning for wonder in the natural world with its creatures both real and imagined. Winner of the 2020 Eyelands International Book Award