Thanks for the recommendations! Haven’t read any of these books and after reading some reviews, I’m intrigued.

If you liked the details in Moby Dick about whaling, you may also be interested in this great BBC series I’ve discovered a few weeks ago: Inside nature’s giants where they dissect large animals and explain their anatomy and evolution. There are also two episodes of stranded whales being dissected ;)

Same :'(

Nah, if you are an actual researcher dealing with hundreds of species you hardly now the common names (if the taxa even have common names, which most don’t!). Also, working in a diverse international environment like the research community means that knowing only common names won’t get you anywhere. It is very much necessary for you to know scientific names to be able to communicate with others.

I know many the scientific names of taxa from completely different kingdoms than my own research because I’ve been talking with other researchers about their field of study.

Humanity isn’t progressing uniformly forward like this. Lgbtqia+ people were considered normal part of society by various cultures. Also Magnus Hirschfeld was an advocate for lgbtqia+ people a hundred years ago. Slavery has been transformed into modern slavery because the western world has found other, more concealed ways to force people into labor. Ideas may die out, but they will pop into people’s head again and again.