Wilson is a scientist who celebrates the wonder of nature. He popularized the term “biophilia,” defining it as the love for the natural world and “‘the rich, natural pleasure that comes from being surrounded by living organisms.” He eventually became an activist, one of the few scientists who dared to leave the comfort and security of the ivory tower. The trigger was, Rhodes explains, a report in the late 1970s, published by the U.S. National Research Council, which stated that the world was losing one species a day, rather than one a year as most biologists had previously believed. Rhodes describes how Wilson made it his mission to create public awareness of this mass extinction and loss of biodiversity. Wilson rallied fellow scientists, wrote articles and books, lectured and tried to convince others of his cause. He also underlined the importance of field biology. How can we hope to save species from extinction, Wilson asked, if we don’t even know them?