When did we start learning the scientific secrets of life? Step back to the Islamic Golden Age, when scholars ask questions about life science and medicine that will establish those fields. Chart a path through the Renaissance, as Leonardo da Vinci dissects cadavers by candlelight to learn human anatomy firsthand. In this first of four volumes spanning hundreds of years of scientific innovation and discovery, follow the evolution of life science up to the late 1800s, when a baffled Dutch biologist finds a tiny infectious particle destroying tobacco crops and gives this particle a new name: virus. With Biology's Beginnings: Discovering Life's Story, best-selling author Joy Hakim begins a quartet of volumes mapping the path of human discovery as we unlock the biological secrets of our own existence. Richly illustrated with archival source materials and fine art, this STEM treasure trove features a wealth of back matter certain to kindle the appetite of science lovers.