'This is a richly informative book that draws on Derry's academic training and long experience as practical breeder.' - Ann Norton Greene (Agricultural History vol 90:01:2016) 'This is a historian with deep and personal fascination for the world of animal breeding. There is much information in this book. It can be used as a reference for the key movements, ideas and people in the history of animal breeding.' - Jennifer Adlem (The British Journal for the History of Science vol 49:01:2016) 'Masterminding Nature is an informative account of the various innovations that have marked the livestock industry.' - Anna Thompson Hajdik (Business History Review vol 90:01:2016) 'Masterminding Nature is an ambitious and a valuable contribution to the literature.' - Rebecca J.H.

Woods (Endeavour vol 30:10:2016) 'The book offers a gold mine of information for historians of breeding and of the agricultural sciences more generally, and several of its overreaching themes are potentially of interest to a wider range of historians.' - Jonathan Harwood (Isis Journal September 2016).