Blunt, Wilfred, The Compleat Naturalist: A Life of Linnaeus, Viking Press, 1971.

In this comprehensive, well-illustrated biography, Blunt captures Linnaeus's passion for his work and shows how his system was used by naturalists all over the world and was the foundation of modern botanical science. An appendix on Linnaean classification provides a basic survey of his work.

Farber, Paul Lawrence, Finding Order in Nature: The Naturalist Tradition from Linnaeus to E. O. Wilson, Johns Hopkins Introductory Studies in the History of Science series, Johns Hopkins University Press, 2000.

Farber examines the contributions of a variety of scientists to classifying and systematizing the natural world. He covers thinkers such as Nicholas Baudin, Julian Huxley, Charles Lucien Bonaparte, Stephen Jay Gould, and Edward O. Wilson. He also argues that the work of cataloging the natural world remains vital today as biodiversity shrinks.

Hawks, Ellison, Pioneers of Plant Study, 1928, reprint...