Product Details

• Amazon Sales Rank: #214117 in Books
• Published on: 1997-07-03
• Binding: Paperback
• 702 pages

Synopsis
Why have island ecosystems always suffered such high rates of extinction ? In our age, with all the world's landscapes, from Tasmania to the Amazon to Yellowstone, now being carved into islandlike fragments by human activity, the implications of this question are more urgent than ever. Over the past eight years, David Quammen has followed the threads of island biogeography on a globe-encircling journey of discovery.

Customer Reviews

A global trek seeking survivors
Over a couple of cold ones at the local pub, the good doctor and i burst out simultaneously: "I found this incredible book! You've got to read it!" It was, of course, Quammen. That's the kind of reaction this writer generates. His prose seizes your attention as he gently leads you into deserts, mountainous jungles, riverside woodlands and isolated islands in the Pacific. His quiet courage forces you to remind yourself that he's not gleaning his information from the vast list of sources in the back of this book, but from the researchers in the field. And he's right there with them as he relates their stories to him for you. Quammen writes books you want to carry around, waving at people, urging them to enjoy the superior writing and the critical message. It's all about our survival.

Quammen's resurrection of Alfred Russell Wallace was long overdue. Others have tried to bring this figure back into common knowledge, but the revival was either to accuse Darwin of plagiarism or taint Wallace's accomplishments with the flaws of penury and spiritualism. Quammen handles him as a total human being who achieved through inspiration in a delirium, what Darwin took two decades to accomplish. Quammen doesn't need to balance the two, he's more concerned with explaining the concepts in ways we can understand.

It's Quammen's ability to make you feel you are accompanying him on his quest to see how Nature that places him far above other science writers. He understands the issues, recognizes the value of the research being done and presents the methods and events alike with unblemished clarity. As a writer concerned with the impact of humanity on the world's environment, Quammen exhibits a unique talent. While the ongoing extinction of species remains the central issue of this book, Quammen is able to show how dedicated researchers given support from concerned and caring people can begin to slow that eradication of our fellow species. Quammen's concern doesn't translate into alarmist rhetoric. He calls to us softly but urgently: "There's work to be done. There's people out there doing it. Help them how you can. They're our symbol of hope." [stephen a. haines - Ottawa, Canada]

Island species are more vulnerable to extinction
David Quammen can't tell us about the song of the dodo because it's a too late. The bird is extinct - they were all exterminated by 1690. Dodos were an island species - a big, flightless sort of pigeon. Sailors despised their apparent 'stupidity'. This stupidity or 'tameness', as we might also mistakenly think of it, is now recognised by modern naturalists as the naivety of animals that live on islands, which results from having no previous experience of predators. They didn't know they should avoid people or run away when approached, so it didn't take long to kill enough of them to ensure their extinction. Introduced species helped to bang the last few nails into the dodos' coffin lid. David Quammen could hardly have chosen a more symbolic creature than the dodo, for the title of his book on "island biogeography in an age of extinctions".

The author has a nice, laid-back writing style and has arranged some uncomfortable facts into an easy read. Here's an example. The voracious appetites of growing populations and industry put our natural environment under enormous pressure and cause habitats to be destroyed or divided into smaller and smaller pieces. So he asks us to imagine a fine Persian carpet - then to imagine it being chopped into pieces. What would happen? The edges would unravel and the bits that were left wouldn't be nearly so useful or so beautiful as the whole carpet had been. That's what happens to ecosystems when they're chopped into small pieces, like 'islands'. They unravel and decay. Island biogeography used to be just about proper islands - the sort that are surrounded by water - but it's now applicable to the islands scattered within continents. Continents have been criss-crossed by roads and rails, buried under cities, industrial estates, farms, quarries and so on, leaving tiny pockets of natural habitat isolated from other natural areas, like islands in a sea of agriculture or urban sprawl. From the point of view of the animals and vegetation that still manage to exist in these 'island' patches, the surrounding areas amount to a barren waste that cannot be crossed.

Quammen is understandably critical of the destructiveness of our species. He refers to the 'background' rate of extinction and the 'normal' rate of extinction, meaning: what the rate of extinction would be if it were not being driven by Homo sapiens. He says, for instance, it's estimated that the rate of extinction of birds and mammals alone, is about one hundred times the background level. And if that figure isn't staggering enough, he points out that Edward O Wilson's studies suggest the current loss of rainforest species, particularly invertebrates, is "at least a thousand times above normal". Quammen believes it would take this planet's ecosystems ten or perhaps even twenty million years to recover to previous high levels of diversity, if our species were to stop driving up extinction. He says that the difference between a normal extinction rate and the present human driven extinction rate is like the difference between having a pilot light permanently burning in the basement furnace and the house being on fire.

It's a big book (almost 700 pages), packed with interesting stories and information. There are ripping yarns (all true and documented!) about the intrepid chaps who started it all: Charles Darwin and Alfred Russel Wallace. And there are stories of the scientists who are working on island biogeography today, that are just as hair raising. I recommend this book to everyone who's interested in natural history and the environment.

Thoughtful, sincere and adventurous
David Quammen has produced a book reminding us that biology, history and science are life's enjoyments. Not some abstract or sometimes notion. He brings a real sense that your surroundings are rich and potent. Song of the Dodo brings together travel and science, using humanity as its foil; rarely becoming 'liberal' or 'tree-hugging'. If you enjoy reasoned argument and wit, take the time to enjoy one of the most enjoyable books on offer. Always rewarding, and with the exceptional ability to make you feel smarter (the sign of a truly gifted science writer) Mr. Quammen brings a great voice to writing, biology and humanity.