Review: The Song of the Dodo: Island Biogeography in an Age of Extinction by David Quammen. by David Quammen ‧RELEASE DATE: April 1, 1996. I'm an Ecology student, and reading this book helped me grasp a lot of concepts I found tricky in the standard academic texts. I'm an Ecology student, and reading this book helped me grasp a lot of concepts I found tricky in the standard academic texts. So yes, this book is pretty old now. The severing fibers release small tweaky noises, like the muted yelps of outraged Persian weavers. David Quammen's book, The Song of the Dodo, is a brilliant, stirring work, breathtaking in its scope, far-reaching in its message -- a crucial book in precarious times, which radically alters the way in which we understand the natural world and our place in that world. David Quammen lecture, The song of the dodo: global patterns of the extinction of species, 1993 - Duration: 1:19:20. Brief content visible, double tap to read full content. Never mind the hardwood floor. Additional gift options are available when buying one eBook at a time. I love Quammen's ability to convey complex information and stories with simple language and lucid explanations. Simon & Schuster. The Song of the Dodo is a stunning work of scientific reporting and travel writing. As this is what humans typically do, we really need to understand how this works. The Carbon Buddy Manual: Your Practical Guide to Cooling Our Planet, Alexander Graham Bell: A Life From Beginning to End (Biographies of Inventors). Some birds became flightless, like the celebrated dodo native to Mauritius. There was a problem loading your book clubs. Well written and fascinating. Enter your mobile number or email address below and we'll send you a link to download the free Kindle App. A true classic and still an extremely important read, Reviewed in the United States on October 10, 2018. Redemption links and eBooks cannot be resold. It's self evident, if you think about it, that breaking up a habitat into small areas separated by roads, etc, means you can support fewer species of animals, especially large ones. He provides fascinating insights to many of the lesser-known scientists whose work has been largely eclipsed by more famous luminaries such as Darwin, without doing disservice to Darwin himself. Think of radioactive decay back in the innocent early years of this century, before Hiroshima, before Alamogordo, before Hahn and Strassmann discovered nuclear fission. Publication date. David Quammen's book, The Song of the Dodo, is a brilliant, stirring work, breathtaking in its scope, far-reaching in its message -- a crucial book in precarious times, which radically alters the way in which we understand the natural world and … Maybe you are aware, with distant but genuine regret, of the destruction of tropical forests. David Quammen is a gifted writer that understands his readers want the soul of the science rather than algebraic formulas, but who can handle key concepts. Maybe you stand among those well-informed people for whom the notion of catastrophic worldwide losses of biological diversity is a serious concern. I would also recommend a new book to read in conjunction with Song of the Dodo, and that is The Human Planet: How We Created the Anthropocene. Price. There are interesting accounts of case studies and species relevant to the topic. Iam still astonished at the amazing items that are constantly being brought to me and begging to be followed through. Read this book using Google Play Books app on your PC, android, iOS devices. That gives us 216 square feet of continuous woven material. So much of this book seems deeply personal for Quammen and for the people he engages with. This book belongs in every public library and should be required reading in high school and college science classes. Maybe you know that the mountain gorilla, the California condor, and the Florida panther are tottering on the threshold of extinction. It casts light on the fact that the red fox, Vulpes vulpes, is missing from Bryce Canyon National Park. So are the tigers of Bali. Inside you'll find 30 Daily Lessons, 20 Fun Activities, 180 Multiple Choice Questions, 60 Short Essay Questions, 20 Essay Questions, Quizzes/Homework Assignments, Tests, and more. Unable to add item to List. Reviewed in the United Kingdom on September 6, 2013. The self-contained ecosystem is again used as a benchmark in this study of evolution and extinction by the author of Natural Acts (LJ 3/15/85). Let's start indoors. asks, Why does island life differ radically from mainland life? Bring your club to Amazon Book Clubs, start a new book club and invite your friends to join, or find a club that’s right for you for free. Additional gift options are available when buying one eBook at a time. Have we got thirty-six nice Persian throw rugs? In The Song of the Dodo, we follow Quammen's keen intellect through the ideas, theories, and experiments of prominent naturalists of the last two centuries. I am about to approach the various libraries to borrow t some of the books referred to but they may well be out of print.. On oceanic islands, which arise from deep sea eruptions (such as the Gal pagos Islands), there may be fewer varieties of species; the first arrivals often expand to fill all sorts of ecological niches in a process called adaptive radiation. Quammen is a master science writer, on the level of Sagan, Asimov, and Schaller. Also a very informally written and enjoyable read. It's also a … This is surely one of the most important books on the environment to come out of the latter part of the 20th Century. Full content visible, double tap to read brief content. Pages. I am about to approach the various libraries to borrow t some of the books referred to but they may well be out of print.. Some have issued alarms, directed at governments or the general public, but those alarms have been broadly worded to spare nonscientific audiences the intricate, persuasive details. Lovejoy's term is loaded with historical resonance. THE SONG OF THE DODO. Please try again. Compelling Conversations with Dolphins and Whales in the Wild: Vital Lessons for Li... A NEW WAY OF LIFE: Be the Solution to the Crises we face: Climate Change, Corruptio... 50 Dinosaur Tales: And 108 More Discoveries From the Golden Age of Dinos. It's biggest fault is that he just about beats the subject to death. In The Song of the Dodo, we follow Quammen's keen intellect through the ideas, theories, and experiments of prominent naturalists of the last two centuries. Everything you might want to know about life and death on islands here, there, and everywhere on the globe can be … Something went wrong. That said, he is always respectul of the scientists he interviews and of their work and goes to great lengths to really understand it so that he can give his readers the most accurate version possible of the material he covers. The Song of the Dodo, published in 1996 by Scribner, is a book of history, science, and travel. Top subscription boxes – right to your door, © 1996-2021, Amazon.com, Inc. or its affiliates. Give as a gift or purchase for a team or group. Why is this island idea so important? If you are familiar with Quammen's works then you know that he is a very gifted writer and explainer. This is a great book for anyone who has started a journey learning about Evolution but wants to understand a crucial ingredient that led to the discovery of Evolution; Island Biogeography. Instead, our system considers things like how recent a review is and if the reviewer bought the item on Amazon. Full content visible, double tap to read brief content. Because islands are where species most commonly go extinct -- and because, as Quammen points out, we live in an age when all of Earth's landscapes are being chopped into island-like fragments by human activity. Through his eyes, we glimpse the nature of evolution and extinction, and in so doing come to understand the monumental diversity of our planet, and the importance of preserving its wild landscapes, animals, and plants. Do you believe that this item violates a copyright? Some reptiles isolated on islands grew large, like the Komodo dragon of Indonesia; some mammals shrank, like the pygmy elephants found in Sicily. Using a canvas as large as the world, he masterfully melds anecdotes about swimming elephants, collecting fresh feces from arboreal primates in Brazil and searching for the greater bird of paradise on the tiny island of Aru into an irreverent masterpiece. They have tried to predict its course, using elaborate abstractions played out on their computers. The Beak of the Finch: A Story of Evolution in Our Time, The Tangled Tree: A Radical New History of Life, Your Inner Fish: A Journey into the 3.5-Billion-Year History of the Human Body, Spillover: Animal Infections and the Next Human Pandemic, What a Plant Knows: A Field Guide to the Senses: Updated and Expanded Edition, Biogeography: An Ecological and Evolutionary Approach, Biogeography: Introduction to Space, Time, and Life, Natural Acts: A Sidelong View of Science and Nature, The Boilerplate Rhino: Nature in the Eye of the Beholder, The Flight of the Iguana: A Sidelong View of Science and Nature, A former Rhodes scholar, an award-winning essayist for. Download for offline reading, highlight, bookmark or take notes while you read The Song of the Dodo: Island Biogeography in an Age of Extinctions. So much of this book seems deeply personal for Quammen and for the people he engages with. Then you can start reading Kindle books on your smartphone, tablet, or computer - no Kindle device required. So it was with the varied populations of finches that Charles Darwin observed in the Gal pagos. To get the free app, enter your mobile phone number. Never mind the weavers. The Song of the Dodo: Island Biogeography in an Age of Extinction, Scribner; Reprint edition (April 14, 1997). This book details a lot about pivotal figures of biogeography from Alfred Wallace to Robert MacArthur and EO Wilson, taking you into the history of it and then later expanding on issues of conservation that biogeography relates to. 2 … “The song of the dodo, if it had one, is forever unknowable because no human from whom we have testimony ever took the trouble to sit in the Mauritian forest and listen.” ― David Quammen, The Song of the Dodo: Island Biogeography in an Age of Extinctions 1 likes But what does it amount to? Equally impressive are the character studies of the scientists who have been at the forefront of island biogeography. Please try again. He is able to cut to the chase without losing what makes the chase worth it. There is just so very much in this book! We set about cutting the carpet into thirty-six equal pieces, each one a rectangle, two feet by three. It’s also filled with tearful episodes that I won’t spoil, but needless to say that this book is a serious call to action for anyone to do their part. An ecosystem is a tapestry of species and relationships. The Song of the Dodo is David Quammen's journalistic account of the development of the branch of ecology called island biogeography and an examination of how its theories might be applied to modern conservation efforts. There was an error retrieving your Wish Lists. I know that my next reading will be another David Qumeran's book. Topics. You're listening to a sample of the Audible audio edition. This book belongs in every public library and should be required reading in high school and college science classes. Besides being a grandoutdoor adventure, it is, above all, a wake-up call to the age of extinctions. Find all the books, read about the author, and more. But it's science history so it's only missing where the science of biogeography has gone since the late 90's. Reviewed in the United States on January 30, 2018. The Song of the Dodo: Island Biogeography in an Age of Extinctions. This is surely one of the most important books on the environment to come out of the latter part of the 20th Century. In Song of the Dodo, he teaches by combining history, environmental science, personal experience and anecdotes--not to mention his wonderfully impish "gossip columnist" quality when he describes personalities and academic battles over major biological questions. No. He keeps me reading and thus much better informed that otherwise. Toward the end of the book I could feel that little shift in my mind, that feeling of having broadened and deepened my understanding of something very important. Scribner. Bring your club to Amazon Book Clubs, start a new book club and invite your friends to join, or find a club that’s right for you for free. Lovejoy's is ecosystem decay. Reviewed in the United Kingdom on February 27, 2020. Does this book contain quality or formatting issues? -- "Barry Lopez, New York Times bestselling author" by. Quammen is a master science writer, on the level of Sagan, Asimov, and Schaller. Quammen is a master science writer, on the level of Sagan, Asimov, and Schaller. The carpet is twelve feet by eighteen, say. What are the specifiable conditions? Quammen traveled extensively to research and write this tome, visiting many islands and archipelagos that were, and I assume still are, used as models for how extinction happens on continents when we break up the natural landscape, leaving only patches of it that become like islands for the wildlife living on those patches. Well written and fascinating. The answer, not surprisingly, is evolution. Passenger pigeon, great auk, Steller's sea cow, Schomburgk's deer, sea mink, Antarctic wolf, Carolina parakeet: all gone. I am excited to move next to Quammen's new book, The Tangled Tree. Taken in small bites, however, there is much to glean here about the wonders, and also the fragility, of life on earth. The Tangled Tree: A Radical New History of Life, Monster of God: The Man-Eating Predator in the Jungles of History and the Mind, The Flight of the Iguana: A Sidelong View of Science and Nature, Spillover: Animal Infections and the Next Human Pandemic, Natural Acts: A Sidelong View of Science and Nature, The New Eugenics: Modifying Biological Life in the Twenty-First Century, The Nature of Nature: Why We Need the Wild. …with the latter being the Indonesian word for the bird of paradise. After viewing product detail pages, look here to find an easy way to navigate back to pages you are interested in. It’s also filled with tearful episodes that I won’t spoil, but needless to say that this book is a serious call to action for anyone to do their part. Also a very informally written and enjoyable read. His metaphor is more scientific in tone than mine of the sliced-apart Persian carpet. Relaxation to equilibrium? A few have blanched at what they saw -- or thought they saw -- coming. But it's science history so it's only missing where the science of biogeography has gone since the late 90's. As … Many of these scientists have become mesmerized by the phenomenon and, increasingly with time, worried. 'The Song of the Dodo' is a Biogeography of Islands book, but its actually much more than that. Please try again. David Quamenn is a great writer and undoubtedly this is the best book written on the subject of Island Biogeography / Natural World in the last 30 years. He provides fascinating insights to many of the lesser-known scientists whose work has been largely eclipsed by more famous luminaries such as Darwin, without doing disservice to Darwin himself. If time is hope, there’s still hope.” Please try again. : David Quammen. Relaxation to equilibrium is one, probably the most euphemistic. Part travel journal, part biography, part natural history, Reviewed in the United Kingdom on January 28, 2019. For those who find the biological sciences a snooze, The Song of the Dodo: Island Biogeography in an Age of Extinctions will come as a pleasant surprise. To get the free app, enter your mobile phone number. Chances are, still, that you lack a few crucial pieces of the full picture. Quammen's intelligence is so dependable, his narrative witty, compelling, acutely aware." But that one fails to encompass the category of floral collapse, which is also at issue. A true classic and still an extremely important read, Reviewed in the United States on October 10, 2018. This is one of the best books I have ever read. This item has a maximum order quantity limit. It is highly readable for anyone who is really interested in how we have come to the environmental place we're at today, particularly in regard to species extinction. Publisher. We trail after him as he travels the world, tracking the subject of island biogeography, which encompasses nothing less than the study of the origin and extinction of all species. There is just so very much in this book! Why is this island idea so important? They have invented terms for this phenomenon of unraveling ecosystems. From the song of the dodo to the song of the cenderawasih…, Reviewed in the United States on January 3, 2021. Author tour. Chances are that you haven't caught wind of these scientific murmurs about ecosystem decay. The Song of the Dodo. He is able to cut to the chase without losing what makes the chase worth it. It is highly readable for anyone who is really interested in how we have come to the environmental place we're at today, particularly in regard to species extinction. Your recently viewed items and featured recommendations, Select the department you want to search in. And we learn just how critical this field is in the face of massive habitat destruction. David Quammen's book, The Song of the Dodo, is a brilliant, stirring work, breathtaking in its scope, far-reaching in its message - a crucial book in precarious times, which radically alters the way in which we understand the natural world and our place in that world. Help others learn more about this product by uploading a video! Reviewed in the United Kingdom on February 27, 2020. Learn more. Maybe you have read something, and maybe cared, about the extinction of species. 704. When we're finished cutting, we measure the individual pieces, total them up -- and find that, lo, there's still nearly 216 square feet of recognizably carpetlike stuff. David Quammen's book,The Song of the Dodo, is abrilliant, stirring work, breathtaking in its scope,far-reaching in its message -- a crucial book inprecarious times, which radically alters the way inwhich we understand the natural world and our placein that world. He's a great story teller and great interpreter of science for those of us without the background. If not, we hone it. Ball State University Libraries Recommended for you 1:19:20 It's self evident, if you think about it, that breaking up a habitat into small areas separated by roads, etc, means you can support fewer species of animals, especially large ones. I am excited to move next to Quammen 's new book, the Tangled Tree you. A Biogeography of Islands book, the Tangled Tree instead, our system considers things like recent. And how it has changed Conservation biology gone since the late 90 's finches that Darwin. 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