The Song of the Dodo

Posted on 05 February 2017 by David Quammen

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 It s also a book full of entertainment and wonders 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 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 Why is this island idea so important 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 We also meet some fascinating human characters By the book s end we are wiser, and deeply concerned, but Quammen leaves us with a message of excitement and hope. New Read The Song of the Dodo By David Quammen For Kindle ePUB or eBook – kino-fada.fr This one goes to 11 I would give this book 11 stars if I could This is THE book I recommend to people as an introduction to evolution, evolutionary biology, extinction, or anything related I made my mother read this book And she enjoyed it David Quammen whom I have been lucky enough to have drinks withyes, I m totally name dropping here is an absolutely amazing story teller who seamlessly weaves an engaging narrative of travel adventure, scientific research, and conservationism Not This one goes to 11 I would give this book 11 stars if I could This is THE book I recommend to people as an introduction to evolution, evolutionary biology, extinction, or anything related I made my mother read this book And she enjoyed it David Quammen whom I have been lucky enough to have drinks withyes, I m totally name dropping here is an absolutely amazing story teller who seamlessly weaves an engaging narrative of travel adventure, ...Disclaimer I m only about a third of the way through, I ll update this review as I go So far This book is physically WEIGHTY At first, I was pleased about this if it s a good read give meof it but as I went I grewanddisappointed.No, the length isn t really important, except that I feel a fine editor could have cut this into a 4 star book with ease Quammen tells a compelling narrative of interesting, oft overlooked biologists such as Alfred Wallace, whose story alone was Disclaimer I m only about a third of the way through, I ll update this review as I go So far This book is physically WEIGHTY At first, I was pleased about this if it s a good read give meof it but as I went I grewanddisappointed.No, the length isn t really important, except that I feel a fine editor could have cut this into a 4 star book with ease Quammen tells a compelling narrative of interesting, oft overlooked biologists such as Alfred Wallace, whose story alone was worth the read The personal narratives and conversations are hit and miss I didn t love the author waxing poetic about viewing a pile of giant tortoises with his native guide, but I absolutely adored his conversations with a scientist studying tenrecs That editor could give Quammen the benefit of the doubt leave all these colorful digressions in However, I would humbly suggest that this story need not be punctuated with...No rating I read about a fourth and then skim read about halfHis tone and attitude is so much accusatory and chicken little that what particles of real information that I can get about island isolation and other historic evolutionary boundaries, is lost within his sarcasm and blaming Not for me his attitude, nor his disrespect He writes of humans as if they were bacteria He actually fat shames too, tourists or any one who he sees as action or appearance worthy for ridicule Those No rating I read about a fourth and then skim read about halfHis tone and attitude is so much accusatory and chicken little that what particles of real information that I can get about island isolation and other historic evolutionary boundaries, is lost within his sarcasm and blaming Not for me his attitude, nor his disrespect He writes of humans as if they were bacteria He actually fat shames too, tourists or any one who he sees as action or appearance worthy for ridicule Those beefy Australians etc I did get one nugget out of this And that is that line of demarcation between species types that runs between those two islands placed in that line near east end of the general Java area And how one is on land continental bridge and one is not So despite there being only 20 miles between them these two islands , the history and evolution of th...This is the first book I ve read by Quammen, an imminently talented journalist who perfectly balances the information and writing style of the book He follows a chronological progression of island biogeography from Darwin through Jared Diamond who became hugely famous shortly after the release of this book Quammen s travelogues are excellent, combining a sympathetic, open perspective that is adventurous and engaged Late in the book, Quammen describes a climb to the nest of a Mauritius kestr This is the first book I ve read by Quammen, an imminently talented journalist who perfectly balances the information and writing style of the book He follows a chronological progression of island biogeography from Darwin through Jared Diamond who became hugely famous shortly after the release of this book Quammen s travelogues are excellent, combining a sympat...A fantastic book whose only flaw is that it requires the reader to keep track of various storylines.Let s get my only complaint out of the way Quammen does a good job of making us feel like we are part of the investigation into island biogeography but he does so by mixing several storylines together These are the pa...One of my all time favorite books this was a re read by my favorite natural history author Anyone who likes Stephen Jay Gould or Howard Zinn style writing will enjoy David Quammen Not only is it beautifully written, it intertwin...This is a book about history Animals and plants that once were and are no , and how we should interpret that fact When the question, Why was asked, a new science was born Quammen spends considerable effort building a context for this science At first there were only observations, lists of features, catalogues of previously unknown species Haphazard collections of these curiosities of nature captured the interest of Victorian naturalists Volumes were filled The list of new species s This is a book about history Animals and plants that once were and are no , and how we should interpret that fact When the question, Why was asked, a new science was born Quammen spends considerable effort building a context for this science At first there were only observations, lists of features, catalogues of previously unknown species Haphazard collections of these curiosities of nature captured the interest of Victorian naturalists Volumes were filled The list of new species seemed interminable All of this was happening against a backdrop of belief in religious doctrine Special creation, an earth whose age was rec...I have owned a copy of The Song of the Dodo for several years but at 625 pages, 178 chapters it seemed a bit daunting to dive into There never seemed to be enough hours in the day But after reading Quammen s The Reluctant Mr Darwin, I felt it was time to give it a go And go I did I think a good editor could have probably cut this tome down to 623 pages, which is my backhanded way of saying that TSOTD is a monumental book on natural history, well worth the time you need to invest into I have owned a copy of The Song of the Dodo for several years but at 625 pages, 178 chapters it seemed a bit daunting to dive into There never seemed to be enough hours in the day But after reading Quammen s The Reluctant Mr Darwin, I felt it was time to give it ...This came highly recommended And Island biogeography has been important in the development of ecological theory.The first part of the book discusses Alfred Wallace it s very well written and I enjoyed it I began to part with the author when he spoke disparagingly about a simple first order equation He claimed he didn t need to understand it I realized that he didn t Things went downhill after that.Two flaws Quammen doesn t seem to grasp the significance of ecosystems The fauna and flora This came highly recommended And Island biogeography has been important in the development of ecological theory.The first part of the book discusses Alfred Wallace it s very well written and I enjoyed it I began to part with the author when he spoke disparagingly about a simple first order equation He claimed he didn t need to understand it I realized that he didn t Things went downhill after that...Wildlife biologist and author Aldrin Mallari lent me a copy of this staggering book after knowing I had read Wild Thoughts From Wild Places I think I learnedabout biogeography from reading this book than talking to a dozen biologists The final image of the last Dodo on earth hunkering down in the jungle is haunting Whenever I hear a Dutch ecologist try to lecture me about how Filipinos are ruining their environment, Quammen s descriptions of how the Dutch sailors clubbed and hunted to Wildlife biologist and author Aldrin Mallari lent me a copy of this staggering book after knowing I had read Wild Thoughts From Wild Places I think I learnedabout biogeography from reading this book than talking to a dozen biologists The final image of the last Dodo on earth hunkering down in the jungle is haunting Whenever I ...

English
05 February 2017

David Quammen