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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 more deeply concerned, but Quammen leaves us with a message of excitement and hope.
In a wonderful weave of science, metaphor, and prose, David Quammen, author of The Flight of the Iguana, applies the lessons of island biogeography - the study of the distribution of species on islands and islandlike patches of landscape - to modern ecosystem decay, offering us insight into the origin and extinction of species, our relationship to nature, and the future of our world.
Think the subject is dry? Think again.Reviewed by Peter B. Sullivan, 2009-04-01
This is one of my all-time favorite books. If you're put off by the
title's mention of "island biogeography," get over it. The subject
is fascinating, and like all of Quammen's work, it's explained in
an understandable, even enjoyable, manner. And if the subject does
interest you, you'll be thoroughly educated and entertained. I'm
referring the lay reader of course (a group to which I belong), but
I suspect that, given Quammen's felicity with words (his earlier
career was as a novelist), even people with some experience in the
field will enjoy it (and they will get the added enjoyment of
carping about details).
The book isn't just about science. It's history, travel, biography,
and more. More than any other book I've read, I've pushed this book
on friends to read.
excellent work!Reviewed by David W. Straight, 2008-12-26
This is a fascinating look at evolution and biology in the
microcosms of islands. There are plenty of fine works out there
about evolution, and lots of good books about biodiversity, but
here the central question is "what happens if we have a very
limited environment? an environment where there may not be any
predator species, an environment which may have only limited
interactions with other environments?" So, for example, he recounts
the investigations into the return of biota to Krakatoa (this has
been done before). But he also looks closely at Hawaii, the
Galapagos, Komodo, and other islands. Quammen visits most of these
places--from inhospitable islands off Baja California to Mauritius
and other spots--he wants to see firsthand. Some of the islands are
not islands in the usual sense--small pockets of jungle left in
Brazil, mountains in Nevada, for example. If you're a small animal
that thrives at, say, elevations over 9000 feet, you probably are
not going to be able to cross 30 miles of desert to reach another
mountain. The tepuis of Venezuela could have been covered here as
well.
Perhaps the most interesting parts of the book for me were two
tales. The first is about Mauritius and the extinction of the dodo.
Humans are of course the culprit, or so we assume. But it turns out
that a significant contribution came from the introduction of the
crab-eating macaque monkeys to this island in the 1600's. How they
got there is a deep mystery--pigs, chickens, goats, etc, are
understandable, but the macaques are not very good pet material, to
say the least--suspicion falls on the Dutch. The second tale is
about the extinction of a number of native birds on Guam--a rapid
and measurable decline, with a traceable line of
disappearance--from the south to the north. Much like the recent
problems with honeybee populations in the US, there were lots of
suggestions and finger-pointing--DDT, etc. The culprit turned out
to be a poisonous bird-eating tree snake, introduced inadvertently
from the Solomon Islands. On Guam the snake had no natural enemies
and multiplied--prodigiously. It is estimated that there are 13000
of these snakes (which grow to about 5 feet) per square mile on
Guam. That's a mind-boggling 20 per acre. Think of your little
house in the US on your quarter-acre lot, and then imagine that on
your quarter-acre lot are 5 5-foot long poisonous snakes. These are
tree snakes and so climb well. If you have ever (as I have) seen a
5-foot long blacksnake sunning itself on your second-story
windowsill and you're cursed with an imagination, think of walking
out your front door and having a large poisonous snake drop on you
from the overhanging gutter.
Quammen is a great storyteller. By visiting the locations, he can
make things really come to life, so to speak. I was never
particularly interested in visiting Guam, and I'm not scared of
snakes, but now Guam has even less attraction! This book does a
really fine job in showing how evolution operates, and it also
addresses important environmental issues. A fine work indeed!
Outstanding...Reviewed by C. Brandt, 2008-12-25
David Quammen is a damned good writer. This is excellent news for
you, the presumptive reader, because this book is looooooong and at
times unavoidably recondite.
As a layman's propadeutic for ecology, however, you really can't
ask for much more. Quammen knows that SOME jargon is inescapable,
but he doesn't deploy it with an airy "Look it up, a-hole!" He
gently takes your hand and guides you along through the morass of
theoretical ecology...and he has an uncannily accurate sense of
just how much academic blibbety-blab one can tolerate, before a
narrative volte-face is necessary.
At such junctures, Quammen will insert an anecdote, a joke, a
story, something INTERESTING, to ENGAGE you, to get you past the
hump, and ready for another ten pages or so of aridity. (A spoonful
of sugar...) Truly, he is to be commended...instead of writing a
highfalutin, self-aggrandizing work of "scholarship," he's written
a book that is both scientifically sound and READABLE.
It's a boon to the subject of ecology and indicates his
intellectual security: he doesn't want to flaunt his considerable
smarts--he wants you to LEARN SOMETHING. (And you will.) From
Darwin to E.O. Wilson, all bases are covered; and though Quammen
never attempts to camouflage his own sensibilities, the book is not
tendentious (like Guns, Germs, and Steel).
As a "read," the first part is better than later chapters, and
there is a definite sense of losing steam. But though the returns
start to diminish, the slope always stays positive, and experiences
a sharp up-tick at the very end. (If I could get through the
section on the Concho water snake, so can you.)
This is simply a superb, edifying book. It's good for you, no
matter what you believe, no matter what your perspective.
Substantial and informativeReviewed by Dick Marti, 2008-11-19
At 625 text pages, this is a substantial book and well worth the time devoted to reading it. It does not assume a lot of background in biology or ecology in the reader but, interestingly enough, instructs the reader along the way. If you were unversed in the species-area concept, you will learn. If the distance effect, genetic drift, and allopatric speciation were not your strong points, you will learn. In fact this book seems to have quite good potential as a teaching text. It is not only instructive, but entertaining. The author has done quite a job to put together a large volume such as this, one that does such a good job of teaching and of making the learning pleasant. You will learn something and you will enjoy the learning. Along the way, you will learn the sad stories of the species lost by the dozens, hundreds, thousands, because of one. Us. The tragic tale is told in 171 short pieces, each a sort of small essay on some particular animal or island or person. The author, we learn, did not merely sit down at his desk and punch out this text at his typewriter. Rather, he actually travelled to many of the places he described. He visited some of the researchers in their offices or in the field. This author was at many of the places he describes. The result is a book that is one of a few that I would recommend to someone asking for a short list of introductory books on the subject of evolution and ecology.
Hard science in a readable textReviewed by Plant Doc, 2008-03-08
Quammen does an exceptional job of explaining why biogeography should be important to you. He offers a scientific, historical, and personal narrative. As a professional biologist, I like the accuracy in bringing theory to a general audience. For students of biology, if reading MacArthur and Wilson's paper left you a little perplexed, this is the book that will smooth out those rough edges and assure that you "get it". The book probably holds little interest for people who aren't serious science buffs, but even for interested laypersons, there is enough of a narrative running through the text to make it an easy, sensible read. Suffers from flaws of historical perspective, but none so blatant as to make this text unworthy. Highly recommended.
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