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Last of the Giants: The Rise and Fall of Earth's Most Dominant Species by Adam Grano, Jeff Campbell
heykellyjensen's review against another edition
An engaging, at at times difficult, book to read about a number of "giant" species that have gone extinct in the last 500 years. Campbell explores the whys and hows of the extinctions, with some interesting -- at times slightly judgmental -- ways that humans have impacted these natural beasts. The backmatter is great, and I turned to one of the videos referenced back there and definitely got a little teary-eyed. This isn't a book that can be read easily in one sitting for that reason, especially for those who get heated up about animal rights, climate change, or other similar natural issues.
Criticism: the layout is bizarre. The pull quotes make no sense and take up way too much room. I'd have liked more sidebars and more "did you know" kind of things sprinkled throughout that would make the text a little more digestible. There were times I had to stop because it made me a little weepy.
Interesting tidbit: I found the discussions about how different islands were megafauna lands and awesomely rich ecosystems to be especially interesting. There's a chapter about New Zealand and one on Madagascar that made me want to know more about the history of those islands...and made me want to build a time machine to see them thousands and thousands of years ago.
Criticism: the layout is bizarre. The pull quotes make no sense and take up way too much room. I'd have liked more sidebars and more "did you know" kind of things sprinkled throughout that would make the text a little more digestible. There were times I had to stop because it made me a little weepy.
Interesting tidbit: I found the discussions about how different islands were megafauna lands and awesomely rich ecosystems to be especially interesting. There's a chapter about New Zealand and one on Madagascar that made me want to know more about the history of those islands...and made me want to build a time machine to see them thousands and thousands of years ago.
armaget's review
3.0
To make it abundantly clear, I did not the read the book in whole, just the chapters which interested me. (Those being about the animals I've never heard of/thought sounded cool) I did this because some of the animals like lions and tigers and bears (oh my!) I had already heard about.
The chapters I did read, those being the ones about the moa, the auchochs, the steller's sea cow, the passenger pigeon, the thylacine, and the red wolf, were excellent.
The three main parts of the chapters: but take in mind I've only read 6/13 chapters
What the species was
The history/story of the species
Bringing back the species (???)
The last part of the chapters is a really great addition I think. Anyway, according to this book in the upcoming years we may be getting some of these beasties back.
Man, I sure did learn a hell of alot about old animals, awful people, and extinction!
The moa: This was a giant bird boi who lived in New Zealand. Then some people called Maori went there and ate so many they died.
The aurochs: These were the great grandparents of modern cattle. It seems to me they were used for... Sport? Did people actually keep these guys? This chapter was not very clear.
The steller's sea cow: This was one of my favorite chapters, favorite species, and favorite character. The sea cows were big nice floaty friends who lived by a chilly island by themselves and were seemingly already peacefully dying out before unfortunately having a ship crash onto their island. Then those ship wrecked noobs discovered they tasted good and ate so many they died.
The only smart guy was that guy Steller who they're named after. He also discovered the land bridge from asia to alaska because he thought it made sense. He was smart anc cool and I want to learn more about him.
The passenger pigeon: These guys have always fascinated me since I heard about them. They just seem to me the coolest birds ever and I wish I could have been around to witness one of their giant nestings. They have one of the saddest stories, especially the theory about how they became one giant flock near the end.
The thylacine: Thylacines actually sound so cool. I wish they were alive today because apparently they could be kept as pets. For some reason people just hated the guys... Also in this chapter was a terrible thing I'd never heard about, the elimination of the aboriginal tasmanians by the British.
The red wolf: This wasn't the best chapter, and I kind of skimmed through it because it was less about red wolves and more about hybrid animals.
Two more things:
Why is there a sabertooth tiger skull on the front if the book isn't about them?
and the theme song for this book should totally be Holocaust of Giants by Rasputina
Happy Ending Rating: N/A
The chapters I did read, those being the ones about the moa, the auchochs, the steller's sea cow, the passenger pigeon, the thylacine, and the red wolf, were excellent.
The three main parts of the chapters: but take in mind I've only read 6/13 chapters
What the species was
The history/story of the species
Bringing back the species (???)
The last part of the chapters is a really great addition I think. Anyway, according to this book in the upcoming years we may be getting some of these beasties back.
Man, I sure did learn a hell of alot about old animals, awful people, and extinction!
The moa: This was a giant bird boi who lived in New Zealand. Then some people called Maori went there and ate so many they died.
The aurochs: These were the great grandparents of modern cattle. It seems to me they were used for... Sport? Did people actually keep these guys? This chapter was not very clear.
The steller's sea cow: This was one of my favorite chapters, favorite species, and favorite character. The sea cows were big nice floaty friends who lived by a chilly island by themselves and were seemingly already peacefully dying out before unfortunately having a ship crash onto their island. Then those ship wrecked noobs discovered they tasted good and ate so many they died.
The only smart guy was that guy Steller who they're named after. He also discovered the land bridge from asia to alaska because he thought it made sense. He was smart anc cool and I want to learn more about him.
The passenger pigeon: These guys have always fascinated me since I heard about them. They just seem to me the coolest birds ever and I wish I could have been around to witness one of their giant nestings. They have one of the saddest stories, especially the theory about how they became one giant flock near the end.
The thylacine: Thylacines actually sound so cool. I wish they were alive today because apparently they could be kept as pets. For some reason people just hated the guys... Also in this chapter was a terrible thing I'd never heard about, the elimination of the aboriginal tasmanians by the British.
The red wolf: This wasn't the best chapter, and I kind of skimmed through it because it was less about red wolves and more about hybrid animals.
Two more things:
Why is there a sabertooth tiger skull on the front if the book isn't about them?
and the theme song for this book should totally be Holocaust of Giants by Rasputina
Happy Ending Rating: N/A
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