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jeffprov's review against another edition
adventurous
funny
hopeful
informative
lighthearted
medium-paced
3.5
kingkong's review against another edition
5.0
really cool and sad globe trotting ecology book. youll learn all about giant turtles, komodo dragons, tasmanian aboriginals, bird eating snakes and much much more.
marysalas's review against another edition
5.0
Un viaje intelectual. Quammen te estrecha la pluma y te invita a ver el nacimiento, niñez y madurez de la biogeografía. Conoce la historia- del no tan célebre- Wallace, sus aventuras y sus aportaciones. ¿Por qué las islas son ejemplos típicos para ilustrar la evolución?¿Cuáles son los efectos del aislamiento?¿Qué nos puede enseñar la biogeografía de islas sobre ecosistemas continentales? Conozcamos a los investigadores más conspicuos en el área y vayamos a Mauricio, Madagascar, Guam, Brazil. Conoce de cerca al dragón de Komodo y lo que nos enseña sobre carnívoros en islas. Un libro que todo apasionado de la conservación debería leer.
boborna's review against another edition
informative
medium-paced
4.5
Read it a while ago for a class but still think back fondly to it so that should speak loudly for the quality and informativeness of the book
giuliana_ferrari's review against another edition
5.0
This is by far my favorite book on science and nature communication and, I dare say, probably the best book on nature communication. Mr. Quammen is a true genius in his labor. I recommend this book to anyone interested in conservation, world travels, nature beauties and the more. It's an amazing journey.
rachelcus's review against another edition
3.0
So, I wrote a review for this when I read it but accidentally deleted a whole bunch of reviews when I was reorganizing my shelves... So I guess I just have to read them all again so I can give accurate reviews :D
dominicangirl's review against another edition
adventurous
emotional
hopeful
informative
inspiring
sad
medium-paced
4.5
johndomc's review against another edition
4.0
A big book, nicely constructed with plot threads appearing and vanishing and reappearing, and memorable characters: The boy naturalist Bedo with the incredible eyes. Alfred Russell Wallace, whose ship sinks, who lies on his back in the lifeboat and watches meteors, who arrives back in England after four years with all his dozens of specimens and cases of field notes lost, carrying only a tin box containing a handful of sketches and one diary, and four days later starts planning a trip to the Andes or the Phillippines. Dan Simberloff the skeptic, Carl Jones who hatches kestrels. E.O. Wilson. You get a nice bit of world traveling in. Lots of good history of the science of biogeography. The starting image of the Persian carpet, cut into pieces and starting to unravel, worked really well as a metaphor for the world's fragmented ecosystems. It stuck with me, and when, 472 pages later, the word "unravel" was used for the second time, I remembered. I keep trying to figure out what the final scene with the song of the bird of paradise means -- what is the Message from Aru?
The section on restoring the Mauritian kestrel, from a population low of six individuals -- climbing the cliffs, swapping eggs, killing mongooses -- was good reading.
The section on restoring the Mauritian kestrel, from a population low of six individuals -- climbing the cliffs, swapping eggs, killing mongooses -- was good reading.
krisball's review against another edition
4.0
Very good, for some reason I don't often share any kind of "collective guilt" for what my society has done to this or that group, but I've always felt badly about what we do to the other lifeforms we share this planet with. Maybe not enough to join greenpeace and ghet arrested for confronting whaling ships, but enough to swerve in a dangerous fashion to avoid hitting a squirrel on the street.