Dear Vashon Island people--
Your proposal sounds very interesting. In preparation, I strongly
encourage you to read (and have your students read) Quammen's "The Song of
the Dodo: Island Biogeography in an Age of Extinction." It is an
excellent book.
Below I am listing some comments about this book from Amazon.com. See you
in June.
--Steve Ferris (Lincoln High School, Lincoln, Nebraska)
Amazon.com Books:
Melding anecdotes about swimming elephants and the search for the Greater
Bird of
Paradise on the tiny island of Aru with technical discussions about island
biogeography, Quammen illustrates how the scientific discipline developed
and how it
has changed the direction of conservation biology. From observations drawn
from his
own travels to historical analysis of the insights of 19th-century
biologist Alfred
Russell Wallace and others, Quammen adds a human dimension to his discussion and
shows how crucial this field is in the face of mass habitat destruction.
Nature and Ecology Expert Editor's Recommended Book, 04/01/97:
With The Song of the Dodo, weighing in at more than 700 pages, David Quammen
gives us several books, all of them uncommonly well written and admirably
instructive. At the first, and simplest, level he delivers a book of
literary travel, one
that takes the reader to exotic locales like Bali, Mauritius, Iceland,
Galápagos,
Madagascar. At another, he offers a finely detailed journalistic account of how
ecological science is done, how close fieldwork combines with theoretical
reflection to
advance our understanding of the natural world. At another, he charts the
grim course
of extinctions on this chewed-up planet. At still another, Quammen presents an
accessible explanation of Robert MacArthur and Edward O. Wilson's highly
influential theory of island biogeography, which has revolutionized
population biology
since its publication in 1967. And Quammen manages, against the odds, to merge
these discussions, and much more, into a single coherent narrative.
Barry Lopez, author of Arctic Dreams:
The Song of the Dodo is a stunning work of scientific reporting and travel
writing. Quammen's intelligence is so dependable, his narrative witty,
compelling,
acutely aware.
Jonathan Weiner, author of The Beak of the Finch:
A massive and beautiful exploration of a massive and unlovely event: the
carving of
the biosphere into pieces by Homo sapiens. This book is lucid, witty,
admirable, and
highly recommended
Publishers Weekly:
That a book on so technical a subject could be so enlightening, humorous and
engaging is an extraordinary achievement.
Synopsis:
Giant lizards, pygmy elephants, flesh-eating parrots--these bizarre
creatures, and
many more of their ilk, suggest that something is different about life on
islands. In this
fascinating book, the author of The Flight of the Iguana explores island
biogeography--the science of the geographic distribution of life on
islands--revealing
both the gaudy entertainments of island evolution and the dark truth of
what island
studies have shown about extinction elsewhere. 10 maps.
Book News, Inc., 10/01/96:
A captivating work of scientific journalism which explains the worldwide
ecosystem
decay which is at the root of countless species' extinction and which will
continue to
wipe out species as human activity carves the wilderness into ever-increasing
island-like fragments. Annotation c. by Book News, Inc., Portland, Or.
Amazon.com Customer Comments
mray@oboe.aix.calpoly.edu, 03/23/97, rating=10:
An outsanding and important book Quammen's Song of the Dodo is informative,
frightening and inspiring. As an undergraduate student of ecology, evolution
and biogeography, I'm more than impressed by the depth of his knowledge.
As a former English major with occasional flashbacks to literary pretension,
I'm awed by his ability to turn these sciences into such a page-turner.