[EPUB] (The Song of the Dodo)

• Paperback
• 702
• The Song of the Dodo
• David Quammen
• English
• 16 April 2019
• 9780684827124

David Quammen î 2 Read

Characters ´ The Song of the Dodo 102 Free read ✓ PDF, DOC, TXT, eBook or Kindle ePUB free î David Quammen Characters The Song of the Dodo Ed 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 uammen leaves us with a message of excitement and ho 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 uammen 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 all 178 chapters You ll never look at the natural world in the same way again uammen does a skillful job of balancing scientific chapters with his worldly travels and adventures taking us to exotic places around the globe with historical or environmental significance But the real power in the book is his exploration into the development of ecology basically beginning when the science found its chops ie the data it had been collecting was actually put to use After finishing The Song of the Dodo I feel that I have earned the euivalent of a PhD in island biogeography I wonder if I can use this on my r sum If I had read this book 25 years ago I would have found my way to an ecology department at some universityEarly in the book the author describes the stack of photocopies of scientific papers weighing eighteen pounds including the staples he has on his desk By his own admission he could have used the assemblage in the back of his truck to provide extra weight on icy roads in winter but instead uammen chose to read them and synthesize the information for us presenting them in layman s terms explaining the jargon minimum viable population area species relationships euilibrium theory inbreeding depression et cetera Lucky for us he did By the end of the book we have a real sense of just how endangered endangered species really are The dodo was only one of the first to go Powerful book David uammen can write compelling science with a sense of humor This is a six star book but I only have five to award

Characters ´ The Song of the Dodo 102 Free read ✓ PDF, DOC, TXT, eBook or Kindle ePUB free î David Quammen Characters The Song of the Dodo Ominent 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 uammen points out we live in an age when all of Earth's landscapes are being chopp 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 uammen Not only is it beautifully written it intertwines stories of the development of the theory of evolution with modern scientific research and travel and serves as a call to arms to save the last great wild places

Free read ✓ PDF, DOC, TXT, eBook or Kindle ePUB free î David Quammen

Characters ´ The Song of the Dodo 102 Free read ✓ PDF, DOC, TXT, eBook or Kindle ePUB free î David Quammen Characters The Song of the Dodo David uammen'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 uammen's keen intellect through the ideas theories and experiments of pr Disclaimer I m only about a third of the way through I ll update this review as I go So farThis book is physically WEIGHTY At first I was pleased about this if it s a good read give me of it but as I went I grew and disappointedNo the length isn t really important except that I feel a fine editor could have cut this into a 4 star book with ease uammen 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 uammen the benefit of the doubt leave all these colorful digressions in However I would humbly suggest that this story need not be punctuated with a solid page of Latin names of island creatures which the author himself bids me to forget immediately the titles of twenty papers on island biogeography that are on the author s desk a half page about a slightly mistranslated English sign in IndonesiaI can t even imagine how those survived the editing process But they are just symptomatic of the larger problem decadence Wherever uammen could proffer 2 or 3 or 5 exampleshe puts 20 A short explanation of the different locations of giant tortoise species becomes a chapter a showy rug analogy drags on for paragraphs EditorThe author is great GREAT when in the middle of a chapter on some historical biologist cutting through the bushy undergrowth to a brilliant scientific discovery He does a good job summarizing scientific topics in an understandable way He is pretty decent at throwing in relevant digressions from his personal experience to enrich the story In fact overall I think the author did everything that an author should be expected to do The editor though needs to sack up and get out the machete Crome Yellow 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 uammen's keen intellect through the ideas theories and experiments of pr Disclaimer I m only about a third of the way through I ll update this review as I go So farThis book is physically WEIGHTY At first I was pleased about this if it s a good read give me of it but as I went I grew and disappointedNo the length isn t really important except that I feel a fine editor Shadows in the Starlight could have Animorphia An Extreme Colouring and Search Challenge cut this into a 4 star book with ease uammen tells a Borka The Adventures of a Goose with no Feathers compelling narrative of interesting oft overlooked biologists such as Alfred Wallace whose story alone was worth the read The personal narratives and Chinese Cinderella III 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 Shadowed Stranger conversations with a scientist studying tenrecs That editor From Sinner to Saint could give uammen the benefit of the doubt leave all these The Murders in the Rue Morgue colorful digressions in However I would humbly suggest that this story need not be punctuated with a solid page of Latin names of island His Mistletoe Bride creatures which the author himself bids me to forget immediately the titles of twenty papers on island biogeography that are on the author s desk a half page about a slightly mistranslated English sign in IndonesiaI Octopussy and The Living Daylights can t even imagine how those survived the editing process But they are just symptomatic of the larger problem decadence Wherever uammen Octopussy and The Living Daylights could proffer 2 or 3 or 5 exampleshe puts 20 A short explanation of the different locations of giant tortoise species becomes a Octopussy chapter a showy rug analogy drags on for paragraphs EditorThe author is great GREAT when in the middle of a Fifth Avenue Uptown Tale Blazers chapter on some historical biologist Power Engineering cutting through the bushy undergrowth to a brilliant scientific discovery He does a good job summarizing scientific topics in an understandable way He is pretty decent at throwing in relevant digressions from his personal experience to enrich the story In fact overall I think the author did everything that an author should be expected to do The editor though needs to sack up and get out the machete