The SONG OF THE DODO: ISLAND BIOGEOGRAPHY IN AN AGE OF EXTINCTIONS

Rating:
Summary: a must read for all interested in ecology and evolution
Review: I've just finished David Quammen's book, _The Song of the Dodo: IslandBiogeography in the Age of Extinctions_, and want to give it myhighest recommendation. It is the best book I've read in the last year, and I've read about 70 books in the last year.

Quammen is a nature/science writer who's written for Harper's, Esquire, and Rolling Stone. This book is about island biogeography: that is, the study of the evolution, life history, and (especially) extinction of organisms on islands. By "island" Quammen means both the literal island (Mauritius, Madagasgar, etc.) and more figurative interpretations of island, such as the "sky islands" of Arizona. The book's central theme is the work of E. O. Wilson and Robert MacArthur on island biogeography.

Many pop science writers are content to give a superficial survey of an area, but not Quammen. He's done his homework. He interviewed many of the major players and spent time with them in the field. In order to write this book, he's traveled to Madagasgar, to Mauritius, to the Amazon, to the Komodo islands, and in the book's lyrical ending, to the Aru Islands to catch a glimpse of the king bird of paradise (Cincinnurrus regius). (Along the way he is nearly attacked by a Komodo dragon and mugged in Rio de Janeiro.) He's read the scientific literature and is conversant with it. The bibliography alone takes up 24 pages of single spaced tiny type, out of a 700-page book.

My only complaint about the book is the dismissive and apologetic way Quammen introduces the (very small) amount of mathematics the book contains. There's no reason to apologize for mathematics; it's one of the best ways we have to model the real world. But, being a mathematician, I am somewhat biased.

This book is fascinating, addictive, lyrical, suspenseful, and scientifically accurate. It's also a great place for an amateur (such as me) to get started reading the original scientific literature on the subject. I strongly recommend it to anyone interested in ecology, evolution, or geography. If my amateur's recommendation isn't enough, the book's jacket contains endorsements from E. O. Wilson, Thomas Lovejoy, and Jonathan Weiner.

Jeffrey Shallit, Computer Science, University of Waterloo, Waterloo, Ontario N2L 3G1 Canada [e-mail] URL = http://math.uwaterloo.ca/~shallit/

Rating:
Summary: An Excellent Overview on Extinctions
Review: Why do extinctions happen? By way of answering this question, David Quammen takes an odyssey around the world to numerous islands because they are where most of the world's extinctions have taken place in modern times. He visits Indonesia, Tasmania, Hawaii, the Galapagos, Madagascar, Guam, and the former home of the now-extinct Dodo, Mauritius. As Quammen travels, he recounts the history that islands have played in the science of biology, from Alfred Russel Wallace and Charles Darwin's famous journeys to the recent dust-up over the new and increasingly popular theories in ecology that were based on the study of islands. Finally, he explains that the rapid rate of island extinctions may be a harbinger for what happens elsewhere as man increasingly cuts up and divides the world into "islands" of biodiversity.

This book does an outstanding job of mixing history, basic ecological concepts, and personal experience into a coherent theme. I recently read Quammen's book "Monsters of God" and I found this book superior in every way because of that coherence. And while I agree with some Amazon reviewers who find fault in Quammen's views on the controversy over whether Darwin or Wallace deserved first credit for the concept of natural selection, I don't think it detracts from the book. Quammen clearly finds something dishonorable in Darwin's actions during that period, but after reading two biographies on Wallace - Shermer and Raby's recent publications - I think he reads too much into it. This noticeable prejudice of Quammen's, however, is not directly relevant to his main themes and shouldn't keep anyone from enjoying this wonderful work.

Rating:
Summary: From Anecdotes to Science
Review: This is a terrific read on important biological questions which lie in the scientific stratum far above the world of molecular biology, which has come to dominate so much of the field, almost to the point of extinguishing the venerable methods of systematics, evolution, and field studies of actual organisms. Quammen transports us into a world where interactions of animals in real ecological systems are the object of study, charming us into seeing its importance, and introducing us to the people who are working to advance our understanding of the natural world.

The central theme of the book is the importance that islands have played in this area of research, starting from the work of Darwin and Wallace, extending to the modern work of men such as E. O. Wilson, Macarthur, Simberloff, and Lovejoy. What is revealed is a science progressing from anecdotes and scattered observations of curiosities to something with its own generalizations and laws that can be have an increasing certainty, backed by sound statistical studies, and that produces graphs and tables, equations, useful computer models and testable hypotheses. The majesty of the process is astounding.

Quammen writes clearly and spares no effort to involve the reader, mixing a historical treatment of the process, interviews of the modern players, and his own thrilling explorations of the remote islands--he splendidly communicates his excitement and involvement.

Rating:
Summary: Thoughtful, entertaining, and important
Review: *The Song of the Dodo* is a very long book on what some of us believe to be a vitally important subject, the ongoing loss of worldwide bioversity. Anyone interested in the fate of the world's wild creatures and yes, the fate of the world itself should read it and will likely enjoy it.

David Quammen does an exemplary job of leading his readers through almost two centuries of significant ideas and debates related to "island biogeography," a subject which is a lot more interesting and certainly a lot more significant than it might sound. Begining with the fascinating story of the Darwin vs. Wallace story vis-a-vis "who really came up with the theory of evolution first?" Quammen goes on to explain and illustrate just why the biogeography of islands is so important to any consideration of biodiversity and wildlife conservation for the world as a whole.

In weaving this historical narrative, Quammen doesn't just encapsulate theories (though he does this in some detail), he takes his reader into the field where the sometimes abstract principles behind diversity/rarity/extinction are actually demonstrated through the predicaments faced by various creatures. Quammen ventures to the Aru Islands, the Galapagos, Madagascar, Guam, Tasmania, Mauritius, Barro Colorado Island in Panama, the Amazonian rain forest, and on and on. It's a veritable world tour of places where rare and endangered animals struggle for existence in a world where human encroachment is causing an alarming acceleration in the rate of species extinction.

Through his mostly fascinating discussion of places, species, and biologeographical theories and the people behind those theories, Quammen shows an unusual ability to restate abstruse ideas in clear and understandable terms. He also writes with humor, a gentle and humane world-view, and an excellent eye for empirical detail.

For me, the most painful chapter was "Rarity Unto Death," in which he recounts selected stories revealing how various animals (and peoples) have been lost to extinction. The discussions of the extinction of the dodo and other wild creatures are terribly sad; the horrifying tale of the demise of the Tasmanian aborigines is heart-rending and infuriating.

In the end, Quammen's workmanlike effort establishes a "big picture" demonstrating how small, isolated ecosystems render their wild inhabitants increasingly vulnerable to extinction. We come to see that the biological notion of "islands" applies increasingly not just to small land bodies surround by water, but to more and more of our continental ecosystems as they are carved up into isolated pockets of habitat through human encroachment and development. Indeed, increasingly, the world's ecosystems are composed of various kinds of "islands," a situation that threatens to result in catastrophic losses of biodiversity over time.

That the situation is not entirely hopeless for all creatures is shown by the remarkable, human-aided recovery of the Mauritius kestrel, rescued in recent years from the very brink of extinction. But certainly the message overall delivered by Quammen is not a comforting or upbeat one.

In a book of this length and scope, there inevitably will be sections that particular readers may not like. I found the chapter on theorists McArthur and Wilson a bit pedantic and boring in places, partly due to the very abstruse nature of their mathematical theories. However, it also irked me a bit that Quammen took such an awe-filled, uncritical attitude here, particularly in his worshipful presentation of his audience with the Great Man, Edward O. Wilson. Wilson is a towering figure in the history of biology and biography, certainly but a few words of criticism might have been in order here. Yes, the leftist activitists of the mid-seventies were out of line in pouring water on Wilson's head at a scientific meeting and their accusations toward him vis-a-vis his theories of sociobiology were shrill and excessive. But the truth is that some of Wilson's human-related "speculations" in the final chapter of his book on sociobiology *were* overreaching, inappropriate, and yes, foolish, and he deserved some of the criticism he received. In providing a discussion of the furor raised by the mathematical grand theorizing proposed by MacArthur and Wilson and other scientists beginning in the sixties, Quammen also could have pointed out that the often emotional debate over "mathematical modeling" vs. "detailed, real world empirical research" took place (and in some ways, continues) not just in the biological sciences but in a large number of academic fields. Whereas it's easy to dismiss extremist critics of truly useful mathematical models as narrow-minded or antediluvian, the proliferation of derivative, marginal, and in some cases, fairly useless "quantitative models" has at times threatened to eviscerate various fields of study, emptying them of virtually all attention to empirical detail and rendering them arid and lifeless.

I also was just a tad disappointed in the book's final section, where Quammen pays all too short shrift, in my view, to the question of "so what?" as it relates to the ongoing loss of world biodiversity. He makes the point that human encroachment is creating mass extinctions, but really doesn't drive home his thoughts as to why urban dwellers with no plans to visit the rainforest or the Galapagos should really care. I guess to Quammen the tragedy represented by this trend is self-evident, but what's really frightening to some of us is just how easy it is for people to live out their lives without ever having to give a darn about these broad, long-term issues of biodiversity. The question, "Why should people care?" needed atleast a bit more attention, I think.

Overall, however, this is a fine, readable, well-crafted, and wonderful book. I salute David Quammen for his accomplishment.

Rating:
Summary: a must read for all interested in ecology and evolution
Review: I've just finished David Quammen's book, _The Song of the Dodo: Island Biogeography in the Age of Extinctions_, and want to give it my highest recommendation. It is the best book I've read in the last year, and I've read about 70 books in the last year.

Quammen is a nature/science writer who's written for Harper's, Esquire, and Rolling Stone. This book is about island biogeography: that is, the study of the evolution, life history, and (especially) extinction of organisms on islands. By "island" Quammen means both the literal island (Mauritius, Madagasgar, etc.) and more figurative interpretations of island, such as the "sky islands" of Arizona. The book's central theme is the work of E. O. Wilson and Robert MacArthur on island biogeography.

Many pop science writers are content to give a superficial survey of an area, but not Quammen. He's done his homework. He interviewed many of the major players and spent time with them in the field. In order to write this book, he's traveled to Madagasgar, to Mauritius, to the Amazon, to the Komodo islands, and in the book's lyrical ending, to the Aru Islands to catch a glimpse of the king bird of paradise (Cincinnurrus regius). (Along the way he is nearly attacked by a Komodo dragon and mugged in Rio de Janeiro.) He's read the scientific literature and is conversant with it. The bibliography alone takes up 24 pages of single spaced tiny type, out of a 700-page book.

My only complaint about the book is the dismissive and apologetic way Quammen introduces the (very small) amount of mathematics the book contains. There's no reason to apologize for mathematics; it's one of the best ways we have to model the real world. But, being a mathematician, I am somewhat biased.

This book is fascinating, addictive, lyrical, suspenseful, and scientifically accurate. It's also a great place for an amateur (such as me) to get started reading the original scientific literature on the subject. I strongly recommend it to anyone interested in ecology, evolution, or geography. If my amateur's recommendation isn't enough, the book's jacket contains endorsements from E. O. Wilson, Thomas Lovejoy, and Jonathan Weiner.

Jeffrey Shallit, Computer Science, University of Waterloo, Waterloo, Ontario N2L 3G1 Canada [e-mail] URL = http://math.uwaterloo.ca/~shallit/

Rating:
Summary: Excellent overall, but...
Review: Quammen has an engaging writing style that cuts through the scientific jargon and allows the layman to feel as if he understands the broad issues that occupy biogeography. His historical account (from Wallace and Darwin up to the present) of how we've come to understand speciation and extinction is captivating.

Contrary to what some other reviewers have said, he does NOT disparage Darwin. He merely highlights some aspects of the Darwin/Wallace controversy that are not well-known to the average person. Wallace may have been 'rehabilitated' long ago in the scientific community, but to the average person Darwin is the "father of the theory of evolution", so Quammen's discussion -which emphasizes that both deserve alot of credit-is a useful antidote for that.

Where i take issue with Quammen is his failure to tie declining bio-diversity with any stakes for humans beyond the aesthetic. He strikes me as being guilty of "biological snobbery". Take, for example, the cases where an island that was previously filled with wondrous songbirds and exotic, unique lizards is overrun by rats, pigs, and house cats that were brought to the island by humans. The rats, et al. either eat the exotic wildlife or so alter the environment that they can't survive, thereby going extinct. Quammen obviously considers these situations to be tragic. He disparages the newly-arrived animals as "pestiferous" (p.561), or "junk" or an "ecological blight" (pp.562). His tone is rather gleeful when he describes how a bioligist kills a "pest species" mongoose by bashing its skull against a rock, and when another researcher squashes a "pest species" preying mantis between his fingers. Quammen seems to *like*, in an aesthetic sense, birds of paradise and cinnamon-coated lemures more than rats and cats, and that colors his analysis.

But beyond the aesthetic, why should anyone care if cats overrun a tropical island and kill off the native turtles? Why are the cats any less entitled to live there than the birds are? The turtles reached the island some time in the past by floating in on flotsam, the rats by stowing away on a ship. What's less "natural" about the latter than the former?

Quammen doesn't explain that, so the reader is left wondering what the stakes for humanity or for "the planet" actually are.

Rating:
Summary: A wonderful, important book.
Review: I don't usually write reviews of books that already have a bunch here, but this book is important enough to make an exception.
I forget now how I came across this book, but I'm glad I did. Quammen writes in very clear prose, keeps the story moving, and provides a wealth of detail. If I were the editor, I might have shortened some of the personal accounts, but that's about the strongest criticism I can come up with.
The book explicates the theory of island biogeography, the theory of islands are where species develop, and that in a larger sense, continents are both islands and collections of islands. It's much more complicated than that, but I don't read thousand-word reviews, so I shouldn't write one.

The book is complete, and very well thought out. Midway through the book, as he's discussing species extinctions, I'm thinking, why doesn't he talk about the passenger pigeon? And, in the next chapter he does.

One of the things he does is remind us of WHY the theory of evolution became unavoidable to a generation of people trained in Biblical literalism (Darwin himself was a Anglican seminary graduate, and took his voyage on the Beagle before settling down as a parish priest.) There's a "movement" nowadays which purports to prove that there's no real evidence for evolution, that It's really a lie told by Bible-hating scientists. If this book did nothing but dispel that myth, it would be worth reading. (a synopsis of his account would take me a couple of pages.) But it does more, so much more that.
A modern book discussing extinctions must almost inevitably be depressing, but he manages to close the book with a note of hope, almost triumph.
Read this book.

Rating:
Summary: Wonderful Book, Intricate Subject
Review: "Song of the Dodo" is a big book (over 600 pages) about a big subject, but it never feels long or rambling. Quammen does a fabulous job of discussing just about every aspect of species diversification and isolation in an engaging yet accurate manner. This is a subject which can so easily be made maudlin and over-emotional -- not without good reason. But Quammen maintains a dry sense of humor and a keen sense of perspective, even when discussing heartbreakingly sad developments with compassion and insight. A must-read book for anyone interested in the complex workings of the natural world.

Rating:
Summary: A valuable novel for anyone concerned about the earths fate
Review: The Song of the Dodo is a charming and inspirational yet detailed and informative depiction of the origin, route and future of civilisaton.

I found many facts that were played out in this book to be a tremendous eye-opener.

David Quammen has the amazing ability to write of such detailed, scientific and serious issues in the most humourous, entertaining and heartful manner.

A wonderful book to own.

Rating:
Summary: well-written but flawed
Review: ... As someone who has spent nearly a quarter of a century studying birds on islands I normally welcome new insights on the subject, especially when they are written in a comprehensible fashion that will appeal to a wide audience, and to give Quammen due credit he writes in an engaging style that draws his reader along. Unfortunately the book is to my mind fatally flawed by the remarkably one-sided and one-dimensional approach that Quammen brings first to the subject of Darwin & Wallace (In his attempt to push Wallace he accepts without question any and all attacks upon Darwin) and secondly in his un-critical acceptance of MacArthur and Wilson's "Equilibrium Theory of Island Biogeography". The first is mean-spirited, un-needed, and on occasion downright nasty, the second is scientifically questionable & may do harm to the very causes that Quammen (and I for that matter) hold dear.

While Wallace WAS left out of the popular iconography for a good chunk of the 20th century he has since been widely re-habilitated, credited, anthologized, and discussed. His enormous contributions to biogeography rightly overshadow his role in the Natural Selection debate, and it is significant that he himself never in ANY way suggested that he thought ill of Darwin -in fact, quite the opposite. Just who is Mr. Quammen to say otherwise?
As far as MacArthur and Wilson go, the idea was hardly original (significant portions of "their" theory had been published years earlier, a point that Quammen is either unaware of or chooses to ignore -odd, considering his attack on Darwin) the evidence presented was -to be kind- HIGHLY selective, and almost immediately the whole issue was immersed in controversy and critique. While Quammen acknowledges the controversy & even interviews some of the key players, he tends to dismiss the counter-arguments with ad hominem remarks or simply changes the subject. While I applaud the amount of good science that the theory generated as irritable sceptics set to to rebut the whole notion of "equilibrium" and "turnover" the remarkable FAILURE of the "Equilibrium Theory" to address much of importance in conservation (it was NEVER even INTENDED to be applied to conservation of specific species)really isn't discussed in DODO. In summary, folks who have already made up their minds about conventional notions of ecology & conservation will find lots of "feel good" support here, but readers looking for a more comprehensive & critical viewpoint will have to go elsewhere.