The Song of the Dodo: Island Biogeography in an Age of Extinction

This is the first book I've read by Quammen, an imminently talented journalist who perfectly balances the information and writing style of the book. He follows a chronological progression of island biogeography from Darwin through Jared Diamond (who became hugely famous shortly after the release of this book). Quammen's travelogues are excellent, combining a sympathetic, open perspective that is adventurous and engaged. Late in the book, Quammen describes a climb to the nest of a Mauritius kestrel: "When I'm thirty feet up, a tree branch flicks off my glasses, which drop to the ground. I could go down and retrieve them, sure, that would be sensible, but I'd fall too far behind the cheerful maniacs...'Do you trust this vine?' I call up to Jones. Gangly but tall, he must weigh two hundred pounds, and from this angle I can appreciate the size of his feet.'Not greatly.'We ratchet our way upward, slowly, on the cliff face. It isn't Half Dome but it's more perilous than the average birdwatching stroll. We rise out above the valley. As we move beyond the treetops, I give myself an explicit mental reminder: Fall from here and you don't go home. Finally, Jones and I catch up with Lewis on a narrow rock shelf, like a window ledge ten stories above Lexington Avenue...I gaze out at the panorama--the forested canyon below us, the deer ranch beyond, and the cane plantation beyond that, all spreading westward for five miles to the crescent of beach and then the great turquoise plane of the Indian Ocean." (562-3)It's Quammen's excitement and sensitivty that inspire the reader to continue and to care, to take notice of humanity's influence: carving nature into islands, resulting in astonishing rates of extinction and ecosystem decay. But Quammen urges us to cling to hope, not despair, because "besides being fruitless it's far less exciting than hope, however slim." (636)

Quammen is truly becoming one of my favorite authors. As a naturalist, the topics he writes about are interesting to me, but that's only a fraction of his charm. He also has a very anecdotal and "friendly" writing style that I find very engaging. How can I not be charmed by a man who concludes his chapter on biogeographic logarithms with, "Hello, are you still with me? Sorry about all that." He knows his audience.It took me a long time to read this book not because it wasn't interesting, but because it covered a wide-range of related topics. It was as if several good books had been rolled into one.The book focuses on biogeography. Quammen talks about the great people who've contributed to the field (beginning with Darwin and Wallace, of course,) and also talks about island extinctions (as they have been much more numerous than continental extinctions).I found the stories about Darwin and Wallace fascinating. The chapters on rare, extinct, and (unfortunately) introduced species were the best part of the book for me. He also talks about recent studies and debates like SLOSS. Then Quammen ends the book with his own trip to Aru after years of carrying around a copy of Wallace's The Malay Archipelago.My one criticism is in regards to the Kindle edition due to the page numbers and percentage. When I finished the book, it said I was only 60% done even though the chapters before the glossary end around page 600 out of 695. That's not 60% Kindle.I recommend this book to anyone with interest in islands, habitat carrying capacity, and the history of natural sciences. It's a sober topic and an eye-opening read, but Quammen throws in some of his charm and wit as needed and expected.

Enjoyed the information, especially as I had read another book by this same author previously.The used book I received had a musty ordor, so it ended up being disposed of afterwards, which is just what one gets sometimes when buying second hand.

Read this in a college evolution class and have re-bought many times to give as gifts to friends who love natural history

This is surely one of the most important books on the environment to come out of the latter part of the 20th Century. It is highly readable for anyone who is really interested in how we have come to the environmental place we're at today, particularly in regard to species extinction. If you are familiar with Quammen's works then you know that he is a very gifted writer and explainer. In Song of the Dodo, he teaches by combining history, environmental science, personal experience and anecdotes--not to mention his wonderfully impish "gossip columnist" quality when he describes personalities and academic battles over major biological questions. That said, he is always respectul of the scientists he interviews and of their work and goes to great lengths to really understand it so that he can give his readers the most accurate version possible of the material he covers. Quammen traveled extensively to research and write this tome, visiting many islands and archipelagos that were, and I assume still are, used as models for how extinction happens on continents when we break up the natural landscape, leaving only patches of it that become like islands for the wildlife living on those patches. There is just so very much in this book! You will read both heartening and heartbreaking stories of attempts to save species on the brink of extinction. So much of this book seems deeply personal for Quammen and for the people he engages with. It is long--about 600 pages--but I swear I learned more than 600 pages worth in reading it. Toward the end of the book I could feel that little shift in my mind, that feeling of having broadened and deepened my understanding of something very important. I am excited to move next to Quammen's new book, The Tangled Tree. I would also recommend a new book to read in conjunction with Song of the Dodo, and that is The Human Planet: How We Created the Anthropocene.

Excellent read on Conservation Biology around our planet!

If you are interested in conservation biology and biogeography this book is a must. The writing is engaging and the knowledge you gain is invaluable.

David Quamenn is a great writer and undoubtedly this is the best book written on the subject of Island Biogeography / Natural World in the last 30 years. Read it and become immersed in the history, theories and personalities of Island ecology and evolution starting with Darwin's contemporary Alfred Wallace.

The song which will hurt you a lot

Quammen pursuits a story with a vast amount of reading, interviews, historical documents and its trademark, original, enjoyable style. This book is an opening to island biogeography. It seems not too much, but there is a lot of adventurous characters that made it possible to understand why species evolve and how. One was the guy who understood it just a bit before Darwin did.