The Song of the Dodo: Island Biogeography in an Age of Extinctions
Written by David Quammen
Narrated by Jacques Roy
4.5/5
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About this audiobook
A brilliant, stirring work, breathtaking in its scope and far-reaching in its message, The Song of the Dodo is a crucial book in precarious times. Through personal observation, scientific theory, and history, David Quammen examines the mysteries of evolution and extinction and radically alters our understanding of the natural world and our place within it.
In this landmark of science writing, we learn how the isolation of islands makes them natural laboratories of evolutionary extravagance, as seen in the dragons of Komodo, the elephant birds of Madagascar, the giant tortoises of the Galapagos. But the dark message of island studies is that isolated ecosystems, whether natural or human-made, are also hotbeds of extinction. And as the world’s landscapes, from Tasmania to the Amazon to Yellowstone, are carved into pieces by human activity, the implications of this knowledge are more urgent than ever.
An unforgettable scientific adventure, a fascinating account of an eight-year journey of discovery, and a wake-up call for our time, David Quammen’s The Song of the Dodo is an exquisitely written book that takes the reader on a globe-circling tour of wild places and extraordinary ideas.
David Quammen
David Quammen’s books include Breathless, The Tangled Tree, The Song of the Dodo, The Reluctant Mr. Darwin, and Spillover. He has written for The New Yorker, Harper’s Magazine, The Atlantic, National Geographic, and Outside, among other magazines, and is a three-time winner of the National Magazine Award. Quammen shares a home in Bozeman, Montana, with his wife, Betsy Gaines Quammen, author of American Zion, and with three Russian wolfhounds, a cross-eyed cat, and a rescue python. Visit him at DavidQuammen.com.
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Reviews for The Song of the Dodo
255 ratings15 reviews
- Rating: 5 out of 5 stars5/5Captivating for the scientific details as well as the sense of adventure imbued in all of the adventures the author takes to bring us up close and personal to the natural world. Love this author and the reader is amazing too.
- Rating: 5 out of 5 stars5/5This is my favorite topic by my favorite author. I loved it!!!
- Rating: 5 out of 5 stars5/5How well do you understand the dynamics and consequences if insular evolution and extinction?
This is a serious, in-depth natural sciences book that (keeping in mind that ecology is a multifarious science) the predominate thrust of is ecological insularity and its consequences. For me, it pulled together and connected the dots of much I've previously learned piecemeal, and added to my understanding. The extensive detail of the book may be daunting to some, but is very informative and sobering if one reads carefully and strives to comprehend the concepts. It is not a book for those simply interested in entertainment, but it is an exceptional book for those with objective, inquiring minds if read in whole.
Herein are the What, When, Where, and Why of evolution and extinction relative to population viability that we are developing an understanding of, as evidenced in insular (i.e. restricted, whether an island or mainland habitat fragment) species. The author does try to elucidate important concepts with layman examples (e.g. mismatched socks), and there is a glossary, but there are other general terms the reader might want a dictionary close by for (e.g. words like nomothetic and idiographic). In addition, the curious reader desiring to picture unfamiliar life forms mentioned might have a wildlife field guide at hand, or use Wikipedia.
Lightening the scientific thrust of the writing, there are bits of personal reflections and travelogs.
The book also spans how we have arrived at our current understanding, with a bit of satire. Rightly so to my mind, befitting humankind's self-aggrandizing intellect, encompassing contradictory, absurd explanations. Possibly the most recognizable of these being the irreconcilability of Noah's ark with biological reality. Where there are more sensible differences in scientific theory, the author is even handed.
“. . . evolution is best understood with reference to extinction, and vice versa. In particular, the evolution of strange species on islands is a process that, once illuminated, casts light onto its dark double, which is the ultimate subject of this book: the extinction of species in a world that has been hacked into pieces.”
“. . . species extinction is central to the question of how Homo sapiens affects its own world” and to our own threatened existence. Odds are that such as rats and coyotes will fare better than humans in the environmental changes we are ignorantly creating in our insatiable greed. One reason that stands out is the habitat fragmentation caused by our infrastructure (note the relevance with insular species dynamics). We have proliferated beyond ecological balance, and with our plows, livestock, axes, poisons, industry, self-serving religious beliefs, and no more intelligence in good part than other life forms have brought about the ongoing sixth great extinction. Much as we are prone to ignore inconvenient problems, we are not exempt from such.
This isn't only about non-human evolution and extinctions, but also how our proclivities have affected fellow humans. One section about Tasmanian Aborigines, in practice corresponds to the settling (read colonizing) of North America, differing only in population size and extent of consequences. Trying to persuade natives to accept 'the blessings of Christian civilization' [or any other cultural dogma] by any means is among the subjective hypocritical tenets that are hastening our diminishment. The author aptly terms the settlers so-called benevolent interaction with the Tasmanian Aborigines as “in the truest tradition of Orwellian doublespeak.” As in North America this "serving mainly to anesthetize the collective conscience of the conquerors.”
Awareness of our most serious problems, or developing such through reading and understanding, is essential to our and our children's futures. There may still be time to mitigate the consequences, but the only hope in time is if a critical mass of humans acknowledge and confront our destructive proclivities sufficiently to bring about positive change. As things are, we are presenting the short end of the stick to our children. - Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5I had never fully understood the word "biogeography" until reading Quammen's Song of the Dodo. According to Quammen on page 17 of Dodo, "Biogeography is the study of the facts and the patterns of species distribution." More importantly, the distribution of specific species on islands does much to argue the point of origin and "survival of the fittest" and adversely, extinction.Song of the Dodo is a scientific adventure. It will prompt you to ask questions. Here's an example: I was particularly struck by the obvious/not-so-obvious Noah's Ark conundrum: exactly how big was this vessel if every single species was welcomed aboard two by two? As Quammen pointed out, "Noah's ark was getting too full" (p 34).What about this question - who was responsible for the theory of natural selection? Quammen delves into the controversy surrounding the competition between Alfred Wallace and Charles Darwin. Again, to quote Quammen "Was Darwin guilty of scummy behavior, or wasn't he?" (p 109).All in all, the subject matter for Song of the Dodo could be considered dry but the writing is most definitely entertaining. Where else can you find such a scientific topic interspersed with words like crazybig, godawful, helluva, whonks, and my personal favorite, badass?
- Rating: 5 out of 5 stars5/5Best science book I ever read.
- Rating: 5 out of 5 stars5/5A thoroughly engrossing read, and I can't better what the previous reviewers have written. Quammen's own sense of adventure imbues the entire work. One of the most abiding sections in my own mind (which haunts me in its implications) is his discussion of what I could term patchwork conservation, where bits and pieces of an ecosystem are preserved-laudable but misguided (although surely better than nothing). It is wonderful to have such brilliant writers about evolution who take the time to enlighten all of us about the wondrous discoveries made possible now through DNA decoding. I'm looking forward to the continuing study of human migrations as a tale being unraveled through study of genomes around the world. The science is far beyond me--but what fascination.Read [[Richard Dawkins]] [Ancestor's Tale] after you've read this. Two mighty tomes well worth the time!
- Rating: 5 out of 5 stars5/5A remarkable book. It is long and discursive, illuminated by dialogues with scientists in the field and at work studying the data, with visits to islands of jungle among the deforested areas of Brazil and Madagascar, along with islands in the ocean. There are stories of the extinction of song birds on Guam, and Aboriginal people of Tasmania, along with the dodo. Quammen unfold the evolution of the theory of evolution from Darwin and Wallace into the study of speciation on islands, into the practical questions - how much undisturbed space does any species need to keep surviving and reproducing from generation to generation.
- Rating: 5 out of 5 stars5/5I first read this book 10 years or so ago, and thought then it was one of the finest science books I ever read. It is still, with this reading, one of my favorites. Written in the form of an extended essay, it conveys not just the facts of science, but the emotion of it. Why do people do science, anyway? Quammen lets you see--and feel-- that for yourself. I wanted to read this book again as part of my exploration of evolutionary biology. Quammen's writing on Alfred Russell Wallace, the co-discovered of evolution with Charles Darwin, is extraordinary. But so is Quammen's gusto in throwing himself into situations where he can see first hand what our current state of knowledge is. Quammen's quirky essays in Outside magazine were what first attracted me to him. But this book is why I keep reading him. And, as a bonus, he was giving a lecture on campus and I got him to sign my copy. Now this book will be in my library forever.
- Rating: 5 out of 5 stars5/5One of the great natural history/science books of our time.
- Rating: 5 out of 5 stars5/5One of the best natural history books I've ever read. Brilliant.
- Rating: 5 out of 5 stars5/5A lot of people would be scared off by the size of this book and the title, thinking it sounds to scientific and complicated. Don't be frightened. It's an engaging read with important ecological questions and answers. You'll be surprised how quickly you're through with it and how concerned you find yourself with the subject.
- Rating: 5 out of 5 stars5/5This book was absolutely awesome. I read through it slowly, picking it up and putting it down inbetween other reads, and it was a great book for savoring. The book itself is structured into a few different parts, the first three or so being roughly 125 pages each or so, with another short three at the end. The first section of the book recounts the history of evolutionary theory as shaped by Islands. Quammen tells the tale of Darwin and Wallace as their island hopping voyages elucidated the problem of species. Next, Quammen goes on to explain the effects island have on the evolution of species before going on in the third section to explain the more modern developments of evolutionary theory as shaped by islands. For the remainder of the book Quammen shows the implications of the modern paradigm in evolutionary thinking (Island Biogeography) and increasing rate of extinction and loss of biodiversity. Quammen not only discusses the history of evolutionary biology but expounds on natural history as well, taking the reader on journeys into tropical islands to chase the Komodo dragon, the giant tortoises and more. In the end Quammen has left a harrowing picture of the damage humanity is doing to ecosystems and biodiversity, and how the fragmentation of biomes imposed by urban developments is only making matters worse.This is a must read for anyone interested in evolutionary biology and what its telling us about the world we live in.
- Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5This 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: 4 out of 5 stars4/5A witty and well-crafted series of essays on extinctions and island geography.
- Rating: 3 out of 5 stars3/5Excellent discussion of human impact on the extinction of other species. Also great background on Darwin's struggle to write "Origin of Species" and the competitive race by an almost-ran scientist who came up with the same ideas at the same time.