Average customer rating:
- Dissapointed by conservative use of pictures.
- Haunting with a Purpose
- An urgent sense of loss...
- Great & Creepy
- This is an interesting book on part of Naturalis collection
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Swift as a Shadow
Rosamond Wolff Purcell
Manufacturer: Mariner Books
ProductGroup: Book
Binding: Paperback
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Bookworm: The Art of Rosamond Purcell
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ASIN: 0395892287 |
Book Description
"In the early nineteenth century there were so many passenger pigeons that the sky darkened when they flew overhead; it took three days for flocks to pass. They were killed by hunters or disappeared when their oak and beech habitats were destroyed. The last bird, named Martha (only the last of any species seems to merit a human name), died in the Cincinnati Zoo in 1905." Here, in photographs and words, are stirring reminders of wild beauty that is no more, as well as profiles of species whose survival is in peril. Rosamond Purcell's seventy spectacular color photographs--taken primarily at the Natural History Museum in Leiden, Holland, which holds the world's most extensive collection of lost species--tell a haunting and foreboding tale.
Customer Reviews:
Dissapointed by conservative use of pictures........2001-01-25
I'm afraid I was dissapointed in the book. Either it was a lame attempt at an artsy style or there was a decision to try and keep costs down by limiting the number of photographs. In way too many cases the photographer seemed to be obsessed with dramatic lighting of extreme closeups. Although the photos were well done, in very few cases were there full body pictures. In other cases the head would be brightly lit while the rest of the body (of what there was included) would be in deep shadow. The most dissapointing were the Cuban Macaw, and the Cape and Barbary Lions. The text, although well written, was also very sparce, and could have used some map diagrams to show population ranges. In short, there was a lot of empty space that could have been filled with photographs and information. The only reason I would reccomend the book is that as far as I know its the only one of its kind. I sincerely hope someday another book will be made with more descriptive text, and several photographs of various angles for a more "scientific" and comprehensive coverage. Those stuffed animals will not last forever and there is definitly a need for a well documented record.
Haunting with a Purpose.......2000-12-11
I heard about this book in a magazine before it came out, and I just had to own it. The combination of rare photographs and case studies on each animal were irresistable. Such animals would be forgotten without the artistic eye of Purcell and the efforts of naturalists to complile their stories.The photographs of the museum specimens are haunting, but with a clear purpose. It shows the importance of conserving the species we have left, so that we do not have to depend upon mishapen skins to remember them. I hope those who read this book recognize the human error in the past so that we cannot make the same mistakes in the future.
An urgent sense of loss..........2000-03-03
Each photograph of Swift as a Shadow greets the reader as a quick slap in the face. The range of 'grotesquely beautiful' images leaves the reader with a sense of helplessness when the initial awe of beauty turns to the realisation that in most cases the creatures displayed are gone forever. The multitude of animals, birds and even fish represented is an amazing array seldom found in one volume. Some animals represented are quagga, barbary lion, thyacine, javan tiger. The birds are an extensive collection (usually more than one example) representing most of the infamous and unfortunate extinctions of our time; Carolina Parakeets, Passenger Pigeons, Great Auk, Pink Headed Duck, Labrador Duck, Paradise Parrots (amazing!) Huias plus Dodo bones and Elephant Bird eggs to name a few!
Text is sparse, and given the stark, sometimes ghoulish photgraphic reality, this is not a detraction from the books theme. All photographs are high gloss quality, if a little detail restricted by 'photographing for arts' sake' eg; back neck view only of the quagga, skin pattern only of the Balinese Tiger. I'm sure that enthusiasts of endangered animals will now strongly consider a visit to the Natuurhistorisch Museum of Leiden, Netherlands, once in their lifetime.
Great & Creepy.......2000-01-27
The photos in this book are not images you want to put in your child's nusery, but they tell the story of animal extinction better than any post-card shot could. This book highlights the finality of extinction as well as the importance of natural history museums.
This is an interesting book on part of Naturalis collection.......1999-08-31
The Nationaal Natuurhistorisch Museum Naturalis of Leiden, Netherlands, exhibits a collection of extinct and near extinct animals. Photography on this part of the museum collection is done by Rosamond Purcell. Texts are written by Lars v.d. Hoek Ostende, Martien van Oijen, Rinus Hoogmoed, René Dekker and Chris Smeenk. Editing was done by educational officer Lars. So the bibliographic refernce best should read: Swift as a Shadow, ed. Hoek Ostende (Lars v.d.) Photography Rosamond (Wolff) Purcell. Being a museum employee I may not appear to be an objective reviewer but the collection is famous. Photography and text are fully worth buying it!
Book Description
The Conjurer’s Bird is a beautiful story in the spirit of Possession that is as exciting as The Club Dumas, inspired by one of the great puzzles of natural history: that of the Mysterious Bird of Ulieta. Seen only once, in 1774, by Captain Cook’s second expedition to the South Seas, a single specimen was captured, preserved, and brought back to England. The bird was given to famed naturalist Joseph Banks, who displayed it proudly in his collection until its sudden, unexplained disappearance.
Two hundred years later, naturalists continue to wonder if the world will ever get another glimpse of the elusive bird. Were it not for a colored drawing done by the ship’s artist, there would be nothing to say that the bird had ever existed.
The Conjurer’s Bird is a gripping literary mystery and passionate love story that tackles the intrigue surrounding the celebrated Banks, his secret affair with an enigmatic woman known only as “Miss B,” and the legendary bird that becomes a touchstone for their love.
Seamlessly spanning two time periods, The Conjurer’s Bird is at once the story of this romance and of a present-day conservationist named Fitz, who is drawn into a thrilling and near-impossible race to find the elusive bird’s only known remains.
An Alternate Selection of the Book-of-the-Month Club and Quality Paperback Book Club
Customer Reviews:
Compelling mix of mystery both past and present .......2006-12-07
The Conjuror's Bird is rooted in historical fact and real figures appear in its narrative ,especially the eminent eighteenth century naturalist Joseph Banks
The eponymous bird is also real ;it is referred to as "the lost bird of Ulieta" and was discovered in the course of Captain Cook's expedition to the South Seas in 1774 .the one remaining specimen died soon after and was mounted and presented to Banks.It was in his private collection for many years and then simply vanished .
Fitz ,an expert on rare and extinct birds ,is asked by his estranged wife to locate the mounbted specimen using funds supplied by the famous collector Anderson .This hes sets out to do and is aided in the quest by his lodger ,the feisty Swedish student Katya .The search is also monitored by Potts a not overly scrupulous American who also wishes to obtain the bird woth a view to an illegal sale .
The search takes them to Lincoln and London where they soon discover that the identity of "Miss B " the mistress of Joseph Bnaks and whose fate is unknown may well hold the key to the whereabouts of the bird
Intercut with these passages set in contemporary UK are alternating chapters dealing with the lives of Bnks and his mistress who is a talented botanical artist and a woman of independence and strength
There is another ,less important plot strand to do with the obsesive quest by Fitz's grandfather to discover an African peacock
The book is very well written and thankfully no attempt is made to emulate the more ornate literary style of the 18th century in the passages dealing with that era .The sdearch is engrossing and the characters engaging .It makes a somewhat arcane area of historical research come alive and the book is unreservedly recommended to those who like a literary mytery a la Possession by AS Byatt ,or the novels of Umberto Eco without all the tricksiness that is so it=rritating a feature of the Italian writer
A Gripping Blend of Past and Present.......2006-09-19
Naturalist Joseph Banks became famous after voyaging with Captain Cook on his first voyage of discovery to the far side of the world. Banks had been fortunate to encounter many sights and sounds that no other Englishman had ever had the opportunity to see, but none of them had come close to capturing his imagination like the image of the elusive woman, a woman with the most striking green eyes, who haunted the woods close to his home.
A couple of hundred years later a man stumbles on an old portrait of a young woman with alarmingly striking eyes, but who is she.
John Fitzgerald the discoverer of the portrait, has lost too much, the brash assertiveness of his youth. The belief that one day he was bound to make a name for himself and the love of his life, Gabby. But an unexpected call from his lost love brings it all rushing back to him and also embroils him in a mystery that repels and fascinates him at one and the same time.
Now he is in a desperate race to solve the puzzle of the Conjuror's Bird. And the woman in the portrait could provide the key.
Highly recommended.......2006-08-03
I really enjoyed this book enormously. It does have echoes of Possession and I found myself more than once thinking of The Maltese Falcon.
Very well written, seamlessly changing from one historical period to the next and a wonderful ending. I look forward to more work from Martin Davies.
An Intriguing Mix.......2006-07-29
Martin Davies has taken a scant few scraps of historical fact and from them woven an intriguing literary mystery that moves smoothly between several subplots and keeps one turning the pages to see what's going to happen next.
Davies builds the central theme of his novel on Joseph Banks, a naturalist who accompanied Captain James Cook on his first voyage of discovery in 1768-71. For reasons that remain a mystery, Banks, who had been preparing to sail with Cook on his second voyage, suddenly declined to participate and broke off his engagement to a woman named Harriet Blosset. At the end of Cook's voyage, Joseph Forster, who replaced him as naturalist, presented Banks with the only known specimen of a thrush-like bird found on the island of Ulieta in the Pacific.
Utilizing speculation from a gossip magazine of the period, Davies develops a mistress with whom Banks falls in love as the reason for his having deserted Cook and for breaking off his engagement.
A second theme of the novel is the quest of John Fitzgerald, a modern-day naturalist, to find the bird of Ulieta before it falls into the hands of several greedy collectors who have more than science on their minds. Adding spice to this mix is the fact one of the collectors is assisted by Fitzgerald's wife while the naturalist is aided by a student-boarder who becomes integral to the chase and his life.
Chapters alternate between the modern and historical events, though the transition is easy in Davies' smooth and lyrical prose.
There is a third theme in the novel involving Fitzgerald's grandfather and his fanatical quest to find the Congo peacock, a bird actually discovered by James Chapin, an American naturalist.
Davies, a BBC producer, previously penned a couple of historical mysteries involving Sherlock Holmes' housekeeper. I haven't read those but plan to now.
SIMPLY AN ENJOYABLE READ.......2006-06-04
The Conjurer's Bird is actually two stories in one, both very well written. First we have a modern day mystery, a search for a mysterious bird, long lost. Secondly, the author gives us a rather nice Victorian love story. Both stories of course are linked and run parallel, one making the other more interesting, and in fact are quite necessary. The author is quite a good story teller and certainly has done some research. The entire work is rather low keyed, an easy read and, as I said, quite enjoyable. Character developement is better in this work than some of the others in this particular genre I have read. Several of the key characters are based on real people and having read biographies on all of them, found the author held pretty true with his characterization of them. While not what I would call a thriller by any means, it was one of those books I hated to put down and looked forward to the next chapter. Of course I am a birder and love Victorian stories and love history, so this was more or less my cup of tea. Those that enjoyed this one might like to check out The Darwin Conspiracy by John Darnton. All in all I enjoyed this work very much and highly recommend it.
Book Description
This book provides the first comprehensive account of the biology of one of North America's most enigmatic and colorful wildlife species, the Carolina Parakeet. The only parrot endemic to the United States, this species once ranged in large, noisy flocks from Florida to New York, and as far west as Colorado. But although it was still widespread and common during the time of John James Audubon (whose illustration of the species is perhaps his finest work), the parakeet was gone completely by the mid-twentieth century.
Through analyses of historical accounts and presentation of considerable new information gleaned from interviewing senior citizens with firsthand knowledge of the species, Noel Snyder develops an intriguing portrait of the parakeet that challenges long-held assumptions.
Although it has long been believed that the Carolina Parakeet was exterminated largely by shooting, Snyder argues that exotic diseases may have figured more heavily in its final disappearance. He also presents evidence that the parakeet lasted far longer into the twentieth century than generally believed, and that it may have been toxic and distasteful to predators by virtue of its frequent consumption of the cocklebur--a plant highly poisonous to many other vertebrates. Snyder proposes avenues of research that could help resolve some of the enduring mysteries about this fascinating bird, and he discusses the significance of its extinction for wildlife conservation in general.
Customer Reviews:
Best historical review.......2007-03-24
Snyder does a superb job of presenting the historical status of a species now extinct. He located much reference literature never before discussed or published. In the case of this species, now certainly extinct, Snyder portrays how the arrogance of certain men may have eliminated any chance of saving the species. Great library reference for any avian biologist.
Uninspired writing.......2005-03-16
This book was a disappointment. I'm very interested in the topic but much of the book reads like a scientific paper. There is a lot of good, interesting information but, unless you're particularly interested in Carolina parakeets, as I am, suffering through the writing is probably not worth it.
The crux of the book is his postulation that the parakeets diet of cockleburs made them toxic to most predators thus their bright feathers, gregariousness and ability to "sleep" at night. These abilities were no match against humans who killed them with ease. One shot took out droves and then the survivors would gather around the fallen, making shooting the rest even easier.
Because cockleburs grow around human dwellings the parakeet was drawn to areas where they came in contact with livestock and other sources of exotic diseases, conceivably nail in the coffin for the parakeet.
Average customer rating:
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The Lost World of the Moa: Prehistoric Life of New Zealand
T. H. Worthy , and
Richard N. Holdaway
Manufacturer: Indiana University Press
ProductGroup: Book
Binding: Hardcover
New Zealand
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ASIN: 0253340349 |
Book Description
"A landmark work, a book that paleontologists, ornithologists, biogeographers, and ecologists alike will use as a resource for some time to come." James O. Farlow
THE LOST WORLD OF THE MOA investigates one of the richest and most unusual faunas in the world, one that thrived in isolation for 80 million years, but that over the past 2000 years has been reduced to a shadow of its former glory. It was a fauna dominated by birds. In one of the most dramatic extinctions of modern times, half of these species were removed from the planet forever.
Amazon.com
A decade ago, new to the Flint Hills of eastern Kansas, poet, journalist, and amateur birder Christopher Cokinos spotted an unusual sight: a pair of green parrotlike birds in flight, chased by a hawk. Uncertain of what he had seen, he turned to his guidebooks and neighbors to discover, eventually, that he had likely spotted a couple of escaped pet conures, tropical birds that were likely to offer some lucky predator an exotic lunch.
In sifting through the ornithological records, Cokinos learned that another brightly colored bird once haunted the skies over eastern Kansas: the Carolina parakeet, long ago driven to extinction by hunting and habitat destruction. Hope Is the Thing with Feathers, a mournful and beautifully written book, offers a powerful meditation on the parakeet's fate, as well as that of other extinct species that lived in North America until the early years of the 20th century: the great auk, the Labrador duck, the heath hen, the passenger pigeon. In a rejoinder to Peter Matthiessen's Wildlife in America, Cokinos celebrates these ghost species, urging the protection of those that remain. "These days hope asks much from us," he allows, grimly observing the carnage that has gone before us. But hope remains, he adds, that some day endangered species will flourish once again. --Gregory McNamee
Book Description
A decade ago, new to the Flint Hills of eastern Kansas, poet, journalist, and amateur birder Christopher Cokinos spotted an unusual sight: a pair of green parrotlike birds in flight, chased by a hawk. Uncertain of what he had seen, he turned to his guidebooks and neighbors to discover, eventually, that he had likely spotted a couple of escaped pet conures, tropical birds that were likely to offer some lucky predator an exotic lunch. In sifting through the ornithological records, Cokinos learned that another brightly colored bird once haunted the skies over eastern Kansas: the Carolina parakeet, long ago driven to extinction by hunting and habitat destruction. Hope Is the Thing with Feathers, a mournful and beautifully written book, offers a powerful meditation on the parakeet's fate, as well as that of other extinct species that lived in North America until the early years of the 20th century: the great auk, the Labrador duck, the heath hen, the passenger pigeon. In a rejoinder to Peter Matthiessen's Wildlife in America, Cokinos celebrates these ghost species, urging the protection of those that remain. "These days hope asks much from us," he allows, grimly observing the carnage that has gone before us. But hope remains, he adds, that some day endangered species will flourish once again. --Gregory McNamee
Customer Reviews:
Wow........2006-04-06
Wow, this is an amazing book. I bought it last April, and was reading the section on the Ivory-Bill when I found out that it was rediscovered. But, this book is simply amazing. If only more people would read and be inspired by this book, then, maybe, there wouldn't be as much of a problem with the enviorment.
The Lives and Demises of 6 Extinct North American Bird Species........2005-11-24
"Hope is the Thing with Feathers" profiles 6 North American bird species that are now extinct: the Carolina Parakeet, Ivory-Billed Woodpecker, Heath Hen, Passenger Pigeon, Labrador Duck (Sand Shoal Duck), and the Great Auk. Most of these species became extinct -or were presumed to be extinct in the case of the Ivory-Billed Woodpecker- in the early 20th century, although the Labrador Duck and Great Auk disappeared in the 19th century with less documentation. Author Christopher Cokinos takes the reader on his personal journey to learn about these birds and shares with us all that he finds. He discusses where these species were, what the birds ate, what is known of how they behaved, why they became extinct -which is not always clear, and the people who studied them. Of particular interest to me are the detailed accounts of the last living birds of these species, some of whom were closely observed.
I was surprised to learn that humans did try to protect most of these species at some point before they were wiped out. It was often a case of too little too late, but the disturbing thing is that legislation designed to protect the birds was sometimes passed with time to spare but was not adequately enforced. It isn't as if the extinctions took people by surprise. The greatest threat to the birds was loss of habitat, i.e. logging of old growth forests, but disease, politics and hunting played their parts. How extraordinary that the ubiquitous passenger pigeon, once the most populous bird in the world at a frightening 3-5 billion, up to 2 billion in a single flock, could be completely wiped out in about 50 years due to overhunting and loss of mast-producing forests. Even those familiar with the passenger pigeon's demise will find some new information here. Christopher Cokinos has dug up and verified the details of the shooting of the last wild passenger pigeon by Press Clay Southworth in 1900, including an account in Mr. Southworth's own written words.
I wish there were more photographs of the lovely Carolina Parakeet, but the 2 photos that are included are truly engaging. It's astonishing that this bright, affectionate, adorable parrot that could easily be bred in captivity was allowed to die out. If profit could not coax anyone to breed the birds for the pet trade, the degree of apathy is incomprehensible. I have often read that the Carolina Parakeet was hunted to extinction by farmers protecting their crops, but Cokinos takes issue with that claim, asserting that the major cause was habitat loss, but why the species died out entirely seems to be a mystery. "Hope Is the Thing with Feathers" is an evocative and informative chronicle of 6 North American bird species that are no more, some of which were quite common in their day. It must have been remarkable to look out the window and see a flock of shimmering green Carolina Parakeets in the trees -in the dead of winter, no less!
Excellent coverage of six amazing birds.......2004-12-25
In _Hope is the Thing with Feathers_ (the title is taken from a line in an Emily Dickinson poem), author Christopher Cokinos sought to relay some of the natural and human history of six vanished birds of North America.
The first bird he examined is the Carolina Parakeet, once a relatively common bird that ranged in noisy flocks across the eastern U.S., north to Illinois, Ohio, Indiana, Wisconsin, and New York, south to the Gulf Coast states, west to Kansas, Nebraska, and eastern Colorado. This bird with a "luminous plumage of green, yellow and red" frequented wooded rivers and bottomlands. Once a delight to many Americans the birds unfortunately were persecuted as a threat to crops, for the caged bird industry, and for the demands of women's fashion. Cokinos suggested though that the main cause for its extinction was habitat destruction. Two related theories of extinction were that the thick bamboo canebrakes once common in the bird's range were mostly cleared out for farmland. In addition to providing food, the bamboo may have given a vital breeding stimulus to the bird (as like bamboo, the parakeets apparently did not breed each year). The second theory is that the bird may have been denied the hollow trees it required for roosting and nesting by the rapid spread across the continent by the European honeybee.
Next Cokinos had a lengthy section on the Ivory-Billed Woodpecker, once known as the Lord God Bird (presumably because observers would blurt "Lord God!" when they spied the nearly two foot long bird with the two and a half foot wingspan). Once the second largest woodpecker in the world (Mexico's Imperial Woodpecker is larger) it ranged across bottomland forests and swamps in the South, west to eastern Texas, north to Missouri, southern Illinois, southern Indiana, and southern Ohio. Though hunted (later largely by collectors, shooting it in fact because they were going extinct), the bird appears to have perished due to habitat destruction. An extreme specialist, it occupied a niche "almost as slender as a feather;" it primarily fed upon beetle larvae from trees that had only been dead for two or three years. Though they also included seeds and fruits in their diets, they became extremely site dependent on places that yielded the larvae that they favored. Interesting coverage of the Brand-Cornell University-American Museum of Natural History Ornithological Expedition led by Arthur Allen that set out in 1935 on a 15,000 mile scientific expedition to record the sounds of wild birds using brand new technology - one of the places they visited was the Singer Tract in Louisiana where news came out that the last Ivory-bills were found; and the bitter (and lost) fight to save the Singer Tract from destruction by loggers.
Next Cokinos examined the Heath Hen, an extinct subspecies of Greater Prairie Chicken. The bird once favored dry, brushy habitat with low trees as well as meadows from Maine to the Carolinas (though primarily from New Jersey up to Connecticut and Massachusetts). Once called by naturalists - along with its western cousin - the pinnated grouse owing to the dangling neck feathers on the males called pinnae - the bird perished on the American mainland by 1870 thanks to loss of habitat due to fire suppression and farming as well as relentless overhunting. The bird survived on the island of Martha's Vineyard and Cokinos covered at length the intense struggle as well as the political infighting over trying to save the bird there. Despite intense hunting of "vermin" (including feral cats, rats, owls, and hawks), planting of crops to feed the Heath Hen, and other efforts, through a run of bad luck the bird finally perished; the last of its kind apparently died in 1932 in the wild, known from close examination to have been an incredibly old male seven to nine years in age (average lifespan in the wild was one year). The author discussed efforts to reintroduce the Greater Prairie Chicken to Martha's Vineyard while highlighting the plight of the possibly doomed Attwater's Prairie-Chicken of Texas and Louisiana, which in 1999 has a total population of 146.
The Passenger Pigeon was the next subject. After impressing upon the reader just how astronomically abundant it once was (one early 1800s flock was estimated to have 2.2 billion birds and a nesting colony in Wisconsin as late as 1871 covered 850 square miles and had 135 million birds), Cokinos related how this bird was systematically destroyed by market hunters, for a time by the cruel trapshooting business (birds were collected to serve as live target practice), and due to habitat clearance (the birds were heavily reliant on the massive amount of mast (nuts) produced by oak, chestnut, and beech trees). The author went into a great deal of detail about the last known wild pigeon ("Buttons," so called because once mounted its eyes were in fact buttons for a time) and the last pigeon period ("Martha" from the Cincinnati Zoo).
A smaller chapter focuses on the Labrador Duck. A handsome sea duck also called the Skunk Duck and Pie or Pied Duck, this somewhat poorly known waterfowl had a large and odd-looking bill that aided the bird in its search for sand-buried shellfish. The range of the bird was the eastern seaboard though where it bred is still open to conjecture. Cokinos and others speculated that the bird - never common to start with - may have perished due to loss of shellfish due to overharvesting and sewage runoff and thanks to increased ice packs from the Little Ice Age (which lasted till the 1850s), which may have interfered with breeding sites and aided some predators.
Cokinos closed with a by comparison slim chapter on the Great Auk, an interesting chapter that could have been a bit longer. I was struck by the long human contact with them - their images have been found in 20,000 year old French cave art and bones in 4,000 old Newfoundland graves - with care they could have survived to today.
A hidden gem - - beautiful poetic writing.......2004-10-27
This is a great book.
It's a sad one in realizing the destruction of various bird species. The chronicles of various species during the late 19th/early 20th century are astonishing to read. It was incredible to read and learn of biologists determined to collect species before they vanished - rather than attempt to preserve them.
Particularly entertaining (in an ironic and sick sort of way) was the tale of the last man to shoot the last Passenger Pigeon. The author did an incredible amount of research and weaves a delightful short story worthy of the purchase of this book in itself.
The writing is simple yet incredibly deep; it brings home an important and moving message that can be understood by a variety of audiences - even those who may not be particularly interested in nature, birds or environmental causes. Poetic and beautifully wrapped up. The only troubling portion of the book is the outcome of the fate of these species - obviously not the fault of the author, who provides a hope of preserving "what we still have" - it is moving, nonetheless ...
A wonderful book!!!
A wonderful book - definitely required reading.......2002-11-07
Although it chronicles several chapters of bull-headed human stupidity, this book also documents the painstaking efforts of the many people who worked hard to save these vanished creatures, and offers some hope that the future need not repeat the past. At times sad, but also funny, and even joyful despite the material.
Average customer rating:
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Moa: The dramatic story of the discovery of a giant bird
Richard Wolfe
Manufacturer: Penguin Global
ProductGroup: Book
Binding: Paperback
General
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ASIN: 0143018736 |
Book Description
The intriguing story of the controversy and personality clashes behind the discovery of the moa in the nineteenth century. In 1839, on the basis of a single fragment of bone from the other side of the world, the great English anatomist Richard Owen reached the conclusion that it came from an unknown gigantic flightless bird. Many initially thought Owen's claim preposterous. Owen's piece of bone is the starting point for Richard Wolfe's fascinating story behind one of the nineteenth century's great natural history discoveries.
Customer Reviews:
Finding the Moa.......2007-05-08
There isn't very much to say about this book other than that it was a bit of a disappointment. I was hoping to get a description about what was known about the Moa, but the book focuses more on those who were enthralled with the giant bird and the history of New Zealand as it pertains to the Moa. A considerable amount of time is devoted to Sir Richard Owen (and the conclusion of the book would have inflated Owen's ego even further if he were alive to read it) and those involved in the discovery and description of the Moa, but little is actually illuminated about the animal itself. If you're interested in the history of New Zealand then you'll find much to enjoy, otherwise you'd be better to read something by Erroll Fuller or David Quammen instead.
Average customer rating:
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Bird Families of the World
Manufacturer: Harry N Abrams
ProductGroup: Book
Binding: Hardcover
Reference
| Outdoors & Nature
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Ornithology
| Zoology
| Biological Sciences
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ASIN: 0810907062 |
Customer Reviews:
Greatness.......2007-09-27
This is a beautifully written novel about the Great Auk of San Francisco Giant fame, who batted behind Barry Bonds for a brief stint during the 2007 season. Thought to have gone extint in the 19th century, "Auky" surprised everyone with his metoric rise through the minor leagues, and his brief call up with the Giants.
Eckert describes in exquisite detail each of Auky's at bats, which unfortunately all ended in weak ground outs to short.
This is a story of not just a Great Auk, but Auk's everywhere, who give it their all in everything they do.
Unforgettable.......2007-05-17
Really, this is quite an unforgettable book. I remember first reading it as a child. I never came across the book again (it was from a library) but occasionally thought about it and always hoped to find it. Now The Last Great Auk is in print again, and some 25 years after I first read it, I find it still captures and holds my imagination like few other tales.
The Last Great Auk tells the story of one particular member of a large group of the last remaining Great Auks - flightless birds that were the North Atlantic's equivalent of penguins. Eckert's prose is simple and restrained - understandably it can appear in a childrens' library - but the themes he explores and the emotions he works with are deep.
We follow the auk through his growth and along his great migrations, as he and the species' remaining thousands face the yearly challenge of swimming from Iceland to winter on America's eastern coast, and returning months later. Along the way, our auk must face and overcome challenges that are no less fearful for being so familiar. We empathize as he struggles through youth, loses his parents, faces indifferent Nature with courage, and wills himself to survive and win.
Eckert's writing is descriptive and convincing, but it is the familiarity of the bird's predicament, and his courage that we hope to share, that makes us relate to him so immediately. The loss of a species may seem abstract, but the loss of a friend is all too real. The Last Great Auk pays homage to the lost multitudes by following the tragedy of their single last survivor.
Along the way we are reminded - if we care to think about it, because this tale never strays from simply describing the auk's life - that life and death are not experiences unique to us, and the fact of our being is little different to those other expressions of life around us.
A universal story, beautifully told.
Customer Reviews:
A solid thriller, a stellar debut.......2007-01-16
Like all good thrillers James Robert Smith's The Flock begins with a murder--in this case, several murders by several killers.
The killers are the titular Flock, a community of prehistoric birds which have survived into modern times for the same reason many animals, including man, have prevailed throughout the ages: by being smarter than the creatures which would hunt them. Author James Robert Smith creates a plausible scenario in which a species of large, flightless carnivores have survived the deadliest predator of all (that's us) by limiting its range to a broad, unpopulated area and covering its tracks so as to avoid detection. One member of the Flock specializes in this track-covering, and its interaction with the other members of its group, as well as that of a rogue bird called the Scarlet, comprises one of the many conflicts which must be resolved before the book's end.
The central conflict concerns man's eventual encroachment upon the Flock's habitat in the form of a town owned and operated by a large entertainment conglomerate which is not above murder when it comes to protecting its interests. Also involved are a wealthy environmentalist who suspects the existence of the Flock, a right-wing survivalist group and a park ranger who is caught between their competing interests--and the Flock. Even the Flock has its own internal problem with the reckless Scarlet, a creature which begins to demonstrate a dangerous disregard for the cautionary ways of his peers and intends to start its own Flock by drawing off females attracted to its alpha-male aggressiveness. Smith deftly juggles these multiple points of view, bringing the action to a steady boil which culminates in not one, but two deadly chases.
Few established authors could create and maintain what amounts to almost unbearable suspense. Fewer still could juggle as many themes--many of them familiar to readers of genre fiction--without seeming hackneyed. Far, far fewer still could resolve the narrative in such a manner that is not altogether pat: not all of the bad actors get their comeuppance. However, there is one sharp, darkly hilarious twist which may aid in the continued survival of the Flock. (One has to keep in mind that many birds are notorious mimics.)
Other reviewers have tossed off comparisons to Michael Crichton due to the presence of the prehistoric creatures, but these creatures are not cloned, nor does the plot depend upon piles of narrative-deadening "research" shaped to fit a particular agenda. I was more reminded of Carl Hiaasen, given the Florida setting and the deep appreciation Smith shows for it, as well as the clean prose, realistic characters (even among the animals), and the clever touch put on an overall satisfying ending. As with the best writers, James Robert Smith transcends the various genres he works with in The Flock to create a fast-paced, entertaining story that doesn't feel at all like a guilty pleasure. I look forward to more from this author.
An OK book..........2007-01-03
This really wasn't a bad book, but it wasn't as well written as Jurassic Park. Unfortunately, it's just too hard to avoid comparing the two -- at least, I thought so. The storylines are so similar! I also found the chapters that were told from the Flock's point of view to be a bit much at times, and just didn't buy the nearly superhuman qualities that were ascribed to them. I would recommend this book to others, although it certainly wouldn't be in my top ten list of books to recommend. And I would actually recommend getting it from the library instead of buying it.
An Exciting First Novel -- With Big Critters.......2006-09-23
James Robert (Bob) Smith's novel, The Flock, is a worthy first effort, beautifully produced in hardback by Gale/Five Star Books. The flock of the title is a group of prehistoric birds, known as Phorusrachids, which have survived in one of Florida's last remaining wilderness areas. They are impressive, predatory creatures whose survival is largely due to their near-human intelligence; however, their existence is now threatened by both developers and by an eccentric militiaman who owns a portion of the wilderness. A group of environmentalists, who wish to see the land preserved, pit themselves against the exploiters, and in the process discover the existence of the creatures. A complex game of intrigue ensues as the various parties square off, each with its own single-minded agenda.
Smith is a capable writer and has created a remarkably believable backstory for these dinosaur-like creatures. His human characters are mostly colorful -- sometimes a little too colorful -- but the drama never fails to be engaging. The birds themselves, though, are the stars of the story, and their unique characters enliven the book far more than if they were merely one-dimensional, predatory monsters.
The best.......2006-08-24
When I started this book I didn't quite know what to expect but after the first page I cound not put it down! It was wonderful from the first page to the last. Can hardly wait to read more of this James Robert Smith!
fun action-adventure thriller .......2006-08-24
Berg brothers Studio of Florida is responsible for making quality family films and amusement parks. They built Salutations, "the perfect American township", abutting over four hundred thousand acres of underdeveloped wilderness. The only neighbors are the ranch of retired Colonel Winston Grisham who uses the land to train militia, and the research center of billionaire Vance Holcomb.
When Fish and Wildlife employee Ron Riggs is called to Salutations to see what is causing residents dogs and cats to vanish, he is clueless that he will soon be caught in a life and death struggle involving three adversarial groups pondering what to do about THE FLOCK. These creatures are saurian in form and thought long extinct.. They are intelligent and know how to hide from humans, but now are endangered because they have been discovered.
Anyone who has read Jurassic Park will enjoy the FLOCK, an action-adventure thriller with pulp fiction elements. Although the main players are stereotyped as the poster children representing a specific group (mega business, tree huggers, and paramilitary), the fun is observing these "faces" interact or perhaps better put fight one another as each has an agenda when it comes to dealing with the flock. James Robert Smith provides a fine tale of survival of the fittest.
Harriet Klausner
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- Tarantula Keeper's Guide, The
- Tears of the Giraffe (No. 1 Ladies Detective Agency, Book 2)
- The American Eagle
- The Atlantic Salmon
- The Color Encyclopedia of Ornamental Grasses: Sedges, Rushes, Restios, Cat-Tails and Selected Bamboos
- The Complete Book of Foaling: An Illustrated Guide for the Foaling Attendant (Howell Reference Books)
- The Draw 50 Way: How to Draw Cats, Puppies, Horses, Buildings, Birds, Aliens, Boats, Trains and Everything Else Under the Sun (Draw 50)
- The Encyclopedia of Mammals (Facts on File Natural Science Library)
- The Everything Dog Training and Tricks Book
- The Magnificent Irish Wolfhound (A Ringpress Dog Book of Distinction)
Books Index
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