Customer Reviews

100 Heartbeats: The Race to Save Earth's Most Endangered Species

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I was familiar with Jeff Corwin only by occasional glimpses of his show on Animal Planet. And based on that exposure I rather thought of him as an entertainer but ordered *100 Heartbeats* anyway because it is about animals. Was I in for a surprise. This book is a well researched, well reasoned exposition on animal extinction -- animals that have already gone extinct, others that are clearly endangered or threatened and those that have been saved or are in the process of being saved. One would wonder how he managed to keep his objectivity after all he has seen but he did IMO.

The book is divided into sections. Part 1 is about global warming and habitat loss. This part is scary since it is so hard to convince some that global warming is even happening. Isn't our earth and its inhabitants too precious to take a chance? How can it hurt to protect all living things--after all, each one has its own purpose. Part 2 is about introduced species, pollution, and disease. This section covers introduced species such as pigs or cats (or man) which once introduced into a system, can decimate local species. Mr. Corwin had numerous examples in the book. He also discusses the affects of pollution and poaching on wildlife. Part 3 is about education vs. exploitation.

Mr. Corwin's encounter with chimps when he visited their sanctuary was funny. He also described a heartbreaking incident about a baby chimp clinging to his mother. I won't say more for those of you who have yet to read the book. He also holds a baby orangutan in his arms, an experience he humanizes. He allows that humans and primates are similar yet different so if I could ask Mr. Corwin one question it would be why is it that those who work with animals constantly explain to the rest of us that they are not anthropomorphizing? Is it really so hard to assume that many animals have human tendencies or have their own way of thinking? Homo sapiens can certainly act like animals so when a chimp acts human, why is it still acting like an animal?

I was impressed with this book and highly recommend it. Mr. Corwin does not claim to be a scientist but a naturalist which is probably better since science excludes any consideration of common sense. As I stated above, he has written a well researched and objective book. I recommend this book not only for the already converted but for those still looking for answers. *100 Heartbeats* may just give you reason to think, to wonder about what will happen to us if we destroy all other living creatures.

Those who are used to Jeff Corwin through his television programs may be in for something of a surprise... this isn't a funny book, and it's not targeted at younger audiences. Corwin comes across as an experienced conservation biologist, and presents a lot of scientific data along with his personal experiences. He's a great writer, and easy to follow, so it's hard to put the book down (a little unusual for a "science" book). I really enjoyed reading it.

I thought of Corwin as a good TV host and knowledgeable zoologist and didn't know he was also a good writer. In this book, he writes movingly of his experiences with some of the world's rarest wildlife. (The title refers to the "100 Heartbeats Club" - the species with less than 100 known survivors.)
Corwin mainly organizes the book, not by animal type, but by the type of threats - pollution, habitat loss, etc. From this structure, he recounts his own experiences and plenty of important reports and statistics. He covers some causes and effects we might not always think of, like what the popularity of plastic wine corks means for the Spanish lynx. One anecdote that stands out to me is his almost spiritual chance encounter with a Florida panther ("It broke through the leaves and, seemingly in slow motion, floated to the ground. It was darker than the panthers I'd seen in photos, more charcoal than sage..." )
There are stories of hope here, too. I knew the Mauritius kestrel had just barely been saved from extinction, but I did not know the International Council for Bird Preservation had acutally given up on this raptor - they sent a scientist to shut down their conservation effort, and he found a way to revive it instead. Corwin's account of a Ugandan army officer who saved a wounded chimp he could have sold is as heartwarming as his tale of the Tasmanian tiger's extinction is grim. (The Tasmanian tiger, or thylacine, is a favorite of mine: I wrote in my book Shadows of Existence (Hancock, 2006) that a few living ones might linger, but Corwin seems sure they do not, although he expresses guarded, perhaps wistful, hope about the idea of resurrecting it someday from its DNA.)
Corwin ends by asking everyone to look around for ways they can contribute to conservation. "Most things start small," he writes.
This is a book written with scientific accuracy and presented for a broad audience. Corwin can occasionally be a little condescending (we know what an icebreaker is, Jeff), but that's a quibble. A glossary, thorough endnotes, and a bibliography complete a book that's an important and well-supported appeal to both reason and emotion.
- Matt Bille
Author, Shadows of Existence: Discoveries and Speculations in Zoology (Hancock, 2006)

This is such a topical, relevant and required book for the times we live in. Its seeing the world through the eyes of species which have been driven to the brink of extinction by mankind and understanding their critical place in our lives and on our planet.

Jeff Corwin has been working in the area of conservation for over 15 years now and this book is an incredible result of his very extensive knowledge and understanding of our planet's eco-systems, the reasons why so many species are facing extinction and what we all can and need to be doing to preserve the planet we inherited from our parents and owe to our children. This book is both very informative and inspiring at the same time. Great stories to share with kids as unfortunately these are the tales they need to get inspired and learn from to influence the future of our planet.

I decided to make this book my Christmas gift to my friends this year and have gotten great feedback from the few that I sent it to thus far.

"The future looks bleak." "When we put the survival of the natural world in jeopardy, we simultaneously put our survival in jeopardy." Jeff Corwin impresses on us how important it is to save as much of the animal kingdom as possible, from the cute, cuddly looking ones, such as the giant panda, to the venomous rattlesnake. Each species plays an important role in the ecosystem. Corwin hopes that his book "will serve as a catalyst, educating people about the state of our natural world and compelling them to help protect it for future generations." He truly believes we can succeed.

Some of the stories recounted in this book brought tears to my eyes. A two year-old calf, baby elephant, was found standing in 3" of her slaughtered mother's blood and fluids, not wanting to leave her, "even though her mama was bloated and reeking of death." Her mother's face and trunk had been cut off by poachers. The calf will stay and starve to death or a lion will get her. Corwin goes on to explain that elephants are very dependent on a mother's touch. They're highly emotional, capable of despondency and joy. He tells of his experience with an orphaned, 3 month-old calf. His job for the night was to bed down with the 350lb. calf, close enough so the calf could touch him. In the middle of the night, he felt a knocking on his back. The calf was having a nightmare. When he shielded the calf's eyes from the oil lamp's light, the calf's trunk slowly relaxed and his breathing softened. As the calf drifted off to sleep, he started twisting a lock of Corwin's hair with the tip of his trunk. Corwin explained that the tip of an elephant's trunk is more sensitive than a human finger.

Ikuru's plight began with the bushmeat trade which has reached epidemic portions in Africa. Bushmeat refers to any wildlife hunted in Africa's bush. Every year 1,000,000 to 5,000,000 tons of meat from Africa's forest animals is being consumed in Central Africa. An Ugandan army officer noticed a chimp roasting in a pot over fire, saw something move, looked closer and realized that despite the scalding heat a baby chimpanzee was clinging to her slaughtered mother. He pried her off, carefully avoiding the third-degree burns on her lower back. The baby chimp, later named Ikuru, was eventually saved. At times, she has low moments, goes off by herself, looks up into the trees and lets out long sighs. I wondered as I read Ikuru's story if she's remembering the traumatic events she experienced early in her life. Not every story in this book pulls at my heart, but the book as a whole does.

I was surprised to learn that although the insecticide DDT's use has been banned in the USA since 1973, it's legal to manufacture and export it. So, not only is DDT endangering animals around the world, we're also poisoning ourselves when we dine on imported foods that have been treated with the chemical.

Although Corwin's book is full of eye-opening stories and dire statistics concerning the animal kingdom's plight, he also offers solutions, success stories, and stories of the 'heroes' working tirelessly to save endangered species in their part of the world.

"We do not inherit the earth from our ancestors; we borrow it from our children." This Native American proverb from "100 Heartbeats," sums up the importance of saving the animal kingdom. Conservationists have a massive undertaking on their hands; they can't do it alone. It's going to take a global effort. It's going to take education. It's going to take money; for example, we can sponsor a tracker with the Dian Fossey Gorilla Fund International's anti-poaching patrols. It's going to take living with conservation. Saving the world's animals sounds like a daunting task to me. However, Corwin suggests that we can all do our part to preserve nature's balance...starting in our own backyard...allowing the garter snake to live in our garden; exploring the miracles of a pond with our children or grandchildren; cleaning up a stream or river in our community. It's important that we plant the seeds of conservation in today's children. What can you do to help?

"100 Heartbeats" touches my heart and is an important book with an important message: "Our own survival, as well as that of the world's wildlife, is in our hands. Every heartbeat matters."

For the most part, I really enjoyed reading Jeff Corwin's book. I thought he did an excellent job explaining the ways in which the human species is to blame for the extinction and endangerment of many animals. In his book he explains the many ways in which we have been responsible for the demise of these innocent creatures whether it is though us killing the animals, destroying their habitat, polluting their environment or introducing non-native animals and pathogens to the habitat. Clearly, humans do bear the bulk of the responsibility for the plight many of the animals featured in this book have been forced to endure. I would certainly hope that this book and it's companion MSNBC documentary will raise awareness.

I feel the book was well written and is very engaging. You can't help but feel for the animals presented in this book after reading Corwin's description of their trials. In this book you'll read about success stories of animals who were once endangered and are no longer, and you'll also read of situations that have not gone so well. Many of the animals featured in this book are still in need of a lot of help to save their species and their habitat.

Why should we save the animals? The short answer is that we need them. When you take an animal out of an ecosystem, it becomes unbalanced. A healthy ecosystem needs all of its players to function. Examples of situations where the ecosystem has been destroyed are given, as are examples of what happens when much needed apex predators are placed back in their normal environment.

On the whole I enjoyed this book, but I took serious issue with his failure to condemn the practice of sustainable use of wildlife animals, namely, the American Alligator. In his section on the American Alligator he explained how the alligator was brought off the endangered animal list and how alligator farmers are allowed to poach eggs from the wild nests and use them in their farms given that they release a percentage of the hatchlings back into the wild. Based on essays that Steve Irwin has written on this issue, I understand the sustainable use argument to be a hollow one. It still advocates killing the animal. And, since you can never be sure that the alligator purse you carry is actually from the skin of an alligator farm alligator and not a wild one, the sustainable use stance is unable to hold it's weight. In short, I found it incredibly shocking that Jeff Corwin just glossed over this issue and didn't speak out against it. I guess I expected more from him.

As another Vine reviewer mentioned, if you know Corwin through his TV appearances, you will be shocked. Much like the late-soooooooo-great Steve Irwin, Jeff suffers from a similar phenomenon. Steve *was* and Jeff *is* so enthralling on TV that viewers often believed they were merely entertainers and not the quite-serious conservationists they were/are. For example, how many Americans thought Steve was simply a guy who wrestled crocs and yelled "Crikey!!!" all the time? Sadly, too many. However, ask most Aussies about Steve's conservation efforts around the globe and they'll tell you all that he did in that dept.

Back to this book. It's a good read chock-full of evidence to support the fact that many of our once-thriving species are now in dire straits. The main culprit: Man. Like you didn't know that already, eh? ;)

Bottomline: Worth a read. If you're unfamiliar with Corwin and his body of work, check it out. And those longtime Corwin fans like myself, definitely buy it ASAP.

One of the only reasons I chose to read this book is because it had animals in it and it was the shortest out of the books my APES class was assigned to read. From the very beginning it caught my attention. The way Corwin describes his very first experience with the snake in his mother's yard was fascinating! Jeff Corwin allowed me to see ordinary animals as extraordinary. I always had a computer next to me so I could look up the various animals in his book and it really helped me create that visual image and allow me to personally connect during times. This book surpassed my expectations! It has many of Corwin's dangerous and exciting adventures as well as some wake up calls that have to do with the environment! It's a great quick read and I would recommend it to everyone!

Touching. Any animal lover has to own this book. It has information in it that you might not find any other place. Find a good deal and buy it.

I have always loved Jeff Corwin and this book has cemented him as an amazing author in my opinion. In 100 Heartbeats, he introduces you to endangered animals all over the world. Not just the ones you can think of off the top of your head, but those animals that aren't always thought or cared about. He does an amazing job of painting a picture for the reader with his descriptions of the animals and the cool places that he has visited. The amount of research that was done was also incredible. I would recommend this book to anyone who loves animals and cares what will happen to them in the future. Chelsea, OSU Comp Student 2010.