Customer Reviews

Island Life (Great Minds Series)

5 star:		(2)
4 star:		(1)
3 star:		(1)
2 star:		(0)
1 star:		(0)

 

 

Alfred Russel Wallace was a great naturalist of the nineteenth century, (codiscoverer of the evolutionary theory by means of natural selection with Darwin) he wrote several classics in science literature. Two things operated against him, his belief in the occult and the great prestige Darwin already had when he was just a young naturalist making great discoveries in Darwin's own line of investigation.

This particular book was written when Wallace was a mature scientist and had already a prestigious carreer. He used his experience and previous works to theorize in Species Distribution through Islands all over the world. He personally made lots of field work (a marked difference with Darwin, since the latter suffered most of his life with bad health) and by then personally knew most of the elite scientists of that epoch. All this ingredients and many more make this a must read book for the science historian or anyone interested in the evolution of thought in the evolution theory. This reading is particularly interesting too, because all this was previous to the theory of continental drift and plate tectonics in 1915, so Wallace had to deal with the species distribution problem in islands without this knowledge. A must read book.

Wallace is as important as Darwin in evolution, but less famous. "Island Life" is a great book in species distribution. not never an introduction. If you want a book of introduction, you can try Edward Wilson's "The Diversity of Life" or David Quammen's "The song of the Dodo". The former half of the book is the theory of species distribution. Some are still useful and basic for now, but some are too old to be true. But the later half of case study is worthy of reading. There are many details in comparison of difference island. If you are major in biology or ecology, it is easy to read. But if not, I suggest you should read some introduction book first. The most interesting thing is that you can realize the nature world one century ago from this book. Some place are still natural and not damaged by human activities. This book is definitely a science study, not a general science. That's why I don't recommend it to everyone, but the naturalist.

Wallace is most remembered for his independent discovery of the theory of natural selection, but he was also the father of the modern approach to biogeographical studies, and history's foremost tropical naturalist--and he made many important contributions beyond biology as well. "Island Life" is one of his most important works. In it he extends studies begun in another of his classic publications, the two-volumed "The Geographical Distribution of Animals," to two subjects: the influence of the glacial epochs on organismal distribution patterns, and the characteristics of island biogeography. Many students of Wallace's career consider this book his finest scientific effort, both for its joining of theory and empiricism, and for his attention to detail and breadth of study. Included is a full working out of history's first theory of continental glaciation based on a combination of geographical and astronomical causes, a discussion of island classification, and a survey of worldwide island faunas and floras. I give it a "4" rating here only because *now* it is primarily of interest to historians of science and those environmentalists who might want information on the late nineteenth century state of island biotas around the world; still, as a major study by one the period's great minds, it arguably demands attention on its own terms.

Alfred Russel Wallace was a great naturalist of the nineteenth century, (codiscoverer of the evolutionary theory by means of natural selection with Darwin) he wrote several classics in science literature. Two things operated against him, his belief in the occult and the great prestige Darwin already had when he was just a young naturalist making great discoveries in Darwin's own line of investigation.

This particular book was written when Wallace was a mature scientist and had already a prestigious carreer. He used his experience and previous works to theorize in Species Distribution through Islands all over the world. He personally made lots of field work (a marked difference with Darwin, since the latter suffered most of his life with bad health) and by then personally knew most of the elite scientists of that epoch. All this ingredients and many more make this a must read book for the science historian or anyone interested in the evolution of thought in the evolution theory. This reading is particularly interesting too, because all this was previous to the theory of continental drift and plate tectonics in 1915, so Wallace had to deal with the species distribution problem in islands without this knowledge. A must read book.