Neptune's Ark: From Ichthyosaurs to Orcas [Hardcover]

David Rains Wallace (Author), Ken Kirkland (Illustrator)

Book Description

Publication Date: May 14, 2007

Neptune's Ark illuminates the dramatic saga of evolution spanning 500 million years of marine life along the magnificent Pacific coast of western North America. In an engaging narrative that artfully blends elements of science, history, folklore, and personal observation, renowned naturalist David Rains Wallace reveals a marvelous diversity of creatures, not only modern ones, but those from the far prehistoric past. Mysterious forms have abounded--from giant sea cows, oyster bears, and flightless toothed birds to the orcas, elephant seals, and sea otters of modern times. Wallace tells a story about evolution as well as a tale of the storms, scurvy, and shipwrecks that plagued the coast's explorers, naturalists, and scientists, many of whom led turbulent or tragic lives, with themes reflected in the wonder and danger of the coast itself. Neptune's Ark is full of vivid characters--from explorers like Sir Francis Drake and Captain James Cook, to pioneer naturalists including Georg Steller and Charles Scammon, to early paleontologists Othniel Marsh and Edward Cope, and to recent scientists and ecological visionaries.

Editorial Reviews

From Publishers Weekly

Author and naturalist Wallace follows up Beasts of Eden, which tackled mammalian evolution, with this in-depth look at the evolution of marine tetrapods (four-limbed creatures), from the earliest proto-reptilians through present-day seals, whales and walruses. Using Georg Wilhelm Steller's still-unidentified 1741 discovery of a "very unusual and new animal" as a symbol for all we don't know about marine life, Wallace delves into a shrouded living environment that has likely hidden many more species than paleontologists will ever uncover. Unfortunately, the most interesting parts of the book-concerning the 18th, 19th and 20th century trailblazers in the field-are marred by Wallace's inability to keep himself out of the narrative (at one point, he describes a dream he had). Later chapters explore the attempts of eccentric John Lilly to communicate with dolphins and whales, the first migration of humans to the Americas, animal myths of Northwest Coast Natives and the destructive influence of Europeans. Though Wallace's voice can grate and the text gets bogged down in difficult-to-follow taxonomy discussions (a glossary would have been of immense help), those with a grounding in biology or science history will find Wallace's fascinating vignettes worth the effort.
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From Booklist

The western coastline of North America is as close to an "ur-coast" as can be found on our planet--that is, in geologic time it has never been part of the interior of any continent or supercontinent. It is along this coast that naturalist Wallace (Beasts of Eden, 2004) bases his survey of marine evolution over the past 500 million years. Specifically targeting vertebrate evolution, Wallace examines the fantastical ancestors of today's species, as well as forms that left no direct descendants. Toothed birds flew above or dove below the seas, and fishlike ichthyosaurs patrolled open oceans. And sea cows, now reduced to a few tropical species, colonized the entire coastline. Wallace fills his narrative with stories of the often-quirky paleontologists who found these creatures and cautionary tales about the decimation and later conservation of their modern kin. The addition of coastal Indian^B creation tales and his own philosophical musings on the vast scope of diversity and time engages the reader in Wallace's voyage of discovery. Nancy Bent
Copyright © American Library Association. All rights reserved

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Product Details

• Hardcover: 313 pages
• Publisher: University of California Press; 1 edition (May 14, 2007)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 0520243226
• ISBN-13: 978-0520243224
• Product Dimensions: 9.1 x 6.2 x 1.1 inches
• Shipping Weight: 1.4 pounds (View shipping rates and policies)
• Average Customer Review: 2.5 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (2 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #1,782,866 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)

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Most Helpful Customer Reviews

12 of 12 people found the following review helpful:

3.0 out of 5 stars Delightful topic given hasty treatment, June 16, 2007

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B. Braun (San Francisco) - See all my reviews
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This review is from: Neptune's Ark: From Ichthyosaurs to Orcas (Hardcover)

I looked forward with anticipation to reading this book, since the topic is of great interest- origins of the many marine animals that came from land. While it has been very interesting to read, it is a great regret that I can only give it three stars, due to its writing and editing. The publishers weekly review given above is correct in mentioning that the reader has to be prepared to come to this project with a lot of her own armamentarium- such as ready internet access and interest in the field. There is no diagram of geological time, even though the author mentions ancient geological eras by name in virtually every other sentence. (A useful one is [...]

.) There are no diagrams of fossils, only a few beautifully rendered yet speculative drawings of extinct creatures. While these drawings are valuable (as seen on the dust jacket), the discussions about the history of the field and of life generally turn on comparisons of the fossils- ear bones, jaw bones, leg bones, etc. which are not presented. This is rather surprising in a book put out by the University of California Press, which one would think has higher standards of scientific communication.

Unfortunately, worse than the missing media is the writing itself, which is laden with non sequiturs and oddly presented stories which put me in mind of the compulsive intrusion of King Charles's head into the writings of Charles Dickens' character, Mr, Dick. The author tries to liven up the book with descriptions of the 19th century conflicts between paleontologists Othniel Marsh and Edward Cope, who intrude at odd moments and have conflicts that are neither clearly explained nor convincingly resolved. I have no problems with the author's personal reminiscences and connections (dreams are wonderful sources of art & insight)- they are some of the more lively parts of the narrative. But they all seem to turn on only one location- one point on the Point Reyes seashore, which might be a metaphor of sorts for the modest amount of research that went into this book. More substantive parts of the narrative are also plagued with headscratchers, which may or may not be explained at some later episode. One example is the claim that sexual dimorphism was ruled to be minor or absent for Enaliarctos, when only two partial skull fossils had been found to the time. Another is the frequent refrain that some ancient group or other originated in the pacific, when only one fossil had been found world-wide. One might conclude that editing was either very lax, or was so severe as to impair the original sense- either way it can be a chore to figure out what is going on. What can be said is that this book is inspiring enough that this chore is gladly undertaken.

5 of 5 people found the following review helpful:

2.0 out of 5 stars Dull book about an interesting subject., October 28, 2008

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Leelan Lampkins "modelnut" (Athens, GA) - See all my reviews
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This review is from: Neptune's Ark: From Ichthyosaurs to Orcas (Hardcover)

Author just can't keep his mind on the subject. It's all very well to go into the history of this or that find. But don't drone on and on. I was hoping for more about the animals themselves instead of the sad story of whoever discovered the bones. When you buy a book about prehistoric life you want to learn about prehistoric life. If these paleontologists aren't fossilized I don't want to know that much about them. I am sure I can find their bio elsewhere. I want to know how the creature looked. How big was it. What did it eat. What did it do. Etc etc etc. Not that the bones were discovered by X, bought or stolen by Y and forgotten by everybody else. Ellis' book is much much better. At least it sticks to the point.