Customer Reviews

Why Big Fierce Animals Are Rare: An Ecologist's Perspective

5 star:		(10)
4 star:		(1)
3 star:		(0)
2 star:		(2)
1 star:		(0)

 

 

I read this book recently, and wish that I'd read it when
it was first published 20 years ago.

Colinvaux is fascinating in his relentless search for the
answer to the ``why?'' questions of the natural world ---
- why are there so many species (why not more?) - why are
there more species in the tropics than in the tundra? - why
do deciduous trees drop their leaves? - why do there appear
to be ``societies of plants'' (deciduous forests, coniferous
forests)? - why are plants so inefficient at converting
sunlight to plant matter? - and, of course, why are big
fierce animals rare (and why aren't there bigger, fiercer ones)?

This is not just a book about ecology, it is a book about
thinking.

*But didn't know that you wanted to ask.

Actually, when I purchased this book from Princeton University Press, I thought it would be about the lives of tigers, leopards, jaguars and other big, fierce animals. I've read and enjoyed a few such zoological tomes over the course of a lifetime---on seagulls, on penguins, or koalas---though my usual fare lies in literature, history, travel, and anthropology. So, when I finally took Colinvaux's work off my shelf, I was rather surprised to find that it was about the whole circle of Life. I kept on reading though and now am glad I did. If you feel yourself lacking a scientific background, like your reviewer, and you have some basic curiosity about the field of ecology, this book is going to be just the ticket. The author has a genius for keeping it simple, keeping it clear. From the idea that every species has its niche, he expands to a host of other topics like the amazing inefficiency of plant life in converting available energy into growth (around 2%, compared to the efficiency of human-made engines, at least 20%); the grouping of trees in forests, the social life of plants; why the sea is blue (no life in it); the composition of soils in different parts of the world; how different sets of plant communities succeed one another as the environment changes; the peaceful coexistence of the vast majority of plants and animals instead of the vicious "law of the jungle" sometimes depicted in other literature. I'm just scratching the surface here. Many of the topics explored bear on the hot issues of the day, for instance global warming, pollution, and exploitation of earth's resources. Each topic is very understandable. If I were a high school or community college biology/ecology/botany teacher, I bet I could make a couple semesters' lectures out of this one book, it's that good. When the author tries to analyze human behavior and geopolitical rivalries on the basis of ecological principles in the last chapter, I think he falls between the cracks. Certainly human beings are animals only recently graduated from hunting and gathering. Their child-bearing habits must hark back to the Ice Age as Colinvaux says. But to try to predict human history on the basis of ecology alone is risky. The predictions made in the 1970s already look out of date. Other than this small criticism of one chapter, I heartily recommend this book. And it seems that the scary, ferocious Tyranosaurus rex (largest predator that ever lived) is a myth. It was a lazy carrion-eater. Ah well, sorry, Rex, you looked great in Jurassic Park !

Interesting, humorous, lucid, balanced -- Paul Colinvaux's book is one of the finest books I've read. He takes biological conundrums and makes them crystalline. Controversial topics are handled with balance and grace. Abstruse terms are explained simply and wittily.

Written in 1978, the book is a little dated in some areas. For instance, he has a whole chapter on the increase of carbon dioxide in the air and never once mentions global warming. But this is a very small issue. Most of the book is timeless, and invaluable.

This book is clearly written introduction to various aspects of the natural world. Colinvaux tells us why every species has its niche, why big fierce animals are rare. He discusses the efficiency of life, the nation state of trees, the social lives of plants. He asks why the sea is blue, takes a look at the ocean system, the regulation of the air, considers what hunting animals do, speaks about the social imperatives of space, and why there are so many species. He concludes with considerations of the stability of Nature, and People's place in it.

Among the most illuminating discussions for me was his explanation of the differences between the red- earth unfarmable land of the tropics, and the brown farmable earth of the temperate. His description of the relatively empty - of- life sea, the 'desert sea' as he calls it was also informative. His whole description of how size in plants and animals helps determine their overall frequency and mass was too , for me, something new.

Most of the subjects he writes about are ones I do not know enough to really question or contradict him about. But I can attest that the work is a tremendously interesting one.

One of the finest books I have ever read. Wide-ranging, delightful & extremely easy to read, it's about a whole lot more than just big fierce predators, although you'll probably enjoy that part too! As I read this book, I felt like an explorer taking my level of understanding about our planet to a much, much deeper level than ever before. I'd give it 10 stars if they'd let me.

Colinvaux presents complex ecological concepts in a way that makes them accessible to an interested general reader. While it would be nice to see an updated edition of this book, it is an excellent overview of the subject.

This was a great deal. The book has been going out of print on and off for a while now, so this was a great find at a great price. The shipping time was quick. I received it in about a week at the latest after purchasing it. The book definitely fit its description of it.

The book is about ecology, or the inter- connection of all the plants and animals in the world. This is a developing subject looking to answer the question in Colinvaux's words of "why some animals are common and others rare, why some are bigger than others, why their numbers are the same year after year, why their behaviour may be curious, and how they share the energy of the life giving sun".

Along the way the reader gets to follow the calculations of Nelson Transeau in discovering exactly how efficient plants are at capturing the sun's energy that we all depend on ( 6678 kilograms of sugar equivalent per acre of U.S. corn per crop- a poor conversion rate of 2% of the sun's energy ). Or higher up the food chain look at the unexpected activities of hunting wolf packs on Mount McKinley in Alaska ( they're risk averse ).

The text is very clear and the reader gets access to real science without politics maths or jargon. He shows that a Darwinian "survival of the fittest" is much more a question of peaceful exploration of different niches rather than a struggle for the same ones, getting back for a change to what Darwin actually observed. Equally he sticks to the truth even if he doesn't like it much. He hates the Alaska pipeline for its misuse of fuel reserves and wishes it had never been built but it doesn't stop him dumping the "fragile Alaskan ecosystem" argument.

Finally he looks at the place of people in the world, "for the first time an animal had adopted a new niche without speciating" and identifies this as the most momentous event in the history of life. I think that he's right and if you want to have a good impartial look at the consequences this is probably one of the best places to start.

The book also helps in getting to grips with the confusion of the green debate.

Colinvaux did a grand synthesis of biology and evolution on earth with a little poetic license and a lot of literature backup. The arguments ring true, but I am not an ecologist. The point that adaptation and compromise are more suitable for survival than raw agression was a pleasant and reasonable message.
It was a pleasure to read about the effects of carbon dioxide in the atmosphere before polital mayhem overtook the subject. It was a revelation to read that there is 50 times as much CO2 in the ocean as in the air, and that the burning of all fossil fuels would only double the conc. to 0.06% in air, and that the oceans would eventually knock it down to 0.03% again. It was also refreshing for Colinvaux to write that no one knew what would happen overall during the rise. This was written when CO2 conc. was rising and global temp. was cooling in the 1970s.
Other books from Amazon.com that expose the nonsense on CO2 are Hot Talk, Cold Science and The Satanic Gases. Fragile Science tries to be neutral.

I have a lot of problems with this book because there are arguments made here that don't hold water. At one point in the book the issue of mouth size is discussed as a determination of the predator's prey, suggesting that they are directly linked. It's simply wrong. There are tons of examples (like whales, wolves, etc.) which contradict this speculation. I am surprised more people don't make note of this. He may be a good writer, but not everything he says is on target, and you should maintain a critical view of his points.