Darwin's Dreampond: Drama in Lake Victoria (Hardcover)

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Editorial Reviews

Amazon.com Review

Lake Victoria in East Africa, succinctly described by the author as a "shallow saucer filled with water, about the size of Switzerland, " is a Darwinian "dreampond" brimming with tropical life. In the 1980s, Goldschmidt, a young Dutch zoologist, was dispatched there to study its fish, specifically the amazingly diverse species of small, perchlike fishes called cichlids. The early years of the project were marked by a series of dizzying discoveries of previously unknown species of cichlid; by the mid-1980s, however, Goldschmidt and his colleagues found the species nearing mass extinction. The introduction of the voraciously predatory Nile perch eliminated 70 percent of the cichlid species by 1990. Originally published in Holland, Goldschmidt's account is vividly colored by the allure of his Tanzanian experience.

From Publishers Weekly

There is a whimsical quality to this engaging first-person narrative of a Dutch biologist in a Tanzanian fishing village. There is also a lot of science. Goldschmidt joined an environmental impact study at Lake Victoria in the 1980s and encountered the furu, a fish whose radiation into hundreds of species far exceeds Darwin's better-known Galapagos Island finches. After introducing a "species flock" that includes creatures with such monikers as mud-biters, scale-scrapers, and snail-crushers, Goldschmidt guides the reader through a jungle of evolutionary theory that gets a bit eye-glazing at times. Fortunately, he is equally devoted to his comic misadventures among bureaucrats, missionaries, fisherfolk and fellow mzungu, or European "wanderers." Meanwhile, the prolific Nile perch, introduced in 1985 and hailed as the savior of the Tanzanian economy, appears to be bringing the furu's evolution to an abrupt end. In an early scene that might stand for both the wanderer's predicament and that of the furu, Goldschmidt questions an old man to determine if an expected Dutch boat could get stuck in a narrow Tanzanian tunnel: "'If I understand you correctly, everything can and cannot pass through the tunnel?' 'Eh,' said the old man, grinning broadly... 'You couldn't have put it better. Wewe mwenjiji, you are one of us. Welcome.'"
Copyright 1996 Reed Business Information, Inc.

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Product Details

• Hardcover: 280 pages
• Publisher: The MIT Press; 2nd printing edition (September 12, 1996)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 0262071789
• ISBN-13: 978-0262071789
• Product Dimensions: 9.4 x 6.5 x 0.8 inches
• Shipping Weight: 14.4 ounces
• Average Customer Review: 4.2 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (5 customer reviews)
• Amazon.com Sales Rank: #1,834,083 in Books (See Bestsellers in Books)

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Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

8 of 8 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Cichilds, culture, and literary imagination!, February 23, 2001

By	Anon (USA) - See all my reviews

This review is from: Darwin's Dreampond: Drama on Lake Victoria (Paperback)

This is one of those rare science books that combines wonderful science with excellent, well-imagined and carefully executed writing. The book focuses on the cichlids of Lake Victoria and seeks to explore why there are so many species of these fish living in one location. This "species flock" is under pressure and species are fast disappearing--they may be, as a phenomenon, one of the great natural wonders of the world.

The facts about the fish alone are amazing. There is no end to the amazing features and abilities these creatures have developed. Their variety is overwhelming. And it is described here in an incredibly poignant way that fills you with wonder at the power of evolution and variety of life on earth.

Goldschmidt has such a huge and inquistive mind that contemplating fish alone is not enough--life in all its forms seeps in. He connects his bout with malaria to a discussion on recessivity, the marital situation with his asstistant to the topic of sexual selection, the concepts of adaptive radiation with the culture of the area. It is a book that links scientific inquiry and insight with real life interactions, with the work and conditions of being a scientist, with the landscape and people around him. You get a sense of what the work of a field biologist is like and at the same time,you are introduced to some of the more technical aspects of evolutionary biology. And it is all done with enormous literary flair and affection for the subject. This is the kind of book that makes you rethink your career and sign up for as a volunteer to do field work.

Anyone interested in ciclids, evolutionary biology or just great nature writing will enjoy this enormously.

7 of 8 people found the following review helpful:

4.0 out of 5 stars A well written intellectual adventure, December 18, 1999

By	Chris Rippel (Great Bend, Kansas) - See all my reviews

This review is from: Darwin's Dreampond: Drama on Lake Victoria (Paperback)

Darwin's Dreampond is a story written on several levels. On one level, the story is about the speciation and extinction through predation by Nile perch and human fisherman of hundreds of cichlid species in Lake Victoria. At the end, readers get some relief with indications that new species are developing to replace those lost.

On a another level, the book is the intellectual adventure of a field zoologist trying to understand cichlids by reviewing evolutionary ideas and observations in other species and applying them to what he is observing. So, in addition to cichlids, readers learn about DNA, how natural selection creates evolution, the benefits of sickle-cell anemia, mimicry in butterflies, sexual selection in sticklebacks, the niches of different species of vultures, life among Tanzanians, and more.

People who appreciate good writing should know that the original Dutch version was nominated for two science writing awards and one literature award. It won one of the science writing awards.

1 of 1 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Was Darwin right?, November 10, 2006

By	Shelly Weaver "40 something student" (Franklin, PA USA) - See all my reviews (REAL NAME)

This review is from: Darwin's Dreampond: Drama on Lake Victoria (Paperback)

I needed this book for a biology class and, at first, was not thrilled to have to read it. However, after starting to read it, I Did find it very interesting. It really tought me a lot about how species evolve and how some actually change so much that they become another species.
It also showed me how one species can almost whipe out a nimber of species.
Thhis is VERY good reading for anyone in the science field.