Among the Islands
Adventures in the Pacific
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- $11.99
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- $11.99
Publisher Description
A story of science and discovery that’s “part travel diary and part field notebook . . . like what you’d get if Charles Darwin starred in an Indiana Jones flick” (Audubon Magazine).
Credited with discovering more species than Charles Darwin, Tim Flannery has been hailed as “the rock star of modern science.” Here, he recounts a series of expeditions he made early in his career to the islands of the South Pacific, a great arc stretching nearly 4,000 miles from the postcard perfection of Polynesia to some of the largest, highest, and most rugged islands on earth (Jared Diamond, Pulitzer Prize–winning author of Guns, Germs, and Steel).
Originally traveling in search of rare and undiscovered mammal species, Flannery found much more: fascinating places where local taboos, foul weather, dense jungle, and sheer remoteness made for dramatic exploration; strange creatures such as monkey faced bats, giant rats, gazelle-faced black wallabies; and human cultures far removed from our own.
This “rollicking good adventure-science read” is a must-have for anyone who has ever imagined voyaging to the ends of the earth to uncover and study the rare and the wonderful (Audubon Magazine).
PUBLISHERS WEEKLY
Close to 30 years ago, at the beginning of his career, Australian scientist Flannery (Throwim Way Leg) set sail to explore several remote islands in the southwest Pacific: Kiriwinia in the Trobriand Islands, Woodlark, and Alcester (all part of Papua New Guinea); Fiji; and New Caledonia. Flannery wanted to investigate how the mammal inhabitants on the islands had fared in the face of European colonization and the introduction of non-native species. Flannery regales us with tales of his traveling companions, such as Greg, the former Olympic wrestler and snake expert, who engaged in an evening of wizardry and derring-do before an audience of islanders. Among other discoveries, Flannery and his colleagues turn up two bat species distinct to New Ireland in the Bismarck Archipelago, enhancing the scientists' understanding of the zoogeography of the island. Flannery recalls his earliest expedition with wonder and excitement at having investigated the influence of island biogeography on the mammals that had evolved there, discovering several new mammal species such as Ennis's flying fox, a bat whose males lactate to feed their young and finding that some species documented by previous explorers had become extinct. Flannery is a crackerjack storyteller as well as a scientist. Map.
