Book Review: Freaks of Nature

I bought Freaks of Nature on a whim at the bookstore a few months back. The tagline on the book is "what anomalies tell us about development and evolution." The book essentially has two ideas to it. First off, it chronicles a bit of the history of the Evo-Devo debate. Before evolution came on the scene, it was thought that an animal develops based on environmental conditions present during development. Freaks or abnormalities were ascribed to events such as a mother being frightened during pregnancy. Once genetics and evolution came on the scene, the tendency became to ascribe everything a genetic cause. Mutations were (and still are) king. What Bloomberg lays out in his book is the concept that while genetics are an important piece of the puzzle they are not the whole story. Species still need to develop and while there are structural processes that help shape animals bodies. Genetics may set the scene but structural interactions also play a role in determining final form. The book touches on the topic of epigenetic inheritance as well. The idea that non-genetic traits can be passed on to offspring. This idea seems preposterous and naive, a kind of pre-genetic understanding of the world. Yet, we're seeing new studies that seem to show this very thing happening. One example is the Marshall University study showing that fat father rats have unhealthy daughters.

The basic concept of the books is that by studying how and why things go wrong, we can gain insight into how things go right. Bloomberg walks the line between differing worldviews and presents his case with interesting stories and case studies.

While I found the information interesting, I'll admit the book is more than a bit dry. At times, I found myself wondering if I was reading a doctoral thesis turned into a book. It was not as fascinating as one might think a book about freaks of nature would be. For those fascinated in developmental and evolutionary biology, the book will be interesting but not a page turner. For those looking simply for a book about what we can learn from freaks and why they occur, the history and debate between the two theories may be a bit tiresome. ~Kirk

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Book Review: The Arch of the Kerguelen

With cold winds once again blowing across the land I thought it was time to finally write a review of the book The Arch of Kerguelen: Voyage to the Islands of Desolation. I first cracked it open last winter. What I read was the 1993 translation of the work. The book suffers from some problems to be sure and I don't think they have anything to do with the translation.

Kauffman travels to the furthest, most difficult place to reach on earth and then shies away describing it to us in too much detail. He has a disdain for the scientists that work there that comes though clearly in the text and he goes out of his way to not describe the details of their work on the island. The scientists working on the island are the only inhabitants and their work reflects the unique nature of the place but he seems uninterested. More insight into why they are there would have enriched the narrative of his journey by better helping the reader understand the nature of the place. He is not particularly interested in the geology or ecology of the island either though they are arguably the most sensational and interesting aspects of the place. The only thing he seems to describe in detail and with poetic beauty is the ever present wind.

Another fault of the book is that while Kauffman seems engrossed in the history of the land he doesn't do a very good job of passing that history along to the reader. You can tell he has read everything there is to read on about the island and references these books frequently but largely assumes you will seek out those same books and read them yourself.

Kauffman was held prisoner in Beirut for three years before making the journey to Kerguelen and this probably shapes his desire to go to this desolate lonely place in a fascinating way but he makes no comparisons to the desolation and isolation of the island to his personal experience. This was a personal choice of his to be sure and he is free to remove himself from his writing to whatever degree he sees fit but it would have made the book far more compelling if he had been willing or able to let us into his personal experience more. The book fails as a personal tale as we gain little insight into Kauffman as a man. It fails too as a tale about Kerguelen as a place as we don't get as rich of a total picture as we wish we could get. I think Kauffman meant the book to be a story about a personal quest but to be truly successful and moving the author needs to be willing to fully open himself up to the reader. Kauffman either isn't willing or able to do that.

What Kauffman does do well is describe snippets of desolation. There are moments of brilliance in the book that make you viscerally feel the driving wind that pervades every moment of life on Kerguelen. These moments alone make the book worth a read. Reading the book on a wintery night I stood up and went to the window. A blizzard was raging to the north but we were being mostly spared.

It had rained earlier in the day and as night fell the light rain turned to a snow that hung in the air like fog. I could only see it as it drifted past street lights. No moon shone though the clouds and the world was lit with the eerie soft yellow glow of sodium vapor street lights. Across the street I could see a row of large trees, merely gray silhouettes against a background of nothingness. The book made me reflect on the world I live in and that's a positive thing. I just wish the book could have provided more. It is a worthwhile read as long as you are aware of the shortcomings up front. Kerguelen itself is a fascinating place, I just wish I felt I knew it better after reading this book. In the end, what we are left with is a description of Kerguelen almost as strange as the place itself. ~Kirk

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Book Review: The Ghost with Trembling Wings

I picked up The Ghost with Trembling Wings: Science, Wishful Thinking and the Search for Lost Species more out of habit than anything else. I've made it a habit to read any book by Scott Weidensaul. This is a very good habit. 

I knew little more than the title but it turns out the book was so much more than I expected. Silly me. As I should have expected, Weidensaul isn't content to sit in his chair at home surfing the web for information and then musing academic about lost species. This book is about the human drive to get out there and look. 

Weidensaul travels the globe and we get to come along. I admit a bit of a soft spot for Cryptozoology, the search for animals that may or may not exist. I teach a Cryptozoology summer camp and my bookshelves at home hold such treasures as Cryptozoology A To Z by Loren Coleman, The Encyclopedia of Cryptozoology by Michael Newton and even classics such as On the Track of Unknown Animals by Bernard Heuvelmans and Animal Treasure by Ivan T. Sanderson.

Weidensaul treks across the English countryside looking for big cats, he prowls Tasmania looking for the Thylacine, he takes his turn looking for the Ivory Billed Woodpecker. 

Unlike a simple travelogue or a blinded-by-faith cryptozoology tract, Weidensaul examines human nature to try to suss out why it is we are so obsessed with species on the edge and species that elude our knowledge. Weidensaul's writing style shines through in this gem of a book. I found myself lost in his descriptions. I trudged though the cerrado savanna of South America with sweat bees driving me crazy while we looked for the Cone-billed Tanager. I hiked next to him in the wilderness of Tasmania as he pointed out trees and birds and everything except a tasmanian tiger. He is a gifted writer and this is one of his most adventurous books. When I finished, I was left wanting nothing short of more time in the woods, prairies, savannas, deserts and jungles of the world armed with binoculars and hope.

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Book Review: Savages

I've had the paperback of Savages sitting around in my "to read" pile for ages. Actually, it went from my old house to my new house to my car and finally to my garage where it sat for two years. I finally had some time this week so I sat down and plowed though it while I sat in the last warm rays of summer sun. Author Joe Kane spent time with the Huaorani, a tribe living in the deep Amazon in Ecuador while oil companies were closing in on their ancestral lands. The Huaorani are nomadic hunters and gathers who still live mostly as they have for centuries. Kane follows along as they work to hold onto their identity while they face pressures of modernity, big oil and even missionaries who vie for their souls.

The book is clearly a story about the struggle of the Huaorani people and not an anthropological study but the window Kane opens to their world is simply fascinating. Some have directly criticized the work on anthropological grounds saying his work wasn't up to their standards but he did not set out to write an anthropological treatise on the Huaorani. Joe Kane is a journalist. Complaining that Savages is not a good anthropology book is like complaining that Bill Bryson's A Walk in the Woods is not a good guide to hiking the Appalachian Trail. Kane follows the ethical rules of journalists not anthropologists. Had he been an anthropologist he likely would not have been given the access he had to their lives. The oil companies used people they called "anthropologists" to divide and control the various Huaorani groups and they have grown to deeply distrust anyone claiming to be an anthropologist.

The book isn't perfect, some parts get a little confusing and in other places we are left wanting more information but it is an enjoyable if not slightly disturbing read. The oil we consume daily has many prices and this book helps open our eyes to one of them. Kane talks not just to the Huaorani but also executives from the oil companies who sit behind their desks and claim that they follow the highest environmental standards. When Kane reveals to them that he has just come from their sites with almost unimaginable pollution they tell him they'll have to get back to him and have him escorted out of their office. Savages is a short book and does not answer all the questions the reader has about the subject but it is marvelous at opening eyes to a world we largely choose to ignore. ~Kirk

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Book Review: Life List

Last month my blog post, South Dakota Road Trip won a contest co-hosted by the Nature Blog Network and 10,000 birds.

The prize was a copy of Life List: A Woman's Quest for the World's Most Amazing Birds. The book came straight from the publisher and I immediately dove into it. I love books as much as birds.

The story chronicles the incredible birding career of Phoebe Snetsinger, the first person to have a life list with over 8,000 birds. It is so much more than that however. Phoebe was not just a lister, she was a world-class birder with a fascinating life story. Author Olivia Gentile pulls together the narrative of her life in a compelling story in which every birder is likely to see some aspect of themselves. We grow with Phoebe as she discovers birding as an escape from the drudgery and tedium of being a housewife. We see her blossom into a respected birder and we watch too as her obsession with birds takes a toll on her health, family life and some would even say her ability to make rational choices.

Since Phoebe went through so many stages as a birder, we can examine different styles of birding or listing as she goes on her journey. I am certainly not anywhere near the same class of birder as Phoebe was. In the grand scheme of the roughly 10,000 birds out there, my life list is a mere pittance. Reading about her quest though makes me happy to not be so fanatically caught up in listing. I enjoy listing and I love the thrill of a new lifer. However, I don't plan of letting my birding destroy my marriage or put me in the middle of war zones. Phoebe's incredible life journey at the extreme edge of birding gives the rest of us perspective. If she could go though all she went through to become what some would call the greatest birder of all time then maybe the rest of us mere mortals can survive a few more mosquitoes, a little more mud and a little longer hike.

One aspect of the book I found interesting was the repeated references to the Golden Age of birding. I have to admit that I haven't been engaged in the birding world all that long. I really started birding back in the winter of 2006. As I read the book, I found myself thinking that the Golden Age of birding didn't sound all that great. People died on poorly organized trips, there were few to no field guides for much of the world, optics weren't as good or as light as they are now, the internet didn't exist making it harder to get information on locations of birds, guides, etc. It seems the one thing the "Golden Age" had going for it was less habitat degradation but that can't be the only criteria. I was pleased to see similar thoughts from fellow blogger, The Drinking Bird. I was also pleased that author Olivia Gentile covered some of the same observations in the epilogue. It is far too easy to gloss over the past as some hallowed ground.

It would be easy as well to look at only the positive side of Phoebe Snetsinger's story. She blossomed as an individual as a birder, was diagnosed with a fatal melanoma, fought it off multiple times and devoted herself to living her life to the fullest though birding. There is a darker side to this story however and Olivia Gentile examines the cost Phoebe's quest took on her family, friends and her own happiness. I found the book fascinating and even my non-birder wife has asked to read it after I shared some passages with her.
Phoebe Snetsinger's life is an example to us all of how to be a top notch birder, a thoughtful friend, an adventurous and fearless traveler, an optimist but also her life has lessons for us all when it comes to moderation.

There are also some interesting social class issues raised by her story. She was the daughter of a wealthy ad man and had she not come from such a financially privileged place her story would likely have been much different. It is one thing to say you are going to live life to the fullest and see as many birds as possible. It is another thing completely to set such a goal when you have essentially unlimited financial resources. Life List: A Woman's Quest for the World's Most Amazing Birds, is an incredible personal story of struggle and journey as well as a history lesson on women's changing role in modern society. There is something in this book for every reader and I hope everyone has a chance to pick up a copy. ~Kirk

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Book Review: Wild America

With all the new books on the market it is easy to overlook a classic older text. For valentine's day many years ago, my wife scoured the shelves at a used book store and came up with a first printing of the 1953 classic, Wild America: The Record of a 30,000 Mile Journey Around the Continent by a Distinguished Naturalist and His British Colleague.

I was somehow unaware of this epic book and I didn't realize at first that the "distinguished American naturalist" was Roger Tory Peterson, as in The Peterson Field Guide to Birds. Who better to lead such an epic journey? I reviewed Return to Wild America last week so now I'll say a few words about the original.

Like a fine wine, this one gets even better with age. When it was originally published, it gave readers a look at their vast country. Now, it does that and more. It is also a look into America's past. The book opens with a transatlantic flight that stops in newfoundland because the constellation airplanes cannot make it all the way from London to Boston on one tank of fuel. Being from a different generation than Roger Tory Peterson and James Fisher, it gave me insight into what the country and wildlife were like in 1953.

From Newfoundland, the pair make their way down the eastern seaboard of the US all the way to Florida. They then loop around the Gulf of Mexico, into the interior of Mexico and up the pacific coast all the way to Alaska. The entire book is filled with a fascinating look at the wild spaces that make America such a treasure.

Along their route, the pair search for the Ivory Billed Woodpecker in the legendary singer track in Louisiana, smuggle bird study skins across the Mexico-US border under the hood of their car, visit the newly formed Salton sea, run out of gas in the middle of nowhere two to three times, glimpse the elusive California Condor, and cap their trip off with a trip to the Pribilof Islands in Alaska. The book is fun and full of stories any naturalist or bird watcher can appreciate. At one point, Peterson misidentifies a bird in the distance and Fisher suggests he check the Peterson Field Guide.

English naturalist, James Fisher in particular is a wonderful reminder to us as North Americans. He sees our land and animals with fresh eyes and reminds us how marvelous a Blue Jay is to the outsider. All too often, we become jaded by the natural world we see every day. The route these two naturalists charted back in 1953 is still famous today. By the end of the year, Peterson spotted 637 birds that year while Fisher returned to Europe and ballooned his one year tally to 718. Both were new records. Wild America was re-issued by Houghton Mifflin in 1997. If you haven't read this classic natural history narrative you are in for a treat.

~Kirk

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Book Review: Return to Wild America

Revisiting the landmark 1955 book, Wild America, written by Roger Tory Peterson and James Fisher would seem to be at once an exhilarating journey across both the continent and time but it is also a daunting task. Author Scott Weidensaul proves it to be both but also shows that he is up to the challenge in Return to Wild America: A Yearlong Search for the Continent's Natural Soul.

I’d personally love to take the challenge of following in their footsteps and take on the task of revisiting the sites they saw but I’d not do it lightly. Fisher and Peterson took on an epic 30,000 mile journey and wrote about it in details that have made generations of naturalists drool and turn into fiendish page turners into the wee hours of the night, eventually dreaming of far away places. Weidensaul has accomplished the same task. I spent many evenings tucked into a warm bed with dry arctic air cascading down from the north as I read with rapt attention about the changes that have occurred to the wild lands of our country.

Weidensaul doesn’t attempt to follow the exact course of the original book. Some of the locations no longer exist and time has shown that while they visited some spectacular locations, had they traveled a few miles away from their mapped locations, even greater treasures awaited. By following Peterson and Fishers general course but straying a bit from the path, Weidensaul is able to visit a few places unknown to Peterson and Fisher and he is able take a barometer reading on the true state of today’s Wild America.

The book is written beautifully with the same attention to detail that draws fellow naturalists into a rich landscape. When Weidensaul sits atop a rock outcropping on the Olympic peninsula listening to marmots whistle as they watch the same adult golden eagle he watches, his descriptive writing style makes us feel like we are right beside him taking part in both his experience and a discussion about the landscape.

Some nature writers record only the journey, some discuss only the land, some merely tally flora and fauna and some discuss only the philosophical meaning of what they see. Too often, natural history travelogue books focus on just one of these and they become tiring lists of species or read like a dry itinerary. Weidensaul has avoided all of these traps and seamlessly weaves together the history of the land, observations from the original Wild America book, descriptions of species and their habits as well as the stunning landscapes he explores along the journey. He also spices up his writing with a dry wit that brings together a tight package of writing that is sure to please.

While I enjoyed the book immensely, I do still find myself wondering about those places that Weidensaul didn’t visit on his re-created tour. That’s part of the magic of reading about all there is for a naturalist to see on our enormous continent. Like the naturalists before me, I’ll have to hop in the car, hope the gasoline holds out a few more miles and explore our wild America.

~Kirk

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