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Title: The Future Eaters: An Ecological History of the Australian Lands and People by Tim F. Flannery, Tim Flannery ISBN: 0-8021-3943-4 Publisher: Grove Press Pub. Date: 01 November, 2002 Format: Paperback Volumes: 1 List Price(USD): $16.00 |
Average Customer Rating: 4.73 (15 reviews)
Rating: 5
Summary: The insatiable predator
Comment: With a sweeping gesture, Flannery dispels one of modern mythology's most cherished ideals. The image of the "Noble Savage," living intimately and in harmony with his surroundings is demolished by the evidence. Instead, Flannery shows how the intrusions of humans into previously unoccupied lands led to mass slaughters and the extinctions of countless species. His study covers the vast territories of the South Pacific - continents, large islands and archipeligoes - examining geology, weather and climate, flora and fauna. After completing this book, you will have a new view of our ancestors and how humanity has viewed nature.
In describing how humans have revised the face of the globe, Flannery begins in deep time. Tracing the breakup of Gondwanaland into what he deems Meganesia and Tasmantis - Australasia and the Pacific islands. For millions of years, life there evolved in unique ways. Isolated from the rest of the planet, Australia produced large marsupial mammals and giant bird species. Why did they disappear without apparent cause? After an examination of the likely candidates, climate being the most frequently cited, Flannery finds a different cause - humans. Fossils in Australia show that the large animals disappeared before the onset of the last glaciation. The extinctions, however, parallel the invasion of the continent by humans, people now known as the Aborigines. In one sense, the loss of the large animals forced the invaders to adapt a less predatory lifestyle. Mobility increased along with more selective hunting practices to maintain sustainable levels of supply. In studying these techniques, Flannery is able to move on to the subject of land management in today's world.
Although Australia's evolutionary path was unique, the lessons derived from studying events there may be applied globally, according to Flannery. Adaptation is an ongoing process, whether for "wildlife" or "civilized" humanity. Change forces that process. He aknowledges that in recent times change is more rapid and intrusive. We need to understand what impact those changes have and what, if any, adaptations are taking place. This book thus becomes and educational tool to help protect our own future. It is his recommendations for action that makes this book far more valuable than as simply a study of extinctions.
Flannery's many years of field studies granted him the essential background for this book. However, it isn't simply a dreary recounting of how we've ravaged the globe. His sense of beauty and love of life is vividly imparted in a deep personal sense. You join him in his travels in New Zealand, New Guinea and other Australasian lands. His fine descriptive powers and detailed knowledge combine to make this an excellent read. [stephen a. haines - Ottawa, Canada]
Rating: 5
Summary: Fascinating Journey Through Tasmantis and Meganesia!
Comment: Dr. Flannery takes the reader on a fascinating journey through time in Australia, New Guinea, New Zealand and New Caledonia. This book is about the flora and fauna of these regions, their evolutionary relationships, and the role man has played in their shapeing and disrupting. I found surprisingly good information about the Gondwana origin of the flora. The chapter about New Caledonia was great - who ever hears anything about New Caledonia? It has a fascinating ecosystem based on an ancient flora shaped by poor, toxic-metals rich soils and, like the rest of 'Tasmantis,' an historical lack of mammals, where birds and reptiles filled ecological niches more usually held by mammals. The same sort of thing (but with fertile soils) happened in New Zealand, with the moas acting like more familiar large mammal herbivores and small birds acting like mice! Did you know that there are living trees in New Zealand that were probably actually grazed upon by moas? Learn about the magnificent vanished mammal fauna of Australia and how it used and adapted to a difficult environment. Enter humans; watch them hunt, and modify the environment with fire, with both intended and unintended consequences. Then the Europeans came and tried to turn Australia into a southern English countryside; they didn't understand why this didn't work, was disasterous, in fact. Dr Flannery ends the book with musings about the future of mankind in the environment, with lessons from the region that are applicable to all of us and especially to his fellow Australians. Makes one think about some hard questions.
Rating: 4
Summary: the book should be judged--not the writer
Comment: As a reader who admires good writing, and the effort that goes into writing a decent (popularized) account of a field, I take exception to the New Zealand reviewer's gossip of the author as a basis for judging the merit of this book.
Frankly, what "the Lady" with the goods on Tim Flannery had to say about the author is irrelevant to the book and a nasty way of going about discrediting a man who has solid claims to the field he is writing about. It says more about the woman than it does about Mr Flannery. That envy and backbiting is a seemingly inevitable consequence of competition among researchers (whether in the sciences or the humanities) is bad enough; that it gets passed on by readers who take vicious gossip at face value just shows how ideas are less important than the "dirt" one can spread.
Perhaps the previous reader can take the time to look up "ad hominem" and then consider the motives of the lady who claimed special privileged knowledge. The consider his own standards of judgment.
As for the book itself, the reviews already written give a good indication of what you get.
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Title: The Eternal Frontier: An Ecological History of North America and Its Peoples by Tim Flannery ISBN: 0802138888 Publisher: Grove Press Pub. Date: 01 May, 2002 List Price(USD): $16.00 |
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Title: Throwim' Way Leg: Tree-Kangaroos, Possums, and Penis Gourds by Tim F. Flannery, Tim Flannery ISBN: 0802136656 Publisher: Grove Press Pub. Date: March, 2000 List Price(USD): $14.00 |
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Title: Australian Wildlife by James Kavanagh ISBN: 1583550356 Publisher: Waterford Press Pub. Date: 01 January, 2001 List Price(USD): $5.95 |
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Title: The Explorers: Stories of Discovery and Adventure from the Australian Frontier by Tim F. Flannery ISBN: 0802137199 Publisher: Grove Press Pub. Date: 30 October, 2000 List Price(USD): $14.00 |
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Title: A Concise History of Australia by Stuart Macintyre ISBN: 0521625777 Publisher: Cambridge University Press Pub. Date: January, 2000 List Price(USD): $21.00 |
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