david quammen fans check in here, please.......

[Gato Moteado]

i discovered quammen in the 80s and read his book "natural acts", which is a collection of short natural history articles of his that had been published elewhere (mainly "outside" magazine).

i'd like to hear from other quammen fans to find out what other authors in the genre you like.

[blindpig]

1. have you read Song of the Dodo?

One of my favorite reads in the past 10 years. It is a tour de force of island zoo-geography, biodiversity and the Great Extinction that our species has initiated. He's a super popular writer of science with a soft spot for herpetologist and the objects of their study.(OK, so I'm prejudiced.)

For environmentally inclined fiction I'd strongly suggest Carl Haiisen, not terribly heavy but lots of fun. His love of natural Florida is matched by the vengeance visited upon crooked pols, developers and other enablers of environmental destruction in his books. Skink lives!

on edit: by David Quammen

[bemildred]

2. Yes, if you have to pick one of his books, that's the one.

Although there are plenty of others.

[Gato Moteado]

3. yeah, i read song of the dodo

he's an unbelievably great writer, sort of a chilled out version of stephen j gould.

gould is great, but a bit heavy for some folks. personally, he's one of my faves...."bully for brontosaurus" is a fascinating collection of articles. he probably deserves his own thread here.

[blindpig]

5. love Gould

It's a Wonderful Life is my favorite. The theory of punctuated equilibrium is one of the most important tools for understanding evolution since continental drift. Knocks the shit out of creation "science" too.

[DemBones DemBones]

4. Me! Me! Oh, wow, David Quammen fans!

Well, a few fans, at least. My copies of "Flight of the Iguana" and "Natural Acts" are quite well-read. "Boilerplate Rhino" was rather disappointing in comparison, alas, and I haven't gotten around to "Dodo" as it is so long and hence the type so small.

My favorite of all his short pieces is "Has Success Spoiled the Crow?" which can be read online (I don't know the URL; just google.)

You've probably read Lewis Thomas and Stephen Jay Gould but what about Jonathan Weiner's "Beak of the Finch"? If you have any interest in sociobiology, or ants, or ecology, you should read a lot of E.O. Wilson, but even if you don't, you should read his autobiography, "Naturalist."

Nobody is quite like Quammen, though!