| View Larger Image | A Gap in Nature: Discovering the World's Extinct Animals | Hardcoverby Tim Flannery (Author), Peter Schouten (Illustrator)
| List Price: | $34.95 | | Price: | $23.07 | | You Save: | $11.88 (34%) | | | Available: | Usually ships in 24 hours |
| | Binding: | Hardcover | | Publisher: | Atlantic Monthly Press | | Page Count: | 192 Pages | | Publication Date: | October 07, 2001 | | Sales Rank: | 64,706th |
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FEATURES | - ISBN13: 9780871137975
- Condition: NEW
- Notes: Brand New from Publisher. No Remainder Mark.
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EDITORIAL REVIEWS |
Product Description
Since humans first wandered from their original habitat in Africa, over fifty millennia ago, they have radically altered the environment wherever they have gone, often at the cost of the animals who'd ruled the wild before mankind's arrival. Humanity's spread throughout the globe has begotten what paleontologist Richard Leakey has termed the "sixth age of extinction" -- the most deadly epoch the planet's fauna have seen since the demise of the dinosaurs. And in the last five hundred years, since the dawn of the age of exploration, this rate of extinction has accelerated ever more rapidly. In A Gap in Nature, scientist and historian Tim Flannery, in collaboration with internationally acclaimed wildlife artist Peter Schouten, catalogs 104 creatures that have vanished from the face of the earth since 1492. From the tiny Carolina parakeet to the majestic Steller's sea cow, which was over twenty-five feet long and weighed ten tons, all of these animals have become extinct as a direct result of the European expansion into every corner of the globe. Flannery evocatively tells the story of each animal: how it lived and how it succumbed to its terrible destiny. Accompanying each account is a beautiful color representation (life-size in the original painting) by Schouten, who has devoted years of his life to this extraordinary project. Animals from every continent are represented -- American passenger pigeons, Tasmanian wolves, and African blaauwboks -- in this homage to a lost Eden. This extraordinary book is at once a lament for the lost animals of the world and an ark to house them forever in human memory. |
CUSTOMER REVIEWS (Average Customer Rating: 4.5 based on 21 reviews)
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A Gap in Nature by S. Becker (Vancouver, WA USA)  5 Stars
October 29, 2009
This is the most beautiful, heartbreaking book that I have ever read. There are well-researched paragraphs about the animals, explaining their history and date of extinction, and each has a truly lovely picture. Several of the animals are very unusual and obscure, and are often ignored in other books about extinct species. I can't say enough good things about the pictures, which are done with stunning detail and love, in lifelike poses.
My only nitpick is that there is almost an overabundance of birds, and very few predators.
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Extinction--Nature's way of telling man to slow down. by J. Guild (Toronto,Canada) 5 Stars
July 05, 2009
This is anexcellent way of telling us what extinction of Animals is really all about. I read somewhere that of all the animals species that ever existed,about 97% are now extinct.Be that as it may,it was natural causes for these extinctions and over untold millions of years.What this book deals with is the extinction of animals over only several hundreds of years that have been caused by mankind. Here we see the beautiful images of some of the magnificient creatures,albiet only a few of them, that we now only know what they looked like and how they lived.
Extinction is not only a great loss--it is forever;and we will never know of the great losses in science and medicine that the losses of these animals really represent.
Has mankind really learned ? That question really remains unanswered as the extinction of Animals still occurs.
A few years ago ,as a member of the Toronto Ornithological Club,I was priveliged to go into the back rooms of The Royal Ontario Museum,and view specimens of three species of Extinct birds discussed in this book;The Great Auk,The Labrador Duck and the Passenger Pigeon. Also ,at the same time ,we were able to view The Ivory-billed Woodpecker and The Eskimo Curlew. What great losses and in such a short time period.
While excellently presented ,and by no means a complete picture,the book shows what lies ahead in the extinction of animals;if our ways are not changed.These were all alive a few hundred years ago and are now gone forever;what the reader should wonder is,how many more will join them in the future.
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A Beautiful and Indispensable Resource by Lisa Miller (Simi Valley, CA USA) 5 Stars
May 13, 2009
I've been doing research on animals that have gone extinct since European exploration and colonization in the Americas. It is nearly impossible to find descriptions and illustrations for many extinct animals let alone find the two in the same place. Tim Flannery and Peter Shouten have travelled all over the world, examined museum and collection specimens, collected writings and oral descriptions, and compiled them into text and beautiful illustrations depicting these lost animals. This book is amazing-from the breathtaking illustrations to the excerpts from letters discussing first-hand encounters with wildlife that is now lost. I can only hope these guys will continue their research and publish another book.
This book is a must have for the wildlife enthusiast, the teacher, and children.
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We hardly knew ye by D. J. Nardi (Washington, DC)  4 Stars
March 22, 2009
This book is definitely a wakeup call to the fact that humans have and are causing the extinction of animals. The
beautiful paintings by Schouten portray what we have lost in a way not possible by text or statistics. Some birds, such as the Molokai 'O'o and Red-moustached Fruit-dove, may sound just like regular birds, but the paintings bring out their brilliant colors and unique shapes.
I don't think the pictures are quite as good or exciting as Schouten's newer book, "Feathered Dinosaurs", but perhaps that is unfair comparison. First, dinosaurs are simply more exciting. Second, we have little idea what feathered dinosaurs looked like, but we can afford to be more critical with representations of the Tasmanian Wolf. Regardless, the paintings are still wonderful and thought-provoking.
Another issue: the authors only include mammals, birds, and reptiles. They provide their reasons for doing so. Flannery also limits those included in the book to animals for which they have reliable drawings or descriptions. However, this excludes the Golden Toad. Thus, the majority of animals in the book are small birds and mammals, not megafauna or marine animals.
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Excellent, though a little short by Arce Santiago Cruz (Buenos Aires, Argentina) 4 Stars
February 28, 2008
I'm enjoying the reading very much. But a little disappointed because I expected many more animals. It's completely understandable that the authors decided to write only on the species they chose. Also is very disappointing the lack of data about the extinct species, although it's not to blame on the authors, who made a comprehensive research.
The fact that the authors have chosen to write and draw only on those animals which they could find preserved guarantees great quality and accuracy reproduction. But I think it could be expanded in another book which dates back to the first migrations, or at least the lapse of writen history. Of course, there will be even less biologic data, and reproductions will be based on bones and semi-fossils, but it would have an even bigger impact.
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