Product Description
Alfred Russel Wallace, the father of biogeography, discovered the flora and fauna of the South East Asian islands and the extraordinary way in which they are geographically distinct. In a lively historical narrative, Penny van Oosterzee tells the story of his achievement. His legacy is the Wallace Line, a faunal barrier separating the Asian from the Australian: monkeys from kangaroos, weaver birds from cockatoos, and pheasants from parrots. This invisible boundary and the difference between the species it divides catalyzed Wallace's theory of evolution and prodded Darwin to articulate his own theory.

In Where Worlds Collide, van Oosterzee follows Wallace's journeys through the islands of South East Asia. She draws on Wallace's natural history travelogue, The Malay Archipelago, a book he wrote after spending the years from 1854 to 1862 in Malaysia, Indonesia, and New Guinea. Explaining his theory and how it has been interpreted by biologists, van Oosterzee also re-creates Wallace's sense of excitement with his discoveries. She devotes a chapter to the diversity of butterfly wing patterns, for example, because Wallace was so enamored of them. ... Read more

Customer Reviews (4)

A Nearly Forgotten Titan
This book is rare find for those of us who aren't biologists (or zoologists, entemologists, etc.) but have often run across tantalizing snippets on Alfred Russel Wallace in other books.Granted, its writer, Penny van Oosterzee, is herself not a scientist, or at least makes no claim to be, but is nonetheless a pretty good story-teller - I found her island-by-island summary of the wildife of eastern Indonesia, and the extent to which the islands differ almost fantastically, to be one of the best parts of the book.

Given the extent to which scientists seem to treat differing opinions (or sometimes the same opinion expressed differently) as an excuse for language that in old Charleston would have immediately got them challenged to a duel, it is also pleasant to find out that Wallace and Darwin, now generally regarded as the twin fathers of evolutionary theory, not only got along well but even traded information, in spite of the fact that Darwin was usually in England and Wallace was usually in a reed hut somewhere in Indonesia.

The major drawback to the book, which kept me from giving it five stars, is that Ms. van Oosterzee suffers somewhat from a lack of focus, leaping from geo-zoology to plate tectonics to Wallace's own life to the eruption of Krakatau and back - it might have worked better had she devoted a chapter to each topic rather than jumping around so much.

Amateurish Overview with Horrendous Factual Errors
This is yet another book that was written to cash in on the name Wallace.
It is a basic, general overview of the fauna, flora and environment of the Indo-Malayan archipelago, relying heavily on quotes from Wallace's classic "The Malay Archipelago".
If you have never read anything better, you may find it interesting.

However, if you already know a little bit about this region, not to mention if you have been there yourself, several outrageous factual errors will hit the eye.
These are most obvious in the Epilogue, where the author enthusiastically describes her very limited "field-experience" in this region, and tries to add her own 2 cents' to the material gathered from books by others.
Reading that chapter, it also becomes obvious that her only first-hand experience in this region was taking a short cruise trip around the Moluccas. She barely stops even at those islands where her ship passed, yet is quick to make far-reaching conclusions.

On page 219:
"On the nearby Kai islands... my heart sank as I saw that coarse grass now dominates the hills that Wallace desribed as inexpressibly beautiful... No-one will know what biological treasures existed there."
Well, had she bothered to take a short boat trip from Tual, the capital of the Kai Islands, to the larger island of Kai Besar, she would have found forest and fauna largely intact. But if one only visits the major town on a smaller isle...

On page 218:
"Seram is perhaps the only place in South-East Asia where you can walk continuously through undisturbed lowland forest..."
For all the qualities of the relatively small island of Seram, there are far greater expanses of rainforest on the great islands of Sumatra, Borneo, etc.

On page 220, she claims:
"In Sarawak, where Wallace'collected his Orang-utans, no Orang-Utans exist any more."
Oh dear.
The orangutan is probably the single best-documented species in the entire region, and an estimated thousand of them are still found in Sarawak's Lanjak Entimau Wildlife Sanctuary and Batang Ai National Park (which I have visited myself). Being so far off the mark with such a well-known species will leave you wondering how correct the rest of her 'information' is...

Reading all this nonsense, I started looking for references to the qualifications of the author in the book.
I found no reference to any...

A clarion call for the biogeography of the Oriental Realm
According to S. J. Gould Wallace came second and Darwin came first.For those of us who have studied Wallace, the above (though qualified) observation represents a misaprehension.Darwin was the pioneer of the modern theory of evolution and Wallace was an equivalent pioneer of biogeography.

This book is a treat.It is that rare amalgamation ofbiography, the geologic history of the Malay archipelago and an account of the geology and biodiversity of the Malay archipelago with maximal interest to any biologist or anyone who has the slightest interest in the wildlife of Austro-Asia.

It goes into exquisite detail into the formation of endemic species on island communities and bemoans the lack of botanical exposure in most studies.It also has one or two spectacular maps of ancient SE Asia.More maps and diagrams would have aided the discussion about localities which are usually very obscure to most readers.

This book deserves to be talked about and will certainly benefit the wildlife and our appreciation of Wallace and that region in all facets.Thank you Penny.

Mesmerizing
Written in laymans terms, "Where Worlds Collide", is easy reading for all the scientific theories that are narratively explained in cronological order. Fascinating and informative, with a easy flow of eventsthat made this book very hard to put down. ... Read more

Product Description
Just Before the Origin presents the theory of evolution through natural selection as it was developed by Russel Wallace and published in several essays written from 1848 through 1858, before Darwin’s Origin of the Species in 1889. And yet, Russel Wallace is almost unknown.

John Langdon Brooks acts as a scientific detective as he reveals Wallace’s theories and compares the insights of both men in this fascinating study. ... Read more

Customer Reviews (4)

Interesting background, but an axe to grind
This is an interesting companion to reading Wallace in the original, and Brooks does a reasonably good job of portraying his subject, although more recent books e.g. Tim Severin's SPICE ISLANDS VOYAGE is perhaps more entertaining if more pop. More troubling is his almost personal vendetta against Charles Darwin, in which he sets out to "prove" that Darwin "stole" the idea of evolution by Natural Selection from Wallace -something that Wallace himself NEVER suggested or implied.After an exhaustive search through shipping company records & an examination of the postal service (one must admire Brooks' zeal if not his motive)he is essentially back where he started: personally convinced but with a lot of speculation & one-sided interpretations of material. The sad part of this ... is that a) it takes away from Wallace's enormous contributions in a wide range of areas -he is responsible for most of the foundations of modern Biogeography for instance- b) it implies a craven motive for Wallace's supposed silence-in-the-face-of-persecution (Does Brooks REALLY think that someone so feisty & outspoken as Wallace, who took on everything from land reform to vaccination, would simply cave in to "The Establishment" over a matter of priority? c) ignores the real scope of Darwin's scholarship & d) smacks of sensationalism. This is silly.Wallace was a marvellous man and a wonderful scientist.Enjoy the first parts of this book & consign Brooks' idle speculations to where they belong: ...

Darwin's and our debt to Wallace
The theory of evolution by natural selection is often thought of as being THE grand theory of biology. Where do revolutionary intellectual advances come from and how does the human community absorb them? Such questions are raised by the history of science and books like Just Before The Origin.

Is science the triumphant march of objective truth being revealed by noble seekers of the truth or is science polluted by human ambition just like any other human endeavor? Was Darwin the saintly seeker of the truth we learned about in school or a mere mortal? If he was a mere mortal, how did he achieve the great revolution in evolutionary thought?

Extraordinary ideas must be rooted in extraordinary human experiences. We are taught that Darwin was the prepared mind in the right place at the right time, that his voyage around the world opened his eyes to patterns in the geographical variations in the diversity of life. If so, why did so many years pass between his voyage and the publication of his ideas on evolution? Might it be important that in science, as in all of life, it is not just what you know but who your friends are?

The conventional rationalization for Darwin's delay in publishing on natural selection is multi-fold. First, it seems likely that Darwin feared the very nature of his discovery. He could well imagine the outrage that would be stimulated by any theory that finally toppled the Judeo-Christian view of man as having been created by God in His image. Second, because of that fear, Darwin felt compelled to marshal a large amount of supporting data, enough to ensure that announcement of his theory would be decisive and able to withstand all resistance.

There is third component to the conventional story that seems to explain what finally ended Darwin's dithering over the theory. Alfred Wallace was ready to publish his own version of the theory based on his own extensive observations as a naturalist.

John Langdon's analysis of Wallace's work suggests a variation on the standard theme. What if Darwin's main reason for delay in publication was personal dissatisfaction with his theory, not dissatisfaction with the amount or quality of supporting evidence? What if it was Wallace's more extensive data set that provided the basis for the key idea that finally overcame Darwin's own lack of faith in the theory of natural selection, finally allowing Darwin the courage to publish? And what if Darwin never admitted this critical role of Wallace's work?

Since the dawn of Western Science, research proposals and manuscripts have been submitted to respected scientific peers in order that well considered decisions can be made about the support of research and the publication of new ideas. Most agree that it is wrong for a senior scientist to read the ideas of a young scientist, appropriate those ideas and exploit them, while at the same time rejecting the requests of the young scientist for support or publication of completed work. And yet, scientists are only human. What if you have worked on a problem for 20 years, for many years feeling on the verge of a breakthrough, then one sad day you realize that some young upstart has reached the finish line before you? This is the most delicate question raised by Langdon's book. What did Darwin do when confronted with this situation?

In our society, science is a source of fame, wealth, and power. Those who wield this power defend the existing system. If a few eggs get broken, a few Wallaces get handed the dirty end of the stick, well, that's life. Its a dog eat dog world out there, and only the fittest can be expected to survive. Such is the standard view. But life is change. What is the origin of change? Even a mighty dinosaur might be replaced by a small mouse. Listen for a squeaking sound coming Just Before The Origin.

Very Good
This book is thorough and very interesting. I recommend it.

detective work history of science
Brooks' object in this book was twofold.First, he wanted to provide a thorough review of the early influences on Wallace that led him to the theory of natural selection.Second, he wished to investigate the possibility that Charles Darwin may have stolen some of Wallace's ideas to complete his "On the Origin of Species."Brooks has been criticized some in the first regard for not thoroughly investigating external influences on Wallace, but I personally feel this hurts the book relatively little.I am more concerned about the second emphasis.While Brooks does a very good job of marshalling all available evidence to make his point, he is not really successful (that is to say, convincing) in doing so; moreover, my personal slant on this is that Wallace had so much that was interesting to say in his own right that the matter of the Darwin-Wallace affair is more of a distraction than anything else.Nevertheless, the book is well worth reading, either by professionals within the field of history of science or evolutionary biology, or by the educated layperson interested in natural history and how science manages to proceed, sometimes in spite of itself. ... Read more

Product Description
The Indonesian archipelago is a land of timeless natural beauty that in the twenty-first century faces unprecedented environmental degradation. It was also the biological laboratory of Alfred Russel Wallace, who, working independently of Charles Darwin, discovered the theory of evolution by natural selection.Wallace, who traveled for eight years in the archipelago, was one of the greatest field naturalists and nature writers of his century. No one was more skilled in observing and describing living things. A prodigious collector, he was the first to bring living birds of paradise to the West. And he was a great thinker, a theorist as formidable as any on earth. This magnificent account of a true explorer sweeps from the time of Wallace's nineteenth-century discoveries in biogeography to the looming biodiversity crisis of the twenty-first centuryfrom the exploration of natural wonders to the exploitation of natural resources. The result is a history that powerfully portrays the intricate connections of human life and natural life.This unique story, published by the University of California Press in cooperation with The Nature Conservancy, is resplendently presented with maps, archival materials, and more than 200 color photographs.Amazon.com Review
In the mid-1850s, a young English naturalist named Alfred Russel Wallacejourneyed to the Malay Archipelago, where he would spend eight years inwhat he later called "the central and controlling incident" of his life.Collecting data on the plant and animal life of the then-remote islands,Wallace slowly formulated ideas of the origins and divergence of species.In 1858, he sent a manuscript containing some of those ideas to CharlesDarwin, who incorporated Wallace's work in his theory of naturalselection--and who, some critics have charged, appropriated many ofWallace's discoveries as his own.

In this richly illustrated book, historian Gavan Daws and biologist MartyFujita follow Wallace's trail through the islands of Indonesia, visitingthe Moluccas, Bali, Irian Jaya, and other extraordinary treasuries ofbiological diversity--for, as they point out, although Indonesia comprisesonly 1.3 percent of the world's surface, it harbors nearly a quarter of theworld's species. Their naturalistic travelogue includes a carefuldiscussion of Wallace's ideas and of how he came to hold them through thecourse of his remarkable body of fieldwork. In doing so, they emphasize theimportance of Wallace's contributions to demographics, the theory of islandbiodiversity, and other tenets of modern biological thought. The result isan unusually instructive, and unusually handsome, book of scientificadventure. --Gregory McNamee ... Read more

Customer Reviews (5)

The greatest treasures of the Indies
The greatest variety of living things in the world inhabits the 17,500 islands and million square miles of ocean in the East Indies.
In "Archipelago," Effendy Sumardja, Indonesia's hard-pressed minister of environment, claims 15 to 25% of all the species in the world. That includes 7,000 kinds of fish -- about 10 times as many as in Hawaii. More than 6,000 plant and animal species are "used on a daily basis."
And in danger of being used up, which is why the Nature Conservancy sponsored this book, written by historian Gavan Daws, who wrote the Nature Conservancy's "Hawaii: The Islands of Life"; and Marty Fujita, a Smithsonian Institution researcher and founder of the Nature Conservancy Indonesia Program.
Many of those species are found nowhere else in the world. And many, like the clouded leopard, are found only in small parts of the thousand-mile-long sweep of islands.
That fact provides a springboard for the authors to place Indonesia in its proper context, both in today's politics and in the history of natural history. Indonesia is bisected by Wallace's Line, the first boundary ever recognized as dividing two "biogeographical provinces."
Most of the islands were connected to a continent at times of lower sea levels, the western part attached to Asia, the eastern part to Australia.
There is deep water between, and many species could not bridge it. On the west, there are monkeys. On the east, tree kangaroos, which lives much as monkeys do.
The man who recognized the concept of biogeographical provinces, Alfred Russel Wallace, had a happy, lucky life. And it is his account of eight years of collecting in the East Indies, 1856-62, that forms the framework of "Archipelago."
Lucky because he lived: There was no more dangerous job for a European in the 19th century than natural history collecting in the tropics. Wallace was sick a lot, but he survived for years in the Amazon and even more years in the East Indies.
Lucky also because he was most interested in animals, particularly birds, butterflies and mammals. Fujita and Daws note that Wallace's "line" is much less apparent if you are counting plants.
If Wallace had not thought up the concept of evolution by natural selection (which he did during a malarial fever, which he said induced his best thinking), then Charles Darwin had already done it. But the concept of biogeographical provinces was his alone, and it has become more and more valuable in natural history research over the years.
A lovable person, though not fond of society, he represents better than any other individual remembered by history the virtues that Victorian men were supposed to embody: He was amiable, scrupulously honest and very, very diligent. Among other things, he wrote 50 books.
To his even greater credit, he also lacked the color prejudice that infected most everybody in those days.
For him, growing up poor, Victoria's age was one of opportunity. Collectors wanted rarities and would pay for them. Wallace took his guns and insect pins to the places that had the rarest of the rare.
In the Indies, he particularly wanted birds of paradise and orangutans. It was tough work. He was often sick, in danger on the sea and sometimes starving. At one point, he ate the pigeons whose skins he prepared to send back to his broker in London.
"Collecting, travel, wide reading, deep thought, solitude -- this was the Wallace formula for a life of original, productive work," write Daws and Fujita.
Today, in an atmosphere of political uncertainty, 206 million Indonesians are pressing hard on their natural heritage. Forests of 300-foot-tall dipterocarp trees are being clearcut, farmers shift from slash-and-burn to permanent cultivation, dynamiters blow up reefs for fish.
Like other Nature Conservancy books, "Archipelago" is a call to action, this time disguised as a coffee table book filled with photographs of butterflies with seven-inch wings, unbelievably decorated birds of paradise and incomparably colorful reefs.

Magnificent book!
The books goes through all the major parts of Indonesia and shows plenty of well-selected pictures of amazing flora and fauna of the archipelago. Pictures are 70% of the book, but it also provides a good scientific description of how the archipelago formed (10% of the book), explaining how so unique species developed and survived untouched. Around 10% of the book is devoted to the explorers, like Wallace, who first discovered the uniquness of the islands and tried scientifically describe what they found - some early maps of the region and pictures of explorers are presented. Last 10% expresses the concerns about the impact of the modern Indonesia on the nature of the region. Book is published by UC Berkeley/LA, which can only be a further recommendation.

pleasing eye candy and substance
Archipelago is an excellent book on several levels. First, as a photo essay of the biota of the Indonesian islands it must be beyond compare.The photos are simply awesome, leaf through it and see for yourself.Second, it tells the story of one of the worlds least known but greatest scientists, Alfred Wallace.Wallace was just as responsible for developing the theory of evolution through natural selection as Charles Darwin.If you are interested in the history of science or a biology student at any level you should be aware of Wallace's work.This is as good a book to learn about it as any.One slight complaint, in reading this book I felt that the authors felt that Wallace received a raw deal from Darwin and the rest of the scientific community.I don't know if it's true or if the truth will ever be known.I know that Wallace didn't feel that way so why include it here?Third, this book is so much a trip through time.Each chapter on Wallace in the islands is mixed with modern essays on life in the islands and what is happening to the environment there.As an environmentalist "call to arms" it is great, because it is backed by better science through a broader range of disciplines than any I have seen.

I'm not a big fan of the "Coffee Table Book" but this is an exception.While it might be tempting to only look at the pictures, the text is in such a interesting format that reading it turns out to be such a breeze that you will be done before you notice.

a very special and threatened place
this is a great book.It covers in detail the jouneys of that great explorer/naturalist/thinker Alfred E. Wallace through Indonesia and addresses the current state of affairs and threats to its natural treasures.

Tropical splendor and historical significance.
This beautiful coffee table book goes far beyond presenting the tropical and exotic beauty of this complex archipelago.True, outstanding photos highlight the natural splendor, rich culture and exotic architecture.But the authors also explore its historical significance, beginning with Wallace's 19th century discoveries in biogeography, continuing through the current, looming ecological crisis wrought by exploitation of the islands' natural resources.For those who have traveled to Indonesia, or have ever wished to, this book is a must. ... Read more