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Archipelago : Islands of Indonesia | 
 enlarge | Authors: Gavan Daws, Marty Fujita
Publisher: University of California Press
Category: Book
List Price: $55.00
Buy Used: $6.72
You Save: $48.28 (88%)
Rating:  5 reviews
Sales Rank: 955303
Media: Hardcover
Edition: 1
Pages: 266
Number Of Items: 1
Shipping Weight (lbs): 4
Dimensions (in): 10.6 x 10.2 x 1.1
ISBN: 0520215761
Dewey Decimal Number: 508.598
EAN: 9780520215764
ASIN: 0520215761
Publication Date: November 23, 1999
Availability: Usually ships in 1-2 business days
Shipping: Expedited shipping available
Shipping: International shipping available
Condition: 1999 Hardcover. Orders usually ship on or before next business day. May have highlighting. We send best copy available.
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| Editorial Reviews:
Amazon.com
In the mid-1850s, a young English naturalist named Alfred Russel Wallace journeyed to the Malay Archipelago, where he would spend eight years in what 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 Charles Darwin, who incorporated Wallace's work in his theory of natural selection--and who, some critics have charged, appropriated many of Wallace's discoveries as his own. In this richly illustrated book, historian Gavan Daws and biologist Marty Fujita follow Wallace's trail through the islands of Indonesia, visiting the Moluccas, Bali, Irian Jaya, and other extraordinary treasuries of biological diversity--for, as they point out, although Indonesia comprises only 1.3 percent of the world's surface, it harbors nearly a quarter of the world's species. Their naturalistic travelogue includes a careful discussion of Wallace's ideas and of how he came to hold them through the course of his remarkable body of fieldwork. In doing so, they emphasize the importance of Wallace's contributions to demographics, the theory of island biodiversity, and other tenets of modern biological thought. The result is an unusually instructive, and unusually handsome, book of scientific adventure. --Gregory McNamee
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 century--from 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.
A portion of the proceeds from this book will go toward conservation efforts in Indonesia
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| Customer Reviews:
The greatest treasures of the Indies September 1, 2008
Harry Eagar (Maui)
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! July 27, 2005
M. Cwikiewicz (Warsaw, Poland)
2 out of 2 found this review helpful
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 October 6, 2002
Currahee (South Mississippi)
7 out of 7 found this review helpful
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 September 18, 2001
Chris Collins (Riverside, Ca. United States)
1 out of 2 found this review helpful
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. October 28, 2000
8 out of 8 found this review helpful
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.
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