Book
A window on eternity : a biologist's walk through Gorongosa National Park / Edward O. Wilson ; photographs by Piotr Naskrecki.
Record details
- ISBN: 9781476747415 (hardcover) :
- Physical Description: xix, 149 pages : colour illustrations, colour maps ; 24cm. + 1 video recording (DVD) (sound, colour ; digital ; 4 3/4 inch disc).
- Edition: First Simon & Schuster hardcover edition.
- Publisher: New York : Simon & Schuster, p2014.
Content descriptions
| General Note: | Maps of Gorongosa National Park and Mozambique on end papers. DVD 206 AVAILABLE AT FRONT COUNTER |
| Bibliography, etc. Note: | Includes bibliographical references (p. 145) and index. |
| Formatted Contents Note: | Prologue: The Search for Eternity -- The Sacred Mountain of Mozambique -- Once There Were Giants -- War and Redemption -- Dung and Blood -- The Twenty-Foot Crocodile -- The Elephant Whisperer -- The House of Spiders -- The Clash of Insect Civilizations -- The Log of an Entomological Expedition -- The Struggle for Existence -- The Conservation of Eternity. |
| Restrictions on Access Note: | DVD CANNOT BE CIRCULATED WITHOUT BOOK MPLP LICENSED FOR HOME USE ONLY |
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Available copies
- 6 of 6 copies available at BC Interlibrary Connect. (Show)
- 1 of 1 copy available at Sechelt/Gibsons.
- 1 of 1 copy available at Sechelt Public Library. (Show preferred library)
Holds
- 0 current holds with 6 total copies.
| Location | Call Number / Copy Notes | Barcode | Shelving Location | Holdable? | Status | Due Date |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Sechelt Public Library | 916/.79 WILS (Text) | 3326000306072 | Nonfiction | Volume hold | Available | - |
- Booklist Reviews : Booklist Reviews 2014 February #2
*Starred Review* A man of towering achievements, biologist and Pulitzer Prize winner Wilson (Letters to a Young Scientist, 2013) is still happiest in the field, alert to new discoveries. In his latest book, this inspiring teacher and clarion voice of reason and wonder, compassion and realism turns his exploration of Mozambique's Gorongosa National Park in search of "previously little-known insect fauna" into a walking seminar on the grand and complex web of life and how human activity imperils it. Damaged by a brutal civil war, poverty, deforestation, and poaching, Gorongosa, a place of caves, ravines, rain forests, and mountains, is now being restored, thanks to the government's innovative partnership with American philanthropist Gregory Carr. Fascinated by the region's natural and human history, Wilson conducts Gorongosa's first "bioblitz," in which local children and adults count wildlife species, and revels in his own encounters. He explains why "Africa needs its elephants" and celebrates all the "little things that run the world," including his specialty, ants, and mound-building termites. Profoundly knowledgeable and passionately appreciative of the beauty and ferocity of life and its finely calibrated and vulnerable equilibrium, Wilson calls for more "inviolate nature reserves" around the world because wildlands "maintain the stability" of the biosphere, and nature "is the birthright of everyone on Earth." Copyright 2014 Booklist Reviews. - Kirkus Reviews : Kirkus Reviews 2014 March #1
The rebirth of a premier nature reserve in Mozambique, recounted in a gentle storytelling style by noted Harvard entomologist Wilson (Letters to a Young Scientist, 2013, etc.). Gorongosa National Park has only in the last two decades emerged from a hellacious civil war. Wilson provides a vest-pocket history of the conflict and pays due respect to those who were killed or devastated by the violence. However, the author was in the park on other business: to witness the slow recuperation of the parkland at the hands of the philanthropist Gregory Carr in conjunction with the people of the region. This is virgin territory for biologistsâmuch of the park is inaccessible except by airâand Wilson's excitement is evident on every page, most of which are peppered with spectacular photographs of fauna and flora. The author takes his time in describing inselbergs, caves, limestone ridges, deep ravines, the yellow trunks of fever trees, the parasols of palms, savannah and grasslandâa wonder of habitats and an absolute treasure of biodiversity. Taking nothing for granted, Wilson walks readers through evolutionary theoryâheredity divergence, mother and daughter species, speciation, adaptive radiation, and the long, strange trip of our speciesâand then treats them to a logbook of how fieldwork is conducted. His voice is soft, cheerful and full of confidence: If this type of reclamation work can be done in such a ravaged and remote region, think of the possibilities for turning around grotesquely polluted sites all over the world. Wilson is both a hardheaded naturalist and a dreamer: "[T]he beauty and drama and other emotions that brought me to Mozambique and this velvetberry bush were entirely in my own head." A big story about a small place with an ageless appreciation and discernment it would be criminal to ignore. Copyright Kirkus 2014 Kirkus/BPI Communications.All rights reserved. - Library Journal Reviews : LJ Reviews 2013 November #1
Two-time Pulitzer Prize winner and distinguished scientist Wilson takes us to Mozambique's Gorongosa National Park for a story at once devastating and hopeful. The 1,500 square mile park, once a rich patch of land packed with animals large and small, was nearly destroyed by the 1978â92 civil war, which gutted the ecosystem and wiped out 90 percent of some large animal populations. But the park is now approaching its former glory owing to the conservation efforts of an American entrepreneur. Wilson uses this story to clarify the importance of biodiversity. With 50 four-color photographs and a crucial message.
[Page 69]. (c) Copyright 2013. Library Journals LLC, a wholly owned subsidiary of Media Source, Inc. No redistribution permitted. - Publishers Weekly Reviews : PW Reviews 2014 February #2
Wilson (Letters to a Young Scientist) presents a lyrical ode to biodiversity within the framework of a memoir of his work in Mozambique's Gorongosa National Park, helping to rebuild it from the loss of nearly all of its megafauna as it was neglected, repurposed as a battleground, and destroyed by poachers during the 16-year civil war. Wilson speaks with passion throughout, whether decoding evidence of our ancestors in Africa, expressing admiration of his professional peers, detailing the joy of everyday people cataloguing bugs in a "bioblitz," diving into the details of eternal ant wars, or simply describing the preserve's beauty with just the right amount of sentimentality. Nasrecki's lush landscapes, elephant and primate portraits, and bright, strangely charismatic insect close-ups enliven every spread, making this volume's visual content as remarkable as the stories. With the success of the Gorongosa project as his example, Wilson makes a persuasive plea for reserving large areas of the Earth as sanctuaries for not only the big predators, but for the tiny species, too numerous to even have been documented, that live in micro-niches in our wildest areas. Color photos. (May)
[Page ]. Copyright 2014 PWxyz LLC
