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Dead Serious

Wild Hope Amid the Sixth Extinction

ebook
2 of 2 copies available
2 of 2 copies available
FOREWORD INDIES BRONZE WINNER, ECOLOGY & ENVIRONMENT
"Diverting descriptions of flora and fauna lead into captivating lessons about biological principles, all of which are embellished with humor. A rousing read."
FOREWORD REVIEWS
Through personal stories of mishap and adventure, historical vignettes, and scenic detours
, professor Eli J. Knapp dissects eighteen critical forces that lie behind the earth's sixth extinction. Drawing from experiences across the globe, Knapp peeks into odd and overlooked corners of natural history, showing how ocean–going tortoises and ghost deer can both instruct and inspire. Full of humor, hope, and self–effacing scientific savvy, Knapp's exploration of our home planet provides welcome respite in a deadly serious subject.
ELI J. KNAPP, PhD, has had a fascination with wildlife ever since obsessively counting deer on his bus rides to school as a kid. His wildlife interests have put him into kayaks, hot air balloons, dilapidated land rovers, and many pairs of hiking boots in search of new species and experiences. When not watching birds, Eli teaches courses in conservation biology, wildlife behavior, human ecology, and Swahili at Houghton College in western New York, where he is a tenured professor of intercultural studies and biology. His research interests spawn out of a three–year stint living in Serengeti National Park, where he studied the coexistence of people and wildlife around protected areas. Eli now enjoys sharing nature with his wife and three children, and has chronicled his adventures in The Delightful Horror of Family Birding: Sharing Nature with the Next Generation.
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    • Booklist

      August 1, 2021
      In 1983, ecologist Michael Soul� created a list of 18 conditions that predict a species is headed for extinction. Ever heard of him? Most people haven't, except for self-professed nature nerds like the author of this collection of rambling, intriguing essays. Knapp, an academic conservation biologist, devotes 18 chapters to specific endangered (or already lost) animals, highlighting one of Soul�'s factors in each one. He brings in personal experiences, background context, science and evolving research, numerous side anecdotes, and heartfelt entreaties, usually couched within incidents of humorous, self-deprecating incompetence. Knapp is a great storyteller, sharing detailed descriptions of adventures set in exotic locations (Tanzania, Kenya, Mongolia) populated with equally exotic characters (honey badgers, Russian boars, pika) addressing factors like inbreeding, hybridization, disease, competition, and habitat destruction. Just as Soul�'s 18 indicators influence each other and often overlap, so too do Knapp's chapters, bouncing back and forth and reinforcing and further developing concepts. The result is a very satisfying, very engaging, and ultimately very moving entreaty to stop the seemingly indifferent slide into a sixth extinction.

      COPYRIGHT(2021) Booklist, ALL RIGHTS RESERVED.

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