The Flight of the Iguana A Sidelong View of Science and Nature

by Quammen, David

• ISBN13: 9780684836263
• ISBN10: 0684836262
• Edition: Reprint
• Format: Paperback
• Copyright: 1998-02-16
• Publisher: Scribner

Summary

As he examines everything from species survival on islands to vegetarian piranhas, Quammen's funny and offbeat essays offer a unique glimpse of the natural world and, at the same time, clarify the larger biological issues and their effect on humankind.

Author Biography

David Quammen’s sixteen previous books include The Tangled Tree, The Song of the Dodo, The Reluctant Mr. Darwin, and Spillover, a finalist for the National Book Critics Circle Award and recipient of the Premio Letterario Merck, in Rome. He has written for The New Yorker, Harper’s Magazine, The Atlantic, National Geographic, and Outside, among other magazines, and is a three-time winner of the National Magazine Award. Quammen shares a home in Bozeman, Montana, with his wife, Betsy Gaines Quammen, author of American Zion, and with two Russian wolfhounds, a cross-eyed cat, and a rescue python. Visit him at DavidQuammen.com. 

Table of Contents

Introduction: A Mouse Is Miracle Enough	ix	(6)
Author's Note	xv
I. FACES UNLIKE OURS	1	(60)
The Face of a Spider	3	(7)
Thinking About Earthworms	10	(7)
The Thing with Feathers	17	(8)
Nasty Habits	25	(7)
Stalking the Gentle Piranha	32	(8)
See No Evil	40	(7)
Turnabout	47	(7)
The Selfhood of a Spoon Worm	54	(7)
II. WILD NOTIONS	61	(44)
The Descent of the Dog	63	(7)
Street Trees	70	(7)
The Ontological Giraffe	77	(7)
The Lonesome Ape	84	(6)
Stranger than Truth	90	(7)
Deep Thoughts	97	(8)
III. FOR WHOM THE BELL TOLLS	105	(72)
Island Getaway	107	(7)
Talk Is Cheap	114	(8)
Icebreaker	122	(10)
Agony in the Garden	132	(8)
The Poseidon Shales	140	(7)
The Beautiful and Damned	147	(8)
Provide, Provide	155	(6)
The Flight of the Iguana	161	(16)
IV. THE MORAL ECOLOGY OF A DESERT	177	(54)
The Beaded Lizard	179	(24)
Drinking the Desert Juices	203	(8)
The Desert Is a Mnemonic Device	211	(20)
V. CHAMBERS OF MEMORY	231	(48)
The Miracle of the Geese	233	(8)
Swamp Odyssey	241	(20)
The Siphuncle	261	(9)
The Same River Twice	270	(9)
Partial Sources	279