New Releases by David Quammen

In this "frightening and fascinating masterpiece" (Walter Isaacson), David Quammen explores the true origins of HIV/AIDS. The real story of AIDS—how it originated with a virus in a chimpanzee, jumped to one human, and then infected more than 60 million people—is very different from what most of us think we know. Recent research has revealed dark surprises and yielded a radically new scenario of how AIDS began and spread. Excerpted and adapted from the book Spillover, with a new introduction by the author, Quammen''s hair-raising investigation tracks the virus from chimp populations in the jungles of southeastern Cameroon to laboratories across the globe, as he unravels the mysteries of when, where, and under what circumstances such a consequential "spillover" can happen. An audacious search for answers amid more than a century of data, The Chimp and the River tells the haunting tale of one of the most devastating pandemics of our time.

From “one of the most fascinating and thought-provoking writers of natural history” (The Seattle Times), a collection of enduring essays that form a bestiary of wondrous creatures and a gallery of the human faces that peer at them. The Boilerplate Rhino brings together twenty-six of David Quammen’s most thoughtful and engaging essays from his column for Outside magazine, gifting readers with an irrepressible assortment of ideas to explore, conundrums to contemplate, and wondrous creatures to behold. In lucid, penetrating, and often quirkily idiosyncratic prose, David Quammen takes his readers with him as he explores the world. His travels lead him to rattlesnake handlers in Texas; a lizard specialist in Baja; the dinosaur museum in Jordan, Montana; and halfway across Indonesia in search of the perfect Durian fruit. He ponders the history of nutmeg in the southern Moluccas, meditates on bioluminescent beetles while soaking in the waters of the Amazon, and delivers “The Dope on Eggs” from a chicken ranch near his hometown in Montana. Quammen''s travels are always jumping-off points to explore the rich and sometimes horrifying tension between humankind and the natural world, in all its complexity and ambivalence. The result is another irrepressible assortment of ideas to explore, conundrums to contemplate, and wondrous creatures to behold.

A masterpiece of science reporting that tracks the animal origins of emerginghuman diseases.

Reisverslag van de 5 jaar durende zeereis die de Britse wetenschapper Charles Darwin vanaf 1831 maakte naar Zuid-Amerika, Afrika, Australië en eilanden in de Stille en Indische Oceaan.

Originally published: New York: W.W. Norton, 2006; London: Weidenfeld & Nicolson, 2007.

21 years passed between Charles Darwim''s epiphany that ''natural selection'' formed the basis of evolution and the scientist''s publication of ''On the Origin of Species''. This text looks at why Darwin delayed the publication and examines what happened during the course of those two decades.

For millennia, lions, tigers, and their man-eating kin have kept our dark, scary forests dark and scary, and their predatory majesty has been the stuff of folklore. But by the year 2150 big predators may only exist on the other side of glass barriers and chain-link fences. Their gradual disappearance is changing the very nature of our existence. We no longer occupy an intermediate position on the food chain; instead we survey it invulnerably from above—so far above that we are in danger of forgetting that we even belong to an ecosystem. Casting his expert eye over the rapidly diminishing areas of wilderness where predators still reign, the award-winning author of The Song of the Dodo examines the fate of lions in India''s Gir forest, of saltwater crocodiles in northern Australia, of brown bears in the mountains of Romania, and of Siberian tigers in the Russian Far East. In the poignant and troublesome ferocity of these embattled creatures, we recognize something primeval deep within us, something in danger of vanishing forever.

This richly illustrated volume is the first to offer a comprehensive overview of Rockman''s oeuvre, from his early works, such as the fascinating yet disquieting Aviary, in which birds perch against a blood-red sky, to his more recent Expedition series, inspired by the artist''s field studies in the rain forests of Brazil and Guyana.

Vols. for - edited by Elizabeth Kolbert.

For the past two decades, David Quammen has followed winding trails and fresh lines of thought through the world''s outback.

The author brings to life the weird and wonderful pageant of nature in essays ranging from tales of vegetarian piranha to dogs without voices.

Takes a close-up look at island biogeography, the science of the geographic distribution of life on islands, and its significance in terms of evolution and extinction.

When journalist Michael Kessler investigates the brutal murder of an old friend, the writer becomes involved in a deadly twenty-year-old secret

O capodoperă a raportării științifice care urmărește originile animale ale bolilor umane emergente, cartea aceasta este „fascinantă și terifiantă... un thriller din viața reală cu un rezultat care ne afectează pe toți” (Elizabeth Kolbert, autoarea cărții The Sixth Extinction). În 2020, noul coronavirus a cuprins lumea într-o pandemie globală și a dus la moartea a sute de mii. Sursa virusului necunoscut anterior? Lilieci. Acest fenomen - în care un nou agent patogen vine la oameni de la fauna sălbatică - este cunoscut sub numele de zoonoză și poate nu va dura mult până se va întâmpla din nou. Înainte de apariția celei mai recente crize de sănătate, renumitul scriitor de știință David Quammen a călătorit pe tot globul pentru a înțelege mai bine potențialul devastator al zoonozelor. Timp de cinci ani, el a urmărit oamenii de știință pe un acoperiș din Bangladesh, într-o pădure din Congo, la o fermă de șobolani din China și într-o pădure suburbană din New York dar și prin laboratoare de înaltă biosecuritate. A intervievat supraviețuitorii și a adunat povești despre morți. A găsit surprize în cele mai recente cercetări ce au produs panică în rândul oficialilor din sănătatea publică și îngrijorare profundă în ochii cercetătorilor. Această carte prezintă știința, istoria, misterul și angoasele umane în fața focarelor bolilor ca o dramă captivantă. Și pune întrebări mai urgente acum decât oricând: Din ce creatură inocentă, în ce peisaj îndepărtat, va apărea Următoarea Pandemie? Sunt pandemiile nenorociri independente sau legate? Ni se întâmplă doar nouă sau ni le provocăm cumva? Ce se poate face? Quammen urmărește originile Ebola, ale virusului Marburg, SARS, al gripei aviare, boala Lyme și alte cazuri bizare de transmitere contagioasă, inclusiv povestea sumbră și neașteptată a modului în care a început SIDA de la un singur cimpanzeu camerunez. Rezultatul este mai mult decât o lucrare clară de reportaj. Este, de asemenea, povestea elegant spusă a unei căutări, prin timp și peisaj, pentru o nouă înțelegere a modului în care funcționează lumea noastră și a modului în care putem supraviețui în ea.