The Last of Its Kind: The Search for the Great Auk and the Discovery of Extinction

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Gísli Pálsson

The Last of Its Kind

The Search for the Great Auk and the Discovery of Extinction

Gísli Pálsson

$49.99

Hardback

Forthcoming
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English

Princeton University Pres
15 May 2024

Mathematics & Sciences; Ecological science, the Biosphere; Birds (ornithology); Conservation of wildlife & habitats; Endangered species & extinction of species

The great auk is one of the most tragic and documented examples of extinction. A flightless bird that bred primarily on the remote islands of the North Atlantic, the last of its kind were killed in Iceland in 1844. Gísli Pálsson draws on firsthand accounts from the Icelanders who hunted the last great auks to bring to life a bygone age of Victorian scientific exploration while offering vital insights into the extinction of species.

Pálsson vividly recounts how British ornithologists John Wolley and Alfred Newton set out for Iceland to collect specimens only to discover that the great auks were already gone. At the time, the Victorian world viewed extinction as an impossibility or trivialised it as a natural phenomenon. Pálsson chronicles how Wolley and Newton documented the fate of the last birds through interviews with the men who killed them, and how the naturalists’ Icelandic journey opened their eyes to the disappearance of species as a subject of scientific concern — and as something that could be caused by humans.

Blending a richly evocative narrative with rare, unpublished material as well as insights from ornithology, anthropology, and Pálsson’s own North Atlantic travels, The Last of Its Kind reveals how the saga of the great auk opens a window onto the human causes of mass extinction.

By: Gísli Pálsson
Imprint: Princeton University Pres
Country of Publication: United States
Dimensions: Height: 216mm, Width: 140mm,
ISBN: 9780691230986
ISBN 10: 0691230986
Pages: 328
Publication Date: 15 May 2024
Audience: General/trade , ELT Advanced
Format: Hardback
Publisher's Status: Forthcoming

Gísli Pálsson is professor emeritus of anthropology at the University of Iceland. His books include The Human Age, Down to Earth, and The Man Who Stole Himself.

Reviews for The Last of Its Kind: The Search for the Great Auk and the Discovery of Extinction

"""[A] moving and well thought out tale. . . . This book is an important part of an innocent species' life.""---Muskogee Phoenix, Deb Hirt ""Much has been written about the demise of the Great Auk . . . and this work by Gísli Pálsson is an important addition to the body of work on this iconic and enigmatic species. It is scholarly and well-presented.""---David Gascoigne, Travels with Birds"