Island Africa: The Evolution of Africa's Rare Animals and Plants

by Jonathan Kingdon

The vastness of Africa and the variety of animals it contains overwhelm any visitor with colors and patterns. Contrary to superficial appearances, however, this monolithic continent is a complex mosaic of landlocked islands--islands which vary from isolated forests in oceans of grassland to lakes in seas of land. The flora and fauna of each of these islands represent a snapshot of millions of years of evolution and the biological reaction to the environment...

• Format: Hardcover
• Language: English
• ISBN: 0691085609
• ISBN13: 9780691085609
• Release Date: April 1990
• Publisher: Princeton University Press
• Length: 287 Pages
• Weight: 0.85 lbs.
• Dimensions: 1.1" x 7.8" x 10.0"

Customer Reviews

This is a great book for turning people on to nature

This is one of my all-time favorite books. It is not heavily scientific, but it packs quite a bit of information into a small space. Kingdon treats Africa as a series of ecological islands, each with their own history, geography, geology and organisms. The brilliance of this work is the incredible, original artwork, which Kingdon uses to illustrate his points. Kingdon is an excellent artist with beautiful work, but scientists also appreciate his art because of how he puts so much information into his pieces. In summary, it's a great way to look at Africa, it's a great way to get turned on to ecology, and I've often wished that somebody would do the same kind of thing for other parts of the world.