China Books

*The Malay Archipelago: The Land of the Orang-Utan & The Bird of Paradise - A Narrative of Travel With Studies of Man & Nature

WALLACE Alfred Russel [Other titles by this author]

Stock ID: 15567

ISBN: 9789971947507

Graham Brash 1987

200 x 140mm. Unabridged reprint of the 1922 edition. Reprint 2001. Was $32.95. NOW $9.95 518pp

Alfred Russel Wallace (1823-1913) occupies a unique position in 19th century science. A remarkable observer and a prolific creator of idea, he provided as much of the groundwork of later biology as any man, with only the possible exceptions of Darwin and Mendel. He developed the concept of evolution by natural selection independently of Darwin, and also adapted the new theories of evolution to genetic discoveries that occurred after Darwin?s time. It has also been argued that Darwin, who corresponded with Wallace, may have co-opted many of Wallace?s ideas about natural selection, and reproduced them as his own. Wallace ranged farther in his interests and travels than his colleagues Darwin and Huxley. While a young man, he explored the Malay Archipelago for eight years, covering 14,000 miles by foot and native canoe, the first European to set foot in many areas. During his stay in the Archipelago, he amassed a collection of 125,000 specimens of insects and animals, many previously unknown. This book is still one of the great classics of natural history and travel. It contains Wallace?s observations on the different native people inhabiting the islands; descriptions of the island groupings, such as the Indo-Malays, the Timors, the Celebes, the Moluccas, and the Papuan Islands, and his accounts of the abundant and strange animals, startling birds, and varied insects, that flourished there. His basic theses that the western half of the archipelago is Indian in animal life, whereas the eastern in Australian, is still accepted, and the line separating the two is called the Wallace Line in his honour. Wallace was a brilliant writer, who enthusiasm was infectious. More than Darwin, his work can arouse the empathy of a lay reader, and carry him with equal ease through strange lands and new theories. The Malay Archipelago, one of the world?s classics, is generally considered to be Wallace?s greatest work, and it is still an unrivalled travel experience, packed full of intellectual excitement. Unabridged reprint of the 1922 edition, with 62 drawings and maps. There are three appendices, one of cranial measurements, and the other two on native languages and vocabulary. (For this item please quote stock ID 15567)

Related Subject Areas:

Malaysia/Singapore