On the Backs of Tortoises Audiobook By Elizabeth Hennessy cover art

On the Backs of Tortoises

Darwin, the Galapagos, and the Fate of an Evolutionary Eden

 Preview

Audible Standard 30-day free trial

Try Standard free
Select 1 audiobook a month from our entire collection of titles.
Yours as long as you’re a member.
Get unlimited access to bingeable podcasts.
Standard auto renews for $8.99 a month after 30 days. Cancel anytime.

On the Backs of Tortoises

By: Elizabeth Hennessy
Narrated by: Donna Postel
Try Standard free

$8.99 a month after 30 days. Cancel anytime.

Buy for $21.48

Buy for $21.48

An insightful exploration of the iconic Galápagos tortoises, and how their fate is inextricably linked to our own in a rapidly changing world.

The Galápagos archipelago is often viewed as a last foothold of pristine nature. For 60 years, conservationists have worked to restore this evolutionary Eden after centuries of exploitation at the hands of pirates, whalers, and island settlers. This book tells the story of the islands' namesakes - the giant tortoises - as coveted food sources, objects of natural history, and famous icons of conservation and tourism. By doing so, it brings into stark relief the paradoxical, and impossible, goal of conserving species by trying to restore a past state of prehistoric evolution. The tortoises, Elizabeth Hennessy demonstrates, are not prehistoric, but rather microcosms whose stories show how deeply human and nonhuman life are entangled. In a world where evolution is thoroughly shaped by global history, Hennessy puts forward a vision for conservation based on reckoning with the past, rather than trying to erase it.

©2019 Elizabeth Hennessey (P)2020 Tantor Nature & Ecology Biological Sciences Endangered Species South America History History & Philosophy Outdoors & Nature Science Americas Evolutionary Biology

People who viewed this also viewed...

A Tale for the Time Being Audiobook By Ruth Ozeki cover art
A Tale for the Time Being By: Ruth Ozeki
All stars
Most relevant
I liked this book bc it was about conservation without being too preachy. Author also looks at the inevitable human side of native peoples living and dealing with the goal of restoring the turtle populations. She does this by examining not by wagging her finger and not addressing very real economic issues of the native people when “science” moves in.

Listening in prep for a trip

Something went wrong. Please try again in a few minutes.
Excellent review. As July 2023 Galápagos continue to have significant poverty and a poor water system. It is important to have a good eco system but it is not correct to have at the cost of a poor health system for the humans that take care of it on the Archipelago’s.

Galápagos

Something went wrong. Please try again in a few minutes.
Despite my innate interest in the subject, this book just didn't hold my attention very well

interesting subject, lackluster presentation

Something went wrong. Please try again in a few minutes.