- Hardcover: 256 pages
- Publisher: Channel 4 Books (12 Oct 2001)
- Language English
- ISBN-10: 0752261622
- ISBN-13: 978-0752261621
- Product Dimensions: 27.2 x 19.7 x 2.1 cm
- Average Customer Review: 5.0 out of 5 stars See all reviews (1 customer review)
- Amazon Bestsellers Rank: 180,810 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)
- See Complete Table of Contents
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More About the Author
Product Description
Product Description
Extinct is a dramatic new documentary from Wall to Wall, the makers of Neanderthal, 1900 House and 1940s House. Fact: 99.9 percent of all species that have ever existed on earth are now extinct. In Extinct, six of them are brought stunningly back to life using the very latest 3D computer graphics technology combined with years of scientific knowledge. With programmes devoted to the dodo, sabre-toothed tiger, great auk, Tasmanian tiger, Irish elk, and woolly mammoth, viewers can watch the animals as if they still walked the earth. The mysteries behind the disappearance of these unique beasts are finally solved...are pigs responsible for the death of the Dodo? Did man hunt the Great Auk to extinction? Was osteoporosis the end for the Irish Elk? This six-part documentary will show glimpses of the creatures at first, then reveal them in all their glory - Sabre-toothed Tigers fighting with wolves, matriarchal Mammoths guarding their herd, a young Tasmanian Tiger emerging from his mother's pouch for the first time are just some of the fascinating events that unfold. Each film will be driven by the narrative of an animal's remarkable life and death, but beyond that, the series will engage with theories of the interplay between evolution and extinction - stories where disease, success in a small niche, climate change or the arrival of man can all spell death.
About the Author
ALEX WEST is the series producer of Extinct for Wall to Wall. ANTON GILL is the award-winning author of several biographies and historical narratives, including The Devil's Mariner, Ruling Passions and The Journey Back from Hell.
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Customer Reviews
Most Helpful Customer Reviews
6 of 6 people found the following review helpful
Format:Hardcover
This book is absolutely excellent - a really absorbing history of six very different lost species. It starts with three ice age creatures: the mammoth, sabre-tooth tiger and Irish elk (a giant deer type thing). Interestingly, we don't really know why they died out, and various theories - climate change, disease - are put forward and explained by the author and the various experts interviewed.
The second half of the book covers three species much closer to our era: the dodo, great auk (penguin thing) and the extremely odd Tasmanian tiger. The most interesting is the Tas tiger - one of those strange Australian marsupials that seemed to be its own evolutionary dead-end. Considered a pest and hunted to extinction in the 20th century, it truly is a cautionary tale.
The book is well illustrated with lots of diagrams and photographs (harrowing b/w shots of pathetic Tas tigers in the zoo particularly effective).
EXTINCT was originally a tie-in to a Channel 4 series that didn't exactly set the world on fire, and there are brief features on the making of the programme - fine if you like that kind of thing (again, great photos).
If you're interested in natural history and ecology, I'd thoroughly recommend this book. It's also full of accounts of human endeavour and exploration, like 'Longitude' or 'Cod' - well worth a read!
The second half of the book covers three species much closer to our era: the dodo, great auk (penguin thing) and the extremely odd Tasmanian tiger. The most interesting is the Tas tiger - one of those strange Australian marsupials that seemed to be its own evolutionary dead-end. Considered a pest and hunted to extinction in the 20th century, it truly is a cautionary tale.
The book is well illustrated with lots of diagrams and photographs (harrowing b/w shots of pathetic Tas tigers in the zoo particularly effective).
EXTINCT was originally a tie-in to a Channel 4 series that didn't exactly set the world on fire, and there are brief features on the making of the programme - fine if you like that kind of thing (again, great photos).
If you're interested in natural history and ecology, I'd thoroughly recommend this book. It's also full of accounts of human endeavour and exploration, like 'Longitude' or 'Cod' - well worth a read!
Most Helpful Customer Reviews on Amazon.com (beta)
Amazon.com:
1 review
1 of 2 people found the following review helpful
A very good book on Holocene extinctions
30 Nov 2004
Format:Hardcover
This book explains the nature and causes of post-Ice Age (Holocene) extinctions by focusing on six now-vanished creatures.
Based on a British television series, the authors examine the cases of the Columbian Mammoth, the saber-toothed cat, the Irish Elk, (all earlier than 500 B.C.) ,the dodo, (1700s), the Great Auk (1844) and the thylacine, (Tasmanian Tiger (1936). It is readily apparent that the hand of man and his actions is strongly implicated in the last three extinctions, and probably the firsr three, as well. However, the roles of changing climate, impact of exotic creatures, changing habitat, food supply, and other factors are also addressed. The book is delightfully impartial, presenting facts, and letting the reader draw his or her own conclusions from them.
The text is well-written and easily understood. The photographs and re-creations of tha animals' appearances are truly remarkable and form a high point of the book. Interesting inserts explain the computer animation and research behind such efforts.
The role of the extinction process has always been of interest to me, and I feel this one of the better books on the topic. I would recommend it highly to all readers. Even children will be fascinated by the stories and pictures.
Based on a British television series, the authors examine the cases of the Columbian Mammoth, the saber-toothed cat, the Irish Elk, (all earlier than 500 B.C.) ,the dodo, (1700s), the Great Auk (1844) and the thylacine, (Tasmanian Tiger (1936). It is readily apparent that the hand of man and his actions is strongly implicated in the last three extinctions, and probably the firsr three, as well. However, the roles of changing climate, impact of exotic creatures, changing habitat, food supply, and other factors are also addressed. The book is delightfully impartial, presenting facts, and letting the reader draw his or her own conclusions from them.
The text is well-written and easily understood. The photographs and re-creations of tha animals' appearances are truly remarkable and form a high point of the book. Interesting inserts explain the computer animation and research behind such efforts.
The role of the extinction process has always been of interest to me, and I feel this one of the better books on the topic. I would recommend it highly to all readers. Even children will be fascinated by the stories and pictures.
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