- Hardcover: 552 pages
- Publisher: Cosimo Inc (1 Jun 2007)
- Language English
- ISBN-10: 1602066345
- ISBN-13: 978-1602066342
- Product Dimensions: 21.6 x 14 x 3.5 cm
- Average Customer Review: 5.0 out of 5 stars See all reviews (2 customer reviews)
- Amazon Bestsellers Rank: 1,477,096 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)
The Malay Archipelago (Periplus Classics Series)
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Product Description
Product Description
Purchase of this book includes free trial access to www.million-books.com where you can read more than a million books for free. This is an OCR edition with typos. Excerpt from book: They are about forty-five in number, and many of them exhibit most beautiful examples of the volcanic cone on a large scale, single or double, with entire or truncated summits, and averaging 10,000 feet high. It is now well ascertained that almost all volcano.es have been slowly built up by the accumulation of matter —mud, ashes, and lava—ejected by themselves. The openings or craters, however, frequently shift their position ; so that a country may be covered with a more or less irregular series of hills in chains and masses, only here and there rising into lofty cones, and yet the whole may be produced by true volcanic action. In this manner the greater part of Java has been formed. There has been some elevation, especially on the south coast, where extensive cliffs of coral limestone are found; and there may be a substratum of older stratified rocks; but still essentially Java is volcanic; and that noble and fertile island—the very garden of the East, and perhaps upon the whole the richest, the best cultivated, and the best governed tropical island in the world — owes its very existence to the same intense volcanic activity which still occasionally devastates its surface. The great island of Sumatra exhibits in proportion to its extent a much smaller number of volcanoes, and a considerable portion of it has probably a non-volcanic origin. To the eastward, the long string of islands from Java, passing by the north of Timor and away to Banda, are probably all due to volcanic action. Timor itself consists of ancient stratified rocks, but is said to have one volcano near its centre. Going northward, Amboyna, a part of Bouru, and the west end of Ceram, the north part of Gilolo, and all the small islands around it, the northern extremity of Celebes, and the islands of Sia...
--This text refers to the
Paperback
edition.
From the Back Cover
Much as Charles Darwin's name is inextricably associated with the Galapagos, Alfred Russel Wallace's is deeply associated with Indonesia. A British biologist and explorer--and a contemporary of Darwin who developed his own theory of evolution in parallel--Wallace spent eight years in the region, covering 14,000 square miles in his expeditions, amassing an unparalleled collection of 125,000 specimens of local insects and animals, and becoming the first European to set foot in many of the exotic places in which he tarried to study.
Considered one of the 19th century's greatest scientific and travel books, this classic volume details his journeys and intellectual endeavors, from his friendships with the natives to his startlement at the strange creatures who lived there.
This replica of the 1890 tenth edition, complete with all the beautiful original line drawings and maps, will thrill students of natural history, armchair travelers, and anyone fascinated by the human urge to explore.
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Customer Reviews
Most Helpful Customer Reviews
10 of 11 people found the following review helpful
Format:Paperback
After reading this book, this is definitely my favorite book about insular South-East Asia. A.R. Wallace traveled the Malay archipelago and the Malay peninsula in his naturalist quest of finding, hunting, catching and describing all species of mammals, birds, insects, seashells etc. Along the way he describes as well the ecology, geology, ethnology, sociology, (colonial) administration and the persons he meets. All these subjects are accounted for in minute detail. The best thing is that it's all written down clearly and it is very accessible. However, this book is celebrated most for the impulse it gave to the theory of evolution by means of natural selection, which is made famous by Wallace's time companion and fellow scientist Charles Darwin. There is debate about who had the main idea of the theory of evolution first, nonetheless, we can say that Wallace clearly contributed a great deal in synthesizing this paradigm. Above all, he already noted the distinction between the biogeographic realms of SE Asia and Australia. Let's not forget that this man was already thinking about something like plate tectonics, something only scientifically accepted in the 1960's. Next to his contributions to the evolutionary theory and biogeography, and put aside the little amount of Victorian 'zeitgeist', Wallace's views on ethnology and colonial administration gives a clear idea how it must have been to live and travel in this corner of the world from 1854 to 1862. Some (many) of his ideas still stand, others are strengthened by current science. One should really think about his words on the last pages. I think this book is a milestone in science but a very exciting and amusing travel book at the same time. It is great for understanding evolutionary theory and it's perfect to carry it along when traveling through Indonesia, especially when you get to the places where Wallace has been as well.
Roiko
Roiko
9 of 10 people found the following review helpful
Format:Paperback
This is the most gorgeous and incredible book. Wallace is becoming more and more famous as the man who shares credit with Darwin for the theory of natural selection, although that might be a bit strong. Certainly, Darwin's ideas were more developed, and he seems to have appreciated the idea of natural selection and evolution a bit more than Wallace, who was something of a spiritualist. But never mind that.
Wallace should be more famous, but so should this entire part of the world. Wallace travelled through island South-East Asian, excepting a number of islands including the whole of the Philippines, in several trips in an effort to find new species of bird and animal. He stayed in Maluku. He stayed on the west of New Guinea. He spent a great deal of time in Java, Sumatra, Borneo, Sulawesi, and Timor. He collected innumerable specimens, and saw innumerable wonders. And in this book, with an illustrator, he logged and wrote about them all. Birds of paradise, Papuan tobacco pipes, the cuscus, Dayak rope bridges, Javanese mountains - it's all here.
That alone should be enough to entice any reader. What you will find is a compassionate, knowledgeable man, talking about beautiful islands, different groups of people, and colonialism, as well as flora and fauna, and hopefully your appreciation for the diversity and beauty of these islands should increase. I actually don't know how to sum up the book, not really. It's rather large, and brilliantly written. It's wonderful to sit and read with a cup of tea. And it has the capacity to make you want to book a ticket to Jakarta, so you can travel about just as he did.
Anyway, a note on this edition: the paper is of fantastic quality, and the bindings are great. The type and images are perfect. Like most Periplus books, it is an excellent production. The book also bears the original dedication - to Darwin, of course, his friend.
I'd recommend it to literally anyone who can read English and has an interest in people, places, and animals.
Wallace should be more famous, but so should this entire part of the world. Wallace travelled through island South-East Asian, excepting a number of islands including the whole of the Philippines, in several trips in an effort to find new species of bird and animal. He stayed in Maluku. He stayed on the west of New Guinea. He spent a great deal of time in Java, Sumatra, Borneo, Sulawesi, and Timor. He collected innumerable specimens, and saw innumerable wonders. And in this book, with an illustrator, he logged and wrote about them all. Birds of paradise, Papuan tobacco pipes, the cuscus, Dayak rope bridges, Javanese mountains - it's all here.
That alone should be enough to entice any reader. What you will find is a compassionate, knowledgeable man, talking about beautiful islands, different groups of people, and colonialism, as well as flora and fauna, and hopefully your appreciation for the diversity and beauty of these islands should increase. I actually don't know how to sum up the book, not really. It's rather large, and brilliantly written. It's wonderful to sit and read with a cup of tea. And it has the capacity to make you want to book a ticket to Jakarta, so you can travel about just as he did.
Anyway, a note on this edition: the paper is of fantastic quality, and the bindings are great. The type and images are perfect. Like most Periplus books, it is an excellent production. The book also bears the original dedication - to Darwin, of course, his friend.
I'd recommend it to literally anyone who can read English and has an interest in people, places, and animals.
Most Helpful Customer Reviews on Amazon.com (beta)
Amazon.com:
4 reviews
10 of 10 people found the following review helpful
This is a great book, but...
24 Mar 2009
Format:Paperback
First off, the content is terrific. It's the definitive story of Wallace's time in Indonesia. There is a lot of fascinating material, about the science, the culture, and the view of those things from the perspective of an English scientist. Much of it is just riveting, but some parts drag a bit.
In many ways, I found the descriptions of the process more interesting than the descriptions of the items and specimens he collected. Late in the book, the descriptions of sailing small boats through difficult waters are quite compelling, as are descriptions of the process of collecting itself. (For example, he really wanted to learn about orangutans in Borneo, so they went out and shot a bunch of them.)
A couple of editorial comments about the narrative thread are needed:
Wallace arranges the material geographically, not temporally. That is, he takes the islands and regions more-or-less West-to-East, which is *not* the order in which he visited them. As such, the narrative flow is quite odd at times, causing him to refer back and forward in the text, and also requiring him to repeat some material.
I should also mention that Wallace often refers to plants and animals only by their "scientific" names, sometimes because he's discussing the classifications, but often just because. That really interrupts the flow for a reader unfamiliar with the names. I didn't have a problem with it, but sometimes the lists do go on a bit.
Now, some comments about this particular edition:
1. It appears to be a reprint of a previous edition. Instead of resetting the text in a newer typeface and format (with corrections and such), it's just a reprint. That might not be too back, except for the fact that the typeface is Very Small, making it a bit difficult to read. The material is dense enough; it would be helpful to have a clearer, easier-to-read printing of the text.
2. Compounding that matter is the fact that the pages have HUGE margins. There is at least an inch of space wasted (blank) on the side and bottom of each page. That makes the book much bigger and heavier than it needs to be. If they wanted bigger pages, they could at least have printed the text bigger to take advantage.
I guess if you want to take copious notes in the margins, this might be great for you. Otherwise, I would look for another edition that isn't both wasteful and hard-to-read.
It's still absolutely worth reading, but I would look around for a different edition if I were shopping again.
In many ways, I found the descriptions of the process more interesting than the descriptions of the items and specimens he collected. Late in the book, the descriptions of sailing small boats through difficult waters are quite compelling, as are descriptions of the process of collecting itself. (For example, he really wanted to learn about orangutans in Borneo, so they went out and shot a bunch of them.)
A couple of editorial comments about the narrative thread are needed:
Wallace arranges the material geographically, not temporally. That is, he takes the islands and regions more-or-less West-to-East, which is *not* the order in which he visited them. As such, the narrative flow is quite odd at times, causing him to refer back and forward in the text, and also requiring him to repeat some material.
I should also mention that Wallace often refers to plants and animals only by their "scientific" names, sometimes because he's discussing the classifications, but often just because. That really interrupts the flow for a reader unfamiliar with the names. I didn't have a problem with it, but sometimes the lists do go on a bit.
Now, some comments about this particular edition:
1. It appears to be a reprint of a previous edition. Instead of resetting the text in a newer typeface and format (with corrections and such), it's just a reprint. That might not be too back, except for the fact that the typeface is Very Small, making it a bit difficult to read. The material is dense enough; it would be helpful to have a clearer, easier-to-read printing of the text.
2. Compounding that matter is the fact that the pages have HUGE margins. There is at least an inch of space wasted (blank) on the side and bottom of each page. That makes the book much bigger and heavier than it needs to be. If they wanted bigger pages, they could at least have printed the text bigger to take advantage.
I guess if you want to take copious notes in the margins, this might be great for you. Otherwise, I would look for another edition that isn't both wasteful and hard-to-read.
It's still absolutely worth reading, but I would look around for a different edition if I were shopping again.
3 of 3 people found the following review helpful
Great Book, Terrible Edition
20 Mar 2010
Format:Paperback|Amazon Verified Purchase
Alfred Russel Wallace is often overlooked as a scientist, despite having contributed immensely to our understanding of biology and evolution. This book is a fascinating account of his original and independent discovery of natural selection. He was a humble, yet brilliant man whose deference to Charles Darwin is largely why his name remains unfamiliar to many.
It is therefore sad to have looked at the cover of this book and found his name misspelled: Russel has only one L. A friend has this edition, and the misspelling occurs numerous times on the front and back covers as well as the title page, if my memory serves me correctly. It's also spelled right in places, so some editor was very, very clueless. And careless.
I'd look elsewhere for an edition that goes so far as to spell the name of the book's author correctly.
It is therefore sad to have looked at the cover of this book and found his name misspelled: Russel has only one L. A friend has this edition, and the misspelling occurs numerous times on the front and back covers as well as the title page, if my memory serves me correctly. It's also spelled right in places, so some editor was very, very clueless. And careless.
I'd look elsewhere for an edition that goes so far as to spell the name of the book's author correctly.
2 of 2 people found the following review helpful
Early days with Wallace
12 Feb 2010
Format:Hardcover|Amazon Verified Purchase
If I buy a hard back classic book, I want to be sure it is in acceptable condition and is something I will keep as a reference source. I was very pleased with my copy of 'The Malay Archipelago'. It arrived in a timely manner.
The geographical location is known to me and having read Tim Severin's book, and a lot on Charles Darwin this year, I thought it valuable to go to the 'main man' on discovery in the field and parallel ideas to Darwin. It is not an easy read but absolutlely fascinating. I even read all the lists of species he finds. Wallace seemed such a simple, humble man and now has the famous Wallace line named after him. He endured so much while living in very difficult conditions, with all sorts of dangerous pests, diseases and strange food. Then Darwin was given all the credit. I was talking to a college professor last week and he said anyone who reads Wallace is "a hard core explorer", but I would recommend it to anyone who has the time to read and enjoy travelling in both time and location.
The geographical location is known to me and having read Tim Severin's book, and a lot on Charles Darwin this year, I thought it valuable to go to the 'main man' on discovery in the field and parallel ideas to Darwin. It is not an easy read but absolutlely fascinating. I even read all the lists of species he finds. Wallace seemed such a simple, humble man and now has the famous Wallace line named after him. He endured so much while living in very difficult conditions, with all sorts of dangerous pests, diseases and strange food. Then Darwin was given all the credit. I was talking to a college professor last week and he said anyone who reads Wallace is "a hard core explorer", but I would recommend it to anyone who has the time to read and enjoy travelling in both time and location.
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