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The Future Eaters: An Ecological History of the Australasian Lands and People (Paperback)

by Tim F. Flannery (Author) "To write a history of Australia without reference to its geographic neighbours would be as senseless and uninformative as to tell the story of Antony..." (more)

5.0 out of 5 stars See all reviews (9 customer reviews)

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Product details

Paperback: 432 pages
Publisher: Grove Press / Atlantic Monthly Press (16 Oct 2002)
Language English
ISBN-10: 0802139434
ISBN-13: 978-0802139436
Product Dimensions: 22.4 x 15.2 x 3 cm

Average Customer Review: 5.0 out of 5 stars See all reviews (9 customer reviews)

Amazon.co.uk Sales Rank: 506,574 in Books (See Bestsellers in Books)
Popular in this category:
#76 in Books > History > Countries & Regions > Australasia & Pacific > Australasia > New Zealand

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First Sentence
To write a history of Australia without reference to its geographic neighbours would be as senseless and uninformative as to tell the story of Antony without Cleopatra, of Romeo without Juliet. Read the first page

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Customer Reviews

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8 of 8 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Fascinating Journey Through Tasmantis and Meganesia!, 6 Aug 1999

By A Customer

This review is from: The Future Eaters: An Ecological History of the Australasian Lands (Paperback)

Dr. Flannery takes the reader on a fascinating journey through time in Australia, New Guinea, New Zealand and New Caledonia. This book is about the flora and fauna of these regions, their evolutionary relationships, and the role man has played in their shapeing and disrupting. I found surprisingly good information about the Gondwana origin of the flora. The chapter about New Caledonia was great - who ever hears anything about New Caledonia? It has a fascinating ecosystem based on an ancient flora shaped by poor, toxic-metals rich soils and, like the rest of 'Tasmantis,' an historical lack of mammals, where birds and reptiles filled ecological niches more usually held by mammals. The same sort of thing (but with fertile soils) happened in New Zealand, with the moas acting like more familiar large mammal herbivores and small birds acting like mice! Did you know that there are living trees in New Zealand that were probably actually grazed upon by moas? Learn about the magnificent vanished mammal fauna of Australia and how it used and adapted to a difficult environment. Enter humans; watch them hunt, and modify the environment with fire, with both intended and unintended consequences. Then the Europeans came and tried to turn Australia into a southern English countryside; they didn't understand why this didn't work, was disasterous, in fact. Dr Flannery ends the book with musings about the future of mankind in the environment, with lessons from the region that are applicable to all of us and especially to his fellow Australians. Makes one think about some hard questions.

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2 of 2 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Profound & sobering view into human history repeating itself, 13 Aug 1998

By A Customer

This review is from: The Future Eaters: An Ecological History of the Australasian Lands (Paperback)

This book gives a anthropological/ecological/archeological/historical interpretation of human habitation of what the author calls calls Meganesia. (He compares and contrasts human occupation of the 'Meganesian' areas of Papua New Guinea, Australia, New Zealand, and New Caledonia.) Most of the book is an interpretation of the fossil record on the impact humans have had on the environments of these places and how humans in turn were shaped by the land. The thesis states that humans decimated virtually all animal life within a certain size range (roughly 1 to 100 kg) leaving only those animals who were successfully evasive. The author also provides background on why the Austalian fauna is like what it is - lacking in placental mammals and diversified in marsupials. And how this ties into the ancientness of the Australian land, the limited fertility of the land and the vagraties of its seasons.

The extrapolation to modern humans is truly sobering. If we, as a species, do not change our course of impact on the environment, our future has already been written and it is that of Maori and the Easter Islanders as first seen by Europeans. The pain and trauma of this social evolution are clearly documented in their history. For Australia and PNG, the original peoples made it through this stage to reach a state of coexistance with the environment but the Maori did not. The Maori had only been in New Zealand for about 800 years before European contact and colonization. And at the time the Maori were going through a period of cannibalsim resulting from decimation of the rich fauna which had been in New Zealand originally - in other words over-population and over-exploitation led to fighting with neighbors over resources which in turn had the side benefit of supplying 'protein' to the winning side.

Grusome and sobering, this books illustrates history repeating itself and shows us our future.

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2 of 3 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Outstanding, 14 Jun 1999

By A Customer

This review is from: The Future Eaters: An Ecological History of the Australasian Lands (Paperback)

I have read many of Tims books. He deals with subject of man and his habit of "spoiling" the wonderful environment we inherited in order to satisfy our personal needs. If you ever wanted to know what we have in store for ourselves, read this book and join the many who have a true understanding of man the despoiler.

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Most Recent Customer Reviews

5.0 out of 5 stars Outstanding, very readable with more than a hint of controversy
Tim Flannery's account of the impact of humans on the wider Australasian Environment is something of a bench mark for books on this area. Read more

Published 5 months ago by SCM

5.0 out of 5 stars The insatiable predator
With a sweeping gesture, Flannery dispels one of modern mythology's most cherished ideals. The image of the "Noble Savage," living intimately and in harmony with his surroundings... Read more

Published on 2 Dec 2004 by Stephen A. Haines

5.0 out of 5 stars It turned around my view of Australian ecosystems
This book is thorough and well documented but still manages to be very readable. Its information is wide-ranging and logically structured. Read more

Published on 20 Jul 1998

5.0 out of 5 stars Are we only 'booming' now?
Flannery has written both a history and a warning. 'The Future Eaters' describes how humans, as much as any other animal, create their own boom-and-bust cycles. Read more

Published on 19 Jul 1998

5.0 out of 5 stars Antipodean revelation
Fascinating, encyclopaedic, a real education.

Published on 22 Feb 1998

5.0 out of 5 stars Fabulous
Flannery did his first degree in Literature before becoming one of the world's great mammalogists. It shows. Read more

Published on 5 Feb 1997

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