Review by Choice Review
Extreme Conservation is not a textbook. It is a well-written account by a respected biologist that chronicles his many years of work studying and conserving large mammals that live in extreme climates--arctic and high-altitude regimes. Berger (Colorado State Univ.) conveys a consistent message: the animals that survive in these extremes have done so because of natural selective adaptations over many millennia. Their margin for survival is limited because they are highly specialized to their environment, and therefore human interference in these vulnerable environments poses a serious threat to these species--both directly through habitat conversion and indirectly through factors such as global warming. Berger conveys this message in narrative form, relating adventures and misfortunes as he embarks on research involving species such as musk oxen and yaks in remote areas of the world. The book is entertaining and informative as the author weaves together the trials and tribulations of travel, permitting, and the rigors of working in remote foreign lands with the unique ecology of the animals he is studying. A compelling work for readers at any level. Summing Up: Highly recommended. All readers. --John F. Organ, University of Massachusetts Amherst
Copyright American Library Association, used with permission.
Review by Booklist Review
*Starred Review* The high arctic, the Gobi Desert, and the mountains of Tibet would seem to have little in common, but all are lands of extreme temperatures, rarefied air, and limited access to water. They are also the lands of large ungulates adapted to living in and with the harsh conditions and humans who compete with these animals. Berger (The Better to Eat You With, 2008), one of the world's preeminent field biologists and an eloquent writer, addresses conservation in extreme climates, asking the basic questions a scientist asks when doing in-the-wild research, then coping with the vicissitudes of attempting to answer those questions in a not-necessarily human-friendly environment. Berger's first-person reporting as he studies musk oxen in Alaska, yak in the Tibetan Plateau, and saiga and takin in the high Gobi Desert reveals the excitement of a scientist gathering data as well as the frustration of dealing with politics, bureaucracy, and recalcitrant minor officials. Woven throughout is the author's obvious love of the land, the animals, and of what he does to further our understanding of these delicate ecosystems.--Nancy Bent Copyright 2018 Booklist
From Booklist, Copyright (c) American Library Association. Used with permission.
Review by Publisher's Weekly Review
In language by turns lyrical, despairing, and hilariously funny, conservation biologist Berger relates stories from a life spent studying little-known animals. The touchstone of his work is the musk ox, "an Arctic apparition, a Pleistocene remnant," which as a species "define these turbulent lands, and an uncertain future" threatened by climate change. Berger goes to extreme lengths to research the musk ox and other animals living in inhospitable locales in Bhutan, Mongolia, Russia, and the U.S. He is perpetually cold; equipment freezes, as does food. Tasked with reaching up the anus of a musk ox to retrieve scat at the source, he counts on the warmth to revive his numbed fingers. The people he finds, including Inuit hunters and Wyoming cattlemen, are often committed to saving the biological diversity around them, heartening Berger, who is adamant that, without human commitment, the species he studies won't survive. The narrative is sprinkled with quotes from early Arctic explorers and anecdotes from other scientists, with Berger's own wry humor added to the mixture. His experiences while wearing a bear suit to get closer to the musk ox, to pick one particularly delightful example, are pure slapstick. Informative and impassioned, this will be enjoyed by adventurers and environmentalists alike. (Aug.) © Copyright PWxyz, LLC. All rights reserved.
(c) Copyright PWxyz, LLC. All rights reserved
Review by Kirkus Book Review
A field biologist seeks to understand how creatures living in the planet's extremes are coping with climate change.Berger (Chair, Wildlife Conservation/Colorado State Univ.; The Better to Eat You With: Fear in the Animal World, 2008, etc.), a senior scientist with the Wildlife Conservation Society, has made some 33 expeditions, 19 of them to the Arctic ("from Alaska to Russia and Greenland to Svalbard") and others to Mongolia, the Himalayas, and the Tibetan Plateau. Some of the creatures he has studied are relatively familiar to general readerse.g., musk oxen, caribou, and bearsbut others (chiru, takin, goral, khulan, saiga) are not. His encounters with wildlife take place under the harshest of conditions, and a major part of his story includes the rigors of getting to a site and figuring out how to study an elusive subject in truly brutal surroundings. Readers interested in conservation and climate will not be disappointed, but Berger, who writes with humor and self-awareness, also gives lessons on geography, culture, and politics. He often works with Indigenous people who have their own ideas about the animals and land around them. Climate change is not the only threat he sees; the impacts of a growing human population also concern him. The author seeks to understand the myriad ways in which animals adapt to change, which ones are successful and which are not and why, and what can we do about it. There is a note of guarded optimism in the final chapter, in which Berger cites conservation successes while bemoaning the general apathy. "When there is no room in our hearts for gentleness," he writes, "and when sympathy disappears from our vocabulary, so does conservation." One disappointing feature are the photos, which are too small; the text deserves better.For armchair conservationists, an expertly guided trip into remote landscapes that will hopefully spur much-needed action. Copyright Kirkus Reviews, used with permission.
Copyright (c) Kirkus Reviews, used with permission.
Review by Choice Review
Review by Booklist Review
Review by Publisher's Weekly Review
Review by Kirkus Book Review
