David Quammen

Author of The Song of the Dodo: Island Biogeography in an Age of Extinction

31+ Works 7,423 Members 171 Reviews 31 Favorited

About the Author

Writer David Quammen grew up in Cincinnati, Ohio and was later educated at both Yale and Oxford Universities. Quammen began his career by writing for The Christian Science Monitor, the National Center for Appropriate Technology, and Audubon, Esquire, Rolling Stone, and Harpers Magazines. He wrote show more the novels The Soul of Viktor Tronko and The Song of the Dodo: Island Biogeography in an Age of Extinctions, which won the 1997 New York Public Library Helen Bernstein Award for Excellence in Journalism. He also received two National Magazine Awards for his column "Natural Acts" in Outside magazine. (Bowker Author Biography) David Quammen is the author of "The Boilerplate Rhino" & "The Song of the Dodo." Among his honors are two National Magazine Awards for his writing in "Outside." (Bowker Author Biography) David Quammen is a two-time winner of the National Magazine Award for his science essays & other work in "Outside" magazine. He is the author of three novels & several other books, including the award-winning "The Song of the Dodo". He lives in Bozeman, Montana. (Bowker Author Biography) show less

Includes the names: D Quammen, David Quammen

Image credit: Lynn Donaldson

Works by David Quammen

Spillover: Animal Infections and the Next Human Pandemic (2012) 1,287 copies

Monster of God: The Man-Eating Predator in the Jungles of History and the Mind (2003) 773 copies

The Tangled Tree: A Radical New History of Life (2018) 686 copies

The Reluctant Mr. Darwin: An Intimate Portrait of Charles Darwin and the Making of His Theory of Evolution (2006) 685 copies

The Flight of the Iguana: A Sidelong View of Science and Nature (1988) 441 copies

The Boilerplate Rhino: Nature in the Eye of the Beholder (2000) 436 copies

Wild Thoughts from Wild Places (1998) 359 copies

Natural Acts: A Sidelong View of Science and Nature {original edition} (1985) 232 copies

The Best American Science and Nature Writing 2000 (2000) — Editor — 194 copies

Natural Acts: A Sidelong View of Science and Nature {revised & expanded edition} (2008) 191 copies

Breathless: The Scientific Race to Defeat a Deadly Virus (2022) 174 copies

Ebola: The Natural and Human History of a Deadly Virus (2014) 162 copies

The Chimp and the River: How AIDS Emerged from an African Forest (2015) 90 copies

The Soul of Viktor Tronko (1900) 75 copies

The Kiwi's Egg: Charles Darwin and Natural Selection (2007) 56 copies

Yellowstone: A Journey Through America's Wild Heart (2016) 37 copies

Blood Line: Stories of Fathers and Sons (1988) 29 copies

The Heartbeat of the Wild: Dispatches From Landscapes of Wonder, Peril, and Hope (2023) 20 copies

The Zolta Configuration (1983) 13 copies

Perché non eravamo pronti (2020) 13 copies

To walk the line; a novel (1970) 5 copies

The Long Follow: J. Michael Fay's Epic Trek Across the Last Great Forests of Central Africa (2006) 4 copies

The Next Pandemic: Not if, but When 1 copy

The Origin of Species: Descent of a Text, With Modification (Bradley Lecture Series Publication) (2002) 1 copy

Strawberries Under Ice 1 copy

Darwin's Conundrum 1 copy

Contágio Uma história dos vírus que estão a mudar o Mundo 1 copy

The best American science and nature writing, 2009 (2006) 1 copy

Le grand saut: Quand les virus des animaux s'attaquent à l'homme (2020) 1 copy

Life in Equilibrium 1 copy

Work Explorer

Associated Works

On the Origin of Species (1859) — Editor, some editions — 14,401 copies

American Earth: Environmental Writing Since Thoreau (2008) — Contributor — 416 copies

The Best American Science Writing 2006 (2006) — Contributor — 263 copies

The Best American Travel Writing 2001 (2001) — Contributor — 236 copies

The Story of My Boyhood and Youth (1913) — Foreword, some editions — 231 copies

The Best American Travel Writing 2005 (2005) — Contributor — 210 copies

The Best American Science Writing 2005 (2005) — Contributor — 191 copies

The Best American Essays 1999 (1999) — Contributor — 186 copies

The Last Best Place: A Montana Anthology (1988) — Contributor — 181 copies

The Best American Science Writing 2009 (2009) — Contributor — 115 copies

The Best American Essays 1989 (1989) — Contributor — 103 copies

Forces of Change: A New View of Nature (2000) 99 copies

Insect Lives: Stories of Mystery and Romance from a Hidden World (1999) 75 copies

The Best American Magazine Writing 2005 (2005) — Contributor — 54 copies

National Geographic Magazine 2004 v206 #5 November (2004) 32 copies

National Geographic Magazine 2012 v222 #6 December (2012) 26 copies

The Best American Magazine Writing 2017 (2017) — Contributor — 24 copies

Adrenaline 2001: The Year's Best Stories of Adventure and Survival (2001) — Contributor — 22 copies

National Geographic Magazine 2015 v228 #1 July (2015) — Contributor — 21 copies

National Geographic Magazine 2016 v229 #5 May (2016) — Contributor — 18 copies

MHQ: The Quarterly Journal of Military History — Spring 1989 (1989) — Author "The Ineffable Union of man and Horse" — 16 copies

National Geographic Magazine 2016 v229 #1 January (2016) — Contributor — 14 copies

TriQuarterly 48: Western Stories — Contributor — 2 copies

Tagged

19th century (151) animals (168) anthology (181) anthropology (81) biogeography (78) biography (161) biology (1,458) Charles Darwin (118) classic (169) classics (201) Darwin (297) Darwinism (102) ebook (152) ecology (162) environment (111) essays (399) evolution (1,755) extinction (60) fiction (55) Folio Society (76) genetics (88) history (272) history of science (144) Kindle (136) literature (75) natural history (623) natural science (102) natural selection (199) nature (532) non-fiction (1,772) own (63) philosophy (128) popular science (66) read (126) science (2,871) Science & Nature (59) to-read (1,247) travel (150) unread (141) zoology (80)

Common Knowledge

Birthdate: 1948-02-24
Gender: male
Nationality: USA
Birthplace: Cincinnati, Ohio, USA
Places of residence: Bozeman, Montana, USA
Education: Yale University
Oxford University
Occupations: journalist
science writer
Relationships: Quammen, Betsy Gaines (wife)
Organizations: National Geographic
Awards and honors: Lannan Literary Award (Nonfiction, 1997)
American Academy of Arts and Letters Academy Award (Literature, 1996)
Rhodes Scholar
National Magazine Award (x3)
Helen Bernstein Award for Excellence in Journalism
Guggenheim Fellowship (show all 7)
John Burroughs Medal

Members

Reviews

The Tangled Tree: A Radical New History of Life by David Quammen

I won't pretend I understood everything, but this was pretty interesting--it includes a great deal of biographical information about a number of scientists, and discusses their discoveries, and the developing, and sometimes abandoning of theories. One worries that some of one's beliefs would be considered ridiculous by the scientific community; this book makes it clear that the "ridiculous" opinion isn't confined to those outside the community. But that's a trivial point. What's interesting is the tracing of Horizontal Gene Transfer and other discoveries, and the fact that many scientists, while borrowing Darwin's fame (beginning their papers with "On the Origin of . . ." or, slightly less blatant, just "origin of . . ."), are critical of how much he was unaware of, to the detriment of future discoveries.
Narration by Jacques Roy is perfect.… (more)

Flagged

TraSea | 21 other reviews | Apr 29, 2024 |

Breathless: The Scientific Race to Defeat a Deadly… by David Quammen

Flagged

hazel1123 | 4 other reviews | Mar 19, 2024 |

The tangled tree : a radical new history of life by David Quammen

An interesting book, more biographical than I had anticipated. Gives a general and very. Cursory overview of biology and evolution before getting down to the focus on horizontal gene transfer and evolutionary roots that are ostensibly the focus of the book. Gives short shrift to the implications of crispr , but that is not the focus of the book. Must read for fans of Carl Woese, likely to interest anyone with an interest in evolution, while also raising some hackles.

Flagged

cspiwak | 21 other reviews | Mar 6, 2024 |

Monster of God : the man-eating predator in the… by David Quammen

David Quamen is always good company. Here he travels to different parts of the world where people live cheek by jowl with man eating predators. He highlights the difficulties in implementing conservation efforts for dangerous animals in areas where people are surviving and may come in conflict with endangered creatures. He also shares some of the folklore and mythology of the reasons he visits and how the animals are part of the cultures and sometimes religion of the people involved.

Flagged

cspiwak | 17 other reviews | Mar 6, 2024 |

See More Reviews