Messages from Islands

"Hanski cut a wide swath across ecology, evolution, and conservation biology, with innovative approaches to understanding the distribution, diversity, and vicissitudes of life on earth at all levels, from genes through entire ecosystems and from microbes to mammals. All scientists know his key finding that much of nature is distributed as metapopulations of loosely connected, largely isolated populations, his insights on the mechanisms of population and species extinction, and his elegant field research on insect populations. As Hanski makes clear in Messages from Islands, almost all of his inspiration and insights originate with his observations and research on many islands around the world, and his work on islands and work of many others, such as Darwin and Wallace, have underpinned a huge fraction of what we know about biodiversity today, how it came to be as it is, and the forces currently threatening it. In each chapter, using one of his many island explorations as a springboard, he develops in comprehensive yet accessible language an aspect of scientific knowledge of the diversity of life. In sum, Hanski's book is an elegant, engaging, and remarkably thorough description of the scope and wonderfully intricate details of biodiversity, as well as what we must do to save it."--Daniel Simberloff, University of Tennessee
"What a lovely book. Messages from Islands reminds me of Edward O. Wilson's The Diversity of Life, with its mix of the personal and the scientific, its elegant tone, its straightforward and crystal-clear prose, and the subtle way in which so much ecological and evolutionary ground is covered. Hanski excels at enmeshing himself into the story to introduce readers to the process of science and to demonstrate how we know what we know. I am certain that every practicing ecologist and evolutionary biologist will want to read this book just to see what Hanski's take on various issues is after so many productive years of research. Given Hanski's standing in the field and all that he has done for our understanding of how the natural world works and what we can and should be doing to preserve what's left of it, he should be given carte blanche to publish whatever book he wants to write. Luckily for all of us, the book that he has written is one of the best tales of scientific discovery and understanding, and of the humans who make those discoveries, that I have ever read."--Nathan J. Sanders, University of Vermont
"Combining a personal memoir with serious discussion of a scientific subject is a difficult literary trick. The Finnish biologist Hanski succeeded with aplomb in his last book, Messages from Islands, in which each chapter begins with insights from an island that moulded his thinking about ecology, evolution, and conservation. . . . Hanski's passionate concern for biodiversity is evident throughout the book. . . . His own experiences are illuminating. . . . His book does not shy away from the challenges that face humanity or the threats to biodiversity. Yet it is an uplifting read, revealing the author's humanity and deep love of the natural world. I cannot think of a better book to give to a general reader who wants an insight into modern ecology and how ecologists go about their trade."--H. Charles J. Godfray, University of Oxford "Nature"