Rate this book

100 Heartbeats: A Journey To Meet Our Planet's Endangered Animals And The Heroes Working To Save Them (2009)

by Jeff Corwin(Favorite Author)

4.14 of 5 Votes: 4

ISBN

1605298476 (ISBN13: 9781605298474)

languge

English

genre

Nonfiction

publisher

Rodale Books

review 1: This book is a bit emotional and earnest, and maybe overwritten, but covers a lot of ground. The author is a herpetologist and the founder of an interactive museum and has advanced degrees in biology. The jacket says that MSNBC’s documentary, 100 Heartbeats, is based on this book. This background isn’t entirely clear from the book itself. The title refers to species and subspecies that have 100 or fewer individuals in the wild, and came from an article written by Edward O. Wilson, “Vanishing Before Our Eyes”. Jeff Corwin describes his contacts with these species while filming them and ties each into the particular cause of its risk of extinction. The chapters are organized under the topics of global warming, habitat loss, introduced species, pollution, disease, and... more exploitation, with at least one species to illustrate the effects of each. It discusses particular species, particular threats, and what organizations and individuals have done, sometimes successfully and sometimes not, to save species from extinction.Some of the statistics are the kind that becomes dated, such as when I read in 2014 that “… palm oil concessions continue to rip apart the forest at a rate that will leave Bornean orangutans, critically endangered Sumatran orangutans, and other species without any wild habitat at all by 2012.” But this may be quibbling. Aslo, some of the wording seems a bit garbled. I was confused in a couple of places, especially where poaching was referred to as being legal.Since I don’t know all of the species that are known to have gone extinct or are in danger of it, I don’t know if there are particular areas of the world or species that were neglected, but it seems very comprehensive. There is great information on species and sub-species throughout the world, and it is nice to learn about the taxonomy of well-known animals, such as rhinos, which I didn’t even know had different species.
review 2: I really wanted to love this book because I love Jeff corwin and everything he stands for. His message is great and I believe the book to be well researched, but... It was pretty boring. I love stories, this is a book of facts. Pictures may have helped, and for heavens sake with all those facts and stats he could have thrown in some slick pie charts and graphs to spice it up. His children's books ( full of pictures AND facts) are awesome. Better luck with your next adult book, Mr. corwin! less

Download links for: 100 Heartbeats: A Journey to Meet Our Planet's Endangered Animals and the Heroes Working to Save Them

Advertising