JacksonGalapagos: A Natural History

The best book about the Galapagos I know.

I read this before my holiday there, but it didn't really mean a lot until I'd been there. It will be useful as a reference when I give a talk with my photos in a few months. I was disappointed that there wasn't much information on fish, and colour pictures would be useful for identification. Many illustrations are in black and white and poor.

This book really is a must. It's not too heavy or bulky but provides a great outline of these magnificent islands and their flora and fauna. I did not find the species descriptions hard work or difficult to get to grips with, in fact the whole book is filled with comic touches and little ancedotes which make it an easy read for professional biologists and people just wishing to visit this spectacular place. I loved both the islands and this book and it will become a treasured part of my library!

Conocía la primera version de este libro con cual trabaja mucho en mis años de guía turística en las islas y el Ecuador. Las explicaciones y descripciones de la fauna y flora son precisas y comprensibles sin que vayan en detalles demasiado científicos. También los senderos, los puntos de visita posibles son bien descritos. Sola lastima que no hay salido una version más reciente todavía ya que entretanto se han descubierto bastantes cosas nuevas y se han abierto unos senderos mas. A pesar de eso, este libro queda el mejor libro de referencia, si ser una obra de fotos espectaculares.

This is the best single vade mecum for a trip to the Galapagos. It provides a geographic, historical, scientific overview, along with chapter-by-chapter descriptions of plant and animal life. It includes some excellent illustrations, though it is not a substitute for a field guide. On the other hand, a field guide does not provide the clear, concise ethological descriptions found in this book. The book also includes some helpful charts on species origins, adaptive radiations, and species distributions, among other things, and has some lovely photos (though for Galapagos photography, the work of Tui de Roy is the gold standard and a must).Jackson was my first book on the Galapagos (aside from the chapter in Voyage of the Beagle) and it led me into a sense of wonder, gratitude, and responsibility for a unique place that our species must work hard to deserve and preserve, given how we have treated it in the past.

This is a lovely resource about the plant, animal, historical and geological features of the Galápagos Islands. Very readable and clearly laid out. I would have liked more pictures.

I bought this to take with me on an upcoming trip to the Galapagos; information in the book was superb: interesting facts, great pictures and drawings; overall very good information; I was a bit surprised by how heavy the book is because of the high-quality paper used for the pages. With limited weight allowed on the plane, we may have to read, memorize and leave the book behind

Good research and reference book