Books : Socotra: A Natural History of the Islands and Their People
List Price: $59.95Amazon.com's Price: $43.76 You Save: $16.19 (27%)Prices subject to change.
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Binding: Hardcover
Dewey Decimal Number: 916
EAN: 9789622177703
ISBN: 9622177700
Label: Odyssey
Manufacturer: Odyssey
Number Of Items: 1
Number Of Pages: 384
Publication Date: February 19, 2007
Publisher: Odyssey
Sales Rank: 291346
Studio: Odyssey
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Product Description:
This richly illustrated book provides the first comprehensive review of the natural history of these islands. The islands became a UNESCO Man and Biosphere Reserve in 2003 and have been nominated as a World Heritage site. While documenting Socotra's geology, biodiversity, ecology, human history and culture, the book also highlights aspects of the islands' biogeography, evolution, and conservation. Thoroughly researched, with contributions from numerous international and local specialists, the book is packed with up-to-date scientific, historic and cultural information. 300 color photos, 10 maps.
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There is nothing out there like this book. Nothing even comes close. If you're interested in the island of Suqutra, you basically must have this book. Live on the streets. Eat only rice. Sell your children. But buy this book.
"Natural History" contains everything you could possibly want to know about the islands and their people- including that they aren't one island, but actually six, three of which are inhabited. The book goes into great detail on the history, the customs, the flora and fauna, marine life, geology, and the environmental impact and future of Suqutra. Cheung and DeVantier have taken a century and a half of research, countless articles and books, and their own personal experience to present a beautifully photographed and intricate portrayal. Here you can learn about the poisonous animals (and what the possibility is of a giant poisonous snake); how to politely visit a Suqutri home and eat; why the Suqutri marine ecology is so unique; when the island was Christian; and how frankincense and ambergris are formed by battle between giant monsters and from special trees. Perhaps the only thing missing is a more detailed analysis of the centrality of folk Islam in the society, which is only alluded to at times- but that can be found in the ethnography Island of the Phoenix. Truthfully, this book is a bargain- it should be selling at about three times the price, for no other book comes close to matching it.
Some have a thirst for Suqutra and want ... Read More
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