Alfred Russel Wallace (1823–1913)

Alfred Russel Wallace's 1869 account of his travels and observations in what is today Indonesia and that occurred mostly in 1858, the year that he and Darwin published on the Theory of Evolution. Wallace describes his adventures visiting the many islands in the archipelago and his constant search for and preparation of bird and insect specimens that he sent back to England and with which he supported himself. At one point he comments that he is the only white person residing on the thousand-mile-long island of New Guinea, where he is primarily interested in finding new examples of the Bird of Paradise. His description of hunting the Orang-Utan is especially disturbing in light of its recent endangerment. Wallace discusses the biogeography of the archipelago at length including the faunal divide that would later be called the Wallace Line. He also discusses the people of the islands at length, frequently comparing the Malay and Papuan "races" and their degrees of civilization or barbarity. This Victorian view of humanity is sometimes trying, although Wallace makes several comments admiring the noble savages around him who live in peace and harmony without any of the oppressive social structures that are necessary at home. (Later in life he became a social activist supporting women's suffrage and opposing eugenics, the destruction of the environment by human activity, and militarism.) The Folio Society edition of this book has beautiful color plates with drawings by the author and some photographs.… (mehr)

Excellent book! The introduction is equally good and valuable. The sad part about this is that this is hardly an annotated volume. Once the book starts, the notes are virtually worthless in any meaningful way. The editor (Wyhe) could have done a fabulous job explaining dozens upon dozens of interesting complications and situations. Instead, his interests seem to lie in giving us the Latin name of birds, mammals, and insects. I suppose this is what he means by 'annotated' but tis not my understanding of the word.
I read this while living and working with orangutans in Sumatra. The insight provided here has been hugely beneficial, to say the very least. I'm pondering keeping it around for a second read as I travel more thru the islands....… (mehr)