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Where Worlds Collide: The Wallace Line (Comstock Book)

von Penny Van Oosterzee

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Alfred Russel Wallace, the father of biogeography, discovered the flora and fauna of the South East Asian islands and the extraordinary way in which they are geographically distinct. In a lively historical narrative, Penny van Oosterzee tells the story of his achievement. His legacy is the Wallace Line, a faunal barrier separating the Asian from the Australian: monkeys from kangaroos, weaver birds from cockatoos, and pheasants from parrots. This invisible boundary and the difference between the species it divides catalyzed Wallace's theory of evolution and prodded Darwin to articulate his own theory. In Where Worlds Collide, van Oosterzee follows Wallace's journeys through the islands of South East Asia. She draws on Wallace's natural history travelogue, The Malay Archipelago, a book he wrote after spending the years from 1854 to 1862 in Malaysia, Indonesia, and New Guinea. Explaining his theory and how it has been interpreted by biologists, van Oosterzee also re-creates Wallace's sense of excitement with his discoveries. She devotes a chapter to the diversity of butterfly wing patterns, for example, because Wallace was so enamored of them.… (mehr)
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Without too much thinking about it, I had assumed that this was an adaptation of Alfred Wallace's writings about the biological dividing line between Asia and the Australian plate. However, I was wrong. It is a completely new work by Penny van Oosterzee which, of course, draws heavily on Wallace's own work. It has inspired me to read one of the books that I have by Wallace ...which remains unread on my shelves (somewhere). Just have to find it...then find the time to read.
Penny has done a good job with this book. She integrates the main findings: the abrupt change in mammal species between Bali and Lombok, changes in bird species and freshwater fish, the geological history of the various plates and the deep water dividing the various plates. One thing that I found rather interesting was that what is now West Burma (Myanmar) was once part of the Australian Plate ...up to about 200 m years ago. I wonder whether there are any traces in the vegetation or fossil record of similarities. I was also fascinated by the fact that Wallace spent so long on the tiny Island of Ternate ....which was such an important spice source (cloves) at the time. I wonder what it's like now? Just Googled it. Some mention of old Portuguese forts and lovely scenery...but no mention of Wallace and the part Ternate played in one of the greatest ideas of the century. In the process, Penny gives us a fairly sympathetic picture of Wallace. Hard working; driven by curiosity, living in extraordinarily primitive surroundings yet apparently putting up with it all with his characteristic sense of humour. He doesn't seem to be at all put out by having his "great idea"; First ....The Sarawak Law...."that every species has come into existence coincident both in time and space with a pre-existing closely allied species".....and then in 1858 his paper "On the tendency of varieties to depart Indefinitely from the original type"...which outlined the manner of the origin of species by natural selection....shared with Charles Darwin. The author describes him as "chuffed because he had been welcomed into the select fraternity of naturalists whose interests took them beyond the mere description of series."
Penny includes a rather sad epilogue where she visits Ambon...where Wallace had described the clarity of the water and the beautiful coral and fishes....now she only saw through the cloudy water a rubbish tip of lifeless coral...the rest had been dredged and used as fill. I enjoyed the book...especially the descriptions of Mt Kinabalu which I have climbed myself and Wallace's experiences climbing similar mountains in Java. I'm left with a profound admiration for Wallace; for his energy, his drive, his inventiveness and his sense of adventure. Thanks Penny. ( )
  booktsunami | Sep 23, 2019 |
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Alfred Russel Wallace, the father of biogeography, discovered the flora and fauna of the South East Asian islands and the extraordinary way in which they are geographically distinct. In a lively historical narrative, Penny van Oosterzee tells the story of his achievement. His legacy is the Wallace Line, a faunal barrier separating the Asian from the Australian: monkeys from kangaroos, weaver birds from cockatoos, and pheasants from parrots. This invisible boundary and the difference between the species it divides catalyzed Wallace's theory of evolution and prodded Darwin to articulate his own theory. In Where Worlds Collide, van Oosterzee follows Wallace's journeys through the islands of South East Asia. She draws on Wallace's natural history travelogue, The Malay Archipelago, a book he wrote after spending the years from 1854 to 1862 in Malaysia, Indonesia, and New Guinea. Explaining his theory and how it has been interpreted by biologists, van Oosterzee also re-creates Wallace's sense of excitement with his discoveries. She devotes a chapter to the diversity of butterfly wing patterns, for example, because Wallace was so enamored of them.

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