Biogeography [Paperback]

This excellent textbook is less than 300 pages, and yet I didn't feel like I learned any less than someone who read a 1000 page textbook on the same subject. This is a comprehensive, introductory volume that is, surprisingly for a textbook, extremely well written. This book delivered Biogeography to my mind, and my great teacher Dr Patrick Armstrong of Univeristy of Western Australia made it come alive in my head. Everything you need to lead you into the fascinating study of our tangible world is here. Read it!

Some positive reviews from colleagues encouraged me to try this book out for my senior-level biogeography class. I have to say I am quite disappointed. Overall, the book is very simple, even given it's length, and some of the science is badly outdated or simply wrong. Then, inexplicably, there will be a section so littered with jargon it is nearly unapproachable. I am fine with students learning new vocabulary, but only if it is relevant to the subject. There are many bolded vocabulary words that are highly specific to areas tangential to biogeography. These could have been left out.

Now, given the title, "an ecological and evolutionary approach," I expected a book that thoroughly discussed the role of these major processes in determining biogeography. What I got was quite different. The discussion of ecology is laughable. Competition got a page. Mutualism a paragraph or so. Predation and parasitism a page and a half. These subjects are scattered around the book, meaning students will have to flip around if they'd like to have a coherent description of community ecology. There is NO coherent synthesis of how these processes combine to influence biogeographic patterns. I wound up having the students set the book aside for more than a week, and used alternate sources to lecture on this material.

The section on evolution is better (a whole chapter!). Of course, little of that chapter is related explicitly to ecology, which is unfortunate. The depth is limited, but not cripplingly so. However, there are some factual errors which cannot be overlooked. There are numerous little errors (such as confusing premating/postmating with prezygotic/postzygotic isolating mechanisms). However, the most glaring error by far is the suggestion (twice so far, but there may be more I haven't found yet) that ontogeny recapitulates phylogeny, and that we can understand evolutionary relationships through embryology. This concept is not newly discredited, and is enough to make me question how well researched the book actually is.

There is also a lack of the niceties present in other textbooks. As an instructor, I often get a CD with the artwork for the book, allowing me to project the art and discuss it during class. Not present here, not obvious way to get it from the publisher, and no answer from the sales rep when I asked about it.

In short, avoid this book. There must be better ones out there (and I will update this review if I find one). Even if there aren't, it isn't worth the trouble of correcting the misconceptions.

I love reading this book. The writing is lucid, the ideas flow well and the breadth of knowledge discussed is amazing. However, this is not a book for a freshman ecology class. It assumes a basic class in biology, ecology and probably geology. As that is my background it was perfect. I was looking for a book to explain- why is life where it is on this planet? This book does it. New terminology is explained at first use and there doesn't seem to be any attempt to puff it up by using unnecessarily big or obscure words. Also the authors have a sense of humor. Another plus is the reference and discussion of original research and the references for further investigation. Again, scientists often don't agree. The authors bring up and discuss contentious points without being judgmental or nasty .I love geology and they integrate plate tectonics, glaciation and climatology very well into the discussion of life. I can see several years spent exploring aspects of nature explored in this book.