David Quammen Knihy

Exploring the complex relationship between animals and human health, this book delves into how animal infections can lead to pandemics. It highlights various zoonotic diseases, their origins, and the ecological factors that contribute to their spillover into human populations. Through compelling narratives and scientific insights, the author emphasizes the urgent need for better understanding and monitoring of these infectious agents to prevent future outbreaks. The work serves as a call to action for improved public health strategies and global cooperation.

First, a horse in Brisbane falls ill: fever, swelling, bloody froth.In a journey that takes him from southern China to the Congo, from Bangladesh to Australia, David Quammen tracks these infections to their source and asks what we can do to prevent some new pandemic spreading across the face of the earth.

Examines the emergence and causes of new diseases all over the world, describing a process called “spillover” where illness originates in wild animals before being passed to humans and discusses the potential for the next huge pandemic. 70,000 first printing.

**A NEW YORK TIMES BOOK OF THE YEAR 2022 and FINANCIAL TIMES BEST BOOK OF 2023** **Shortlisted for the Royal Science Society Book Prize 2023** From the author of the prescient Spillover: Animal Infections and the Next Human Pandemic Breathless is the story of the scientific quest to decipher, control and fight Covid-19. Breathless traces SARS-CoV-2's fierce journey through the human population as seen by the scientists who study its origin, ever-changing nature and capacity to kill. It shows how strange viruses emerge as we disrupt wild ecosystems - sometimes causing global catastrophe - and suggests this coronavirus could be a 'forever virus' that's destined to bedevil us endlessly. Quammen also explains that experts saw this pandemic coming; that scientists warned 'the next big one' would be caused by a changeable new virus, but were ignored for political or economic reasons; and that while the origins of this virus may not be known for years, some suppositions are compelling and others can be dismissed. Breathless takes us inside the frantic international effort to control SARS-CoV-2 as if peering over the shoulders of the brilliant scientists who led the chase. Praise for Spillover: 'A frightening and fascinating masterpiece of science reporting' Walter Isaacson 'A real-life thriller with an outcome that affects us all' Elizabeth Kolbert

21 years passed between Charles Darwim's epiphany that 'natural selection' formed the basis of evolution and the scientist's publication of 'On the Origin of Species'. This text looks at why Darwin delayed the publication and examines what happened during the course of those two decades.

"In the mid-1970s, scientists began using DNA sequences to reexamine the history of all life. Perhaps the most startling discovery to come out of this new field -- the study of life's diversity and relatedness at the molecular level -- is horizontal gene transfer (HGT), or the movement of genes across species lines. It turns out that HGT has been widespread and important; we now know that roughly eight percent of the human genome arrived sideways by viral infection--a type of HGT."--Amazon.com

The collection features a series of essays where David Quammen examines the intersection of civilization and the natural world. He delves into the complexities of coexisting with nature, highlighting the challenges and responsibilities that arise in this delicate balance. Through his travels and reflections, Quammen offers insights into the relationship between humanity and the environment, prompting readers to consider their role in preserving the natural world.

In this "frightening and fascinating masterpiece" (Walter Isaacson), David Quammen explores the true origins of HIV/AIDS. The real story of AIDS—how it originated with a virus in a chimpanzee, jumped to one human, and then infected more than 60 million people—is very different from what most of us think we know. Recent research has revealed dark surprises and yielded a radically new scenario of how AIDS began and spread. Excerpted and adapted from the book Spillover, with a new introduction by the author, Quammen's hair-raising investigation tracks the virus from chimp populations in the jungles of southeastern Cameroon to laboratories across the globe, as he unravels the mysteries of when, where, and under what circumstances such a consequential "spillover" can happen. An audacious search for answers amid more than a century of data, The Chimp and the River tells the haunting tale of one of the most devastating pandemics of our time.

David Quammen's book, The Song of the Dodo, is a brilliant, stirring work, breathtaking in its scope, far-reaching in its message -- a crucial book in precarious times, which radically alters the way in which we understand the natural world and our place in that world. It's also a book full of entertainment and wonders. In The Song of the Dodo, we follow Quammen's keen intellect through the ideas, theories, and experiments of prominent naturalists of the last two centuries. We trail after him as he travels the world, tracking the subject of island biogeography, which encompasses nothing less than the study of the origin and extinction of all species. Why is this island idea so important? Because islands are where species most commonly go extinct -- and because, as Quammen points out, we live in an age when all of Earth's landscapes are being chopped into island-like fragments by human activity. Through his eyes, we glimpse the nature of evolution and extinction, and in so doing come to understand the monumental diversity of our planet, and the importance of preserving its wild landscapes, animals, and plants. We also meet some fascinating human characters. By the book's end we are wiser, and more deeply concerned, but Quammen leaves us with a message of excitement and hope.

Wieso treibt die Evolution auf Inseln besonders kapriziöse Blüten, und wieso bedeutet sie auf Inseln eine Einbahnstraße in den Untergang? Um dies herauszufinden, hat David Quammen sich zehn Jahre lang auf eine abenteuerliche Reise rund um die Welt begeben - eine Reise auch durch die Geschichte der Evolutionstheorie, die in den Fußstapfen von A. R. Wallace beginnt und bei den Feldforschungen einer Wissenschaft endet, die sich heute Inselbiogeographie nennt.