This is a heavily revised and expanded English translation of a book published in Icelandic in 2020. The translator, Anna Yates, is to be thanked, along with the author and publisher, for making such an interesting book accessible to English readers.
I’m interested in extinction and the Great Auk is a famous extinction. Of course, while a species is being driven to extinction by us (because that is overwhelmingly the cause these days) it is difficult to know whether it is gone or simply declining locally. Maybe there are lots of Great Auks on a rarely visited Icelandic island still, or off Greenland, or Canada? By now we can be sure that they are all long gone (but read the excellent Fergus the Silent by Michael McCarthy (reviewed here) for a gripping tale of what might happen if they ever are rediscovered) and when Alfred Newton and John Wolley set off for Iceland in 1858 they were hoping to study this bird. When they arrived, but not immediately, they realised that the Great Auk had been lost to Iceland (and perhaps to the world) in 1844. That’s quite a wasted journey!
This book delves into the two British scientists’ accounts and thoughts about the Great Auk’s extinction through examination of their notes and accounts of interviews with local folk (which are held in the Newton Library in the Cambridge Zoology Department where I used to study and daydream as an undergraduate). The author of this book, as an anthropologist, is interested and writes interestingly about the process of interviewing locals on what they have done and the reliability or otherwise of those accounts.
This book provides insights into Iceland (a wonderful country), Icelanders (a wonderful people in my experience), Victorian scientists and the issues surrounding extinction.
The cover? Difficult to get a good photo of this species so the options are limited – this is good. I’d give it 8/10.
The Last of Its kind: the search for the Great Auk and the discovery of extinction by Gisli Palsson is published by Princeton University Press.
Signed copies of my most recent book book, Reflections, are available from me.
Contact me at [email protected]
Softback – £20 (incl UK P&P)
Hardback £26 (incl UK P&P)
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