Customer Reviews: Read 5 more reviews...
 A Perfect Travel Companion May 23, 2007
1 out of 1 found this review helpful
I started reading this book whilst on a longish train journey. It took me a chapter or two to get used to the style, but after that, I was unable to put the text down, until I had finished it.
The book is far more than a story of a tortiose. Almost every animal you can think of, recieves a cameo in this absorbing narrative, accompanied by byte sized snippets of scientific research, debate and conjecture. I particularly enjoyed the final chapter on "clones and chimera's"
The illustrations added a lot for me, and all in all, I would regard it as a perfect travel companion.
lonesome george May 14, 2007
1 out of 1 found this review helpful
This is a marvellous account of the life of Lonesome George {LG] the last tortoise of the species Geochelone nigra abingdoni found on the remote Pinta island in the Galapagos archipelago in 1971.Soon afterwards he was transfered to the Charles Darwin research station on Santa Cruz island where he still is.LG has become an icon and is visited by an estimated 100,000 tourists per year .The book also deals with the history of tortoises on the Galapagos going back toDarwinbut also describes the other 10 species of tortoises on the islands.Afirst classbook with only one fault-there is no decent picture of LG.
Stick this on your Christmas list! November 3, 2006
1 out of 1 found this review helpful
This is the perfect present for anyone interested in wildlife, ecology, the environment, evolution, history, genetics, herpetology, travel, economics, politics, anthropology, philosophy and sex. Oh, and tortoises.
This is a great read. An important subject, beautifully written. Fascinating, funny and very sad. I add my multi-starred rating to a growing list of very well-deserved critical acclaim.
(And I wasn't joking about the perfect gift for anyone interested in sex - check out the Swedish lady with only one thing on her mind)
 tale of the greater floating tortoises August 28, 2006
1 out of 1 found this review helpful
One of the ten titles on this year's Guardian First Book Award, this is the story of Lonesome George, the last surviving giant tortoise from the island of Pinta in the Galapagos archipelago. Discovered in 1972 by a bemused snail hunter, George was shipped to the Charles Darwin Research Station on Santa Cruz and swiftly became the main attraction for the hundreds of thousands of visitors every year, and not simply because the Pinta tortoise was thought to be extinct. Rather, it appears that George, now a conservation icon, is more than a little reluctant to spearhead the resurrection of his species.
Told with a disarming humour, and packed with scientific titbits, Lonesome George's tale has all the adventure of pioneering conservation, some amazing confessions of animal cruelty from Darwin, the difficulties and anxiety of taxonomy, and at its heart, a very lonely giant tortoise.
Longlisted for the Guardian First Book prize August 24, 2006
1 out of 1 found this review helpful
I find it truly amazing that the life story of a tortoise ends up being the catalyst for such a fascinating story about nature. Nicholls has found an incredibly humorous, intriguing and thrilling way to teach us about the history of science and contemporary science, using a giant tortoise as his witty muse. This book will appeal to just about anyone. I've just read that this has been longlisted for the Guardian First Book prize, and I'm not surprised and think it deserves shortlisting too.
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