From Publishers Weekly
This paean to a remarkable animal by Flannery, author of the well-received global warming treatise The Weather Makers, is fascinating but scattershot. The kangaroo, the only large animal that hops, can travel at speeds of 15–40 kilometers per hour. Female kangaroos, who carry their young in pouches, have two vaginas, but don't give birth through either of them, and are always pregnant, because they mate a few hours after their young are born. There are 70-odd species of kangaroo: some drink salt water; others live in trees. But as a paleontologist, Flannery is obsessed with finding out when and where the first kangaroos lived. Much of the book is about his searches for the fossils of extinct species in remote areas of the Australian outback, where he discovered the remains of "the grandfather of all kangaroos," as well as the fossils of ice age giants, such as the short-faced kangaroo and a carnivorous kangaroo. The accounts of his discoveries are engaging, but he covers too much ground, switching back and forth between physical descriptions, kangaroo evolution, reminiscences of his fossil hunting travels, worries about Australia's environment and the aborigines, and his controversial extinction theories. B&w and color illus. not seen by PW. (July)
Copyright © Reed Business Information, a division of Reed Elsevier Inc. All rights reserved.
Tim Flannery tackled climate change in The Weather Makers (***1/2 July/Aug 2006); here, he seeks to understand the complex kangaroo family. Engaging, exuberant, and witty, Chasing Kangaroos discusses geology, evolution, anthropology, and biology while remaining a work of popular science. In illustrating the kanga's complexity, Flannery examines different species-from the extinct male grey kangaroo that smelled of curry to the tammar, which can drink seawater. Mixed into this natural history is a fascinating travelogue as Flannery relates his outback adventures on motorcycle. A few reviewers criticized the back-and-forth nature of the book, the lack of information on kangaroo personality, and some hastily constructed chapters, but overall, Chasing Kangaroos is a fascinating, worthwhile read.
Copyright © 2004 Phillips & Nelson Media, Inc.
Those who've had trouble sleeping since reading Flannery's book about global warming (The Weather Makers, 2006) may be surprised to learn that his true passion is not doomsday scenarios--it's kangaroos. Although these fascinating animals are practically synonymous with Australia, as a budding paleontologist, Flannery was shocked at the gaps in scientific knowledge about them, and he has been trying to fill those gaps ever since. Written with both earthy humor and scientific precision, this book is almost as unique its subject. It's part memoir and travelogue (it begins with his youthful attempt to circumnavigate Australia by motorcycle), part natural history (it's loaded with information about the changes wrought by nature and man), and part scientific clue hunt (his attempts to solve the puzzle of the 'roo's origins are hampered by gaps in the geological record). Readers who start out thinking that Flannery's mania for marsupials is a bit nerdy will soon envy his passion so much that they'll feel like they're the real nerds themselves. This delightful journey of discovery will appeal to fans of Bill Bryson and Mark Kurlansky. Keir Graff
Copyright © American Library Association. All rights reserved
About the Author
In his most personal book yet, Tim Flannery, the internationally acclaimed author of The Weather Makers, draws on three decades of travel, research, and field work to craft a love letter to his native land and one of its most unique and beloved inhabitants: the kangaroo. Crisscrossing the continent, Flannery shows us how the destiny of this extraordinary creature is inseparable from the environment that created it. Along the way he uses encounters with ancient aboriginal cultures and eccentric fossil hunters, farmers and scientists, kangaroo advocates and kangaroo hunters, to explore how Australia’s deserts and rain forests have shaped human responses to the continent--and how kangaroos have evolved to handle the resulting challenges. Ultimately, Chasing Kangaroos is a captivating blend of memoir, travel, natural history, and evolutionary science--and further proof of Flannery’s offhand interdisciplinary brilliance” (Entertainment Weekly).
