An Explorer's Notebook: Essays on Life, History, and Climate

by Tim Flannery

Best known for his #1 international bestseller The Weather Makers , Tim Flannery is one of the world’s most influential scientists, a foremost expert on climate change credited with discovering more species than Charles Darwin. But Flannery didn’t come to his knowledge overnight. With its selection of exhilarating essays and articles written over the past thirty years, An Explorer’s Notebook charts the evolution of a young scientist doing fieldwork in remote locations into the major thinker who has changed the way we think about global warming. In these thirty pieces, Flannery writes about his journeys in the jungles of New Guinea and Indonesia, about the extraordinary people he met and the species he discovered. He writes about matters as wide-ranging as love, insects, population, water, and the stresses we put on the environment. He shows us how we can better predict our future by understanding the profound history of life on Earth. And he chronicles the seismic shift in the world’s attitude toward climate change. An Explorer’s Notebook is classic Flannery—wide-ranging, eye-opening science, conveyed with richly detailed storytelling.

Genres: Nonfiction, Science, Environment, Essays

336 pages, Paperback

First published December 1, 2007

About the author

Tim Flannery is one of Australia's leading thinkers and writers.

An internationally acclaimed scientist, explorer and conservationist, he has published more than 130 peer-reviewed scientific papers and many books. His books include the landmark works The Future Eaters and The Weather Makers, which has been translated into more than 20 languages and in 2006 won the NSW Premiers Literary Prizes for Best Critical Writing and Book of the Year.

He received a Centenary of Federation Medal for his services to Australian science and in 2002 delivered the Australia Day address. In 2005 he was named Australian Humanist of the Year, and in 2007 honoured as Australian of the Year.

He spent a year teaching at Harvard, and is a founding member of the Wentworth Group of Concerned Scientists, a director of the Australian Wildlife Conservancy, and the National Geographic Society's representative in Australasia. He serves on the board of WWF International (London and Gland) and on the sustainability advisory councils of Siemens (Munich) and Tata Power (Mumbai).

In 2007 he co-founded and was appointed Chair of the Copenhagen Climate Council, a coalition of community, business, and political leaders who came together to confront climate change.

Tim Flannery is currently Professor of Science at Maquarie University, Sydney.

Reviews

[Dan · Rating 4 out of 5]

An Explorer’s Notebook by Tim Flannery

Not so very long ago, in a faraway corner of the western Pacific Ocean, there was an enchanted isle, and it was a home to hobbits. It’s hills and caves were the haunts of ferocious dragons and enormous rats, and through its forests roamed elephants no larger than ponies. This magical place did not know man, for no human had ever trod its hills. Instead it was a realm of diminutive, almost human beings whose heads would not have reached your waists. They may have been small, but they were very brave, for they fought the dragons and drove giant rats from their lairs. You could be forgiven for thinking that this all sounds like a fantasy, and until a spectacular discovery in 2004 it was. The mystical-sounding place is the island of Flores in eastern Indonesia.

Flannery is an Australian biologist by trade and is viewed today as one of the world’s earliest and outspoken experts on climate change. This book was published in 2007 and includes thirty-three of his nature articles covering discoveries, science and the climate.

The first half of the book covers Flannery’s own explorations and discoveries including several new species of tree kangaroos in the ‘80s and ‘90s. He has been called the modern day Livingstone for his many discoveries deep in the jungles of Indonesia and New Guinea.

The second half of the book includes Flannery’s reviews of books written by other naturalists. Many of these reviews are real gems. I have personally read many of the source books and it’s impressive how cogently Flannery transforms the meat of such books into ten page reviews.

Here are the six articles in the book that I enjoyed the most:

1. The Fall and Rise of Balmer’s Fruit Bat -After eight years of field research Flannery and his colleague find a large cave in Palau New Guinea revealing that this species of bat was not extinct. Pictures of this large bat species resemble an adorable gargoyle.

2. Men of the Forest - Flannery discusses the coexistence of tree kangaroo and the Dani, Amungme, and Moni people of Java. Slightly disturbing article. The islanders love the taste of tree kangaroos.

3. Australia: Overpopulated or Last Frontier - All of Australia’s major cities lie along the coast and not surprisingly nearly all of the population live within a few miles of the coast. Only 3% of the continent’s land mass is suitable for farming due largely to lack of soil and phosphates. There were no glaciers or geothermal activity to introduce new sources of soil. For these reasons and limited rivers the author posits that Australia cannot support more people even though it has one of the lowest population densities of any country on earth.

4. The Priest and the Hobbit - A story about the only four mammal species that lived on Tores island near Indonesia. A Kimodo dragon, a Pygmy race of humans, elephants and giant rats. It appears they coexisted for thousands of years in a state of stasis. The priest in the title refers to Father Verhoeven who made many of the archaeological discoveries here.

5. A Scorpion meets a Scorpion - A review of three different books. The first one by David Attenborough discusses the bizarre sexual habits of scorpions. There is also a good book that explores possible causes of the disappearance of locusts in the United States.

6. Saving Water and Energy - Some 20% of Australia’s water supply is wasted in energy production, from coal fired plants and nuclear plants. A greener approach, especially wind and solar would save the already scant levels of fresh water. Globally reforesting the Amazon and equatorial jungles in Asia and Africa would have a huge effect on reducing global warming. Whereas reforesting more northern climates would be of less benefit to the planet. This is because tree canopies in the north that replace snow cover would absorb more heat than they reflected. The same is true in the far southern latitudes.

4.5 stars. Highly recommend especially for environment or science buffs. Flannery’s fluid prose and his sense of pacing are both top notch. In 2007 he won the Australian of the Year award for his leadership on science and the climate change crisis.

[Tawny Gapinski · Rating 5 out of 5]

I about died when I read about the bikie with 7 inch blade caught dissecting a kanga alongside the Australian Desert! highway. LMAO. #star #constant #biome

[Bill Leach · Rating 3 out of 5]

This book is in three parts. In the first, the author describes his adventures as a small mammal researcher. A trip to Guadacanal was made to find the Emperor Rat, King Rat and Little Pig Rat, three closely related species but isolated with their closest relatives in New Guinea. Other expeditions were made to Papua, New Guinea in search of Bulmer's fruit bat, and Irian Jaya investigating tree kangaroos.

The second and best part of the book comprises a number of reviews of books by other authors. These are very good, nicely relaying the content and the messages of each author. His review of Rumphius' Abonense Curisoity Cabinet portrays the hard work of this early naturalist, and the information on various animals that is still of interest today.

The third part of the book includes a few essays on climate change from 2006.

[Star Bookworm · Rating 3 out of 5]

This was an excellent compilation of Flannery's work for the past three decades. They are placed in chronological order by sections based on type of work. He included his personal essays on biology and zoology in the field, which I found to be incredibly fascinating; reviews of scientific books he read; and, climate essays to raise recognition of our impact on the species of the world.

Section one: I love zoology and learning about all the different kinds of animals. What animals can tell us about our own planet is incredible. Tim Flannery is an Australian scientist, and he gave me a whole new perspective on animals from New Guinea and Indonesia. I absolutely adore tree kangaroos and learned so many new facts from his research. While I would love to own one, they are quite the aggressive ninja and are capable of killing an adult man. Who knew? Some of the essays were great exposes on the animals and the hunt to learn more about them; others were a little more preachy about man-animal interaction. I honestly skimmed through these articles.

Section two: Flanney covers the better reviews he provided for scientific books. Did you know Audubon's book was life-size and cost (modern day) $40,000? That is a coffee table book for the records. I skimmed through a couple of the reviews because the subject of trees and insects weren't as interesting to me, and Flannery's scientific review put me even further into sleep. I was greatly intrigued by the review of Attenborough's Life in the Undergrowth. I had just finished watching the televised program of the book the previous weekend. Coincidences like that fascinate me.

Section three: Essays that are worthy of sparking an intellectual debate. The topic of climate change is usually not my favorite because it seems that most arguments are not fully researched. Clearly that is not case with Tim Flannery. This section was a little dry for me, however.

I truly appreciated the change into non-fiction and all the great topics and debates Flannery sparked during my reading. I would certainly recommend broadening the reading horizons with this fabulous collection of essays. (Maybe just break up your reading of them?)

[John Benson · Rating 3 out of 5]

Tim Flannery is an Australian scientist who is a very good writer. I read a previous book of his where he explored different Pacific islands searching for rare animals. About 1/3 of the essays in this book continue to tell some of those stories. He has a lot of interesting insights into these places and Australia. The second third of the book were different book reviews he had written for the New York Review of Books. I found this section rather dull. His final section is about climate issues and their impact on Australia. This section was short but strong. Tim Flannery is very readable and has many interesting insights in a number of different areas.

[David Harris · Rating 3 out of 5]

A slightly eclectic collection of writing, the cynic in me sees this as a cash-in on the author's Australian of the year award. Politics aside, it is an interesting insight into a remarkable man and his important work. The stories are fasscinating and his reviews of others work show how rounded his experinces are. An enjoyable read withour being too heavy. It reinforces the need for me to read his other books.

[Carly · Rating 3 out of 5]

Saw Tim Flannery speak at Readers and Writer's week - really motivating.

[Kadri · Rating 5 out of 5]

An interesting collection of Tim Flannery's writing, ranging from tales of exploration, to book reviews and articles and speeches about climate change.