Combining history, science, and travelogue, The Song of the Dodo is at once a beautifully written introduction to the topic of island biogeography and a passionate appeal to save the world’s biodiversity in the face of massive habitat destruction. Quammen is the author also of The Flight of the Iguana and The Reluctant Mr Darwin; Bill McKibben describes The Song of the Dodo as “compulsively readable — a masterpiece, maybe the masterpiece of science journalism,” and the reviewer for Publishers Weekly writes, “That a book on so technical a subject could be so enlightening, humorous and engaging is an extraordinary achievement.”