Henry Walter Bates (1825–1892)
Autore di In the Heart of the Amazon Forest
Sull'Autore
Fonte dell'immagine: Henry Walter Bates. Wikipedia.
Opere di Henry Walter Bates
Etichette
Informazioni generali
- Nome legale
- Bates, Henry Walter
- Data di nascita
- 1825-02-08
- Data di morte
- 1892-02-16
- Luogo di sepoltura
- East Finchley Cemetery, London, England, UK
- Sesso
- male
- Nazionalità
- UK
- Luogo di nascita
- Leicester, Leicestershire, England, UK
- Luogo di morte
- London, England, UK
- Attività lavorative
- naturalist
explorer - Organizzazioni
- Royal Society (Fellow)
Royal Geographical Society
Entomological Society of London
Linnaean Society of London
Utenti
Recensioni
Liste
Premi e riconoscimenti
Potrebbero anche piacerti
Statistiche
- Opere
- 9
- Utenti
- 300
- Popolarità
- #78,268
- Voto
- 3.6
- Recensioni
- 5
- ISBN
- 41
- Lingue
- 6
As part of their "Great Journeys" series, Penguin Books has published excerpts of Henry Bates' book as the small 107 page paperback In the Heart of the Amazon Forest. The excerpts are presented in three sections: (1) Blow-guns, Turtle Hunting, and Alligators; (2) Toucans, Vampire Bats, Foraging Ants, and Other Creatures; and (3) Departure. The passages in this book offer anecdotal observations on animals, plants, habitats, and indigenous peoples as seen through Bates' eyes. The flyleaf contains a map of the upper Amazon, and although Bates' route is not marked, one can find some of the localities cited in his account.
One goal of the "Great Journeys" excerpts probably is to acquaint readers with the larger works from which they are taken. In this regard, this book may serve its purpose; readers readers are more likely to encounter and read this excerpt than the large 450+ page volume. Nevertheless, I found the presentation of this small book a bit disappointing. Only a brief (two-paragraph) introduction is given to describe who Bates was and what his great work was about. The introduction gets the years of Bates' life wrong (rather than 1825-1892, it inexplicably claims 1850- 1918, which would mean he launched the expedition 4 years before he was born). Likewise, the introduction doesn't describe the expedition in terms of its goals, or scientific impact, nor does it mention that the "Mr. Wallace" who accompanied Bates was later to be a co-founder (with Darwin) of the evolutionary principle of natural selection. Perhaps these are picky criticisms, but I think the reader needs a historical context to understand the significance and content of the work. Of course, motivated readers can educate themselves about Bates' expedition and scientific contributions with a little online digging.
In any case, Henry Bates' expedition and writings should be of interest to those who like reading 19th century works on exploration and adventure. A fine review of the entire book is available here at LT: http://www.librarything.com/work/237608/reviews/36084864 Bates' entire book itself is now available online via the Project Gutenberg series, so the ambitious reader need not confine him/her self to the small excerpts chosen in this paperback.… (altro)