Why big fierce animals are rare Book

While this is a surprisingly complete collection of essay style chapters that cover the 'big' questions in ecology it is a little simplistic and slightly dated (the latter is obviously not the author's fault but it is worth noting). Colinvaux does manage to explain the cornerstone ecological theories in a manner that can be understood by all through comparison with the 'human world' but this does mean that some of the key complexities of such theories are lost (without much indication that they exist at all). Granted this is a very difficult balance to get but it is important not to over simplify such theories as part of their importance and fascination is their complexity. The personal skew that Colinvaux also gives is a little off putting, particularly as a practising ecologist where I have to be sure to be as objective and scientific as possible in my work. The more personal approach that Colinvaux gives to each chapter results in the ecological theories coming across as pseudo-science rather than tried and tested science, which is something that us ecologists have fought against for some time (granted my own experiences are colouring my view slighty). This is partly due to the time of writing but even so it is something to be considered. Overall this is a good book for the non-ecologist and non-environmental reader but needs to be part of wider reading in these areas.