David Quammen

«Deslumbrante Quammen: desvela lo que nos hace vivir y lo que nos mata con pasión, humor y conocimiento.»Daniel Arjona, El confidencial EL LIBRO INTERNACIONAL DE REFERENCIA DURANTE LA CUARENTENA.Desd

Neste texto essencial para os tempos atuais, David Quammen demonstra como a ação humana é indissociável da história das pandemias — das causas ao controle. Parte do livro Contágio, publicado original

«Uma obra-prima.»New York Review of BooksUma investigação ao melhor estilo policial sobre o fenómeno do contágio de humanos por vírus de outras espécies animais - como o novo coronavírus - e o que po

Adolf Hitler era un don nadie en 1919. Con treinta años de edad, era un simple cabo licenciado, sin profesión, cultura o fortuna en una Alemania derrotada, sometida a tremendas convulsiones políticas internas y a una fantastica lista de indemnizaciones de guerra exigidas por los vencedores de 1918.En esta sintesis historica sobre Hitler, su ideologia y la pavorosa Alemania a la que dio vida y condujo a la tragedia, se explica su fantastica escalada hacia el poder. Como logro conseguir el apoyo de gran parte de los alemanes gracias a su arrebatadora oratoria, su formidable memoria, su astucia para intuir lo que deseaba escuchar el pueblo aleman, lo que necesitaban los industriales, lo que movia el mundo del dinero. A eso se uniria su voluntad de hierro, su amoralidad, su capacidad de adulacion y su ferocidad para salvar obstaculos, escalar sobre montañas de cadaveres, ganarse a los poderosos o aniquilar a los debiles. Una historia verdaderamente increible que aun suscita pasiones y conmociona a Alemania.Adolf Hitler era un don nadie en 1919. Con treinta años de edad, era un simple cabo licenciado, sin profesión, cultura o fortuna en una Alemania derrotada, sometida a tremendas convulsiones políticas internas y a una fantastica lista de indemnizaciones de guerra exigidas por los vencedores de 1918.En esta sintesis historica sobre Hitler, su ideologia y la pavorosa Alemania a la que dio vida y condujo a la tragedia, se explica su fantastica escalada hacia el poder. Como logro conseguir el apoyo de gran parte de los alemanes gracias a su arrebatadora oratoria, su formidable memoria, su astucia para intuir lo que deseaba escuchar el pueblo aleman, lo que necesitaban los industriales, lo que movia el mundo del dinero. A eso se uniria su voluntad de hierro, su amoralidad, su capacidad de adulacion y su ferocidad para salvar obstaculos, escalar sobre montañas de cadaveres, ganarse a los poderosos o aniquilar a los debiles. Una historia verdaderamente increible que aun suscita pasiones y conmociona a Alemania.

Evolution, during the early nineteenth century, was an idea in the air. Other thinkers had suggested it, but no one had proposed a cogent explanation for how evolution occurs. Then, in September 1838, a young Englishman named Charles Darwin hit upon the idea that natural selection among competing individuals would lead to wondrous adaptations and species diversity. Twenty-one years passed between that epiphany and publication of On the Origin of Species. The human drama and scientific basis of Darwins twenty-one-year delay constitute a fascinating, tangled tale that elucidates the character of a cautious naturalist who initiated an intellectual revolution.The Kiwis Egg is a book for everyone who has ever wondered about who this man was and what he said. Drawing from Darwins secret transmutation notebooks and his personal letters, David Quammen has sketched a vivid life portrait of the man whose work never ceases to be controversial.

A NEW YORK TIMES BOOK OF THE YEAR 2022 and FINANCIAL TIMES BEST BOOK OF 2023 Shortlisted for the Royal Society Trivedi Science Book Prize 2023 From the author of Spillover the book that predicted the pandemic Breathless is the story of Covid 19 and its fierce journey through the human population as seen by the scientists tasked with fighting it Bestelling author David Quammen draws on countless interviews with experts including leading virologists to take us inside the global race to understand SARS CoV 2 it s ever changing nature and capacity to kill In doing so he explains how new viruses emerge when we disrupt ecosystems and suggests why the coronavirus may be here to stay By peering over the shoulders of the brilliant scientists leading the chase Breathless uncovers the warnings from infectious diseases experts that went unheeded and which clues are the most compelling in the hunt for the virus origin A viral howdunnit that is pacy and unafraid to educate readers Observer A luminous passionate account of the defining crisis of our time New York Times A classic a masterpiece Stanley Prusiner Nobel Prize Winner As close to authoritative history as we have It reads like a real time thriller Chicago Tribune

In Wild Thoughts from Wild Places, award-winning journalist David Quammen reminds us why he has become one of our most beloved science and nature writers.This collection of twenty-three of Quammens most intriguing, most exciting, most memorable pieces introduces kayakers on the Futaleufu River of southern Chile, where Quammen describes how it feels to travel in fast company and flail for survival in the rivers maw.Readers learn of the commerce in pearls (and black-market parrots) in the Aru Islands of eastern Indonesia. Quammen even finds wildness in smog-choked Los Angeles -- embodied in an elusive population of urban coyotes, too stubborn and too clever to surrender to the sprawl of civilization.With humor and intelligence, David Quammens Wild Thoughts from Wild Places also reminds us that humans are just one of the many species on earth with motivations, goals, quirks, and eccentricities. Expect to be entertained and moved on this journey through the wilds of science and nature.

National Book Award finalist Breathless tells the story of the worldwide scientific race to decipher the coronavirus SARS-CoV-2, trace its source, and make possible the vaccines to fight the Covid-19 pandemica luminous, passionate account of the defining crisis of our time (The New York Times).Breathless is a gripping (The Atlantic) but clear-eyed analysis (Time) of SARs-CoV-2 and its fierce journey through the human population, as seen by the scientists who study its origin, its ever-changing nature, and its capacity to kill us. David Quammen expertly shows how strange new viruses emerge from animals into humans as we disrupt wild ecosystems and how those viruses adapt to their human hosts, sometimes causing global catastrophe. He explains why this coronavirus will probably be a forever virus, destined to circulate among humans and bedevil us endlessly, in one variant form or another. As scientists labor to catch it, comprehend it, and control it, with their high-tech tools and methods, the virus finds ways of escape.Based on interviews with nearly one hundred scientists, including leading virologists in China and around the world, Quammen explains that: -Infectious disease experts saw this pandemic coming -Some scientists, for more than two decades, warned that the next big one would be caused by a changeable new virusvery possibly a coronavirusbut such warnings were ignored for political or economic reasons -The precise origins of this virus may not be known for years, but some clues are compelling, and some suppositions can be dismissed -And much moreWritten by one of our finest explainers of the natural world for decades (Chicago Tribune), This compelling and terrifying (The New York Times) account is an unparalleled look inside the frantic international race to understand and control SARS-CoV-2and what it might mean for the next potential global health crisis.

Compulsively readablea masterpiece, maybe the masterpiece of science journalism. Bill McKibben, AudubonA brilliant, stirring work, breathtaking in its scope and far-reaching in its message, The Song of the Dodo is a crucial book in precarious times. Through personal observation, scientific theory, and history, David Quammen examines the mysteries of evolution and extinction and radically alters our understanding of the natural world and our place within it. In this landmark of science writing, we learn how the isolation of islands makes them natural laboratories of evolutionary extravagance, as seen in the dragons of Komodo, the elephant birds of Madagascar, the giant tortoises of the Galapagos. But the dark message of island studies is that isolated ecosystems, whether natural or human-made, are also hotbeds of extinction. And as the worlds landscapes, from Tasmania to the Amazon to Yellowstone, are carved into pieces by human activity, the implications of this knowledge are more urgent than ever. An unforgettable scientific adventure, a fascinating account of an eight-year journey of discovery, and a wake-up call for our time, David Quammens The Song of the Dodo is an exquisitely written book that takes the reader on a globe-circling tour of wild places and extraordinary ideas.

From one of the most fascinating and thought-provoking writers of natural history (The Seattle Times), a collection of enduring essays that form a bestiary of wondrous creatures and a gallery of the human faces that peer at them.The Boilerplate Rhino brings together twenty-six of David Quammens most thoughtful and engaging essays from his column for Outside magazine, gifting readers with an irrepressible assortment of ideas to explore, conundrums to contemplate, and wondrous creatures to behold.In lucid, penetrating, and often quirkily idiosyncratic prose, David Quammen takes his readers with him as he explores the world. His travels lead him to rattlesnake handlers in Texas; a lizard specialist in Baja; the dinosaur museum in Jordan, Montana; and halfway across Indonesia in search of the perfect Durian fruit. He ponders the history of nutmeg in the southern Moluccas, meditates on bioluminescent beetles while soaking in the waters of the Amazon, and delivers The Dope on Eggs from a chicken ranch near his hometown in Montana.Quammens travels are always jumping-off points to explore the rich and sometimes horrifying tension between humankind and the natural world, in all its complexity and ambivalence. The result is another irrepressible assortment of ideas to explore, conundrums to contemplate, and wondrous creatures to behold.

From the award-winning author of The Tangled Tree and The Song of the Dodo comes a collection of essays in which various weird and wonderful aspects of nature are examined.From tales of vegetarian piranha fish and voiceless dogs to the scientific search for the genes that threaten to destroy the cheetah, Quammen captures the natural world with precision. Throughout, he illuminates the surprising intricacies of the natural world, and our human attitudes towards those intricacies. A distinguished essayist, Quammens reporting is masterful and thought provoking and his curiosity and fascination with the world of living things is infectious.

For millennia, lions, tigers, and their man-eating kin have kept our dark, scary forests dark and scary, and their predatory majesty has been the stuff of folklore. But by the year 2150 big predators may only exist on the other side of glass barriers and chain-link fences. Their gradual disappearance is changing the very nature of our existence. We no longer occupy an intermediate position on the food chain; instead we survey it invulnerably from above"so far above that we are in danger of forgetting that we even belong to an ecosystem. Casting his expert eye over the rapidly diminishing areas of wilderness where predators still reign, the award-winning author of The Song of the Dodo examines the fate of lions in India''s Gir forest, of saltwater crocodiles in northern Australia, of brown bears in the mountains of Romania, and of Siberian tigers in the Russian Far East. In the poignant and troublesome ferocity of these embattled creatures, we recognize something primeval deep within us, something in danger of vanishing forever.

El remiso Mr. Darwin es un libro recomendable para cualquiera que se haya preguntado no sólo por lo que este científico dejó dicho sino también por su personalidad. A partir de sus cuadernos secretos sobre la transmutacion y su correspondencia personal, David Quammen ha esbozado un vivo retrato de uno de los gigantes de la ciencia.La evolucion era, a principios del siglo XIX, una idea que estaba en el aire. Otros pensadores ya habian apuntado en esa direccion, pero ninguno habia proporcionado una explicacion convincente de cual era su mecanismo. Fue en septiembre de 1838 cuando un joven ingles llamado Charles Darwin dio con la idea de que la seleccion natural entre individuos que compiten entre si daba lugar a adaptaciones asombrosas y a la diversidad de las especies. Entre dicho descubrimiento y la publicacion de El origen de las especies iban a transcurrir veintiun años. El drama humano y las razones cientificas de tal demora dan lugar a un relato intrincado y fascinante que desentraña el caracter del cauto naturalista que desencadeno la mayor revolucion intelectual.El retrato de Quammen arranca con el regreso de Darwin tras su viaje de cinco años a bordo del Beagle, y analiza su empeño en reunir la informacion, y adquirir la confianza, para publicar el libro que habria de desbancar al hombre de su puesto privilegiado en la creacion divina. Esta biografia, escrita con abundantes dosis de ingenio y astucia, destaca sobre la marea de libros que estan viendo la luz con ocasion del bicentenario de Darwin.-Publishers Weekly

«Uma obra-prima.» — New York Review of BooksO livro mais importante e urgente para ler neste momento.Plano Nacional de LeituraCiências e Tecnologia - 15-18 anos - maiores de 18 anos«É nossa a respons

David Quammen, um dos mais conceituados jornalistas científicos, traz-nos toda a verdade sobre o SARS-CoV-2, uma narrativa cativante e essencial para perceber a origem da pandemia que moldou a atualidade.Em 2020, o hemisferio ocidental foi surpreendido por um novo coronavirus e uma crise pandemica com consequencias globais. No entanto, para os cientistas que conheciam e estudavam os virus zoonoticos, o aparecimento do SARS-CoV-2 no foi inesperado. Ha muito que alertavam inequivocamente para a probabilidade muito elevada de uma pandemia.Com base em entrevistas a mais de 90 virologistas, epidemiologistas e outras autoridades, David Quammen, um dos mais reputados jornalistas cientificos da atualidade, explora as consequencias da aço humana na passagem do virus dos animais para a nossa especie e analisa com objetividade as hipoteses sobre a sua origem, rejeitando conspiraçes e teorias pouco fundamentadas. Explica ainda como e provavel que os humanos tenham de adaptar-se para conviver em permanencia com o SARS-CoV-2, a circular entre nos e a atormentar-nos com as suas interminaveis mutaçes.Sem ar reflete o espirito colaborativo da ciencia, ao traçar um retrato fulgurante do esforço que uniu a comunidade cientifica em todo o mundo para decifrar a natureza do virus que redefiniu a atualidade, parar a sua propagaço e impedir que se repita.Os elogios da critica:Empolgante e assustador. Um relato apaixonado e esclarecedor sobre a crise definidora da atualidade.The New York TimesSem ar, tal como o virus que retrata, e o culminar dramatico da ideia [] de que a historia da ecologia viral, na sua vertente cientifica, podera facilmente tornar-se na maior historia do planeta Terra.The AtlanticTres anos depois do inicio da pandemia, Quammen, prolifero autor e jornalista cientifico, desvela os mais variados detalhes sobre o esforço para investigar a propagaço da covid-19 e identificar o que a tornou to ameaçadora Uma cronica de investigaço cientifica, escrita de modo envolvente.The Wall Street JournalSem ar apresenta uma abrangente historia cientifica da pandemia, ligando as peças do puzzle que, a epoca, pareciam to desconexas.Science NewsUma nova historia credivel da covid-19 e dos seus antecessores [Quammen] constroi um retrato eximio da evoluço viral que culminou na covid-19. Informaço perturbadora sobre saude publica comunicada com brilhantismo por um perito.Kirkus ReviewsUma leitura essencial para quem queira perceber melhor a pandemia.Publishers WeeklyHa poucos escritores que consigam compreender as cadeias de aminoacidos que do a estes virus os seus codigos particulares, muito menos os que conseguem relaciona-los com outros virus SARS. E so ainda mais raros os que tem os dons literarios necessarios para tornar a genomica compreensivel para um leigo. Felizmente, David Quammen [] e um deles.The Guardian

Neste capítulo de Contágio, publicado originalmente em 2012, David Quammen investiga como as doenças de origem animal passam a afetar humanos — tal como o novo coronavírus — e o que podemos aprender

Un nouveau virus apparaît en Chine. On sait le tour dramatique qu’a pris cette émergence. La Covid-19, comme le SRAS, Ebola, le VIH ou la grippe saisonnière sont des « zoonoses », des infections anim

In 1976 a deadly virus emerged from the Congo forest. As swiftly as it came, it disappeared, leaving no trace.Over the four decades since, Ebola has emerged sporadically, each time to devastating effect. It can kill up to 90% of its victims. In between these outbreaks, it is untraceable, hiding deep in the jungle. The search is on to find Ebolas elusive host animal. And until we find it, Ebola will continue to strike.Acclaimed science writer and explorer David Quammen first came near the virus whilst travelling in the jungles of Gabon, accompanied by local men whose village had been devastated by a recent outbreak. Here he tells the story of Ebola, its past, present and its unknowable future.

In this New York Times bestseller and longlist nominee for the National Book Award, our greatest living chronicler of the natural world (The New York Times), David Quammen explains how recent discoveries in molecular biology, evolutionary biology, and genetics and genomics affect our understanding of evolution and lifes history.In the mid-1970s, scientists began using DNA sequencing to reexamine the history of all life. Perhaps the most startling discovery to come out of this new fieldthe study of lifes diversity and relatedness at the molecular levelis horizontal gene transfer (HGT), or the movement of genes across species lines. It turns out that HGT has been widespread and important; we now know that roughly eight percent of the human genome arrived sideways by viral infectiona type of HGT.In The Tangled Tree, the grandest tale in biology.David Quammen presents the scienceand the scientists involvedwith patience, candor, and flair (Nature). We learn about the major players, such as Carl Woese, the most important little-known biologist of the 20th century; Lynn Margulis, the notorious maverick whose wild ideas about mosaic creatures proved to be true; and Tsutomu Wantanabe, who discovered that the scourge of antibiotic-resistant bacteria and superbugs including MRSA are a direct result of horizontal gene transfer, bringing the deep study of genome histories to bear on a global crisis in public health.David Quammen proves to be an immensely well-informed guide to a complex story (The Wall Street Journal). In The Tangled Tree, he explains how molecular studies of evolution have brought startling recognitions about the tangled tree of lifeincluding where we humans fit upon it. Thanks to new technologies, we now have the ability to alter even our genetic composition through CRISPR and gene editingvia sideways insertions, as nature has long been doing. The Tangled Tree is a source of wonder.Quammen has written a deep and daring intellectual adventure (The Boston Globe).