Ireland: A Smithsonian Natural History

by Michael Viney

Ireland conjures up images of nature's sweeping coastlines, rolling green hills, and secluded peat bogs and marshlands. A place of legendary beauty, it is also a land with a rich natural history. Michael Viney invites us to discover the geologic forces that created the island, peer into the famous bone caves that hold unique clues about animals from long ago, and experience the dramatic scenes of the cliff-lined coast and tempestuous seas.

Viney begins deep in the past, when rivers of molten rock and enormous glaciers stripped the land bare. Soon after the glaciers retreated, the island was transformed into a fresh, new landscape, home to an intriguing variety of plants and animals, and an environment that has cultivated a rich human history and inspired countless myths. Infused with the lyricism of Irish prose, A Smithsonian Natural History is indispensable for anyone seeking to understand the natural beauty of the Emerald Isle.

Genres: History, Nonfiction, Ireland

352 pages, Paperback

First published July 6, 2010

Reviews

[Kenneth · Rating 5 out of 5]

Everything that you would want in a book about the natural history of Ireland.
This book wants me to go back there on a long road trip and find many of the places mentioned.
Ireland is really not that big. Consider that Ireland covers an area of 84,421 square kilometers (32,595 square miles). To put that into perspective that's slightly larger than the State of West Virginia. Indiana is only slightly larger at 35,910 square miles in area.
There really are not that many species of mammals, reptiles, or amphibians on the green Island.
The legendary St. Patrick must have driven away a lot more than just snakes.
Yet there were some amazing animals in Ireland before until man arrived.
The poor folks on this island over hunted many of the animals and birds. Those stories are told here.
So are the remarkable stories of the recovery of a number of species in recent years, especially after Ireland "grew up" and joined the E.U., accepting much higher international environmental standards.
I had heard that Ireland often receives visits from whales and dolphins, because of the warmer gulf stream that crosses the Atlantic and strike the shores. However, It was in this book that I learned that Ireland has a very steep off shore shelf that permits the rise of cold water and it's life carrying oxygen , much like Monterey, California, that creates an ideal wonderland of a large mix of aquatic creatures.

[Syntaxx · Rating 3 out of 5]

A through exploration of Irish flora, fauna, weather, and geography. I learned that the badger is Ireland's largest carnivore. Mustelids are prevalent on the island: stoats, martens, minks, and the Eurasian otter. I especially enjoyed the deep dive on the giant deer Megaloceros giganteus in Chapter 3.

As David Quammen stated in The Song of the Dodo (1996): "How they arrive, which kinds of creature turn up earlier and more often than which others, are matters of consequence that shape the biological history of an island."

[David P. Craig · Rating 5 out of 5]

Baseline to my course Icon of Irish Natural History.

[Diana · Rating 2 out of 5]

Interesting but dry, so I read a bit every week.