The Last of Its Kind: The Search for the Great Auk and the Discovery of Extinction

by Gísli Pálsson

The great auk is one of the most tragic and documented examples of extinction. A flightless bird that bred primarily on the remote islands of the North Atlantic, the last of its kind were killed in Iceland in 1844. Gisli Pálsson draws on firsthand accounts from the Icelanders who hunted the last great auks to bring to life a bygone age of Victorian scientific exploration while offering vital insights into the extinction of species.

Pálsson vividly recounts how British ornithologists John Wolley and Alfred Newton set out for Iceland to collect specimens only to discover that the great auks were already gone. At the time, the Victorian world viewed extinction as an impossibility or trivialized it as a natural phenomenon. Pálsson chronicles how Wolley and Newton documented the fate of the last birds through interviews with the men who killed them, and how the naturalists' Icelandic journey opened their eyes to the disappearance of species as a subject of scientific concern—and as something that could be caused by humans.

Blending a richly evocative narrative with rare, unpublished material as well as insights from ornithology, anthropology, and Pálsson's own North Atlantic travels, The Last of Its Kind reveals how the saga of the great auk opens a window onto the human causes of mass extinction.

Genres: Nonfiction, History, Science, Nature, Animals, Natural History, Birds

328 pages, Hardcover

Published February 6, 2024

About the author

Gísli Pálsson is a professor of anthropology at the University of Iceland.

Reviews

[lauren]

now that’s one AUK-ward trip to iceland

[Andy Weston]

This is a really good history of the Great Auk and its dwindling habitats before its extinction in 1865. In the preface Pálsson promises to investigate and discuss the wider concept of extinction also, which was what drew me to the book. However, I don’t think the balance is right, far too much on the history, and far too little on the science of extinction. It’s easily done, as clearly the author’s passion is for the bird.

That question of balance is one so few books like this manage to get right. Jonathan Slaght’s Owls of the Eastern Ice: A Quest to Find and Save the World's Largest Owl is one that does, and it is very similar in the topic it seeks to investigate.

[Jeff]

The writing is clear, and the research is thorough. What I was most struck by in this work is how the author captures the historical significance of Alfred Newton as a founding figure in the fledgling concept of human impact on the environment.

For the modern biologist, the middle 19th century was a mind-boggling time. No clear concept of how old the Earth was, no consensus on how the diversity of life came about, no concepts of genes, evolution, or extinction.

So this book gives insight into how the theory of natural selection was met by the scientific community through the eyes of Alfred Newton, a solid representative of the community at the time. I loved that insight.

Overall, I was excited to read this work. If you don't have some idea of who the other big names in the history of science are (like von Humboldt, Darwin, Mendel, Lyell), the context might be hard to place.

Also - Great insights into life in Iceland in the mid 19th century!

[Aster Greenberg]

Though it was informative, the book was kind of a slog to get through because of how slow it felt at some points. I'm very glad to have learned what I did about auks, but I feel like there were easier ways of getting that information

[Rev]

I learned a new word from reading this book (oology, the collection/study of eggs), immediately thought that sounded like an interesting hobby, googled it, and found out it's literally illegal in the modern day specifically because what this book was talking about (and for good reason, obviously). I did not realize that the last ditch attempt to find the last great auks was as well documented as it was, but this book was a fascinating summary of that trip to Iceland in the 1850s. Definitely would recommend it if you're at all interested in ecology and extinct animals.

[Daniella]

I don't remember much about this now - but it was more about the auk as the way in which humanity discovered the phenomenon of extinction which I wasn't expecting (despite the subtitle) but found interesting. Survival of the fittest seemed more focused on individuals dying out rather than whole species, and the idea that something God created could just disappear seemed impossible. And then after extinction was theorised it took a lot of time for people to recognise the man-made element of it, and therefore feel a sense of responsibility to stop or slow it. Also crazy to see the lengths people were going to hunt these birds - like scaling cliffs out of the freezing sea and the violence with which they killed them - vs the innocence of the birds not realising how pursued they were.

I remember it dragging on a bit, but I liked seeing how the first-person accounts of this expedition hold a historical significance now that wasn't known at the time. Thought-provoking about the relationship between humans and animals - and how forgetting our roots in the animal kingdom hinders tasks like conservation, especially now in the era of mass extinctions. When people don't think of themselves as part of nature, but rather conquerers, it justifies not caring about what happens to the planet. But humans are just as susceptible to the same forces of extinction as our animal friends!

[Eva]

In the 19th century the Victorians were obsessed with their Wunderkammers full of eggs and taxidermied animals. One of the victims of this obsession is the flightless Great Auk, who resembled penguins and lived in the cold waters of the Northern hemisphere. In 1858 two Victorian ornithologists - John Wolley and Alfred Newton - set out on a trip to Iceland to find Great Auks for their collections. Their trip proved unsuccessful, and instead of with specimens they returned to England with notebooks full of Icelandic memories of last sightings (killings) of the bird. Meanwhile, Darwin and Wallace announced their theory of evolution. While the theory explains natural extinctions of animals, Newton refocuses the seeming non-results of his expedition around the concept of 'unnatural' man-made extinction. He advocates for conservation laws, and becomes one of the first voices that raises awareness to human's destructive impacts on nature and fauna.

According to theworldcounts.com 29.1% of species are currently in critical risk of extinction.

I want to read more Nonfiction that comes from Non-English-Speaking voices.

[Luísa Andrade]

“The Last of Its Kind” é um livro sobre o fim – não apenas de uma espécie, mas de uma certa forma de conhecer o mundo. Pálsson reconstrói, com sensibilidade, a história do arau-gigante, ave extinta em 1844 na Islândia, para interrogar o próprio conceito de extinção. A narrativa costura história natural, arqueologia da ciência e reflexão ética, mostrando como a morte dessa ave – transformada em troféu e mercadoria – revelou a fragilidade da fronteira entre natureza e cultura. Ao seguir as trilhas de naturalistas vitorianos e os ecos que chegam ao Antropoceno, Pálsson revela que a extinção é sempre uma história humana: feita de desejo, esquecimento e poder. Um livro melancólico e lúcido, que transforma o passado em espelho do nosso tempo.

[Danny Jackson]

It's pretty dry, a lot of facts about the British naturalists who investigated the extinction of the Great Auk. I was expecting more of a look at the cultural impacts of the discovery of extinction and how society reconciled this knew knowledge about such a powerful natural process. Imagine believing that God created all things to exist forever and then coming to learn that species can be snuffed out. This book fell far short of its potential, but it was still an interesting documentation of the events.

[Herb]

A most thoughtful, affecting book that examines the grim fate of the Great Auk, a seabird that existed until the mid-19th c. in the North Atlantic, especially Iceland. The author tells the compelling story of 2 British ornithologists who journeyed to Iceland to try to capture the last of the birds, but were several years too late - they had gone extinct at humans' hands, which was thought not possible at the time. Palsson goes on to explore the issue of human-caused extinction and issues a dire warning for our times. A very good, very readable work.

[Josh Christie]

Nice easy read. Very sad that they realised extinction was possible due to human actions, and that the great auk was headed for extinction soon. Unfortunately, they were mistaken and the bird had recently gone extinct - perhaps if they realised just five years earlier, we could still have them.

[Claudia]

A very interesting, well-researched and easy-to-read account of the extinction of the Great Auk.

If you're at least a little bit interested in ecology, the process and/or reasons for extinction or even history this is a good match for you.

[R.J. Gilmour]

Palsson's book looks at the history of a British expedition to determine the status of the Great Auk. Travelling to Iceland the story of the two 19th-century British travellers allows Palsson to tell how the concept of extinction took hold in the Western mind.

[Dayna]

This was great. It reminded me of some of Quammen’s best writing; discussing a scientific idea through the lens of interesting people and animals. In this case the idea is extinction and the lenses are the Greak Auk, Newton and Wolley.
Also, the book made me nostalgic for a past trip to Iceland.

[Mark]

This is a fascinating read and a mash-up of various genres; Victorian travelogue, history of science, anthropology, conservation, biography.

My only complaint would be that it loses focus towards the end and becomes a little meandering.

[Morgan Jennings]

Super important topic but I found it hard to get through the repetition.

[Jamie]

An interesting deep dive on the Great Auk with enlightening historical context and perspective.

[Tom Johnson]

A very sad book. It would have been better at 200 pages. Heavy going to finish the read.

[Arthuro Molenda]

Interesting book for sure, yet light on the extinction part and gets sidetracked more than once.

[Alex Taylor]

Probably a 2.5. But felt like a stretch of a potentially interesting magazine article into a full book form that the depth of material doesn't really justify.

[Iris E DJ]

This read like some sort of psychological horror: you know exactly what they're going to find, and yet they continue on with so much hope. RIP to the great auks, you'll always be in our hearts <3

[Daniel]

I regret reading this book

[C Lyon]

RIP Auks you deserved better. I'm a sucker for an extinct species novel and this one was well researched and well presented.

[Eric]

It meanders a bit but still a fascinating look at 19th century Iceland and bird culture. Certainly more about the people than the bird itself.

[izzy]

should have been called "biography of Alfred Newton"

[Kelly]

Interesting content but told in a rambling and sometimes dry fashion. I thought the Afterword actually contained some of the most intriguing commentary.