Plundering Paradise: The Hand of Man on the Galápagos Islands

by Michael D'Orso

Mention the Galápagos Islands to almost anyone, and the first things that spring to mind are iguanas, tortoises, volcanic beaches, and, of course, Charles Darwin. But there are people living there, too -- nearly 20,000 of them. A wild stew of nomads and grifters, dreamers and hermits, wealthy tour operators and desperately poor South American refugees, these inhabitants have brought crime, crowding, poaching, and pollution to the once-idyllic islands. In Plundering Paradise , Michael D'Orso explores the conflicts on land and at sea that now threaten to destroy this fabled "Eden of Evolution."

Genres: Nonfiction, Science, Environment, Travel

368 pages, Paperback

First published January 1, 2002

About the author

The son of a U.S. Navy submarine officer, Mike grew up traveling often -- his family lived on or near military bases ranging from Key West to San Diego to Frankfurt, Germany -- before he graduated from high school near Washington, D.C. in 1971. After finishing undergraduate school at the College of William and Mary in 1975 with a degree in Philosophy, Mike spent several years traveling and working a variety of jobs that included sorting mail for the U.S. postal service, waiting tables and tending bar, driving a dump truck, repairing skis, stocking meat and produce at a small grocery store near Chicago, working as a golf course greenskeeper, and managing a convenience store in the Rocky Mountain ski resort town of Breckenridge, Colorado.


Mike taught high school English in Virginia Beach for one year before earning his master's degree in 1981 at William and Mary, where he wrote his thesis on Beat author and poet Jack Kerouac. While in graduate school, Mike worked as a writer and photographer for the college's publications office and wrote a weekly column for The Virginia Gazette newspaper in Williamsburg, which led to a job as a staff writer for Commonwealth magazine, then as a features writer for The Virginian-Pilot newspaper in Norfolk, where he worked until 1993. Mike still lives in Norfolk, where his daughter Jamie graduated from high school in 2003. Jamie subsequently earned her undergraduate degree from Bucknell University and her master's degree from William and Mary in Higher Education Student Services.


Besides his books, Mike's writing has appeared in Sports Illustrated, Fortune, Reader's Digest, The Oxford American, People magazine, and The Washington Post, and has been included three times in Best Sports Stories, published annually by The Sporting News. A chapter Mike wrote on journalistic research methods was included in The Complete Book of Feature Writing (Writer's Digest Books, 1991), and his writing on Jack Kerouac has been included in Studies in American Fiction and the QPB Literary Review. Mike is on the Editorial Advisory Board of DoubleTake magazine, and he has taught narrative nonfiction writing at the College of William and Mary and at Old Dominion University, where he delivered the Commencement Address to ODU's Class of 2006.

Reviews

[Bettie · Rating 2 out of 5]

Plundering Paradise: The Hand of Man on the Galápagos Islands

reference

Opening: Midnight is not yet an hour away, and already the streets of
Puerto Ayora are in flames. The fires cast flickering shadows
across the shuttered fronts of the village’s shops and bodegas. The
broad fronds of the coconut palms and the feathery branches of
the flamboyant trees glimmer against the overarching blackness
of the Pacific sky.
The flames are fed by rag-stuffed effigies of the politicians and
bankers, the oilmen and fruit barons, the dealmakers and millionaires
on the mainland who, as far as these islanders are concerned, are robbing
the people of Ecuador blind.

[Therese · Rating 4 out of 5]

interesting perspective - not your tourist book but I thought it twould be good to read before my trip and since I have just finished it on my return home, it was even better since I could picture some of the specific places that were spoken of.

[Annika Hipple · Rating 2 out of 5]

This was mostly an interesting and fun read, though the author's breezy style occasionally got on my nerves. What really brought my review down to two-stars, however, was the fact that the author (and whoever edited this book) displayed an incredible lack of familiarity with Spanish spelling. I don't expect the author to speak Spanish just because he is writing about the Galapagos, but come on, have someone check it! I'd say about 2/3 of the Spanish names had accents in the wrong place. (Spanish rules for accents are actually very simple.) Names like Felipe, Paredes, Jorge, and Pepe should have been easy to check; there's no reason these should have been spelled Felipé, Parédes, Jorgé, and Pepé. And a French man would never be named Marcelle; it would be Marcel. Plus various other Spanish word errors and even misspellings in English, such as delerious instead of delirious. Okay, so I'm a writer/editor and pickier than most, but where was the editor for this book? If you are not familiar with Spanish and therefore won't be bothered by those errors, the other issues were few in number. If I hadn't been so constantly irritated by the Spanish errors, I would really have enjoyed this book. It presents an interesting portrait of the many colorful personalities that live on the islands, as well as the ongoing efforts to protect this unique place.

[Debbie is on Storygraph · Rating 3 out of 5]

D'Orso's ethnography of the people who live on the Galápagos Islands is at times interesting and other times, very confusing.

Overall, the picture is pretty bleak. The Galápagos face pressures both external and internal from humans, and D'Orso does a fair job detailing both. However, his whirlwind tour of the Islands and its people left me confused as to just who was who, and their relation to one another. A glossary of names, places, and the Spanish terms he uses throughout would have gone a long way towards relieving some of that.

The organization of the book also contributed to my confusion. There was a vague chronological order of book based on when the author met the people he was describing, but he would also go back into the Islands' history to detail events specific to those people at that point, which muddled things.

[Julie H. Ernstein · Rating 4 out of 5]

This is a very readable book that presents the historical and environmental significance of the Galapagos, the history of the Galapaganos, and the fragile nature of the island's ecology which is currently being "loved to death" by tourism. As a reader, I find myself in the Catch-22 of wanting to immediately run to the Galapagos before they're altered forever, and the realization that it's already too late and I'll only make it worse. A fascinating, but not hopeless read.

[Eliza · Rating 4 out of 5]

7/17/2004: Anecdotal, easy to read account of Galapagos in the year 2000. Physical history, corruption in Ecuador, life among islanders, profiles of interesting people. Gives a great sense of the issues faced by the islands: tourism vs. environmentalism; fishing vs. conservation; corruption vs. straight-shooting concern for the islands as an ecosystem.

[Michelle · Rating 4 out of 5]

Excerpt -- On The Galapagos Islands
This is no Disneyland here, they say with tight smiles. It is not antiseptic. It is not manufactured. This is a place to ponder the awe of existence, the wonder of the creatures all over this planet, including ourselves, that have so far survived, and the lessons we can learn from the ones that have not.

[Namrirru · Rating 3 out of 5]

The writing is fine and these essays are relevant, but the whole book lacks direction to propel it forward. It could have been organized and edited to make it much better.

[Shelley · Rating 5 out of 5]

Great read, especially for those in Ecuador- gives great political background of the country. A must read if you are going to the Galapagos!

[Mike Wigal · Rating 4 out of 5]

Written in 2002. I'm interested in seeing what if any changes have occurred in Ecuador and the Galàpagos. The book didn't leave me with much optimism.

[Pat Murphy · Rating 3 out of 5]

Interesting account of the Galapagos Islands and their plant and animal life, and ecosystem. Also the things man and business has done which harm the area.

[Gay · Rating 4 out of 5]

I know many of the people in this book and enjoyed hearing more about their pasts and what brought them to Galapagos. I love Galapagos and my first volunteer experience there was in 1987 at the Charles Darwin Research Station. After that I went 5 more times. during that first trip there were no phones, no taxis, no cruise ships and a slow pace of life. This book delves into what has happened to the islands since they were settled, since it was made a National park, since tourism became such a huge draw, and unfortunately since many local, national and international entities have found ways to to make money off the islands and the seas around them without regard to the effect such activities might have on this area.

There are folks is all walks of life living in Galapagos... fishermen, tour boat owners, shop keepers, naturalists, scientists, park rangers, guides, farmers, artists, you name it. And there are good guys and bad guys. This book gives insight into all of the above. Ecuador will find it be hard to protect this unique place from future exploitation.

[Cathy · Rating 4 out of 5]

I was surprised to read Michael D'Orso's account of the Galapagos in 1999-2000 and before, and finding that the islands had a population of around 20,000 people. Not only scientists and park rangers live and work there, but regular people who came to escape their lives and build new ones. The Galàpagos Islands are home to artists, armed poachers and illegal hunters, entrepreneurs, and activists, all who have competing interests in the islands. Some want to reap the benefits of increased tourism, while others want to limit it due to damage done by tourists. Fishermen want to reap the financial benefit of the wealth of wildlife in the waters, but conservationists and the park service want the wildlife to be protected and preserved. With all these conflicting interests, and the corruption and turnover in the Ecuadorian government on the mainland, it was difficult to strike a balance and give everyone a piece of what they wanted in these Enchanted Islands.

[Jennifer Zollo · Rating 4 out of 5]

I truly LOVED this book. Michael D’Orso’s writing style is lyrical while still being informative. While there are some pieces that I think are a bit misleading, overall he did a beautiful job at capturing issues that not only plagued Galapagos 20+ years ago, but continue to plague it today. It was pretty cool to see the names of people I’ve met and places I currently frequent, as well as asking friends of mine what stands where some of the old businesses were.

[Hannah · Rating 3 out of 5]

Readable, detailed, interesting content. Structure meanders and lacks forward momentum--took me longer than it should have to finish. Perspective perhaps too aligned with English speakers.