Islands of Fate

Janet Arnett is the former campus manager of adult education at Ontario’s Georgian College. She is the author of Antiques and Collectibles: Starting Small, The Grange at Knock, and 673 Ways to Save Money.

Bruemmer, naturalist, photographer, and author of over 20 books on
wildlife, is drawn to observe massive colonies of seals and sea birds.
Usually that means visiting remote islands. He’s also drawn to polar
bears, whales, walrus, Komodo dragons, and penguins. More reasons to
visit islands. And he can’t resist landmarks in the history of
humans’ relationship to wildlife. That, too, means islands, such as
Funk Island, former home of the now extinct Great Auk, and Galapagos
Island of theory-of-evolution fame.

Bruemmer’s travels to observe and photograph wildlife have taken him
to many out-of-the-way corners of the globe. From this lifetime of
exploration he has selected 25 islands that were the locale for
meaningful events in the history of humans or wildlife. For each he
gives a beautifully written essay, a location map, and two or three
colour photos. There are islands sweltering in the tropics, and frigid
Arctic ones. Islands off Australia, Africa, South America, Canada, and
Europe. Some are remembered for a link to a famous person (Robben where
Nelson Mandela was imprisoned, St. Helena where Napoleon was exiled) or
for a nefarious past (Zanzibar, the world’s largest slave market).
There’s Sable, Canada’s “graveyard of the Atlantic”; Robinson
Crusoe’s island; islands used for convict colonies; San Miguel, where
six different seal species go to breed; and others, each with its own
reason for fame or infamy.

Extinction, Bruemmer proposes, is an island phenomenon. Throughout
history there have been numerous examples where paradise became a place
of slaughter, where animal and bird species on islands that had never
known predators were wiped out by Europeans’ over-exploitation of
resources. “The road to extinction is paved with the names of island
animals.”

Each of the book’s 25 essays includes, with varying emphasis,
geography, history, climate, wildlife, anthropology, sociology, economy,
and a personal anecdote. An instinct for just the right amount of
detail, a gentle wit, and a smooth, polished narrative style make the
work a thought-provoking, pleasurable read for anyone interested in
wildlife, history, or travel.