Book Review - A Lifetime in Galápagos - Princeton University Press

        I will probably never visit Galápagos. Many times have I thought about it and two reasons mitigate against it. First, it is expensive! Second, and most importantly, this fabled place has become over-loved by humans and is suffering from environmental degradation due to the sheer volume of visitors that flock there each year. Not only is the landscape subjected to too many trampling feet, but the danger of alien seeds, and even pathogens, brought in on the soles of shoes, is ever present.
     But Galápagos remains a legendary place in my consciousness.  It is not without reason that it is known popularly as the birthplace of evolution; it has a resonance unmatched for naturalists the world over.
     It was pure serendipity that thrust Galápagos, this often harsh and unforgiving place, into the spotlight. It could just as easily have been Hawaii, known in the nineteenth century as the Sandwich Islands, where evolution was equally on display. Captain Fitz Roy of The Beagle, and the young naturalist, Charles Darwin, made landing on Galápagos, however, not on the Sandwich Islands, and the rest as they say, is history. From Darwin, to David Lack, to Roger Tory Peterson, to Peter and Rosemary Grant, these fabled isles have drawn the aristocracy of the natural and scientific world to their shores.
     Tui De Roy, whose acquaintance I first made when she wrote eloquently about albatrosses, has lived a good part of her life on Galápagos, arriving there on her second birthday. She writes about this enchanted place with a passion generated by deep and abiding love, all the while recognizing that it is not a "Garden of Eden" but in many respects a brutally demanding location, where Darwinian principles are played out every day.  She is in effect  part of the Galápagos ecosystem, not imposed upon it. Nurtured by her naturalist parents, her very first memories are of the environment she simply called home. Not for her the teeter-totters and swings of a manufactured urban park; as De Roy states, "Mangroves were my childhood playgrounds." 
     She developed a commitment to, and curiosity about, all that she experienced every day, and from an early age became a skilled photographer, enabling us to see the natural world through her lens. From the remarkable picture she took in 1969 of a Great Blue Heron at its nest through every other remarkable picture in this book, it is clear that she views the world with a naturalist's eyes. 

     The photographs are in many instances breathtaking and form a body of work encompassing every aspect of life on Galápagos. The coverage is nothing short of amazing. It is the photographs that form the principal part of this work, connected by an introductory text for each section, but the visual record tells the story. And each photograph is accompanied by a text that does not simply extol the photograph but explains its context. Nothing escapes the keen eye of Tui De Roy, from cacti to iguanas, from penguins to seals, from mockingbirds to tortoises. It is all there.

     Despite the magnificence of the pictures - and they ARE magnificent - I was amused at De Roy's comment about photographing diving seabirds - "But the ideal shot, though seen a million times, still evades me." For most of us lesser mortals we think you have nailed it, Tui!

     In short, this is a fabulous book. And I do not use that word lightly. I may not physically set foot on Galápagos, but I will visit often through the pages of this outstanding photographic record. And you can too!

     Let me leave you with the words of Tui De Roy herself:

          "So I ask, in today's world, can't we truly commit to leaving a few places completely untouched? Is it possible that we could ever be content just observing, appreciating, learning and wondering?"

     I hope so!

A Lifetime in Galápagos

Tui De Roy

Hardcover - US$35.00 - 9780691194998 - 240 pages - 9 1/4" x 11 1/2"

Publication date: 21 July 2020