A Tortoise Tale
Henry Nicholls, an evolutionary biologist, unfolds an absorbing—and, of course, cautionary—extinction tale. In 1971, scientists discovered George, a 5-foot-long, 200-pound tortoise, on the Galapagos Island of Pinta. Since then, researchers at the Charles Darwin Station on Santa Cruz island have attempted to devise a method for reproducing the tortoise, the last of his species, whether by natural or high-tech means.
Lonesome George: The Life and Loves of a Conservation Icon by Henry Nicholls (MacMillan, $24.95)
