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5 oeuvres 208 utilisateurs 12 critiques

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Henry Nicholls writes regularly for Nature, New Scientist, Endeavor and Galapagos News. His first book, Lonesome George, told the story of the last giant tortoise of Pinta in the Galapagos and was shortlist for the Royal Society General Book Prize. Henry lives in London.

Œuvres de Henry Nicholls

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I have a good friend who hates pandas. He thinks they are slow and stupid and not worth saving. He and I have had several conversations about this, and as he is the only one of my circle who has an opinion on pandas, it was nice to come across this book so I could see the other viewpoint.

The story of the panda is absolutely fascinating. Nicholls's history starts out with their "discovery" by the Western world and moves chronologically to the present day. It was really interesting to not see how the West reacts to pandas, but how the Chinese have over the decades placed heavy nationalistic pride and political weight on the animal.

The book, thankfully, ends on a optimistic note. Nicholls points out that for the first time ever, there is enough habitat, population, funding, and research to provide the foundation for reintroduction of pandas raised in captivity to the wild successfully in the near future.
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Signalé
wisemetis | 1 autre critique | Dec 27, 2022 |
> Closely related finches notice and act on differences in repertoire, preferring to mate with individuals with a more familiar song; hence two different forms may emerge on the same island. As mockingbirds have a much more varied and flexible song and continually learn new snippets throughout life, two birds that live on the same island but sound completely different will still mate like they belong to the same species.

> The weather was not the only influence on the medium ground finches of Daphne Major. In the wake of the 1982–1983 El Niño, a few large ground finches reached the island for the first time. So when the next serious drought occurred in 2003–2004, the medium ground finches with the biggest beaks were unable to muscle in on the supply of larger seeds, and most of them died. The presence of two competing species effectively carried the average beak size in different directions, with that of the medium ground finch getting smaller and that of the large ground finch getting slightly larger still.

> In the hot season—from December to May—a marine iguana can afford to spend around an hour a day at sea. In the cool season though—from June to November—the same iguana will only be able to get warm enough to swim for around twenty minutes.

> Nowhere is this more evident than on Isabela’s Wolf Volcano. Here, geneticists have discovered hybrid tortoises with a wonderful diversity of genes, probably as a result of the activities of buccaneers and whalers moving these reptiles around in the not-so-distant past. Some of these hybrids show clear signs of recent San Cristóbal and Española ancestry. It also turns out that there are descendants of Floreana tortoises, a species that nobody has seen for more than 150 years.

> Although the Galápagos is notable for its paucity of land-based mammals, it seems that some kind of rodent reached the archipelago long before humans, giving rise to at least a dozen endemic species, collectively known as the Galápagos rice rats.
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Signalé
breic | 2 autres critiques | Aug 16, 2022 |
As one or two of my BL friends might know, I have narcolepsy; I was diagnosed almost 5 years ago, but it's likely I've had it most of my life - because I don't suffer from cataplexy (the uncontrollable bouts of muscle paralysis), we all just thought I was lazy.

That sounds like a jest, but it isn't; so little is known about narcolepsy, cataplexy and all the other sleep disorders that science is just beginning to focus on, that society tends to equate someone being tired during the day with being lazy, hungover or a new parent. I don't overindulge and I'm not a parent, so ... lazy. Except it turns out I'm not, something my sleep doctor has been trying to tell me for 4.5 years, but I didn't really believe until I read this book.

Now I know, really know, that I have been the unfortunate victim of an auto-immune response run amok. My immune system killed off the areas of my brain responsible for making hypocretin, probably because the cells looked too much like strep, or flu. As Nicholls explains, hypocretin does a LOT for us, not the least of which includes making sure the body is either asleep or awake (not both), modulates dopamine and serotonin, and controls the trigger for REM. The upside for narcoleptics: we're a little less likely to suffer addictions; the downside: it's a moot point, since we don't need drugs to hallucinate.

This was the thing I wanted most from this book and I got it - I have a much greater understanding of what's going on at a chemical level in my brain. I am also left with no doubt as to whether or not I really have narcolepsy. This is a spectrum disorder, and I am solidly on the spectrum.

But I learned so much more, because this book isn't just about Narcolepsy; the author spends a solid amount of time and focus on other sleep disorders too; those that are intimately familiar to a large number of people, like insomnia, and those that are just now beginning to be formally identified, like Restless Leg Syndrome and the rare but terrifying Fatal Familial Insomnia; a prion disease that stops sleep completely and is always fatal.

This isn't a self help book, or a book of strategies for dealing with sleep disorders, but the author does discuss a few different avenues science is taking towards sleep management, and these apply to pretty much anyone searching for healthy sleep. I could wish for more coverage of current medical treatments, but honestly, there really aren't that many, though research tantalisingly looks to be on the right track.

If you're interested in sleep disorders in general, and the science of sleep, this is a good introduction to both, though the author's battle with narcolepsy is what gives the book its focus. He includes a very thorough notes section with complete citations, and a section of recommended further reading that includes several titles aimed at the broader topic of sleep's importance to everyone's health, as well as a few titles more explicitly aimed at specific sleep disorders. While this is not one I'd generally recommend to everyone, it's definitely informative to anyone suffering from a lack of healthy sleep.
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½
 
Signalé
murderbydeath | 2 autres critiques | Jan 28, 2022 |
NOTE: I received an Advanced Readers Copy of this book from NetGalley. This review is my honest opinion of the book.

Sleepyhead is a well-written, interesting and informative book about sleep, focusing specifically on Narcolepsy and other sleep disorders. The author relates his own experiences with narcolepsy, as well as interviewing a variety of sleep-disorder sufferers, neurologists and other specialists. The book is relatively accessible without insulting the intelligence of readers. I would recommend this book to anyone who suffers from narcolepsy or knows someone with sleep-disorders.… (plus d'informations)
 
Signalé
ElentarriLT | 2 autres critiques | Mar 24, 2020 |

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Œuvres
5
Membres
208
Popularité
#106,482
Évaluation
3.8
Critiques
12
ISBN
27
Langues
3

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