Lost Animals, Disappearing Worlds - by Barbara Allen (Hardcover)

About the Book

"This book presents thirty-one extinct species through personal portraits. The intimate approach not only highlights each particular species but also explores the broader implications of losing a species forever. How do we honor such a loss? Can we grieve for species we never knew? These animals range from the well-known passenger pigeon, thylacine, and great auk, to lesser-known creatures like the Arabian ostrich, Saint Helena earwig, and Bramble Cay melomys. Through her poignant portraits, Barbara Allen not only tugs on the heartstrings but also aims to inspire readers to protect vulnerable and endangered species today, motivating us to play a positive role in conserving our planet s biodiversity."--

Book Synopsis

A moving and motivating collection of portraits of extinct species, revealing the profound implications of their disappearance.

This book presents thirty-one extinct species through personal portraits. The intimate approach not only highlights each particular species but also explores the broader implications of losing a species forever. How do we honor such a loss? Can we grieve for species we never knew? These animals range from the well-known passenger pigeon, thylacine, and great auk, to lesser-known creatures like the Arabian ostrich, Saint Helena earwig, and Bramble Cay melomys. Through her poignant portraits, Barbara Allen not only tugs on the heartstrings but also aims to inspire readers to protect vulnerable and endangered species today, motivating us to play a positive role in conserving our planet's biodiversity.

Review Quotes

"These are challenging stories, not just for witnessing the suffering of another species but for seeing the human species reflected back at us. And yet it's important to read these stories. To remember those who were lost. Allen writes: 'We humans are forgetful creatures. Memorials are needed--in many cases are essential--for the deep act of remembrance.' This book is a fitting memorial to them."

-- "EcoLit Books"

"This is the sort of book you'd prefer didn't have so many pages--the more there are, the less full our world is of great species. Those that have sadly gone from our lives should, and do, make us think harder about saving the rest, though--the book covers well known species like Dodo and Great Auk, as well as the likes of Spectacled Cormorant, with only seven stuffed specimens and two incomplete skeletons left on the planet. Other losses covered here include Heath Hen, Arabian Ostrich and Ivory-billed Woodpecker. There are many more lost species in here which we should never forget."-- "Bird Watching"

"This beautifully illustrated book serves as much as a simulacrum of private, deeply personal grief and loss as it is a repository of stories and histories. Allen has created a deliberate, well-documented archive. . . . Allen revivifies extinct animals so that, briefly, they seem to breathe. . . . By giving voices and representation to 31 extinct species, Allen shows how these creatures lived and how to listen wholeheartedly to them and the other species (estimates range from 20,000 to two million) that went extinct during the last century."-- "Library Journal (starred review)"

"The fascinating trivia . . . [drives] home the wondrous biodiversity lost in the extinction of any species. For instance, Allen describes the remarkable reproductive practices of the female gastric-brooding frog, which would suspend the production of gastric acid before swallowing her own fertilized eggs and then wait for them to grow into frogs in her upper intestine and crawl out of her mouth about six weeks later. . . . This will hold the interest of animal lovers."-- "Publishers Weekly"

"This book brings together a selection of extinct species, many that have been pushed to global extinction in living memory or at least recently enough to have touched human culture, and tells their stories. . . . Extinct species slip from our collective memories unless books such as this one bring them back to our attention and make us wonder whether our species could have done better."--Mark Avery "markavery.info, Sunday Book Review"

"A scholarly and meditative tribute to the remarkable species that humans have driven to extinction."--Ross Piper, author of "Animal Earth: The Amazing Diversity of Living Creatures"

"These stories of extinct creatures are comprehensively researched and imaginatively written. This book will enlighten and inspire those familiar with the subject and perhaps many who don't yet know that they are interested."--Errol Fuller, author of "Extinct Birds" and coauthor (with Sir David Attenborough) of "Drawn from Paradise"

"Lost Animals, Disappearing Worlds: Stories of Extinction by Allen profiles the great auk, passenger pigeon, and Saint Helena earwig, among other extinct creatures, exploring how their disappearances affected their ecosystems and provide insight into humanity's relationship with nature."-- "Publishers Weekly (Spring 2025 Fiction & Nonfiction Preview: Science)"

"Allen's Lost Animals, Disappearing Worlds is an inventive and beautiful hymn to what we have lost, all the while shining an urgent light of hope for the future."--Leah Kaminsky, author of "We're All Going to Die" and coeditor of "Animals Make Us Human"

About the Author

Barbara Allen is a minister in the Uniting Church in Australia. Her books include Pigeon, Animals in Religion, and Pelican, all published by Reaktion Books.