Chuckwalla Land: The Riddle of California's Desert

by David Rains Wallace

Overview

Described as “a writer in the tradition of Henry David Thoreau, John Muir, and other self-educated seers” by the San Francisco Chronicle, David Rains Wallace turns his attention in this new book to another distinctive corner of California—its desert, the driest and hottest environment in North America. Drawing from his frequent forays to Death Valley, Red Rock Canyon, Kelso Dunes, and other locales, Wallace illuminates the desert’s intriguing flora and fauna as he explores a controversial, unresolved scientific debate about the origin and evolution of its unusual ecosystems. Eminent scientists and scholars appear throughout these pages, including maverick paleobiologist Daniel Axelrod, botanist Ledyard Stebbins, and naturalists Edmund Jaeger and Joseph Wood Krutch. Weaving together ecology, geology, natural history, and mythology in his characteristically eloquent voice, Wallace reveals that there is more to this starkly beautiful landscape than meets the eye.

Product Details

ISBN-13:	9780520256163
Publisher:	University of California Press
Publication date:	05/05/2011
Edition description:	First Edition
Pages:	280
Product dimensions:	9.08(w) x 6.30(h) x 0.93(d)

About the Author

David Rains Wallace is the author of seventeen books, including Neptune’s Ark: From Ichthyosaurs to Orcas; Beasts of Eden: Walking Whales, Dawn Horses, and Other Enigmas of Mammal Evolution, A New York Times Notable Book; and The Klamath Knot: Explorations of Myth and Evolution, Twentieth Anniversary Edition, winner of the John Burroughs Medal (all available from UC Press).

Table of Contents

Prologue. Bushes and Lizards xi

1 A Sphinx in Arcady 1

2 The Country of Dried Skin 6

3 A Cactus Heresy 11

4 The Creator's Dumping Ground 16

5 An Evolutionary Backwater 21

6 Anti-Darwinian Lacertilians 26

7 Descriptive Confusion 34

8 A Murderous Brood 40

9 Hopeful Monsters 50

10 An Old Earth-Feature 55

11 A Climatic Accident 61

12 An Evolutionary Frontier 69

13 A Neo-Darwinian Galapagos 75

14 Mexican Geneses 81

15 Desert Relicts 87

16 Madro-Tertiary Attitudes 95

17 A Friendly Land 100

18 Furry Paleontologists 109

19 Dawn Horses and Dinosaurs 117

20 Axelrod Antagonistes 122

21 The Midday Sun 129

22 Lacertilian Ambiguities 139

23 Xerothermic Invasions 146

24 Sand Swimmers 151

25 Axelrod Ascendant 156

26 An Evolutionary Museum 160

27 The Riddle of the Palms 165

28 Bushes and Camels 173

29 Axelrod Askew 180

30 Paradigms Postponed 187

31 The Falcon and the Shrikes 194

Epilogue. The Sphinx's Lair 203

Notes 211

Selected Bibliography 229

Index 241

What People are Saying About This

From the Publisher

"A fascinating account of the interesting theories that have been propounded about the California desert. Readers will come away with a better understanding of the desert's unique nature and of its geological and evolutionary past."—American Scientist

[An] erudite exploration of the "riddle" of the California desert. . . . Whether Wallace is examining competing scientific theories or the popular attitudes toward the desert throughout the ages, he simultaneously educates and delights. . . .Chuckwalla Land should finally retire the persistent myth of the desert as an environmental and intellectual wasteland."—Zyzzyva

"Wallace has succeeded in making the academic entertaining and accessible. . . . A knowing and poetic look at the desert."—Santa Barbara News-Press

"Frankly, it is just a darn good read for anyone who enjoys natural history. . . . Highly recommended."—Choice

Editorial Reviews

Wallace has succeeded in making the academic entertaining and accessible. . . . A knowing and poetic look at the desert.

Santa Barbara News-Press - David Cotner

Frankly, it is just a darn good read for anyone who enjoys natural history. . . . Highly recommended.

Choice

[An] erudite exploration of the “riddle” of the California desert. . . . Whether Wallace is examining competing scientific theories or the popular attitudes toward the desert throughout the ages, he simultaneously educates and delights. . . .Chuckwalla Land should finally retire the persistent myth of the desert as an environmental and intellectual wasteland.

Zyzzyva

A fascinating account of the interesting theories that have been propounded about the California desert. Readers will come away with a better understanding of the desert’s unique nature and of its geological and evolutionary past.

Alan Grahamn Scientist

“A fascinating account of the interesting theories that have been propounded about the California desert. Readers will come away with a better understanding of the desert’s unique nature and of its geological and evolutionary past.

American Scientist - Alan Graham