Wallace, D.R. 2004. Beasts of Eden. Walking whales, dawn horses, and other enigmas of mammal evolution. – Berkeley/Los Angeles/London, University of California Press

Abstract

Beasts of Eden is a remarkable book. Its subtitle ‘Walking whales, dawn horses, and other enigmas of mammal evolution’ only barely covers the real contents of the book, which could be described as three-books-in-one. In the first place, Wallace presents a vivid description of one of two magnificent mural paintings present in the Peabody Museum of Yale University. There, the artist Rudolph Zallinger painted two enormous murals: ‘Age of reptiles’ (on which he worked from 1943 through 1947) and ‘Age of mammals’ (executed two decades later, during the 1960s), depicting the evolution of mainstream vertebrate life during the Mesozoic and the Cenozoic ages. I have never seen the murals myself but, after having read the book, visiting them is a desire as strong as other people have wishing to see the Egyptian pyramids, the Borobudur, or Naples. See Zallinger and die, so to speak. Until then, I have to do with the book. It starts with scant information on Zallinger himself, who Wallace compares with Michelangelo in artistic importance. It would then have been interesting to read somewhat more about Zallinger than only the dates of birth and death, and the fact that he was “born to Siberian refugees”. Where was that? In Siberia? In the US? Why was the family in refuge? Given his year of birth, 1919, it seems plausible that the family had fled for the Bolsheviks, but no information at all about these circumstances is provided. This and perhaps a complete reproduction of the ‘Age of mammals’ mural itself are really the only things I missed. There are low quality black-and-white reproductions of small parts of the mural interspersed through the text, but the overall picture regretfully remains to be seen in vivo. Read more...