It is always interesting to read histories of places and lands that we don't normally think about, including Europe. This book takes a tour through the history of Europe and the land and people who live there.

The interdisciplinary approach of Flannery is perfect for this sort of book, as a continent such as Europe is so diverse in nearly every aspect possible. It is fun to read about millions of years ago how this landmass was and how it interacted with the rest of the world at that time, to help create what we know today, including the groups of people who call it home.

This book is highly insightful and interesting; I wish there were one for each continent!

Reviewed on Goodreads and will post to Amazon .com and .co.uk when it is available.
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From fossils to the future... 5 stars

Starting roughly 100 million years ago, Flannery sets out to tell the story of Europe – how it formed, the species that have lived, survived or become extinct in it, the rise of humanity, and the possible future impacts of our current galloping climate change. Along the way, he tells us of the many men and women who have contributed to uncovering this history or who have in some way affected it.

There’s so much in this fascinating book that it’s hard to know how to summarise it in a few hundred words. It gives a panoramic view, bringing together and linking all the bits of natural history that are often covered separately, such as the formation of the continent, or current rewilding projects, or the origins of humanity. It’s surprisingly compact, considering its huge scope, and yet never feels superficial or rushed. And Flannery is a master of the art of converting scientific information into language easily understandable by the non-scientist.

Flannery starts by explaining how the landmass formed and changed over time and how this impacted on the development and spread of species, or conversely on their isolation to single geographic areas. He explains the various climate changes over the aeons – why they happened and how they affected both environment and fauna. He describes the various land corridors that have existed at points between what are now separate continents, and the flow of species along these. I was reading a review copy without maps, but it indicated that maps will be available in the final version – I didn’t find the lack of them seriously affected my understanding of what he was describing, but they would undoubtedly be an enhancement.

Personally I’m very human-centric, so I found the sections where he discussed the early hominids, the Neanderthals and the early humans particularly interesting. Flannery seems to have a good deal of admiration for the Neanderthals, seeing them not in any way as a lower form of species to humanity. In fact, he often gives the impression that in some ways he thinks they were superior in terms of intelligence and innovation, and that humanity’s main advantage, and the reason why we survived and they didn’t, is that humans can exist on foods other than meat, which enabled us to adapt better to changing environments. There’s a fascinating chapter on hybridisation between pale-skinned European Neanderthals and the early black African humans to create the first European humans. He doesn’t specifically say so, but I got the distinct feeling that he thinks the infusion of Neanderthal DNA was advantageous to the humans. Certainly he suspects that female Neanderthal mothers may have passed tips to their hybrid offspring on how to survive in the cold European climate, such as cave-dwelling. Apparently indigenous Europeans (and their descendants throughout the diaspora) still have a small but significant percentage of Neanderthal DNA.

Once into the human phase of history, he shows how man began to impact on the environment and on other species, hunting some to extinction, destroying the habitats of some through farming, and domesticating some as farm animals or working animals. He talks of the European reliance on the cow as a source of food, and how that advantaged those with high lactose tolerance. He discusses the domestication of dogs, horses, cats, and explains how repeated selection and breeding of those with the most suitable temperaments for living domestically eventually changed them fundamentally from their wilder forebears. And he shows how human activities led to the introduction of species from (and to) other regions of the world, sometimes deliberately, sometimes accidentally, and often with unforeseen effects on indigenous species.

As well as being a naturalist, Flannery is a renowned name in the field of climate change, so his final section looks to a future where change is happening so fast some species are unlikely to be able to adapt quickly enough to survive without human intervention. However, it’s not all bleak – the warming of Europe allows scope for reintroduction of species who emigrated during the ice ages, and Flannery sees this as a possible means of survival for some of the species who will be under threat in warmer parts of the world. He makes a strong case for Europe reintroducing some of the large species from Africa, including the predators, arguing that it’s unfair for Europeans to expect a turbulent, growing Africa to have to bear all the risks and costs of preserving these species if we are all to enjoy the benefits of their survival. He’s less clear about his support for the reintroduction of extinct species, possible now with genetic science, but suggests that society should form a view on this (presumably, though he doesn’t say so, before the mad scientists make the decisions for us). Thankfully, he draws the line at the idea of reintroducing the Neanderthal, although the survival of Neanderthal DNA makes this possible, concluding that the genetic manipulation of humans is immoral. I can only hope the wider scientific community agrees with him on that one.

As always with these science-based books, I feel I’ve give only a superficial flavour of this one, concentrating on the bits that most interested me. But I found the whole thing fascinating, bringing together lots of disparate bits of things I’ve read about over the years into one coherent whole. Flannery writes clearly and entertainingly, including lots of anecdotes about the scientists and naturalists who’ve contributed to the sum of knowledge over the centuries, which helps to break up the more sciency stuff. And he’s meticulous about differentiating things that are known from those that are theorised but not yet proven, and from his own occasional speculations. An excellent read, informative and enjoyable – highly recommended!

NB This book was provided for review by the publisher, Atlantic Monthly Press.

A fascinatingly deep history of the European subcontinent. I had no idea that Europe formed from islands, and how its flora and fauna had changed so much over time while still maintaining some distinction from those of the larger landmasses through Earth's late evolution. Could have used some fewer dinosaur names, but still interesting in the early going. Full of trivia and tidbits about those European distinctions all the way up to the present, with short and easy-to-manage chapters. Could have used many more maps, sadly like so many contemporary histories that seem to neglect such visual aids that enthrall the spatially oriented.

I was so excited to read this. A natural history of Europe! Also that cover, it's gorgeous!

And then I received a digital ARC. Please note: this means no maps (a couple were mentioned to come), no images, even the endnote links did not work in my galley. There were still some significant typos in the text. These things definitely affected my view of this book, but not as much as the text itself did. This book is all over the place, and this review was very difficult to write.

I was expecting a natural history of Europe. Sure, that's a tall order. I was expecting something like [book:A Natural History of California|452897] (an amazing book for those interested). Flannery's book is nothing like that. I would argue it's not natural history at all. It's...ecological history? Not exactly. It's more of paleontology up to the present time, heavy on the fauna (especially on mammals--especially <i>homo<i> and herbivores) and light on the flora. Only the a few chapters near the end cover the 20th/21st centuries. The 18th and 19th are nearly entirely skipped over. He even extrapolates into the future.

So what is this book? Many chapters are simply lists, in descriptive paragraph form, of animals (largely mammals) alive in Europe during different epochs. It's paleontology, which is no small surprise since Flannery is a paleontologist. A paleontologist who likes animals, especially mammals, and even more so herbivores.

And way too much of this book implies that Europe is somehow...exceptional? He includes Begun's recent theory that <i>homo</i> evolved our most human traits in Europe, not Africa (ch 17). That the Vikings and Columbus "discovered" (ch 38). He is interested in re-introducing long-extirpated (and even extinct) species back into Europe (ch 28, ch 44). And even though this is "a natural history of Europe" he still discusses North American woolly mammoths and Pacific rats, among many other non-European things and places that have little to do with his topic.

Much of this book made me uncomfortable, the rest was just dull. What this book really reads like is a survey class on the paleontology of Europe. That explains the inconsistencies in writing style and topics; the controversial statements and strange facts (why is the Pacific rat so important? why do we hear about the Signor-Lipps theory so often?); the imagined genetically engineered future (which is not natural history or paleontology!); the odd attempts at humor that aren't funny but do sound like a professor talking to a large class or a speaker presenting to an interested group of laypeople. 3 classes per week, 1 semester is 15 weeks = 45 lectures. This book has 44 chapters.
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Thank you to NetGalley for providing me with a copy of this book in exchange for an honest review.

It's perhaps a little unexpected that an Australian scientist would tackle such a vast and complicated subject as the natural history of Europe, but Tim Flannery makes a pretty fair fist of the job. His varied background as a palaeontologist, mammalogist and environmental scientist stands him in good stead here.

The book starts with the clunky device of a time machine to take the reader back to the pre-history of Europe in a geological sense, discussing how the continent gradually formed from the original Pangea and became what we know today. Flannery takes us to sites where the evidence and impact of the changes can be seen.

The book then roughly works through each successive geological era to describe what happened to Europe itself and to its fauna and flora. Perhaps the most surprising thing revealed here is that humans originated in Europe, died out there and then returned from Africa much later. Similarly, there is a long list of megafauna that we traditionally think of as African that once thrived in Europe.

Overall, considering the vastness of the topic, this is a credible and always interesting overview of the development of Europe and its inhabitants from pre-history through to modern times.

Science writing done well

I enjoyed this book. Tim Flannery is a great writer with a good sense of humor. He writes with a conversational tone, explains all the science clearly, and at times offers entertaining personal opinions. While mostly about the biology of Europe over time, the book also discusses the relevant geography, for examples the islands that came together over time to create modern Europe. I recommend this book for anyone interested in science.

I loved this book, it was brilliant and I once I started I couldn't put it down.
It was great to learn about the natural history of Europe and it was great to discover some less known scientist.
The book is full of information, facts, anecdotes and it's both fascinating and enthralling.
This a very good scientific book as fascinating as a well written novel.
I loved the style of writing and how the writer was able to discuss very serious topics in a light and humorous way without any loss of meaning or importance.
I look forward to reading other books by this author.
Highly recommended!
Many thanks to Grove Atlantic and Netgalley for this ARC

I received an e-book copy of this title from the publisher via NetGalley in exchange for my honest opinion. Thank you!

Tim Flannery's Europe describes the natural story of the European continent in its many senses. There is the geological history, the history of biological life - of both flora and fauna - over the millennia, even a brief history of the humankind's ventures into Europe over the course of human evolution. The final chapters describe the latest events in Europe's natural history, namely, the extinctions of subsequent animal species living in Europe.

The subject matter is very interesting, and there are many separate fragments of the book that I found very engaging and intriguing. However, as a whole, the book doesn't quite work for me. It might be partly the fault of the e-book, which had no maps or illustrations that could help the reader to better imagine the issues one is reading about. But I also thought that the book could be a little chaotic at times, and the progression from one topic to another wasn't always intuitive. In particular, I found the part of the book devoted to Neanderthal and early human presence in Europe lacking -- especially since I have recently read Karin Bojs's "My European Family", treating on the same subject in much greater detail.

And then, towards the end, in a discussion on wisent's near-extinction in Europe, Flannery writes that prior to World War One, wisents were protected by Polish kings, but given the hardships of WW One, people started to hunt wisents down for their meat. And I'm like ... but at that time Poland hadn't had kings since 1798? Like... wtf? And maybe it's just shorthand for tsars and whatnot, or maybe it's just jumping over the entire nineteenth century, but-- if this is a mistake I caught because I'm familiar with this particular subject, there might be many more such omissions and shorthands that I didn't catch in this book. Well, hopefully there aren't, but now I can't be sure.

TL;DR is that it's an interesting book and a good primer but you might want to check out the facts in independent sources if you want to share some tidbits with your friends.

I felt some connection with this fascinating treatise into what made and makes Europe from a natural history, geographic, fauna and impact of man perspective. I read this book while in the Flinders Ranges where some of the rocks are 500 million years old so matched the timespan included in Flannery’s latest work. The author makes what could have been a very dry subject into an enjoyable romp full of unusual characters who put together the various pieces of the puzzles that deciphered what grew and lived when, what climatic conditions existed and how the landmass changed. A brilliant book full of unusual facts, written in a Bill Bryson style, this was an enjoyable read.