Publisher's Weekly, the trade journal of the publishing industry, chose the Discovering the Mammoth to be reviewed this week. They can only review a fraction of the new books each week, so I think this is a good sign.
This book is a work of love. The author has meticulously gone through historical references in a variety of languages and taken time to read between the lines. He succeeds in revealing how little-by-little over centuries men of letters made sense of the fact that elephant like creatures lived in colder climates. The biggest hurdle for Europeans was reconciling the evidence with what the Bible said, as well as the bogus conjectures. The Chinese were no better. They thought the bones belonged to Dragons. The tusks and teeth circulated because of a huge ivory trade. Since entire mammoths with flesh and skin were exhumed in the 19th century, the "men-of-learning" could no longer deny the extinction of this special animal. But along the way a lot of very smart people made incremental steps towards that conclusion. well done.
Dear Mr. McKay, The German artist Walter Lenck (formerly Walter Lewy, Berlin 1873 - Johannesburg 1952) specialized in animal sculptures. Two newspaper articles based on interviews made to him in Johannesburg, one from 1936, the other from 1947, mention his monumental bronze sculpture "Battling Mammoths" (aka "Fighting Mastodons"). The first one does not mention where it was but the second does, saying it was bought in 1929 by the Berlin City Council and installed at the the Berlin Zoo. The zoo was destroyed in the final days of WW2 and the current administration have no records of the purchase or pictures of the work. I was wondering if through the research for your book you might have found any information on this piece. Thank you very much.
(applause)
ReplyDeleteThis book is a work of love. The author has meticulously gone through historical references in a variety of languages and taken time to read between the lines. He succeeds in revealing how little-by-little over centuries men of letters made sense of the fact that elephant like creatures lived in colder climates. The biggest hurdle for Europeans was reconciling the evidence with what the Bible said, as well as the bogus conjectures. The Chinese were no better. They thought the bones belonged to Dragons. The tusks and teeth circulated because of a huge ivory trade. Since entire mammoths with flesh and skin were exhumed in the 19th century, the "men-of-learning" could no longer deny the extinction of this special animal. But along the way a lot of very smart people made incremental steps towards that conclusion. well done.
ReplyDeleteDear Mr. McKay,
ReplyDeleteThe German artist Walter Lenck (formerly Walter Lewy, Berlin 1873 - Johannesburg 1952) specialized in animal sculptures. Two newspaper articles based on interviews made to him in Johannesburg, one from 1936, the other from 1947, mention his monumental bronze sculpture "Battling Mammoths" (aka "Fighting Mastodons"). The first one does not mention where it was but the second does, saying it was bought in 1929 by the Berlin City Council and installed at the the Berlin Zoo. The zoo was destroyed in the final days of WW2 and the current administration have no records of the purchase or pictures of the work. I was wondering if through the research for your book you might have found any information on this piece. Thank you very much.