The Last of its Kind is shortlisted for the 2024 Royal Society Science Book Prize, supported by the Trivedi Family Foundation
About the book
The great auk is one of the most tragic and documented examples of extinction. A flightless bird that bred primarily on the remote islands of the North Atlantic, the last of its kind were killed in Iceland in 1844. Gísli Pálsson draws on firsthand accounts from the Icelanders who hunted the last great auks to bring to life a bygone age of Victorian scientific exploration while offering vital insights into the extinction of species.
Blending a richly evocative narrative with rare, unpublished material as well as insights from ornithology, anthropology, and Pálsson’s own North Atlantic travels, The Last of its Kind reveals the saga of the great auk opens a window onto the human causes of mass extinction.
About the author
Gísli Pálsson is professor emeritus of anthropology at the University of Iceland. His books include The Human Age, Down To Earth, and The Man Who Stole Himself. Pálsson has worked in environmental anthropology, fishing communities, extinction studies and arctic cultures. He is a Fellow of the Royal Anthropological Institute of Great Britain and Ireland and formerly, Swedish Collegium for Advanced Study.
