The Sloth Lemur's Song - Alison Richard ***

Despite the title, this is not a book about the sloth lemur's song (as Alison Richard admits, we don't even know if this extinct animal did sing), but rather a combination of a story of a personal love for Madagascar with a chronological trip through Madagascar's geological and biological history and prehistory.

What shines through here is Richard's deep passion for Madagascar and the book really comes alive when she relates personal experiences. Notable, for example, was the description of a walk involving passing through a location crammed with leeches. We are told that 'By the thousand, they looked like a waving lawn' and a colleague 'pulled 80 leeches off one leg and then stopped counting'.

There is lots of good stuff in here, but some parts of the content, notably when dealing with areas outside Richard's own field (for example geology and the history of grasses) didn't truly engage the reader. I also found the structure haphazard - I'm not sure the format of following this huge island (significantly bigger than France, which surprised me) through the millennia was really the best way to approach Richard's enthusiasm for its wildlife and lemurs in particular.

There were a few other issues. Richard has, perhaps, an exaggerated idea of other people's interest in and knowledge of Madagascar over and above the animated films of that name - she comments 'Madagascar lives in the public’s imagination as, at once a treasure of nature and an environmental disaster’ - nope, most know very little about it. I also got quite confused because Richard, apparently randomly, refers to animals by their English, Latin and Malagasy names - so, for instance, I had to plough back through the book to remind myself that a sifaka was a white lemur.

One of the inevitable themes here is environmentalism and climate change. It's really refreshing that with her in-depth knowledge, Richard can show how things are far more complex than the conventional narrative of thoughtless local people destroying the natural environment as they cut down forest. On the other hand, I think she could have said more about the uncomfortable tension that arises from academics spending their life flying around the world to conferences and work sites while simultaneously warning of the dangers of climate change - it's worth at least thinking if all such research should be undertaken by locals who don't need to fly to do it.

Overall, definitely an interesting book (I'm with the majority knowing very little about Madagascar before reading it), but it could have done with better structuring and a more interesting balance of content.

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Review by Brian Clegg
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