The Geographical Distribution of Animals (Summarized Edition)

The Geographical Distribution of Animals (Summarized Edition)

Enriched edition. Mapping six zoogeographic realms: geology, climate, and barriers shaping global species distributionsBy Alfred Russel Wallace
Michael Caine
Listen with Sir Michael Caine™ and 1,000+ voices
Length8h 23m

About this audiobook

First published in 1876, this two-volume treatise codifies the world's fauna into six zoogeographic realms: Palearctic, Nearctic, Neotropical, Ethiopian, Oriental, and Australasian, and explains their boundaries through geology, climate, and barriers to dispersal. Wallace integrates exhaustive catalogues with interpretive chapters, using maps, synoptic tables, and bathymetric clues such as shallow seas to infer past connections. Extending P. L. Sclater's avian scheme to vertebrates, his methodical prose offers a Darwinian, historical account that makes biogeography a synthetic science. Wallace's argument grows from lived experience. Years in the Amazon and the Malay Archipelago, where he traced the Wallace Line between Bali and Lombok, gave him intimate knowledge of island faunas, endemism, and migration barriers. As co-formulator of natural selection and an indefatigable collector for museums, he turned field notes, specimen lists, and correspondence with Darwin, Huxley, and Sclater into a principled framework for why species occur where they do. Scholars of evolution, macroecology, and the history of science will find this foundational synthesis indispensable; conservationists and systematists will value its durable logic and global scope. Read it for empirical rigor and conceptual clarity: a master class in converting natural history into theory, and in learning to read the map of life. Quickie Classics summarizes timeless works with precision, preserving the author's voice and keeping the prose clear, fast, and readable—distilled, never diluted. Enriched Edition extras: Introduction · Synopsis · Historical Context · Author Biography · Brief Analysis · 4 Reflection Q&As · Editorial Footnotes.

Audiobook details

GenreScience and Nature
Length8 hrs 23 mins
Narrated byListen with 1,000+ voices
FormateBook with Audio
Publish dateJan 10, 2026
LanguageEnglish

Table of contents

1Introduction
2Introduction
3Synopsis
4Historical Context
5Author Biography
Show all chapters
6The Geographical Distribution of Animals (Vol.1&2) (pt. 1)
7The Geographical Distribution of Animals (Vol.1&2) (pt. 2)
8The Geographical Distribution of Animals (Vol.1&2) (pt. 3)
9The Geographical Distribution of Animals (Vol.1&2) (pt. 4)
10Analysis
11Reflection

More from Alfred Russel Wallace

The History of Malay Archipelago (Annotated)
The History of Malay Archipelago (Annotated)Alfred Russel Wallace25h 25m$2 · $0.00
The Geographical Distribution of Animals (Vol.1&2) (Annotated)
The Geographical Distribution of Animals (Vol.1&2) (Annotated)Alfred Russel Wallace42h 13m4.6 (12)$2 · $0.00
Vaccination a Delusion: Its Penal Enforcement a Crime (Annotated)
Vaccination a Delusion: Its Penal Enforcement a Crime (Annotated)Alfred Russel Wallace4h 35m$2 · $0.00
The Malay Archipelago (Vol. 1&2) (Annotated)
The Malay Archipelago (Vol. 1&2) (Annotated)Alfred Russel Wallace25h 28m4.3 (2.2K)$3 · $0.00
La place de l'homme dans l'univers
La place de l'homme dans l'universAlfred Russel Wallace12h 26m$1 · $0.00
Island Life; Or, The Phenomena and Causes of Insular Faunas and Floras
Island Life; Or, The Phenomena and Causes of Insular Faunas and FlorasAlfred Russel Wallace16h 33m4.4 (48)$2 · $0.00
Uit den Indischen Archipel
Uit den Indischen ArchipelAlfred Russel Wallace3h 31m4.3 (3.7K)$1 · $0.00
The Malay Archipelago (Vol. 1&2)
The Malay Archipelago (Vol. 1&2)Alfred Russel Wallace25h 11m4.3 (2.9K)$1 · $0.00
Is Mars habitable?
Is Mars habitable?Alfred Russel Wallace2h 46m3.4 (58)$1 · $0.00
Travels on the Amazon
Travels on the AmazonAlfred Russel Wallace12h 15m4.2 (46)$1 · $0.00
Vaccination a Delusion: Its Penal Enforcement a Crime
Vaccination a Delusion: Its Penal Enforcement a CrimeAlfred Russel Wallace5h 7m$1 · $0.00
The Geographical Distribution of Animals (Vol.1&2)
The Geographical Distribution of Animals (Vol.1&2)Alfred Russel Wallace40h 30m$2 · $0.00
Vaccination a Delusion: Its Penal Enforcement a Crime
Vaccination a Delusion: Its Penal Enforcement a CrimeAlfred Russel Wallace5h 14m$1 · $0.00
The Malay Archipelago (Vol. 1&2)
The Malay Archipelago (Vol. 1&2)Alfred Russel Wallace25h 17m4.3 (1.6K)$2 · $0.00
Travels on the Amazon (Annotated)
Travels on the Amazon (Annotated)Alfred Russel Wallace13h 56m$0.99 · $0.00
The History of Malay Archipelago
The History of Malay ArchipelagoAlfred Russel Wallace23h 51m4.3 (1.6K)$2 · $0.00

You may also like

Wine for Dummies 4th Edition
Wine for Dummies 4th EditionEd McCarthy, Mary Mulligan3h 2m4.0 (1.4K)$18 · $0.00
Birds Found on the Arctic Slope of Northern Alaska
Birds Found on the Arctic Slope of Northern AlaskaJames W. Bee3h 15m$2 · $0.00
Australasian Fossils: A Students' Manual of Palaeontology
Australasian Fossils: A Students' Manual of PalaeontologyFrederick Chapman5h 27m$1 · $0.00
The Flow of Time in the Connecticut Valley: Geological Imprints
The Flow of Time in the Connecticut Valley: Geological ImprintsHoward A. Meyerhoff, George W. Bain3h 45m$1 · $0.00
An Introduction To The Study Of Fishes
An Introduction To The Study Of FishesAlbert Carl Ludwig Gotthilf Günther22h 25m$2.40
The Butterfly Book
The Butterfly BookW. J. Holland14h 42m4.3 (25)$1 · $0.00
Itinerary through Corsica by its Rail, Carriage & Forest Roads
Itinerary through Corsica by its Rail, Carriage & Forest RoadsC. B. Black2h 6m$2 · $0.00
Popular Scientific Recreations in Natural Philosphy, Astronomy, Geology, Chemistry, etc., etc., etc
Popular Scientific Recreations in Natural Philosphy, Astronomy, Geology, Chemistry, etc., etc., etcGaston Tissandier31h 11m4.4 (10)$2 · $0.00
Animals From A To Z
Animals From A To ZSergio Cipullo6m$8 · $0.00
History of Botany (1530-1860)
History of Botany (1530-1860)Julius Sachs22h 52m$1 · $0.00
The Ornithologist's Archive: 35 Classic Books in Bird Studies
The Ornithologist's Archive: 35 Classic Books in Bird StudiesFrank M. Chapman, Thomas Bingley, Edmund Selous, Joseph Grinnell, Elizabeth Grinnell, J. Lewis Bonhote, Charles K. Reed, Harrison Bruce Tordoff, Chester A. Reed, Lionel Walter Rothschild Baron Rothschild, W. H. Hudson, Erwin E. Klaas, Charles Dixon, Emil K. Urban, Frederick Charles Lincoln, Steven R. Peterson, Peter A. Anastasi, P. M. C. Kermode, J. A. Harvie-Brown, John Cordeaux, M. Dale Arvey, Edward Harrison Taylor, Henry Higgins Lane, E. Raymond Hall, Henry S. Fitch, Jr. George H. Lowery, Alexander Goodman More, Richard Manliffe Barrington, James W. Bee, John Albert Leach, T. Gilbert Pearson, Leander S. Keyser, Robert L. Merz, Robert Morrow Mengel, Jon C. Barlow, Douglas Dewar, Jack Miner, Austin Loomer Rand, Rollin H. Baker167h 22m$0.99 · $0.00
Englisch lernen Audio - Das perfekte Wochenende
Englisch lernen Audio - Das perfekte WochenendeSpotlight Verlag1h 2m$14
An Introduction to the Birds of Pennsylvania
An Introduction to the Birds of PennsylvaniaGeorge Miksch Sutton7h 34m$2.30
Fragments of Earth Lore: Sketches & Addresses Geological and Geographical
Fragments of Earth Lore: Sketches & Addresses Geological and GeographicalJames Geikie16h 25m$2 · $0.00
Noteworthy Mammals from Sinaloa, Mexico
Noteworthy Mammals from Sinaloa, MexicoTicul Alvarez, J. Knox Jones, M. Raymond Lee38m$2 · $0.00
Roses
RosesPierre-Joseph Redouté, Claude Antoine Thory1h 50m4.5 (94)$15 · $0.00
The Botanist's Repository for New and Rare Plants Vol 1& 2
The Botanist's Repository for New and Rare Plants Vol 1& 2Henry Cranke Andrews8h 4m$2.30
The Manual of the Botany of the Northern United States
The Manual of the Botany of the Northern United StatesAsa Gray48h 1m4.5 (44)$2 · $0.00
Manures and the principles of manuring
Manures and the principles of manuringCharles Morton Aikman16h 3m$2 · $0.00
Handwork in Wood
Handwork in WoodWilliam Noyes6h 46m3.3 (90)$1 · $0.00