Steven Lang reviews The Woodpecker Mystery – The Inevitability of the Improbable, a non-fiction book by Nick Norman.
They say you should never judge a book by its cover – but quite frankly, that’s not natural. Why do we pick up a book in a bookstore if it is not because the cover caught our attention? Of course, we don’t judge the whole book by its cover, but it is the cover that often guides us on whether to purchase and read it.
“The Woodpecker Mystery – The Inevitability of the Improbable” has an intriguing cover that inexorably draws you in – just as its designer, Colleen Goosen, intended. The title resonates with a Sherlock Holmes-style detective story and artwork featuring two woodpeckers facing each other, suggesting some kind of confrontation. Then, there is the background painting of a map featuring Africa and South America positioned impossibly close to each other.
What is the cover trying to tell us?
A few weeks ago, the author, Nick Norman, launched the Woodpecker Mystery at the Amazwi Museum here in Makhanda. He told those of us present at the event how the seeds of his fifth book germinated while he was tramping through the Brazilian bushveld in the 1970s. It is an engrossing tale that he recounts in detail in the book.
Norman is an excellent storyteller who illustrated his presentation with several beautiful photographs. However, he is perhaps not the best at marketing his book as he revealed to the audience the answer to the mystery contained in his book title.
No spoiler alert here. I will not tell the reader why there are several bird species in South Africa that look almost exactly the same as their counterparts in South America. You will have to read the book to find that out, but never fear; it is a most informative and enjoyable read for the armchair scientist.
The author uses his career in geology and a mystery about the apparent convergence of certain bird species to spin out a comprehensive explanation of continental drift and plate tectonics. If that sounds improbable, then wait till you get to the chapter on Charles Darwin and the spread of the species or the chapter about DNA and phylogenetics.
The Woodpecker Mystery is a wonderfully informative account of how Norman solved a problem that very few people had ever considered. It leaves the reader with a far better understanding of plate tectonics and evolution. It also explains why the differences between gymnosperms and angiosperms helped him come to a conclusion about woodpeckers.
This is not an attempt to intimidate anyone with scientific jargon because this book was not written for the scientist. It was set out with many colourful photographs, maps and infographics for a layperson who is interested in finding out how a scientific problem is solved. You do not need any scientific knowledge to appreciate this entertaining quest for new knowledge.
The parts I enjoyed most reflect my own parochialism. I was thrilled to read about Alexander Du Toit, a South African who made a significant contribution to the international understanding of plate tectonics. It felt good to learn about a compatriot who added to our scientific knowledge.
As someone who is proud to be a resident of the Eastern Cape, I was surprised to learn that the geology of the Falkland Islands is very similar to that of my province. This proves that many millions of years ago, they were very close together.
The Woodpecker Mystery is well worth the read. It is fascinating, informative and neatly bridges the gap between education and a good old-fashioned mystery tale.
