Atlantica - 01.09.2007, Side 24

22 A T L A N T I C A
TRAVEL BOOKS TO TAKE YOU FROM A TO Z
With more than 100,000 annual visitors, Ecuador’s Galápagos Islands are the world’s premier eco-tourist
destination, boasting some of the world’s rarest species, the most visited of which is a giant tortoise named
Lonesome George.
Lonesome George, a giant tortoise from tiny Pinto Island in the Galápagos, is known among conservation-
ists as a “flagship.” He’s the only example of his species left alive in the world, and as such, has garnered
international media attention. As unique as he is old—estimates vary between 60 and 200—he’s also, well,
lonesome.
Henry Nicholls details this tortoise’s predicament in the context of the greater conservation movement,
describing his tale as “the story of a conservation icon.” But it’s also a love story of sorts between Lonesome
George and his legions of fans, as well as a tale of sordid passion as humans try to introduce Lonesome George
to the love of his life, generating a chance of having him propagate at least a portion of his genes.
Lonesome George chronicles all these unsuccessful attempts, including aborted encounters with two
female giant tortoises from the volcanic Isabela Island. The Charles Darwin Foundation has even posted a USD
10,000 reward for anyone who can locate a Pinta female. There have been no takers yet.
But all hope is not lost. If the tortoise remains in captivity, he probably has several decades of life ahead
of him, and by that time science may have developed the reproductive technology that will, once and for all,
change Lonesome George into just plain George. a
“Elvis” was the 761st most popular boy’s name in the United States in 2006. That’s higher than Gordon, Anthony,
and even Brad (and, perhaps more understandably, Clinton and Reagan).
Even though he left the US only twice in his lifetime, the King’s cultural influence spread across the globe.
“Not a day goes by without a reference to him in the press somewhere in the world,” writes Charlie Connelly
in In Search of Elvis, “such as recently the woman in Australia who shot her husband for playing ‘Burning Love’
over and over again, or the Derbyshire tree that’s grown into the shape of Elvis’s profile.”
So it was probably inevitable that someone would one day travel the globe under the guise of learning a
little bit more about this icon. Author Connelly takes up the mantle in this travelogue, subtitled “A Journey to
Find the Man Beneath the Jumpsuit.”
Connelly visits locations in the US, from Mississippi to Tennessee, Vegas to Hawaii, and a few places
elsewhere in the world which may never have been physically graced with the King’s presence, but where
people “continue to live by his influence and appeal.” Enter small towns in Wales and Finland, as well as Canada,
where the world’s leading Jewish Elvis impersonator performs slightly re-worded ditties under the moniker of
“Schmelvis” (Elvis’s maternal great-great-grandmother was Jewish), and even Uzbekistan, where the nation’s
largest pop group has opened an Elvis-themed café.
Think of this tome as the ideal gift for those who get “all shook up” (sorry, I had to) over all things Elvis. a

ROCK ‘N ROLL
In Search of Elvis, by Charlie Connelly
ONLY THE LONELY
Lonesome George: The Life and Loves of the World’s Most Famous Tortoise, by Henry Nicholls
COMPILED BY ELIZA REID
on the fly
GETTING AROUND