Whew...this book was way over my head. I picked it up because it has been referred to in some ecology, conservation, and environmental books that I've been reading for my dissertation. I thought I would go back and look at one of the classics. However, there is a reason I'm a historian. The math, the graphs, the endless symbology...I had no idea what was going on. I found two passages on applying island biogeography theory to isolated pieces of wilderness on the mainland that I could comprehend and thought interesting, potentially helpful. I have no doubt that if you have a better background in this stuff you would get more out of it. I think I will stick to summaries of the work written for the layman.