Mark Catesby"s Natural History Of America
Average customer rating: 5 out of 5 stars
  • This is not a review, it is a question.
Mark Catesby"s Natural History Of America
Mcburney
Manufacturer: INGRAM BOOK COMPANY
ProductGroup: Book
Binding: Hardcover

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  1. Empire's Nature: Mark Catesby's New World Vision (Omohundro Institute of Early American History & Culture) Empire's Nature: Mark Catesby's New World Vision (Omohundro Institute of Early American History & Culture)
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ASIN: 1858940389

Customer Reviews:

5 out of 5 stars This is not a review, it is a question........1999-10-19

I have an old book by Mark Catesby. Half is in French and half in English, it is supposed to one of two volumes, it is not in very good shape,and most of the plates are missing. Do you have any thing more you could tell me about this book?
Reflections in Bullough's Pond: Economy and Ecosystem in New England (Revisiting New England)
Average customer rating: 5 out of 5 stars
  • Came for the topic, stayed for the author
  • Not just for New Englanders
  • An Intriguing Glimpse at New Englandýs History
  • on reflection, dazzling
  • breaks new ground
Reflections in Bullough's Pond: Economy and Ecosystem in New England (Revisiting New England)
Diana Muir
Manufacturer: UPNE
ProductGroup: Book
Binding: Library Binding

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  1. New England Forests Through Time : Insights from the Harvard Forest Dioramas New England Forests Through Time : Insights from the Harvard Forest Dioramas
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  3. Reading the Forested Landscape: A Natural History of New England Reading the Forested Landscape: A Natural History of New England
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  5. Changes in the Land, Revised Edition: Indians, Colonists, and the Ecology of New England Changes in the Land, Revised Edition: Indians, Colonists, and the Ecology of New England

ASIN: 0874519098

Book Description

A dramatic story of the interplay between environment and economy in New England.

Customer Reviews:

5 out of 5 stars Came for the topic, stayed for the author.......2005-02-17

Ms Muir is a great storyteller. I was interested in the topic and prepared to slog through boring text to learn something, but this was AMAZING. Read like a novel. She sees inter-relationships and draws conclusions which taught me a lot. Now I want to read everything she's written. I was sorry when I finished this book.

5 out of 5 stars Not just for New Englanders.......2003-01-25

Other reviewers have discussed the virtues of the book, so I will only add that the lessons to be learned from this well written and fascinating study are relevant to the entire planet, not just New England. As such, the book is highly recommended to anyone anywhere who is interested in mankind's relationship to the environment and its effects on culture and economics.

5 out of 5 stars An Intriguing Glimpse at New Englandýs History.......2002-10-31

Using a pond near her home in Newton, MA as a backdrop, Diana Muir weaves a compelling view of New England history, which she argues is a series of ecological crises.

From pre-Columbian times, Muir says, New England was populated by individuals struggling on a land that was not conducive to making a living. Radical solutions to unsolvable problems were their only escape. In the 1790s, when farming was the only occupation, a growing population and a soil spent by generations of misuse, resulted in a dearth of farmable land. With no prospects and no future, individuals like Eli Whitney and Thomas Blanchard, were forced to look for creative solutions to society's problems and set in motion an industrial revolution.

I was particularly intrigued by the story of Frederick Tudor, the man who in 1806 introduced ice to Martinique. It is one thing to sell ice to people who because of their location, understand the concept. It is quite another, to sell ice to people who have never experienced it, to say nothing about the practical necessities of ice houses to warehouse the product.

His father's real estate speculation losses left Tudor with nothing but ambition and a house with a pond in Saugus, MA. He succeeded after two difficult decades. There was always a wrinkle to be solved before a fortune could be built. Iceboxes had to be designed and then marketed in southern ports to people who had to be taught how to preserve it.

This phenomenon explains why there so many Crystal and Silver Lakes dot the New England landscape, relics of an enterprising age. Savvy ice dealers understood that attractive names sell products. For a brief period even Muir's Bullough's Pond was briefly renamed Silver Lake.

Diana Muir e-mailed me twice during the past two years introducing her book to me. Having read her book, I am grateful for her persistence. If you enjoy reading unique looks at our history, I implore not to wait for her to contact you. Read her book; you will not regret it.

5 out of 5 stars on reflection, dazzling.......2002-08-02

This is one of the best books I have ever read- period! At the core of the book is Ms. Muir's message that we are part of nature, not separate from or above nature, and we have a great responsibility to maintain the integrity of the environment. Granted, this message is not new. Where this book is very different is how Ms. Muir leads up to this message. She shows how the New England landscape changed from one where farming dominated to one that was a mixture of many different types of mills and factories. You learn the consequences of everything that was done along the way: the consequences to fish and birds of damming rivers; the consequences to forests and to the air we breath of heavy logging; the consequences of catching too many of one type of fish, etc. What is great about this book is that Ms. Muir does not deal in hazy generalities. She takes you step by step and shows you specifically how certain actions cause certain changes in the environment, often unforseen. There is nothing simplistic in her observations and she knows there are no easy answers. She lays out the data for you and you can come to your own conclusions. But what really takes this book to another level is the fascinating biographical information that Ms. Muir provides concerning the many, many New Englanders that invented the machines of the Industrial Revolution and kept the economy vibrant as the importance of agriculture diminished. The way this book is put together is very unusual, due to the combination of all of the above factors and in the space of 248 pages you will learn a great deal of information. The research Ms. Muir must have done in writing this book is staggering and her knowledge across many different areas is amazing. Don't miss reading this book.

5 out of 5 stars breaks new ground.......2002-07-25

It is hard to imagine how Reflections in Bullough's Pond could have been better written. Diana Muir gives an account of the interplay between New England's economic history and its environment in a lapidary prose which never leaves the reader behind. By the end of the book we are enlightened about the ebb and flow of these matters over the five hundred-odd years from early European settlement to modern times without ever being overwhelmed, for Ms Muir always wears her erudition lightly.

She breaks new ground in her treatment of the environment as both an economic resource and as a complex-often vulnerable-amalgam of ecosystems. Her thesis is that we are living on capital, be it fossil fuel, topsoil or forest-she is particularly compelling on the vulnerable biochemistry of these last. Unusually, however, Ms Muir is scrupulous in her use of statistics and fastidious in her argument. She never seeks to undermine the legitimacy of the economic impulse, though she does not flinch from her conclusion: an argument for restraint in economic activity and population.

Nor does she lose sight of the propensity of ecosystems to renew themselves, albeit often in new forms: she is pleased-almost amused-by the return of the beaver and the moose, while regretting the extinction of the elm and the emergence of local spruce monocultures. Indeed Ms Muir expresses herself more forcefully on the loss of flora than fauna. Perhaps this is because the long life cycles of the former make it harder to take an optimistic view of their capacity to renew themselves. Alternatively it may be because the collapse of agriculture in New England following the opening up of the West, has stimulated the return to southern New England of so many species formerly evicted to Canada.

Reflections in Bullough's Pond is no naïve elegy for a Paradise Lost; it never loses sight of a human interplay with the landscape which long antedates industrialisation, not to say European settlement. In a particularly ingenious section of the book, Ms Muir reminds us that in the middle of the nineteenth century, the courts and legislatures altered common law doctrines of liability to free up industrial activity. This reflected the climate of the times. Ms Muir argues that the climate of our own times may well give rise to more extensive liability concepts to restrain the corporations, notions very much with the tail wind of popular and professional thinking.

Given the book's generosity and elegance, it seems curmudgeonly to cavil at any part of it. But a couple of issues do arise. First forests. Since the invention of agriculture, we have cleared them for the simple reason that we have better uses for the land. This has been going on in the Old World for millennia. Of course there have been local environmental disasters, eg in North Africa and Mesopotamia, but nothing sufficiently general to justify veneration of forests as a precautionary measure. This is an artefact of late-twentieth century sentiment in the New World. There such virgin forests as have not lost within living memory are being destroyed even now, thus the local salience of the issue. Over the past fifteen years their defenders have sought to enlist support by arguing that they served one or another vital purpose: producing oxygen, acting as feedstock for drugs, now Ms Muir points to their role in topsoil. The first two arguments are infrequently heard these days. As to the last, let me point out that where I grew up in the eastern part of England, the ground was cleared eight or nine hundred years ago, but the topsoil remains sufficiently fertile for the local farmers to get out record yields.

I was also left uncertain as to the course Ms Muir might prescribe for the several billion who have never seen Bullough's Pond, and whose habitats have been profoundly altered by economic activity for millenia rather than centuries. The residents of Asia's great river valleys cleared the forests long before Columbus saw the New World. They have to eat-with luck raise themselves above thoughts of the next meal. Ms Muir has practical suggestions as to how the courts might restrain US corporations, but nothing on how to restrain the aspirations of those who dream of a fraction of American prosperity. I suspect she is wise enough to know that there is nothing to be done on this score. In a rare nod towards the nether reaches of environmental alarmism, she hints that she expects nature to impose population restraint, if we do not. I am more sanguine. In whatever might come to pass as in what has come before, we will wade through. As we must.
Sea Turtles (Worldlife Library)
Average customer rating: 5 out of 5 stars
  • Great to identify turtles and understand them better
  • Superb book
  • Great information in compact form
  • Great, quick reference
  • Comprehensive book, well written text, excellent photos
Sea Turtles (Worldlife Library)
Jeff Ripple
Manufacturer: Voyageur Press
ProductGroup: Book
Binding: Paperback

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ASIN: 0896583155

Book Description

Millions of sea turtles once roamed the earth’s oceans. Within the past five centuries, trade in sea turtle meat, eggs, shells, oil, and leather has driven almost every species to the brink of extinction. Explore the world of the sea turtle in this engaging book. Learn their general characteristics, how they navigate underwater, who their predators are, what human threats exist, and where conservation efforts are being made worldwide. Jeff Ripple profiles every species of sea turtle from the loggerhead to the leatherback. More than 60 breath-taking photographs capture these fascinating creatures underwater and on land.

Customer Reviews:

4 out of 5 stars Great to identify turtles and understand them better.......2007-08-23

We saw many turtles in the water during our Panama Canal cruise. It was unexpected. Got the book after we returned home and enjoy the info. Great pictures.

5 out of 5 stars Superb book.......2006-11-05

this book has lots of superb images and interesting facts about sea turtles. I thouroughly recommend this book to anybody interested in sea turtles.

5 out of 5 stars Great information in compact form.......2004-09-07

This book provides good basic information and wonderful photographs about sea turtles. After a general overview of a turtle's life from hatchling to adult, the author describes in detail the currently eight recognized living species of sea turtles: loggerhead, hawksbill, leatherback, Kemp's ridley, olive ridley, green turtle, black turtle, and Australian flatback. He also shows how fishing, pollution, beach armoring, development, raking and beach driving threaten the reptiles' existence, and how various projects aim at increasing the turtle population.

It's a great source of information for anyone: compact, well researched, and thought-provoking.

5 out of 5 stars Great, quick reference.......2001-09-27

This book is amazingly detailed for its size. It's an ideal quick reference with fabulous photographs. If you want to learn about sea turtles with plenty of basic facts (quite a few!) and photos but not an excess of science, this is the one for you. Perfect for the layman's library.

5 out of 5 stars Comprehensive book, well written text, excellent photos.......1999-11-11

This is a wonderfully comprehensive book on the characteristics, life and hazards facing sea turtles. The well written text truly gives the reader a feel for what life is like for a sea turtle.

Facts covered include ancestry, feeding, growth, navigation, migration, mating & nesting. Then there are sections on the 8 major species of sea turtles describing the distinctive features of each.

The photos are terrific, with many great underwater shots of these graceful and powerful swimmers. There are also nesting turtles and adorable hatchlings. A number of conservation efforts are shown as well.

A major focus of the book is the threats facing these endangered species, with numbers diminished by decades of hunting, natural predators and environmental decline. Hopeful efforts are underway to reverse this trend.
World Resources 2000-2001  People and Ecosystems: The Fraying Web of Life (World Resources)
Average customer rating: 5 out of 5 stars
  • Information and Data Supporting Environmental Issues
World Resources 2000-2001 People and Ecosystems: The Fraying Web of Life (World Resources)

Manufacturer: World Resources Institute
ProductGroup: Book
Binding: Library Binding

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  3. Plan B 2.0: Rescuing a Planet Under Stress and a Civilization in Trouble Plan B 2.0: Rescuing a Planet Under Stress and a Civilization in Trouble

ASIN: 1569734437

Book Description

Ecosystems are the productive engines of the planet, providing us with everything from the water we drink to the food we eat and the fiber we use for clothing, paper, and lumber. Yet nearly every measure used to assess the health of ecosystems indicates that we are drawing on them more than ever, while degrading them at an accelerating rate.

How then can we best manage our vital ecosystems-and reduce our own impacts-so that they remain healthy and productive in the face of increasing human demands? Governments and businesses will first have to rethink some basic assumptions about how we measure and plan economic growth, taking into account the natural limits that sustain our ecosystems. This volume brings together the critical information about the condition and long-term prospects of our ecosystems that will be needed to make responsible decisions about their future.

Focusing on five critical systems (croplands, forests, coastal zones, freshwater systems, and grasslands) the book analyzes the value of goods and services currently provided by our ecosystems and their capacity to continue production. It goes on to recommend sweeping changes for managing these biological underpinnings of the global economy and human well-being, including: respecting the natural boundaries of ecosystems and managing them as one complete system, rather that as separate entities; regularly assessing the condition of our ecosystems and studying the processes that underlie their capacity to sustain life; assembling information that allows a careful weighing of tradeoffs between ecosystem goods and services and environmental, political, social, and economic goals; and including the public-particularly local communities-in the management of ecosystems.

A joint publication of the United Nations Development Programme, United Nations Environment Programme, World Bank, and World Resources Institute

Customer Reviews:

5 out of 5 stars Information and Data Supporting Environmental Issues.......2002-11-01

This is the Millennium Edition (9th) in a series, which is a biennial (every-other year), comprehensive review of the critical issues and challenges facing the world's environmental leaders. The work is compiled by the researchers and staff of the United Nations Development Programme, the United Nations Environment Programme, the World Bank, and the World Resources Institute. World Resources provides surveys of current conditions and historical trends in major areas of concern and resource areas. The 2000-2001 edition of World Resources addresses the issues and concerns confronting the Earth's ecosytems. Individual chapters address the study of specific ecosystem types (e.g., agricultural coastal, forest, freshwater, grasslands)and analyzes the problems inherent in each. These analyses are described in the context of the ecosystem approach from identification of concerns to their resolution. Supporting trends data are provided for a variety of critical issues: Biodiversity and Protected Areas; Forests and Grasslands; Coastal, Marine, and Inland Waters; Agriculture and Food; Freshwater; Atmosphere and Climate; Energy and Resource Use; Population and Human Development; Basic Economic Indicators; and Small Nations and Islands. This work is an essential resource for understanding the scientific and technical basis of the major environmental and natural resources issues with which we deal at local, regional, national, and global levels. Sections are clearly written for an understanding by non-scientists and scholars reading this outside of their discipline of expertise. Extensive footnotes, maps, charts, and data tables are provided. Data also available in CD-ROM formats. This is an essential environmental reference work. Because of its thoroughness, ease of use, comprehensive coverage, and cost, this book should be on the shelf of ALL acacdemic, public, school (grade 6 and above), government agency, corporate, and other special libraries. Researchers (engineering, life, physical, policy, and social sciences), decision makers, educators, and students will find this a truly impressive ready-reference source for their own bookshelves as well.
Cape Cod (Nature Library, Penguin)
Average customer rating: 5 out of 5 stars
  • BEST EDITION AVAILABLE, BY FAR
  • A Cape Cod Walk with Thoreau
  • Great Humor
  • Leave your brain at the door.
  • Cape Cod is the ultimate desert island beach book.
Cape Cod (Nature Library, Penguin)
Henry David Thoreau
Manufacturer: Penguin (Non-Classics)
ProductGroup: Book
Binding: Paperback

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  5. The Nature of Cape Cod The Nature of Cape Cod

ASIN: 0140170022

Book Description

Thoreau's compelling account of Cape Cod is here presented in the complete and definitive text. His trips to the Cape, he wrote, were intended to afford "a better view than I had yet had of the ocean." In the plants, animals, topography, weather, people, and human works of Massachusetts' long projection into the Atlantic, he finds "another world." Encounters with the ocean dominate the book, from the fatal shipwreck of the opening episode to the late reflections on the Pilgrims' Cape Cod landing and reconnaissance. Along the way, Thoreau relates the experiences of fishermen and oystermen, farmers and salvagers, lighthouse-keepers and ship-captains, as well as his own intense confrontations with the sea as he travels the land's outermost margins. Chronicles of exploration, settlement, and survival on the Cape lead Thoreau to reconceive the history of New England and to recognize the parochialism of history itself.

Download Description

Our way to the high sand-bank, which I have described as extending all along the coast, led, as usual, through patches of Bayberry bushes, which straggled into the sand. This, next to the Shrub-oak, was perhaps the most common shrub thereabouts. I was much attracted by its odoriferous leaves and small gray berries which are clustered about the short twigs, just below the last year's growth. I know of but two bushes in Concord, and they, being staminate plants, do not bear fruit.

Customer Reviews:

5 out of 5 stars BEST EDITION AVAILABLE, BY FAR.......2007-06-13

This hardcover edition from Peninsula Press is unquestionably the best available edition of Thoreau's Cape Cod, for these reasons:

1) While all other editions are based on Thoreau's journal entries from only his first three visits to the Cape, this edition includes an epilogue compiling Thoreau's notes from his fourth and final visit, in which he traveled south to Chatham and Monomoy.

2) This is the only edition to translate the many, many Greek and Latin phrases Thoreau includes throughout the work, and it is also the only edition to provide illustrations, maps, and sidenotes in-text.

3) This is the only indexed edition ever created.

HIGHLY RECOMMENDED for fans of both Cape literature and Thoreau in general.

5 out of 5 stars A Cape Cod Walk with Thoreau.......2006-08-05

Thoreau visited Cape Cod in 1849, 1850, and 1853. These trips formed the basis for a series of essays, several of which Thoreau published in magazines. After Thoreau's death, the essays were gathered together and published as "Cape Cod" in 1865.

Thoreau's "Cape Cod" is different in tone in theme from his earlier books. The tone is leisurely and light. Instead of solitude or the wild woods, the picture that remains with me from this book is that of a long walk, or, as Thoreau puts it, a "ramble" through the sand and dunes of Cape Cod. The book is picturesque, full of humor and wry observation. Thoreau unforgettably describes the ocean, in its storms, vicissitudes, and moments of peace, the fish and the fishermen, the sands, birds, plants and lighthouses of Cape Cod, and the people. I have visited portions of the Masachusetts coast, but I have never been to Cape Cod. Thoreau took me there in his book.

The book is arranged into ten chapters. It opens with a description of the shipwreck of the St John on a rock off the Cape. Thoreau then describes a ride by coach across the Cape. But the heart of the book lies in the following chapters in which Thoreau with a companion walks the 30 mile beach from Nauset Harbor to Provincetown with many stops and diversions along the way. I felt the salt air and saw the fishermen and the sandy beach as I walked with Thoreau.

The most vivid characterization in the book is in the chapter "The Wellfleet Oysterman", as Thoreau describes a grizzled, taciturn, and ancient native of Cape Cod and his family who offer him hospitality for the night. Another memorable chapter involves the description of the Highland Lighthouse, no longer standing, and its keeper. The stops with the Oysterman and the Lighthouse punctuate Thoreau's long walks through the day over the beach and his meditiations about and descriptions of what he finds there.

Thoreaus walk ended at Provincetown, on the northernmost portion of Cape Cod, with its wood walkway, shanty houses, and ever-present scenes of fishermen, boats, and drying fish. Thoreau offers what I found an affectionate portrait of these hardy fishermen and their families. Following a description of what he found at Provincetown, Thoreau offers a great deal of historical background on the exploration of the Cape, from the Pilgrims reaching back to earlier French, Icelandic, and English explorers.

Thoreau's "Cape Cod" is a worthy companion to his books describing his experiences inland, on Walden Pond and on the rivers and woods of New England and Maine. It is beautifuly written with unforgettable descriptive passages. It made me want to get up and go from my life in the city, and over 150 years after Thoreau wrote, wander and walk for myself along the dunes and sands of Cape Cod.

5 out of 5 stars Great Humor.......2006-07-18

This book details the flora, fauna and people that Thoreau found in Cape Cod in the 1850s. Thoreau organizes the book around a single trip to Provincetown, although much of the material that he uses in the book came from various visits to the Cape, and to the ocean in general. He starts with a description of a shipwreck at Cohasset, then a stagecoach ride from Plymouth, then a walking trip with a companion along the outer shore to Provincetown. Along the way, he describes not only the plants and animals he encountered, but also the people who he met. The book finishes with a lengthy academic historical account of the discovery and mapping of the Cape.

I found this to be the most humorous of all Thoreau's work. The character sketches he provides in this book, sharpened with his trained eye for observation of natural phenomena, are legendary. The cultural description of the Cape and its environment is quite fascinating for those interested in the history of daily life in 19th century Massachusetts. As Thoreau describes the desolate, treeless desert that made up the far reaches of the Cape, one begins to comprehend what it meant for an economy to be based on wood and whale oil for fuels. Thoreau stresses how valued driftwood was for residents of the Cape, as one of their main sources of heating and cooking fuel. Doubtless, he would not recognize the Cape today with its lush new forests. Or its Wal-Marts--switching to an oil economy has brought mixed blessings for the Cape. For those who think Thoreau to be a humorless didactic philosopher, this book shows a very different aspect of Thoreau as a writer.

5 out of 5 stars Leave your brain at the door........1999-06-24

You will forget about the outside world when you read this; nothing but sand, wind, and water. Plus some natural history, local folklore, a few shipwreck tales. Typical Thoreau; he finds beauty, interest, detail in the wilderness. The desolate landscape will help to clear your mind. Highly recommended.

5 out of 5 stars Cape Cod is the ultimate desert island beach book........1997-01-31

Each year, in preparation for a week's retreat to the Outer Banks of North Carolina, I go in search of a book that would be perfect for a sojourn on a desert island. Of course, the Outer Banks are hardly deserted--the locals have printed up Wege's infamous photograph of a packed stretch of Coney Island with the caption "Nags Head, circa 2000 A.D."--but there we are on an island for seven days, my husband experiencing near death in the waves while I read. Sometimes we stop these pursuits and prowl the beach. Mostly we live as if we're the last two people on earth (which is easier in the off-peak season). I've learned that not every book is right for this way of life. The perfect desert island book has to celebrate the place you are in, not transport you. It should offer a tinge of society, because, after all, a human is a social animal, but it should not make you yearn achingly for what has been left behind nor should you be so repelled by it that you will never fit in again when you leave the island (you always leave the island). It should have some narrative sweep to withstand the competition of the seascape. It should make you think, at least a little: you want the stress to wash out to sea, not the little grey cells. Cape Cod by Henry David Thoreau is the benchmark by which I've chosen beach material for several years. it is the quintessential celebration of littoral life. If you are on the beach, you appreciate it all the more; if you are not, well, at least you know vividly what you are missing. There is drama, as in the specter of villagers racing to the shore at the news of a shipwreck. There is information, as in what part of the clam not to eat, how the Indians trapped gulls for food, how a lighthouse really works. There is Thoreau's contagious respect for solitude, his occasional crankiness, and that magic trick of his that can suck in high school sophomores and get them through his books without so much as a whimper. There is one flaw to Cape Cod: brevity. It lasts about a day and a half on the Robinson Crusoe plan. This is not to say that it does not withstand re-reading, it does, but at some point after you have committed it to memory, you may wish for the collected works of Shakespeare and move onto the Bard's beach play, The Tempest.
Harvesting Urban Timber: A Guide to Making Better Use of Urban Trees (Woodworker's Library (Fresno, Calif.).)
Average customer rating: 3.5 out of 5 stars
  • Not wonderful
  • A "must-have" resource for local policy makers
Harvesting Urban Timber: A Guide to Making Better Use of Urban Trees (Woodworker's Library (Fresno, Calif.).)
Sam Sherrill
Manufacturer: Linden Publishing
ProductGroup: Book
Binding: Paperback

ManufacturingManufacturing | Industrial, Manufacturing & Operational Systems | Engineering | Professional & Technical | Subjects | Books
Wood ScienceWood Science | Forestry | Agricultural Sciences | Professional Science | Professional & Technical | Subjects | Books
GeneralGeneral | Science | Subjects | Books
GeneralGeneral | Nature & Ecology | Science | Subjects | Books
Forests & ForestryForests & Forestry | Natural Resources | Nature & Ecology | Science | Subjects | Books
RecyclingRecycling | Environment | Outdoors & Nature | Subjects | Books
ForestsForests | Conservation | Outdoors & Nature | Subjects | Books
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  1. Wood and How to Dry It (Fine Woodworking) Wood and How to Dry It (Fine Woodworking)
  2. The Conversion and Seasoning of Wood: A Guide to Principles and Practice The Conversion and Seasoning of Wood: A Guide to Principles and Practice
  3. Selecting and Drying Wood (The New Best of Fine Woodworking) Selecting and Drying Wood (The New Best of Fine Woodworking)
  4. Identifying Wood: Accurate Results with Simple Tools Identifying Wood: Accurate Results with Simple Tools
  5. Know Your Woods: A Complete Guide to Trees, Woods, and Veneers Know Your Woods: A Complete Guide to Trees, Woods, and Veneers

ASIN: 0941936716

Book Description

Three to four billion board feet of potential lumber is being fed either directly or indirectly into landfills throughout the United States each year. This book explains the importance of harvesting urban trees and how to do so. Case studies illustrate how some cities and counties have reduced waste through the use of urban timber for various projects. Explained in detail are felling, safety, converting trees to sawn lumber, how to hire a sawyer, how to season the wood, sawing for figure, and what types of trees are worth harvesting. Also described are the various uses for the timber, including use by the home craftsman or to build park benches or bumper strips. Each alternative use is illustrated through case studies of several municipalities and their respective programs of urban timber utilization.

Customer Reviews:

2 out of 5 stars Not wonderful.......2007-02-14

Book has much useful information in it. However, from a "how to" perspective the book has enough faults that I would choose another. The tree felling portion seemed particularly bad: a couple of horror stories on tree felling are followed by some sub-par descriptions on tree felling methods - the part on "bore" cuts is especially badly described and illustrated - it should have been better handled or left out entirely. Quite frankly, the authors frequent citing of OSHA as an authority on cutting methods made me a bit nervous too. Somehow, I think I would prefer cutting advice from a professional lumberjack than a governmental bureaucracy....but thats a matter of taste I suppose.

5 out of 5 stars A "must-have" resource for local policy makers.......2003-11-17

Harvesting Urban Timber: A Complete Guide by woodworking expert Sam Sherrill is a no-nonsense guide for local businesses, woodworkers, and city governments concerning the facts and how-to's of making the most of urban trees, rather then simply sending them directly to landfills when they must be removed. Color illustrations, anecdotes considering real situations where harvesting urban timber was absolutely necessary such as the outbreak of Dutch Elm disease in Minnesota, step-by-step instructions and much more make Harvesting Urban Timber a "must-have" resource for local policy makers responsible for this urban issue. It should be noted that Sherrill brings a particular expertise to this unique subject and is currently forming Harvesting Urban Timber organizations throughout the United States with the full support of the USDA Forest Service.
The Wide Open Grasslands: A Web of Life (A World of Biomes)
Average customer rating: Not rated
    The Wide Open Grasslands: A Web of Life (A World of Biomes)
    Philip Johansson
    Manufacturer: Enslow Elementary
    ProductGroup: Book
    Binding: Library Binding

    NonfictionNonfiction | Environment & Ecology | Science, Nature & How It Works | Children's Books | Subjects | Books
    GeneralGeneral | Ages 9-12 | Children's Books | Subjects | Books
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    1. The Forested Taiga: A Web of Life (World of Biomes) The Forested Taiga: A Web of Life (World of Biomes)
    2. The Tropical Rain Forest: A Web of Life (World of Biomes) The Tropical Rain Forest: A Web of Life (World of Biomes)
    3. The Frozen Tundra: A Web of Life (World of Biomes) The Frozen Tundra: A Web of Life (World of Biomes)
    4. The Dry Desert: A Web of Life (A World of Biomes) The Dry Desert: A Web of Life (A World of Biomes)
    5. The Temperate Forest: A Web of Life (Outstanding Science Trade Books for Students K-12 (Awards)) The Temperate Forest: A Web of Life (Outstanding Science Trade Books for Students K-12 (Awards))

    ASIN: 0766022013
    Coral Sea Reef Guide
    Average customer rating: Not rated
      Coral Sea Reef Guide
      Bob Halstead
      Manufacturer: Sea Challengers Natural History
      ProductGroup: Book
      Binding: Library Binding

      Coral ReefsCoral Reefs | Oceans & Seas | Nature & Ecology | Science | Subjects | Books
      GeneralGeneral | Zoology | Biological Sciences | Science | Subjects | Books
      ReferenceReference | Outdoors & Nature | Subjects | Books
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      ASIN: 0970057407
      The KidHaven Science Library - Biomes (The KidHaven Science Library)
      Average customer rating: Not rated
        The KidHaven Science Library - Biomes (The KidHaven Science Library)
        Renee Kirchner
        Manufacturer: KidHaven Press
        ProductGroup: Book
        Binding: Hardcover

        NonfictionNonfiction | Environment & Ecology | Science, Nature & How It Works | Children's Books | Subjects | Books
        GeneralGeneral | Math | Science, Nature & How It Works | Children's Books | Subjects | Books
        GeneralGeneral | Ages 9-12 | Children's Books | Subjects | Books
        EcologyEcology | Biological Sciences | Professional Science | Professional & Technical | Subjects | Books
        GeneralGeneral | Science & Technology | Teens | Subjects | Books
        EcologyEcology | Science & Technology | Teens | Subjects | Books
        MathematicsMathematics | Science & Technology | Teens | Subjects | Books
        GeneralGeneral | Ecology | Biological Sciences | Science | Subjects | Books
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        1. What Is a Biome? (Science of Living Things) What Is a Biome? (Science of Living Things)
        2. Janice VanCleave's Science Around the World: Activities on Biomes from Pole to Pole Janice VanCleave's Science Around the World: Activities on Biomes from Pole to Pole

        ASIN: 0737730528

        Book Description

        Every natural area on Earth is classified into one biome or another based upon its climate and the plants and animals that live there. Biomes introduces the five major biomes of the world: tundra, grasslands, deserts, forests, and aquatic.
        Elephants (World Life Library)
        Average customer rating: 4 out of 5 stars
        • moving
        Elephants (World Life Library)
        Joyce Poole
        Manufacturer: Voyageur Press
        ProductGroup: Book
        Binding: Paperback

        MammalsMammals | Animals | Biological Sciences | Science | Subjects | Books
        WildlifeWildlife | Animals | Biological Sciences | Science | Subjects | Books
        MammalsMammals | Zoology | Biological Sciences | Science | Subjects | Books
        ReferenceReference | Outdoors & Nature | Subjects | Books
        GeneralGeneral | Home & Garden | Subjects | Books
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        1. Elephant Memories: Thirteen Years in the Life of an Elephant Family Elephant Memories: Thirteen Years in the Life of an Elephant Family
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        4. When Elephants Weep: The Emotional Lives of Animals When Elephants Weep: The Emotional Lives of Animals
        5. Just for Elephants Just for Elephants

        ASIN: 0896583570

        Book Description

        This top-selling series introduces the wild creatures of the world and examines the natural world. Good general introductions for ages 10+, these volumes contain the knowledge, personal experiences, and research of leading naturalists and scientists, accompanied by stunning photography. Unless otherwise noted (*), all volumes are sturdy paperback.

        Customer Reviews:

        4 out of 5 stars moving.......2000-04-20

        I have been so interested in elephants primarily due to Ms.Poole. I have read 'Coming of age with the elephants' and true to the nature of that book, this one is also amazing. The pictures really give a unique view of Amboseli and I love her passion towards these giants

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        4. Perspectives on Integrated Coastal Zone Management (Environmental Science)
        5. Principles of Conservation Biology, Third Edition
        6. Rats: Observations on the History and Habitat of the City's Most Unwanted Inhabitants
        7. Renewable and Efficient Electric Power Systems
        8. Resources of the Earth: Origin, Use, and Environmental Impact (3rd Edition)
        9. Risk Assessment Methods
        10. River Ecology and Management: Lessons from the Pacific Coastal Ecoregion

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