Amazon.com
In a wonderful weave of science, metaphor, and prose, David Quammen, author of The Flight of the Iguana, applies the lessons of island biogeography - the study of the distribution of species on islands and islandlike patches of landscape - to modern ecosystem decay, offering us insight into the origin and extinction of species, our relationship to nature, and the future of our world.
Book Description
David Quammen's book, The Song of the Dodo, is a
brilliant, stirring work, breathtaking in its scope,
far-reaching in its message -- a crucial book in
precarious times, which radically alters the way in
which we understand the natural world and our place
in that world. It's also a book full of entertainment
and wonders.
In The Song of the Dodo, we follow Quammen's keen
intellect through the ideas, theories, and experiments
of prominent naturalists of the last two centuries.
We trail after him as he travels the world,
tracking the subject of island biogeography, which
encompasses nothing less than the study of the origin
and extinction of all species. Why is this island
idea so important? Because islands are where
species most commonly go extinct -- and because, as
Quammen points out, we live in an age when all of
Earth's landscapes are being chopped into island-like
fragments by human activity.
Through his eyes, we glimpse the nature of evolution
and extinction, and in so doing come to understand
the monumental diversity of our planet, and
the importance of preserving its wild landscapes,
animals, and plants. We also meet some fascinating
human characters. By the book's end we are wiser,
and more deeply concerned, but Quammen
leaves us with a message of excitement and hope.
Customer Reviews:
Science Journalism? Yeh, it rules!.......2007-09-26
This is the first book I've read by Quammen, an imminently talented journalist who perfectly balances the information and writing style of the book. He follows a chronological progression of island biogeography from Darwin through Jared Diamond (who became hugely famous shortly after the release of this book). Quammen's travelogues are excellent, combining a sympathetic, open perspective that is adventurous and engaged. Late in the book, Quammen describes a climb to the nest of a Mauritius kestrel: "When I'm thirty feet up, a tree branch flicks off my glasses, which drop to the ground. I could go down and retrieve them, sure, that would be sensible, but I'd fall too far behind the cheerful maniacs...
'Do you trust this vine?' I call up to Jones. Gangly but tall, he must weigh two hundred pounds, and from this angle I can appreciate the size of his feet.
'Not greatly.'
We ratchet our way upward, slowly, on the cliff face. It isn't Half Dome but it's more perilous than the average birdwatching stroll. We rise out above the valley. As we move beyond the treetops, I give myself an explicit mental reminder: Fall from here and you don't go home. Finally, Jones and I catch up with Lewis on a narrow rock shelf, like a window ledge ten stories above Lexington Avenue...
I gaze out at the panorama--the forested canyon below us, the deer ranch beyond, and the cane plantation beyond that, all spreading westward for five miles to the crescent of beach and then the great turquoise plane of the Indian Ocean." (562-3)
It's Quammen's excitement and sensitivty that inspire the reader to continue and to care, to take notice of humanity's influence: carving nature into islands, resulting in astonishing rates of extinction and ecosystem decay. But Quammen urges us to cling to hope, not despair, because "besides being fruitless it's far less exciting than hope, however slim." (636)
Desultory fluff.......2007-09-06
This is by far the most desultory, fluff-filled history of biological evolution that I've ever read. Generally, I am not a skimmer of Quammen's work, and in fact often enjoy his wit and lithesome prose, but after only a dozen pages or so into Dodo I found myself flipping page after page looking for something substantive, looking for meat. In one word, the pace is SLOW. Over and over again in the margins I found myself scribbling "Go! Go! We'd advanced this far thirty pages ago!" But on the plus side I suppose if you are looking for a book to practice your speed reading, Dodo may be it: you can flip ten pages at a throw and hardly miss a thing.
Fabulous.......2006-09-06
Quammen's book is a rare bird--a clearly written science book that doesn't condescend to readers. It's long enough to go fairly deep, and deep enough to be interesting: it's on my short list of favorites.
As other reviewers point out, the history of squabbles wears a little thin, but neither Darwin nor anyone else sticks in my memory as having been unfairly kneecapped. In fact, the only faintly negative impression I had was of the excessive care Quammen takes in presenting some fairly basic math. Highly recommended.
Plotting the roadmap to species extinction.......2006-07-23
"Islands are where species go to die." - David Quammen, author of THE SONG OF THE DODO
This book is all about the birth, maturation, and real world applications of the science of island biogeography as it relates to the circumstances of species isolation and diversification and subsequent decline and extinction. Here, "island" means not only the obvious - a bit of land surrounded by water - but any habitat separated from the rest of the world by a geographic barrier which its resident species are unlikely to cross. "Island", then, can refer, for examples, to a lake, a remnant of rain forest surrounded by clear-cut, a temperate mountaintop surrounded by desert, a national park hemmed in by human habitation, a cave, an expanse of jungle bordered by wide rivers, or a literal island in the sea.
Island biogeography inexorably leads the reader to the concept of conservation biology and viable-population theory. You see, the rampant human population is cutting the world's diverse ecosystems into little bits - islands - thus dooming countless species living within them - especially large vertebrates - to eventual destruction.
THE SONG OF THE DODO is a lucid, erudite, troubling, and extensively researched piece of science writing by journalist David Quammen. It's biggest fault is that he just about beats the subject to death. Where, perhaps, just a few examples of past species extinction (the Dodo or the Micronesian honeyeater) and present pending extinction (the indri of Madagascar or the Concho water snake in Texas) would suffice, the author includes at least a dozen more. But, as Quammen is such an excellent writer who feels strongly about this important subject, one cannot award less than five stars. Amidst the record of both realized and threatened animal extirpations, David even manages to be humorous when his narrative becomes a personal travelogue as he journeys to exotic places to observe the pending carnage for himself, as when tripping face-first into a spiderweb on Guam ("My worst nightmares feature tarantulas the size of badgers") or getting mugged in Rio de Janeiro. About the last incident, when confronted at the local police station with the one (of three) of his attackers unlucky enough to get caught, David quips:
"He's looking at five years (imprisonment) I'm told. Cinco anos. Cinco, no kidding? that's a lot of anos, I say. Probably I should feel terrible for the young thug, on grounds of socioeconomic extenuation, but in the weakness of the moment my liberal knee fails to jerk and cinco anos sounds fine."
The most glaring negative is the lack of photographs, both of the various creatures under discussion and the scientists, past and present, who've contributed to, and fought over, the theory and practice of island biogeography.
Recently, I saw AN INCONVENIENT TRUTH, a documentary on global warming. Taken together with THE SONG OF THE DODO, my pessimism is kindled to a white heat. I don't have a high opinion of my fellow man: Homo sapiens is a rapacious species ungenerous to the other life forms riding Mother Earth. We blithely defecate on our own doorstep. At some point, the planet, which will ultimately endure, will turn to Man and say, "I'll show you!" Then, as Quammen puts it:
"When we ourselves do go (extinct), the sparrows and the cockroaches and the rats and the dandelions that survive us should eventually give rise to a new inflorescence of diversity. I'll leave it to you to decide whether that represents a gloomy scenario or a cheery one."
Comprehensive.......2006-07-19
Mr Quammen's work is the finest written on the facts of island biogeography. Broad in scope, the writer visited the leks of the birds of paradise and those nasty lizards on Komodo. Other places of interest the book visits are Madagascar and the Galapagos, known for their weird endemic faunas that can only be explained in an evolutionary, and biogeographic manner.
Book Description
Schoenbaum and Rosenberg's casebook provides detailed information on environmental policy law and the tools for fast, easy, on-point research. Part of the University Casebook Series®, it includes selected cases designed to illustrate the development of a body of law on a particular subject. Text and explanatory materials designed for law study accompany the cases.
Amazon.com
Arsenic, cadmium, lead, beryllium: industrial byproducts so toxic it is illegal to dump them into the air or water. Yet, through a loophole in "the crazy semantics of waste disposal," these same hazardous wastes are being applied to the food we eat. And until a small-town mayor from a farming community in Washington State became suspicious, nobody knew. Mayor Patty Martin is a whistleblower as extraordinary as Karen Silkwood and Erin Brockovich--smart, persistent, courageous, and overwhelmingly dedicated to her cause even when the town that elected her turned against her. Martin's obsession with hazardous waste in fertilizer began when she met Dennis DeYoung, a local farmer whose land was rendered infertile after the Cenex/Land O'Lakes company paid him to spread the residue from their fertilizer rinse pond on his land. But there was more than fertilizer residue there--it was a witches' brew of hazardous metals, cancer-causing chemicals, and even radioactive materials that hadn't been produced by the company itself. DeYoung and Martin wanted to know how they got there and why.
Duff Wilson, an investigative journalist for the Seattle Times, was nominated for a Pulitzer Prize for his series "Fear in the Fields--How Hazardous Wastes Become Fertilizer," which formed the basis of this book. While the articles prompted a modicum of action in Washington State and elsewhere, complacency allows the practice to continue even now. Expanded into book form, this impassioned exposé about an alarming trend takes on even more power as Wilson and Martin ask questions the EPA has been unwilling to answer: Why should there be a limit on the amount of lead in paint and dioxin in cement but not in the fertilizer spread over farmlands and gardens? And is there a correlation between the widespread use of toxins in fertilizers and the phenomenal rise in childhood illnesses and cancers since the early 1980s? --Lesley Reed
Book Description
I see soil in a new light, and I wonder about my own lawn and garden. What have I sprinkled on my backyard? Is somebody using my home, my food, to recycle toxic waste? It seems unbelievable, outlandish -- but what if it's true?
A riveting exposÉ, Fateful Harvest tells the story of Patty Martin -- the mayor of a small Washington town called Quincy -- who discovers American industries are dumping toxic waste into farmers' fields and home gardens by labeling it "fertilizer." She becomes outraged at the failed crops, sick horses, and rare diseases in her town, as well as the threats to her children's health. Yet, when she blows the whistle on a nationwide problem, Patty Martin is nearly run out of town.
Duff Wilson, whose Seattle Times series on this story was a finalist for the Pulitzer Prize, provides the definitive account of a new and alarming environmental scandal. Fateful Harvest is a gripping study of corruption and courage, of recklessness and reckoning. It is a story that speaks to the greatest fears -- and ultimate hope -- in us all.
Customer Reviews:
Whats in your food?.......2006-07-06
The answer is who knows? In this impressive work of muckracking journalism, the author tells the story of Patty Martin, Dennis DeYoung, and the various other protagonists and antagonists set in Quincy, Washington. Mayor Martin begins to notice in the 1990s that some of the farmers in her town are suffering sudden, catastrophic failurs of crops and livestock deaths. Many of these failures share similar symptoms. She and some others in this small town also notice that individuals within their community are falling sick and dying from rare diseases and cancers. Thru hard work, personal charisma, patience, and a bit of paranoia, the mayor and some friends begin to piece together a picture of how companies sell toxic waste to fertilizer companies, which in turn sell them to farmers. In essence, they hope that the solution to pollution is dilution. And it is all entirely legal according to federal and many state laws. Mayor Martin and her friends; who call themselves the Water Group, start to publicize this knowledge and challenge the practices. In return, they get ostracized by their fellow citizens, their former friends, even their own family members.
In steps Duff Wilson of the Seattle Times. Suddenly this story picks up traction in the national press and government regulators come calling. The ensuing revelations show that this practice is actually well-known within the EPA and government circles, but they in effect obey industry. The amount of money saved by companies, both the fertilizer companies and the original generators of the toxic waste, are too much to turn down for many companies.
Because of the press, some charges are filed and some fines are levied. A happy ending you suppose? No, Mayor Martin loses re-election; her allies in Quincy suffer bankrupties, social isolation, some move away to other states, and others just plain give up the struggle. Cenex is the primary culprit in the case of Quincy, but there is enough blame to go around. Many of the locals don't want to hear any word of this because they fear it will damage their livelihoods as farmers. Some get retribution in return. Several of Martin's critics and enemies and some of the primary defenders of Cenex within the community start falling sick from rare illnesses and die. All in all, this is the most incredible story of how greed has corrupted America that I have ever read. I recommend it to everyone.
Why aren't you outraged?.......2005-09-02
It wil amaze you the lengths that those in power will go to to cover up and legitimize an outright crime against human health. This story will anger and inspire you. I flew through it in a couple of nights and couldn't believe that Patty Martin, like Erin Brockovich, is not a household name. What courage! I just wonder what it will take for those in power to see the error in their ways-perhaps their own child getting leukemia or idiopathic pulmonary fibrosis, a disease rampant in Quincy, where the book takes place.
Excellent book and about time.......2003-05-10
When this book talks about how the effects of heavy metals are not seen right away, I know this to be very true. Look at the autism epidemic and look at the amount of heavy metals that are in these autistic children. They don't just have too much mercury, they also are showing excessive levels of lead, arsenic, antimony, aluminum, etc. So is this how the effects of hazardous waste in fertilizer are showing up?
Nowhere to turn........2002-12-11
"Fateful Harvest" was easy to read but the facts presented left me outraged and saddened. Read the book and learn of the magic trick of turning toxic waste with costly disposal fees into a product to sell, fertilizer. Fertilizer which is laced with heavy metals that will end up in our food in increasing amounts as the accumulation in the soil increases. Learn how the average citizen, small town mayor and farmer have zero ability to impact business practices which are supported by the government despite years of heroic effort and the expose of this book. Despite minimal cosmetic changes, the practice goes on, and is apparently unstoppable, leaving nowhere to turn.
Excellent.......2002-07-08
This book is excellent. Everyone should read it and find out what is in our food.
Amazon.com
The eminent Harvard naturalist and Pulitzer Prize winner Edward Wilson marshals all the prodigious powers of his intellect and imagination in this impassioned call to ensure the future of life. Opening with an imagined conversation with Henry David Thoreau at Walden Pond, he writes that he has come "to explain to you, and in reality to others and not least to myself, what has happened to the world we both have loved." Based on a love affair with the natural world that spans 70 years, Wilson combines lyrical descriptions with dire warnings and remarkable stories of flora and fauna on the edge of extinction with hard economics. How many species are we really losing? Is environmentalism truly contrary to economic development? And how can we save the planet? Wilson has penned an eloquent plea for the need for a global land ethic and offers the strategies necessary to ensure life on earth based on foresight, moral courage, and the best tools that science and technology can provide. -- Lesley Reed
Book Description
From one of the world’s most influential scientists (and two-time Pulitzer Prize–winning author) comes his most timely and important book yet: an impassioned call for quick and decisive action to save Earth’s biological heritage, and a plan to achieve that rescue.
Today we understand that our world is infinitely richer than was ever previously guessed. Yet it is so ravaged by human activity that half its species could be gone by the end of the present century. These two contrasting truths—unexpected magnificence and underestimated peril—have become compellingly clear during the past two decades of research on biological diversity.
In this dazzlingly intelligent and ultimately hopeful book, Wilson describes what treasures of the natural world we are about to lose forever—in many cases animals, insects, and plants we have only just discovered, and whose potential to nourish us, protect us, and cure our illnesses is immeasurable—and what we can do to save them. In the process, he explores the ethical and religious bases of the conservation movement and deflates the myth that environmental policy is antithetical to economic growth by illustrating how new methods of conservation can ensure long-term economic well-being.
The Future of Life is a magisterial accomplishment: both a moving description of our biosphere and a guidebook for the protection of all its species, including humankind.
Download Description
From one of the world's most influential scientists (and two-time Pulitzer Prize-winning author) comes his most timely and important book yet: an impassioned call for quick and decisive action to save Earth's biological heritage, and a plan to achieve that rescue.
Today we understand that our world is infinitely richer than was ever previously guessed. Yet it is so ravaged by human activity that half its species could be gone by the end of the present century. These two contrasting truths -- unexpected magnificence and underestimated peril -- have become compellingly clear during the past two decades of research on biological diversity.
In this dazzlingly intelligent and ultimately hopeful book, Wilson describes what treasures of the natural world we are about to lose forever -- in many cases animals, insects, and plants we have only just discovered, and whose potential to nourish us, protect us, and cure our illnesses is immeasurable -- and what we can do to save them. In the process, he explores the ethical and religious bases of the conservation movement and deflates the myth that environmental policy is antithetical to economic growth by illustrating how new methods of conservation can ensure long-term economic well-being.
The Future of Life is a magisterial accomplishment: both a moving description of our biosphere and a guidebook for the protection of all its species, including humankind.
"In The Future of Life, E.O. Wilson delivers an impassioned plea for a new human ethic based on a wiser, more careful stewardship of our vanishing natural world. Wilson invites us to share his optimism that we still have an opportunity to save the living things and wild places that sustain us and give us hope."
KATHRYN S. FULLER, PRESIDENT, WORLD WILDLIFE FUND
Customer Reviews:
A worthwhile read........2007-08-23
You can tell that Wilson is a talented sceintist, but if you are somewhat versed in ecology you won't learn much new. It might be just that this 2001 book is (gasp!) already a bit dated.
We are drawn to the natural world--but why?.......2007-06-05
This remarkable volume is one of a series of books in which Wilson sets forth the nature of life on earth, the preciousness of biodiversity and the significance of its loss to the planet. He also tries to suggest value systems and pathways for humanity to surmount its present environmental crises and achieve sustainability.
E. O. Wilson has won many prizes for his scientific accomplishments. He is the creator of entire scientific fields and a discoverer of new species. Wilson discovered 341 new species of ants, thereby more than doubling the number in the genus and increasing the known fauna of ants in the Western Hemisphere 10 percent.
But the subjects Wilson is getting into now are not quite science, not quite ethics, not quite politics, but rather exist in a realm of thought that blends all of them and even touches upon religion.
One of his most interesting ideas is the notion of biophilia--a sense of genetic unity, kinship, and deep history that bonds us to the living environment. Wilson even poses the notion that biophilia is a survival mechanism for ourselves and our species. To conserve biodiversity is an investment in immortality.
Wilson sees habitat selection as a prominent component of biophilia. People prefer to be in natural environments, and especially in savanna or parklike habitats. While there's no direct genetic basis of the human habitat preference, its presence is suggested by a consistency in its manifestation across cultures. In this we are no different from other species--every species that moves under its own power, from protozoans to chimpanzees, instinctively seeks the habitat it must occupy in order to survive and reproduce. If biophilia is truly part of human nature, if it is truly an instinct, we should be able to find evidence of a positive effect of the natural world and other organisms on health.
We have a deeply felt need not just to be in nature, but to preserve it because we need nature, and particularly wilderness. For Wilson, it is the alien world that gave rise to our species, and the home to which we can safely return. It offers choices our spirit was designed to enjoy.
The biophilia hypothesis would certainly explain certain elements of human behavior: our need for the pleasantness of landscapes like Central Park, for example, or the pleasure that we feel around waterfalls and lakes, or the desire to surround ourselves with houseplants, or the giving of floral arrangements as gifts and to mark special occasions. It could even be at the root of the pastoral element in our literature, the love of natural scenery, and the underlying attractiveness of landscape paintings. The implications of biophilia for preventive medicine are substantial. Loss of connectedness to the biosphere might be seen as productive of stress and causative of stress-derived illnesses.
Together with a small group of biologists Wilson is responsible for creating concern about the dramatic biodiversity loss or decline in the number of species that earth is now undergoing -- a loss that equals and may even exceed the biodiversity loss when dinosaurs went extinct due to a cataclysm on the magnitude of an asteroid striking the planet.
In this little book Wilson offers an explanation for why we are drawn to the natural world and why, for some of us at least, every entrance into a wild environment rekindles awakening, awareness and excitement.
Macro Thoughts from a "Micro" World.......2007-04-06
The prologue alone is worth the price of this book. The rest is pure, delicious gravy and icing.
Buy it!!
READ THIS BOOK.......2007-01-25
It's time, E.O. Wilson declares, to make some changes before we lose this planet to our own devices. Do yourself a favor: read this book.
Informative.......2007-01-02
Edward O. Wilson provides a very detailed explanation of the environmental issues facing our society. Although it is repetitive at times, it provides many facts from an important environmentalist's view.
Wilson raises some very important issues which must be resolved in order to preserve biodiversity. This is not an embellished optimistic view for the future, but rather the grim realization that humans must act now in order to preserve the future of life. Overall, it was a very informative, yet somewhat, long winded report of environmental problems.
Book Description
The first anthology to highlight the problems of environmental justice and sustainable development, Reflecting on Nature provides a multicultural perspective on questions of environmental concern, featuring contributions from feminist and minority scholars and scholars from developing countries. Selections examine immediate global needs, addressing some of the most crucial problems we now face: biodiversity loss, the meaning and significance of wilderness, population and overconsumption, and the human use of other animals. Spanning centuries of philosophical, naturalist, and environmental reflection, readings include the work of Aristotle, Locke, Darwin, and Thoreau, as well as that of contemporary, mainstream figures like Bernard Williams, Thomas Hill, Jr., and Jonathan Glover. Works by Val Plumwood, Bill Devall, Murray Bookchin, and John Dryzek comprise a radical ecology section. Featuring insightful section introductions by the editors, this comprehensive and timely collection of philosophical and environmental writing will inform, enlighten, and encourage debate.
Customer Reviews:
Excellent for teaching.......2004-06-02
Literature and the Environment: A Reader on Nature and Culture has been an invaluable resource and platform for discussion in my high school literature class that centers around the natural world and man's place in it. The essays, poems, and excerpts avoid groupthink, polarization of issues, and are, for the most part, accessible to students.
Book Description
The author brings you information you need to make intelligent decisions about the safety and treatment of your water. Don't Drink the Water also contains a complete resource guide to assist you in becoming active in one of the most important issues of our time. "This is the most up-to-date and readable work I've seen on the subject of contamination of our drinking water and how to protect yourself from it. Study the advice given in these pages and act on it." Andrew Weil, MD
Customer Reviews:
Some good info, but not enough.......2002-03-25
For the reader who currently knows nothing about water contamination and purification, this is a decent book, since it provides some eye-opening information. However, there are better books out there, depending on what you're looking for.
For specific advice on water contamination and safe water alternatives, including bottled water and home purification, I recommend Colin Ingram's "The Drinking Water Book." It has more information and a better format, including a simple chart that rates the effectiveness of different home purification methods for eliminating different contaminants (something this author didn't include).
If you're looking for something more political, buy "The Sierra Club Guide to Safe Drinking Water." This lists specific steps to improve drinking water on a larger level, including political action and people/agencies to contact. It also includes a list of major U.S. cities and their violations of water purity regulations. Finally, it lists the EPA drinking water standards in an appendix. Of course, it also includes advice on safe water alternatives, but this is not as extensive as the recommendations in The Drinking Water Book (see above).
Very Scary! Excellent Read! A Must for Every Nutritionist.......2000-07-24
I just got finished reading this book in between classes, and all I can say is WOW! Be aware, and beware of your tap water. If these statistics are correct, then the EPA and the U.S. government are not concerned with protecting your right to clean water, and therefore, you must educate yourself in order to protect against degenerative disease.
[ 1991-1992 EPA records showed that the nations water systems committed over 250,000 violations of the Safe Drinking Water Act, affecting more than 100 million Americans - and 10% of those exceeded the MCL (Max Contaminant Level) of the EPA. ]
This book is a great start finding out the truth of the matter. Toxins are everywhere! We all need to learn where they exist and remove them for our own and our childrens sake.
Someday, a high ranking official on TV may review this book, or a similar subject and try and spin these numbers a certain way to make it not sound so bad, but don't be fooled. Statistics seldom lie. Only politicians do. Politicians can come from any field, not just government. Politicians come from industry, medicine, lobby, and big business etc. Be a detective, and look for anything that doesn't make sense.
"The Truth is Obvious, Everything Else is Questionable"
Read this book! It contains vital information........1999-08-17
This book is certainly a very factual and "blunt" book about the seriousness of our domestic water quality. With the coming "Y2K" event on the horizon, I believe Lono A'o's comments are even more appropriate and noteworthy. I have given this book a 5 star and I am giving serious thought to making this book a required reading for all the students in my Environmental Studies class at New England College. That's how serious I believe the issue is.
Very thorough about current water filtration methods.......1998-08-28
If you ever plan on buying a water filter of any kind -- this is the book to read. The only reason I did not give it 5 stars is that I wish it would have given more specific information regarding name brand water filtration systems available and where to get testing information etc.
Book Description
Unique in its integration of cases and readings, this text seeks to increase environmental awareness, sensitivity, and literacy in students. This collection of readings and cases can be used as a supplement or a primary text and is perfect for business, government and society, ethics, strategic management, and industrial ecology courses.
Customer Reviews:
Unfit as a college textbook.......2006-04-27
This book contains articles of opinion on the subject of te environment, but very little concrete information. What references are offered in the various articles are pieces of select information that only tells half of the story. Most of the articles have an obvious left-leaning political slant (a few are absolute extremists), and most express opinions as though they are facts. Although the articles are well written for the most part, this book should not be used as a college textbook since it only presents one side of the environmental issue- basically, humans are bad for the environment.
If you want facts, don't bother with this one.
Book Description
This book should be within arm's reach of every elementary teacher, librarian, and administrator, for it is a treasure chest filled with invaluable insights, references, and suggestions.
- Science and Children
How would you rather learn about the rock cycle: from a textbook or from Joanna Cole's The Magic School Bus ? Most students would vote for Joanna Cole's book or any number of other trade books whose authors know how to make science come to life. This practical and inviting handbook shows how you can take advantage of children's natural love of good literature like this in the science classroom.
Reading the Environment demonstrates how you can bring together the best of the language arts and the science curriculums to instill in students a curiosity about the world around them. The book focuses on four broad subjects that are traditionally covered in elementary science: reading the landscape, the weather and season cycles, water from the mountains to the sea, and the ocean. The author offers valuable guidance on teaching these topics, including:
- background information such as explanations of current scientific knowledge, definitions of terms, and related social issues
- brief synopses of relevant trade books, both fiction and nonfiction
- hands-on science activities
- suggestions for class discussion
- student writing activities such as creating a field guide, writinga "rock history," keeping a naturalist's notebook, and much more
- bibliography of books mentioned in that chapter.
In addition to recommending specific titles, Reading the Environment also suggests guidelines for evaluating trade books and topic areas to look for within each subject when adding new releases.
This book will support pre-K-6 teachers who feel the need to upgrade their science teaching and learning. Those who already excel in science teaching will benefit from a new approach that engages students.
Average customer rating:
- Great Analysis of What This Book Did
- A Scholarly Page-Turner
- An exceptional history which is strongly recommended for any reader of Silent Spring
- An exceptional history which is strongly recommended for any reader of Silent Spring
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What a Book Can Do: The Publication and Reception of Silent Spring (Studies in Print Culture and the History of the Book)
Priscilla Coit Murphy
Manufacturer: University of Massachusetts Press
ProductGroup: Book
Binding: Paperback
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ASIN: 1558495827 |
Book Description
In 1962 the publication of Rachel Carson's "Silent Spring" sparked widespread public debate on the hazards of pesticide abuse for humans and their environment. With-in a year, the controversy had spread throughout print and broadcast media. Despite its preliminary appearance in a magazine, "Silent Spring" reached the full media system and made its lasting impres-sion in the form of a book. With clarity and precision, Priscilla Coit Murphy explores how a newsmaking book enabled a single voice of warning to gain the attention of the entire country, and beyond.
Murphy's exploration follows the story of the book and the controversy, beginning with the author's mission and the response of her publishers, Houghton Mifflin and the "New Yorker." Focus then turns to Carson's opponents and their counter campaign, including their efforts to undermine, delay, or stop publication altogether. Moving next to the media, Murphy describes how, beyond providing a forum for the debate, they became active participants in it. Finally, she examines the general public's perceptions and expectations regarding the book, the debate, and the media. Shedding new light on the dynamic between newsmaking books, the media, and the public, Murphy raises a host of broader questions about the place of dissenting books in American culture, past, present, and future.
Customer Reviews:
Great Analysis of What This Book Did.......2007-03-28
As the sub-title says, this book is primarily on the publication and reception of Silent Spring. It talks about the effort to get it published, the response of the pesticide industry, how the media handled it and so on. But there are a few points the author made that I think worth special mention.
One is the fact that now, 45 years after its publication, the book is still in print. This implies that there is still sufficient readership that the publisher finds it worth its while to keep ordering more when copies on hand run out.
Another is how could one distinguish a book like this which somehow generates such worldwide interest, in fact it could be argued that it created the environmental movement as we know it today with it's accompanying set of laws.
Finally just what is it that makes 'Silent Spring' so effective, while other books on equally important aspects of our future such as 'The Limits to Growth,' or books on Hubbard's Peak (of oil production) be so generally ignored. Was it the writing style? The media attention?
Ms. Murphy has done a fascinating job of looking at 'Silent Spring.' I think she has just scratched the surface about 'What a Book Can Do.' I hope she continues her research in this area.
A Scholarly Page-Turner.......2006-10-27
Many readers might never pick up this book unless a Media or Environmental Studies professor placed it on the Required Reading List. In libraries, it probably hides behind a multi-digit call number. But lucky students! To find such an oasis in the academic desert! As far as I can tell, "What a Book Can Do" is THE thorough, scholarly, insightful study of the astonishing impact "Silent Spring" produced on our consciousness and our culture. But more than that: the stories behind the stories behind the stories, concerning not just Rachel Carson but also all the other parties affected by her work, are truly fascinating. "What a Book Can Do" is a real page-turner. Read it.
An exceptional history which is strongly recommended for any reader of Silent Spring.......2005-10-07
In 1962 the appearance of naturalist Rachel Carson's Silent Spring not only sparked debate on pesticide and ecology issues; it helped change the nature and effectiveness of preservation efforts around the world. It first appeared as a magazine serialization, but its book version really reached out to larger audiences. Priscilla Coit Murphy's What A Book Can Do: The Publication And Reception Of Silent Spring isn't just another analysis of the book itself: it's a review of the publishing history of the Houghton Mifflion edition and the prior New Yorker serialization, incorporating the views of her editors as well as Carson herself - and her opponents. An exceptional history which is strongly recommended for any reader of Silent Spring.
An exceptional history which is strongly recommended for any reader of Silent Spring.......2005-10-07
In 1962 the appearance of naturalist Rachel Carson's Silent Spring not only sparked debate on pesticide and ecology issues; it helped change the nature and effectiveness of preservation efforts around the world. It first appeared as a magazine serialization, but its book version really reached out to larger audiences. Priscilla Coit Murphy's What A Book Can Do: The Publication And Reception Of Silent Spring isn't just another analysis of the book itself: it's a review of the publishing history of the Houghton Mifflion edition and the prior New Yorker serialization, incorporating the views of her editors as well as Carson herself - and her opponents. An exceptional history which is strongly recommended for any reader of Silent Spring.
Books:
- This Moment on Earth: Today's New Environmentalists and Their Vision for the Future
- This Moment on Earth: Today's New Environmentalists and Their Vision for the Future
- This Moment on Earth: Today's New Environmentalists and Their Vision for the Future
- This Moment on Earth: Today's New Environmentalists and Their Vision for the Future
- This Moment on Earth: Today's New Environmentalists and Their Vision for the Future
- This Moment on Earth: Today's New Environmentalists and Their Vision for the Future
- Tropical Rain Forest
- Unbowed
- Variations on a Theme Park: The New American City and the End of Public Space
- Water For Food, Water For Life: A Comprehensive Assessment of Water Management in Agriculture
Books Index
Books Home
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The Boilerplate Rhino: Nature in the Eye of the Beholder
Monster of God: The Man-Eating Predator in the Jungles of History and the Mind
