Average customer rating:
- Planet Earth.
- Planet Earth: As You've Never Seen It Before
- A Great Coffee Table Book
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- Glorious
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Planet Earth: As You've Never Seen It Before
Alastair Fothergill
Manufacturer: University of California Press
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Planet Earth - The Complete BBC Series
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![Planet Earth - The Complete BBC Series [HD DVD]](http://images-eu.amazon.com/images/P/B000MRAAJW.01.THUMBZZZ.jpg)
Planet Earth - The Complete BBC Series [HD DVD]
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Ocean
ASIN: 0520250540 |
Book Description
A visual odyssey that will change the way we see our planet, this remarkable book, companion to the acclaimed Discovery Channel/ BBC series, is an enduring and awe-inspiring record of one of the most ambitious natural history projects ever undertaken. Using the latest aerial surveillance, state-of-the-art cameras, and high definition technology, the creators of Planet Earth have assembled more than 400 stunning photographs of wondrous natural landscapes from around the globe, including incredible footage of the rarely spotted, almost mythical creatures that live in these habitats. Many of the images reveal inaccessible places that few have seen and record animal behavior that has never been filmed or photographed before. With the help of this highly advanced technology and the world's premier wildlife photographers, the book takes us on a spectacular journey from the world's greatest rivers and impressive gorges, to its mightiest mountains, hidden caves and caverns, and vast deserts. Planet Earth captures breathtaking sequences of predators and their prey, lush vistas of forests viewed from the tops of towering trees, the oceans and their mysterious creatures viewed from beneath the surface, and much more--in a magnificent adventure that brings unknown wonders of the natural world into our living rooms.
Copub: BBC Worldwide Americas
Customer Reviews:
Planet Earth........2007-08-14
Wow!!! my 8 year old loves this DVD. Very interesting to watch. Does have some parts that my 8 year old has a trouble watching, this is the section of life and death in the food chain. Otherwise highly recommended, in HD DVD is Awesome....
Planet Earth: As You've Never Seen It Before.......2007-08-10
I have not had a chance to even break the seal on this new book as yet. I skimmed this book at a bookstore, and then decided to buy it. If you saw the mini-series on Discovery or Animal Planet, you will be impressed with this book as well. For those with children, this book is a must.
A Great Coffee Table Book.......2007-08-04
A great companion book to the dvd series.
magnificent.......2007-07-30
Amazing photos and wonderous facts regarding everything imaginable to the unusual. Our family has enjoyed this educational and spellbinding photography.
Glorious.......2007-07-27
Beautifully photographed and informational, this book should be on every nature lover's shelf. The "Planet Earth" series, which I watch weekly on Animal Planet, is even more jaw-dropping. I thank the generous and unbelievably courageous people who have the cojones to make this possible!
Julie Townsend
Metairie, LA
Book Description
Introducing a revolutionary new approach to detail design in landscape architecture
In this groundbreaking book, Niall Kirkwood of the Harvard Graduate School of Design takes a fresh,holistic approach to the theories, approaches, and practices of landscape detail. With the support of a wealth of graphic and written material taken from historic and contemporary landscape designwork, he clearly demonstrates the role that landscape detail plays in the design process. Going beyond theoretical considerations, Professor Kirkwood outlines landscape detail as a primary design activity, both pragmatic and poetic, using a range of built landscape design examples.
A valuable resource for professionals and students in landscape architecture, architecture, urban design, and environmental design, The Art of Landscape Detail:
* Provides a practical introduction to the aesthetic concerns, form, language, and expression of landscape detail
* Explores a wide range of detail issues-including materials, climate, durability, implementation, and failure-and their influence on the overall detail design process
* Examines detail design processes and research approaches that designers can apply in the analysis and development of their own work
* Contains in-depth case studies of eight award-winning landscape architecture design projects, including provocative discussions with the designers on the establishment and evolution of their detail design philosophy
* Features more than 150 images illustrating forms and site detail from national and international built landscapes
Customer Reviews:
LAM REVIEW.......2001-02-17
"The lexicon of landscape architectural design literature has a wonderful new addition in The Art of Landscape Detail.......with this book, the critical literature of the field has taken another solid step forward" Deborah Dalton, ASLA Landscape Architecture Magazine, February 2000
Average customer rating:
- Too Long and Overpriced
- la correcta dimension de la sostenibilidad
- not as good as i expected
- A must read for Landscape Architects
- Significant Book for Architects - Though a Little Slow
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Design with Nature (Wiley Series in Sustainable Design)
Ian L. McHarg
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ASIN: 047111460X |
Book Description
"In presenting us with a vision of organic exuberance and human delight, which ecology and ecological design promise to open up for us, McHarg revives the hope for a better world." —Lewis Mumford
". . . important to America and all the rest of the world in our struggle to design rational, wholesome, and productive landscapes." —Laurie Olin, Hanna Olin, Ltd.
"This century's most influential landscape architecture book." —Landscape Architecture
". . . an enduring contribution to the technical literature of landscape planning and to that unfortunately small collection of writings which speak with emotional eloquence of the importance of ecological principles in regional planning." —Landscape and Urban Planning
In the twenty-five years since it first took the academic world by storm, Design With Nature has done much to redefine the fields of landscape architecture, urban and regional planning, and ecological design. It has also left a permanent mark on the ongoing discussion of mankind's place in nature and nature's place in mankind within the physical sciences and humanities. Described by one enthusiastic reviewer as a "user's manual for our world," Design With Nature offers a practical blueprint for a new, healthier relationship between the built environment and nature. In so doing, it provides nothing less than the scientific, technical, and philosophical foundations for a mature civilization that will, as Lewis Mumford ecstatically put it in his Introduction to the 1969 edition, "replace the polluted, bulldozed, machine-dominated, dehumanized, explosion-threatened world that is even now disintegrating and disappearing before our eyes."
Customer Reviews:
Too Long and Overpriced.......2007-08-23
As a former colleague of McHarg's at the University of Pennsylvania during the 1960's, and currently working in a planned community he designed (The Woodlands, TX), I decided to buy this book to try to understand the strange idiosyncracies of The Woodlands, TX.
The book is very wordy, but it is well illustrated. McHarg successfully blended community design with natural boundary conditions (watershed management, geology, forestry, slope properties, etc) with the case histories he presented (some of which I remember when serving on an invited basis on jury's in McHarg's academic program). The book's strength is his advocacy of melding human planning needs with nature's boundary conditions.
BUT, does it really work? Only at the expense of the time of people working and living in such a planned community. The inconvenient practices that go with such a planned community require a lot of adjustment that asks a bit much of people who work in such places but don't live there.
But it works fine for the affluent and the unhurried who can afford it.
la correcta dimension de la sostenibilidad.......2007-06-15
No has estudiado arquitectura si este libro no ha caido en tus manos. Sin Ian Mcharg la arquitectura sostenible no seria posible. Por lo menos la arquitectura sostenible pensada a escala regional."
not as good as i expected.......2003-11-02
this highly recommended book started out as a compelling read, but became something i had to force myself to finish. it seems to be a series of lectures strung together, which may have been interesting as lectures, but is not cohesive enough to be a book. the good information is lost amidst the rambling style.
A must read for Landscape Architects.......2002-08-08
Anyone studying environmental planning or LA should read this book.
Significant Book for Architects - Though a Little Slow.......2002-01-30
While it's not the kind of book you want to lounge around the fireplace reading, it is a book that is frequently referred to by architects. It is significant in designing and ecologially friendly building in today's built-up environment. Summary: Not a great book, but a useful resource for architects.
Book Description
The Geography of Nowhere traces America's evolution from a nation of Main Streets and coherent communities to a land where every place is like no place in particular, where the cities are dead zones and the countryside is a wasteland of cartoon architecture and parking lots.
In elegant and often hilarious prose, Kunstler depicts our nation's evolution from the Pilgrim settlements to the modern auto suburb in all its ghastliness. The Geography of Nowhere tallies up the huge economic, social, and spiritual costs that America is paying for its car-crazed lifestyle. It is also a wake-up call for citizens to reinvent the places where we live and work, to build communities that are once again worthy of our affection. Kunstler proposes that by reviving civic art and civic life, we will rediscover public virtue and a new vision of the common good. "The future will require us to build better places," Kunstler says, "or the future will belong to other people in other societies."
Customer Reviews:
luddite indictment of a car .......2007-05-22
The book is well written and provides a lot of facts, though many of these may be known anyhow. However, the author's pet idea - that the car is THE reason for aberrations in suburban development - begins to be more and more irritating as we read on; there is one large chapter devoted to the car and road planning, but if this were not enough the point gets reiterated every few paragraphs. Perhaps indeed the car is the ultimate evil of modern civilization; if only we didn't have to reread this again and again.
As a form of compensation, we get very limited look at the social, economic and demographic causes of all landscape changes during past century. Yes, there is a mention of some historical events, such as WWII, but it disappears under the weight of all those cars blamed for commercial strips, parking lots and suburban housing. Somehow, the population growth, which the strips, suburbs, parking lots and cars try to accomodate, gets overlooked. But then, we get also a healthy dose of nostagia after the goode olde times, when towns were small, kids could play in the streets without a risk of traffic accident, and farms were the base of economy. I could not escape the impression that the author's leading motive was to lament the lifestyles gone.
A Worthy Rant.......2007-02-08
This is book is largely a rant--well-researched and eloquent--but a rant nonetheless. Overwrought with cynicism, it is hard to distinguish Kunstler's reasonable concerns from his own sense of nostalgia. He draws some erroneous parallels (e.g. holding Disney World to the standard of anything but an amusement park) but does make an effective point regarding how U.S. citizens were ill-prepared for the after effects of the heyday of the automobile.
Fundamentally, Kunstler's cynicism aside, he's an advocate for renewed interest in civic planning, decreased dependency on fossil fuels, and models of sustainability. He presents Portland, OR as the best model for a city and the community of Seaside, FL as the model for a smaller town. He sees urban planning as the opportunity to develop while respecting the present landscape and enriching sense of community and public space.
The weakness of the book lies in the author's bitterness, which disguises his very real passion for the topic. The saving grace is that given most of his likely readership, he is preaching to the choir who understands his anger. This choir will understand that Kunstler embeds important lessons in his bleak diatribe--lessons worth embracing.
Kunstler's Gift of Entertaining While Informing.......2006-11-29
I have little more to add to the many thorough reviews already posted, so I'll just note what grabbed me: it was the rare book that was fun to read, even while dealing with serious societal problems in a thoughtful manner. A great introduction to community development issues.
highway to hell.......2006-02-01
Last night in his State of the Union speech, G. W. Bush pointed out the obvious fact that America depends far too heavily on oil to support its lifestyle. Whoever programmed him to say that must have been reacting to the mounting unrest over the crises associated with big oil: war, pollution, corruption, and extreme flabbiness.
Most of the problems associated with oil are problems associated with cars, and cars are the focus of J. H. Kunstler's book. Published in the early 90s, The Geography of Nowhere describes the impact of automobiles on the development of the U.S. Apparently, things started to go south during the Depression, when people were driven out of cities by poverty and the diminishing quality of life in the tenements. Fueling the flight to the suburbs were New Deal programs to build roads and cheap houses. In the ensuing decades the American landscape was built to serve cars rather than people, and that is what Kunstler is angry about. His main criticisms are:
1) A lot of the architecture, both residential and commerical, is very ugly. Buildings are constructed quickly and cheaply, and without regard to their surroundings. After all, what's the point of worrying about your surroundings if people are just going to drive directly to their destination? On this point, Kunstler is angry and sarcastic, though often funny. However, his tone is unfortunate, because ugliness is ultimately a matter of opinion, and I would bet that most people would say they are quite happy living in their suburban boxes. Kunstler argues that people are happy this way because they don't know any better, and he's probably right, but as far as I know there is no good way to force people to appreciate beauty.
2) When you step back from the individual buildings, and look at the organization of towns and cities, things start to look really grim. Here Kunstler's got a good point. Throughout most of America, the landscape is zoned into residential and commercial districts, which are separated by long stretches of four-lane roads. The residential zones are further divided by income (and to a lesser extent, by race and ethnicity), impeding the development of anything like a genuine community. The result is a weird mix of intolerance and paranoia that pervades the culture of what has historically been a relatively progressive nation.
3) At an even larger scale, the impact of cars on the nation and on the world seems absolutely dire. The Geography of Nowhere was written before car companies had figured out how to trick yuppies into buying pick-up trucks, and by now there is a broad scientific consensus that the Earth's climate is getting warmer as a result of human activities. Yet people continue to buy bigger and bigger SUVs, and to drive them longer distances to get to work or to buy their microwaveable burritos. It's like a hideous inversion of the idea of public transportation, in which every individual drives his or her own bus to work. Here it's not merely a matter of personal preference -- it's only possible for an individual to drive an SUV if other people subsidize the cost of cheap oil and environmental degradation. In all likelihood these other people haven't been born yet.
Ultimately, someone has to make decisions about the development of towns and cities, and there's no reason in a democratic society why these decisions have to be based on short-term economic interests. Although most suburbanites are probably not miserable in their surroundings, I doubt if anyone would consider their dependence on cars to be ideal. The Geography of Nowhere is a good way to start thinking about kicking the habit.
The Rise and Decline of Humanity.......2006-01-01
I believe that many of the ways we view our lives and live it is directly related to the relation of space, especially where our homes are and what we do daily.
Kunstler points out very cunningly and sometimes with anger how horrible America has set up its cities - cities of which I usually refer to as 'Suburbia World' and America, for a large part, really has turned into a world of suburbia, of endless homes stacked next to each other in a large sea, of which all its inhabitants commute to a Office park some 30 miles away.
Anyway, although Kunstler does not cover as in-depth as I believe he should, he points out many architectural and planning elements that even I, as an architecture student in Los Angeles, have never truly observed. He so well argues against suburban development that I am, even more than before, inspired to work on architectural projects that have nothing to do with suburban qualities (although this shall be very difficult).
If you are looking for a book to explain how horrible our cities really are (especially in the suburban world) and have never had the vocabulary to express that please read this book, it is something I wish everyone could understand and react to.
Average customer rating:
- An amazing book!
- Lanting impresses again!
- High impact book, but...
- LIFE: A JOURNEY THROUGH TIME by Frans Lanting
- Life: A journey Through Time
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Life: A Journey Through Time
Manufacturer: Taschen
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Binding: Hardcover
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Life 2008 Diary (2008 Desk Diary)
ASIN: 3822839949 |
Book Description
Planet earth, home sweet home
In the year 2000, world-renowned wildlife photographer Frans Lanting set out on a personal journey to photograph the evolution of life on earth. He made pilgrimages to true time capsules like a remote lagoon in Western Australia, spent time in research collections photographing forms of microscopic life, and even found ways to create visual parallels between the growth of organs in the human body and the patterns seen on the surface of the earth. The resulting volume is a glorious picture book of planet earth depicting the amazing biodiversity that surrounds us all. Lanting's true gift lies beyond his technical mastery: it is his eye for geometry in the beautiful chaos of nature that allows him to show us the world as it has never been seen before. From crabs to jellyfish, diatoms to vast geological formations, jungles to flowers, monkeys to human embryos, LIFE is a testament to the magical beauty of life in all its forms and is Lanting's most remarkable achievement to date.
Customer Reviews:
An amazing book!.......2007-06-08
If you are not familiar with Franz Lanting's work this is an amazing first book to buy. It is full of stunning photos of a close approximation of the earth as it once was.
As has been said it makes a great coffee table book but is also a great addition to any library. For all the nature and photography enthusiasts out there, here is a great intro!
Lanting impresses again!.......2007-05-17
This is a wonderful book! The photographs are simply stunning and the layout of the book is great. This is an excellent sample of Lanting's work.
High impact book, but..........2007-05-13
Definately an impressive volume. Big, bold and generally with superb pictures. Also a nice concept book- the pursuit of time and change through photos of life and its diversity. However, for a book of this production quality (and it's very high), I was surprised with the number and degree of colour enhanced images and the lack of interpretation - either of the subjects (and their relationship to the theme of time) or of the technical aspects of the photography and the story behind the photographs (for the photo nerds amongst us!). To be fair, Lanting does provide single paragraph descriptions for each photo, but these seem like an after thought enforced by the publisher. Maybe writing is not Lanting's thing, pity, because his photography is impressive. Alternatively, I might have bought the wrong type of book: If you want something visually stunning to leave open on the coffee table, then buy it- it was a better deal than that offered by shops here in NZ!
W.C.
New Zealand
LIFE: A JOURNEY THROUGH TIME by Frans Lanting.......2007-02-26
Having followed Lanting's photo career since the origin of Nature Photographers of North America, we anxiously awaited his Life book and were not disappointed. Here is represented the beginnings of earth, after the Big Bang, and the geological results.
Life: A journey Through Time.......2007-01-16
This book is very interesting. The pictures offer a very special vision of our planet.
Book Description
Citywide networks of green roofs can result in cooler summer temperatures, reduced energy demand, controlled stormwater runoff, protected wildlife habitat, and an enhanced sense of urban well-being. Highlighting these benefits, Green Roofs informs and inspires communities, designers, building owners, and government and business leaders by showcasing the environmental and aesthetic potential of green roofs around the world.
"Imagine the effect of community kitchen gardens on the rooftops of New York City," writes visionary green architect William McDonough in his forward. "The gardens would make visible the vital connections between water, soil, food, and human culture, and create a network of living landscapes across the ancient archipelago that is New York City."
Hundreds of photographs, forty case studies of exemplary green roof projects - from Mexico City to Malmo, Sweden to Fukuoka, Japan to Dearborn, Michigan - provide inspiration and guidance for green roof development, as well as design details. The book includes seven essays on green roof development in Berlin, Tokyo, London, Portland, Chicago, Toronto, and New York City. Additional essays detail the technical requirements, architectural history, and design possibilities of vegetated rooftops.
Customer Reviews:
Look elsewhere for technical info.......2007-06-25
Perhaps some of the previous reviewers liked it because they use it for inspiration when designing at the very high visual level -- because really, this book is about pictures.
There is no useful information in the book about the design or construction of green roofs (except a couple of pages in passing).
Want to know more about how to design and construct using membranes, insulation, drainage, soil and gravel? Then look elsewhere.
Want to know more about how to design and construct a green roof on a new versus and existing building? Then look elsewhere.
How about planning the maintenance needed for a green roof whilst at the design and construction phase? Again look elsewhere.
Nice Coffee Table book, but no real information.......2007-01-25
Compared to the wealth of books on the subject in German and Japanese, there has yet to be a single good book in English. This book has nice pictures, but it doesn't even attempt to touch on the detail required to fully understand this subject adequately to qualify people to specify and actually implement Green Roofs. [...].
Green roofs around the world.......2006-04-23
GREEN ROOFS: ECOLOGICAL DESIGN AND CONSTRUCTION advocates the construction of 'green roofs' which can reduce energy demand and protect wildlife, packing in a survey of buildings and communities already using such roofs to their advantage. Some forty case studies of these projects pair color photos of roofs around the world with discussions of sustainable development and project management: thus practical applications appear alongside environmental advocacy. Experts also discuss technical requirements and history, which will please working architects. An excellent survey of working green roofs and their appeal.
Great Book.......2006-01-27
As a very vocal proponet of green or living roofs I love this book. I believe that Mr Collum, previous reviewer must have just looked at the pictures. Pages 9 through 23 tell very well why we should have green roofs. If you are already an advocate or a newbe to green roofs, this book is for you. There is not a lot of technical information here but it gives the bare bones. If everything you needed to know about green roofs was here you couldn't lift the book. This book is ment to inspire you to get behind green roofs and advocate them in your neighborhood.
Why produce a book like this?.......2005-12-23
This book has lots of nice photographs. That is all. The technical section consists of two pages which state that a waterproof membrane is needed between the roof structure and the soil. There is no information of a technical nature in the book. I wonder why use up the earth's resources for no value. An absolute waste.
Book Description
This mid-edition revision of the seventh edition of The Cultural Landscape has been revised to incorporate the September 11th attack on the United States. The book has an established track record as the leader in the field due to its timeliness and readability. It is widely praised because it is clearly written and organized, up-to-date, and it approaches topics in ways that appeal to the majority of readers. This new editon includes topics such as a geographic tools box titled “Aftermath of Terror”, a new heading in chapter 6 called “Taliban vs. Western Values” which discusses Islam in the context of extremist positions, and a new Key Issue in Chapter 8 called “Why has terrorism increased?” For readers who want to know morwe about geography and the changing world.
Book Description
Rainwater Harvesting for Drylands: Guiding Principles to Welcome Rain into Your Life and Landscape is the first volume of three-volume guide on how to conceptualize, design, and implement sustainable water-harvesting systems for your home, landscape, and community. This book enables you to assess your on-site resources, gives you a diverse array of strategies to maximize their potential, and empowers you with guiding principles to create an integrated, multi-functional water-harvesting plan specific to your site and needs. Volume 1 helps bring your site to life, reduce your cost of living, endow you with skills of self-reliance, and create living air conditioners of vegetation growing beauty, food, and wildlife habitat. Stories of people who are successfully welcoming rain into their life and landscape will invite you to do the same!
Customer Reviews:
practical and inspirational.......2007-09-05
i enjoyed reading this book which was both extremely useful and inspirational in its practical demonstration of how water care can change lives with a little thought,care and the tried and true methods of someone who is clearly an expert in the field.
An Excellent Overview.......2007-08-28
This book presents a good starting point for those interested in harvesting rainwater for landscaping and domestic use. It presents basic ideas of the process clearly with many simple (and sometimes entertaining) figures, pictures, and a number of real-life examples. Appendices in the book present more technical information for planning, etc.
I live in a state that is much wetter than Arizona, but applying some of the principles in this book has helped me work toward independence from the town water supply. This past year, the garden has been irrigated solely from rainwater collected off my roof into several rainbarrels. I'm currently expanding this system to over 600 gallons of storage... sufficient for my garden size.
The book refers to Volumes 2 and 3 of the series, neither of which have been published as of this review. These volumes are supposed to expand on the ideas presented in Vol. 1. However, it seems that the publication date for Vol. 2 keeps getting pushed back. This publication delay is my only disappointment.
Can't wait to try it out!.......2007-07-03
I bought this book about a month ago. We're in escrow on a house in Las Vegas with no landscaping whatsoever in an older neighborhood. This book has been very helpful in planning my landscaping. I can't wait to put his ideas to use!
top notch.......2007-01-19
If you're interested in religion, buy a bible. If you're interested in making your property water secure, buy this book. It's a ripper.
Rainwater Harvesting for Drylands (Vol. 1): Guiding Principles to Welcome Rain into Your Life And Landscape.......2007-01-04
I can't say enough about what a good reference this book is for all gardeners/farmers, and even for people who don't garden. Water is such a precious resource. Mr. Lancaster did extensive research for this book inspired by Mr. Phirri in Africa. I first heard of Mr. Phirri in an online article by Mr. Lancaster. He was arrested several times for stealing water from his neighbors during the dry season because he still was able to grow and harvest vegetables and such when no one else could....and more importantly perhaps, his well never ran dry. The thing was he wasn't stealing water. He was harvesting it in unique ways he had to prove. It caused folks from all over the globe to go see how a simple African man could manage this after he convinced a judge to come to see his system for saving water. He became known as "The Man Who Farms Water."
Mr. Lancaster took what he learned from Mr. Phirri and researched it back home in Arizona to see if these ideas/techniques could be used anywhere else. What he and his brother learned caused even the city of Tuscon, Arizona, to change their ideas and practices in order to save precious water for its citizens. This book explains all of that and more. The one drawback to the book may be that it lists sources only for Tuscon, but it was that area for which it was written. What it shows may be used anywhere, though. It goes much further than just putting out barrels to collect rainwater. You may find yourself wondering why you didn't think of that yourself. Some of it completely contradicts what we have always been told about how our property should be graded, for instance. It may be my most valuable gardening reference, but more importantly it may be the most valuable resource for preserving potable water for the world
Book Description
New York City's American Museum of Natural History is a national treasure, attracting four million visitors annually. Its dioramas-a dazzling mixture of nature, science, and art-have inspired young and old alike, and are world-renowned examples of the unique diorama craft: art in the service of science. Now, in the only book of its kind, readers get an insider's view of these "windows on nature," witnessing their creation step by meticulous step.
More than forty of the museum's finest dioramas are featured here, depicting the fauna and flora of myriad ecological environments. Stephen Quinn, a diorama artist at the museum, introduces the explorers, naturalists, painters, sculptors, taxidermists, and conservationists behind these three-dimensional marvels, and explains how their collaborations make the displays so lifelike. This enchanting book is the perfect gift for nature lovers, art enthusiasts, and museum goers everywhere.
Customer Reviews:
Monuments to Wilderness.......2007-09-16
There is nowhere beneath a roof, anywhere on earth, that means more to me than the great diorama halls of The American Museum of Natural History. It is stunning (and, really, rather sad) that it has taken this long for a popular book to be written about these magnificent works of art and science, but at least it has been done well. (It is also gratifying to see the book getting such good--and well deserved--reviews here.)
For many millions of people habitat dioramas have been their first taste of the beauty, calm, and nobility of wild creatures and wild places. More people are familiar with nature documentaries these days, and since I love good documentaries too I can't really complain about that. Nonetheless there are some things that habitat dioramas, when done well, can convey that the flickering image, even on an IMAX screen, just can't. No medium portrays the spacious calm of wild country, and the simple dignity of wild animals, better than dioramas. It's also important to remember the valuable record dioramas can provide: many of the dioramas in this book are of places no longer wild.
Stephen Quinn's credentials for writing this book are probably as good as anyone alive. He started as an artist for the museum and has been an important force in helping keep the medium alive through the dark years of the 60s to 80s, when across the U.S. it was frequently neglected, if not despised, by curators though not, blessedly, by the general public. Things are at least somewhat better now, and Mr. Quinn is now project manager for exhibitions at the museum. He has done a fine job with this book. The text is engaging and informative and the photos are big and beautiful.
I do have a few quibbles. He sometimes uses the word "captured" for animals collected (read killed) for the dioramas. I'm sympathetic with why he felt he had to do that, given what he's trying to do with the book and given the cultural forces with which he must contend. The moral issues behind hunting and museum collection are complex and beyond what a book like this could be expected to cover. Nonetheless, animals are never "captured" for taxidermy.
I should hasten to add that animals do not need to be killed specifically for taxidermy. Many if not most animals mounted for museums in the last few decades died in zoos, were hit by automobile traffic, etc. That generally was not a realistic option at the time these dioramas were created.
My other reservation is deeper, but harder to articulate, and I don't have a real solution to it. I also know that a lot of readers will be unsympathetic with it. I'm not completely comfortable with "behind the scenes" stuff in anything other than technical manuals, trade magazines, etc. The people who made these dioramas were of course just people but had high ideals (ideals that Mr. Quinn without question shares) and they wanted the dioramas to be about their _subjects_. His behind the scenes writing will engage people more with the medium and is interesting in itself, no argument. But how much does it really help to have people thinking "I wonder if that rock in Diorama Z is the one that employees used to go to make out behind on their lunch hour."?
I don't know the answer, and so I can't really fault the author. I also recognize that many of the reviewers here loved that aspect of the book. My hope, and I'm sure it's the author's as well, is that it will all stay in perspective. Let's hope that's right. It would be very sad to see dioramas become the subject of the kind of psychologizing and trivializing that permeates the world of "fine" art.
That said, this is a beautiful and well-written book about a noble, if often neglected, realm of art and natural history. If you've read through a long review like this one about a book on this subject, I promise you won't regret owning it.
Beautiful........2007-05-12
Stephen Christopher Quinn, Windows on Nature: The Great Habitat Dioramas of the American Museum of Natural History (Abrams, 2006)
Dioramas are amazing things. Looking at them may not make it seem so, but that, more than anything, is testament to the artistry practiced by the men and women who construct them. Windows on Nature goes behind the scenes of the construction of the dioramas at the Museum of Natural History in New York City.
This is a coffee-table book, so there are a large number of excellent pictures of the dioramas themselves accompanying the text on how they were created. Both are as fantastic as they are fascinating. If you're a fan, this is a must-have. ****
great nature book.......2007-01-16
This was a gift for my mother who visited this museum years ago. It brought back great memories we had when we went. The book was very well done.
unbeatable and unique book on the Museum.......2006-07-26
I am not a scientist nor museum professional, simply a museumgoer. This book is a clear and attractive presentation about the dioramas that have helped define this wonderful museum for decades. Anyone who has ever visited the American Museum of Natural History will be captivated by the behind-the-scenes perspective presented. Understanding this background adds depth to our appreciation of the habitats. Quinn must have dug up old diaries, records and I wonder if he even listened in on some conversations as well because he offers little known factoids which are fascinating to read about and which enhance our experience as a museumgoer. I highly recommend this volume to anyone who has visited the museum. For those who have not visited, the book provides a wonderful view of what you've been missing!
What a Gem!.......2006-06-04
I found this treasure at my local bookstore (could have got it cheaper here!), looked it over, walked away, came back and looked again, walked away again, but couldn't find anything else I wanted as badly. It is an elegant masterpiece. I happen to thrill at anything remotely connected to taxidermy, but this book will also interest those who like nature, museums, or art.
This book is specifically about the dioramas of one museum, but in telling how they were constructed - taxidermy, foreground, and background painting - it is enlightening to anyone who loves natural history museums in general. There are color photos of the dioramas today, and black-and-whites of the artists working on various stages of their development decades ago. The step-by-step pictures of how a huge elephant mount is put together are nothing short of fascinating. Then, in addition, there are behind the scenes stories about how each diorama came together, and some hair-raising tales of specimen collecting in Africa.
If I have a complaint, it is this: the author has written the text as if only addressing fellow New Yorkers, assuming his readers have already been to this museum and seen these dioramas in person. "Think back to your memories of visits to the grand diorama galleries of the American Museum of Natural History in New York City." I can't help but feel a bit excluded, having never been there, although I am perfectly able to appreciate the exhibits based on the museums I have had the pleasure to visit. Perhaps he underestimated the broader appeal this book would have, but at any rate he unknowingly sparks a desire in the rest of us to try to get there someday!
Book Description
The rapidly disappearing wetlands that once spread so abundantly across the American continent serve an essential and irreplaceable ecological function. Yet for centuries, Americans have viewed them with disdain. Beginning with the first European settlers, we have thought of them as sinkholes of disease and death, as landscapes that were worse than useless unless they could be drained, filled, paved or otherwise "improved." As neither dry land, which can be owned and controlled by individuals, nor bodies of water, which are considered a public resource, wetlands have in recent years been at the center of controversy over issues of environmental protection and property rights.
The confusion and contention that surround wetland issues today are the products of a long and convoluted history. In Discovering the Unknown Landscape, Anne Vileisis presents a fascinating look at that history, exploring how Americans have thought about and used wetlands from Colonial times through the present day. She discusses the many factors that influence patterns of land use-ideology, economics, law, perception, art-and examines the complicated interactions among those factors that have resulted in our contemporary landscape. As well as chronicling the march of destruction, she considers our seemingly contradictory tradition of appreciating wetlands: artistic and literary representations, conservation during the Progressive Era, and recent legislation aimed at slowing or stopping losses.
Discovering the Unknown Landscape is an intriguing synthesis of social and environmental history, and a valuable examination of how cultural attitudes shape the physical world that surrounds us. It provides important context to current debates, and clearly illustrates the stark contrast between centuries of beliefs and policies and recent attempts to turn those longstanding beliefs and policies around. Vileisis's clear and engaging prose provides a new and compelling understanding of modern-day environmental conflicts.
Customer Reviews:
A terrific historical overview of wetlands..........1998-08-24
This is a great primer for anyone interested in the history of our wetland ecosystems- from armchair ecologists to the PhDs. It helped me enormously in understanding how our wetlands came to be what they are today. Vileisis' style is engaging and clear, making this a real page turner. I didn't want to put it down.
An essential book for those interested in wetland protection.......1998-02-06
We've all heard the statistics. As Vileisis puts it, "Overall, 221 million acres of wetlands once graced our nation's lower forty-eight states with a rich mosaic of life. More than half of these important landscapes no longer exist." This book traces a history of loss and chronicles the changing attitudes of the settlers from Europe and their descendants about wetlands. Caught up as we frequently are in controversies about how to identify wetlands, how to preserve them and mitigate their loss, this book provides a long perspective and calls for no less than a change in culture if we are to stop the inexorable downward trend.
Vileisis describes how, to the first European settlers, what we call wetlands were "dismal swamps," linked by images such as Pilgrim Progress' "slough of despond" to whatever is dark and evil. Later wetlands represented opportunity: drain them and make a lot of money, whether selling real estate in Florida or planting more and more crops.
This is more than a book about wetlands, however. It is a history of water policy in the United States. It tells the history of the great American institutions that grew up to deal with wetlands issues: the Soil Conservation Service, the U.S. Corps of Army Engineers, U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service, and others. She also tells of the federal legislation that shapes our current ways of dealing with wetlands; how these laws got passed and how they have been enforced. Anyone attempting to understand the changing role of the Corp of Engineers in wetland protection, for example, should read this book.
The book is also gracefully written and filled with great stories about entrepreneurs and dreamers who saw opportunities in controlling the rivers and draining the swamps, and how their plans almost always went awry. It also tells of those who helped change the cultural attitude toward wetlands, people like Mrs. Augustus Hemenway of Boston, who, with William Brewster, founded the Audubon Society and groups like Ducks Unlimited, who saw dramatic decreases of wildlife in their favorite hunting areas. When scientists began to understand the values of wetlands in the early 20th century, long-entrenched attitudes began to change.
Vileisis points to the essential difficulty for understanding and dealing with wetlands: land is property, and our thinking is guided by concepts of "property rights." The waters of the country, on the other hand, have been understood as belonging to all of us. But wetlands are both land -- we can put a fence around it -- and water -- it flows and knows no boundaries. This is the key to why it has been so hard to shape public policy and attitudes about wetlands. As Vileisis puts it, "Americans were stuck somewhere between the conventional view of wetlands as property and the ecological view of wetlands as a life-support system."
Vileisis takes heart from the resiliency of nature, but in her closing chapter she says, "...while there have been changes in attitudes, policies, and laws, and marked decrease in the rate of wetlands loss, the destruction of wetlands continues because powerful interests cling to the status quo that calculates its profits in the ledger of short-term private gain with little concern for the common good." For those of us who work to change this cultural attitude, this book extends our sense of interconnectedness to those who lived before us. Vileisis says, "Informed by history, we can remember the trade-offs already made and turn away from the mistakes and misunderstandings of a time when we knew no better."
Books:
- Pokemon Diamond & Pearl: Prima Official Game Guide (Prima Official Game Guides)
- Prairie: A Natural History
- Priceless Florida: Natural Ecosystems and Native Species
- Rethinking Tourism and Ecotravel
- Risk Assessment With Time To Event Models (ENVIRONMENTAL AND ECOLOGICAL RISK ASSESSMENT)
- Road Guide to Death Valley National Park, Updated Edition
- Seashore Animals of the Southeast
- Snorkel Maui and Lanai: Guide to the underwater world of Hawaii
- Steps to an Ecology of Mind: Collected Essays in Anthropology, Psychiatry, Evolution, and Epistemology
- Structural Bioinformatics (Methods of Biochemical Analysis, V. 44)
Books Index
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