Book Description
From the interactive clockwork world of geology, tides, Northwest weather, and snow, to the hidden roles of dirt, stream life, and mosses and lichens, Pulitzer Prize winning writer William Dietrich explores the natural splendors of the Pacific Northwest. His topics include alder and cedar; jellyfish, geoducks, crabs, and killer whales; mosquitoes and spiders; gulls, crows, raccoons, possums, deer, and cougars.
This informative and engaging selection of natural history essays is adapted from articles published in the Seattle Times magazine, Pacific Northwest. A native Washingtonian, Dietrich has watched the Northwest double in population during his lifetime. Our rapidly changing view of nature is an underlying theme throughout his wide-ranging essays, as is the timely and essential question of how best to share and conserve the natural world that drew us to the region in the first place.
Neither a field guide nor an environmental policy book, Natural Grace is intended as a primer for people who are curious about the environment they live in and the pressures upon it. "We only care about what we know," says the author. "I've concluded that enthusiasm and commitment begin from learning just how marvelous this region is: Passion has to precede purpose." And there is much to marvel over. Dietrich has unearthed fascinating and unexpected facts about his subjects, and he has a gift for expressing complex information in clear and vivid language. He asks intriguing questions and makes good use of interviews with Northwest scientists and experts to convey current and historic attitudes and economic realities, and to consider where we go from here.
Customer Reviews:
This is a wonderful book........2007-07-19
If you are interested in becoming better acquainted with the flora, fauna, and other natural features of the Puget Sound area, I highly recommend this book to you. It provides fascinating information about familiar plants, animals, dirt, and other natural features. A chapter is devoted to each subject, with a few chapters discussing several together. Although most people who live in this area, have some degree of familiarity with these subjects, the book provides more in depth information about each, including how they interact, are interdependent, and how they are important to the region. The book is written in an easy to read style that is not too academic for the casual reader. The topics in the first two sections include: Jellyfish, Alder, Deer, Gulls, Sea Otters, Coyote, crow, racoon & Possum; Dirt, Stream Life, Mosses & Lichens; Mosquitoes, and Spiders. The second and third sections are about Geology, Weather, Tides, Snow, Cedar, Geoducks, Crabs, cougars, Bald Eagles, and Killer Whales. The book ends with a suggested reading list and index.
Book Description
The “Gale Encyclopedia of Science†is written at a level somewhere between the introductory sources and the highly technical texts currently available. This six-volume set covers all major areas of science and engineering, as well as mathematics and the medical and health sciences, while providing a comprehensive overview of current scientific knowledge and technology. Alphabetically arranged entries provide a user-friendly format that makes the broad scope of information easy to access and decipher. Entries typically describe scientific concepts, provide overviews of scientific areas and, in some cases, define terms.
Book Description
Recognized the world over by frequent flyers and armchair travelers alike, Eyewitness Travel Guides are the most colorful and comprehensive guides on the market. With beautifully commissioned photographs and spectacular 3-D aerial views revealing the charm of each destination, these amazing travel guides show what others only tell.
Customer Reviews:
Outstanding Travel Guide.......2007-09-19
Like most DK Traveler Guides, this one on the Bordeaux region of France is outstanding for the general traveler. The combination of images and text; the ease of use; and the compactness of its size all argue for being your first choice as a travel guide.
Too many mistakes.......2007-06-14
The first of the Eyewitness Travels Guides that did not meet my expectations. Sights and cities recommended were let-downs, and omitting unusual opening hours was a nuisance. Overall it was a disappointment.
Dordogne & SW France.......2007-02-12
Great book - as usual from DK guides. Very comprehesive, well illustrated - makes you feel you are there.
Book Description
This title features Bordeaux, Bergerac, and Périgueux, also covering Biarritz and the Atlantic coast.
>Ideas for independent exploring
>Detailed guides to sightseeing and activities, together with accommodations, dining, and shopping recommendations
>Rated attractions and areas
>Road maps and city plans pinpoint driving routes and other tours
>Walking routes around towns and cities
Book Description
Discover the lush beauty of this rural corner of France with Cadogan's expert guidance. The authors lived in the area for ten years and this guide is bursting with their knowledge and love of the region.
Customer Reviews:
Dordogne and the Lot.......2007-09-29
Since we discovered Cadogan guides, they are the only books we carry. The Dordogne/Lot guide is no exception. All the "must see" sights are included, but the deliciously juicy historical notes make for lively reading and an insider feel to the past. Good recommendations for lodging and dining, and writing that both educates and entertains. The authors include information on prehistoric sites - an area overlooked by other guides.
Book Description
In one of the most beautiful river valleys in Europe, in the region known as Périgord in southwest France, castles crown the hills, and the surrounding villages seem carved all of a piece out of the local stone. In 1985, in the shadow of one of these medieval castles, Betsy Draine and Michael Hinden fell in love with a small stone house that became their summer home.
Like any romance, this one has had its ups and downs, and Betsy and Michael chart its course in this delightful memoir. They offer an intimate glimpse of a region little known to Americans—the Dordogne valley, its castles and prehistoric art, its walking trails and earthy cuisine—and describe the charms and mishaps of setting up housekeeping thousands of miles from home.
Along with the region’s terrain and culture, A Castle in the Backyard introduces us to the people of Périgord—the castle’s proprietor, the village children, the gossipy real-estate agent, the rascally mason, and the ninety-year-old widow with a tale of heartbreak. A celebration of a place and its people, the book also reflects on the future of historic Périgord as tourism and development pose a challenge to its graceful way of life.
Winner of the 2002 August Derleth Nonfiction Award, awarded by the Council for Wisconsin Writers
Customer Reviews:
Take a joyful journey to a French summer home.......2006-08-17
This book is a charming joy. The authors' successful search for a modest summer home in France will take the reader on their own dreamy journey, exploring what it would be like to live in a French country village and to succeed in making friends with the villagers. Great insights into what rural French folks are really like, and how to make them your friends. The book also underscores the importance of finding what is truly important to you in your life.
what a great story.......2006-08-01
very entertaining book about buying a vacation home in France. I love sw france--the food, the villages, the people. This book is about an American couple from Wisconsin--looking for a house in SW France-- buying a house and then living there for the summers. They become friendly with the residents of the small village. They tell of how they were invited to dinner parties ---the food that was served-- the people the conversations etc......Its great! I really enjoyed it.
follow your dream!.......2006-05-07
I bought this book while we were looking for our own house in the Dordogne (most wonderful spot on earth -- go, see it for yourself!), and found it both comforting and helpful (as well as funny, touching and insightful). We found our own house a short time later (in Aubeterre sur Dronne, a village in the Charente just across the border from the Dordogne), and are giving this book to friends and family to help explain the experience and the lure of southwestern France.
A realistic fantasy.......2006-01-31
Like Mayle's YEAR in PROVENCE and Mayes' UNDER the TUSCAN SUN, this title follows a couple through the pleasures and pitfalls of buying a vacation home in a lovely, exotic locale. Draine and Hinden, both professors at UW Madison, purchase a home in southwest France. Much more low-key than the Mayle and Mayes books mentioned, CASTLE in the BACKYARD has considerably fewer pages devoted to construction pitfalls and perils as well as a cast of much less colorful characters. All in all, CASTLE seems like a much more realistic story than other tales of buying a dream home in a dream location, which in my opinion, made this tale a bit less compelling a read.
This book gives the reader the "real" view of France and the French.......2005-09-24
The title might lead the reader to think that this book is about how to buy real estate in France. It does provide some very helpful tips in that regard, but the book goes well beyond buying real estate. The authors provide insight into how cultures can interreact. The book is an absolute must for anyone interested in the nuances of the French as well as getting eyewitness tour of the Dordogne region. The book is educational, poignant at times, funny at times and always a joy to read.
Book Description
This lush, rural corner of France where four great rivers meet offers good food, good wine, and good living. The guide bursts with the authors' intimate knowledge of the region. Explore the world¿s most celebrated vineyards along the Dordogne and Lot rivers, through Bergerac, Saint Emilion, and the medieval city of Cahors, with detailed wine critiques along the way. From Bordeaux to Toulouse, the region¿s two fascinating cosmopolitan cities, the guide reveals the density of historic and natural treasures--from the earliest known prehistoric art at the Lascaux caves to the beautiful Renaissance town of Sarlat. This guide is illustrated with a stunning section of color photographs to inspire the soon-to-be traveler, and is packed with practical information and useful maps to smooth out the journey.
Average customer rating:
|
The Penguin Guide to the Dordogne (Penguin Handbooks)
James Bentley
Manufacturer: Penguin Books Ltd
ProductGroup: Book
Binding: Paperback
 General
| Europe
| Travel
| Subjects
| Books
General
| France
| Europe
| Travel
| Subjects
| Books
Dordogne
| France
| Europe
| Travel
| Subjects
| Books
Guidebooks
| Reference & Tips
| Travel
| Subjects
| Books
Look Inside Travel Books
| Trip
| Specialty Stores
| Books
ASIN: 0140469680 |
Book Description
The Green Guide to Dordogne-Berry-Limousin covers two regions in one volume: sunny Dordogne. With its fine food and exceptional prehistoric sites; Berry and Limousin, a heartland rich in rural traditions.
Customer Reviews:
Only Short Walks.......2007-08-15
This book has a lot of information for those who want to walk in Dordogne. Nevertheless, it describes only short hikes. So, if you want to do a long hike, as a crossing or a circuit, it doesn't help so much.
Book Description
The corner of south-west France comprising Gascony and the Dordogne is the quintessence of provincial France. Many will be content to enjoy the douceur de vivre, the good food and the unspoiled countryside, but for those who are interested in the past this is rich terrain. Much of England's history between 1154 and 1453 was bound up with events in the region, as the French lands of Henry II remorselessly slipped from the grasp of the English kings. This is the land of Eleanor of Aquitaine and Gaston Phebus, the scene of Richard I's death, and of the Black Prince's triumphs and disasters. It is also the landscape in which some of the greatest medieval poetry and architecture was created; here many of the troubadours lived, and the lofty castles, Romanesque churches, and fortified villages of their time still beguile the traveller of today. RICHARD BARBER is an expert guide to the region and its history: he made his name as a medieval historian with biographies of Henry II and the Black Prince, and his important study The Knight and Chivalry is rooted in the society of the vast dukedoms of south-west France.
Books:
- Nature's Everyday Mysteries: A Field Guide to the World in Your Backyard (The Curious Naturalist)
- Nature-Speak: Signs, Omens and Messages in Nature
- Niagara
- Organic form: The life of an idea;
- Pacific In My Soul: Reflections Of A Coastal Nature
- Plants of the Tahoe Basin: Flowering Plants, Trees, and Ferns
- Quantitative Ecology and the Brown Trout (Oxford Series in Ecology and Evolution)
- Real Alaska: Finding Our Way in the Wild Country
- River Town: Two Years on the Yangtze (P.S.)
- Rosalind Franklin: The Dark Lady of DNA
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