Amazon.com
Now that The Year in Trees from the North Carolina State University Arboretum is available in paperback, there's no reason that every American town park designer, landscaper, home gardener, and "plantsman" (a pet term of late coauthor J.C. Raulston) shouldn't have a copy. In her extensive portraits of 150 woody plants (trees, shrubs, and vines), Kim Tripp reveals herself to be a plantsman on a mission. Whether rescuing underappreciated plants like Catalpa from undeserved weed-tree status, introducing readers to nonnative varieties like Korean lilac that have proved easy to grow in the United States, or reintroducing gardeners to "grande dames" like the southern magnolia, Tripp's goal to encourage greater diversity in landscape plantings is in passionate evidence.
The authors risk alienating readers--or at least commercial nursery owners--with their repeated case for variety. In his fine introduction, Raulston writes of gardeners "distracted and mesmerized by the many spring blockbusters" available at the local chain nurseries, whose proprietors tend to ignore less common but often more appropriate and interesting plants in pursuit of easy profit. "Azaleas, azaleas everywhere and no relief in sight!" Tripp writes with exasperation in her portrait of Fothergilla, her suggested alternative to the ubiquitous flowering shrub. Her choices are bold and sometimes antagonistic, but always reasonable and based on rigorous, wide-ranging data collection. The featured plants, arranged into spring, summer, fall, and winter sections, are all shown in one or more color photograph, making The Year in Trees an invaluable reference, not to mention a new classic, for home gardeners. --Liana Fredley
Book Description
Kim Tripp assisted the late J. C. Raulston in his pioneering work on plant testing and introduction at the North Carolina State University Arboretum, and together they produced this collection of 150 exciting trees and shrubs that can bring new interest to gardens throughout the year.Published at $44.95 Our last copies available at $22.49
Customer Reviews:
Recommendations from two experts who really know plants!.......1998-09-03
The world of horticulture was shocked when Dr. Raulston was killed in a car accident almost two years ago. He was known worldwide for his plant expertise and especially for the new plants he brought into the public eye. Kim Tripp honed her craft at Harvard's Arnold Arboretum, so when these two recommend a plant they know what they are talking about! The book is well written and easily to follow season by season. Particularly recommended for serious gardeners.
Book Description
In this salty, maritime classic, Stephen Jones describes a youthful year spent at a lighthouse. The passage of four seasons brings hilarious, touching, somber, and terrifying adventures. The tower and its assorted keepers, each in his way, are assaulted by vessels run amok, by boozy and lascivious fishermen, by birds, fogs, fantasies, and the looming specter of a storm. First published in 1981, it is reissued with a new introduction by the author.
Customer Reviews:
An overlooked treasure.......2004-03-12
I read this book when it was first published and it made a huge impression on me. It is a coming of age memoir that avoids both sentimentality and cynicism. It is one of those books that helps you understand yourself better, and that also makes you fall in love with reading all over again. Highly recommended.
Book Description
Each season brings new surprises and discoveries. In the spring, leaves sprout, showers come, and it's time for planting. Bees buzz and roses bloom as summer arrives. The fall turns pumpkins orange and leaves red and gold, and the wind grows cold. In wintertime, snow twirls down, and the flames in the fireplace leap and glow. Next year, it will all happen again, but it will be a little different, too. Everything is always growing and changing on a farm. Beloved author Anne Rockwell takes young readers through the year. Megan Halsey's charming collage illustrations are the perfect complement to this delightful introduction to the wonders of the seasons.
Customer Reviews:
four seasons.......2005-03-09
This book follows a little girl who lives on a farm through the four seasons. It starts out in spring and the little girl plants a sunflower seed by her door. She tells us about Spring turning into summer. In summer on her fam her family has a roadside stand where they sell corn and squash. September rolls around and fall comes to the farm. Pumpkins are now he crop of choice at her family's stand. December comes soon and it's winter on the farm. She has saved the sunflower seeds from the flower she has planted and feeds then to the birds.
I liked the illustrations in the book. They were bright and colorful and added lots to the text.
This is a wonderful picture book for kids and a great resource for teachers when teaching about plant life and the four seasons.
Book Description
Until recently, little was known about the lives of songbirds during their travels from autumn until spring. Now scientists have documented mass migrations over the Gulf of Mexico, identified the voices of migrants in the night sky, and showed how songbirds navigate using stars, polarized light, and magnetic fields. Miyoko Chu explores the intricacies underlying the ebb and flow of migration, the cycle of seasons, and the interconnectedness between distant places. Songbird Journeys pays homage to the wonder and beauty of songbirds while revealing the remarkable lives of migratory birds and the scientific quest to answer age-old questions about where songbirds go, how they get there, and what they do in the far-flung places they inhabit throughout the year.
Customer Reviews:
A winner for all levels of birders.......2007-08-10
This beautifully written book will appeal to all levels of birders, from novices to experts. It is a great introduction to the lives of songbirds (and would make a wonderful gift for someone you hope to interest in birds), and it also includes some historical background and news of the latest research that dedicated birders will find interesting. That's a difficult balance to achieve, but Chu has done it magnificently. Especially useful (for all levels of birders) is the copious concrete information about things we can do to improve the lives of songbirds and projects in which we can help. My Christmas shopping got a lot easier when I read this book.
A Great Invitation to Birding.......2007-08-07
Birds are so all around us, it is not surprising that we might take them for granted, especially the songbirds that can be found in any backyard or feeder. Almost half the 10,000 species of birds on Earth are songbirds, the jays, larks, swallows, wrens, warblers, and others which have complex voiceboxes. They may be commonplace, but that does not mean that we know all there is about them. Many of them have complicated migration routes and behaviors that ornithologists have only in the past decades come to understand. The migratory songbirds of the Americas are covered in _Songbird Journeys: Four Seasons in the Lives of Migratory Birds_ (Walker Books) by Miyoko Chu. Ornithologists say that most of the birds of North America evolved over many millennia in the tropics and gradually pushed their boundaries northwards. Some came and stayed, and others developed the pattern of coming north in the warmer months to take advantage of the food supply and to bring forth the next generation before returning to warmer climes for the winter. There are literally billions of birds involved in this passage, but capacity to track them has been technologically available only in recent years, and Chu, an ornithologist at the renowned Cornell Laboratory of Ornithology, brings readers up to date with scientific news about a remarkable research frontier.
As fascinated as humans have always been by birds, there were limits of perception in tracking the migrants. Chu gives a brief history of how hard it was to track these birds that do most of their travel at night before they could be seen on radar. Of course, tracking with radar required correlation with ground observations, and observers have a lot of work during the weeks that birds stream in to regions like our Gulf Coast. Chu describes the procedures for coastal Louisiana, where "mist nets" of a mesh so fine the birds cannot see them are set up to trap them. Among the surprising ways of tracking birds is though analyzing their blood for specific elemental isotopes; geographic areas differ in the levels of such isotopes, so a bird staying in a particular region picks up particular isotopes, which can be analyzed to see where the bird has been. A surprising new way to watch birds at night is to listen for their nocturnal calls. Determined (and sleep-deprived) observers eventually pinned down which calls went with which birds, allowing a technological breakthrough in nighttime birdwatching. Borrowing computer software used to pick out whale songs from other undersea noises, observers can point microphones at the sky and allow computers to monitor just what is passing overhead. And anyone who wants to can take part: thirty bucks will buy you a rooftop microphone to feed the sounds into a home computer, for the downloadable software to analyze.
This illustrates one of the most attractive parts of Songbird Journeys. Throughout the book are not just reports of what we already know, but invitations to get involved in helping to know more. Chu's delightful book follows the inescapable modern tradition of justified fretting over what will happen to its subjects; global warming, communications towers, illegal caging, pesticides, deforestation (at either end of the journey), acid rain, and more have made life hard (or impossible) for some migratory species. The book is, however, pleasantly optimistic in asserting that more information will find better answers, and suggesting that any reader might participate. There are not only instructions on how and when to visit the areas of research listed here, but also exhortations to consider setting up birdhouses and recording how they are used, taking part in a one day Christmas bird count (it's not on Christmas, but on a specific day chosen between 14 December and 5 January) to identify species of birds within specific regions, or simply to enter readings in The Great Backyard Bird Count, with no travel requirements. Chu shows repeatedly how small bits of information, summed with other small bits, have made a difference in our understanding of how birds live. This would be a lovely book especially for young people who are interested in how natural science is done and want to do some.
Great for beginning birders.......2007-06-06
I read this book as part of my exercises to complete my activities for the book "Forty Excuses to Get Together with the Girls," specifically "Excuse #10: Because I Want to Know that Bird's Name." (This is a chapter that has step-by-step instructions on how to start watching birds. The book has 39 other chapters devoted to other areas of interest.) I am a beginning birder and so much of the information was new and fascinating to me and it really helped put my local expeditions in a much larger perspective. I found myself picking it up every once in awhile for a birding "fix."
Bird Migration.......2007-03-15
This book provides a comprehensive and exciting desctiption of the amazing achievements of migrating birds in covering incredibly long distances without stopping to get to their summer or winter homelands. It is a well-written document, pleasurable and informative to read, and I recommend it to every potential, new, and experienced bird watcher.
Gives you a lot to think about.......2007-01-11
Very informative but written in a documentary style so don't think you'll be sitting down for a leisurely read. This is heavy stuff if you love songbirds. Fifty percent of all songbirds die each year, most during migration - the rest through habitat loss, predators, etc. That's the heavy stuff; but you'll learn so much about their songs, survival techniques, and so on. Extremely interesting but not an easy read.
Average customer rating:
|
The Four Seasons: Uncovering Nature (Uncovering series)
Annie Jones
Manufacturer: Firefly Books
ProductGroup: Book
Binding: Hardcover
 Nonfiction
| Earth Sciences
| Science, Nature & How It Works
| Children's Books
| Subjects
| Books
General
| Science, Nature & How It Works
| Children's Books
| Subjects
| Books
How Things Work
| Science, Nature & How It Works
| Children's Books
| Subjects
| Books
General
| Science & Technology
| Teens
| Subjects
| Books
Earth Science
| Science & Technology
| Teens
| Subjects
| Books
ASIN: 1554071372 |
Book Description
Why do seasons happen? Where do animals go in winter? How do plants reproduce?
From changes in the plant world through the year, to penguins preparing a nest, and puma kittens learning to hunt, plants and animals from every corner of the world are used to illustrate the many processes that govern natural life. These include metamorphosis, hibernation, migration, pollination, plus the many environments in which they occur, such as savanna, swamp, jungle, and deciduous woodland.
The four acetate overlays feature:
-
Winter to Spring: the Himalayan Mountains change
-
Spring to Summer: a South American pampas over time
-
Summer to Fall: deciduous woodlands turn with the season
-
Fall to Winter: a conifer forest prepares for the cold.
The Uncovering series: Exposing science and technology in stunning color and detail.
Jam-packed with exacting full-color illustrations, these titles focus on topics of particular interest to young readers. Informative text and descriptive captions and sidebars complement dozens of annotated drawings. Each book contains four acetate overlays, used in some cases to show changes over time, in others to show a cutaway interior.
Book Description
On July 10, 2001, in northern Washington state, a rain of burning embers trapped two civilians and thirteen firefighters in a steeply walled canyon. With a roar heard thirty miles away, flames and black smoke swept overhead-leaving four firefighters dead.
This tragic story lies at the heart of A Season of Fire, a compelling narrative that begins in mid-May 2001 with dire early weather predictions, follows the training of thousands of new firefighters, and culminates in mid-September as the year's final blazes are extinguished and controversy erupts over the July deaths.
Journalist Douglas Gantenbein takes readers behind the scenes of smokejumpers' training and travels to the locations of the summer's most dramatic fires: Wyoming's Jackson Fire, in which millions of dollars were spent in an attempt to save a group of million-dollar homes; the Arthur Fire, which closed Yellowstone Park's eastern entrance for two weeks; and the Fridley Fire, which torched 50,000 acres of Montana woodlands in less than six hours.
In a fascinating exploration of the science and economics of firefighting, Gantenbein dramatically depicts the tinderbox that is the American West.
Customer Reviews:
Upset with Mr. Gantenbein.......2005-05-01
I feel that Mr. Gantenbein done nothing more than belittle firefighters with some of his comments placed in a recent article online. This man does not deserve to write about wildland firefighters. The book has so many slip ups.
I am a wildland firefighter myself and I feel this man has no respect for them, book not worth the money. End of story.
one star is too much.......2004-10-17
I got it used for 2.99 and I am left with a feeling like I got taken
Tastes like an MRE.......2004-09-11
First off, I actually did read this book some time ago.
The mistakes in it are definately pathetic. Its amazing how making a simple mistake like screwing up the fact that I-90 runs through Missoula can destroy all your journalistic credibility. A Google search on "Jane Swift" reveals she was the governor of Massachusetts. Last time I checked, Boston wasn't exactly Big Sky Country. But I guess I would have been a feeling a little frustrated and lazy if I had spent all season digging line with a "half-pick, half garden hoe," though, too.
In advocating that firefighting efforts be basically abandoned, this guy fails to realize that a good chunk of the economy around here depends on fire paychecks. That might be a little disturbing to some people, but its the truth. As for the firefighter/overhead bashing, I spent five seasons fighting fires and just about every agency employee I knew -- from IC level down to the GS-2 -- was dedicated to doing an efficient, safe, and thorough job. But there are some pretty glaring institutional problems out there. For example, there is absolutely no quality control on contract crews. Some of them could run circles around Shot crews, and others are so bad that they make you average DOT road crew like the Marine Corps. And then last summer, the tragedy on a remote fire outside Salmon, ID, where two Helitackers were killed because they were apparently left on the ground with fire below them and no escape route -- including the helicopter, which had been diverted somewhere else. There is no reason those guys are dead, except for stupid bureaucratic mistakes.
There is no denying that there are problems that need to be fixed, and I'm glad people are trying to point out solutions. But maybe it is better left to people like Pyne and MacLean who know the ropes.
Inaccurate .......2004-08-07
Gantenbein's writing style is attractive and his arguments seem logical on the surface. Readers without a basic understanding of wildland firefighting, forest ecology or land management could easy be swayed by his eloquent writing style. It is all the more unfortunate that this work is so marred by inaccuracies and poorly founded opinions.
The inaccuracies are so common throughout this book that it should never have been published. Even though Mr. Gantenbein claims to have completed basic firefighter training, he is incapable of describing the pulaski, a firefighting tool that is a combination adze and axe. Mr. Gantenbein describes it as a pick and hoe. It would be easy to dismiss simple mistakes as these if it were not for the larger mistakes. For example, Mr. Gantenbein describes Douglas fir (Pseudotsuga menzeisii) as a fire prone species, yet many Douglas firs bear the scars of literally dozens of fires. Somehow, Mr. Gantenbein has gotten it into his head that Ponderosa pine is the "appropriate" specie for western forests in his attempt to simplify forest ecology to the point that he can offer his"solutions" to a quite complex fire problem.
Mr. Gantenbein truly misses the boat when questions of fire management arise. For example his proposed solution to large fires is to allow homes to burn and then pay the homeowners for their loss. It is an unfortuantely tack, becuase it flies in the face of a few very basic principles of land management - the most basic being that homeowners are responsible for their own homes and land, not public agencies.
Changes are needed in the way that land managers manage our public lands under fire, and those changes while not come until the public perception of wildland fire changes from the devestating Bambi-killing image so popular in the past. Unfortunately, Mr. Gantenbein has thoroughly clouded the issue through his opinionated but inaccurate portrayal of America's forest and the efforts used to manage them. It is unfortunate this book was ever published.
Superb and balanced.......2004-06-18
The author, whose writing style is smart yet easy to follow, gives a balanced and thoughtful examination of fires in the West. His descriptions of the fires puts the reader in the forest with the fire fighters and at the same time gives the perspectives of all involved. With no pat or political answers, Gantenbein shows real depth and understanding for such a complex and fascinating issue. Great summer read.
Book Description
Among the most popular subjects in preschool curriculum, animals and nature come to life in this sturdy board book that allows even 2-year-olds to ³look it-up.² With die-cut pictorial tabs along the right-hand margin, children can point to the picture of an animal or object of interest to them, then turn to that spread and find out interesting facts through easy-to-understand captions and stunning, photo-realistic paintings.
Amazon.com
It's Raining Frogs and Fishes, a lighthearted look at the world's weather, collects oddments and tidbits on climatological matters. Among the book's many high points are Jerry Dennis's natural history of mirages (there are many more than the usual desert variety) and his examination of the age-old question about whether the aurora borealis roars. At other points he looks into ancient Roman beliefs about lightning, the adaptive strategies of the Galapagos penguin, and the origins of dew.
Book Description
A spellbinding look into the natural world's most fascinating and baffling phenomena, with illustrated explanations of rainbows, meteors, sunsets, hurricanes, the northern lights, and dozens of other curiosities of the sky.
Customer Reviews:
Fun, but with a lot of small errors.......2004-10-04
This is an enjoyable book, with a lot of interesting information. It also has many small scientific errors that a professional scientist would never make - almost every page has some small error of wording or description. I'm just a layman, so I don't know what a professional would find. There is enough new and interesting material to far outweigh the errors, but you should not assume that everything you find here is repeatable as truth.
A Facinating Book!.......2000-10-26
I found this book to be quite facinating, and very well written. It should be a must read for anyone interested in the subject of science and weather. This book covers all sorts of anomalies of weather and nature from 'frogs rains' to tornadoes, thunderstorms and sun spots! All sorts of interesting bits of information are compiled here, that make it a page-turning read from start to finish. There is great information about comets and stars and all sorts of oddities of the heavens as well. I thoroughly enjoyed this book. The information is conveyed intelligently, but with an undercoat of wit and humor. You will really enjoy this one!
Accessible,entertaining, amazing, a must read for all ages........1998-02-17
I love it. I received only a few days ago and I already finished it. I must read it again and again. It is well written in an easy style accessible to all and nicely illustrated. The contents seem to be more science fiction thatn science facts, they are so incredible. I love it as I already wrote and you willl too. Don't wait, buy it now. Amazon.com can ship it in a record time and the price is excellent value for money for this highly entertaining book.
Natural phenomena and oddities of the skies. A must-read!.......1997-08-17
Frogs falling from the sky? Balls of light zipping around mastheads of ships? This surprisingly non-technical book explains the theories and facts behind strange phenomena of the sky. Illustrators, take not, as well. Glenn Wolff's illustrations bring this book to life and make it a wonderful addition to everyone's coffee table
Books:
- Track of the Cat
- Turn Left at Orion: A Hundred Night Sky Objects to See in a Small Telescope--and How to Find Them
- Walking Home: A Woman's Pilgrimage on the Appalachian Trail
- Wetlands
- Who Moved My Cheese? An Amazing Way to Deal with Change in Your Work and in Your Life
- Wildlife Study Design
- YOU: The Owner's Manual: An Insider's Guide to the Body that Will Make You Healthier and Younger
- A Handbook of Native American Herbs (Healing Arts)
- A Seal Called Andre: The Two World of a Maine Harbor Seal
- A Walk through the Heavens: A Guide to Stars and Constellations and their Legends
Books Index
Books Home
Recommended Books
- Achieving Business Value From Technology
- The Working American Bulldog
- The Coin Collector's Survival Manual: An Indispensable Guide for Collectors and Investors
- The Jesus Dynasty: The Hidden History of Jesus, His Royal Family, and the Birth of Christianity
- The Passion: Photography from the Movie "The Passion of the Christ"
- Trading Chaos: Maximize Profits with Proven Technical Techniques
- Theoretical Ecology: Principles and Applications
- Effective Teacher Hiring: A Guide to Getting the Best
- The Guardian Careers Guide: Jobfinder
- Ireland Business and Investment Opportunities Yearbook
Time-Tested Plants: Thirty Years in a Four-Season Garden
Dirr's Hardy Trees and Shrubs: An Illustrated Encyclopedia
The Winter Garden: Planning and Planting for the Southeast
Witch Hazels (Royal Horticultural Society Plant Collector Guide)
Winter-Flowering Shrubs
