Book Description
This collection of readings contains comprehensive primary and secondary works in the field of conservation, emphasizes the history of ideas and attitudes about conservation, and gives a chronology of important conservation events in U.S. history from the beginning to the present. Edited by a national leader in the fields of conservation, environmental management, and education, this well-organized anthology is appropriate for courses dealing with American environmental studies and ecology.
Customer Reviews:
A worthy addition to the tree-hugger's bookshelf.......2001-06-14
What a joy to see that this book is back in print! When our nature book discussion group chose it as a monthly selection several years ago, we had to scramble to find copies. I was one of the lucky ones who got one, read it all, and underlined a whole slew of passages for later reference.
Here are some of my favorite quotes:
"Man is everywhere a disturbing agent. Wherever he plants his foot, the harmonies of nature are turned to discords." (George Perkins Marsh, 1864)
"Environment is to the would-be cultured man what air is to the animal -- it is the breath of life." (Benton MacKaye, 1928)
"When you have reached the edge of an abyss ... the only progressive move you can make is to step backward." (David R. Brower, 1977)
Then the compiler adds his answer to the question "Why do we love wilderness?" by giving seven reasons: scientific value, spiritual values, aesthetic value, heritage value, psychological value, cultural value, and intrinsic value. His explanations make this selection the one I most often pass on to other people. (Roderick Frazier Nash, 1988)
My advice is to buy this book as a present for your favorite environmentalist friend. Sure, you could go instead with _The Quotable Nature Lover_, a Nature Conservancy book edited by John A. Murray. But _American Environmentalism_ puts those kinds of quotes back into context; the editor not only provides full text but also explains what was going on at the time of its writing. Selections are arranged chronologically and are short enough to hold anyone's interest. And we're not talking just Thoreau, Muir, Carson and Leopold here, as the excerpts above show. There are names you might not recognize at first glance. Amateur environmentalists can use this compilation as a starting point for further reading, as full citations are always provided. Though it's not entirely current (1989) this book is still useful.
Give it to a graduating senior, or to anyone else who has the potential to save the planet. They'll be inspired.
A good reader.......2000-05-23
This isn't the type of book someone could pick up and get a good view of the American Environmental movement. It does well in teaching about past movements but ignores modern movements like Environmental Justice and the controversy surrounding Market Based Incentives. It is a good book for teaching if coupled with extra material as it is very readable and interesting.
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.
Amazon.com
Though judging a book by its cover is ill-advised, assessing The Bird Artist by its first paragraph is a safe bet. Howard Norman's second novel lives up to all expectations promised by the kind of beginning that makes a reader beg for more and then panic that the rest will not be as good: "My name is Fabian Vas. I live in Witless Bay, Newfoundland. You would not have heard of me." "Obscurity is not necessarily failure, though; I am a bird artist, and have more or less made a living at it. Yet I murdered the lighthouse keeper, Botho August, and that is an equal part of how I think of myself."
There are echoes of Vladimir Nabokov's infamous narrator, Humbert Humbert, in Fabian's confessional tone, witty humor, and emotional detachment from the series of bizarre events he describes. Set at the turn of the century in a remote cod-fishing community, The Bird Artist is a love story of sorts, filled with curious characters and a chowder restaurant. The men wear "knitted underwear all year round lined with fleece calico" and periodically escape the island to pursue their livelihoods on the sea. But the women are land bound. Helen Twombly suspects fellow villagers of stealing her milk bottles. Alaric Vas suffers from arthritis that no liniment relieves and plots her son's arranged marriage with a fourth cousin in Richibucto, New Brunswick. Meanwhile, Fabian's childhood love, Margaret Handle, propels herself and the plot forward with unwieldy energy. How did things for a mild-mannered man who just likes "to wake up early, wash my face, and get out and draw birds" go so wrong?
Norman, a folklorist and naturalist, presents us with the possible explanations in the form of fine details from an island life he researched while living in a remote Inuit whale-hunting community. He carefully examines the inner isolation of his characters. The severe landscape and the weather serve as the perfect metaphor. If you're looking for linguistic pyrotechnics, Norman's economy won't suit you. In The Bird Artist--a finalist for the 1994 National Book Award--there is as much to admire on the page as what's not. --Cristina Del Sesto
Book Description
ABOUTBOOK: My name is Fabian Vas. I live in Witless Bay, Newfoundland. You would not have beard of me. Obscurity is not necessarily failure, though; I am a bird artist, and have more or less made a living at it. Yet I murdered the lighthouse keeper, Botho August, and that is an equal part of how I think of myself." With its first paragraph, The Bird Artist announces its central themes. Set in a tiny coastal town, The Bird Artist addresses universal concerns: the safety of the known versus the attraction of the unknown, the redemptive potential of creative expression, and the transfiguring -- perhaps damaging -- power of the human heart. In developing these themes, Norman's prose reflects the unique landscape of Witless Bay: spare and beautiful, with stark emotion jutting out like cliffs above the sea. This guide was designed to illuminate your exploration of Norman's landscape, and we hope that it allows you to venture out into further discussion and study of this remarkable novel. DISCUSSIONQUES: QToward the end of The Bird Artist Fabian paints a mural on the church wall depicting not only the physical aspects of Witless Bay, but also representations of its residents and recent events. How is Fabian's narration of his story similar to the mural he paints? QHoward Norman spent time in an Inuit whale-hunting community in Greenland. The Bird Artist opens with the following epigraph: "Suddenly, with extreme violence, he felt himself seized by the desire to be, rain or no rain, at any price, in the midst of the valleys: alone" (Giorgio Bassani, The Heron). What role does the theme of isolation, both geographic and emotional, play in Norman's novel? QHoward Norman has said that he originally wrote The Bird Artist because of Margaret Handle -- that "she puppeteers many things in the book." He also "tried to develop landscape as a character." What do Margaret and the landscape of Witless Bay have in common, and how do they shape and affect the book's events? QThe final chapter of The Bird Artist comments on the etiquette of correspondence: "A man sends a letter, a man expects a reply." This chapter also contains a lengthy letter from Orkney to Fabian. What role do letters, and mail, play in the book? Which characters write letters, and which do not? What purpose (purposes) does writing play in this narrative? QOn page 163, Margaret remembers a song her mother sang: "There's no love/true as the love/that dies untold," and tells Fabian that "It means, once a third person -- outside the couple in love -- knows a bout the love, it's diminished somehow." How does her interpretation relate to the novel's events? Could the song have a different meaning? QSome critics found mythic qualities in The Bird Artist. If a myth is "traditional story of ostensibly historical events that serves to unfold part of the world view of a people or explain a practice, belief, or natural phenomenon," what does Fabian's story explain or unfold? How does it pertain to the world beyond Witless Bay? QAt his trial, Fabian recalls, "I saw Bevel Cabot, Miriam Auster, Giles La Cotte, Ruth Henley, Olive Perrault. Toward the back were Elmer Wyatt, Peter Kieley, Patrick Flood holding his son Colin, Seamus Doyle." How does the community play a role in Fabian's crime and punishment? Although we never "meet" these characters, what is their significance here? What other writers have used a similar device to convey a group's identity and role? QIn saving Alaric's life, Enoch warns her against straying too far away from her known village. And yet, the novel also presents the unknown, Halifax, for example, as an exciting place of opportunity. Which view does the book, as a whole, support? Safety or limitlessness? The comfort of the familiar lighthouse or the opportunity of the vast ocean? QNorman's protagonists, at various points in the book, commit murder and adultery, lie and steal. Does The Bird Artist condone, or even admire, such behavior? What stance does the novel take on religion and the church? Is there religious imagery in Fabian's mural? In the text as a whole? QThe narrator, Fabian Vas, introduces himself immediately as a bird artist. What is the role of the artist in this book? How dose it relate to Fabian's position as narrator, or storyteller? AUTHORBIO: Howard Norman grew up in Grand Rapids, Michigan. After graduating from Western Michigan University, he moved to Canada to work as a writer and researcher, with a special interest in the country's indigenous Indian tribes. He is familiar with several Inuit and Algonquin dialects, and his published translations of northern folklore include Where the Chill Came From, How the Glooskap Outwits the Ice Giants (a children's book), and an anthology, Northern Tales, which he selected and edited. In 1977, Norman first encountered the eastern seaboard of Newfoundland, and learned of a local artist who, at the turn of the century, had committed a murder. Armed with a time, a place, and an event, Norman pent the years that followed thinking about the story that would become The Bird Artist. In the meantime, he wrote his first novel, The Northern Lights, which was nominated for the 1987 National Book Award, and a collection of short stories, Kiss in the Hotel Joseph Conrad.
Customer Reviews:
A Great Read.......2007-06-19
All I can say is that "I LOVED this book!" If I, as a writer, can hold the reader as captive in my stories as I was held by The Bird Artist, I will be a truly happy author indeed.
engrossing good read.......2007-03-21
This was my second reading of this book and I believe I may have enjoyed it twice as much the second go-round. The characters were so believable and interesting and the setting was quite visual, made more so by the descriptions of different birds. The first person narration was engaging. I mostly loved the complexity of the characters and their stories but the plot definitely pulled me along as well.
enjoyable, fast, fairly well written.......2005-12-27
a compelling story of an artist's life in a tiny Newfoundland town, around 1900. the bottom line: i couldn't put it down and read it straight through -pretty rare for me in recent years, Norman's foreshadowing and solid character development was enough to successfully create some anticipation and sucker me in. still, it's not a five-star book; the writing is a little uneven, with dialogue sparkling on some pages, not on others, little factoids of Newfoundland life sometimes seem pushed in, sometimes he loses momentum and i occasionally found myself just skimming through paragraphs. but certainly a fine enough book for a plane, vacation, quiet evening, etc. the mix of a long personal history and nice character interaction and development is reminiscent of another recent bestseller, `the kite runner', which is longer and denser, yet seemed executed at a slightly higher level all around - well worth a look if you enjoy `bird artist.'
The Bird Artist Soars.......2005-11-07
There is an elegant simplicity in Howard Norman's language. With the same reticence his characters possess, Norman creates a world -- stark, vivid, enduring and endearing. His characters are complex and human, but never "quirky" or sentimentally odd. They are real people who have earned their peculiar outlooks and responses. The Bird Artist is one of those books that leaves the reader with a debt of gratitude to the author.
Delightful and Humorous .......2005-03-26
I loved this novel, for its humor and its tight and straightforward narration of the plot. The writing is sparing, with only the most necessary details. To write so tightly, the author must have edited it carefully and it shows. Not a sentence is wasted.
You know this book was written `tongue in cheek' from the get-go, because it is set, in the first sentence of the book, in 1900, in a place called Witless Bay, the reverend keeps a talking parrot in a room behind the pulpit, and the parrot squawks during sermons. People's names are funny and the characters are distinct and memorable for their eccentricities.
I especially loved Margaret, who takes all maters of importance in her hand. She also drinks and has a prodigious sexual appetite. She is frequently `over- the-top', shooting bullets through a photograph of her boy-friend's "fiancé-to-be" or taking over his parents' bedroom. She is generally a lot of fun throughout the book.
Other characters are likewise full of vigor, delightful or strange, especially if you don't take them enormously seriously. The book reminded me slightly of Shipping News, which also takes place in New-Finland, though in a different era. It too is as endearing and touching and fun.
The Bird Artist is also an historical novel. I think that for an historical novel to grab you, it has to capture the pace of the era as well as the `spirit' of the people and their geography. The Bird Artist is successful on all accounts, side by side with its humorous identity. It takes you back to the days when light houses were often the only way for fishermen to get back to shore; when it took several days in a mail-boat to get to Halifax, when arranged marriages were not out of the question, and the pace of life allowed time to sit on your porch and paint, without the distractions of a radio or TV.
What a fine, gentle sea breeze this book is!
Book Description
Over its previous four editions, Economics of the Environment has established itself as the standard student reader for environmental economics courses. A rich complement to other texts, this accessible reader provides a balanced selection of classic and contemporary readings to firmly ground students' understanding in the field's primary literature. The Fifth Edition has been carefully reorganized; over a third of the selections are new.
Book Description
This anthology contains 34 articles published since 1977 in American Scientist, the journal of the scientific society Sigma Xi. Articles illustrate how behaviorists think about and conduct their research, and provide greater insight into the behavior of selected vertebrate and invertebrate species than most textbook accounts.
While sequenced particularly to complement John Alcock's Animal Behavior: An Evolutionary Approach, this readily comprehensible and richly illustrated reader will enhance courses based on other textbooks as well. Indeed, the book can stand alone as a sampler of the excitement and diversity of research approaches and organisms that constitute the modern study of animal behavior
Customer Reviews:
great reading for an undergraduate student.......2003-01-28
As a third year university studentm, I read this text as supplementary reading for our Animal Behaviour undergraduate course last semester. Throughout the duration of the course I was suitably impressed with the presentation of the material in the class (particularly due to the notable performances of the two profs teaching it) but found that this text was a truly engaging read that helped round out my learning experience.
While it does not follow the structure of a true scientific report, we do keep in mind that it is composed of excerpts from a scientific magazine that also caters towards the laypeople (i.e. those who have no major scientific background), just like Scientific American and Wildlife Conservation (although both those magazines are even more general than the American Scientist!). I found this to be one of the best supplementary texts that we have been given at the university so far, due to the scope of interesting topics presented, from canid domestication to prairie-vole partnerships to human mating strategies. As many of my other classmates, I read the rest of the book (as well as parts of the other assigned textbook) without the necessity of our profs assigning readings, growing more and more attached to the amazingly captivating field of ethology.
As I mentioned before, this text is not written in the format of a scientific journal, but it still educates and inspires readers of our generation to investigate the issues discussed further in depth (even during our spare time) by using those aforementioned scientific journals to glean valuable insight into actual experimental methods. Excellent!
Somewhat stimulating collection of articles on behaviour.......1999-05-11
This collection of journal articles assembled by Sherman and Alcock is somewhat thought prevoking. Unfortunately that is where it ends. Most of the articles are subjective in nature and often lack any real scientific structure (e.g., no data, unclear methods, etc.) If, however, you enjoy a good biological debate, this book contains many articles which argue various points of view (with various degrees of ability) on subjects such as sociobiology, coevolution, and behavioural genetics.
Book Description
This is a general introduction to the emerging field of literacy studies. It brings together recent developments in the study of reading and writing from a variety of disciplines in a coherent manner, by showing how new research has contributed to our understanding of literacy practices in a range of settings. The book explores the competing definitions of literacy in contemporary society, and examines the theories of language and learning which underpin new views of literacy. The book is intended as an introduction to literacy studies for the student or general reader, but it will also be invaluable to specialists in one area of study who wish to understand the significance of other areas of literacy studies for their own work.
Customer Reviews:
Good, but not what I ecpected.......2006-11-11
Accourding to the reviews this is an excellent book, which I agree with. It is beautifull in illustration and story. But if you are christian this book is not for you. It glorifies the Indian beliefs, which is fine, but not for our family. So I had to make a trip to the postoffice to return it. None of the other reviews mention this, they just note that it is a very thankfull book. If you worship nature this is for you, if you worship Jesus this is not.
Very Pleased.......2005-11-11
This is a simple book to read through for younger children. Written by native Americans it is a "thanksgiving" book from their point of view, why native americans have always celebrated thanksgiving. It has no mention of pilgrams or not fully proven, overly romanticized stories as most thanksgivings are but simply a beautiful description of the season, the great harvest and respect for the world around them. A book of why the Native Americans Gave thanks during this beautiful season.
A truly wonderful book........2004-07-10
A simple but truly beautiful and wonderful book. To read with your children every morning and express thanks to the world, promoting connectedness and deep respect of all things. Teaching our children these important words will doubtlessly take us through these rough times and make the world as beautiful and peaceful as it was intended to be.
Perfect Way to Teach Gratitude.......2001-08-23
Anyone looking to teach the concept of Gratitude to children need look no further. "Giving Thanks" is the answer. The words, culled from the Thanksgiving Address (an ancient Iroquois message of gratitude still used today) simply, directly and eloquently give a roll-call of thanks from the Earth to the Sun and everything in-between. They evoke warm, inviting, even mythic images that I believe will delight most children. A personal, friendly face is put upon the elements that are usually looked at through the cold, impersonal microscope of science. The sun, moon, thunder and lightning, and even dead ancestors are transformed into Brother Sun, Grandmother Moon, Grandfather Thunder Beings and the Spirit Protectors, respectively.
The world is simply and beautifully explained not as a big, scary one, but a warm, familiar one in twenty short pages. Even children too young to read will benefit thanks to the bright, colorful painting-like artwork by Irwin Printup, Jr. Every page brilliantly shines with the face of Grandmother Moon and the haunting reassurance of the Spirit Protectors. Its a great gift for classrooms, birthdays, holidays or just to to teach this valuable virtue. Highly recommended!
This book is AWESOME!.......1999-11-10
I was blown away by this book and was proud to add it to my bookshelf. I am glad that publishers are letting REAL Native American writers and artists tell our own stories our own way. The Thanksgiving Address is a central component of Mohawk culture and I was proud to see this in the hands of my children. This and SKYWOMAN by Joanne Shenandoah, Douglas George, John Fadden and Dave Fadden have set a new standard in the publishing of Native American culture and art. Now, if only some publisher would accept the challenge to do the same with Native American history...(hint hint!)
Book Description
An original portrait of New England's forests, tracing their evolution from precolonial days to the present through a study of the patterns we see today.
Landscape is much more than scenery to be observed or even terrain to be traveled, as this fascinating and many-layered book vividly shows us. Etched into the land is the history of how we have inhabited it, the storms and fires that have shaped it, and its response to these and other changes.
An intrepid sleuth and articulate tutor, Wessels teaches us to read a landscape the way we might solve a mystery. What exactly is the meaning of all those stone walls in the middle of the forest? Why do beech and birch trees have smooth bark when the bark of all other northern species is rough? How do you tell the age of a beaver pond and determine if beavers still live there? Why are pine trees dominant in one patch of forest and maples in another? What happened to the American chestnut? Turn to this book for the answers, and no walk in the woods will ever be the same. 60 black & white illustrations, index.
Customer Reviews:
The woods are lovely..........2007-01-09
Before I read this book, I knew the woods had stories to tell; now, I can begin to understand them. This book is a forensic reference demystifying the clues the forest has to reveal. Each chapter describes, in depth, a particular setting and the clues found there. The drawings, unfortunately, are not as good or helpful as the writing. I would have preferred photographs, but it's only a small drawback.
Reading the Forested landscape..........2006-11-10
...makes more sense after reading this book. The chapters give an introductory look at what you see when you walk through a forest and what it means to the ecosystem and to you if you're just curious or you are in wildlife management.
reading the forested landscape.......2006-08-26
I have grown up in new england and studied the biological sciences for 20 years and Tom Wessel knowledge and wonderful insight to the natural world is amazing. the book is a wonderful read and I highly recommend it to anyone who enjoys the outdoors and natures beauty.
Read this book and then Read the Landscape!.......2006-01-06
See that tree? - that stone wall? - How about that mound of earth in the woods? Never noticed them before? Well this book will help you to discover all kinds of 'hidden' clues that help us to understand how the land was used in the past and what forces helped to make it the way it is today.
This is a wonderful book to read and then put into practice as you ramble around the wonderful landscapes of New England.
Great book.......2003-08-19
This book provides an excellent introduction to forest ecology. Wessels begins each chapter with an etching that captures a typical feature of northern forest. He then guides us to understanding what one can learn from the etching through asking key questions and making more detailed observations. The book focuses on central New England forests, which he defines as reaching roughly from the Southern half of Vermont to the Northern half of Massachusetts, and stretching eastwards to the coast of Maine. The book will help even beginners understand more about the forests surrounding them, although it helps if readers can at least recognize a beech tree from a maple or a pine before they start. The book is full of so many details that one reading through it is not enough; this is a book to dip into over and over again as one explores the forest. The book includes a number of useful appendices, covering such varied topics as a chronology of New England history, key kinds of evidence to look for in the woods, common woody and non-woody plants, a glossary, and a bibliography.
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.
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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.
Books:
- An Ethics of Place: Radical Ecology, Postmodernity, and Social Theory
- Atchafalaya: America's Largest River Basin Swamp
- Australia: The Four Billion Year Journey of a Continent
- Basic & Clinical Biostatistics (LANGE Basic Science)
- Biology, Sixth Edition
- Birds in Brazil
- Bright Paradise
- BURROUGHS BULLETIN - New Series Number 27 - Summer 1996: The Moon Trilogy; Danton Burroughs and the Family Legacy; Phil Currie on Old Bones and ERB; Elucidating Pellucidar: The Inner World of Edgar Rice Burroughs
- Campaigning for Hearts and Minds: How Emotional Appeals in Political Ads Work (Studies in Communication, Media, and Public Opinion)
- Climbing the Mango Trees: A Memoir of a Childhood in India
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General
| Popular Economics
| Business & Investing
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Wilderness and the American Mind, Fourth Edition
Sand County Almanac (Outdoor Essays & Reflections)
The Rights of Nature: A History of Environmental Ethics (History of American Thought and Culture)
How to Make the World a Better Place: 116 Ways You Can Make a Difference
Spirit and Nature: Why the Environment is a Religious Issue--An Interfaith Dialogue
