Book Description
This introduction to the world of marine seashells emphasizes the most attractive and best-known species. This guide will help you to:IdentifyClassifyUnderstand the beautiful shells you see and collectNo other animals are so widely collected, traded, or bought and sold because of their beauty and rarity.
Customer Reviews:
Seashells.......2007-01-12
This was exactly the book on shells that I was looking for for my grandson. I remember the "Little Golden Guides" when I was a child and was so happy to see that they still exist. Good illustrations and compact easy to carry size.
For the Ageless Avid Beachcomber.......2006-06-28
If you like to collect seashells, then this handy key to the typical shells found on a beach may be of interest. It comes in a handy soft cover and is pocket sized, so it will easily fit in one's bathing suit's waist. It is slender, although several of the easy to find shells are listed, photos are reasonable and of good quality. It is similar to other such books, although not quite a book and not quite a pamphlet. It's in a league of its own!
Ultimate shell reference!.......2004-07-13
Whether for a valuable collection at home, or a sight while swimming or scuba diving, this will prove very reliable in the field. A MUCH more advanced field guide than the Golden First Guides, this lists over 600 shells in all and will quickly identify any strange seashell you happen to find beachcombing. This guide contains: Augor shells, chitons, whelks, limpets, and many other valuable collectibles. Each shell species entry has a description added to the side, explaining: abundance, range, and habitat. After the first Golden Guide to Seashells intrigues you, try your luck out with this field reference.
There are several editions made of this guide, from cheap paperback to hardcore turtleback. The paperback and hardback are the best to buy, as they are both great deals and cost less than the turtleback, which is also durable. Any edition will serve you very well in shell collection ID or snorkeling discoveries.
This is the book that got me started........2000-10-18
Yes it's way out of date. Yes the super rare shells listed in the book are often no longer even mildly rare. Yes it is drawings only. Sigh. But this is the book that got me and all too many others hooked into this area. 30 years later I still love the hobby. Give it to a child and watch him/her grow.
Book Description
Seventeenth-century scientists were baffled: How did the fossils of seashells find their way to the tops of mountains? Nicolaus Steno, hailed by Stephen Jay Gould as “the founder of geology,” solved the puzzle, looking directly at the clues left in the layers of the Earth. Paradoxically, at the same time his ideas were undermining the BibleÂ's authoritative claim as to the age of the planet, Steno was entering the priesthood and rising to bishop. He would ultimately be venerated as a saint and beatified by the Catholic Church in 1988.
A thrilling tale of scientific investigation and the portrait of an extraordinary genius, The Seashell on the Mountaintop is the story of how a scientist-turned-priest forever changed our understanding of the Earth and created a new field of science.
Customer Reviews:
A Pleasure to Read.......2006-10-21
We are privileged to live in a Golden Age of writing about the history of science. Several other reviewers have already sung the praises, aptly, of this book, so I will merely recommend a few other titles. If you enjoy this book, you'll also enjoy: The Ice Finders; The Man Who Discovered Time; Out of the Flames; The Lunar Men; World on Fire.
A gem.......2006-08-29
Only a small minority of books on science or scientists manage to discuss the historical relation between science and religion with anything approaching balance and accuracy. This book is excellent in that regard. Cutler does not appear to be religious himself, yet he has a very sound grasp of the complex historic interplay between science and religion. The book is very readable, and gives a fascinating picture of how people in various ages saw the history of the earth.
I cannot refrain from correcting some mistakes of Mr. Raul Goulden below. First, Steno/Stensen was never sent to the city of which he was made "titular bishop". That never happens. Mr. Goulden misunderstands what is meant by a "titular bishop". Every bishop in the Catholic Church is given, in addition to his actual diocese, a purely ceremonial title as bishop of some diocese that is no longer in existence. (There is a kind of custom that dioceses never go out of legal existence, so that dioceses that existed in ancient times, but where there is no longer a city or where the population is now Muslim, say, still exist "on the books".) Stensen was never actually sent to a place in the Muslim world, as Goulden supposes. He was given a real diocese in northern (predominantly Lutheran) Europe. There he labored in very difficult conditions for the salvation of souls and the better treatment of the poor. There was nothing tragic about the end of his life, but rather (from a Christian point of view) something quite glorious. Second, Steno/Stensen did not convert because of love of ritual, but, as Cutler makes very clear in the book, for serious theological reasons, and after a deep study of early Church history.
Back to science: as a scientist who has read many books on science history and many biographies of scientists, I can attest that this is one of the very best. A gem.
An Unknown Accomplished Man.......2006-06-18
This geologist is a wonderful storyteller. Cutler lets the reader feel the doubt, grace and turmoil (of which there was much) in Steno's life. Steno's Principals (superposition, original horizontality, and lateral continuity), seem to us now to be simply common sense. However, the prevalent religious thinking at the time they were announced was in strong conflict. Superposition is not obvious if you believe the entire earth, including all the layers, was created on the same day.
Steno, a Dane, started as a brilliant anatomist, wandering Europe dissecting and teaching. He proposed the idea that muscular action comes from the contraction of muscle fibers not the ballooning of the muscle mass, the accuracy of which was not recognized for a hundred years. All the while he was also studying the topography of Europe, finally ending up as a ward of the Medici in Florence. As Medieval universities were founded not to "...create new knowledge as to preserve old knowledge," it was the home he needed Ferdinando and Leopoldo de Medici were wealthy and interested in science. They founded a research institution, the "Academy of Experiments" to which Steno came as an anatomist, arriving at about the same time as the head of a great white shark. He dissected it and recognized that its teeth were identical to "tongue stones" that had been found on Malta. That, along with fossils that had been found in the Alps and the Alpines in Italy, led him to conclude that much of Europe had been covered by water and not just once simply to launch Noah, but again and again. He realized that layering represented a sequence that was assembled from the inside out. This was doubly revolutionary in that it was contrary to Descartes who had asserted that the earth had cooled from the outside in.
Steno lived only forty-eight years, moving about much of his life. Born in a very Lutheran country, he later converted to Catholicism, ending his life as an impoverished bishop in Germany. It is not clear why. Cutler introduces us to Steno's predecessors in thought, Descartes, for example, and his "method of doubt," along with Spinoza, and Leibneiz, both of whom became friends. Steno lived in difficult times, the Thirty Years War raged and death from the plague was everywhere. And yet, although he was constantly diverted in thought, he devoted himself to the earth as he did the human body, dissecting sedimentary depositions as an anatomist. While others had found fossils in rocks, they assumed that they grew there. Steno wondered why he did not find any in the earth and if they grew in the rocks why did they not crack them? The undistorted fossil shells indicated to him that they had been entombed.
This is a well written, slim introduction to the fascinating life of a scientist who deserves a complete biography. Like Steno's published writing, De Solido, it is just a summary. While his writings were eagerly awaited by the Royal Society of London for the Improving of Natural Knowledge, Steno never published his promised dissertation. It would have provided the detailed support for the conclusions and principles he set forth in De Solido. That was left to James Hutton, the inventor of modern geology to do a century later. Given the plethora of detailed biographies of marginal politicians which have been published in the recent past it is a mystery why the life of a seminal thinker has not been thoroughly examined.
Very interesting biography, and well-told. The author stays out of the way of the story........2006-05-28
This was a very good book, and it's interesting in several different ways. On the one hand, it's a biography of Nicolaus Steno (which is the modern version of his scientific name, Nicolai Stenoni, which is an adaptation of his real name, Niels Steensen). It's also a history of the foundation of the science of geology, and it's a window into the early days of scientific exploration (before you object and raise the Greeks as an issue, it should be noted that despite their many studies, they never developed the scientific method, or experimental science). Many people unknowingly project our modern attitudes and opinions into the past, taking for granted the ideas of technology and knowledge. Because of that, we often forget that in the past, science and religion were not seen as diametrically opposed. Steno, who basically discovered stratigraphy and whose discoveries implied an age for the Earth older than Ussher's 6,000 years, or any other age based on a literal interpretation of the Bible, was a devout Lutheran who converted to Catholicism and spent the last few years of his life as a Catholic priest on a mission to convert protestants back to Catholicism. The main reason Steno converted was because he could not believe in a literal interpretation of the Bible, but that never altered his views about the existence of God or that God was the driving force behind the world. As a matter of fact, the men of science of Steno's time were studying science in order to find God in the world. That's why many such men were priests, and most men who weren't priests were still devoutly religious, such as Sir Isaac Newton.
Steno was born the son of a goldsmith in Copenhagen, Denmark (which was Lutheran) in 1638. He was born with copious manual dexterity and practiced it when he went to school to become an anatomist. And of course you must note that he started an anatomist, but his most famous discoveries were as a geologist and he ended life as a Catholic priest. This testifies to his many talents and mental prowess. Basically though, it all ties together. He was always a religious man, and he was exploring the beauty of God's creation when he dissected humans or animals. When a shark's head was brought to him for dissection, he noticed the similarity between the shark's teeth and "glossopetrae", or tongue stones that supposedly were natural formations that emanated from the Earth. Philosophers had tried to explain the formation of rocks in the Earth for a long time, but had never successfully explained how rocks could be formed that looked like seashells and shark teeth inside other rocks.
Basically this lead him to conclude that the only way it was possible was if the fossils had been there first and the rocks grew up around them. This led him to formulate the theory of sedimentation, which is that layers of rock are laid down on the bottom of a body of water. This property could be clearly observed even at their times on the small scales of buckets of dirty water or riverbeds. Steno understood the implications of those phenomena, and coupled that with his observations of the layers of rock evident in the mountains of Italy to come up with the new theory that the surface of the Earth was made by sedimentary layers. He also devised principles about these layers, called: the law of superposition, the principle of original horizontality, and the principle of lateral continuity. This is where you can see that by observing nature in order to find God, he found a natural process that works without any intervention from God. But even though that was just a few years after the Catholic church had punished Galileo, they didn't have a problem with Steno's work because their doctrine allowed that whatever was plainly observable must be true (something I wish biblical literalists would understand!)
In the debate over the correctness of Steno's arguments, which took place mostly after his death, the argument was never made that Steno's theory violated Christian belief in any way. Other Christian scientists either supported it or didn't, but never on the basis of conflict with written scripture.
Even if you don't read much non-fiction and aren't interested in geology, I would still say this book is interesting simply because it demonstrates some surprising things about the world and the people in it. Read it!
On Solids inside of Solids..........2005-01-04
Wonderfully written book. An easy read, full of historical quotes and imaginative ideas. This book is great for any science enthusiast. Having never taken a Geology class before, Cutler's biography sparked my imagination of seventeenth-century science and progress! Excellent! 5/5
Amazon.com
As a child, I found few things more fascinating than seashells: from the age of 10 until 15, I would often stay awake all night classifying and sorting shells that friends and family had sent me from around the world, and my most joyous summers were spent on the coasts of Maine, North Carolina, Florida, Washington, and Puerto Rico, gathering shells from the briny wrack.
As an adult, I have encountered few more beautifully illustrated volumes of seashells than this book. All of my favorites are here: the wentletraps, resembling elaborate spiral staircases (and so valued for their beauty in the 1800s that a clandestine industry of counterfeit wentletraps made of rice paste developed in China); the Venus Comb Murex, which has the beauty of a goddess's most prized hairbrush; the humble but lavishly calligraphed Nerites; and other extraordinarily colorful or structurally elaborate homes of homely molluscs. (This book also provides good evidence for my hypothesis that indigenous architectures of a region are influenced by the architecture of indigenous organisms.) An absolutely stunning book, and sure to be a source of inspiration for children, naturalists, and artists.
From the Publisher
The World's Most Beautiful Seashells won the Coffee Table Book Award of the National Association of Independent Publishers for 1996. It contains 305 large format, full color photographs of rare and lovely seashells. The photographer is James H. (Pete) Carmichael, whose nature photography has appeared widely in magazines such as Audobon, National Wildlife, Ranger Rick, etc. Pete is especially well-known for his work with shells, butterflies, and rainforests. The text is by Leonard Hill, a lifetime shell enthusiast, and a biologist employed by the US government who monitors the health of the oceans. At $32.95 in hardcover, the book has been considered an excellent value, and makes a great acquisition to the library of shell and nature enthusiasts.
Customer Reviews:
Fantastic shell book.......2006-08-30
This book is pure eye candy for shell lovers. The photographs are beautiful and the close ups allow you to see the fine detail of many shells. This book can also be used as a shell identification reference as the photos are clearly annotated with the names of the shells.
Great for beach lovers.......2006-08-07
My wife purchased this book for our beach house and we decided to keep a copy for ourselves at home. It has every shell that you could ever dream of. Our kids love the book because they can look up shells that they have found in the book and see what they are called and what use to live inside of them.
It is great for anyone that has a room or bathroom using seashells or an ocean decoration theme.
Very good book!
Much more then expected.......2006-06-28
This book is not by any means scientific.
This book is not an identification guide.
The species list is obviously very incomplete.
but...
Truly marvelous, large-format photography of only the best of the best GEM specimens. Each with a short description, which is VERY interesting to read - these are some real facts about the shells and not the description of what you can see on the photo. I consider myself an advanced collector, and this book is a real relief after reading some of the more advanced publications on shell collecting. An excellent source for some real-life knowledge. Highly recommended - both for collectors, or just anyone.
Outstanding Shell Photographs and Excellent Text.......2005-03-19
The two authors have done an excellent job, not only of selecting truly beautiful shells from all over the world and doing an outstanding job with the photographs, they have also written very informative text for those who are new to shell collecting. The types of shells are representative and nicely organized.
While this may not be the first book you need to identify your beach shell collection if you are a new comer to shell collection you discover shortly to compare your own sheels to these and realize that in fact your own may compare well.
I especially enjoyed the collages of limpets turned on both sides with the wonderful greens and blue greens of quite ordinary Barbados Limpets.
I would recommend it as say a fifth purchase after some good idenfication compendia and shorter books on just starting the hobby, if you are a beginner.
Good book.......2001-08-01
It is a beautiful book, top photography, every single page catches your eyes. It really portrays the beauty of the seashells.
Customer Reviews:
Disappointing 1981 edition.......2007-08-05
I must admit I purchased this book because of the 5 star reviews. I'm sorry that Amazon no longer offers views of the inside of books because had I seen this one I wouldn't have purchased it. I got the 1981 version so maybe the 1989 version is a lot better and worthy of the 5 stars. I'm reviewing the 1981 edition and if any of the reviews are for that edition, I'm at a loss as to why the great reviews. The photos of the shells are taken against colored backgrounds in groups instead of individual photos and it gives the effect of a shell collector's own amateur photos, instead of high quality photography. The photos are not crisp and clear and the colors are muted. There are light reflections off the shells and shadows on the edges of the shells. The smaller shells are hard to see and distinctions cannot always be made between two shells that are similar. In addition, the colored backgrounds themselves are a distraction and often not contrasting enough to the shells, such as the photos of orange volutes against an orange background. Also, yellow is a poor choice for the background of any shell. At least brown backgrounds weren't used! It gives the impression that half the fun in making the book was in the colored backgrounds and how pretty it will look when as the pages are turned. It is by no means a large collection of shells, though there are some nice specimens.
An excellent general reference shell book........2000-10-18
Not quite on the level of Compedium, but this is a nice general reference. Shells tend to be listed as often somewhat rarer than they actually are, but it's a minor complaint.
Beginner to Expert - A Must for the Seashell Collector.......2000-03-21
I have been collecting seashells for over forty years and have used this book since 1982. It is the most complete and best organized book on the subject that I have ever found. My copy is now worn, and I hope to replace it. I wish that the author would update the invaluable price list included in the book's appendix.
A must-read to the "serious" collector.......1999-11-03
I've been collecting seashells since I was 6, that is 26 years today! This is the best book ever published on the subject. We need a revised edition soon.
Excellent Price Guide.......1999-08-25
One of the few total seashell books. Giving hard to find information such as rarity and value...
Customer Reviews:
like a coloring challenge?.......2000-06-17
This happens to be the first Ruth Heller book I have ever owned and it has been great fun! My 6 year old daughter and I love to color in it. The patterns range from easy to quite intricate. I enjoy using markers but many of the designs would look wonderful in crayon or colored pencil. The designs are realistic and could easily be framed if one would like to. I definately recommend this book to fellow coloring enthusiasts!
like a coloring challenge?.......2000-06-17
This happens to be the first Ruth Heller book I have ever owned and it has been great fun! My 6 year old daughter and I love to color in it. The patterns range from easy to quite intricate. I enjoy using markers but many of the designs would look wonderful in crayon or colored pencil. The designs are realistic and could easily be framed if one would like to. I definately recommend this book to fellow coloring enthusiasts!
Customer Reviews:
Most complete reference book.......1998-07-11
This is one of the most complete reference books of its kind. Author shows a wide species mix with quality color pictures. One of the 3 best books for general collectors.
Average customer rating:
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Shell Crazy (Crazy Little) (A Crazy Little Series)
Tracy Gallup
Manufacturer: Mackinac Island Press, Inc.
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Stone Crazy (A Crazy Little Series)
ASIN: 1934133140
Release Date: 2007-04-10 |
Product Description
Some people are crazy about shells. These wondrous gifts from the sea intrigue us with their forms and textures. In Shell Crazy, a young beach-comber gets swept away by her passion for collecting until she remembers what is really important. Gracing each page is one of Tracy Gallup's handmade figures joined with a uniquely beautiful shell to tell a compelling story that will capture the hearts of children and adults.
Book Description
A comprehensive and beautifully illustrated guide to 1,200 seashells.
Seashells have an enduring beauty and fascination that is irresistible. Visiting and exploring any freshwater or marine beach usually includes hunting and gathering shells.
The
Guide to the Seashells of the World is a comprehensive identification guide that covers a wide range of shells from all parts of the world. The book combines comprehensive and informative text with 1,200 color illustrations, focusing on the shells themselves rather than on the marine creatures that once inhabited them.
An introductory section covers mollusks and their classification, terminology, collecting shells, along with conservation issues and an invaluable identification key.
The main section is the identification guide to 1,200 species in precise detail and clarity. The description of each species is accompanied on the same page with an easy-to-use identification key and color illustration.
The specific details for each entry include:
- Color picture of the shell
- Shell size
- Distribution and locations
- Color and texture
- Defining characteristics.
Guide to the Seashells of the World is an ideal reference for shell aficionados.
Book Description
Brimming with superb underwater photographs, hundreds of meticulously drawn color illustrations, tables, and graphs, this volume invites readers to observe the complex and beautiful world of shells more closely. The first part of the book explains how mollusks are formed and analyzes their anatomical structure. The text describes the vital functions of mollusks, including feeding, reproduction, and defense, and is accompanied by vivid photographs that bring to life small dramas of everyday life under water. Essential information for collectors is provided on how to classify, catalogue, and preserve shells. The latter part of the book is an exhaustive field guide to shells of the world, featuring photographs and descriptions of more than 400 different types. With its user-friendly layout and handy, portable format, this handbook is a superb travel companion and an invaluable reference for naturalists.
Customer Reviews:
Shells: Guide to the jewels of the sea.......2007-02-17
Good both as technical reference as well as for display
About the shells, but in a very biological way.......2006-06-28
This is actually a book about the living molluscs, and not the shells themselves. Some of the best underwater photography i have ever seen to date is to be found here and in large format. The text is mostly biological and comprehensive.
The species guide, which is included in the last 50 pages is actually almost next to useless. It is incomplete, the drawings (no photos here) are not always good enough and the descriptions have mistakes.
Anyhow, if you've ever wanted to see an A3-format photo of Tridacna Gigas, two Cypraeas breeding, a Colublaria sucking on a shark or a Conus eating a live fish in a series of photographs, this is the book to buy !
Lovely photos, fair figures, lacking on text.......2000-11-29
This is an excellent book. I was impressed by the photos of different marine mollusks in their native habitats, often engaged in complex feeding activities (especially note Colubraria feeding on a parrot fish through it's mucus bubble). It's very nice to see, for a change, a book dedicated to the living organisms that we as Conchologists often tend to forget when engaging in this hobby. I have an extensive collection of shell books and would say to the best of my knowledge this book simply has some of the finest mollusk habitat photography of any book I've seen. I wish they included a bit more text; I felt that a little more info with those excellent photos this would have made this a classic text. Instead it is a excellent book for the amature collector looking for more than the typical identification of shells book. That maybe a mis-characterization as there was information in the text that was new to me (and I have been in this hobby for 30 years), but a lot of the text seemed 'wanting'. Well worth a look see.
Customer Reviews:
My Very First Shell Book.......2002-04-07
When I was 12 years old our family went on vacation to Folly Island South Carolina. I had been a shell enthusiast since I was in diapers and we got to stay in a beach house owned by my uncle. I was in heaven! I grew up in the northeast and had never seen any of the shells that seemed to be common place there. Unfortunately, up to then I had never owned a book on shells and knew little about them or even what to call most of them. On my second day there my aunt gave me a little book with shells on the cover. I opened it up and it opened a whole new world for me. I was mesmerized. I now had a source of information about my favorite pastime. I looked up and found each and every shell I had found and even learned how to clean and take care of them like a professional. That book was Seashells of the World. Thirty years later I now have thousands of shells and hundreds of books on shells, many of them quite advanced but to this day that little book is my favorite by far. I have worn out my tenth copy and never go anywhere without a copy. It is perfect for all ages from toddler to adult.
Excellent Book for All Ages.......1999-09-22
As a teacher I used this book for the first time with Elementary school children. Who love it and find it easy to use. They actually get excited about Seashells! I am going to buy more copies for each child in my class! I always wondered about the names and classifications of many of the shells that I have found along the Florida Coast, and now I know!!!
unusual renderings of prototype specimens.......1998-05-22
As one of the illustrators (Marita), I would like to point out that I produced many of these illustrations from black and white photographs of perfectly shaped shells which were then colored according to the colors and patterns on recently acquired shells...the illustrations therefore are quite special in that they are the prototypes for their classification.
Books:
- Seasons on the Pacific Coast: A Naturalist's Notebook
- Self-Organizing Maps
- Sex Chromosomes And Sex Determination In Vertebrates
- Sonoran Desert Wildflowers: A Field Guide to the Common Wildflowers of the Sonoran Desert, Including Anza-Borrego Desert State Park, Saguaro National Park, Organ Pipe National Monument, Ironwood Forest National Monument, and the Sonoran Portion of Joshua Tree National Park
- Spirits of the Jaguar: The Natural History and Ancient Civilizations of the Caribbean and Central America
- Strolling with Our Kin: Speaking for and Respecting Voiceless Animals
- Survival of the Sickest: A Medical Maverick Discovers Why We Need Disease
- Symbiosis: An Introduction to Biological Associations
- The Beast in the Garden: The True Story of a Predator's Deadly Return to Suburban America
- The Bulldozer In The Countryside: Suburban Sprawl and the Rise of American Environmentalism (Studies in Environment and History)
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