Book Description

A beautiful and authoritative reference on the butterflies of the world.

Butterflies are the most charismatic species of the insect world. Their brilliant colors, ability to fly, complex behavior, ecological relationships with plants and other animals, and their broad distribution in a wide variety of habitats have fascinated experts and laypersons alike for centuries.

Now, as the butterfly's migratory routes are destroyed by deforestation and pollution, this book is an urgent plea to nature lovers to become more aware of the very real threats to this magnificent creature.

With over 300 color photographs and drawings, this lavishly illustrated guide to the world of butterflies provides the reader with a wide range of information about this colorful and graceful insect.

The book is divided into five chapters, each focusing on a major question:
- What are butterflies?
- How many kinds of butterflies are there?
- Where do they live?
- How do they live?
- What can we do to help them survive?

Among the many topics discussed in detail are evolution, life cycle, courtship and reproduction, anatomy, geographic distribution, migration, demography, as well as butterfly-watching.

Always informative and engaging, this comprehensive look at the world of butterflies is replete with fascinating facts and is the first book to feature pictures of butterflies in their natural settings.

Accurate, comprehensive, and beautifully illustrated, this is the ultimate guide to the world of butterflies. ... Read more

Reviews (2)

Highly Recommended-- Fills a Great Need
This book can be unreservedly recommended-- not only for butterfly lovers and aficionados but the general lover of nature. To its great credit, it does many things at the same time, and does them all well. While it can introduce the general nature lover to the wonders of butterflies, it can also take seasoned butterfly enthusiasts even deeper into their favorite subject. Neither party will feel left out. The book is a judicious combination of informed text and beautiful, pertinent, photographs and graphic illustrations. One role this book fills is a gap which has "gaped" for many decades-- one between the simple love of Lepidoptera and the science of Lepidoptera. Many lepidopterists who see this book are going to wish THEY had it when they were young. This is because the book builds so many easy bridges between the simple love of butterflies and the wondrous complexity of their science. It hits the whole spectrum-- from life cycle, body and structure, classification, distribution, and general biology to more complex topics-- like mimicry and genetics. And, in each case, there are diagrams and/or photographs making even the most complex topics readily understandable. I bought a copy and gave it to a young friend who, at 10, is just beginning to take his love of butterflies to a higher level of serious learning. However, the book will work just as well for adults; if a professional wanted a quick refresher on many topics in lepidoptery he could find them here as well. The other major topic that A World For Butterflies bites off with gusto is conservation. The topic is treated not just with sweeping worldwide generalities but with compelling and intricate case studies highlighting the complexities that lie beneath the problem of species endangerment worldwide. This book deserves to do very well.

A World for Butterflies
The author's goal was to bridge the gap between researcher and teacher. I think he accomplished this admirably through the pictures. Almost every page has a beautiful photograph. The book is comprehensive and authoritative, covering conservation, classification, life cycle, and geographic distribution. "Six case studies illustrate some of the major problems faced by butterflies, and some of the real and potential solutions that have been (or can be) used to moderate their decline or endangerment". Includes bibliographic references and index. This book should appeal to young fans of the Very Hungry Butterfly as well as older students studying and classifying butterflies. ... Read more

Book Description

Newly translated works by Nabokov on the twin passions of his life, literature and lepidoptera.A rich array of never-before-seen Nabokovia: novels, stories, poems, autobiography, interviews, diaries, and more, plus scientific and fanciful drawings by Nabokov and photographs of him in the field.The text--the richest and most varied assemblage of Nabokov's writing's available--is arranged chronologically and introduced by Brian Boyd and Robert Michael Pyle ... Read more

Reviews (6)

An orgy of Nabokoviana.
The prize is an unfinished short story, "The Admirable Anglewing", at an immediate stage of note-taking on index cards. It's an intriguing dead end, identifiably a two-strata Nabokov, but with a strikingly scientific directness not elsewhere seen.

The bonus is an unpublished continuation of The Gift (tr. Dmitri Nabokov), which formulates a general expression of evolutionary theory in a clear and useful way, as it relates to a larger understanding of problems in taxonomy, probably omitted for the same reason "The Admirable Anglewing" was dropped.

Notes for The Butterflies Of Europe, much of Nabokov's lepidopterological work (Russia obviously lost a lepidopterist of genius), "butterfly" excerpts from the fiction, and much, much more.

It Always Came Down To Butterflies
"From the age of seven, everything I felt in connection with a rectangle of framed sunlight was dominated by a single passion," wrote Valdimir Nabokov. "If my first glance of the morning was for the sun, my first thought was for the butterflies it would engender." This was certainly an unusual way in which to view the world and one that not many readers, even those who adore Nabokov, have shared.

In fact, the ferocity of Nabokov's obsession with butterflies has only just begun to become clear with the publication of this gorgeous new book, a volume of heretofore unpublished and uncorrected writings on the subject of butterflies, edited by Nabokov's biographer Brian Boyd, together with Michael Pyle, an expert on butterflies. All translations were done by Nabokov's son, Dmitri, who has lavished his time and talent on his father's work for several decades.

Even those of us who cannot get enough of Nabokov and cannot praise him highly enough may find more than 700 densely-printed pages on the subject of butterflies a little much. As much as we love Nabokov, do we really want to read page after page of his highly technical descriptions of the various species of butterfly? Are these writings really important, from a scientific viewpoint? Is there any connection between Nabokov's passion for butterflies and his extraordinary fiction?

Although most people would probably answer "no" to the first two questions, the answer to the third is a surprisingly enthusiastic, "yes."

In his wonderful introduction, Boyd begins to elucidate the connections between Nabokov the writer and Nabokov the lepidopterist. We come to understand the novelist more completely and precisely by coming to understand that science that gave this unique author "a sense of reality that should not be confused with modern (or postmodern) epistemological nihilism."

It was while dissecting and deciphering his butterflies that Nabokov came to the conclusion that the more we inquire, the more we can discover, yet the more we discover, the more we find we do not know. The world, Nabokov says, is infinitely detailed, complex and deceptive.

Nabokov's important writings on butterflies are reproduced in this volume, but thankfully, in reduced form. And other kinds of writing by Nabokov have been blended over the scientific prose, beginning with the luminous meditation on butterflies from Chapter Six of Speak, Memory.

The poems, memoirs, letters, diary entries, criticism and fiction that make up this beautiful volume cover a period from 1941 to 1947, when Nabokov was at his most obsessive...as far as butterflies are concerned. This obsessiveness, however, is gorgeous to behold, as in a letter from Nabokov to Edmund Wilson about a lecture trip he made to Sweet Briar College. "The weather...was perfectly dreadful and except for a few Everes comyntas there was nothing on the wing." It always came down to butterflies.

Nabokov's interest in butterflies went far beyond sorting out and naming them. He was much more than a mere tabulator or categorizer. There is something exquisitely metaphysical, even mystical, about his approach to butterflies, something that also tells us of his quest to plumb the depths of nature's complexity. In his obsession, Nabokov sought to understand the sense of design that underlies the the physical world, and he also took enormous delight in the mysteries God chose to hide from human beings, leaving to them to seek them out or not.

As Boyd notes, Nabokov "preferred the small type to the main text, the obscure to the obvious, the thrill of finding for himself what was not common knowledge." His scientific writings overflow with minutiae, with obscure details, lovingly searched out, sorted, underlined, displayed. This preference for the complexity of life also underscores his writings, most notably his massive commentary on Pushkin's Onegin, the gorgeous and imaginative Pale Fire and Ada, a late masterpiece in which Nabokov's penchant for complexity reached spellbinding heights.

While only a small percentage of readers may want to study the scientific articles in this book, their very presence operates in the most subtle of ways to remind us that Nabokov, who referred to himself as VN, was also a student "of that other VN, Visible Nature." In his magnificent fiction, Nabokov offered the world a complete view of the complexity and richness of the human spirit. He might not have been so meticulous and so thorough were it not for his passion for the intricate world of butterflies, so beautifully on view in this book.

Nabakov's butterflies
12 Exotic Brazilian Butterflies In a high Quality Frame 12.5" x 8.5" (Current bid: $65.00) * 12 Exotic Brazilian Butterflies In a high Quality Frame 12.5" x 8.5" (Current bid: $65.00)

I sincerely hope that these other items you recommend to potential buyers of this book, are NOT butterflies that were caught in Brazil and shipped to the USA, nor ideally even butterflies breed in the US especially for the purpose of later gracing someone's wall. Not very environmentally sound at all if the former, and karmically, still just as bad if the latter. I do not think that the editors of Nabakov's Butterflies would support this at all, even if they are all avid butterfly enthusiasts. Leave the butterflies in peace!

------------------------------------------------------------------------

Dessert, and More
Yes, this book is the perfect companion to Nabokov's Blues and the stories of Lepidoptera spun in Nabokov's own Speak, Memory and Strong Opinions. You won't get the narrative read of Nabokov's scientific career as so aptly written by Johnson and Coates last year, but this is different fare-- the hard stuff-- letters, excerpts, drawings, complete works, interviews, speeches and expert commentary. Also, the book goes into all the aspects of Nabokov's work on butterflies, including the projects he did not complete. With this book and the other books of the centennial there will no further doubt about Nabokov's important contribution to science and the fact that, even minus literature, he could have made quite a name for himself in that field alone.

Yes! Yes! Yes!
Pick up this book, open it to any page and begin reading. You won't be able to put it down. From "Laughter," a poem as lovely and delicate as the azure it honors, to the detailed drawings, artistic renderings, and delightful writings, it soon becomes obvious that Nabokov saw a universe in a butterfly's wing. How fortunate we are that he left this magnificent record of his thought and activity. Begin reading anywhere and soon you will be drawn into his world, a world always colored by the butterflies and moths that were his passion. Now I have to reread his fiction with a new eye. Nabokov's passionate life and work is an inspiration to the least of us. ... Read more

Reviews (2)

Incredible information and photos!
This book is a must-have, even for people who don't live in Florida. It is filled to the brim with wonderful photos and information on many types of North American butterflies. Just the photos make it worth the purchase! We're adding it to our butterfly library for reference work.

A fascinating look at Florida's butterflies.
As a beginning butterfly gardener in Florida, I found this book to be an essential tool near my window. The beautiful, large photographs always helped me identify the beauties that visit my backyard. The book also helped me identify the eggs, caterpillars and pupas in my garden. The text is also very interesting and includes information about butterfly habits and food. This is a must for anyone who wants to learn more about the butterflies in Florida. ... Read more

Book Description

Identifying butterflies in the field has never been so easy. This book is an excellent guide for both experienced and novice lepidopterists who wish to identify, attract, raise, and photograph butterflies.

Butterflies of Oklahoma, Kansas, and North Texas focuses on one hundred butterfly species common to the southern plains, a crucial crossroads region of the central United States. Each species is illustrated with one to four color photographs of butterflies in free flight and other natural settings. These candid shots are a welcome departure from the dried-and-pinned specimen photographs of some field guides. Photographs are placed alongside each butterfly's physical description and natural history, eliminating the need to flip between galleries and text. Other unique features include:

• modern terminology that general readers will understand
• descriptions of twenty prime butterfly spotting sites in the tri-state region
• information on how to raise butterflies from larval to adult stages
• an extensive bibliography of additional resources.

More conservationists are recognizing the importance of butterflies to the ecosystem-as plant pollinators and examples of natural mimicry and coloration. The authors of this guidebook hope that a deeper understanding of these intriguing insects will lead to their protection and to preservation of their habitat. ... Read more

Book Description

The monarch butterfly is our best-known and best-loved insect, and its annual migration over thousands of miles is an extraordinary natural phenomenon. Robert Michael Pyle, "one of America's finest natural history writers" (Sue Hubbell), set out late one summer to follow the monarchs south from their northernmost breeding ground in British Columbia. CHASING MONARCHS tells the engrossing story of his adventurous journey with these graceful wanderers -- down the Columbia, Snake, Bear, and Colorado rivers, across the Bonneville Salt Flats, and through the Chiricahua Mountains to Mexico, returning north along the California coast. Part travelogue, part scientific study, CHASING MONARCHS is one of the most fascinating books ever written about butterflies. "[Pyle's] delightful anecdotes, thought-provoking philosophical questions and personal passion make this chronicle a potential classic" (Monarch News). ... Read more

Reviews (5)

an ok book
This is an ok book - it was a bit hard to get into/get through and a bit repetitive. I wish it had more science (written in lay terms) woven in. It was more about driving, spotting a butterfly, driving again to the next spot. (Its more about the journey than about butterflies, they're just the excuse for the drive it seems) Did't really capture me like I hoped it would and I didn't learn much. I was looking for a story more based on the butterfly's experiece and what it goes through than that of the author. Monarchs are actually quite incredible in that its not the same butterfly that makes the whole journey from the east coast all the way to Mexico - it lays eggs and the offspring carry out the journey, knowing which direction to go in innately. Then the process reverses in the spring. I was hoping to learn more about all that in this book but didn't.

Chasing Monarchs. Warning this book may change your life!
Bob Pyle has given us an insightful look into the butterfly lover's life and inspirations. This a nice way to review your own feelings about conservation, the natural world, and how you spend your time. Traveling will never be the same again for me. Now I can boldly ask any convenience store clerk, "Have you seen any Monarchs lately?" This book is a travel log, a natural history lesson, and an expansive look at the world around us.

Pyle's books are fantastic
This is a great book detailing a threatened bio-phenomenon. As always, you can't go wrong with one of Bob Pyle's books!

Chasing Monarchs Review
This book is excellent; if you loved Anne Dillard's you will love this one. Nuff said.

One of the Big Two for 1999
I'm amazed no one else wrote about this book. Lepidopterists know it, and Pyle, well. My friends at the New York Butterfly Club put me on to this book and Kurt Johnson's Nabokov's Blues. They are both great books. Pyle's book takes you on a journey from the Pacific Northwest all the way to Mexico, following the annual fall migration of these magnificent orange butterflies. You not only learn about butterflies but a historical travelog of much of the old west, tidbits of local history, fantastic scenery and lots of scientific adventure and daring. Conservation issues are the internal lesson, so you have a worthwhile message along with a great story. The other book, about Nabokov's science is similar-- a great adventure story with butterflies, and a great novelist/writer as central character. Someone told me butterflies are about as popular now as dinosaurs. Its easy to see why. I live and work in the city, so reading about the great outdoors is a great break and fascination. Its wonderful that respected scientists are telling fascinating stories about the creatures they study. You can't go wrong with either of these books. ... Read more

Reviews (1)

24 Flower and Butterflies Stickers
Average size is 1 inch by 2 inches. They are attractive stickers using more primary colors than pastels. ... Read more

Book Description

Here is an exquisitely beautiful homage to the colorful celebrity of the insect world, the butterfly. With more than 300 photographs of real butterflies presented in a unique accordion-fold format, Butterflies in Flight is a strikingly attractive gift book that will appeal to anyone who appreciates art and nature.

Hundreds of butterflies soar and drift across the page. Each panel of this traditional Japanese format stands on its own visually, yet is also designed to lead to the next panel so that the flight itself appears to glide, panel after panel, before the viewer. The accordion format, which unfolds to more than seventy feet, allows the book to be set upright and displayed as a delightful art object.

Roger Camp has used modern techniques of photography and digital imaging brilliantly to create an irresistible flight of real butterflies. He was inspired by Kanzaka Sekka's 1904 woodblock-printed book, One Thousand Kinds of Butterflies, to find a contemporary way of marrying beauty with technology, thus creating a magical presentation of these infinitely graceful creatures.

Over 300 images of more than 250 species of butterflies. A separate "Guide to the Butterflies" identifies by name and habitat every butterfly depicted. Slipcase and real cloth binding. Over 300 color illustrations; 104 pages, accordion format. ... Read more

Reviews (4)

Butterflies in Flight
The book "Butterflies in Flight" by Roger Camp is such a visceral experience. It is so striking, intuitive and emotional. It just grabs you and takes you on a visual and sensitive but demonstrative trip through an explosion of color that transforms it into a butterfly sanctuary. Wow! What a great book for everyone affected by Sept. 11. The book takes you to ethereal places far from hate and anxiety.

Flight and Color as Rhythm
The joy that Camp brings to this accordian format tickles my senses and transports me to long-ago childhood gardens. Colors dazzle, while shapes and markings mystify me. He offers a wondrous world, indeed. I deeply appreciate the hours and patience Camp devoted to this digital project - that we might take off on our own flights of fancy. This is a marvelous gift for the holiday season. It should have a vast appeal to naturalists and photographers, both the young and the adult.

Art and the Butterfly
If you love art as much as you love butterflies, you'll find this book is an amazing combination of the two. The layout and design makes it all the more unique. If you have a butterfly lover in your family, you MUST add this to their holiday gifts.

Beauty in flight
a beautiful picture essay dipicting the essence and colour of these lovely insects.

a true fantasy of flight as I turned each page.

the unique format helps make the book even more special. ... Read more

Book Description

The Stokes Beginner's Guides, intended for beginning nature lovers of all ages, offer a wealth of identification and behavior information in a portable pocket-sized format. Illustrated throughout with full-color photographs and range maps, each Beginner's Guide is organized according to the Stokes' easy-to-use and popular color-tab system. ... Read more

Book Description

Garden Butterflies of North America is a vivid color portfolio of 40 of North America's most treasured and colorful garden butterfly varieties. It's also loaded with natural history vignettes of the individual butterflies as well as illustrated information on how to design and manage gardens and backyards to attract them. You will find numerous charts and plans for all types of gardens, from a container garden to a full-sized formal garden, specific details on plants that attract butterflies, how-to diagrams for building a butterfly hibernating box, and water sources such as ponds, fountains, mud baths, and waterless ponds. Rick Mikula is the founder of the Hole-in-Hand Butterfly Farm where he's been breeding and selling butterflies in seven greenhouses since 1980. His work has been profiled in People magazine, The Wall Street Journal and on the Discovery Channel. In addition, Mikula serves as the butterfly habitat consultant for many universities, zoos, museums and aviaries. ... Read more

Reviews (2)

Wonderful, informative book
I checked out several books from the library to complete my research on a butterfly garden for my backyard. This one book was the best, most informative, easiest instructions I found. I had a small area to work with, and 2 years later my butterfly garden is a beautiful sight to behold, and my personal treasure to work in and with. It's design follows Mr. Mikula's basic instructions, and to date we have had several different types of butterflies visit our garden. What a joy. Thank you, Mr. Mikula!!

Beautiful book but misleading title
The photos are superb and the text interesting; if the title were "Common Garden Butterflies of the United States" I'd give it 5 stars. The existing title is very misleading, however. Only the most common U.S. butterflies are included and coverage of Canada is neglible.

bunt@duke.usask.ca ... Read more

Book Description

All across the country, butterflies are becoming as popular as birds and wildflowers, especially among people seeking to enjoy the rich natural resources that Texas possesses. John and Gloria Tveten have been studying butterflies in Southeast Texas for thirty-five years, and here they offer their considerable knowledge to everyone who shares their passion for butterflies.In this easy-to-use field guide, the Tvetens describe and illustrate more than 100 species of butterflies that live in Southeast Texas and can often be found across the state. Striking color photographs of living butterflies and caterpillars (a unique addition) show the key marks and characteristics necessary for field identification. The Tvetens' enjoyable and authoritative text describes each species' life history, habits, flight patterns, and characteristic markings.An account of the different butterfly families, from swallowtails to longwings to skippers, precedes the descriptions of the species within each family. The Tvetens also include an interesting discussion of butterfly biology, a complete checklist of area butterflies, an index of butterfly-attracting plants, and pointers to other butterfly resources.This field guide is the first to focus exclusively on Southeast Texas butterflies. It will be the essential reference for everyone seeking a reliable way to identify these butterflies, from field observers to apartment dwellers who wonder what is fluttering around the pot plants on the balcony. ... Read more

Reviews (2)

The Best
The Tvetens have written the definitive account of butterflies in eastern Texas. John's photos are incredible and show the key field makes needed to identify each species. Most accounts of each species also include a photo of the larval stage. All account include a description of the egg, larva, male and female adult and seasonal variations. I use this book all the time.

excellent field guide to Texas butterflies
This is a beautifully illustrated guidebook. What makes it particularly useful and informative are the outstanding photographs of butterflies in different stages of their life cycle and different color phases, together with the extremely well-written text which thoroughly describes the natural history of each variety. ... Read more

Reviews (1)

Great for beginners and cross-over birders
I found this a great book for getting a start on butterfly identification. I wanted something limited to my part of North America since I have found that field guides that cover the whole continent are overwhelming and time-consuming to use when first trying to get to know any group of plants or animals.

The book is easy to flip through rapidly. You need only look at the lefthand pages to quickly review a group of butterflies. Most double page spreads show both the dorsal (upperside) and ventral (underside) views of both the fore and hind wings. Family and subfamily are at the bottom of the pages and there is a useful monthly occurrence chart (phenogram) under each picture. Each picture also includes a bar that indicates the actual wing span of the species--a very useful device I haven't seen in other butterfly books. Textual notes include the "Nature Notes" which give behavioral or other useful information for making ids.

The standard text sections for each species include: Description, Similar Species, Life Cycle, Eggs, Caterpillar, Chrysalis, Wintering, Caterpillar Food, and Adult Food. The descriptive text is excellent. It gives a description from above and from below and provides clear references to the field mark lines which indicate key points in the photos.

All in all, this is a superb field guide if you are interested in the butterflies of New England. I have compared it to the Kaufman Focus and Petersen field guides on butterflies and it seems to lack nothing for someone whose focus is on the northeast.

It's even sized to fit into your pants pocket and weighs about 1/3 what a "standard" field guide weighs.

I'd say this book may currently be a sleeper, but is destined to become a classic. ... Read more

Reviews (1)

Monarch Journal is Outstanding
This book is an excellent teaching guide for young children and adults to learn about the miracle of metamorphosis of a monarch butterfly. There are many sharp, colorful photographs showing in detail each stage from the egg to the butterfly. On each page below the stage by stage photos there is an area for keeping a journal about one's own butterfly's development including an area for an original drawing. The back part of this parent/teacher version of the book has much information about raising a monarch, and study questions for each page of the journal. The many photos are the best I have seen of the life cycle of the monarch, and make the book accesible for preschoolers as well as older children and adults. ... Read more

Book Description

Reviews (1)

Attrating Birds, Butterflies & Other Winged Wonders Inspires
What a fantastic book. Everyone who reads it will be inspired to create a garden habitat for things with wings.The book is very enjoyble to read with lots of personal stories that illustrate the author knows what she is talking about!The concise, but friendly, organization of the information and the beautiful photos make this book an outstanding "how to" resource, as well.A "must have" book for every gardeners and for every bird and butterfly enthusiast. ... Read more

Book Description

Filled with succinct descriptions and dazzling photographs, the National Audubon Society Pocket Guide to Familiar Butterflies in North America is designed to be compact enough for nature-lovers to easily bring along when observing butterflies. This streamlined volume contains: a simple field guide identifying 80 of the most widespread butterflies in North America and a complete overview of observing butterflies, covering basic identifying field marks and practical tips for observing and distinguishing different butterflies.

This pocket guide is packed with information; bright photographs capturing the butterflies perched with their wings spread and closed; specific descriptions of each species' important identifying characteristics, life cycle, habitat and range, line drawings depicting the basic butterfly anatomy, a description of major butterfly groups and a glossary of technical terms.

When observing these beautifully fragile creatures, the National Audubon Society Guide to Familiar Butterflies of North America is an excellent and handy reference guide to take along during any nature walk.

... Read more

Reviews (1)

Familiar Butterflies of North America
The size makes it very convenient for use while observing. Species pictures on the left hand pages in the upper left corner are most useful when the pages are fanned for quick identification. Information on that particular member of the species is excellent. ... Read more

Book Description

Book Description

Human beings have long been captivated by the striking orange and black dress and the epic migrations of monarch butterflies. The World of the Monarch Butterfly combines a graceful text and stunning full-color photographs to capture the essence of this fragile yet hardy species.

Monarchs have the longest migration in the insect world. The monarch takes about three months to migrate approximately 2500 miles and may cover over 80 miles each day. Tens of millions of monarchs in North America migrate to a single small area of rare oyamel forests high in the mountains west of Mexico City. How does each generation find its way to the same place every year? How do monarchs know when to begin their journey? And what causes monarchs born at the end of the summer to migrate while those born in midsummer don't?

Well-known science writer Eric S. Grace explores these and other questions, describing the dangers of migration, the monarch's use of the milkweed plant as a defense against predators, the intricate courtship rituals of the monarch, and the dramatic metamorphosis that transforms a voracious stay-at-home caterpillar into an elegant and gregarious beauty. He also discusses the tragic loss of monarch roosting sites to logging, the destruction of monarch habitat by agriculture and urbanization, and the need for international cooperation to protect the monarch.

Exquisite photographs portray monarch butterflies filling an intense blue sky, alighting singly on a wildflower, and emerging from a cocoon. Other photographs show the environment where they live. Together, text and photographs elucidate the mystery of the marvelous monarch. ... Read more

Reviews (1)

Amazing!!!!!
I've got a thing for Monarch butterflies so when I saw this book I jumped on getting it. I have a number of other books pertaining to Monarchs but the photographs in here are absolutely moving! There are close-up images of the egg and emerging caterpillar, there are pictures of the sky filled with these orange and black jewels, there are close-ups of chrysallids that fill a page of the book. Its just amazing. But wait, its much more than just a picture book. The text is great too. Each stage of development is covered (with great corresponding photographs, extreme close-ups), and following metamorphosis, there's discussion of the Journey South, the paths of migration, some discussion of tagging, a section on the winter roosts, and a discussion of morach habitats, food predators etc. A really wonderful work, extremely well done!!! ... Read more