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Bill Adler Jr. has put together a great book filled with useful information on how to deal with troublesome critters in your life, from ants to alligators, ducks to deer, mice to moose! Written with wit and the voice of a true storyteller, the book is not only factual and helpful, but a lot of fun to read. Adler's preference for not using poisons and pesticides is more environmentally friendly, and in the long run, outwitting the bothersome creatures in your life simply works better. --Mark A. Hetts ... Read more

Reviews (1)

Critter problems? Buy this book.
This is a very well-written and thorough book. Almost every possible creature is covered. Alligators sunbathing in your yard? Termites eating you out of house and home? Bats in your attic? Slugs in your garden? Raccoons getting into your garbage? Coyotes roaming your property.? No matter what critter is causing you a problem, this book offers possible solutions.

Each of these topics is covered in detail. It is apparent that the author has done extensive research to ensure that the information is complete and factual. The book explains what attracts various creatures and what damage they may cause. He also explains how to repel them and/or remove them if they have invaded your house or property. The recommendations provided are non-lethal, environmental-friendly solutions. The book's appendix also lists a wide variety of resources that you can contact to obtain more information or purchase some of the critter control products recommended in the text.

If you have a problem with some kind of critter then this is the book for you. ... Read more

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Starting Right with BEES
Starting Right with Bees is an excellent bulletin for the person who is thinking about starting a bee colony, or one who has just started. It highlights the most important facts, gives required information to begin a bee hive. This bulletin is inexpensive and can give you enough imformation to get you started, and on your way to enjoying your bee hive. ... Read more

Book Description

Describes all common, North America ticks and tick-related diseases, including symptoms and treatment. Learn how to avoid ticks, and how to remove them if they become attached. Maps show the geographic distribution of these disease carriers. ... Read more

Book Description

This special edition of the highly acclaimed A Sand County Almanac commemorates the one-hundreth anniversary of the birth of Aldo Leopold, one of the foremost conservationists of our century.First published in 1949 and praised in The New York Times Book Review as "full of beauty and vigor and bite," A Sand County Almanac combines some of the finest nature writing since Thoreau with an outspoken and highly ethical regard for America's relationship to the land.

The volume includes a section on the monthly changes of the Wisconsin countryside; another section that gathers together the informal pieces written by Leopold over a forty-year period as he traveled around the woodlands of Wisconsin, Iowa, Arizona, Sonora, Oregon, Manitoba, and elsewhere; and a final section in which Leopold addresses more formally the philosophical issues involved in wildlife conservation.As the forerunner of such important books as Annie Dillard's Pilgrim at Tinker Creek, Edward Abbey's Desert Solitaire, and Robert Finch's The Primal Place, this classic work remains as relevant today as it was forty years ago. ... Read more

Reviews (44)

The Danger To Nature Is Our Nonparticipation
There are few books on conservation, wildlife and nature that haven't been quickly obsoleted, are hoplessly trapped in period pop cultural amber, are fronts for naive political extremism or are simply irrelevant.

Aldo Leopold's "A Sand County Almanac" is one of those few; composed of illuminating vignettes dealing with practical knowledge of and experience in the North American wilderness, thoughtful critiques of today's accepted notions of wildlife and land "management," and the realistic acceptance of the human role as a predator within nature's massive food chain. Leopold believed humanity's ever-increasing physical and psychological isolation from full but equal participation in all parts of the natural world's reality--its beauty and wonder as well as its cruelty and danger--has been to its severe detriment.

This trend, to him, is leading us to environmental carelessness, colossal misuse and waste of natural resources, and, worst of all, gives rise to an aberrant social ideology reveling in the fatuous cartoon fantasy of nature being a big, happy, perpetually peaceful commune if only humans weren't there. After looking at our sad record of pollution, repeated habitat destruction, poaching, overfishing and listening to the endless, arrogant prattle of government bureaucrats, pop conservationists and so-called animal rights activists, it seems Leopold is indeed a prophet for our times

What Do You Value?
An American classic, A Sand County Almanac by Aldo Leopold extolls the highest virtues attainable in nature when Homo sapiens adopt a land ethic, which recognizes that, regardless of economic considerations, the preservation of the natural environment is an obligation. Leopold introduces the reader to wildlife and the land on a personal level, while stressing the fact that a communal relationship exists between human beings and the earth. Instead of presenting people as domineering conquerors over the environment, Leopold explains that humans are interdependent members of an energy circuit called the biota, which consists of all living animals and plants.

It is easy to see why this book, A Sand County Almanac, is still quoted today. Has the United States or the world considered instituting a land ethic? Are major decisions involving mining, farming, manufacturing, hydroelectric power, housing construction, waste disposal, recreation, and nuclear energy utilizing a universal land ethic? Why not? Has the scientific world given modern society the answers concerning land and water renewal or how to prevent animal extinction? All of the basic philosophical arguments presented in Leopold's book are still being pondered by conservationists today. Besides explaining why a land ethic is needed, this book is an indictment upon each generation that reads it and yet does nothing. Not only is Leopold's text a good read, but it is also an essential one.

Marilyn Glaser, Student
Great Basin College

A poetic journey for the diehard environmentalist
Are you one of those people who actually likes to read Thoreau? Well then you're missing out! Aldo Leopold is sooooo much better. Leopold's writing is poetic yet it also calls the common person to action. Likewise Leopold walks the walk when it comes to protecting the environment. While this book isn't exactly page turning, if you like authors like Thoreau, then you should definitely check out The Sand County Almanac, which is the bible to environmentalists. Random Excerpts:: There are some who can live without wild things, and some who cannot. These essays are the delights and dilemmas of one who cannot...the opportunity to see geese is more important than television, and the chance to find a pasque-flower is a right as inalienable as free speech. ___Is education possibly a process of trading awareness for things of lesser worth? The goose who trades his is soon a pile of feathers.:: If you are a die hard environmentalist (or you just like to read poetic stuff) this book is for you.

An Environmental Classic
Aldo Leopold summarizes many environmental movements within this compilation of essays. The Sand County Almanac was one of those university-assigned books that I could not part with and still have today. A must read if you are interesed in the mind of the Wisconsin borne man who set aside the first designated wilderness in New Mexico.

A whole different world existing so near & yet so far.
A fine work in which Aldo Leopold personifies all the creatures & flora living in the forest. He knew even then, in the 1940's that their world was at risk, from us & they would lose. As a learning exercise it works & I recommend it espcially to high school students.
The division of the tape into 12 months serving as chapters is also effective as is continiuing story of the felling of a great tree. As they cut deeper we are taken back in time.
A good tape to relax with. Stewart Udalls narration is just right. ... Read more

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But the patience of the bees is not equal to that of men. One morning the long-expected word of command goes through the hive; and the peaceful workers turn into judges and executioners. Whence this word issues, we know not; it would seem to emanate suddenly from the cold, deliberate indignation of the workers; and no sooner has it been uttered than every heart throbs with it, inspired with the genius of the unanimous republic. ... Read more

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An Absolutely Fabulous Book
This book is one of the best recent examples of naturalistic painting that I have seen in a while. Her use of texture and keen eye for detail make this book a beautiful work. It is absolutely fabulous.

Absolutely adorable, a marvelous book.
I was delighted and amazed with this charming book on insects. I picked it up as a coffee table book, but it soon became one of my favorites. Koch's illustrations are unique and eye catching, and her text is informative and fun. This book is a well loved member of my library, not to mention my coffee table... ... Read more

Book Description

This all-new edition includes more than 590 species, illustrated in lifelike positions on beautiful new color plates. With descriptions of all the butterflies that occur west of the 100th meridian in the United States and Canada, this guide has accurate information on ranges, habitats, flight seasons, food plants, and more. Brand-new color range maps and more than 100 color photographs accompany the species descriptions. Paul Opler is the author of several books, including the Peterson Field Guide to Eastern Butterflies. He is a professor and senior research scientist at Colorado State University and a vice president of the North American Butterfly Association. Amy Bartlett Wright wrote and illustrated the Peterson First Guide to Caterpillars and illustrated the Peterson First Guide to Butterflies and Moths. ... Read more

Reviews (2)

A Standard for Butterfly Watchers
"A Field Guide to Western Butterflies" by Paul Opler is the book I use as a standard when taking part in the North American Butterfly Association (NABA) 4th of July Butterfly Count. It is by far the best book to use in the field. I prefer the artist's illustrations to a totally photographic approach for accurate identification because several aspects of the same species can be shown on a given plate. In addition there are a number of complementary photos of butterflies in natural habitats inserted in the text and distribution maps are placed next to the species descriptions.

The discussions are very useful in locating food plants and in confirming field marks and distributions. Even tiny lycaenids and difficult skippers are usually identified easily once you get used to the format. All in all this is the book to have for identifying butterflies in the west and it outshines all its competitors for handiness in the field. Combined with a pair of short-focus binoculars and a good butterfly net for capture and release it just cannot be beaten.

If you are a butterfly watcher in the west you really need to own this book!

A Must-Have for Lepsters!
In the first part of this excellent field guide, families of butterflies are presented together on color plates, ably illustrated by Amy Bartlett Wright. This allows the reader to compare similar looking species--a must with hard-to-differentiate groups like the Blues, where minute differences mean the difference between one genus and another. The illustrations are cross-referenced to fuller descriptions in the second part of the book. Here there is additional information about appearance, food, habitat, flight, and range. As a beginner, I especially like author Paul Opler's decision to organize the butterflies by taxon rather than appearance. As I identify butterflies in the field, I am also learning a bit about the science of these beautiful creatures. Highly recommended. ... Read more

Book Description

This volume highlights the new synthesis of pollination biology and plant mating systems which is rejuvenating the two-hundred-year-olddiscipline of floral biology. It provides a current examination ofthe evolution and functional significance of floral traits inanimal-pollinated plants, combining ecological and genetic studieswith natural history approaches and theoretical modeling. Dividedinto three sections, the book begins with the first Englishtranslation of Christian Konrad. Sprengel's introduction to hisclassic work and a historical analysis of his observations. The second section addresses current conceptual problems in floral biology, concentrating on floral diversification, floral longevity, pollen dispersal and mating patterns, the ecology of geitonogamous pollination, and flower size dimorphism in plants with unisexual flowers.The final chapters of the book examine model systems and include the evolution of floral morphology and function, deceit pollination, reproductive success and gender variation, stylar polymorphisms, and the evolution of flowers in relation to insect pollinators on islands. With its a detailed treatment of the selective forces shaping floral diversification in animal-pollinated plants, Floral Biology provides ecologists, evolutionary biologists, and botanists with a wealth of current information.Everyone interested in the evolution of flowering plants will benefit from this timely, authoritative resource on the interactions between insects and plants. ... Read more