Reviews (1)

a mammalogist bible
without doubt Wilson and Reeder's book is THE source of information for people looking for mammals in museums and old scientific publications. the superb listing of synonyms, the listings of the scientist describing the clades, and the brief biogeographic notes makes this book invaluable for people having any taxonomic question. The main attitude seems to be one of splitters, giving a lot of specific names to various populations others consider a single species, the biogeography can be a little more detailed, but there is no other source with that thoroughness and completeness in mammalian taxonomy.
I'm anxiously waiting a new edition ... Read more

Book Description

This lavishly illustrated volume is the first systematic general work to do justice to the fruits of recent scholarship in the history of natural history. Public interest in this lively field has been stimulated by environmental concerns and through links with the histories of art, collecting and gardening. Twenty-four essays, written at an accessible level, cover the period from the sixteenth to the nineteenth century. The book includes suggestions for further reading, and highlights the relevance of history for current debates on museum practice, ecological diversity, and the environment. ... Read more

Book Description

Unfulfilled by city life, Amy Blackmarr, then in her mid-thirties, sold her thriving paralegal business and returned to her Georgia roots. She passed five years in her grandfather's remote "old scarecrow of a fishing cabin" beside a South Georgia pond, where she immersed herself in her surroundings and in her writing. With warmth, charm, and humor, Blackmarr mixes vignettes from her past with reflections on the present, describing the surprising generosity of strangers; life without hot water; her two dogs, one a "lush" and the other a cave builder; the occasional visit from an alligator; her days as a two-stepping cowgirl; pheasant hunting with her third ex-husband; and the life and death of her grandmother.In the tradition of Kathleen Norris's The Cloister Walk and Annie Dillard's Pilgrim at Tinker Creek, Going to Ground is Blackmarr's ode to romance, to the beauty of nature, to the joys and fears of solitary life, and to one woman's discovery of herself. ... Read more

Reviews (7)

Nice place to sit back and relax
Young South Georgia woman gets off the fast train, returns to family's shack by the pond, then delivers us a way to enjoy her experiences and reflections. The sparce prose of Amy Blackmarr lets you sit back and relax awhile. You'll also enjoy the sequel, House of Steps, where she moves to a peculiar little house out in Kansas. Her outlook on life is quite refreshing. Both books are short, too, so they're great for summer trips to the beach, or weekends out in the backyard.

Wow - What a writer!
I was very pleased with this book - Amy Blackmarr's style really impressed me. Each chapter is a short story of it's own, yet they are all about her life & experiences with the same place. I enjoyed every chapter, every story - There was even one which I loved so much, found it so profound, that I immediately reread it & then later read it outloud to my husband.
Great work, Amy! Thank you! I can't wait to read your other works.

Refreshing
Young South Georgia woman gets off the fast train, returns to family's shack by the pond, then delivers us a way to enjoy her experiences and reflections. The sparce prose of Amy Blackmarr lets you sit back and relax awhile. You'll also enjoy the sequel, House of Steps, where she moves to a peculiar little house out in Kansas. Her outlook on life is quite refreshing. Both books are short, too, so they're great for summer trips to the beach, or weekends out in the backyard.

Provocative and deeply spiritual
Kudos to Amy Blackmarr for a gently ironic, sometimes funny, touching and always honest look at the questions about life, death, and living that we all grapple with every day. She turns the ordinary experiences of her life at her grandfather's Georgia cabin into delightful, searching stories that I find new surprises and new meaning in every time I read them. Full of sensual details and images that take me right to where she is, standing on the back steps of a tarpaper shack, sipping coffee, looking out over a pond, or striking through the swamps watching for snakes and alligators! A great, fast read.

Bravo!
Not for everyone, but those that understand will want to say to Ms. Blackmarr, "Thank you and good job." ... Read more

Book Description

Seventeen years after she'd left home "for good," Janisse Ray pointed her truck away from Montana and back to the small southern town where she was born. Wild Card Quilt is the story, by turns hilarious, heartbreaking, and ambitious, of the adventures of returning home. For Ray, it is a story of linking the ecology of people with the ecology of place - of recovering lost traditions as she works to restore the fractured ecosystem of her native South. Her story is filled with syrup boils, quilt making, alligator trapping, and the wonderful characters of a place where generations still succeed each other on the land. But her town is also in need of repair, physical and otherwise. Ray works to save her local school, sets up a writing group at the local hardware store, and struggles with whether she can be an adult in a childhood place. ... Read more

Book Description

In this enchanting book, John R. Stilgoe takes us on a tour of the seacoast, evoking its sights, sounds, and textures, and showing how it illuminates issues of landscape and American culture. Telling fascinating stories of fishing boats and lighthouses, wharfs and piers, quicksand and buried treasures, this book is ideal beach reading and a guidebook for anyone intrigued by the shore. ... Read more

Reviews (1)

reliable wisdom on storytelling
This book is a bit of a crash course in storytelling itself and in addition explains how to effectively add information to a story.

After reading this book I spoke to five storytellers on the subject of telling stories with environmental themes. I was surprised to discover that all of these storytellers and the author if this book had come to the same conclusions. Most of them did not have formal training but only leraned through experience. Yet they all agreed on what a story is, what it can do, why a story is so useful, and how it can and cannot be used. This book nicely packaged these ideas together.

The goal of storytelling is to create a connection between the teller and the audience, and then the audience to the material being interpreted. You can't predict how they're going to react, and you should not try to force a moral upon them. Stories are beautiful because the listener has just enough room to imagine, and make the story relevent to themselves. Their ability to think should be respected so they can come up with their own morals, even if it's not what you intended.

So a story is not meant to directly give out information, messages, and morals, but it is useful in making a personal connection to the material, showing the audience why it is relevant to them. Stories can be immensely useful in interpretation, and this book provides a lot of good advice.

She has a very friendly writing style. She has many lovely stories in this book. And she is very quoteable. ... Read more

Amazon.com

Stephen Jay Gould has a wide range of interests, and for many years he has shared hisenthusiasms in the pages of Natural History and the New York Review of Books, amongother journals. His passions include baseball, the puzzles of evolutionary theory, and the game of scholarlydetection as it applies to questions such as, "What became of dinosaurs, anyway?". He answersentertainingly, but never talks down to his readers. Gould is one of modern natural science's greatpopularizers, but he shuns the temptation to make the giant reptiles of prehistory the Smurfs of the 1990s,in the manner of a certain purple dinosaur. The 35 pieces gathered here make for fine browsing, full ofsideways glances and digressions that eventually make sense. ... Read more

Reviews (9)

Bully for Brontosaurus
Stephen Jay Gould writes another volume of essays that are profound in scope. Trying to review essays in book form is difficult, but taking the task at hand, here is what I have to say.

These collected essays are enlightening and thought provoking. They vary in scope and content, but are always stimulating. The author has a knack for making the reader think, as I suppose all good professors should, a task well taken here.

The writing is easily followed and straight forward with a smattering of Gould's wit thrown in for spice. The authou's sense of humor is also apparent. The essays are educational, even as the author brings two apparently different articles and ties them together with a common thread.

I found a cornucopia of disparate objects that fueled my intellectual pleasure, as I read through the book. Anyone interested in Natural History or just curious about life should read this book.

The author's flowing writing style is evident, his teaching skills are there to enjoy and learn from.

Read and enjoy good writing.

Practice Makes (More Nearly) Perfect
This is the sixth of the collections of Gould's essays from the magazine Natural History. Gould has commented that, as he got better at essay writing, he found the earlier volumes less pleasing. Certainly, as he went along, he improved both in literary quality and in the depth of his treatment of issues. Gould is amusing, but always with a serious purpose: to educate the public about how science works, and how, often, it doesn't. In particular, the section of three essays gathered under the heading "Numbers and Probability" is very good at making one think about the real nature of "the odds."

Gould makes natural science a fun read.
Gould makes clever analogies & comparisons of natural sciences with common things around us. Most of the topics he covered would be a bore to read by itself but Gould masterfully entertains & educates with his adroit prose & humorous side comments.

It is a bit on the long side and some of his comparisons used fads of the early 90's which are not relevant today; but all in all, the book is a winner.

Needs editing
I enjoyed several of the essays in this book. To me, they were fresh and insightful and interesting reading.

Then I got to read another essay on the same topic, then another. The organization of the book is such that reading it straight through bored me to death.

Gould could stand to edit some of these roundabout tales down and get to the point a little quicker. The thoughts are thoroughly interesting, but they are buried in long-winded prose.

A readable natural science book
This is a fascinating book. Who knew you could actually read about science and like it (and laugh too). It's also informative. Great. ... Read more

Amazon.com

Every biology student knows Ernst Haeckel as the originator of the "Biogenetic Law": ontogeny recapitulates phylogeny. Haeckel was a passionate student of the evolutionary shaping of biological forms, and Art Forms in Nature captures both his artistic sensibility and the scientific rigor he applied to all his studies. First published in 1904, Art Forms in Nature is a glorification of function and form, a demonstration of organic symmetry that has nothing--and everything--to do with nature as it actually exists. Each plate exhibits organisms carefully arranged and exquisitely detailed, "a symbiosis between decorative sketches and descriptive observations of nature," as Olaf Breidbach states in his fascinating introductory text. The radiolarians, medusae, rotifers, bryozoans, and even frogs and turtles lovingly recreated here are gorgeous and self-explanatory, rendered in delicate, filigreed lines, and colored gently with muted green, delicate pink, and sepia. Art students will appreciate the designs found in nature--scientists will love the evolutionary statement of form inherent in the beauty. --Therese Littleton ... Read more

Reviews (3)

Excellent Haeckel Starter
This a a lovely book, though a bit on the lean side. It's a good sampler of Haeckel's work, the printing is well done with thick pages and a non gloss finish. Great for the coffee table or reference.

stunning
I'm not kidding when I say this book has changed my life. Visually stunning, unimaginably beautiful.

A most excellent book
The illustrations are awesome, there's a universe of beautiful complex lifeforms that are too small for us to see. The illustrations are all in color, unlike other versions of Ernst Haeckel's prints, and it also has lots of text in the front about Ernst Haeckel's work, an autobiographic timeline in the back etc... Unbelievable art ... Read more

Reviews (13)

Eminently Readable analysis of enviromental concerns
For a throughly researched, densly written , book of facts to be readable is almost a contradiction. Yet this is exactly what J.R. McNeill has accomplished. He is a Historian, most interested in change, objective in his assesment of those changes (Who and What benefits, Who and What doesn't), anthropocentric(a viewpoint too often missing in environmental studies), and broad-minded concerning possible approaches to problems (the shark has done very well for a very long time).

What makes this such an important book aside from its readability and penetrating analysis, is perspective. J.R. McNeill considers history without consideration of the life-support system of Earth or ecology that neglects social forces, incomplete and capable of leading to dangerous conclusions. Further, "Both history and ecology are, as fields of knowledge go, supremely integrative. They merely need to integrate with one another."

Having grown up in Pittsburgh, Pa., I can attest to the author's history of Pittsburgh and to his grasp of the complexity of problems there (for instance: Andrew Carnegie found the level of pollution intolerable, later some unions fought smoke-control). In today's world, no matter where we live or what work we do,environmental issues will arise.

This book by elucidating the processes and trends that underly today's world, gives us a foundation on which to base our opinions and choices, working toward the day when we , in the author's words, "Make our own luck, rather than trusting to luck..."

The 20th Century: Prodigal or Profligate?
"The human race, without intending anything of the sort, has undertaken a gigantic uncontrolled experiment on the earth. In time, I think, this will appear as the most important aspect of twentieth-century history, more so than World War II, the communist enterprise, the rise of mass literacy, the spread of democracy, or the growing emancipation of women." (J. R. McNeill)

Over the past few years there have been a spate of histories of the 20th century. Most of them have been written from traditional, often Eurocentric, historical perspectives that focus upon political history set in the context of socioeconomic development and ideological and military conflict. J. R. McNeill's *Something New Under the Sun* replaces the political narrative, usually found at the center of histories, with an environmental one. It invites readers to reevaluate the legacy of the 20th century.

By any measure, the 20th century is, as McNeill characterizes it, "a prodigal century." In terms of growth of population, economic development, and energy production and consumption, it is a case of 'quantity having a quality of its own.' On the one hand, it is a triumph of the human species. (McNeill suggests readers consider that over the past 4 billion years of human history, 20% of all human life-years took place in the 20th century.) On the other hand, this prodigal century - this triumph of human ingenuity - has also exacted an unprecedented environmental cost. It is this trade-off that McNeill's book explores.

McNeill's approach is interdisciplinary, and the book is divided into two sections. The first section is organized around transformations to the lithosphere, atmosphere, biosphere, and hydrosphere, and the resulting pollution and resource depletion. Each topic includes a (very) brief conceptual introduction, case studies from around the world, (black and white) photos, maps, and tables. This section also includes the best example of unintentional environmental consequences. McNeill introduces Thomas Midgely, the inventor of leaded gasoline and Freon, "[who] had more impact on the atmosphere than any other organism in earth history."

In the second section, McNeill introduces the 'engines of change" - 1) population growth, migration, and urbanization, 2) energy, technology, and economic growth, and 3) politics and environmental awareness. The pulses of 'coketowns' and 'motowns' take place amidst the tumultuous social, economic, and political events of the 20th century. Environmental awareness doesn't take root until the 70's - a critical period for women as well. (His examples of Rachel Carson and Wangari Maathai were well chosen - and gendered.) In his epilogue (So What?), McNeill's history portends an environmental crunch, a change of circumstances - a dilemma unlike the world has witnessed so far.

"With our new powers we banished some historical constraints on health and population, food production, energy use, and consumption generally. Few who know anything about life with these constraints regret their passing. But in banishing them we invited other constraints in the form of the planet's capacity to absorb wastes, by-products, and impacts of our actions. The latter constraints had pinched occasionally in the past, but only locally. By the end of the twentieth century, they seemed to restrict our options globally. Our negotiations with these constraints will shape the future as our struggles against them shaped our past." (J. R. McNeill)

*Something New Under The Sun* is written in a popular style well suited to both non-fiction readers and students. Readers of environmental historians like William Cronon, William McNeill, or Alfred Crosby will certainly find McNeill's book interesting. Personally I think that McNeill's global perspective of the 20th century will stand the test of time.

So What?
I have a read a few good histories but, in terms of relevance, this one takes the cake. No other single-bound volume (that I know of) captures the sweeping changes humanity has wrought in the physical environment. Indeed, of all other life, homo sapiens alone has distinguished itself as a global geo-physical force. You will also notice that this history is less controversial than most, as J. R. McNeil takes a strictly empirical, scientific approach. Very explicitly, McNeil lays out how humanity's emphasis on unrestrained, fast-paced industrialization has cost millions of lives, driven many species to extinction, and utterly altered the stability of the biosphere. Without a doubt, unless more people gain the kind of perspective this book provides, we will surely witness continued destruction well into this century as well. After reading this book, whatever "So what?" attitude you may have had about the environment will have dissipated completely.

Well-written environmental history
McNeill's basic thesis is that in environmental terms, the 20th century has been unprecedented in human history and planetary history in general. He points out that the impact of humankind's breathtaking technological advancements in the last 100 or so years can be likened to a major cataclysm, like an asteroid hitting the planet. The book provides a wealth of background information on a number of major technical/technological developments, and how they have improved the lives of many people but also damaged or imperiled the air, water and soil that sustain all life. McNeill is hardly a Luddite or a primitivist, but he does make some reasonable calls for restraint and, perhaps, a worldwide assessment of where human economic/industrial/technological activities are taking the planet. Interesting in this vein is his consideration, toward the end of the book, of how the economic thought of the last century, with its adherence to the concept of unlimited growth, has played a key role in preventing such an assessment. As he points out, overcoming this way of thinking represents a daunting task, since these (Anglo-American) economic doctrines have assumed the status of irrefutable dogma - like any system of religious beliefs.

Of rats, sharks, and history
Most science writing nowadays must be interdisciplinary; able to use empirical evidence and relevant concepts, theories, and conclusions from vastly different fields of enquiry. Would you expect the same of a history book? Although this book's publishing category is science/environment it really should be history. The author says as much. This is "a history of - and for - environmentally tumultuous times". And that history is broad. From the ancient days when the book of Ecclesiastes was written to our modern era of Nobel Prize winning physicists, there has been a remarkable common conception of our planet as immutable and infinite. In contrast to the biblical gentleman who said there was nothing new under the sun, or physicist Robert Millikan who saw Earth's vastness as effectively shielding it from real harm from humanity, J R McNeill sees SOMETHING NEW UNDER THE SUN and it's simply that "the place of humankind within the natural world is not what it was."

Can we link man's history with that of the natural or biological world? Many have tried from both sides of the equation. Great historians and thinkers like Kant, Marx and Pierre Tielhard de Chardin have seen a direction and inevitability about history while Berlin and Popper spoke eloquently against historicism. This book doesn't go there nor does it tackle the attempt by some evolutionary biologists to explain all we see in life as determined at the genetic level. Great scientists from Einstein forward have sought some unifying or final theory and it's still going on. Today sociobiologists, quantum physicists and game theorists say they have the answers.

What McNeill contributes to this is his view that "in recent millennia, cultural evolution has shaped human affairs more than biological evolution has. Societies...unconsciously pursue survival strategies of adaptability or of supreme adaptation." The entire book is a brilliant exposition on this point. How mankind, like the rat, was a creature that used adaptability to select for fitness for exploitation of new niches created when short term environmental shocks killed off competition. I say "was" because McNeill convincingly argues that in the 20th century we have tended more towards the strategy of supreme adaptation. Best typified by the shark this is fine-tuned specialization that "is rewarded by continuous success only so long as governing conditions stay the same." The stability required for continued success in this system is based on "stable climate, cheap energy and water, and rapid population and economic growth". Through chapters such as "The Atmosphere: Urban History", "The Hydrosphere: Depletions, Dams and Diversions", "More People, Bigger Cities" and "Fuels, Tools and Economics" he uses tables and data and balanced and thoughtful reasoning to show that these conditions are neither static nor stable, and he effectively makes his pont. His point is not that of a Cassandra warning of an impending environmental apocalypse but something more measured. "We might then consciously choose a world that would require only irksome adaptations on our part and avoid traumatic ones." Couched in these terms his message is much more likely to be read, thought about, and most importantly acted upon. If nothing else McNeill would encourage us to act as the very process itself will "distinguish us from rats and sharks." ... Read more

Book Description

The Findhorn Garden first inspired people around the planet some forty years ago, when the founders of the spiritual community saw plants and flowers growing in soil that seemed unable to nurture anything. It was soon realized that the garden was blessed with devas and nature spirits that were guiding the members of the Findhorn Community toward their true identity and uncovering the divine reality within all things. The story of the garden is the celebration of this divine life in its myriad forms.

Founded in November 1962 more than 40 years ago, the Findhorn Community is situated in northern Scotland and is made up of several hundred people from around the world who believe that behind the material world there lies a spiritual reality that unites all people, all life and all matter. At its heart is the Findhorn Foundation, a major international center of adult education and personal and spiritual transformation, offering people many ways to visit, live and work there. ... Read more

Book Description

More than 600 species are described in detail, with more than 525 illustrations. This is the guide for quick, reliable identification of fishes that you'll encounter while fishing, snorkeling, diving, or even strolling along a Pacific Coast beach. ... Read more

Reviews (3)

Peterson solid installment.
This Peterson's Guide to Pacific Coast Fishes is extremely concise and contains countless family, genus, and species entries. Also, this is one of the very few field guides that adds deepsea and pelagic fishes to their list. This section is enough for the price right there! The deep ocean fishes illustrated are stunning, and inspire the reader to explore the deep domain sometime in the future. An example of a deep sea fish is the Daggertooth: a bizarre, 20 inch rodlike fish with a mouth full of razor sharp, daggerlike teeth. This is only a single of the many deep sea families listed.
Another completely amazing but unknown fish family listed are the Poachers. These fish are difficult to describe, but have a few traits of an alligator, to put it simply.
There are dozens more stunning species to be found here, but you will have to read it to find the most mysterious and exhilarating ones. Also, this ocean field guide uses the best identification tool, drawings. Whether for the interested fish worshipper, or the expert marine biologist, this book will please all fascinated by the ocean.

Another great guide from Peterson
I bought this book in anticipation of a SCUBA trip down the west coast next year. Why? Because I have good luck with Peterson guides and know that they are concise, well written and all inclusive. So far, as I try to gain some familiarity with the fishes of the west coast before I go I have not been disappointed. I'm sure that this book is to the west coast what the Atlantic guide is to the east and gulf coast. I'll write another review after I finish my trip.

Peterson Field Guides Pacific Coast Fishes
This is a well-written, well-organized field guide, like all other Peterson Field Guides. The book is divided into five parts: 1. About This Book, a very brief introduction of the book; 2. Collectin and Observing Fishes, again, a brief chapter, but very useful. The next three chapters are divided into: 3. Jawless Fishes; 4. Sharks, Rays and Chimaeras and 5. Bony fishes, which is where the bulk of the book is about. The book also contained an excellent glossary, and a limited number of references. Particularly useful are the detailed habitat information of each fish described, ways to identify them, and of course, the 48 pages of color and black and white drawings of the fishes. The book is an invaluable sources of information not only to ichthyologist, naturalist, but also to the comercial fisherman, professional anglers and recreational angler. The only complaint I had is that this field guide uses artists' drawing for the fishes instead of the actual picture of the fish. With the actual picture of the fish, it will make the identification of an unknown fishe much easier for the amateurs and weekend angler. Overall, an excellent book. ... Read more

Book Description

Reviews (1)

What Can a Monkey Know?
I read this book in connection with graduate coursework under Seyfarth at the University of Pennsylvania. Cheney and Seyfarth describe a fascinating line of research on primates, mainly but not solely their own work on vervet monkeys. The goal is to form an account of the mind of the nonhuman primate -- how much do they understand about themselves, about other minds, and about the world?

I think that these are questions that fascinate almost all of us. What would it be like to be very nearly as intelligent as a human being, but to lack language (not merely a means of communication but also a way of formulating knowledge -- therefore a modality of knowing)? It is, of course, impossible ever to understand as a monkey understands or to feel as a monkey feels, but there is no better way to learn what a monkey can know or feel than Cheney and Seyfarth's engaging book. ... Read more

Reviews (2)

'right'-ly needed natural history
This book, as all of Prof. Nash's writings, serves as the standard to compare against all others in the growing field of environmental theory and related scholarship. Nash expands upon his codex of natural "rights" in relation to America's foremost natural thinker - Thoreau - in his Afterword to my recently published book "Deep Immersion: Thoreau's Engagement with Water."

thoughtful, intensive, well-written
This is a very informative and crisply written history of environmental thought and politics in the U.S., from John Muir to Peter Singer. It offers a great deal of thoughtful commentary, for example on the gradual shift in focus from tangible benefits for humans (underlying the conservation and national parks movement circa 1900) to inherent rights of nature itself (signalled e.g. by the Endangered Species Act). It's not hard to see that Nash is sympathetic to many of these causes, and clearly this book isn't for folks who prefer to view things in strictly economic terms, but still it is quite well-balanced in tone, and the scholarship is really impressive. I highly recommend it to anyone interested at all in the environmental movement, or American intellectual history generally, or simply looking for some thought-provoking reading. 220 pp., plus 50 pp. of notes. ... Read more

Book Description

The most hilarious, whimsical, shocking moments ever captured on film, from the editors of Outside magazine.

Brace yourself for more take-your-breath-away images from Outside's famed, back-page "Parting Shot" photo feature. Each of these seventy-one shots will surprise you, wow you, and make you chuckle if you don't laugh out loud. Hip-Hop Hares brings you more of what you loved in The Polar Bear Waltz. It's another zany, eye-popping collection that celebrates the pratfalls and bizarre coincidences of outdoor life—the comic circumstances of relatively tame mammals (us) spending more and more time closer and closer to wild animals. It's a rare chance to look into the wide world outside and laugh at both ourselves and that infinitely wondrous, entertaining, three-ring circus we call the universe. 71 photographs. ... Read more

Book Description

Backpacking into the heart of California Bigfoot Country, a wildland firefighter and a struggling writer seek evidence of the legendary Bigfoot. They hope to solve the mystery—for themselves if for no one else. An early track find of 21-inch footprints offers as much intrigue as it does doubt. Are they even prepared to believe in the creature that may have left the tracks? And what to make of grunts late into the night and rocks being smashed together? This is their true story unlike any other. It is a side of nature—and mankind—unknown to all but a very few. ... Read more

Reviews (2)

An amazing journey
I could not put the book down - read it in one day. It was exciting as well as informative, and educational. I truly felt like I was experiencing this amazing journey in pursuit of Bigfoot right along with the author. This book lends itself well to a sequel that I would truly look forward to reading.

A very engaging read! Defies all expectations.
If you've ever walked into a bookstore hoping to find a book that defies all expectation, then left disappointed because it was all the usual stuff, I recommend you give this book a chance. I think what surprised me the most was it was a first-rate human drama. There's plenty about the search for Bigfoot and I don't see how any open-minded reader could be disappointed about what the protagonists uncover (it'll probably fuel more controversy, especially the final chapters), but the two central characters really move the story along, aided in large measure by the wonders of mother nature. Is Bigfoot her ultimate secret? It may very well be so, but read this book for her other wonders as well--the deer, the variety of birds, the elk, the bears, etc. I found the author's (he is a former college English instructor) description of the wild terrain to be so creative and alive. He seems one of those people with an ability to commune with nature and see things others miss. Most unexpected of all was the rich humor throughout, which springs much of the time from the character's "adversarial friendship." Until I read it, I couldn't understand why fans of Bill Bryson were buying a Bigfoot book. Now, I know. The humor really disarmed me and brought me into the characters lives. It was also a nice contrast to the more thought provoking passages. If you are a fan of adventure, mystery, nature, backpacking, or ever wondered if a creature that we don't know about could exist out in the wilderness, give this book a read. ... Read more

Book Description

A dramatic story of the interplay between environment and economy in New England. ... Read more

Reviews (37)

Of Indians, ships, shoes, wood pulp, steam and oysters
Author Diana Muir resides on Bullough's Pond in Newton, Massachusetts, a few miles west of the Boston city center. From this vantage point, she's written REFLECTIONS IN BULLOUGH'S POND, a history of the manner in which the human residents of New England have exploited their environment, first for simple survival, then economic gain, from the time of the paleo-hunters 10,000 years ago to the present.

In hardcover, REFLECTIONS is not a particularly thick volume - exclusive of Notes and Index, only 258 pages. However, the print is small and the scope large. There are also a large number of maps, charts, graphs, drawings, and b/w photos to break up the text and give the reader's eyes some variety. The list of topics is the roadmap of the region's economic development, diversification, and spotty decline: the evolution of farming from hunting/gathering, the native Indians' use of forest and fauna, the arrival of the Europeans and the extermination of the area's tribes by disease, Yankee shipbuilding and ocean commerce, land shortages, and the advent of sawmills and shoemaking. Further into the book, one reads about itinerant peddlers, ice exports, the expansion of roads/canals/railroads, machines that make other machines..., the production of charcoal, and the disappearance of indigenous animal species.... Then, as the Industrial Revolution takes firm grip, one learns of cotton mills, steam power, the grinding-up of the forests by the paper mills, the rise and fall (due to water pollution) of oyster harvesting, and the fishing industry, especially King Cod. Finally, Ms. Muir laments the deleterious changes in the ecosystem brought on by acid rain, the increase in greenhouse gasses, and the losses of topsoil andozone.

... Diana has produced a scholarly, excellently researched book that's consistently informative and interesting. (It's also only rarely entertaining in the sense of being fun, so, if that's the requirement, perhaps the latest potboiler from Grisham, King or Cornwell is a better choice of the moment.)

As I recall, it was an email from Ms. Muir that brought REFLECTIONS to my attention. She'd read another of my reviews on Amazon, and thought her book might appeal to me. Thank you, Diana, for your leap of faith.

New England As Seen Through Bullough's Pond
Diana Muir has written a thoughtful and well-researched book about the history of the eco-systems of New England through the lens of her life and experiences at Bullough's Pond. Lest the reader suppose that this book is related in some way to a famous predecessor also written from the viewpoint of a life by a pond, let me allay those prejudgments right here and now. Walden was a philosophical tract while Diana Muir has penned a rather enjoyable history of the ecology of New England and how it was changed (not necessarily for the better) by each wave of human settlers.

She finds the habitat fragile from the start, due to the climate and location. Each wave of human settlers has changed the environment. As the population of the first settlers, American Indians grew past what the land was able to sustain, deforestation and agriculture began as maize and beans became important sources of food. Fishing was also a way of life, particularly oyster harvesting. When settlers arrived from Europe they found land friendly to agriculture, but over-farming and poor land management doomed the thin topsoil. Fishing would later join agriculture on New England's endangered list; even the oyster was soon gone, a victim of overfishing.

But Ms. Muir's story is also one of pure Yankee inventiveness. Industry soon took the major role and, helped by waves of immigration from Europe, made New England a major player in America's economy, providing the manufactured goods needed by the North to win the Civil War. And it was New England's ecology that supplied the backbone for the industrial revolution through the use of water power. The price New England paid for that was the polllution of these very power sources, making them unfit for drinking, or life.

As the rest of America caught up with New England, new technologies emerged to give her a new foothold in America's economy, but the ecological problems remained the same. Her solutions, as seen from her foothold in Bullough's Pond, are not new, but are based in thoughtful reflection, unlike some other solutions I have seen, and bear reflection.

Except for the chapter on the waterways, where she descends into a jeremiad, stating the all-too-obvious, this is a restrained book that lets the facts speak for themselves. Especially delightful, and to the point, is her description of the dredging of the pond by the county due in large part to Winter run-offs. One note of warning: the writing style is such that once you pick it up, you'll find it hard to put down.

See many more reviews
Reviews from newspapers, magazines, and academic journals are posted at: www.DianaMuir.com

Not just for New Englanders
Other reviewers have discussed the virtues of the book, so I will only add that the lessons to be learned from this well written and fascinating study are relevant to the entire planet, not just New England. As such, the book is highly recommended to anyone anywhere who is interested in mankind's relationship to the environment and its effects on culture and economics.

An Intriguing Glimpse at New England¿s History
Using a pond near her home in Newton, MA as a backdrop, Diana Muir weaves a compelling view of New England history, which she argues is a series of ecological crises.

From pre-Columbian times, Muir says, New England was populated by individuals struggling on a land that was not conducive to making a living. Radical solutions to unsolvable problems were their only escape. In the 1790s, when farming was the only occupation, a growing population and a soil spent by generations of misuse, resulted in a dearth of farmable land. With no prospects and no future, individuals like Eli Whitney and Thomas Blanchard, were forced to look for creative solutions to society's problems and set in motion an industrial revolution.

I was particularly intrigued by the story of Frederick Tudor, the man who in 1806 introduced ice to Martinique. It is one thing to sell ice to people who because of their location, understand the concept. It is quite another, to sell ice to people who have never experienced it, to say nothing about the practical necessities of ice houses to warehouse the product.

His father's real estate speculation losses left Tudor with nothing but ambition and a house with a pond in Saugus, MA. He succeeded after two difficult decades. There was always a wrinkle to be solved before a fortune could be built. Iceboxes had to be designed and then marketed in southern ports to people who had to be taught how to preserve it.

This phenomenon explains why there so many Crystal and Silver Lakes dot the New England landscape, relics of an enterprising age. Savvy ice dealers understood that attractive names sell products. For a brief period even Muir's Bullough's Pond was briefly renamed Silver Lake.

Diana Muir e-mailed me twice during the past two years introducing her book to me. Having read her book, I am grateful for her persistence. If you enjoy reading unique looks at our history, I implore not to wait for her to contact you. Read her book; you will not regret it. ... Read more

Book Description

Until about 110 million years ago, the land we know as Oregon simply did not exist. The development of the state'Õs distinctive and beautiful landscapes is a classic and dramatic tale, 400 million years in the making and greatly affected by global events. In the beginning, Oregon's foundations lay far off the Idaho seacoast as tropical volcanic islands. Collision with these exotic terranes produced the first land that was truly Oregon. Subsequent eruptions of volcanoes in central and eastern Oregon --- where bananas grew and tiny horses browsed on figs and lotus leaves --- built the coastline westward. As the climate cooled, Columbia River basalts and collision with a chain of offshore seamounts built Oregon's coast to today's position, while faulting uplifted now-familiar mountain ranges. When mastodons and dire wolves prowled the Willamette Valley at the end of the Ice Age, great floods from Montana transformed the valley into a 100-mile-long lake. Today, earthquakes and eruptions still shape our landscapes.

Geology is an extremely visual subject, and In Search of Ancient Oregon is a beautifully photographed, expertly written account of Oregon's fascinating geological story. Written by a passionate and professional geologist who has spent countless hours in the field exploring and photographing the state, In Search of Ancient Oregon is a book for all those interested in Oregon's present and past landscapes, plants, animals, and climates. It presents fine-art-quality color photographs of well-known features, including Mount Hood, Crater Lake, Smith Rock, Steens Mountain, the Columbia River Gorge, and Oregon's rugged coast, as well as scenic and more remote places, including Diamond Craters, the Owyhees, Abert Rim, Hells Canyon, the Wallowas, and Three Fingered Jack. Clear and compelling writing accompanies the more than 215 stunning photographs. Finally, here is a book that tells the tale of how Oregon's diverse landscapes, climates, and wildlife evolved --- and what we may expect in the future.

Until now, no book has presented this dynamic story in a way that everyone interested in Oregon's natural history can easily understand. Extraordinary photographs and the author's lucid explanations make this book both unique and essential for those curious about our own contemporary landscape. ... Read more

Reviews (3)

Geology made accessible.
Ellen Morris Bishop's book has created a rich story about Oregon's origins that is extremely captivating. When I read her book I feel that I am going on an exciting time travel adventure in my own backyard. I have already given several copies as gifts to relatives and friends. Her book has inspired by mother to want to go backpacking!

Easily understandable: A good read and glorious pictures.
This is a great, very-non-technical book that describes Oregon's geology and its past climates and plants and animals in a way that the general reader can easily understand. I bought a copy to give to my brother (a wetland specialist) but ended up keeping that copy for myself. The photos of Oregon's mountains, coast, and deserts are outstanding. It's a great read, and links the history of landscapes and climates here to changes around the globe. A great book to help understand Oregon's landscapes.

In Search of Ancient Oregon
Buy this book to help you understand the geology and natural history of Oregon and to grace your coffee table and book shelf. It is written by a geologist who has published scientific articles on Oregon geology and other aspects of natural history in professional journals and books. The author, Dr. Ellen Bishop, has combined a knowledge of science with the ability to make complex concepts very understandable to nonscientists. The photographs, however, are enough by themselves to have this book on your coffee table or desk. I have been to many of the sites Dr. Bishop photographed and am impressed by her skill and experience. The photographs show not only the geology that she has written about in the text, but also the stark beauty of Oregon's landscapes. ... Read more

Reviews (1)

Review of How to Know Freshwater Algae
This is a fantastic book for those interested in identifing algae to a Genus level. I work as an aquatic biologist for a private microbiological testing and consulting firm, and I use it everyday. The book offers very good discriptions and lots of helpful illustrations. The one thing I don't like about the book is that it fails to include size ranges of the organisms. I would highly advise anyone who deals with freshwater algae on a regular basis to pick up this book. It will definately come in handy!! ... Read more

Amazon.com

From Leonardo da Vinci's recipe for imitation pearls to the derring-do of deep-sea pearl divers, Pearls: A Natural History delves into virtually every aspect of the gemstones that have been prized since ancient times for their luster and purity. The fascination of this book--which accompanies an exhibition at the American Museum of Natural History in New York through April 14, 2002--is the way it effortlessly combines scientific, historical, cultural, and practical information. Key topics include different species of marine and freshwater mollusks, the history of perliculture and ecological issues affecting pearl production. The more than 200 photographs include reproductions of spectacular objects ranging from a 16th-century Russian icon of the Madonna and child encrusted in freshwater pearls to an early-20th-century brooch in which lozenge-shaped Mississippi River pearls create the opulent blossoms of a diamond-stemmed flower. Solid information, intriguing trivia, and inviting design give this book a broad appeal. --Cathy Curtis ... Read more

Reviews (3)

Most excellent information, but...
This book is quite thorough, as mentioned in the other reviews. The "but" is major, though.... The type font is VERY DIFFICULT on the eyes. I absolutely love pearls, drool over them, even. I gobble up any information on them. If the GIA offers a specialization in them, I will get it. But the lines in this font are so thin, and the size is so tight and small, I haven't been able to finish a fourth of the book, and I've had it over a year!

Every time I try to read it, I have to put it down after only a few pages. By the way, my vision is great, corrected to better than 20/20. Perhaps my copy (bought at the Metropolitan Museum of Art store) was printed when the ink source was running low...

contains everything you could want to know
This is an excellent, well illustrated book with everything you could want to know about pearls - how they occur naturally, the biology of this, how they are induced artificially ( cultured pearls), how they are faked, the optics of their appearance and how they have shaped history and , of course, pearl jewellery.

The hard bits are explained without jargon, in intelligeable words but without losing detail.

Pearls before swine...
This truly is a history book, written in a very accessable style with lots of great photos and illustrations. If there's anything else to know about pearls then I suspect it might just about fill up the back of a postage stamp with room to spare. A great resource for amateurs and professionals alike; I thoroughly enjoyed it and it's well worth the money. ... Read more