Nature & Ecology Books - Page 4

Back to Basics: A Complete Guide to Traditional Skills, Third Edition

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Customer Reviews:
Total reviews: 71 Average rating: 5.0 of 5

Some good information, but unfocused (details) 3 out of 5 stars.
8 of 8 people found this review helpful.

This illustrated book has been published chiefly for those who are new to country living, and/or who have an interest in self-sufficiency and in retrieving some of the "lost arts" which are appurtenant to traditional country life. The information is mostly introductory and rudimentary... a good start for most folks new to these areas of interest.

I have lived in the foothills of rural Appalachia for 55 years and have been involved in carrying out nearly all the construction, activities, arts, and crafts found within this text. Some of the text, (along with the accompanying drawings and photos), is quite good. The information is solid and one can get started along the right track; however, the work goes astray (the publishers sort of "threw in the kitchen sink"), into areas which are not particularly relevant to traditional country living. The editors simply went too far afield when they got into topics such as "Winter Sports," "Kayaking and Rafting," "Foraging for Flour and Emergency Rations," and so on. Most of these subjects are tagged on at the end, I felt just to make the book longer, (it's plenty long enough at 456 pages!)

Additionally, on topics such as "Emergency First Aid," "Fly Fishing" (and fish identification), and "Recipes," there are obligatory sections, none of which are all that useful since these are subjects, any one of which could fill volumes. Had these areas of specific interest been omitted, the more appropriate topics could have been somewhat expanded, such as "Barn Building" or "Preserving Meat and Fish".

There is a far superior (albeit, much older) version of this sort of book which was published by Reader's Digest some years ago: READER'S DIGEST BACK TO BASICS. I can highly recommend it and I've referred to my worn copy time after time.

While there is quite a great deal of quality information in this Skyhorse Publishing Third Edition (2008) for those seeking a new or improved life in the rural countryside, I still feel that the editors strayed off-base to the point that I cannot heartily recommend the work.

Editorial Review:

"Voluntary simplicity" has become a catch phrase for what seems to be a yearning for a simpler, more self-sufficient and economical way of living in the late 20th century. This book, first published in 1981 and recently updated, was probably many folks' first in-depth exposure to the idea of a simpler life, making things by hand, and enjoying a stronger sense of control over personal budgets, home projects, and lifestyles. Hundreds of projects are listed, illustrated in step-by-step diagrams and instructions: growing and preserving your own food, converting trees to lumber and building a home from it, traditional crafts and homesteading skills, and having fun with recreational activities like camping, fishing, and folk dancing without spending a lot of money. This book will have you dreaming and planning from the first page! -- Mark A. Hetts

A Splintered History of Wood: Belt Sander Races, Blind Woodworkers, and Baseball Bats

Spike Carlsen

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Customer Reviews:
Total reviews: 7 Average rating: 5.0 of 5

Editorial Review:

In a world without wood, we might not be here at all. Without wood, we wouldn't have had the fire, heat, and shelter that allowed us to expand into the colder regions of the planet. If civilization somehow did develop, our daily lives still would be vastly different: there would be no violins, baseball bats, chopsticks, or wine corks. The book you are now holding wouldn't exist.

At the same time, many of us are removed from the world where wood is shaped and celebrated every day. That world is inhabited by a unique assortment of eccentric craftsmen and passionate enthusiasts who have created some of the world's most beloved musical instruments, feared weapons, dazzling architecture, sacred relics, and bizarre forms of transportation. In A Splintered History of Wood, Spike Carlsen has uncovered the most outlandish characters and examples, from world-champion chainsaw carvers to blind woodworkers, the Miraculous Staircase to the Lindbergh kidnapping case, and many more, in a passionate and personal exploration of nature's greatest gift.

Animal Speak: The Spiritual & Magical Powers of Creatures Great & Small

Ted Andrews

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Customer Reviews:
Total reviews: 109 Average rating: 4.5 of 5

I love this book. 5 out of 5 stars.
1 of 1 people found this review helpful.

This is by far, my most useful and favorite book. I cannot believe that one person can know so much. Unreal. I highly recommend it for anyone with an interest in animal symbolism.

Editorial Review:

Want to learn how to speak the language of critters, large and small? Easy-to-read and understand, Ted Andrews's bestselling Animal Speak shows readers how to identify his or her animal totem and learn how to invoke its energy and use it for personal growth and inner discovery. Nature lovers will love this insightful compendium, chock-full of touching stories about animals, natural history, and animal folklore. Readers will also learn magical animal rites and how to read omens. Animal Speak includes a dictionary of bird, animal, reptile, and insect totems, which describe each creature's meaning. For example, if a person's totem is dragonfly, he or she was most likely excessively emotional and passionate in early years, learning with age to balance it with mental clarity and control. If a dragonfly suddenly shows up in your life, it means you may need to gain a new perspective or make a change. --P. Randall Cohan

National Geographic Field Guide to the Birds of North America, Fifth Edition

Jon L. Dunn, Jonathan Alderfer

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Customer Reviews:
Total reviews: 47 Average rating: 5.0 of 5

Excellent field guide 5 out of 5 stars.
0 of 0 people found this review helpful.

This is a well organized field guide with an excellent index. The illustrations are also very well done.

National Geographic Field Guide to the Birds of North America--a review. 5 out of 5 stars.
0 of 0 people found this review helpful.

This book is first-rate. I tend to favor wildlife books that depict their subjects in paintings and drawings, rather than photos, and this book is rich in mini-masterpieces. I haven't yet gotten into bird-watching, but the book transcends those who use this as a field guide. Now I can sit in the comfort of my den and enjoy all the glory of Nature's bird treasures. Whether one likes to explore on-foot, or by flipping pages in a book, this is one volume in which you can't go wrong!!

Editorial Review:

Birding is the fastest growing wildlife-related activity in the U.S., and even conservative estimates put the current number of U.S. birders at 50 million. According to the New York Times, some authorities predict that by 2050 there will be more than 100 million?and the National Geographic Field Guide to the Birds of North America will be the essential reference for field identification and the cornerstone of any birder's library. This is the ultimate, indispensable bird field guide?comprehensive, authoritative, portable, sturdy, and easier than ever to use.

The Backyard Birdsong Guide: Eastern and Central North America (Backyard Birdsong Guides)

Donald Kroodsma

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Customer Reviews:
Total reviews: 20 Average rating: 4.5 of 5

Offering an interactive format in audio word as well as written language and visual images 5 out of 5 stars.
1 of 1 people found this review helpful.

Any home library strong in field guides probably has more than one bird book; but this is something different, offering an interactive format in audio word as well as written language and visual images. Some seventy unique birds from Eastern North America are featured in a book which offers one-touch buttons of digital audios to pair with descriptions of songs, calls and behaviors. Home birders who want to identify by more than pictures will find this an easy, appealing guide with a difference.

Diane C. Donovan
California Bookwatch

Editorial Review:

Building on the tremendous success of Bird Songs (250,000 copies sold), The Backyard Birdsong Guides are regional, interactive handbooks of birds and their songs for beginning bird-watchers. With a touch-button electronic module housing common vocalizations of 75 species from across Eastern and Central North America, this volume offers a truly sensory way to identify and get to know local birds. Crisply detailed and scientifically accurate illustrations accompany each entry, and up-to-date range maps from the Cornell Lab of Ornithology provide clear geographical reference points. Complete with an introduction to birdsong that will inspire readers to look out their kitchen windows and venture out in the field, this unique book provides an exciting entryway into the subtle art of birding.

Audubon Nature Calendar 2009 (Wall Calendars)

National Audubon Society

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Customer Reviews:
Total reviews: 1 Average rating: 5.0 of 5

Highly recomended. 5 out of 5 stars.
2 of 2 people found this review helpful.

I have purchased Audubon Calenders for many yeards. They are beautiful
and they give me p;easure all thru the year. A1 photograph.Highly recommended

Editorial Review:

Deep in the Grand Canyon, a misty waterfall splashes into an aquamarine pool. An orange and red sunset glows against the rippled dunes of White Sands National Monument. Wispy clouds cloak Washington's rugged, snow-dusted Mount Shuksan. Dramatic, pristine, and grand in scale, each of these full-color images is an impressive tribute to the power of North America's wilderness.

Climate Confusion: How Global Warming Hysteria Leads to Bad Science, Pandering Politicians and Misguided Policies that Hurt the Poor

Roy Spencer

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Customer Reviews:
Total reviews: 83 Average rating: 4.5 of 5

Editorial Review:

The current frenzy over global warming has galvanized the public and cost taxpayers billons of dollars in federal expenditures for climate research. It has spawned Hollywood blockbusters and inspired major political movements. It has given a higher calling to celebrities and built a lucrative industry for scores of eager scientists. In short, ending climate change has become a national crusade.

And yet, despite this dominant and sprawling campaign, the facts behind global warming remain as confounding as ever.

In Climate Confusion, distinguished climatologist Dr. Roy Spencer observes that our obsession with global warming has only clouded the issue. Forsaking blindingly technical statistics and doomsday scenarios, Dr. Spencer explains in simple terms how the climate system really works, why man's role in global warming is more myth than science, and how the global warming hype has corrupted Washington and the scientific community.

The reasons, Spencer explains, are numerous: biases in governmental funding of scientific research, our misconceptions about science and basic economics, even our religious beliefs and worldviews. From Al Gore to Leonardo DiCaprio, the climate change industry has given a platform to leading figures from all walks of life, as pandering politicians, demagogues and biased scientists forge a self-interested movement whose proposed policy initiatives could ultimately devastate the economies of those developing countries they purport to aid.

Climate Confusion is a much needed wake up call for all of us on planet earth. Dr. Spencer's clear-eyed approach, combined with his sharp wit and intellect, brings transparency and levity to the issue of global warming as he takes on wrong-headed attitudes and misguided beliefs that have led to our state of panic. Climate Confusion lifts the shroud of mystery that has hovered here for far too long and offers an end to this frenzy of misinformation in our lives.

Audubon 365 Songbirds and Other Backyard Birds Picture-A-Day Calendar 2009 (Picture-A-Day Wall Calendars)

National Audubon Society

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Customer Reviews:
Total reviews: 2 Average rating: 4.0 of 5

Great photos! 5 out of 5 stars.
2 of 2 people found this review helpful.

I had this calendar for 2008 and loved seeing all of the beautiful pictures of the birds on every day of the month. I will definitely order it for 2009.

Ordered wrong item 3 out of 5 stars.
2 of 2 people found this review helpful.

I should have read the description:wall calendar. I was looking for the tablet calendar with a page (and new bird) each day. That item doesn't appear to be available this year.

Editorial Review:

For America's 70 million birders, 365 Songbirds presents the thrill of a new sighting every day. Close-up and in vivid full color, these are the familiar warblers that flit around the yard, perch on the feeder, and bring music and beauty to our daily lives. An American Goldfinch decked out in bright summer plummage, a robin's nest with a clutch of blue eggs, a Northern Cardinal perched on a snow-covered branch. Plus woodpeckers, jays, meadowlarks, sparrows, orioles, and jewel-like hummingbirds. In addition to the daily featured birds, one species is celebrated in depth each month, with a large photograph and detailed text.

Peterson Field Guide to Birds of North America (Peterson Field Guides(R))

Roger Tory Peterson

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Customer Reviews:
Total reviews: 12 Average rating: 4.5 of 5

Editorial Review:

Product Description
In celebration of the centennial of Roger Tory Peterson's birth comes a historic collaboration among renowned birding experts and artists to preserve and enhance the Peterson legacy. This new book combines the Peterson Field Guide to Eastern Birds and Peterson Field Guide to Western Birds into one volume, filled with accessible, concise information and including almost three hours of video podcasts to make bird watching even easier.

• 40 new paintings
• Digital updates to Peterson's original paintings, reflecting the latest knowledge of bird identification
• All new maps for the most up-to-date range information available
• Text rewritten to cover the U.S. and Canada in one guide
• Larger trim size accommodates range maps on every spread
• Contributors include: Michael DiGiorgio, Jeff Gordon, Paul Lehman, Michael O'Brien, Larry Rosche, and Bill Thompson III
• Includes URL to register for access to video podcasts

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Excerpts from Peterson Field Guide to Birds of North America
Click on each image below to see a larger view

Colorful songbirds with heavy, seed-crushing bills, cardinals and grosbeaks are popular at feeders.

In North America, the Orchard and Baltimore Orioles are fairly widespread in the East; Bullock's is widespread in the West; and the Spot-breasted Oriole is limited to South Florida.

Peterson sometimes painted over figures on a plate and sometimes even cut them out. Canyon Wren was missing from the original art. Michael O'Brien painted a new Canyon Wren for inclusion in the new field guide.

The Orange Bishop is native to Africa but has been introduced in California. Peterson had not painted this bird for his field guides, so Michael O’Brien painted this one.

Thumbnail maps help you determine at a glance if a bird is likely to be in your region.

Large maps in back give detailed range information.

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Isaac's Storm: A Man, a Time, and the Deadliest Hurricane in History

Erik Larson

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Customer Reviews:
Total reviews: 258 Average rating: 4.0 of 5

a reminder of tragedy 4 out of 5 stars.
1 of 1 people found this review helpful.

Isaac's Storm, published in 1999, is the story of the most horrible hurricane in American history. While reading, I wondered if Hurricane Katrina had outstripped the Galveston hurricane described by Larson. It did not. The Galveston hurricane claimed at least 6,000 lives and the entire town. Hurricane Katrina, however, claimed less than 2,000 lives according to most estimates. While Katrina is the most tragic natural disaster of our age, our forebears experienced even worse. The Isaac of the title is Isaac Cline, the U.S. Weather Bureau's chief observer in Galveston. Larson weaves meteorological details of the storm with the story of Isaac and other Galveston residents as well as the bureaucratic failures that left the city vulnerable. The story is touching and, at times, horrifying. Larson clearly conveys the fear residents felt during the storm and the way it changed the lives of survivors forever. I cannot imagine living through such an ordeal. This is a wonderful precursor of Larson's later work, The Devil in the White City. I would recommend it to anyone who enjoyed that book.

Editorial Review:

Reading in his signature dispassionate style, narrator Edward Herrmann brings an eerie calm to this powerful chronicle of the deadliest storm ever to hit the United States--a huge and terribly destructive hurricane that struck land near Galveston, Texas in September of 1900. Author Erik Larson re-creates the events leading up to the disaster in astonishing detail, tracing the thoughts and actions of Isaac Cline, a scientist with America's burgeoning U.S. Weather Bureau. Cline's unwavering confidence--"In an age of scientific certainty one could not allow one's judgment to be clouded..."--blinds the meteorologist to the deadly onslaught about to be unleashed. Herrmann's calculated performance reflects the impending doom and dangers inherent to an unquestioned and absolute faith in science. (Running time: 5 hours, 3 cassettes) --George Laney