Coastal Books

The Ravaging Tide: Strange Weather, Future Katrinas, and the Coming Death of America's Coastal Cities

Mike Tidwell

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Subjects -> Outdoors & Nature -> Ecosystems -> Tidelands
Subjects -> Outdoors & Nature -> Environment -> Weather

Customer Reviews:
Total reviews: 9 Average rating: 4.0 of 5

Editorial Review:

The question on every American's mind: Can Katrina happen to me where I live?

The answer, unfortunately, is yes, yes, and again yes. If you are one of the

150 million Americans who live within 100 miles of a coastline -- and even

if you live much farther inland -- you could be inhabiting the next New

Orleans. The bad news for you is that there are even more studies full of

even more scientific data confirming this fact than the studies predicting

Katrina prior to 2005.

The issue this time is global warming. We are literally altering the sky

above us. And be assured: This is not some "junk theory" peddled by Greenpeace

extremists. No less an authority than the Bush Administration itself has

officially confirmed, on multiple occasions, that global warming is real and

is driven by our use of fossil fuels -- oil, coal, and natural gas.

Worldwide, thanks to climate change, sea level is expected to rise up to

three feet within the coming decades and extreme weather events will

significantly increase, according to the Bush Administration.

These two factors -- more intense storms and rising ocean levels -- mean we

are rapidly turning every coastal city in America into another New Orleans.

Coastal Alert: Energy Ecosystems And Offshore Oil Drilling (Island Press Critical Issues Series, No. 2)

Dwight Holing

List Price: $19.95 By: Island Press Amazon Marketplace: 9 new & used starting at $12.36

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Subjects -> Business & Investing -> Real Estate -> General
Subjects -> Business & Investing -> Real Estate -> General AAS

Editorial Review:

Coastal Alert" explains how citizens can protect coastal resources from the damaging effects of offshore oil drilling.

Tideland Treasure: The Naturalist's Guide to the Beaches and Salt Marshes of Hilton Head Island and the Southeastern Coast

Todd Ballantine

Amazon Price: $12.89 List Price: $18.95 Usually ships in 24 hours By: University of South Carolina Press Amazon Marketplace: 51 new & used starting at $3.19

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Customer Reviews:
Total reviews: 4 Average rating: 5.0 of 5

Very enjoyable and useful resource for the Coastal Carolinas 5 out of 5 stars.
11 of 12 people found this review helpful.

This book uses descriptive illustrations to add to the enjoyment of its useful information. Its particularly relevant to the Coastal Carolina region and contains interesting and helpful facts for the beachgoer. Its format serves the single page reader as well as those who enjoy larger portions. Highly Recommended

Wow 5 out of 5 stars.
4 of 4 people found this review helpful.

This book gives a wide variety of all the different spots on a barrier island. we use it in enrichment class and I enjoy the book very much.

An absolute must-have 5 out of 5 stars.
2 of 2 people found this review helpful.

I used this book for two summers when I lived on Hilton Head. My job was to drive people around on small boats and teach them about the natural wonders of barrier islands. Since I was a boat captain, not a naturalist, this book saved my bacon many times over. Anytime anyone asked me a question, I'd just grab the book and look it up, and I'd usually give it to them so they could look at the pictures. I recommend this book for anyone living near the coast in the Southeast. In fact, a lot of it is still relevant to folks in the Northeast. Some of the species are different, but the processes are still the same.

What's not clear from Amazon's description is that this book has a unique format. Each page was originally an article in the local paper, so you get one page of info per critter or process. The pages are works of art, hand-drawn and lettered in pen and ink. Any one of them would be worthy of framing. The language is clear and easy to understand, written for laymen but with enough info to satisfy naturalists. In fact, they're so beautiful and well-written that I'm here today to buy a copy for a professor of mine who teaches college classes on the geology and natural history of the East coast. There's nothing in this book he doesn't know or can't look up in a normal reference book. It's the artwork that really makes this book pop.

Don't hesitate to buy this--you won't be disappointed!

Editorial Review:

A naturalist's guide to the beaches and marshes of the Southeast coast, portraying the nature of the sea, beach, salt marsh, plants, and animals of the area.

Coastal Marine Zooplankton: A Practical Manual for Students

Christopher D. Todd, M. S. Laverack, Geoff Boxshall

Amazon Price: $50.40 List Price: $58.00 Usually ships in 24 hours By: Cambridge University Press Amazon Marketplace: 18 new & used starting at $48.26

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Customer Reviews:
Total reviews: 2 Average rating: 4.5 of 5

An good book for an overview 4 out of 5 stars.
7 of 8 people found this review helpful.

I've always wanted to know what I was seeing when I went to the beach - especially when I began to bring a microscope with me. This book is a good start for people who are curious about the environment around them and want to put names to what they see.

Best Zooplankton and Larvae Photo Album Around 5 out of 5 stars.
7 of 7 people found this review helpful.

You cannot live without this photo album if you observe inshore zooplankton. The black and white photographs are stunning, especially the Crustacea. It is a steal for the price. Every plankton lab. should have a copy. I particularly liked the ovigerous Evadne.

Editorial Review:

The marine zooplankton is one of the most fascinating and diverse assemblages of animals known to biologists. This student manual provides a photographic guide to representative forms of the major groups from medusae and comb jellies to larval fish and squid. In it, only photographs of live and active organisms appear, giving a unique visual perspective. In this new edition, the authors have revised and updated the taxonomy and morphology so that combined with information on behavior and development, this book creates a vivid and essential reference.

Coastal Homes 2 (Lifestyles Nature & Architecture (Am Publishers))

Fernando de Haro, Omar Fuentes

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Subjects -> Home & Garden -> Interior Design -> General

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

Fantastico 5 out of 5 stars.
0 of 0 people found this review helpful.

A splndid book providing beautiful photos and interesting text on Coastal design in Mexico. A wonderful source of reference and inspiration for both the design community and homeowner.

Editorial Review:

This sumptuous volume is a fascinating look at how architecture and nature can be seamlessly combined to create some of the most visually stunning, yet functional homes in the world. By way of a stunning presentation of more than 220 full-colour photographs, "Coastal Homes" shows how natural surroundings can inspire, and give shape to architectural designs - climbing flowers and hedges become fences and walls, palm trees turn into columns, and rivers and oceans form ponds and lakes. This is a must have volume for anyone who wants to combine the best of architecture with the best of nature.

The Laguna Madre of Texas and Tamaulipas (Gulf Coast Studies Series, 2)

Amazon Price: $48.35 List Price: $60.00 Usually ships in 24 hours By: Texas A&M University Press Amazon Marketplace: 14 new & used starting at $48.34

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Subjects -> Business & Investing -> Popular Economics -> General AAS
Subjects -> History -> Americas -> United States -> State & Local -> Texas

Editorial Review:

The Laguna Madre of Texas and Tamaulipas is the only hypersaline coastal lagoon on the North American continent and only one of five worldwide. Extending along 277 miles of shoreline in South Texas and north-eastern Mexico, the lagoon is renowned for its vast seagrass meadows, huge wintering bird population, and bountiful fishing grounds. Recent concerns about increasing human activity have focused attention on the long-term health of the Laguna Madre as growing population pressures, pollution problems, and dredging threaten this unique ecosystem. The Nature Conservancy, whose mission is the conservation of biodiversity through protection of habitat, recognized the need to compile all known information about the Laguna Madre in order to move ahead with a science-based conservation agenda. This book is the result. Taking an ecosystem approach to the study of this rich habitat, the authors first provide an overview of the natural history of the Laguna Madre and adjacent areas, including an essay on the importance of the region's private ranches. Succeeding chapters discuss the diverse natural resources of the lagoon - seagrasses, open bays, tidal flats, barrier islands, abundant waterfowl, colonial waterbird rookeries, sea turtles, and fisheries. A final section identifies information gaps, offers a conservation framework, and makes recommendations for preserving the biodiversity of this complex and special ecosystem. More than seventy years of literature on the Laguna Madre and surrounding environments has been synthesized here. With more than 150 figures and illustrations, this book is the first to take a broad and comprehensive look at both the Texan and Tamaulipan Laguna Madre. For scientists, conservationists, resource managers, and policy makers involved in the future of the Texas and Mexico coasts, the value of this book is clear. Coastal residents, birders, anglers, and nature lovers who want to learn about and take care of the Laguna Madre will also find this to be an indispensable guide.

A Place Between the Tides: A Naturalist's Reflections on the Salt Marsh

Harry Thurston

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Editorial Review:

A Place Between the Tides is an evocative mix of scientific observation and personal memories that captures the tremendous vitality and vulnerability of marshlands. For every nature writer there seems to be one special place that demonstrates the ways of the natural world and its relationship with humans. For Thoreau, it was a pond; for Annie Dillard, a creek; for author Harry Thurston, it is the salt marsh where land meets sea, one of the most biologically diverse habitats on Earth but one that is increasingly threatened.

This is the story of Thurston's return to the beloved environment of his boyhood. Elegantly moving back and forth in time, and deftly interweaving a naturalist's observations with a personal journey, he describes the seasons of the marsh over two decades. Altogether, Thurston documents more than 100 species of fish, birds, and mammals, a myriad of creatures hiding in tidal pools, and 70 species of plants.

Salt Tide: Currents of Nature and Life on the Virginia Coast

Curtis J. Badger

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

I love this book! 5 out of 5 stars.
1 of 2 people found this review helpful.

This book was extremly enjoyable to read. Cutis Badger opens his heart in several chapters, speaking of his love for his son and his love for the land he was raised on. The illistrations are also amazing, and offer a lot of emotional feeling. This book is also informative, and includes interesting knowledge about the marshes and creeks enjoys.

Editorial Review:

A fascinating weave of science and memoir by a naturalist who draws inspiration from life among the coastal islands of Virginia.

Join naturalist Curtis J. Badger as he explores the last unspoiled barrier island ecosystem in the eastern United States. Badger's own ancestral roots in the region reach back into the 1600s, a legacy that fuels his passion and appreciation for this fragile confluence of land and sea. A beaded chain of 18 islands separates the inland shore from the Atlantic, and in this zone of protected waters lives a startling array of plants and animals. As he writes about looking for milky ribbon worms in the mudflats or paddling through spartina on a tidal creek, Badger gracefully weaves together personal history and natural science with insight and intelligence. 20 black & white illustrations.

An Introduction to Coastal Zone Management

Timothy Beatley, David Brower, Anna K. Schwab

Amazon Price: $31.50 List Price: $35.00 Usually ships in 24 hours By: Island Press Amazon Marketplace: 19 new & used starting at $20.05

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Subjects -> Outdoors & Nature -> Conservation -> Wetlands

Customer Reviews:
Total reviews: 2 Average rating: 4.5 of 5

Editorial Review:

This title offers a comprehensive overview of coastal planning and management issues for students and professionals in the field. Since publication of the first edition in 1994, population growth and increasing development pressures on our coasts have made the need for forward-looking, creative and sustainable visions for the future even greater. This revised edition includes: significantly updated data and statistics including discussions of population and growth trends, federal and state coastal expenditures, disaster assistance expenditures and damage levels from hurricane and coastal storms; updated legislative and programmatic material, including the Stafford Act and mitigation assistance programmes, and changes in the Coastal Zone Management Act; expanded coverage of physical and biological attributes and conditions of the coastal zone; expanded and updated discussions of innovative local coastal management; and new chapters on creative coastal design and development and lessons from coastal programmes in other countries. "An Introduction to Coastal Zone Management" addresses the serious coastal trends and pressures in the US, assesses the current policy and planning framework, and puts forth a vision for future management and sustainable coastal planning. It is an important resource for undergraduate and graduate students of coastal planning as well as for local and state officials, residents of coastal communities, environmental advocates, developers and others concerned with coastal issues.

Chesapeake Almanac: Following the Bay Through the Seasons

John Page, Jr. Williams

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

If you love Chesapeake Bay, this is your book. 5 out of 5 stars.
13 of 16 people found this review helpful.

If you live on, near or visit and love Chesapeake Bay you should read this engaging and informative book. A collection of John Page William Jr.'s columns from "Chesapeake Bay Magazine," the book walks you through a year on the Bay and it's surrounding country. Once you've read it, you'll be amazed at how it sharpens your view of what is going on around you on or along the water. This is a book for anyone who enjoys the Bay in any way -- boating, camping, cottaging, or just sitting by the waterside on a quiet afternoon with a line in the water. Highly recommended!