Ecosystems Books

Pure Sea Glass: Discovering Nature's Vanishing Gems

Richard LaMotte, Sally Lamotte Crane

Amazon Price: $23.07 List Price: $34.95 Usually ships in 24 hours By: Chesapeake Seaglass Pub. Amazon Marketplace: 17 new & used starting at $21.90

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Subjects -> Home & Garden -> Crafts & Hobbies -> Glass & Glassware
Subjects -> Science -> Nature & Ecology -> Oceans & Seas -> General
Subjects -> Outdoors & Nature -> Reference

Customer Reviews:
Total reviews: 41 Average rating: 5.0 of 5

Great Sea Glass Resource 4 out of 5 stars.
0 of 0 people found this review helpful.

My wife and I collect sea glass daily on the Oregon coast. This book did give us a good explaination of what types and the possible origin of glass we've found. Lots of pictures to compare the various colors of sea glass which indicates rare to common. A good reference book for sea glass collectors.

Nice book 5 out of 5 stars.
0 of 0 people found this review helpful.

Nice book with nice pictures. Haven't had time to actually sit and read thru it.

Awesome Book For Any Beachcomber! 5 out of 5 stars.
0 of 0 people found this review helpful.

Everything you would ever need to know about seaglass is in this book! VERY interesting!!! I love it & could read my copy over & over!

Highly recommended for sea glass lovers 5 out of 5 stars.
0 of 0 people found this review helpful.

I have recently became interested in sea glass after finding a few beautiful peices when I ordered this book. I was not dissappointed! This book is very informational and beautifully illustrated. I found a match for a peice I had found in the book, allowing me to date the peice.

I love this book and will keep in on my coffee table along with my display of my precious finds! It's a joy just to flip through and just look at the pictures.

Pure Sea Glass 5 out of 5 stars.
0 of 0 people found this review helpful.

This is a lovely coffee table book that is amazingly beautiful as well as informative. I have recently started collecting beach glass and I learned so much about the various colors, how rare each is and where the glass might have come from. I highly recommend this book to any beach glass collector.

Portrait of the Gulf Stream: In Praise of Currents (Armchair Traveller)

Erik Orsenna

Amazon Price: $13.57 List Price: $19.95 In stock soon. Order now to get in line. First come, first served. By: Haus Publishing Amazon Marketplace: 10 new & used starting at $9.97

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Subjects -> Science -> Nature & Ecology -> Oceans & Seas -> Oceanography -> General

Editorial Review:

Passion and concern for the Gulf Stream motivated Erik Orsenna to travel far and wide to meet scholars and scientists who hold the key to the mysteries of this powerful ocean current. Spanning thousands of years of history, this book weaves between poetry and science to trace the influence of currents on our climate and culture.

Chasing Science at Sea: Racing Hurricanes, Stalking Sharks, and Living Undersea with Ocean Experts

Ellen Prager

Amazon Price: $15.30 List Price: $22.50 Usually ships in 24 hours By: University Of Chicago Press Amazon Marketplace: 24 new & used starting at $14.12

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

Editorial Review:

To the average office-dweller, marine scientists seem to have the good life: cruising at sea for weeks at a time, swimming in warm coastal waters, living in tropical paradises. But ocean scientists who go to sea will tell you that it is no vacation. Creature comforts are few and the obstacles seemingly insurmountable, yet an abundance of wonder and discovery still awaits those who take to the ocean. Chasing Science at Sea immerses readers in the world of those who regularly go to sea—aquanauts living underwater, marine biologists seeking unseen life in the deep ocean, and the tall-ship captains at the helm, among others—and tells the fascinating tale of what life—and science—is like at the mercy of Mother Nature.
With passion and wit, well-known marine scientist Ellen Prager shares her stories as well as those of her colleagues, revealing that in the field ingenuity and a good sense of humor are as essential as water, sunblock, and GPS. Serendipity is invaluable, and while collecting data is the goal, sometimes just getting back to shore means success. But despite the physical hardship and emotional duress that come with the work, optimism and adventure prompt a particularly hardy species of scientist to return again and again to the sea.
Filled with firsthand accounts of the challenges and triumphs of dealing with the extreme forces of nature and the unpredictable world of the ocean, Chasing Science at Sea is a unique glimpse below the water line at what it is like and why it is important to study, explore, and spend time in one of our planet’s most fascinating and foreign environments.

(20080701)

Ocean

Amazon Price: $31.50 List Price: $50.00 Usually ships in 24 hours By: DK ADULT Amazon Marketplace: 43 new & used starting at $21.69

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Subjects -> Science -> Nature & Ecology -> Oceans & Seas -> Oceanography -> General

Customer Reviews:
Total reviews: 18 Average rating: 5.0 of 5

NOT THE GREAT COFFEE TABLE BOOK! 2 out of 5 stars.
4 of 35 people found this review helpful.

NOT 500 pages and if I had paused to read the item description properly I wouldn't have bought this book! Way too good a price to be true, it is not another edition of the wonderful Cousteau-forwarded book, but a perfectly respectable DK full-color children's book with many very nice color photos. Probably very worth $7.99 and I was just far too greedy to read the fine print.

Editorial Review:

As the site where life first formed on Earth, a key element of the climate, and a continuing but fragile resource, oceans are of vital importance to our planet. From the geological and physical processes that affect the ocean floor to the key habitat zones, flora, and fauna, this is the definitive reference to the world's oceans for the entire family. Includes an introduction by Fabien Cousteau. Includes the latest developments in ocean exploration and photography. Catalogs the rich diversity of ocean features and marine life. Highlights important people, unique habitats, human impact studies, and extreme facts. Published in association with the American Museum of Natural History.

Florida's Living Beaches: A Guide for the Curious Beachcomber

Witherington; Dawn and Blair

Amazon Price: $14.93 List Price: $21.95 Usually ships in 24 hours By: Pineapple Press (FL) Amazon Marketplace: 25 new & used starting at $13.74

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Customer Reviews:
Total reviews: 17 Average rating: 5.0 of 5

Amazing book! 5 out of 5 stars.
1 of 1 people found this review helpful.

Living near the ocean I wanted to learn more about what all I see on the beach. I was in search of a book that would help me learn more and included pictures to help identify (pictures as opposed to drawing illustrations). I came across this book and liked the other reviews it received, so I ordered it. This book is by far one of the best books I've ever purchased! So much information for the price. It's an amazing book. Packed with great full-color photos of all the things I've seen on the beach and others I'll start keeping an eye open for. Wonderful layout, great images, just enough information, etc. This book will be one that my family uses for many years to come. It's awesome! Even my 4 year old was in awe over the pictures and started learning new things as she kept asking me what everything was. Two thumbs way up on this one. I can't see anyone purchasing this book and being disappointed.

Editorial Review:

Florida has 1200 miles of coastline, almost 700 miles of which are sandy beaches. Exploring along those beaches offers encounters with myriads of plants, animals, minerals, and manmade objects all are covered in this comprehensive guide with descriptive accounts of 822 items, 983 color images, and 431 maps. Beginning with the premise that beaches are themselves alive, this guide to the natural history of Florida beaches heralds the living things and metaphorical life near, on, and within the state's sandy margins. It is organized into Beach Features, Beach Animals, Beach Plants, Beach Minerals, and Hand of Man. In addition to being an identification guide, the book reveals much of the wonder and mystery between dune and sea along Florida s long coastline.

The Outermost House: A Year of Life On The Great Beach of Cape Cod

Henry Beston

Amazon Price: $11.20 List Price: $14.00 Usually ships in 24 hours By: Holt Paperbacks Amazon Marketplace: 62 new & used starting at $1.50

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Subjects -> Outdoors & Nature -> Nature Writing

Customer Reviews:
Total reviews: 22 Average rating: 4.5 of 5

Editorial Review:

The seventy-fifth anniversary edition of the classic book about Cape Cod, “written with simplicity, sympathy, and beauty” (New York Herald Tribune)A chronicle of a solitary year spent on a Cape Cod beach, The Outermost House has long been recognized as a classic of American nature writing. Henry Beston had originally planned to spend just two weeks in his seaside home, but was so possessed by the mysterious beauty of his surroundings that he found he “could not go.”Instead, he sat down to try and capture in words the wonders of the magical landscape he found himself in thrall to: the migrations of seabirds, the rhythms of the tide, the windblown dunes, and the scatter of stars in the changing summer sky. Beston argued that, “The world today is sick to its thin blood for the lack of elemental things, for fire before the hands, for water, for air, for the dear earth itself underfoot.” Seventy-five years after they were first published, Beston’s words are more true than ever.

The Perfect Storm: A True Story of Men Against the Sea (P.S.)

Sebastian Junger

Amazon Price: $11.16 List Price: $13.95 Usually ships in 24 hours By: Harper Perennial Amazon Marketplace: 74 new & used starting at $1.31

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Customer Reviews:
Total reviews: 897 Average rating: 4.0 of 5

Editorial Review:

The unabridged audio version of Sebastian Junger's The Perfect Storm, read by Richard M. Davidson, moves in the same haunting fashion as the deadly storm referenced in the title. Opening slowly, the story lulls you with a false sense of calm, behind which looms an inexorable power. Almost imperceptibly the drama begins to build and before you know what's hit you, the sheer force of the cumulative events has swept you into a maelstrom of tragic human consequence.

Junger's carefully researched and sympathetic book is a mesmerizing chronicle of man's struggle against nature. Davidson's unassuming, slightly nasal tone subtly captures the drollery of the salty New England attitude. "People often get premonitions when they do jobs that could get them killed ... the trick is knowing when to listen to them." He makes listening to The Perfect Storm seem like you're bearing witness to a natural disaster. You're powerless to help, but the awesome spectacle has such an emotional hold that it's nearly impossible to turn away. Start this tape too late in the evening and you may be in for a dark and stormy night. (Running time: nine hours, six cassettes) --George Laney

Reef

Scubazoo

Amazon Price: $23.28 List Price: $40.00 Usually ships in 24 hours By: DK Publishing Amazon Marketplace: 44 new & used starting at $19.97

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Customer Reviews:
Total reviews: 19 Average rating: 4.5 of 5

If you love scuba 5 out of 5 stars.
0 of 0 people found this review helpful.

If you love scuba diving then you will enjoy this book. It includes a beautiful DVD with great music as you watch the fish.Informative pictures and expression of reef and the living creatures contained there. Very enjoyable.

Editorial Review:

Coral reefs are often called "the rainforests of the sea" because of the quantity and diversity of life they support, and because they are highly sensitive and threatened ecosystems. Building on the success of DK's Rainforest, this unique pictorial celebration of the worlds reefs progresses through an ecological chain that goes from algae, sponges, and mollusks to the thousands of fishes that make their homes there. This vivid collection of photographs, from underwater photography collective Scubazoo, reveals reefs as they've never been seen before.

• Features reefs worldwide, from Southeast Asia to the Red Sea and Hawaii
• Captions identify plant and animal life and quotes give additional background information
• Photographic narratives demonstrate how reefs live/die, and how creatures depend on them
• Published in cooperation with the American Museum of Natural History

Sales of this book support the Coral Reef Alliance.

Heart Stones

Amazon Price: $9.95 List Price: $9.95 Usually ships in 24 hours By: Abrams Books Amazon Marketplace: 34 new & used starting at $5.33

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Customer Reviews:
Total reviews: 3 Average rating: 5.0 of 5

amazing 5 out of 5 stars.
6 of 6 people found this review helpful.

my mother used to collect stone hearts - sometime I just couldn't 'see' the heart shape but she always could - it must be an artist thing - there is now a small following of her artist friends than manage to find all the hearts along the shoreline. its a gift she was able to share with them and now, I found this book - I wish I could have shared it with her. Its beautiful and brought back so many wonderful memories - it prompted me to really look at the stones I've massed together from mom - there are so many hearts - i never knew the treasures so close at hand. now maybe I'll be able to find those washed up on the shore. Its a wonder book - a simple joy.

Editorial Review:

A heart stone is one of nature's gifts. Heart stones are not rare or precious in the typical sense--a good scour of a beach with any stones at all will usually turn up one or two heart-shaped stones. But heart stones, lifted from their obscurity, with all of their cracks and blemishes, lopsided and imperfect, are simply the best find on any beach. Beachcombers collect them, keep them as talismans, and give them to friends and lovers.

Josie Iselin, author of Abrams' very popular Beach Stones, has put together a magical collection of 100 heart stones, and each one expresses a universal feeling. Love, passion, admiration, obsession, reassurance, joy, intrigue, comfort, wonder, and many other human emotions seem to be portrayed in these homely but appealing objects. This little book can bring great pleasure to anyone who has ever sought inspiration and solace in nature.

Beach Stones

Josie Iselin, Margaret Carruthers

Amazon Price: $12.21 List Price: $17.95 Usually ships in 24 hours By: "Harry N. Abrams, Inc." Amazon Marketplace: 37 new & used starting at $9.36

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Customer Reviews:
Total reviews: 15 Average rating: 4.5 of 5

Beach Stones by Josie Iselin, Margaret Carruthers 3 out of 5 stars.
4 of 5 people found this review helpful.

This book has beautiful images and interesting text. A good book for people who love the beach. It would make a good coffee table book. I was disappointed in the lack of depth offered by the text. I was hoping for more in depth geologic information, and a greater variety of stones pictured. This is not the book for you if you want an in depth look at geologic process and the mineral composition of stones that wash up on the beach.

Editorial Review:

Walking along the water's edge, who among us has not stopped to admire the evocatively patterned, shaped, and multihued stones that beckon? Fun to collect and free for the taking, beach stones are objects of contemplation, beauty, and sentiment. This exquisite volume-at once a gorgeous art book and a nature guide-presents more than 200 exceptional stones from around the world and describes the fascinating natural processes that produced them.

Photographer and installation artist Josie Iselin, who uses a flatbed scanner to generate her imagery, has arranged these stones with great artistry, and nature writer Margaret Carruthers yields their secrets, revealing, for instance, that a pebble from Maine was created 400 million years ago during the birth of a great mountain range. Art lovers and beachcombing spirits everywhere will cherish this gift book.