Reviews (1)

Beautiful & Massive Documentation of Life on the Savannah.
Anup and Manoj Shah have distinguished themselves in the populous field of wildlife photography by producing expressive and beautiful portraits of wild animals thatdocument the individuals' lives while achieving impressive aesthetic grace. Many of the brothers' photographs are simply unforgettable works of art that I never tire of looking at. "The Circle of Life" is a massive book that contains 235 photographs of wildlife on the African Savannah. About 40 species of mammal are represented, as well as some birds and reptiles. In the most comprehensive photographic essay of wildlife that I have ever seen, the Shah brothers document the lives of the many animals who live and die in this vast African ecosystem that spans much of Kenya and Tanzania. The authors have organized this photographic odyssey by dividing the book into 20 chapters, each showcasing one aspect of life on the Savannah. The early chapters show us the basic elements that create and sustain life. Some example chapters are: "Driven by Wet andDry", "Light and Energy", and "Shaped by Fire and Elephants". The book then moves on to the subjects of birth and growing up on the Savannah. "Natural Selection", "Adaptation and Diversity", "Peaceful Coexistence", and "Mother and Offspring", for example. Then we see the lives of adult animals. Some examples are: "Herds and Social Groups", "Grazers and Browsers", and "The Hunters". And finally these animals die, returning to the earth, and the "circle of life" begins again: "Scavengers and Decomposers", "Land and Life". Each chapter begins with an essay written by Anup Shah that explains what that particular facet of life on the Savannah entails and how it fits into the greater life cycle.Read more

Subjects:  1. Africa    2. Grassland animals    3. Grassland ecology    4. Life Sciences - Zoology - General    5. Nature    6. Nature/Ecology    7. Photography    8. Pictorial works    9. Subjects & Themes - Plants & Animals    10. Subjects & Themes - Travel - World/Africa    11. Wildlife    12. Kenya    13. Nature / Wildlife    14. Photographs: collections    15. Places & peoples: general interest    16. Tanzania    17. Wild animals   

Reviews (6)

The Butterflies of Costa Rica
After traveling different countries and using various field guides, I can say that this one needs a lot of improvement. This book only covers a small section of species.The specimens that are used are tattered and some are difficult to use for ID purposes. In most guides, the photo description on the left usually include the page number for the text, this one doesn't. So, you have to check the name and look to the index to cross over to the text page.Speaking of names, they are only called by the Latin scientific name.This is probably not a big issue since most do not have one.
A wonderful book
The diversity of life in the tropics is such that a tome like this covers just three of families of butterflies, not the whole lepidopteran fauna as other reviewers have pointed out. Nevertheless, these three are both important and conspicuous, including some of the most beautiful and sought after of tropical butterflies such as the Morphos, Owl Butterflies and Heliconiids. And, because of the paucity of literature for this region, this guide will prove useful well beyond the frontiers of Costa Rica where many of the same genera and even species occur - I use it all the time in Venezuela for example.
butterly museum
This book along with the photo essay book "Costa Rica : The Last Country the Gods Made" should be owned by anyone who loves Costa Rica, even if they think they despise nature studies as dry and limited. Buy it just for the color plates. This book's spirit is undeniable. ... Read more

Subjects:  1. Butterflies    2. Butterflies & Moths    3. Costa Rica    4. Insects    5. Nature    6. Nature/Ecology    7. Biological Sciences    8. Insects (entomology)    9. Nature / Butterflies   

Subjects:  1. Animals    2. Biogeography    3. Congresses    4. Earth Sciences - Geography    5. Life Sciences - Botany    6. Life Sciences - Evolution    7. Science    8. Science/Mathematics    9. Biology, Life Sciences    10. Geology & the lithosphere    11. Science / Evolution   

Reviews (8)

Great Book, Lots of great information
This book has answered many of my questions I have had about horses.I even learned information I never thought to ask about.
THE BEST!!
I love this book! It has so much info! It tells about lots of breeds, and they're all mixed through the book. I'm glad that it tells about my favorite breeds as well as others that I've never heard of, or I don't know a lot about. This book has over 400 pages, but it dosen't cover horse care. My local librery bought it for $40, but Idon't know how much it costs here (Amazon). Get this awesome book, it covers so much, including the Spanish riding school and a horse called Coogenhogan. This book is high on my wishlist, and it's a wonderful book. I would like to know about the revisesd edition, if there is one. Buy this book, no matter how much it costs!!!!

Torin's Book Review
The New Horse Encyclopedia
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Subjects:  1. Animals    2. Encyclopedias    3. Horse breeds    4. Horsemanship    5. Horses    6. Horses - General    7. Nature    8. Nature/Ecology    9. Pets    10. Reference    11. Nature / Horses   

Editorial Review

When Irene Pepperberg, a professor at the University of Arizona, says goodnight, she typically hears the reply "Bye. I'm gonna go eat dinner. I'll see you tomorrow." Though the response itself is not unusual, the source is, for it comes from Alex, a gray parrot, Pepperberg's main research subject for the past 22 years. That parrots can talk is well known; what Pepperberg set out to study was their cognitive abilities. By teaching the bird the meaning--not just the sound--of words in order to communicate, she hoped to discover how his brain worked. She exhaustively details her fascinating results in Read more

Reviews (8)

Excellent information, but ridiculously tough to read
The work that Irene Pepperberg and Alex have done is incredible, and this book would be fascinating if the "Notes" were included in the text and the references were footnoted at the end of the book or at the bottom of the page.While the use of APA style substantiates the credibiltiy of her research and increases the book's value as an intellectual property, it is difficult to find a complete sentence without multiple references cited in parentheses scattered throughout. This makes the normal "flow" of reading almost impossible, and unnecessarily compromises both enjoyment and ease of comprehension.Definitely read this book if you're interested, but keep the aspirin close for the headache you're bound to get while trying to sort out the legitimate text from the references.

A bit too technical for my tastes...
Yes, the intelligence and ability of parrots to communicate concepts IS interesting. But wow! This book has far too much technical detail to keep me turning pages. I bought the book to learn abouthow Alex was trained and how he progressed through the training. But the book goes into too much detail about Pepperberg's scientific and psychological study to keep me awake. Certainly not bedtime reading. I only wish she'd written the book I wanted to read.

No parrot jokes please
I can almost hear Irene Pepperberg saying that to us as she describes the significance of THE ALEX STUDIES. She herself offers a few humorous anecdotes about Alex, but for the most part there is definitely nothing funny about this book. It's written in a deliberately prosaic style for the following reasons. The very tendency for the media and general public to treat Alex as simply the "talking parrot", when in reality his vocalizations represent something much more important in terms of animal cognition and communication. Also stemming from the fact that her findings about bird cognition are so significant, Pepperberg in making her case to scientific colleagues, writes with them in mind. She is incredibly detailed in describing her experiments and the controls used. This is in order to avoid the possibility of cueing and thus comparisons to "clever Hans"; she wants to remove the possibility of persons saying the evidence is that most dreaded scientific epithet - merely "anecdotal". The book is replete with references and Pepperberg places them in the body of her text instead of as footnotes. The book is not a smooth read and only a scientist could describe it as "a delightful and easy read" as ethologist Marc Bekoff says on the cover. This is not a popular science book. But equally it takes an evoltionary biologist and ornithologist to see the "groundbreaking" significance of the book as Bernd Heinrich does. Read more

Subjects:  1. African gray parrot    2. Animal communication    3. Behavior    4. Birds & Birdwatching - General    5. Cognition in animals    6. Cognitive Psychology    7. Communication    8. Experimental Psychology    9. Life Sciences - Zoology - General    10. Psychology    11. Science    12. Animal behaviour    13. Birds (ornithology)    14. Birds, including cage birds    15. Cognitive theory    16. Science / General   

Subjects:  1. Fish    2. Fisheries & Aquaculture    3. Life Sciences - Biology - Marine Biology    4. Life Sciences - Ecology    5. Life Sciences - Zoology - General    6. Saltwater Fish Anatomy And Physiology    7. Science    8. Science/Mathematics    9. Ecology    10. Fishery Science    11. Fishes (ichthyology)    12. Science / Physiology    13. Vertebrate Zoology   

Reviews (9)

A 'must' for any who would understand either the turtle or environmental degradation.
VOYAGE OF THE TURTLE: IN PURSUIT OF THE EARTH'S LAST DINOSAUR provides a fine natural history survey of the leatherback turtle and its evolution. Why the leatherback? It represents the single surviving species of its genus, is a reptile that behaves like a warm-blooded dinosaur, and has a complex life cycle which is increasingly threatened by human activities and environmental change. VOYAGE OF THE TURTLE traverses the world in search of nesting grounds and realities and is a 'must' for any who would understand either the turtle or environmental degradation.
Beautiful and heartbreaking at the same time.
A must read for anyone that inhabits the earth. Safina has the perfect blend of facts and emotions, and in the perfect balance that neither gets too cloying or despair-inducing.

Informative, artful easy read
Safina's style, the ability to flip between scientist, philosopher and appreciative child is infectious.I really appreciated the in-depth research from scientific and historical perspectives intermingled with stories of his travels.This, and most of his books are must reads for ocean adventurers, conservationists and nature lovers. ... Read more

Subjects:  1. Leatherback turtle    2. Nature    3. Nature/Ecology    4. Reptiles & Amphibians    5. Nature / Reptiles & Amphibians   

Reviews (8)

Great Content, Terrible Presentation
The single most noticeable thing about this book is how poorly it was manufactured. The spine seems to be made from steel making it impossible to ever fully open the book and an exercise in frustration to read. This problem is greatly exacerbated by the fact that the text runs way down into the deep dark recesses of the crevasse created by the horrible binding. The actaully printing however is very good. The pictures are clear with good color and the paper is of high quality. This makes it even more ofa shame that the binding is so bad.
Terrific information
Well written, good information, well organized. Not a field guide but one of the best reference books I've seen.

Best Bird Book Available
In typical National Geographic fashion, this book is excellent.It is extremely comprehensive with outstanding artwork.This is a must have for anyone who enjoys birding.You should also buy the National Geographic Field Guide to Birds of North America as an easy to carry companion. ... Read more

Subjects:  1. Bird Watching    2. Birds    3. Birds & Birdwatching - General    4. Birds & Birdwatching - Guides    5. General    6. Nature    7. Nature/Ecology    8. North America    9. Birds (ornithology)    10. Nature / Birds & Birdwatching   

Reviews (2)

WONDERFUL BOOK
If you didn't want to take the time to read the review by Stan Moore, take my word for it...
The best book on peregrine falcons ever.
There have been many books on peregrine falcons over the years, including some very good ones.I have read most of them.Jim Enderson's new book is probably the best book on peregrines I have ever seen, especially if one includes the peregrine/human interface.Jim Enderson not only knows peregrine falcons intimately, but he is intimately acquainted with most or all of the major peregrine falcon biologists in the world, not to mention falconers who train and fly both wild caught and captive bred peregrines.Many of Enderson's generation of peregrine biologists were and are falconers, and the unique and substantive insights of these people, including Enderson, are what make this book so special.
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Subjects:  1. Biography / Autobiography    2. Birds & Birdwatching - General    3. Naturalists, Gardeners, Environmentalists    4. Nature    5. Nature/Ecology    6. Peregrine falcon    7. Personal Memoirs    8. Birds (ornithology)    9. Nature / Birds & Birdwatching   

Reviews (7)

Colorful, Silly Fish Illustrations Grab Baby's Attention!
My 19-month old is WILD for this book; it's the reigning favorite at the moment.The silly fish pictures are great and she loves the pages where there are LOTS of fish on the page (including the inside back pages), pointing out to me her favorites from the story.She also has fun picking out the "extra" fish that look like strawberry fish, pineapple fish, etc.The sing-songy rhymes are as fun as the artwork and a definite winner in our house!

This one's a winner!
Our 16-month-old son absolutely adores this book! We read it using silly voices for each fish, and he just smiles all the way through. When he wants to read this book, he'll bring it to my husband or me, making kissing noises. It's a shame that this book isn't available in a board book format--we've had to tape and re-tape several of the pages from all of the use it gets!

lovely look at the sea

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Subjects:  1. Animals - Fishes    2. Children's Baby - Nature    3. Children's Books/Baby-Preschool    4. Children: Kindergarten    5. Children: Preschool    6. Fiction    7. Fishes    8. Juvenile Fiction    9. Marine Life    10. Mother and child    11. Preschool Picture Story Books    12. Stories in rhyme    13. Juvenile Fiction / Animals / Fishes   

Subjects:  1. Life Sciences - Biology - General    2. Life Sciences - Genetics & Genomics    3. Life Sciences - Zoology - Entomology    4. Science    5. Science/Mathematics    6. Insects (entomology)   

Reviews (28)

great reference
This book has highly detailed photos,not illustrations, that help to identify any species you might come into contact. The format is very easy to navigate and you can even log the fish that you've I.D.'d in the back. I think all field guides should be built like this one!

Awesome book!
This is a well done book on reef fishes!Beautiful photographs and wonderful descriptions make identifying reef fish easy... I can't wait to take this book to Bonaire in April!

Reef Fish review
Awesome book.Easy to use and look up various species.Great photos.u will like it. ... Read more

Subjects:  1. Fish    2. Nature    3. Nature/Ecology    4. Reference   

Subjects:  1. Earth Sciences - Geology    2. Life Sciences - Ecology    3. Marine Life    4. Science    5. Science/Mathematics    6. Ecological science, the Biosphere    7. Fry    8. Science / Ecology    9. aquatic ecology    10. biogeochemistry    11. fractionation    12. geology    13. isotope    14. mixing    15. stable isotope    16. tracers   

Reviews (14)

excellent for beginning and intermediate birders
The alphabetical indexing is excellent for those who have not mastered the taxanomic order as found in most lists and books.The presentation of the song before the identification is useful in honing ones ears.Would like it to be longer than the ~110 species presented.

By far the best bird song training & reviewguide
This is an outstanding CD for learning bird songs.Each song starts with the bird song and then the narrator describes the song and provides a short phrase or description that aids you with identifying it, followed again with the essence of the song.This format allows you to quiz yourself.I bought my first copy two years ago and have bought 5 more to give to friends since then.Everyone has commented that its a great guide.I own several other guides including Birding by Ear and More Birding by Ear and this is by far my favorite.

Highly recommended & exactly what I was looking for.
The CD arrived in the mail yesterday, and I've listened to it once all the way through.The bird songs were recorded in Wisconsin and I live in Connecticut, and I recognized most of the songs as ones I had heard near my house, so it seems that birds selected for inclusion on the CD are widespread enough to make the CD useful for most of the eastern US.
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Subjects:  1. Birds & Birdwatching - General    2. Life Sciences - Zoology - Ornithology    3. Nature    4. Nature / Birds & Birdwatching    5. Nature/Ecology    6. Reference    7. Audio Adult: Other    8. Birds & Birdwatching    9. Birdsongs    10. Identification    11. Midwest    12. Nature / Field Guide Books    13. North America    14. Northeastern states   

Reviews (8)

Well-organized
Our local farmer recommended this book & I've really enjoyed it.Good for beginners.

Very Helpful
I am new to bee keeping, my first hive didn't make it through Ohio's winter, when I picked up a new package to repopulate the hive, the owner of the apiary, Queens Right Colonies, recommended this book.Each time I get into my hive I look through the book to learn what I have seen. Has been very helpful. Great book!

Good Introduction, But Lacking
This is a fine book, but there are many basic concepts missing, and it is a little pricey considering what it lacks. But adding it to your library will be a good move if it's complemented by other authors. ... Read more

Subjects:  1. Apiculture    2. Bee culture    3. Handbooks, manuals, etc    4. Insects & Spiders    5. Life Sciences - Zoology - Entomology    6. Nature    7. Nature/Ecology    8. Reference    9. Apiculture (beekeeping)    10. Insects as pets   

Editorial Review

Over 2,000 species, from the tiny spider mite to the massive blue whale, are profiled in DK's astonishingly wonderful Read more

Reviews (35)

A wondeful compendium
This book is really a good buy. My kids love it,
The animal world
I bought for my daughter of 16 years and she loved, it is well ilustrated and with lots of information and I considered cheap for the information inside.

Wow! Spellbinding!!
I ordered this book at the insistence of my eleven-year old son, studying in Singapore. I do not know how he got to know about it: but enough to understand that good work spreads. Having bought it, I must say that this amazing book is one of the finest investments that I made for my son. Ever since I got it for him, he is hooked to it. The presentation and the approach is stunning, to say the least. It helps in his various school projects. It also encourages him to understand why we must love the animals and protect them. We, as parents, are also charmed by the newfound knowledge that we are gaining. Simply put, this investment gives you more than the bang for the buck. It is a must for every home. ... Read more

Subjects:  1. Animals    2. Life Sciences - Zoology - General    3. Nature    4. Nature/Ecology    5. Science    6. Wildlife    7. Zoology    8. Nature / Wildlife   

Subjects:  1. Entomology    2. Life Sciences - Zoology - Entomology    3. Life Sciences - Zoology - General    4. Reference    5. Science    6. Science/Mathematics    7. Insects (entomology)    8. Reference works    9. Science / Entomology   

Subjects:  1. Birds    2. Birds & Birdwatching - General    3. Dictionaries    4. Encyclopedias    5. Nature/Ecology    6. North America    7. Ornithology    8. Sale Adult - Nature / Guide Books    9. Non-Classifiable    10. Sale Books   

Reviews (12)

excellent point of view book!
my students loved the setup of this book. it is well written and the perspective of the ants is awesome. I'm going to get the rest of his books.thank you so much.

Children's lit. review
The story serves as a good example of how greed can be harmful to students.It also demonstrates how pictures may be used to help a reader understand text.For example, The author never names the crystal, but by looking at the pictures they can determine that it's sugar.The story is engaging for young readers because ants are small, non-threatening characters.Also, by using the ants to teach a lesson kids may not even realize they're learning.It is written in an attractive yet concise manner, and could be useful in teaching kids how to write text to describe pictures.

ants are cool
I think this isgreat bookbecauseit is about2 ants that go in a house and think that a sinkis a waterfalland think thatgrassarebigwoodsand thinkthatsalt arebigdimens and thenfallintoa bigbucketofsaltand took it home this is why I like this book and I think this is a great book ... Read more

Subjects:  1. Animals - InsectsSpidersetc.    2. Ants    3. Children's Books/Ages 4-8 Fiction    4. Children: Grades 1-2    5. Fiction    6. Juvenile Fiction    7. Animal stories    8. Insects & spiders    9. Juvenile Fiction / Animals / Insects, Spiders, etc.   

Subjects:  1. Bears    2. Individual Species Of Mammals    3. Mammals    4. Nature    5. Nature/Ecology    6. Subjects & Themes - Plants & Animals    7. Nature / Bears    8. Polar bear    9. Polar bear - Pictorial works