Reviews (12)

Excellent guide to many hikes
Be aware that Digonnet omits a few common destinations in this book.But it's by far the best guide to the huge number of hikes that he does include.Rely on this book for the majority of your destinations, but get another guide to fill in the gaps.Also keep in mind that areas described as "easy scrambles" for someone with a technical climbing background like Digonnet may be more difficult for flat-ground hikers.

Hiking Death Valley: A Guide to Its Natural Wonders & Mining Past
This is a really good comprehensive guide that doesn't give away too many secrets. All the standard destinations are well covered, plus many out in the sticks, but it leaves plenty for you to discover on your own. Will definitely stay in my library, get loaned to friends, get destroyed or lost...all signs of a worthwhile guide.

A beyond exceptional hiking guide
I have been visiting Death Valley for 35 years, and I have been there more times than I can remember.This includes many back-country and dirt road trips thoughout the region.I love the place.I have also been an avid hiker, backpacker, mountain climber and general wilderness enthuthiast for 40 years.
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Subjects:  1. Hiking    2. Natural Resources    3. Sports    4. Sports & Recreation    5. Walking    6. Guidebooks    7. Death Valley (Calif. and Nev.)   

Reviews (40)

Salt: A World History
A well written, interesting, fascinating book.I was constantly amazed at the extent of Kurlansky's research and the ability to make so many facts interesting and alive.This is really a history book seen through the eyes of salt but is no dry book full of obscure facts.This book has become one of the necessary classics in my library. Love it!!

Worth its weight in salt.
For the longest time, history in the Western genre was defined in terms of heroes (and the occasional heroines) and their nemesis.This "great man" version of history glorified individuals like Churchill, Caesar, Alexander, Napeleon, Washington, Constantine, Lincoln, Peter the Great, etc, etc...In the late 20th century, a new hot phrase has hit the social sciences: sustainable societies.Accompanied by recent advances in analytical techniques, scientists are now combing back through history with an eye on how human societies are affected by nature, and affect nature in turn.This in turn has spawned a new genre of historical literature that emphasizes man's relations to various objects in his natural environment.Typical works include "Guns, germs and steel", "History of the World in Six Glasses", "La Diva Nicotina", "Botany of Desire" etc, etc...A great example of this genre is this book by Mark Kurlansky, "Salt: A World History".
Minor Fact Check
As a fan of this kind of history and a cooking enthusiast, I found this book very enjoyable reading, and would recommend it to anyone considering it.
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Subjects:  1. History    2. History - General History    3. History: World    4. Rocks & Minerals    5. Salt    6. Salt industry and trade    7. World - General    8. History / General   

Reviews (1)

The second growth club
What people do is behind the build-up of earth-warming gases. For example, carbon dioxide builds up from people using fossil fuels and cutting down tropical forests. Methane builds up from people raising so many animals and so much irrigated rice. These gases change climate. Changed climate means changed air and water, changed farming, and changed life.
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Subjects:  1. Deforestation    2. Effect of human beings on    3. Environmental Conservation & Protection - General    4. Forest ecology    5. Forest management    6. Life Sciences - Ecology - Forest Ecology    7. Natural Resources    8. Nature    9. Nature / Field Guide Books    10. Nature/Ecology    11. Science    12. Management of land & natural resources    13. Nature / Environmental Conservation & Protection   

Reviews (4)

A Good, Bad, and Ugly Field Guide
The Good:
You can't go without it.
This book, referred to by many other authors, is THE guide for this group of Mammals. I found it indispensible for use in the rainforest, even if most mammals are very hard to see. The perfect illustrations, combined with the thorough descriptions and clear distribution maps, make it easy to determine what kind of animal you've seen. Very helpful to understand the local guides are the translations of the names in many tongues.

It's a very practical and well illustrated fieldguide
It's the most usefull book I own related with the mammalfauna proyects ( inventories, education, management ) we are doing in Central and Western Colombia. Every aspect of the text and illustrations has proven to be veryusefull and practical. The taxonomical descriptions are generaly goodenough to clasify the bigger species in the field, and the habit andhabitat descriptions coincide mostly with our own experiences. Thedistributionmaps included in the text are also very usefull. Theillustrations are sometime a little small, but have proven to be easilyrecognized by the local habitants, what is extremely usefull during quickinventaries. The relation price-quality is outstanding ... Read more

Subjects:  1. Identification    2. Latin America    3. Life Sciences - Zoology - General    4. Mammals    5. Nature    6. Rain forest animals    7. Science/Mathematics    8. Deforestation    9. Forests, rainforests    10. Science / Zoology   

Reviews (16)

Your opinion is required
My India-born spouse once described the difference in how he and I had been taught, through subtle societal reward, to make and respond to assertions. "If you say, 'The sky is blue,'" he said, "I think, 'Ann thinks the sky is blue.' But if I say to you, 'The sky is blue,' you say, 'Oh, it is?' You're ready to believe, just because I stated it as fact. That's why you hedge your thoughts with the words, 'I think,' rather than just saying what you think."
Powerful
This is the first book by Roy that I read, and my favorite.In comparison to The God of Small Things, that's saying a lot.The first essay is the most powerful and clear explanation I have ever read anywhere about the failings of organisations such as the WTO; however, it is not only an attack on international financial institutions.It also discusses the abuses that occur on a national and local level in conjunction with the work of international groups.I suggest this book to anyone who is having trouble understanding the objections to globalization and the WTO.

Dams, poverty, and nuclear insanity
This is a short but effective book. It's divided into two parts. In part one, Arundhati Roy writes about dam-building in India. This heavily-footnoted chapter gets a longer treatment in her next book, Power Politics. Here she introduces the topic, adding a lot of context to the statistics. Her outrage is palpable. This leads into the second part, and angry essay about India and Pakistan becoming part of the nuclear fraternity (both countries publicly tested nuclear weapons in May of 1998). Both countries have so many problems --- and so much tension between them over Kashmir --- that this development can only be considered a disaster for the hundreds of millions of people in the region.Read more

Subjects:  1. Contemporary Economic Situations And Conditions    2. Current Affairs    3. Dams    4. Economic Conditions    5. Environmental aspects    6. General    7. Government - Comparative    8. Gujarat    9. India    10. Irrigation    11. Political    12. Politics / Current Events    13. Politics/International Relations    14. Sardar Sarovar (Narmada) Proje    15. Water And Marine Resources Management    16. Water resources development    17. Social Science / General   

Subjects:  1. Analysis    2. Chemistry - Analytic    3. Drinking water    4. Earth Sciences - Geology    5. Environmental Engineering & Technology    6. Laboratory manuals    7. Measurement    8. Qualitative Analytic Chemistry    9. Science/Mathematics    10. Technology    11. Technology & Industrial Arts    12. Water Supply    13. Water Supply And Treatment    14. Water quality    15. Environmental chemistry    16. Nature / Water Supply    17. Water purification & desalinization   

Subjects:  1. Environmental Conservation & Protection - General    2. Environmental Engineering & Technology    3. Life Sciences - Ecology    4. Science    5. Science/Mathematics    6. Wetland restoration    7. Wetlands    8. Wetlands Conservation    9. Management of land & natural resources    10. Nature / Water Supply   

Subjects:  1. Agriculture - Crop Science    2. Agriculture - General    3. Science/Mathematics    4. Technology    5. Technology & Industrial Arts    6. Water Supply    7. Irrigation   

Reviews (1)

from Journal of Experimental Marine Biology and Ecology
"This excellent book is effectively series of mini-reviews covering the complete gamut of molecular techniques which have recently become available to the marine biologist or oceanographer...The book is beautifully presented and all contributions are of the highest quality; the editor has done a fine job of maintaining consistency without suffocating the authors' individual styles"Read more

Subjects:  1. Lakes & Ponds    2. Life Sciences - Biology - General    3. Life Sciences - Zoology - General    4. Nature    5. Nature/Ecology    6. Science    7. Science/Mathematics    8. Aquaculture    9. Aquaculture & fishing: practice & techniques    10. Molecular and Cellular Biology    11. Nature / Lakes & Ponds    12. Oceanography (seas)   

Reviews (2)

ignorant and angry but useful
Chase's angry critique of "environmentalists" and their myths of nature has its points, but he ignores most of the substantial efforts to manage our ecosystem holistically -- e.g. including land, people, and money. He criticizes "biocentrism" but many of us recognize that human life, for example, is totally dependent on other organisms, E. coli to start. The question is not hierarchy, but interdependence.
eye-opening clear analysis that changed my views
Until reading "In a Dark Wood" I espoused "politically correct" environmentalist views -- such as "all old growth forests must be saved at any cost from evil logging" -- in a knee-jerk, emotionally charged, self-righteous way, without ever taking the trouble to study or think through what was really at stake, and what premises about reality underlay my views.Alston Chase's thinking on conservation is so clearly presented, so well backed by evidence, so carefully analysed, and so full of good will and integrity, that I find it impossible to read his book without respecting his intentions -- and his conclusions, which challenge everything I had unthinkingly assumed in the past.This is the kind of book that not only addresses concrete problems, such as the political struggle between, say Earth First and Maxxam Corporation, but also inspires the reader to think more deeply, and question his/her assumptions.This is the kind of book I think most self-labeled "environmentalists" -- especially those who come from white, middle class, college-educated backgrounds -- will dismiss prior to investigation, and will never read.If so, it is a sad loss.It's a book that can change your views and help you learn to think better -- and I believe most people would rather not do so, since thinking better might well spoil the dramatic excitement of waging a war of good against evil, nature against humanity.Still, I hope people will read this book.It's one that changed my life. ... Read more

Subjects:  1. Ecology    2. Environmental Conservation & Protection - General    3. Environmental Studies    4. Forest Ecology    5. Forest Industry Management    6. Literature: Folklore/Mythology    7. Logging    8. Nature    9. Northwest, Pacific    10. Old growth forest conservation    11. Old growth forest ecology    12. Old growth forests    13. Trees & Forests - General    14. Applied ecology    15. Business & Economics / Environmental Economics    16. Ecological science, the Biosphere    17. Forestry & silviculture: practice & techniques    18. Forests, rainforests   

Reviews (4)

Great intro to igneous/metamorphic petrology
This book is one of those rare things that isn't painful to read for the sometimes heady subject matter. Winters style is even humorous at times and he keeps it very simple and straightforward. Phase diagrams are explainied in detail and there are just a lot of great visuals that help students understand the evolution of magmas and the significance of isotopes and trace elements present. We use this book at GMU and I was very happy with Winter's PP slides that are available online. Very clear, very concise and fairly easy to read.

This is the book
The book is excellent.This is the book that you have to have if you are studying igneous petrology.Plain and simple.

One of the best resources on this subject!
As a former student of John Winters, I can honestly say that this book does a terrific job with a subject that can be very complicated! After reading this text (and taking his class!) I came away with a clear understanding of the concepts discussed. And, of course, a little humor here and there helps. The chapters flow well together yet can be read individually, and I plan on keeping this text for future reference. Highly recommended! ... Read more

Subjects:  1. Earth Sciences - Geology    2. Igneous Petrology    3. Metamorphic Petrology    4. Nature    5. Rocks & Minerals    6. Rocks, Igneous    7. Rocks, Metamorphic    8. Science    9. Science/Mathematics    10. Igneous rocks    11. Metamorphic rocks    12. Science / Geology   

Reviews (8)

Excellent identification system.
S&S Guide to Rocks and Minerals is a very worthwhile purchase for experienced collectors. The usual Simon and Schuster system is here, but used in an excellent way. The descriptions are the best that could ever be in a Simon and Schuster guide. The gemstones and minerals pictured are beautiful and clearly photographed. There are hundreds upon hundreds of rocks and minerals listed, which makes it one of the best companions in the field. It isn't bulky, and the correct size to carry with you on a mountain trip or archaeological dig. The rarity and value is also given, including the luster, weight, and durability of a particular rock. Excellent
This book was a must have for all geology students when I started out.Everyone in first year had this book and we used it regularly right up to fourth year.It came in very handy for mineralogy, especially since we had to know 200 of the rock forming minerals.The color pictures and information about each mineral and rock (including accidentals) and the geologic environment was very helpful.This book even came in handy when we were working on a gold exploration program coring through volcanic rock.It was helpful trying to match up the pictures with the rocks we were logging.Of course I don't recommend this practise but we all did enjoy the joke in camp. An excellent and easy to use field-guide
A Rock and Mineral competition forced me to buy a field guide on the subject.By luck, I picked up the Simon and Schuster's Guide to Rocks and Minerals, and couldn't have been happier with it.This book it helpful in identifying mineral specimens from around the word, and also provides easy-to-find and essential information about each one.The pictures are wonderful, and they portray the appearance of the most common and obscure varieties.With the long hours of studying and the help of this book, I took a state medal, and later a national medal, in the Rocks and Minerals field of the Science Olympiad competition.Best guide I've seen on the subject. ... Read more

Subjects:  1. Collection and preservation    2. Collectors and collecting    3. Minerals    4. Nature    5. Nature/Ecology    6. Rocks    7. Rocks & Minerals    8. Nature / General    9. Petrology   

Reviews (2)

The rape of the oceans by commercial fishing
This is one of the most important books I've read. I have purchased several copies of this book to give away. It speaks up on behalf of those denizens of the oceans that we think should belong in cans and sandwiches or pies or curries, or pet food - yielding their flavoursome goodness of Omega 3 oils - with plenty more replenishing themselves without end. I did know in the back of my head that something was wrong when we put faceless tuna into cat food and no one discusses byecatch on a can except for a "Dolphin Friendly" logo. The appalling horror of millions of tonnes of these things being hoovered up with up to 50 to even 90% of the take being discarded back to the ocean because they are not the target species is spelled out in this book along with the moribund state of just how little we as a species care for the oceans or engage in managing its most vital food resources.
If you love eating fish, you should buy this book!
It is a fascinating, very well written book on a subject most people forget about in spite of how important it is: the food resources of the sea. When I first saw the book I wondered how the author could make an interesting topic out of it...when I started to browse it, I discovered a great amount of information about the wonderful world of the seas, about what so many companies are doing to our resources, about the repercusions hardly anyone is aware of.
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Subjects:  1. Science/Mathematics    2. Conservation of wildlife & habitats    3. Fisheries & related industries   

Reviews (1)

First Rate!
As a horticulturist who works in both urban and suburban settings, I was thrilled to find this book. In every job site-not just the "urban" ones-I encounter environments that are inhospitable (if not hostile!) to tree growth. Trees in the Urban Landscape walks me through site analysis and site modification, plant selection, planting, and after care, addressing such various issues as how much soil volume is really enough for a given species to how to create "breakout trenches" for existing trees. Read more

Subjects:  1. Agriculture - General    2. Architecture    3. Landscape    4. Landscape Architecture And Design    5. Planning    6. Trees in cities    7. Urban Architecture    8. Urban landscape architecture    9. Architecture / Landscape    10. Forestry & silviculture: practice & techniques    11. Landscape art & architecture    12. Shrubs & trees   

Reviews (2)

Introducing the Eastern Forest
The purpose of this guide is not to assist one in identifying species of flora and fauna found in the Eastern Forest--such a tome would be monumental in size--but rather to instill in the reader an understanding of the forest's general dynamics.The book is divided into eight sections; they are: A Great Buy, Very Interesting
This is a great field guide that covers many aspects of forests East of the Great Plains. Although it covers many common species of both animal and plant, it is not overly helpful for positively identifying individualspecies; and if one wants that, you are better off with a more specificfield guide (i.e., Eastern Birds). It does, however, detail the workings ofa forest and accompanies this fascinating text with 53 color plates, 80color photos and many black and white drawings. In the first few chapters,it demonstrates the different forest types through indicator species; andit details the process of Old Field succesion, and the animals and plantsthat come and go as the process progresses. In the last chaptersadaptation, and seasonal patterns are covered. I would highly reccommendthis field guide for any one who would like to know how a forest works. ... Read more

Subjects:  1. Ecology    2. Forest animals    3. Forest ecology    4. Forest plants    5. Forestry (Specific Aspects)    6. Forests & Forestry    7. Identification    8. Nature    9. Nature/Ecology    10. North America    11. Plant Ecology    12. Trees & Forests - General    13. Forestry & silviculture: practice & techniques    14. Nature / Trees    15. Trees & wildflowers   

Features

• Illustrated

Subjects:  1. Cephalopoda    2. Life Sciences - Biology - Marine Biology    3. Life Sciences - Zoology - General    4. Octopus fisheries    5. Science    6. Science/Mathematics    7. Squid fisheries    8. Aquaculture & fishing: practice & techniques    9. Molluscs    10. Science / Marine Biology   

Reviews (2)

A Gentle Warrior

a wisdom runs through it
This book, like previous works by Sandra Postel, is a clarion warning call about the dangers in how we have been managing our waters. The message from this book that is of particular importance, is that truly successful, and therefore sustainable, environmental management is really just as much about managing people as it is about managing natural systems. For this reason, I have placed this important book on the reading list for my watershed management course at Harvard. And also, I am grateful that Sandra Postel agreed to write a front-end blurb for my recently published (by Green Frigate Books) book entitled Deep Immersion: The Experience of Water. ... Read more

Subjects:  1. Business / Economics / Finance    2. Ecosystem management    3. Freshwater ecology    4. Nature    5. Nature/Ecology    6. Real Estate - General    7. Rivers    8. Stream conservation    9. Water Supply    10. Water conservation    11. Hydrology (freshwater)    12. Management of land & natural resources    13. Nature / Rivers    14. Political Science / Public Policy    15. Pollution of rivers & water supplies    16. Sustainability   

Reviews (3)

Dated, but still a classic
I have got the 1959 edition, but have the feeling the book has not changed much since then. In 1959 this was an above-average book aimed at the general public. It illustrates the woods treated by distribution maps, botanical line drawings and black-and-white photographs. Content was pretty good, with the names, both scientific and trade names, very much in order.
Know your Woods? Not after reading this book
I don't understand why anyone would publish a book anymore with black and white illustrations. I know this is supposed to be a classic and all that so it's my own fault for not checking when I read the description. I don't even know why I'm keeping it; I'll never read it. You have to wade through tons of technical jargon and lengthy chapters that would be much better served by some large color photographs. Maybe that makes me shallow, I don't know, but there are much more 'complete guides' out there on this topic these days.

Know Your Woods: A Complete Guide
This book seems to be complete and informative for basic information about the subject matter.It is a good reference for basic information.The reader must look elsewhere for detailed information (such as would be of interest to engineers, scientists, and luthiers). ... Read more

Subjects:  1. Encyclopedias    2. General    3. Nature    4. Nature / Field Guide Books    5. Nature/Ecology    6. Timber    7. Trees    8. Trees & Forests - General    9. Veneers and veneering    10. Wood    11. Forestry & related industries    12. Nature / General   

Subjects:  1. Congresses    2. Nature    3. Nature/Ecology    4. Water Supply    5. Water-supply    6. Environmental Engineering & Technology    7. Nature / Water Supply   

Reviews (4)

Great Insight on the fireline
Probably one of the best wildland fire books I have ever read.In my 25+ years of firefighting this one captures the scenes of a wildland fire the best.The pictures are great and the narration and stories truly catch you up in the whole fire scene.Buy it for the pictures or the stories--but get a copy,You will enjoy it for years to come.

A Firefighter's View...
When I first picked up a copy of Michael Thoele's Fire Line, I was quite skeptical, having served 5 years in the late 1990's as a Region One Firefighter for the U.S. Forest Service in Montana while working my way through college to earn an engineering degree at Montana State University.All too often, Books, Documentaries, and movies leave much to be desired when it comes to correctly describing the world of Wildland Firefighting and the characters that inhabit that world.After having read the work completely, I must say that I am very impressed.I have read it now more than a few times, and still return to it when I feel the need to keep alive all the wonderful memories of the unique people that I met and the experiences that we shared. Now More than Ever
It's been several years since Mike Thoele wrote his fine book, but it's still a valuable primer on the people who fight wildland fire. Withcatastrophic fires burning across the West this summer of 2000, the worstfire season in half a century, it's worth taking another look at Fire Line. When we venture into the woods, especially to build a home or cabin, weshould remember who we put at risk. Thoele's book puts faces onfirefighters: they could be neighbors or friends; they could be ourselves.Making a dwelling fire-safe is not the most expensive or difficult job inthe world, but it gives firefighters like the ones in Thoele's book abetter chance of making it home at the end of a 14 day shift, some of thosedays 24 hour days. Thoele's book is a colorful, readable and pleasanttelling of the story of the wildland firefighter. ... Read more

Subjects:  1. Earth Sciences - Geography    2. Forest Fires    3. Forest fire fighters    4. History    5. Natural Disasters    6. Nature    7. Prevention and control    8. Science    9. Science/Mathematics    10. Trees & Forests - General    11. West (U.S.)    12. Wildfires