Editorial Review

From the creator of the seminal field guide, Read more

Reviews (25)

Best book on bird behaivor I've seen
Without stepping up to a college textbook on Ornithology, this has been the best book I've found generally availible to the public on bird behaivor. David Allen Sibley is an authority on the subject and that's good enough for me. The college textbooks are a bit dry and uninteresting, however this book is anything but. A perfect companion to his other books on the subject.

From the perspective of a non-birder...
I'm not a birder, though it seems like an interesting hobby.But I just look at the birds at the feeders and birdbath in the back yard and think, "I wonder what that one is?"So, I bought "The Sibley Guide to Birds" (which is outstanding) on the recommendation of a birder friend, and that led me to this book.
The Sibley Guide to Bird Life & Behavior
Includes all the information our other guides - Audubon, Peterson's, the other Sibley's Guide -- have left undescribed.Devotes many pages for further study of bird species and sub-species. ... Read more

Subjects:  1. Behavior    2. Bird Behavior    3. Birds    4. Birds & Birdwatching - General    5. Nature    6. Nature/Ecology    7. North America    8. Nature / Birds & Birdwatching   

Reviews (1)

How to motivate people
The person who reads this book will be the most likely to succeed in any endevor where other people are involved.The ability to mirror someone's behavior and thus earn their confidence and trust is the skill that the reader will gain, if they take the concepts in this book to heart.All of the interpersonal skills a person has accumulated come together when applying the concepts of 'versitility'.It is the morter that holds everything together.Read the book that lays the foundation for all human behavior techniques and you will be able to effectivly motivate others to reach THEIR potential and help YOU get what you want. ... Read more

Subjects:  1. Business / Economics / Finance    2. Business Life - Fashion/Image    3. Human behavior    4. Human relations    5. Interpersonal relations    6. Management - General    7. Nature/Ecology    8. Personality    9. Social psychology    10. Business & Economics / Management Science   

Reviews (17)

The Safari Companion
Excellent safari companion showing various animals and describing them, their habitat, etc.Recommended for anyone going on safari.

African animal sighting tips your mother never told you and your father didn't know
This is a book of biblic quality for the uninitiated.I did not appreciate the diversity of the wildlife available in Kenya and Tanzania.Wow, this is worthwhile study guide as a prologue to your journey.

Did not find it that useful in E. Africa
The pictures are black and white drawings.We brought this and the Audubon Society Guide to African Wildlife (or something like that) and we much preferred the Audubon book.It was more compact, had a durable vinyl cover and had color pictures with quick facts on each animal - which is really what you want in the moment on a bumpy safari game drive.I would get the other book instead. ... Read more

Subjects:  1. Africa, Eastern    2. Africa, Southern    3. Behavior    4. Guidebooks    5. Mammals    6. Nature    7. Nature/Ecology    8. Reference    9. Wildlife    10. Wildlife watching    11. Africa   

Reviews (2)

Comprehensive and interesting
This is a must-read text for anyone interested in a general overview of ecology.The chapters are thorough yet concise and the topics are laid out in a logical progression.

very good text
a very readable text...interesting, well written, and full of colorful diagrams.a good introduction to a discipline i had taken for granted. ... Read more

Subjects:  1. Ecology    2. Life Sciences - Biology - General    3. Life Sciences - Ecology    4. Nature    5. Nature/Ecology    6. Science    7. Biology, Life Sciences    8. Ecological science, the Biosphere    9. Science / Biology   

Subjects:  1. Business / Economics / Finance    2. Development - Sustainable Development    3. Environmental Conservation & Protection - General    4. Environmental Protection    5. Great Lakes    6. Lakes & Ponds    7. Nature    8. Nature/Ecology    9. Water Resources Conservation    10. Water Supply    11. Water resources development    12. Water-supply    13. Conservation of the environment    14. Nature / Environmental Conservation & Protection    15. Political Science / Public Policy   

Reviews (5)

good wetland text
Overall, this is a very good text on wetlands (for students and professionals both).However, I personally feel that a entire chapter could be devoted to wetland soils and wish that this book gave a better presentation of wetland soils.Furthermore, a great deal of research has been performed in Boreal wetlands and Boreal Prairie wetlands of Canada yet the Canadian literature is somewhat lacking in this text.Its still the best option out there for professors.

Applauded by this Environmental Engineer PE!
There is no better book for learning about wetlands that I have found.Many students find hydrology difficult, but this book lays this critical process out clearly, with excellent illustrations and diagrams.
The Wetlands Textbook
I first picked this book up to consider a career as a wetland scientist (among other things) and instantly dove into the heaps of information provided. It is well written and easy to read with nicely labelled sections. I found that it had all sorts of information on the subject. It is highly useful.Read more

Subjects:  1. Ecology    2. Environmental Conservation & Protection - General    3. Environmental Engineering & Technology    4. Life Sciences - Ecology    5. Nature    6. Nature/Ecology    7. Science    8. United States    9. Wetland ecology    10. Wetland management    11. Wetlands    12. Wetlands Conservation    13. Wetlands Ecology    14. Management of land & natural resources    15. Technology / Environmental    16. Wetlands, swamps, fens   

Editorial Review

Robert Sapolsky, the author of Read more

Reviews (56)

Baboons in the Mist
This was a humorous and entertaining book, though it could use a bit of editing. It's hard to believe that such an educated person could fall prey to the various scams. I enjoyed reading about the cultural differences and refreshing perceptions Mr.Sapolsky endured and experienced.

compassion and intellect
Robert Sapolsky writes with the compassion of David Quammen, the challenging intellect of Stephen Jay Gould and the dedication of E.O. Wilson! He engages his readers, he charms them and he treats them as kindred spirits. If I wasn't an atheist I would thank God for Robert Sapolsky.

AFearful Symmetry
Sapolsky artfully interweaves 3 stories. The parallels are amazing as he recounts his experiences studying a baboon troop in Kenya, and the human troops he encounters in his work and travels throughout Africa. The third story is his development from adolescent subadult to mature scientist and fully adult, competent human. This book reads like an action packed novel, while impartingscientific truth within the context of a broad systemic paradigm. Sapolsky is able to think objectively, while acknowledging the compelling power of his own emotional responses. He is clear aboutwhich is which and the limitations of each. The choice to rigorously utilize both results in a rich tale that offers the reader a view ofcomplex connections, vivid similarities and profound humbling differences. This pattern of both and, holds true at the level of the individual, the community, the culture as well as across species.
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Subjects:  1. Africa    2. Africa, East    3. Anecdotes    4. Apes & Monkeys    5. Baboons    6. Behavior    7. Biography / Autobiography    8. Nature    9. Nature/Ecology    10. Sapolsky, Robert M    11. Scientists - General    12. NATURAL HISTORY, COUNTRY LIFE & PETS    13. Nature / Apes & Monkeys    14. Wild animals   

Subjects:  1. Animals    2. European - General    3. Life Sciences - Biology - General    4. Nature    5. Reference    6. Reptiles & Amphibians    7. Science    8. Science/Mathematics    9. Turtles    10. Literary Criticism & Collections / European    11. Reptiles   

Reviews (14)

The best book our African guides have seen!
We have used the Field Guide to African Wildlife on three safaris to Southern and Eastern Africa. This guide is so wonderful (especially the photos) that on two of these trips, our guides (in Rwanda and Namibia) have been so fascinated with it that we have given it to them at the end of our safari. This will be the third copy of the book I have bought!

Buy this book if you're only buying one!
We received the Field Guide the day before we departed for a photo safari to Tanzania and Kenya. It proved to be an invaluable quick reference guide to wildlife we saw during the day, as well as an encyclopedic work on each species, including countries where they're found, coloration, mating habits, foods, and myriad other details. You can take a cursury view of an animal or a deep dive into each one. I recommend spending a little time learning the cross-referencing system to get the most out of the book. Don't wait to buy it in Africa, as it costs 3x as much there!

Great handbook for animals in Africa.
I bought this book after my first trip to Kenya and Masai Mara. I took it with us on our recent trip back to the same area. We had a wonderful guide who had a guide book for East African animals. But when he looked at our book, he was very interested in it. It had some details and pictures his did not have. We left it with him and ordered another one on our return to replace it. ... Read more

Subjects:  1. Africa    2. Animals    3. Ecology    4. Habitat (Ecology)    5. Identification    6. Nature    7. Nature/Ecology    8. Wildlife    9. Zoology    10. Zoology (General)    11. Nature / Wildlife    12. Wild animals   

Reviews (5)

THE world reference for a classification of fishes
This is the fourth, long awaited, edition of Fishes of the World.
worst drawings ever
For a book in this price range, we all want more. I have been doing fish illustrations in Environmental Biology of Fishes and some other journals. Dr. Nelson, you should contact me, we need to talk!!

Great book, shame about the price.
Comprehensive coverage makes this a great first reference.Most listings cite further in depth references.Published in 1994 it is probably due to be updated.The worst aspect of this book is the price.Get your library to buy it. ... Read more

Subjects:  1. Classification    2. Fish    3. Fishes    4. Ichthyology    5. Nature    6. Nature/Ecology    7. Fishes (ichthyology)    8. Nature / Fish    9. Reference works   

Reviews (54)

The Tracker
It is important to know that even though this book may seem fictional, in truth, Tom Brown's account of his early childhood, The Tracker, is a non-fiction narrative. There are many details of the book to make one think it is fiction, but it should be remembered that our narrator was only a child and a young man during the events of this narrative. Tom Brown did an excellent job portraying the way a child should feel and act in the given situations, even though they had happened years before. It is easy to tell that Stalking Wolf and his teachings were extremely important to Brown as he grew up. He spent every day he could outside and everyday there was something to be learned from nature.
Nature lover
A must read for anyone that believes in the sacredness of nature and life. Tom Brown is truly one-of-a-kind.

Its worth every cent and then some.
This is a marvellous book. Although the cover and back-cover illustration and summary are sensationalised the book itself is not. It is the spiritual insight gained by Tom Brown as he learns both from his Apache teacher/mentor/guide and the world itself that stands out in this book. His period of four years as a kind of apprentice of the old man and the deep friendship with Rick, the old man's grandson, are the cornerstones of a great story. It resounds, to some degree, with the adventures of Tom Sawyer or Huckleberry Finn although his was a clearer instruction to the spirit that moves in everything. There is no question that the teacher's continuing appearance of looking at the spirit itself acting in the world is true. This can be seen by anyone paying enough attention for long enough.
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Subjects:  1. Biography / Autobiography    2. General    3. Nature/Ecology    4. Tracking and trailing    5. Nature / Ecology   

Reviews (1)

Great book for understanding site occupancy modeling
I think this is a pretty good book.It is the only reference on this relatively new type of patch occupancy modeling.It is mainly focused on the models of MacKenzie et al. and the Royle and Nichols model.This is a great place to start if you know nothing about this method or a good reference for advanced users.
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Subjects:  1. Animal populations    2. Estimates    3. Life Sciences - Biology - General    4. Life Sciences - Ecology    5. Mathematical models    6. Nature    7. Nature / Field Guide Books    8. Nature/Ecology    9. Wildlife    10. Quantity surveying    11. Technology / Power Resources   

Reviews (6)

Irresistable birds, fascinating trivia, interesting science
Fascinating book. The sheer amount of literary and artistic references the authors bring in serve to show the importance of crows to our culture. The epigraph is a Robert Frost poem, "Dust of Snow."
Original Drawings
Crows and ravens have always lived with me and I with them. As an only child who grew up among adult human relatives, I may have had more "socialization" training from crows than from my own human family. About the only thing the crows didn't teach me was how to knit. (I learned that from my father who swore me to secrecy!) What I know now is that if the crows saw any need for sweaters, they'd have taught me that too.
Apes and orcas not the only smart animals
At the top of the bird kingdom stand corvids -- crows, jays, ravens and similar animals.
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Subjects:  1. Nature/Ecology    2. Ravens    3. Birds & Birdwatching - General    4. Art styles not limited by date    5. Birds & birdwatching    6. Nature / Birds & Birdwatching    7. The Arts: General Issues    8. Crows    9. Nature    10. Human-animal relationships   

Reviews (8)

Eye-Opening
Get your dictionary out for acronyms... very confusing at times.Great storytelling in the first half of the book, but much finger pointing at the end.Van Heerden is very passionate about his work and point of view.Story matches reality I guess in relation to this catastrophic, horrible event.Very eye-opening, as our government continues down the same road, levee's ...FEMA... wars..... cover-up after cover-up.... Etc...

The Sad Truth
As a former emergency management planner, I found this book to be an excellent analysis of what really went wrong in New Orleans.It is a treatise for government officials to learn what not to do and an outline of what we as citizens should demand from our government leaders.It presents very technical information and scientific analysis in a manner that even an elected official can understand.But, beyond presenting the scientific basis of why New Orleans flooded, it presents an outline of solutions that should and must be considered. It is an great testament to the fact that some issues should be above everyday politics and that some important decisions that a government may be asked to make should be based upon science and not political considerations. This is a must read for every citizen and should be a mandatory read for every elected official.
Follow this recipe, Dammit!
Katrina was the "medium one", not the "big one". For those who are not on the gulf coast, it wiped out an area about 5 miles deep by 100 miles wide. The damage was mostly to middle class suburbs, but also include alot of very wealthy beach front neighborhoods, working neighborhoods, and a poorer neighborhood (the Lower 9). I personally owned 2 houses whose slabs were 10 feet above sea level, and were 10 miles from the "normal" coast, that took 9 feet of water from the surge. There are "below sea level" areas, but Katrina's surge wiped out high ground too.
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Subjects:  1. Disaster Relief Services    2. Disaster relief    3. Disasters & Disaster Relief    4. Emergency management    5. Gulf States    6. Hurricane Katrina, 2005    7. Hurricanes    8. Natural Disasters    9. Nature    10. Nature/Ecology    11. Sociology    12. Weather    13. Political Science / Economic Conditions   

Reviews (6)

This One's Special
A beautiful book, excellent for a gift as well as for one's own library.The illustrations are many, varied, and lovely.The text is engrossing.

Beauty on every page
I've found myself coming back to this book time and time again, just to open at random.I would recommend this book without hesitation.

A marvelous confection...
I found this book in the gift shop of the Point Reyes National Seashore visitor center on a recent trip to Inverness and had to own it.
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Subjects:  1. Birds    2. Birds & Birdwatching - General    3. Birds in art    4. Essays    5. Literary collections    6. Nature    7. Nature/Ecology    8. Ornithology    9. Special Subjects In Literature    10. Nature / Birds & Birdwatching   

Subjects:  1. Bird Watching    2. Birds & Birdwatching - General    3. Nature    4. Nature/Ecology    5. NATURAL HISTORY, COUNTRY LIFE & PETS    6. Nature / Birds & Birdwatching   

Reviews (16)

Southeast Blues
Despite at least one other reviewer's remarks, I insist that this volume is greatly diminished for those of us in very different locations than the book's initial, (and I would say continued), focus area -the west coast.The titling and promotion of this book fail to make clear what it is truly about.
Love of Mushrooms
I always appreciate reading something by a person who loves what they are writing about. It seems like all too often a book is written by someone who seems to know what they are talking about, but don't LOVE what they are talking about.
Gettin' My Own Copy
I borrowed the book from a co-worker and have found it to be an invaluable and extremely handy and easy to use field reference guide.The information is excellent and the photos are just as helpful. The Quick Key in the front and back of the book help the Identification process go quicker. I am hooked and have to get my own copy now!!Great for beginners like me!
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Subjects:  1. Fungi    2. Identification    3. Mushrooms    4. Nature    5. Nature/Ecology    6. Pictorial works    7. West (U.S.)    8. Applied ecology   

Reviews (2)

Wetland Indicators by R.W. Tiner
This book is very well put together and provides a wealth of information on Wetland Indicators.If you are just learning about wetlands, what is in them, and how to identify different ones, then this book will be GREAT for you!

Very Useful
This book is a good overview of Wetland Delineations. I bought it for the mapping information and found it useful when using GIS for Wetland Delineation Maps ... Read more

Subjects:  1. Ecology    2. Environmental Engineering & Technology    3. Environmental Science    4. Life Sciences - Ecology    5. Nature    6. Nature/Ecology    7. Plant indicators    8. Science    9. United States    10. Wetland ecology    11. Wetlands    12. Wetlands Ecology    13. Ecological science, the Biosphere    14. Management of land & natural resources    15. Nature / Water Supply   

Subjects:  1. 1830-1886    2. Botany    3. Catalogs and collections    4. Dickinson, Emily,    5. Flowers    6. Gardening    7. Knowledge    8. Nature    9. Nature/Ecology    10. Plants    11. Plants - General    12. Type specimens    13. Botany & plant sciences    14. English    15. Nature / Plants    16. Plant life: general    17. Poetry & poets: 19th century    18. USA   

Reviews (11)

excellent teaching method
I've listened to all 3 cds just once through and already I can identify 5 or 6 birds by their calls.I find myself listening whenever I'm outside to see if I can hear one of the birds in this guide.I highly recommend getting this if you are interested in learning bird calls.It is highly effective.

Wonderful resource!
I am a novice bird watcher, and my enjoyment has increased exponentially after listening to these fabulous recordings.The material is logically organized and beautifully presented.Great to listen to in the car when heading to or from an outdoor adventure!

Superlative!
"The songs we're now hearing are ancient tunes..."
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Subjects:  1. Birds & Birdwatching - General    2. Nature    3. Nature/Ecology    4. Unabridged Audio - Misc.Nonfiction    5. Nature / Birds & Birdwatching