Pet Books

This book provides a very eye-opening and eventually obvious insight into what a dog or cat's diet should consist of. It alleviates all of those unwarranted fears of feeding the appropriate foods to our four-legged friends. I bought a bunch of copies to give out to people who needed to re-evaluate the way they are feeding their pets.

This book contains good information on how to feed a raw diet based on Billinghurst's barf diet. I think it would be helpful for people considering switching to a raw diet, as well as beginners.

My problem with this book is that the author annoyed me. The first quarter of the book is about how wonderful she is. The last quarter of the book is full of amazing anecdotes about animals on her diet. I don't have the patience for either. It you like anecdotes about how wonderful the author and her diet are, you will probably like this book much better than I did.

While I agree with most of the things the author says about nutrition and dog food companies, she doesn't back up anything she says. If I was starting out as a new raw-feeder, I'm not sure I would find this book very convincing. I definitely wouldn't recommend this book as your only resource.

For beginners, I would recommend "Raw Dog Food" by Carina Beth MacDonald. For people who want to understand the nutritional principles behind a raw or homemade diet, I would recommend "Home-Prepared Dog & Cat Diets" by Donald Strombeck. They're a better investment of time and money.

If you are looking for straight forward, sound information on providing a raw diet for your pet this is a fine resource. The section on nutrients is very good. In it you will learn what food sources provide what nutients and what parts of the bodys health they aide and supportThe 'shopping list' is also a nice spring board for the newbe. There is a ratio guide that addresses serving size to weight balance. The book includes a significant resource guide as well. If you are interested in providing a Raw, natural, BARF type diet for your pet this is the book I would recomend.

This book saved my dogs' life. We struggled with a very serious allergy for years, one day I saw Kymythys' book and decided to go with the raw diet. My dogs' health turned the corner and he has never looked back. He will be 10 this year and I could not be more grateful.
I have read loads of other books on raw feeding but keep coming back to this one.

This is a good starting point if you are considering a raw or barf diet for you pet ... it is written simply for everyone to understand and gives many helpful observations, answers, and suggestions for those interested in this type of dietary regimine for their dog.

If you have a salt water aquarium, this is the one book you must have.

If you need a quick, comprehensive marine fish reference book this is the one to get. It is small enough to bring with you to the fish store and get a quick rundown on behaviors, ease of keeping, etc.

If you ask the fish store about a fish, they are probably looking in this book for the answer.

This is a must have book for the novice to choose which fish are right for your tank

this book i bought as my first aquaruim quide, it is amazing, i love this book, it has all what i need and more than 500 kinds of fish.
i have bought all my fish so far by researching thm in this book and it is working wonderfull. pictures are great quality and information are more than enough to know and keep the fish.
i absolutly recommend that you buy this book.

This book has been unbelievably helpful in helping me to decide which fish I should choose as I set up my first saltwater aquarium. The photographs are clear and bright, and there are many, many species represented here. The code makes it quick and easy to see if a certain fish is compatible with what I already have in my tank. Now, when I go to buy a fish, I keep this book in my car. I go into the shop to see what they have, and if there is something that catches my interest, I'll come back out to the car and look up the description before I make a purchase. This has saved me on a few occasions - not all of the sales people really know what they're talking about, but I have complete confidence in this book for giving me the unbiased facts. This really is a "must buy"!!

If you want to get empowered to understand Traditional Chinese Medicine and help your cat or dog, this book will launch you into orbit with theory, charts, and information you can put to work quickly with acupressure massage, diet and supplements. The diagnosis charts are a great starting point for training yourself to observe your pet's symptoms. The only negative for me is that hypertension and blindness are not in the index.

Not necessarily the easiest book to follow for the lay person, but this book contains very comprehensive information on treating your whole dog rather than just a specific symptom.

This is an excellent reference book for both beginners & experts. It is well organized, easy to understand & contains a wealth of information.

This book is a constantly used handbook for me. I bought this copy to replace the one that I have given away most recently. It is wonderful to be able to help your pet feel better, in addition to what your vet can do, with relatively inexpensive remedies available at the health food store and with accupressure which also helps you bond with your pet. I was even able to get remarkable results from an inexpensive & common TCM patent remedy for my dog who had great difficulty moving her hindquarters after a life-threatening infection. it worked within hours!

Although I must say that this is a well-written book, and very useful for those people who don't know much about Traditional Chinese Medicine, the author did not seem to have an in-depth knowledge about TCM.

Filled with little mistakes that can mislead a practitioner, I'd recommend picking up a different text to learn from. (For example, the author refers often to "Kidney Blood," which is NOT a term used in Chinese Medicine.)

Fun to read, but too inaccurate for an alternative medical doctor.

This is a great field guide. Though some would like full color illustrations, variablility in coloration occurs quite often in fish depending on habitat and other factors. The text descriptions are quite clear. The only complaint I have, is the binding isn't very sturdy. I'm on my 4th copy! My field guides go into the field (or in this case on the boat)where the elements will take their toll very quickly on poorly constructed material.

This is a field Identification book, If you really want to know what you caught, you need better literature. When you catch smaller fish species, many of the key features listed for them do not pertain to your catch. That, and the book is built to fall apart, with the plates in the center of the book struggling to freedom within a year.

I have a few Peterson Guides (such as one for birds, and one for reptiles and amphibians) and I swear by them. I have always been able to count on Peterson Guides to provide detailed color illustrations with clearly defined identifying marks. This guide was a huge disappointment. The majority of the illustration plates are in black and white! I have no idea what possessed the editors to settle for a grayscale version from a guide series so well known for its colorful illustrations! (Wish I'd read the review below mine before I purchased this!)

The few color illustration plates are excellent as is usual for Peterson Guides. Even the black and white images are very well drawn (but tremendously less helpful than their color counterparts). The descriptions of each species are generally well-written and helpful, though not as extensive as the descriptions in other Peterson Guides.

In short, you won't find this guide to be totally useless, but it would be worth looking around for (and probably not hard to find) something better. It's clear to me that the Peterson editors either (a.) have a distinct bias towards terrestrial animals and don't care much for ichthyology, or (b.) were in a great rush to finish this guide quickly at the expense of quality. Whatever the explanation, one thing is for sure: the negligence apparent in the making of this guide is very out of character for Peterson.

We were disappointed in this particular guide. We have Peterson bird guides that are great but the fishes guide is mostly black and white images and many varieties of fish had no image at all. Written information was available for all species.

This is a pretty good book for identifying the different species of fish, and giving a very brief overview of each species mentioned. however, with 1100 species packed into one book, the descriptions are brief, and the advertised information like temperature and salinity are not listed for all of the species - in fact I would say water temperature and depth are not listed for most.

75% of the illustrations are full color and are very good. however, the rest are black and white sketches, which make identification by sight pretty difficult. Even on those though, the identifying features are pointed out where appropriate.

Overall I would recommend this book to anyone interested in identifying fish of the Atlantic Coast. If you're a fisherman looking for information on habitat, water temperatures, depth, etc - you might need some other books in addition to this one.

I purchased this book because David Quammen referenced it in one of his books, and I really enjoy Quammen's books. It is listed on various websites and in some magazines as a "Nature Classic".

I have visited and hiked the deserts and canyon in Utah and northern Arizona. That allowed me to feel a lot of what Abbey writes about. It is a special place. I wish I could go back and see Arches National Park when Abbey was there. (It was Arches National Monument at the time of his stay there.)

While there are some controversial things in this book, and while I don't agree with everything Abbey writes, I have to say that I really hated to come to the end of this book. Besides the stories about nature, Abbey also writes about some of the human activities in this area.

I think I understand why people call this a landmark book. The environmental movement was just starting in the sixties. (Does anyone else remember the green Ecology symbol?)

An early environmentalist even before the term came into use. Ranks up there with Sand County Almanac and Silent Spring. A must read for those who care about the environment. Abbey predicted some of the water problems that now face the southwest.

This is my favorite book. I consider Abbey to be a hippie environmentalist--a sort of modern day Thoreau. The book will suck you in and you'll be wishing you could run off to Moab and have a beer with Abbey.

This is "classic Abbey" and his best work. What else can be said? This book should be on everyone's reading list whether you agree with Abbey on everything or not. I loved it. You will especially enjoy it if you have an affinity for deserts, the southwest, or Moab country.

Stumbled onto this in my late teens in the early 80s and never looked back. Abbey's extreme love of nature and his well-defended loathing of what we've done to our natural world add up to a real eye-opener for those, like me at 18, who haven't thought much about how great this place must have been before we got here.
Abbey's love of solitude and comfort in being in the middle of "nowhere" inspired me to seek out remote places and my life has been all the better for it. His irascible attitude towards government also strikes a strong chord, but the main joys here lie in Ed's awe and wonder at the magnificence of the canyons and mesas he happily lives with before the bulldozers and mindless tourists inevitably arrive. The bits about people driving in for a few minutes and then leaving after taking pictures are truly classic; Ed can be one of the most hilariously dry nature writers when the mood is upon him.
I've since read most all of Abbey but still think DS is his masterpiece.
This book should be in EVERY high school English curriculum.

My dog loves to go places with me. A walk is his all time favorite, and he's always ready to jump in the car and just go -- I swear he knows the new from the old and always gets excited no matter what. Well, I had just about run out of new places to go with him and was starting to get a little bored when I heard about this book. It has opened up our world even more, and in doing so gave me the confidence to explore more with my best friend.

This is definately a book for the car or in my case, my dog's luggage!!! I found a bunch of parks in my area alone I didn't even know were there! I bought this because we take my dog everywhere and I wanted new places to go. This also covers areas where the Bay Area book stops. I even ended up sharing some parks with my friends who have dogs.

Bought this for myself, unfortunately just weeks before deciding to leave California and move to the East! Gave it as a gift to a close dog-lover friend who loved it. I think it is a great guide for finding out where all the dog-friendly places are. It would otherwise take years to figure all these things out on your own by simple trial-and-error and networking with dog people. Also great for socializing a new puppy (which is what I bought it for).

When I read all the stellar reviews for this book, I thought it was the perfect book for me. We have had our dog for two months, and are now venturing out to different places with her. We bought this book last night (and paid full price for it--fancy THAT) in anticipation of a free-roaming day trip today.

First, I do have to say that creating a comprehensive guide is exceedingly difficult. The number of hotels, restaurants and attractions you'd have to visit...well, it's mind-boggling. However, there are both good and bad points to this book, depending on what you're looking for.

Good Points:

1. Very detailed information about the parks, beaches and recreations areas, complete with an easy-to-read rating system (1 to 4 paws) and a clear indicator of off-leash venues (running dog icon). She also includes parking and entrance tips, park amenities that would appeal to your dog, what trails or areas are dog-accessible, etc. Very good listings. This is the main reason you'd want to buy this book.

2. Detailed information on SOME restaurants and hotels and basic information on others. Just thumbing through the book, it's clear that Maria's favorites get lots of detail. For instance, I was thumbing through the book and Roses's Cafe (page 486) in San Francisco gets a full 2/3 of a page. Of course, there was a story attached to that listing of how Maria was introduced to the place, and her experience with it. Other places just list that there is outdoor seating, dogs are allowed, etc. Your mileage may vary.

3. Coverage of the entire state. More breadth, less depth. However, you would think that the local area editions are more comprehensive. Nope. The Bay Area edition seems to have the same information contained in the California edition.

4. Doggie Diversions. Maria lists some great things to do with your dog aside from parks. Shopping, attractions, fun stuff to do. These are sometimes surprising.

5. Other information. I never knew that you could take a dog onto a San Francisco Muni bus or a Cable Car. Maria includes the requirements (muzzle, non-commute hours for Muni) and costs. I also never knew that Nordstrom's welcomes dogs. Dogs and shopping...oh boy!

Bad Points:

1. Only the parks are on the area map. Okay, so let's say you're in San Jose and need a place to stay, a place to eat, and a place to run your dog. You can look at the map and see where to run your dog, but how so you know where the restaurants are in conjunction to your dog park? Hm. GPS, I guess.

2. Could use more listings for hotels and restaurants. For instance, dogfriendly.com has 22 listings for restaurants in San Jose; the book has TWO. San Jose is a pretty big city, and the inclusion of only two restaurants is pitiful.

3. Place you can't take your dog. In some instances, Maria includes this info. For instance, you can't take your dog to California State beaches. Rats. However, I was thinking of going to Muir Woods yesterday, and the book didn't say whether dogs were allowed or not. This is a major attraction in Marin County. Perhaps Maria should consider a list of major attractions in tourist areas where dogs ARE and ARE NOT allowed. For instance, are dogs allowed on Pier 39 and Fisherman's Wharf in San Francisco? Hm. I had to sleuth a bit and read the info on Aquatic Park and the RESTAURANT section...the info was there (the answer is yes).

4. Small nit pick: Listings should include name, address, phone number and THEN the info on why it's good. Sometimes the address info is buried within the text. Most times, it's at the end. A good editor would've made this a bit friendlier. It's a bit of a nit-pick, but it's annoying.

All in all, it's a decent book, but it has its flaws. I think it is better than many of the other books out there (better detailed info than dogfriendly.com's book, and rates each of the parks), but has fewer listings than others. I think it's worth your going to a store to check it out. Even with the good reviews here, I was a bit skeptical, and I needed to compare and contrast the book with others in person to make a final buying decision.

Swell book but WAY out of date. This is the 5th printing but I've been unable to verify that there is any new information since 1993. We used it on a trip last week and most of the places we checked out had changed their policy or had gone out of business.

Author is wonderfully knowledgable about hummingbirds. Her photographs are amazing. Great book for young or old.

Early this spring (2008) I discovered a hummingbird nesting in the dwarf magnolia tree in our front yard. The nest was remarkably engineered and so well camouflaged that it was all but invisible to people walking by. I watched with fascination as the tenacious momma bird clung to her duties through the noise and commotion of an emergency sewer line repair taking place just five feet from her nest. The digging nearly cost us the tree due to the ground caving in around the trench. Thankfully, after the tractor operator learned of the hummer's plight, he was ever so careful to save the tree and her nest. The repair is done and now there are at least two tiny beaks poking up from the nest.

A good friend sent me this book after hearing my hummingbird story. It was a delight to read such a well written examination of hummingbird behavior and the special interactions of one hummer with one human being. The photographs are stunning and informative. After reading this book, I felt like I had developed a special bond with the momma hummer in our front yard. I felt like I knew her on some special level that would have been otherwise impossible. I highly recommend this book for bird lovers and nature lovers of all sorts.

which the talented and admirable writer, Arnette Heidcamp, leads the reader through - namely, the first months of a Hummingbird's life, from the beginning of winter to the advent of spring.

Ms. Heidcamp has amazing expertise in both bird and plant life, and what one appreciates also is her great love of them both. One wants to thank her for this lovely book and for the precious photographs which accompany it.

Throughout the book, the reader gets to know Squeak more and more, to understand the habits and traits of this darling hummingbird, and to realize what an intelligence it has. Ms. Heidcamp is dedicated and devoted and, yes, the ending is sad. I have to admit I shed a tear or two as a reader saying goodby. I can only imagine what an emotional time Ms. Heidcamp had to go through, after fostering this hummingbird so carefully and intimately, when the time came to set Squeak free.

I have alredy got several of Ms. Heidcamp's other books lined up to read, and even signed up with Random House to get an e-mail notice when she has a new book published.

I can't praise this wonderful literary and photographic pursuit highly enough. Reading this book was a true joy!

We were given this book that is filled with wonderful close up observations about one hummingbird. The author shares how she learned so much when a hummingbird over stayed his summer visit and how she helped "Squeak" until the following spring. The book was very enjoyable. We are hummingbird lovers and feed them.

A heart warming story and a great read. If you enjoy birds or wildlife you will like reading this book. The quick thinking and commitment by the author
saved this little hummers life.

I bought a lot of chicken books before I got my first day-old chicks this past spring; this is my favorite one! I keep referring to it over and over. Great basic info. for those of us who have never done chickens before, with lots of practical tips and tricks from those who have been doing it forever! A few goofy, annoying typos and such, but I was willing to overlook those for the good info.!

Enjoyed the way the book is written and am pleased with all the good info.

I just began raising chickens a few weeks ago. I have learned so much from this book, such as why my chickens are losing their feathers. (They're molting) Who knew? Haha. I highly recommend this book for beginners.

I would hate to hurt anyone's feelings, but I didn't really learn anything from this book and it didn't appear to have anything new to say. I should have returned it when I got it, but returning items are a hassle to me. I was just hoping for some new insight or something more daring or direct. hats off to anyone that attempts writing and the criticism that evolves from such work. I hope her next effort is more interesting.

A great book. Easy to read and full of useful information for a small scale operation.

Downing a bowl of alphabet soup the family dog comes up wordy in Susan Meddaugh's gently funny picture book. Friendly illustrations will soon have sympathetic kids relating their own version as Martha wears out her wonder with incessant chatter.

I bought this book as a gift for a 5 year old, but found the humor to be a bit more sophisticated. My 9 year old son (& dog lover) found it to be hilarious. It will become a favorite gift of mine to give children in the 7-9 age bracket.

Warning: By reading this book to your children you may be inadvertently encouraging them to force-feed their puppies alphabet soup. Creating a book that is as much comic strip as it is enjoyable picture book, Susan Meddaugh's enjoyable 1992 creation follows the adventures and misadventures of Martha the talking pup. After being fed a bowl of delicious alphabet soup, Martha, the family pet, begins talking in complete grammatically correct sentences. For the family, this new occurrence is initially a boon. Martha is able to explain all kinds of doggish mysteries, hitherto unexplained to humans. She answers the door to the pizza delivery girl, much to family's amusement. She amazes both family and friends. Unfortunately, there are downsides to owning a talking dog. Martha, once she learns how to dial the phone, is prone to ordering large quantities of barbecue beef. She doesn't understand such social niceties as not commenting on someone's appearance loudly in pubic (especially if that someone is fat). And she talks constantly about nothing at all. When the family finally proclaims that Martha's talking is too much, the humbled doggie falls into a deep depression and refuses to devour anymore alphabet soup. Fortunately the appearance of a nasty burglar in the home gives Martha the opportunity to save the day and reinstate herself as the family's favorite talking dog.

The book's an original, no question. Martha's constant chatter appears as speech balloons over her head. If you get this edition in hardback, I highly recommend that you flip to the author's photo on the back inside cover to see a picture of a dog that looks very much as if it might have been the inspiration for Martha's cuddly form. The illustrations are sweet and inticing and Martha says everything you'd expect a dog to say (if neutered). The double page spread of her blowing away the family with an incredibly long speech is particularly impressive. I suspect that if you were to read this book to your little one they would insist that you read every single word that pops out of Martha's mouth. All things considered, this might take some time so prepare to set aside some 20 minutes for a full and unabridged reading of the delightful "Martha Speaks". As for the use of the term, "shut up", (which the family yells at Martha when they canst takes it no more) this is left entirely up to the reader's discretion. If you live in a home where the phrase is considered impolite, you may wish to read it aloud from the book in a silly way, or simply disguise it as the less controversial "Be Quiet" (which I do not, personally, endorse). If this phrase is not considered impolite in your home, let rip and let go.

This is altogether a fine book and an amusing story. This is an excellent choice for those children interested in the intricacies of canine yabbering.

At first I thought this was a good book, and was going to give it five stars, but then there was a big SHUT UP which wasn't really appropriate. And then there was a burglar which might be scary for kids, but it also taught you to dial 911 if something bad like the burgler happens, and it showed that Martha felt bad after her family yelled SHUT UP to her, so it kind of taught you not to yell SHUT UP, so I put it back up to 5 stars.

Kids love the idea of a talking dog, and Martha's story is amusing, as she develops the ability to speak after eating alphabet soup and then drives her family mad with her nonstop talking (except during her own televisioin shows, of course). It's unfortunate that the family eventually collectively yell at Martha to "SHUT UP!" but we just talk about the inappropriateness of the family's response, even when they're frustrated. Eventually they resolve the situation when Martha proves to be brave, intelligent and lucky during an encounter with a burglar. A bit loopy but kids love it/