Science Nature Books

There is something for everyone in this book. It can be difficult to find a non-fiction story, particularly an autobiography, told in a way that will fascinate the very young. This book does just that - but fascinates the more mature reader as well - including grade school students and adults. The story of Mr. Bentley is told in a very charming way with warm and pleasing pictures, and easy to read and follow text. You could learn quite a bit just by reading the story line. But as an added bonus, there were side bars that added even more historical information - so you could go back and read that yourself if your little one was not quite ready to hear that level of detail. These captions were not intrusive - the way I personally find the Magic School Bus captions to be - but rather side bars that you could read (or not read) at your own discretion. One of the nice things about Mr. Bentley's autobiography - is that you can learn some history, you can learn some science, and you can also simply enjoy the story of a man who was passionate about what he did.

The illustrations are simply beautiful-they always are on Caldecott Medal Books-and the story of "the snowflake man" is just as beautiful. I work as an instructional aide at an elementary school and used this book as an extension activity when the children made snowmen in art, studied snowstorms in science, and made predictions about how much snow we would get in math.
The children are intrigued by the story. Most of them had not heard of Snowflake Bentley and were surprised that it was a true story. The photos and drawings really pull them into the story and the fact that he invented a new way to photograph snowflakes, after a great deal of trial and error, really sends a wonderful message about never giving up. His parents helped by purchasing the expensive telescope/camera he needed to make himself an expert on snowflakes, and he gave his photos and information to universities and anyone else that wanted it.

A great story about commitment, perseverance, and real passion. Highly recommended!

When I see a book that has won the Caldecott Medal, I am usually wondering as I go in, what is so special about it? And here, in this case, being slightly unimpressed, it reminds me of the Oscars or the Emmys...what one man says is outstanding might not always be to my (or someone else's) taste.
This is a very good book, no doubt about that, written by Jacqueline Briggs Martin and illustrated by Mary Azarian (my favorite parts are the woodcut snowflakes), but it lacks the personal touch, the warmth of the other bio about "Snowflake Bentley" ~ "My Brother Loved Snowflakes," by Mary Bahr and illustrated by Laura Jacobsen.
The woodcut illustrations are well-done, but are not as much "fun" as the smooth, wonderfully colorful pastels and stencils of Ms. Jacobsen, and the story is told more matter-of-factly than the other book.
Even tho' I am pleased to have both in my library, having been a huge fan of Mr. Bentley for many years, I would go to the second tome more often than the first, if I were to ever pick them up for light reading...and to introduce my new Grandson to the wonders of Nature, especially the beauty of snow and ice and other microscopic sights.
Yes, as I sit and reflect on the fact that one is a so-called award winner and one is not, I have to say that, unlike other critics and "experts," I will continue to trust my own instincts ~ and my own heart.

This is an excellent book for all ages of children. It will catch their attention because of the subject matter and how well it is written. For teachers it is a great read aloud book.

Last week when PK-4 came to the library for story time, I had picked out "Snow Friends" to read. Because the weather had been cold, I had the little ones put their hands aside their faces, concentrate on snow, and say, Believe, believe, believe. We said that a few times, then went on with the story. Well, it happened, three days later, in north Louisiana where we get snow once every two or three years, just a little dusting. But it snowed and one child told his teacher that they believed and it happened.

Willie Bentley was that way about snow. He was born in 1865 in Vermont, "in the heart of the snowbelt, where the annual snowfall is about 120 inches." As a boy he was fascinated with snow flakes, especially after his mother gave him an old microscope. "I found that snowflakes were masterpieces of design. No one design was ever repeated. When a snowflake melted...just that much beauty was gone...."

When he was fifteen he drew over 100 snow crystals each year for three winters, dismayed at the number he was losing. When he was seventeen his parents bought him a camera, even as his father pooh-poohed his foolishness. Its lens could magnify up to 3600 times the size of the snowflake. It took two years finally to photograph a snowflake, but it was the beginning of a historic record. (Do you know that it was Bentley who documented and proved that each snowflake is uniquely different, something every school child knows.)

Over the years he finally earned recognition for his photographs. Colleges bought copies for their collections, artists and designers bought his photographs for inspiration. As "the Snowflake Man,' he became world-renowned. When he was sixty-six other scientists--as Willie could be called--raised enough money to publish his book, "Snow Crystals," even now the first source people consult to learn about snow.

Yes, neighbors initially laughed at a teen who wanted to take pictures of snow in Vermont. However, his life's work and reputation proved them misguided. After his death they erected a statue in his honor in the center of town. Forty years after that, they established a museum to honor "Snowflake Bentley."

You, too, might giggle at the thought of a man so enamored of snow. I call it focus. Often the great contributors to making our world better or more beautiful are those who eschew scorn or laughter and keep right on working. There is an awe-filled lesson in these pages.

Caldecott Gold 1999: Jacqueline Briggs Martin, writer; Mary Azarian, illustrator

To see his book, click on this title: Snow Crystals by W. A. Bentley

Love this book makes wonder why we travel so many millions of miles into deep space when so much of the ocean remains a mystery. Would recommend this as a present to almost anyone its that compelling.

This book is amazing! The photos are mind-blowingly detailed and beautiful. Aliens do live on this planet--they are deep under the ocean.

Unbelievable pictures. I never thought that such creatures even existed. The image and print quality are excellent and the concept itself is breathtaking.

I read this book from cover to cover and was completely enraptured by the images and descriptions of the various species. What incredible beauty lies in our ocean depths! I became fascinated with this stuff after watching one of the Blue Planet episodes. I also bought a copy and sent it to my brother. What an awesome book!

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Where would you find these?

(1) Gorgon's head
(2) Fangtooth
(3) Pigbutt worm
(4) Black medusa
(5) Radiolarians

Possible answers: In outer space? On the Earth's surface? In a horror movie? On a farm? In an electronics store?

Correct answer: these are the names of creatures found in the abyss. (Technically, the abyss is a particular zone of the oceans extending 3000 to 6000 meters in depth. This term is also used to designate the deep oceans overall.)

You will find photographs of the five creatures indicated above and the pictures of many more deep ocean creatures in this stunningly beautiful book by Claire Nouvian, a journalist, producer, and film director who has travelled the world for more than a decade, filming wildlife for French and international television.

The book has photographs with captions (its main feature) interweaved with text. The contents of the book is divided into two parts:

(I) Life in the water column (meaning life in the water above the seafloor)
(II) Life at the bottom (meaning life on the seafloor or just above it).

The colour photographs are, in a word--astonishing. All the creatures (that look like they're not of this planet) imaged are marvels of evolution and adaptation. Rare and unidentified abyss-dwellers are even photographed.

Each photograph has a caption made up of several pieces of information: (1) the abyss-dweller's scientific name (2) its descriptive name (not all photographs have this) (3) its size (4) the depth at which it's found and (5) known information about the creature. As an example, I will give an actual example of such a caption for the creature found on the book's jacket cover (displayed above by Amazon):

(1) Teuthowenia pellucida
(2) Googly-eyed glass squid
(3) SIZE 20 centimeters
(4) DEPTH larvae and juveniles 0-900 meters, adults 1600-2500 meters
(5) Three sentences of known information about this abyss-dweller.

The number of pictures in this book is almost 210.

In the copy of the book I have, at the beginning the reader is alerted that there are "four computer-generated illustrations." When these illustrations are actually encountered, the caption for these illustrations states "computer-generated image."

The text that's interweaved with the photographs consists mainly of two-page essays that begins most chapters, factoids, and quotations.

There are a total of fifteen succinct essays indicated in the table of contents. Each is written by a researcher at a prominent research facility. Examples of such facilities include the USA's Monterey Bay Aquarium Research Institute, France's French Research Institute for Exploitation of the Sea, and the Japan Agency for Marine-Earth Science and Technology.

There is also an excellent five page introductory essay (not indicated in the table of contents). Be sure to carefully read this so as to orient yourself to the rest of the book.

Quotations from prominent people permeate throughout. One of my favourites was uttered by Jacques Cousteau in 1976:

"Under the sea, it seems my every gaze is as stolen from some forbidden world; and it triggers an emotional shock that never flags, no matter how many times I dive."

Revealing factoids also abound throughout the book. Here's an interesting fact:

At 150 meters depth, 99% of sunlight has been absorbed by water. Below 1000 meters, it's total, inky blackness for all.

(It is from this factoid that I came up with the title of this review.)

Based on the photographs and text, this book deserves a solid 5-STAR RATING.

Unfortunately, there are some problems with the book. The majority are minor (for example, the first two pictures found at the very beginning of this book have their captions on the credits page--the very last page), but the major problems primarily deal with the table of contents and index. (Note also that the credits page is not indicated in the table of contents.)

The table of contents is incomplete. For example, why isn't the introductory essay's (see above) title not mentioned in the table of contents? This introductory essay has four sub-sections. Why weren't these sub-section titles not mentioned? I feel that a ground-breaking book of this type should have a detailed table of contents.

The index is also incomplete. All it does is give the scientific names of the known species in this book and what page to find them on. That's it!! Why wasn't, for example, all the important information found in the fifteen chapter essays and the introductory essay appropriately indexed? Again, a grounding-breaking book of this type should have, I feel, a detailed index.

What is Nouvian's function with respect to this book? If you look at the book's cover, it seems that she is the author. She is NOT. If you look at the credits page, she is in charge of "photographic research." Amazon thinks she is the editor, but according to the credits page, she is not. Very confusing.

Based on these major and minor problems, this book should perhaps be given a 3-STAR RATING.

Finally, my final rating is an average of the two RATINGS given above.

In conclusion, this is a mesmerizing book giving us a glimpse into an alien world--the abyss.

(published 2007; preface; introduction; 20 chapters; main narrative 245 pages; appendix; glossary; index; bibliography; acknowledgements; credits)

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This book takes us through the four seasons of an apple tree, with the great pictures that are always found in Gail Gibbons' books. It's a nice introduction to the seasons for my pre-school grandson.

This is a wonderful book. It goes through the seasons of the year with the apple tree. There are large illustrations on each page, along with a sentence or two of text. This book is great for those wishing to learn about seasons of the year and also about phases of an apple tree (from buds to blossoms to apples to bare branches and back to buds again). Although I wish that the text had some rhyme or cadence to it, its still a very good book that my daughter asks to have read to her again and again.

I found this to be a very useful book for introducing the concept of seasons to my 5 yr old son. It's beautifully illustrated and the story is quite sweet, although I'm not sure how frequently he will ask to hear it again. It's not likely to end up on his list of favorites.

I recently purchased this book for my kindergartener to do a book project. He needed a book about the seasons, and this one fit perfectly. It simply illustrates and tells what happens to Arnold's apple tree around the year as each season passes.

This book covers the basics of what a tree goes through every season. Arnold and his dog take you through each season and explain what type of activities they do with the tree. Winter they build a fort around the tree for company, summer they build a treehouse, fall they rake and pick apples and in spring they hang out in the tree and smell the apple blowwoms and build a tree swing. Arnold treats the tree as his friend through-out the book. On a few of the pages, there is a recipe for apple pie, directions and explanations of what a cider press is and does and facts about honeybees. My overall impression of the book is that it is an okay book with okay pictures. If it wasn't partially educational, it wouldn't have been rated with 3 stars.

"It is written on the limitless constellations of the celestial heavens, on the depths of the emerald seas and on every grain of sand in the vast desert that the world which we see is an outward and visible dream of an inward and invisible reality." - Sufi saying.

This book is a beautiful re-introduction to the "Sacred Geometry", the study of the simple mathematical patterns that dominate the universe. At the same time this practice both argues for a creator and also one who is unlike the standard "Holy book" picture for his basic engines of creation unfold like a lotus flower into infinity.

Unlike most stuff found in a "New Age" store, this book is not arguing you to believe anything, it shows you and teaches you and lets your own mind do the work. If I ever become a teacher I'll use bits of this book to try to get students to actually think and hopefully enjoy math, arts, the sciences.

Artfully done with many interesting side notes. Easy to read, the book raises many deep questions. Well worth the price!

Colleague Michael Schneider (who I had the pleasure of interviewing on community radio/TV a few years ago) wrote this outstanding book that has wonderful little illustrations and photographs showing how geometry and number remind us universal archetypes every where we turn in nature, art and architecture. For over a decade I've recommended this book as a perfect complement to my Sacred Geometry Design Sourcebook which you can also find here on Amazon or on my website at www.GeometryCode.com. If you want a great place to begin exploring sacred geometry (even though he doesn't call it that :-), A Beginner's Guide... and SGDS make a great pair of references.

A Beginners Guide to Constructing the Universe shows the mathematical underpinnings of nature by explaining how nature makes use of the numbers 1 - 10 and also 12 and 13. For example number six is used by nature in the construction of many things including walls of cells as the six sided hexagon is a very stable geometric object. There is some focus on mystical aspects of math but not too much so that there ends up being a lot of practical knowledge to be found here. The Fibonacci sequence is presented along with the use it is put to by nature. There is a presentation of the golden mean also. I highly recommend this book to those who have had interest in math drilled out of them by the drudgery of unfocused arithmetic and algebra lessons. This book is a peak into the fascinating world of mathematics and should whet your appetite for more. One book to consider after reading this book is "Fascinating Fibonacci's" as it contains more detailed information on the material found in chapter 5 of this book.

First I bought two copies. Sent one to my 90 year old mother who read it cover to cover. Then gave away the other as an emergency gift. Then bought two more. Now I have to buy more because I read my own copy and have three people to whom I would like to give the remaining copy. Let's see, that is 2 + 2 = 4 + 2 or 3 = 6 or 7. Now I know what those numbers "are". This book is precious. It allows one to see the magic and the mystery in common objects and relationships around us. Nicely written. A lot of fun. The whole book is worth the price just for the fantastic quotes in the margins, let alone the chapters. I love this book. I am glad to know more about the radiant essence of my apples, bowls, desks, steering wheel, hands - and everything around me. Thank you Michael Schneider.

My children love these books I didn't know if they would like them because they don't have alot of pictures. They just can't get enough

waited for a month to receive the book.

This book is fabulous.
One of the reasons I like it is because it talked about fires, earthquake and natural disaster. Another reason is because it was near our city! The last reason I liked it is because they lost their city but still had hope. I learned some exellent facts. I learned the fire burned 28,000 buildings! They had half a millon people there. The earthquake was called "The Great Shake". It was one of the biggest earthquakes ever! I would recommend this book for three reasons. The characters are fun. Jack likes the realistic and Annie likes the magic. The second reason is the excitement and learning wonderful facts.
Earthquake in the Early Morning is a excellent book.

My 1st grader hates to put it down, he would rather read Magic Tree House books, than play video games. He even reads them to his class and explains the story for show and tell. In his kindergarten class the teacher would also let him read the Magic Tree House books out loud, not to give her a break, but to promote reading out loud. Great books!

I like this book because it is interesting.
It keeps you wondering whats going to happen next.
It is also very funny.
So you might want to read this book.

I had to read this book for a class at school and its very well written. This book is very informative and a recommend reading.

The effectiveness and accuracy of public opinion polls was always assumed, until this important and enlightening book. Zaller consolidates previous doubts about the very definitions of public opinion and how to measure it, and shows the shaky foundations of public opinion polls. In the fascinating early chapters of this book, we find that people's political opinions and poll responses are often distressingly inconsistent; with destabilizing effects from poll design, the ordering and language of questions, whether or not the person recently heard about the issues, and each person's level of ideology and receptiveness to ideas.

But this does not prove that people are uninformed, but that standard polling is woefully inadequate in measuring all of the idiosyncrasies of the human mind, and one's opinions on complicated political matters. This book gets off to a great start by illuminating such fallacies. The first few chapters are strong enough to earn this book accolades as a poli-sci landmark. But after proving that public opinion is perhaps unmeasurable (at least accurately), Zaller then spends the rest of the book measuring it himself anyway, with self-designed statistical models. However, it becomes difficult to tell whether he is using the results of his measurements to gain insight into actual public opinion, or merely to prove the viability of his own statistics.

By the middle of the book Zaller has embarked on a tedious and uninspiring academic exercise in statistical modeling that adds little to the points that were already made convincingly early on. Unnecessarily complex statistical equations are piled on mundanely, along with unenlightening charts and graphs. Like many other political science writers, Zaller has focused on pleasing his colleagues who are more likely to be impressed by repetitive evidence and windy statistics, while forgetting about the informed general reader who may just find the big-picture conclusions fascinating. That makes the majority of this book somewhat disappointing, rather like standing on a mountaintop on a cloudy day. You know the view (i.e. insights into the political knowledge of the masses) could be tremendous, if it wasn't obscured by clouds (i.e. academic tedium). True knowledge can be gained by disregarding the dusty science of this book and concentrating on the greater insights that lie beneath. [~doomsdayer520~]

Zaller's argues public opinion on issues is unreliable, primarily because elite sources of information provide competing or multiple considerations causing public opinon polls to measure whatever recent elite message an individual has stored in thier short term memory. A classic and important text. Zaller is not a straightforeward read, but lays out an important theory. The theory lacks focus on the use of core values and partisanship on public opinion; two important variables. Other than that it has held up to criticism for over a decade

An interesting, and occasionally vexing, topic of study in political science is public opinion. In his book The American Democracy Thomas Patterson touches upon myriad issues that surround this topic: the difficulties in accurately measuring public opinion, the inconsistencies and fluidity of public opinion, and political socialization are just a few of the factors of interest to political scientists that Patterson examines. However, no introductory text can examine such a multifaceted topic in great depth, and as a result on page two-hundred eleven of his book Patterson recommends John R. Zaller's The Nature and Origins of Mass Opinion as a good source for more in-depth information about public opinion formation and measurement. Indeed, Patterson characterizes Zaller's work as "[a] superb analysis of the nature of public opinion" (211). Zaller examines many, if not all, of the factors that influence public opinion, spending a great deal of time examining the affect of information on political opinions and election choices, and the impact of "elite domination of public opinion" (310). But Zaller's work is perhaps best known for its thoughtful examination of public opinion instability, an examination that challenges traditional thinking on the topic. And, while not perfect, it is easily one of the most important and influential works written on this subject.

As Zaller highlights, variances in survey results has traditionally been attributed to "measurement error" which is built into a survey or the presence of "nonattitudes"
(i.e. respondents answer questions about which they have no strong opinion) (31). In the broadest sense, The Nature and Origins of Mass Opinion strives to refute these explanations; and instead posits that a combination of factors, including the degree of ambivalence an individual has related to a specific topic, the general level of interest a person has in a topic, and what information has been encountered and how recently, more accurately explain response instability. Zaller does an excellent job of building his case for this perspective; in particular the use of literature from disciplines other than political science is especially compelling. Supported by this literature, and compelling in its own right, are the axioms that comprise his "Receive-Accept-Sample (RAS) model" (58). The author painstakingly examines each of his axioms and examines each in relationship to real world data which serves to further strengthen his arguments. As a result it seems clear that his contentions that individuals who are more aware of the political process are also more likely to perceive political messages, while at the same time resisting messages that run counter to their own political biases, have great validity. Further, Zaller's argument that there is a high degree of ambivalence on many issues is well supported by the analysis of the findings from the 1987 pilot study that is cited (63). Finally, even though the author acknowledges the inherent challenges in proving the validity of axiom four, he makes a compelling case by utilizing literature from the field of psychology (62). The result is an intriguing model that, rather than assuming that "response error is simply so much noise . . . [or] signifies nothing of interest" instead argues that "response variation is rooted in an important substantive phenomena, namely the common existence of ambivalence in people's reactions to issues" (75). Of further importance and interest are the series of deductions that the author forms through the application of his model to real world circumstances.

While it is impractical to examine each of Zaller's deductions there are two that are especially significant. The author's third deduction is representative of the very essence of his RAS model and its implications: If people form conflicting considerations on most issues, and if they base their survey
responses on whichever of these considerations happen to be at the top of the head atthe moment of response, one should expect a fair amount of variability in people's responses to survey questions. (64).

This "top of the head" argument is fundamental to the author's perspective, and Zaller offers numerous citations in support of this deduction. The result is a sea change in the way that response instability is perceived. A second deduction that is quite compelling examines the relationship between political attitudes and the political messages of the powerful and elite:

[T]he population as a whole should be able to develop more stable attitudes for issues on which partisan elites divide sharply and clearly, thereby providing clearer message cues for everyone. Conversely, attitude stability should be weaker for issues on which partisan divisions are hazy or nonexistent, because in such cases the public gets few message cues. (67).

The validity of this deduction has been proven out over the past thirty years. On a whole series of issues, including reproductive health and immigration, the messages espoused by the major political parties have become increasingly polarized and that polarization has increasingly been reflected in attitudes amongst the electorate. The RAS model, and the deductions that flow from it, represent a significant addition to the body of literature in political science. However, though Nature and Origins of Mass Opinion is an invaluable work, it is not without its faults.

One small criticism that can be made is the relatively sparse discussion of the survey instrument from which much of the data used to test the RAS model. More to the point, it would be helpful to have the instrument included as an appendix to the book. Zaller does identify the pilot study used, and it is currently available online (after registering with the online host, and assuming that one has access to the statistical software necessary to open the documents), however, in order to test, and adequately assess, Zaller's conclusions the raw data must be readily accessible. A more significant criticism of the RAS model itself is an important assumption upon which it is built - that of the type of information individuals receive and process:

The Receive-Accept-Sample Model is . . . a set of claims about how citizens acquire "information" and convert it into attitude statements . . . [O]ne cannot test the model without making definite assumptions about the information environment that sustains citizens' attitudes on a given issue. For purposes of this chapter, I make the following simple assumption about this environment: that it consists of moderately intense,
temporally stable information flows favoring both the liberal and
conservative side of each issue. By moderately intense I refer to information flows that involve neither dominating headline stories . . . nor obscure or esoteric stories. (58)

The definition suffers from vagueness that is difficult to overstate, and ignores the fact that what a researcher might define as "esoteric" could be perceived as most significant to a member of the public. Given that the RAS model is what Zaller defines as an "information processing model" (58), the imprecise manner in which information environment and information flow are defied is a serious flaw.

For many decades there has been an assumption amongst political scientists that variations in survey responses stemmed from flaws inherent to the survey instrument itself. In The Nature and Origins of Mass Opinion, John Zaller exposes the flaws inherent in such thinking. Despite some non-fatal shortcomings the author builds a persuasive case that, where survey instruments are free of bias, response instability is the expression of the uncertainty that many people feel on a wide array of issues.

Zaller's book presents an interesting elite-driven model of public opinion, which essentially concludes that opinion polls are less than reliable and we should be skeptical of attempts to measure the public's attitudes. However, it is very dense, is chock-full of advanced statistics above the head of most political science graduate students, and therefore at the end of the day is somewhat unsatisfying.

If you need a primer on public opinion research, this isn't it. But if you want to read cutting-edge work, and you have a good grasp of statistics, dive in.

The pictures in this guide are not quite as nice as in the audubon version but is still easy to use and a nice handy size for carrying in a pocket

Good up to date material. Good illustrations

I found this book to be well illustrated. And although not as comprehensive as i'd hoped, it is still the most complete guide I have found. Overall, I feel it is well above average--and I'm quite hard to please!

This field guide is nearly twenty years old, but there are so few field guides to fungi that it still remains a standard reference. Like all Peterson field guides, it is handy and compact and can easily be taken into the field and pored over with the mushrooms in their wild habitat. The text is detailed and accurate and a "similar species" section is very useful. However, this guide uses painted plates whereas amateurs generally find it easier to identify fungi by photographs. I personally find photographs more accurate, but enjoy paintings in their own right. In this case the paintings are pleasing and quite faithful.

Although this guide should be on every mushroom enthusiast's shelves, a better beginners guide might be Roger Phillips' photographic book which has now appeared in a revised edition (on Amazon.com: ISBN 1554071151). Phillips provides 1000 photographs compared to this guide's 700 illustrations. However, Phillips is rather large to take into the field except in a backpack. Bear in mind that no fungus guide is comprehensive - each treats a selection of species - so it is wise to have a good selection in order to be in with a chance of correct identification.

So, until a compact photographic guide to fungi appears, this tried and tested Peterson guide will continue to fill a niche in the mushroom hunter's library.

We own several different guides. Each has it's own strength. I recommend this as the first guide for those beginning to identify MR/Fungi. It covers most of the basic MR/Fungi family, but is not encylopedic as Arora's 'Mushrooms Demystified' attempts to be, nor does it have the number of color photographs that either the Falcon Guide 'North American Mushrooms' or Audubon's Field Guide. But it's one of the easiest to use beginning with 48 (mostly color) plates, then branching off into related species.

It covers a lot of topics and some of them are entertaining. But seems unfocused and hard to get a big picture.

What I found most interesting about Strogatz's sync theory was the position that it did not require an extensive measure of complexity in order to achieve synchronization. It merely required a critical mass or critical repetition in order to effectuate a phase transformation. The phenomenon of resonance performs similarly. Synchronization may be a form of resonance which has been overlooked, thus far, in our reality (biosphere).

Author Steve Strogatz's book "Sync" ostensibly concerns the spontaneous synchronization of oscillators, where an "oscillator" is anything that exhibits periodic behavior -- be it a clock, a flashing firefly, or an electron in a superconductor.

The book is clearly modeled on James Gleick's book "Chaos": both books follow various researchers who originally work in isolation but who gradually recognize that they are investigating different aspects of the same phenomenon. As Gleick did for chaos, Strogatz tries to portray spontaneous synchronization as a fundamental, unifying phenomenon in nature. However, many of Strogatz's examples are unimpressive: sleep patterns, the coordinated flashing of lightning bugs, etc. In the more important cases -- the heart's pacemaker cells, phase transitions -- the mechanisms' details haven't been elucidated, so it's not clear how synchronization actually operates. Gradually Strogatz wanders: He argues that in order to progress, science should abandon its traditional analytic approach of investigating the bits of a system and instead should investigate the interactions between the bits; in this connection, he discusses the game "6-degrees of separation," in which very different people are "linked" by chains of acquaintances.

(Strogatz also follows Gleick's footnote format, which is a nuisance.)

In reading this book, I had hoped to find deep insights from a principal investigator in the field; instead, I found entertainment for the math-phobic.

This book gave both nature and theoretical explanation of what sync is and how it might
happen. Of course, its raminifaction still need a lot of exploration. This book is a good start and definite a good read for scientific inquiring mind. Read it and you know if you sync with this book.

What a fun book. Strogatz has managed to talk about the leading edge of mathematical modeling without a single equation! He uses a comfortable prose and never strays too far from the story of his research. The reader is treated to a view of the way that the world network of scientists organizes itself within areas of research and finds unions where research from one speciality can contribute to another. Who would have thought that the western power grid, the Internet Movie Database and the nervous system of a worm called C. elegans could be effectively modeled with the same operational principles.

This book was helpful telling the story of how the tadpole changes to a frog

From Tadpole to Frog is a great learning experience for little ones. I would recommend this book for any child, 4-??? The service from Amazon is great. That is the only place I purchase books anymore.

Dana Hodges

Great teaching tool for kids. My 3 and 5 year old loved it. They pretend to be tadpoles turning into frogs. I loved that it gave facts and was easy for the kids to remember and understand!!

I highly reccommend any and all of the "lets find out" books. Excellent teaching tools which hold a child's interest.

This is a nice book with attractive artwork that describes the two-year life cycle of the American Bullfrog. As a Stage One book "From Tadpole to Frog" uses simple sentences and concepts that are appropriate for toddlers, preschoolers, and young children up to about 8 or 9 years of age.

Besides a description of the Bullfrog lifecycle, and the 'where Bullfrogs can be found' map, there are pictures with brief descriptions of 5 other frogs, including the Leopard, Pickerel, Wood, Spring Peeper, and Gray Tree frogs.

Four Stars. Good artwork on every page. The color runs from edge to edge. Okay Read-aloud. The Bullfrog is interesting as even the tadpoles hibernate for one year. Nothing objectionable in my opinion; although I should note above that there is a brief mention of reproduction. [I mention this as some parents have concerns and have told me they appreciate such notes.] The book, in any case, says the following about frog reproduction:

At night you hear "Ba-ra-rooom... ba-ra-
room... ba-ra-rooom...". The males are calling
to their mates.

The female hear the call.
The male hugs his mate. He fertilizes her eggs as
she lays them in the water. Thousands of soft
jelly-covered eggs cling together in the cool water.

The artwork shows the frogs hugging, and neither art nor wordage was inappropriate or graphic, in my opinion. Certainly my children didn't think anything of it.

The AR reading level is given as 1.6 which means this is a book for a child in the second half of the first grade. While professionally assessed, this mom thinks quite a few first graders will need some help because of the vocabulary. More difficult words include: hibernate, thousands, whistle, creatures, stretching, fertilizes, speckled, and capture. Words they might not be familiar with are: mate, female, male, breathe, gills, and cling.

Because this book is selective and regional rather than comprehensive, it has been extremely useful in identifying and providing info on the "weeds" I am likely to see. The descriptive information on all stages of the plant, in combination with photos, rather than a focus on flower and secondarily on leaves, make this easy to use for nonexperts like myself; it also sets it apart from the (also useful) Newcomb book and other field guides I have. (In gardening, it is especially useful to be able to identify weeds at their early stages.) The organization of the book is reasonable, but it is also easy enough to leaf through to spot weeds by photo.
The "weed management" focus of the book (weeds being viewed from the standpoint of crops, orchards, and nurseries) means that it includes native as well as nonnative plants (although the descriptions mention where the weed is a native). It is interesting to me to see what native plants are considered nuisances. My own primary interest is in environmental balance, the promotion of native plants, and the control of invasive nonnatives, and while this not a main resource for me, I find it very useful.
Incidentally, I have Eastman's "The Book of Field and Roadside," which is an extremely entertaining, idiosyncratic adjunct.

A very useful book for those of us in the northeast seeking to identify weeds and wildflowers. Certainly a one-of-a-kind publication.

This book is a dream come true. It has pictures of many stages of weeds.
Very helpful.

This is one of the best books for the Northeast area of the USA, packed with info/pictures/etc--shows all the shapes of leaves/describes the breakdown of parts of the plants--I use this in my volunteer work at Rutgers program of Horticultural Helpine, when clients call with questions about weeds/or bring in a sample to be identified.

This book was extremely useful when I took a weeds course in college. Excellent photograhs and descriptions of each weed makes this book a great choice. Buy it, it is recommended for anyone who is curious about weed control. I used to hate weeds when i was a little kid but after reading this book for a required college course, the subject matter of weeds is useful and interesting