Science Nature Books

Having a real meteorologist educate you on the fundamentals of weather, makes this book a real joy!

I loved this book! Get all the information you need to get started in meteorology, but what works even better is having the teacher/instructor who has the passion and knowledge to guide you.

This is a wonderful book to teach to Junior High kids. I bought it though for my Meteorology class at the Junior college I attend.

I taught an online class this semester on meteorology, and this was the textbook I was given. I always hold my breath a bit concerning textbooks, because I've taught chemistry, physics, cell biology, and meteorology...and my background includes two degrees in neuroscience. I never stop reading. As a deaf person who doesn't listen to music, go to movies, or watch television much, reading is my source of relaxation as well as involved in my work. I tend towards either nonfiction or classical literature lately, and much of my reading involves science and specifically weather. Global warming is such a hot topic now, and I've wanted to stay on top of this also because of my interest and ethical work as concerns deaf people in catastrophic occurences.

Anyway, this was definitely one of the better textbooks. My students didn't start having problems until the fifth and sixth chapters, which were way too technical on air pressure and wind for an online course and for students who were taking this class with no prior physics. Since physics is deeply involved in weather science, it would have been much easier to teach those chapters in a classroom, though I am now exploring avenues to teach these very things online.

I felt that the author of this textbook was speaking to the students this time instead of writing to his peer group (which is how many textbook and journal articles write today). The information is interesting, and thorough, and the textbook can definitely be adapted to younger classes or beginning science classrooms. It would just take some time to adapt it better and unfortunately, the university I taught at just changed their online program which everyone was required to learn at the same time they were expected to also do classwork. I also had to cut down the amount to be learned because it was an eight week course, instead of a semester course. That also complicated things...but I thought on the whole this was a good book, and I am continuing to read the rest of it for my own personal understanding.

Karen L. Sadler
Pittsburgh, PA

While some complained in their reviews about this book, I enjoyed reading it. If you are into farming on a small scale without going overboard on getting set up this book will inspire you. Covers a lot of information on rasing poultry for a profit. While the focus is on pastured poultry with movable trailers it will also work for just free range as well. A great additon to our farm library.

there is nothing in this book that is not useful and to the point. no waffle, tried and workable advice, clearly written.
the author has been a successful farmer for at least 20 years, so he knows what he is talking about.

THANK YOU, JOEL SALATIN!

Grow some chickens, improve your land, make alot of money, eat well and ENJOY LIFE! Learn how in this book and in ALL of Joel Salatins' books!

Joel does a great job overall. I'd just like to see better illustrations, especially concerning pen construction and processing the birds. I highly recommend newbies take a look at Herrick Kimball's [...]. He does a great job illustrating how to process the birds, with great pictures. Also, the homemade plucker, which he designed, is great. It plucks 3 birds in about 10-15 seconds! Now that's good stuff! But I'd highly recommend Joel's book, in spite of the poor illustrations. Maybe he should have a talk with his publisher and put out a new edition. We just did our first 50 Cornish X Rocks, largely based on his methods and it went off without a hitch...well, I accidentally ran over a couple of birds with the pen as I moved it. So, those were a couple of "hitches", but some of the little buggers just didn't want to march to my well-sung Marine Corps marching songs! Imagine that! So, the little non-hackers went off to join Colonel Sanders in a better place. Maybe he can get them to march:)

I love this book, It has great information in it about all sorts of different ideas for the Farm, for making it work without added Machinery. It is focused on Poultry and touches on other thing (Just enough to make you want to get the other books that Joel Salatin has written; which I have done). This Is my first year of doing Chickens and I had good success with them, using Joel's book. It is important to read the appendix there is updated information. Some of the product that he mentioned in his book are very hard to find here local to me.

I think this format with all of the extras, pull-outs, gizmos, and what's-its is here now for good in children's books. The first one my daughter really got into was the Dragonology book. It didn't even read the storyline when I picked this one out, but I figured that she would like it well enough because of all of the do-dads and gee-gaws inside. As it turned out, the storyline is the same as a DVD we had picked up recently that she watches over and over again, so the book was a major hit with her.

I completely agree that the cursive handwritten is difficult to decipher, but that was something my daughter actually liked about the book. She's been teaching herself calligraphy, so she liked the handwritten text. This is not a storybook to be quickly skimmed through. The author/artists clearly intended for this to be a book that girls would spend time coming back to.

I keep this book at my house for ongoing story telling. A little too adult for my 7 yr. old grand daughter. So my hope is that over the years we both will appriciate this book. I have a fairy garden/door to go with the book. We have lots of fun with the both of them.

The book is beautiful, full of details, it's an invitation for dreaming.
My child was astonished about the book and all the litttle things that has inside. Good recomendation for girls.

It is a really nice book, for fans of all things fairy! The notes and scrapbook-like features such as photos, letters, and pull-out surprises make it a fun experience.

I bought this for my 7 year old daughter and she loves it. She pores over it and loves the extra details tucked in it. The only caution that I would add is that the handwriting is old-fashioned and in cursive and is therefore somewhat difficult for new readers to read but she sure loves trying.

Two-time Green Party Vice Presidential candidate Winona LaDuke presents Recovering The Sacred: The Power Of Naming And Claiming, a discussion of the struggles Native Americans have made particularly in modern history to reclaim their rights and cave a path that balances personal, ecological, and cultural integrity. From "Vampire" biopiracy incidents such as taking samples of Native Blood under the pretext that it will be used to research diabetes and selling it to bidders who actually use it as evidence for the Bering Strait land bridge theory - in direct conflict with the religious beliefs of those who provided the donation - to corrupting public regard of Native tribes through using their names at sporting events (it would be unthinkable to wave crucifixes or the Torah at heated game, yet spiritual Native American objects such as the feather headdress are freely worn), to modern land grabs for any coal, oil, or valuable materials remaining on any Native reservation and more, Recovering The Sacred sheds a spotlight on the disdainful to hostile manner in which America regards its Native peoples. A carefully researched and persuasively presented accounting of the inequities of the past, what Native peoples are courageously doing now to protect their rights and their culture, and what challenges the future may bring. Highly recommended.

Leading activist/scholar writing from among the Anishinaabeg (Ojibwe) of northern Minnesota, Winona LaDuke brings to all of us the ecological wisdom of Native Americans.

The sacred has to be "recovered" by "naming and claiming" a people's land, its holy sites, and its "relatives" among other creatures (such as sturgeon, horse, and manoomin or wild rice).

In a splendid blend of wit, good humor, necessary polemic, personal experience (not only as Founding Director of the White Earth Land Recovery Project, but also as world traveler), and copious research, this book lays down its assertive challenge to a dehumanizing materialism that has relegated "the sacred" to an allegedly peripheral irrelevancy.

LaDuke's book describes here how the Native American community has begun to "heal itself from the ravages of the past." Vigorous pro-active efforts emerge in her stories about naming and claiming what is sacred to that community.

Heart-wrenching and heart-warming. Winona LaDuke's straightforward descriptions of how the indigenous plant, animal, and human peoples of North America were decimated will take your breath away and her inspiring accounts of the steps that are being taken to rebuild and restore will have you breathing a sigh of relief.

This book has provided hours of fantastic entertainment for the family. We love looking at the pictures, listening to the sounds and then trying to identify the crickets that we find.
This book should be in every family's library. Get your kids outside and play!

This book and included CD was the answer for learning all the insect sounds on my field recordings and nocturnal adventures. Good pictures for seeing what you heard really looks like, as well as good descriptions with the general range of each species noted. Excellent quality recordings on the CD.

Gorgeous photos, tons of info, and a cd of insect songs as well. If you're at all interest in these critters this is a must have book. Who knew there were so many different kinds of crickets out there?

As other reviewers have stated, this is a remarkable resource for insect identification. I would like to comment on the quality of the images. I found that a remarkable effort and attention to detail that went into these images. In far too many books the conversion of images from digital to print looks like the author doesn't know or doesn't care how his images look. For Lang Elliott this was not the case. He meticulously ensured that the printed images have remarkable depth of field and colors. I found any number of them to be remarkable pieces of photographic art. I felt guilty for only paying $13.57 for this book.

I have long wanted to know what insects I am hearing every summer and now have a chance of knowing which ones they are. The imagery is fantastic. The range maps will be a blessing to my students as they try to determine what type of katydid or cicada and so on they have nabbed for their bug collection.

The audio CD is great too! The only drawback there is that the holding compartment in the back of the book is poor. Right after I got this book I was taking it to school and the brand new CD fell out of the pouch and onto the pavement. Now its scratched and I don't know what to do. I usually make a backup of all my CDs right away but failed to do so with this one!

This book came to my attention when I wrote in my blog about the microphone I positioned in my backyard. I use it to listen to crickets and lots of other creatures out back, sometimes all night long.

I am a home schooling mother and got this inexpensive book for geography class. My children really like learning from it. It is quite informative and a great price!

I didn't realize that this would be a straight-forward dictionary of some geography terms, but that's what it is. My child never read it after flipping through once. It's very boring

We are homeschooling our 8yr old son. We wanted to make sure he had a good introduction to geography. As it turns out, He loves it! It's definitions are easy for him to grasp and there are drawings to describe each term. If geography knowledge is important in your home too, I suggest you get this book.

Being a glossary, this book is a dictionary of geography terms beginning with "archipelago" and ending with "zone". Definitions are short and incomplete, but enough for the target audience of 7-10 year olds. The illustrations are bold and colorful.

See also "Maps and Globes" by the same team for the same age group.

Geography is a fun subject because it is so visual. This book has fun, brightly colored pictures that illustrate basic geography words. I found this little gem at a library sale years ago and have used it to help prepare my chldren for our homeschool association geography bees. They love this book too!

Some people maybe too critical of the books they read. Maybe I am not critical enough. I don't know what some of the other reviewers were expecting from this book, but apparently they did not get it. I judge a book on whether or not I want to finish it. There are just too many books to slog through one that I hate. I liked this book and would suggest it to a friend. I would, however, suggest "Life As We Knew It" first. The reason that the book only gets three stars with me is that the topic gets a bit depressing at times. The end of the world and all ....go figure.

After seeing the reviews on Amazon I was a bit worried about ordering this novel as I was worried that I would be sorely dissapointed with the successor to the amazing "Life As We Knew It." However I was still in that world so I wanted to stay in it so-to-speak so I decided to go ahead and order the companion novel and see what I thought.

Thank goodness I was not put off by the nay-sayers because this novel is a decent read and should not be missed by people that truely liked the first book. This book takes the darker route of the story and I believe that is what many people were put off by.

This novel takes place in New York City where massive flooding occured after the asteriod hit the moon. Alex and his two younger sisters must figure out a way to survive in the midst of the flooding, the looting and the dwindling rations as they wait at home hoping that one of their parents eventually show up. As faith dwindles that either of them is alive, Alex must make some tough decisions to make sure that what family is left will survive to tell future generations about what happened.

Although this tale is MUCH darker and depressing than its predecessor, there is not always roses and sugar in the real world. I was really glad to read what happened where things were worse than in rural PA in this fictional world. This story isn't without hope though and there is always a rainbow (albeit maybe not a bright one) to be seen throughout the story.

While this novel is about the same events as was Life As We Knew It, The Dead and the Gone is a much different book. It is darker, scarier, and feels more real. Even though I really enjoyed the first one, I have to say that I think this companion is even better. Even though it is a lot more haunting and troubling, I think it follows more closely what would actually happen if something like this did occur in real life. Something I really liked about this book that wasn't present in the first one is Pfeffer's discussion of class. The Morales family lived in an apartment building that the father maintained, but because Alex had received some sort of scholarship (I think), he went to a private Catholic high school, so the majority of his friends had plenty of money. Therefore, many of the people he knew had no problem getting out of New York (it was stated quite explicitly that money and connections can get you anywhere), while Alex and his sisters were forced to stay behind. Class differences aren't often mentioned in fiction, and I definitely think that if this nightmare were to happen in real life, class differences would make a HUGE difference in whether you lived or died. So it was nice to see Pfeffer recognize something like that.

Another blogger mentioned that he/she (can't remember who it was...) felt that the overall premise of these two books was somewhat lacking because if this were to happen in real life, most likely some scientist somewhere would have predicted that an asteroid hitting the moon would have consequences for the earth, and precautions would have been taken before the catastrophe could occur. I do think that blogger is correct, so I was somewhat bugged by that while reading this book, but I forced myself not to think about it and just focus on the story. Awesome story, somewhat shaky premise, excellent writing, great characters... overall a really solid book, one that I'm happy to recommend.

This is a companion book to "Life As We Knew It" by Susan Beth Pfeffer. A meteor has hit the moon, knocking it out of orbit and as a result, chaos reigns in earth. Major weather disturbances...tidal waves, earthquakes, volcanos, etc. have caused havoc. All systems are down... communications, utilities, agriculture, etc. In this story, three young Puerto-American teens living in New York City must learn to survive on their own when both parents are unable to get back home after the crisis. This is a survival, dystopic kind of book, written for teens. At the same time the children are figuring out how to survive, they are also going through the usual struggles of adolesence...who am I? I'm not good enough? What will my future be? This book and it's companion, Life as We Knew It by Susan Beth Pfeffer are compelling and hard to put down. A must-read for teens and adults alike!

The Dead and the Gone
The Dead and the Gone is a very interesting concept. A young boy, named Alex, lives a normal life in New York. He works at a Pizza shop and goes to an all-Christian male school called Vincent De Paul. One day while working there is a large commotion outside and chaos seems to have taken some people over. It turns out that something crashed into the moon and caused it to fall out of orbit, and closer to the earth. The puts more gravitational force on the earth and causes many problems over a long period of time.

Alex doesn't seem concerned at the time. He goes home and attends to his two sisters, Bri and Julie. His mother is has been called to the hospital that she works at, and his father is in Puerto Rico attending a funeral. Alex has a brother named Carlos, but he is in the Marines. They are all alone and the world is falling apart.

Most of the book is based around them surviving. The world is rapidly changing and they have to adapt to it. Tides are rising and could overflow into New York. Volcanoes are erupting all over the world causing the sky to turn black. The darkened sky produces freezing weather, even in the summer. Food is becoming scarce and they begin only eating once a day, and it is only a spoonful of beans or something similar.

The other portion of the book is them living their daily life. This is the part I do not like. Within 6 pages of the book, the Moon has been hit. From there Alex and his family just go about their business. They go to school, church, and go through their daily routine. They constantly try to convince you the world is falling apart, but not that much anarchy occurs in Alex's life until the near end of the book. The characters never make it feel like their lives are threatened that much.

Alex is extremely religious too. He seems to pray every other line in this book. He is also Puerto Rican, so he speaks in Spanish while saying things every now and then. This is annoying to someone like me who doesn't speak Spanish. The religious Spanish speaking kid just came off to me as too fake.

The story does get very good in the last 50 or so pages. I felt like it was a worthwhile book. The author seems to use the words said, replied, and other generic endings for what her characters are saying. Still, I felt like this was a worthwhile book, despite being a little bland through some of the book.

Unfortunately, I bought this book for a class before realizing that I could have managed just as well by getting all the information that I needed from the internet and saving myself $70. The book lacks depth and could have been better organized. Having already some knowledge about sustainability and energy issues, I found that I could more efficiently answer any questions I had about sustainable energy issues by searching online. There is so much information online and much of it comes from reputable sources, such as the Energy Information Administration.

Useful book to collect all in one the main subjects about the topic. Useful handbook to have at hand a rigorous point to start to study the subject without loosing between information.

I have been pleased by the presentation of this Item; I like to get exactly what I am offered.