Science Nature Books

this is a wonderfuly illustrated book that manages to incorporate the many species of endangered animals names with the letters of the alphabet.While I bought it for my grandson(2) he is too young to appreciate it, so I have put it away for him to enjoy in the years ahead. I recommend it for the art work and for all the information that is on each page.

A truly beautiful and creative book that reminds us of those great typography designers such as Aldus Manutius, Nicolas Jenson or Claude Garamond. My child loved discovering wild (and sadly endangered) animals through the pages of Gone Wild.

David McLimans, Gone Wild: An Endangered Animal Alphabet (Walker and Company, 2006)

While I admire the sentiment behind David McLimans' first childrens' book, I have to wonder at how up-to-date his information is. I wouldn't have thought to question it had he not brought up the spotted owl, that hoary old symbol of endangered species, which McLimans is quick to say is still in decline. This hasn't been true for the past decade. This makes me wonder how many of the other species in this book are now protected.

Not that the kiddies will think about this.They will see McLimans' wonderful drawings and read about nifty, obscure animals. That sort of thing was borderline magic when I was a kid; second only in my estimation to books about dinosaurs. So, yeah, you want to go through this one with your kid, because the kid will love it; once the kid's older, though, prepare for some talks about propaganda. ***

My 16 months old really enjoyed the book. She likes the graphics - which is done in black and white. We adults enjoyed the actual reading portion. The information is very educational. I can see my baby reading this book with a different perspective when she is older.

This book was totally uninteresting to my grandchildren. It's a book that adults think will catch the interest of little ones and does not.

My son was so excited because we planted seeds a nd watched what happened in "real' life as explained by the book.

We were given a copy of "Magic Schoolbus and the Ocean Floor" as a gift. I then bought "Dinosaurs" and "Senses." There is a difference between the books written only by Joanna Cole and the later books that are basically a comic-book version of the TV show. It takes us a solid 45 minutes to read "Senses", and I even learned some facts. "Plants Seeds" is about a 15 minute read-aloud. I say stick with the earlier books.

As a 3rd Grade School Teacher, I found this book instrumental to my lessons on plant life. Ms. Drizzle and her class answer many of the questions my students come up with before we've read the book so I know that we're reading the right materials for our lessons. Great series for the imagination and for provoking interest in the sciences early in the child's development.

I enjoyed this book very much because it is such a fun way to learn about science. This is the first of many Magic School Bus books I purchased, and I've been hooked ever since.

I feel like this was a much bigger A&P textbook that was cut down into an "Essentials" version. Every now and then you'll be faced with a term in passing as if you already understand it, when it hasn't been presented at all. It's almost like a paragraph is missing every few pages. This feeling gets worse when you try to use the online or CD quizzes which will ask questions you can not possibly answer with this text book. If you're taking a very generic class where the teach doesn't expect you to know more than the bare basics (and is willing to let you skip the parts not adequately explained in this book!) then it's passable. Otherwise, you might need an additional text to muddle through.

Item was in exact condition as quoted and received in a pretty reasonable time frame. Would buy from this seller again.

I think my instructor had a lot to do with it, as well as some changes in study habits since I went to college the first time (2.68). But this book definitely helped. I had a 96 average in class. It's not an easy read, nor is something to try to do without some class notes, but I thought it was clear and informative.

This book was purchased for a high-school course.
Class hasn't started yet so can't rate the book
properly. I presume that it is good because the
school chose it.

This book was necessary for my class. Its good, except I can't get the disk to work.

THIS BOOK DEALS WITH FACTS, NOT FICTION. One of the people wrote in the review:" disappointed that it doesn't deal with any issues today that are killing the earth. it should focus more on the effects of global warming, destruction of our rain forests, killing off of our animals and plants, and the new technologies we have..."

I am glad it does not deal especially with global warming. As many scientists that support it are against it. The more I read about global warming the more I believe that it is a political agenda rather than a fact. Any books stating Global warming is a fact is same as stating with a fact that we were created by God. Nobody knows where we came from. Was it evolution or was it God? Do not get me wrong, I do believe in preserving and saving and trying not to polute and in doing our part. But no one can tell me that Global warming is a fact. Even Gore does not believe it or he would not be driving large SUVs and flying on private jet planes that polute more than any SUV will during a year. Just one flight across the country will cause as much polution as 100s of SUVs will in a year. I AM GLAD THIS BOOK GIVES FACTS NOT FICTION.

Plan on having students buy this and using it as an APES exam review in May.

I recently rented this cartoon book from the school library in hopes of learning more about ecology. The book did an excellent job giving easy-to-understand definitions, and the illustrations really boosted my comprehension. Though the book did not detail global warming and other "big" issues in our society, it was a fantastic teaching tool for the basics. It was a fun read, and it got me thinking about how minor changes can affect the way the world works.

Great book as a break from the normal Environmental science textbooks. A funny and informative look at many of the key ideas and concepts related to environmental science. Many of the cartoons are also useful for teaching biological science. Don't be fooled, some of the cartoons demonstrate fairly advanced ideas, but in a humerous and entertaining fashion.

Rarely do I post anything on the web, but I feel obligated to do so now in defense of this author. Global Warming is covered on pages 64, 201-3, and 207 as listed in the index. Ozone Depletion, page 199 & Acid Rain, page 198.

Childs has created a beautifully written book about animals and journeys into their abodes. He lashes a poet's equipoise to an adventurer's rugged wagon and traverses stories that are breathtaking both in their raw facts and in their telling. A wonderful book.

This book was very well written from a naturist's point of view. At times you would feel as if you were right beside the writer as these encounters occur. After living in CO for 15 years I really could appreciate the stories. Great read for a cold winter night.

I have greatly enjoyed reading this naturalist's account of personal encounters he has had with animals in the wild. He demonstrates a respect, as well as a healthy fear, of the big predators such as mountain lions, bears, and jaguars. Intertwined with the adventures, Craig Childs provides details and meaningful information on creatures as diverse as mosquitos and Blue Sharks. It is a personal account which is accurate and does not romanticize the animals he describes.

I purchased "The Secret Knowledge of Water" by Craig Childs, and picked up the "Animal Dialogues" at the same time. After reading both books, I will buy more by this author. Vivid descriptions of places and happenings make his experiences come alive. The short chapters on each species give his own story and some scientific information on the animal as the story unfolds. I have learned much, and enjoy his take on the face to face encounters with some of the animals. We can identify with the cat and mouse tales in the Tipi. The Mountain Lion encounters were incredibly intense. This will really make me be more aware of where I am and what is around me when walking up the slot canyons and in the river wash. The footprints we find will be a little more of a wake up call, then just 'Oh neat! A fresh Mountain Lion foot print!"

This book tops my list of favorites. Childs' skillful use of languge not only brings his encounters to life, but revels in the mystical aspects of the wilderness. It is as close to poetry as prose can get; it's simply stunning.

Just today I used this book to teach a decoding lesson to my first graders. They were captivated by the lively illustrations and quite entertained by the clever humor. This book lends itself well to a quick, low maintenance, yet creative activity. We began to make our own book in a similar fashion. Students completed the sentence, "The _____est thing in the world is ______." They came up with some very creative responses and then illustrated them. We are looking forward to putting our book together right away and sharing it! This book could be used at different levels up through 3rd grade to target a variety of skills.

This is a great book to teach about the suffixes -est and -iest. It is also good for talking about descriptive writing. After we read it, the kids create their own books to describe, and they are always wonderful. This is a good way to get kids pumped up about writing.

Great books to help teach primary kids the concept of adjectives (describing words, word choice). The pictures and the silly "riddles" are wonderful. For example: The quietest thing in the world is a worm in eating peanut butter. Students will love to make up their own "Most Thing".

My daughter, who is about to turn 3, decided this would be a great book to take home from the public library. And the ONLY reason she wanted to take it home was because of the slice of pizza on the front cover. It easily became a quick favorite that she wanted me to read to her quite often. She affectionately refers to this as simply, "Pizza book!" So, Pizza book it is!

But thankfully the pizza wasn't the only thing that caught her attention. Because this is to help kids develope their own examples of ______est words, it has lots of great illustrations. So, there's a dragon eating a slice of pizza on the front cover, right? Get to that in a book and it turns out that "The HOTTEST thing in the world is a fire-breathing dragon eating a pepperoni pizza." Or, (one more example simply because I won't tell the whole book) is a little boy who fell asleep while doing his homework. There is an earthworm (or a bookworm) who has just taken a big bite out of his sandwich. And so the example in that one is, "The QUIETEST thing in the world is a worm chewing peanut butter." Lots and lots of crazy, but hilarious pictures. Is it meant to be a little silly? Yep. But can it be used to teach kids a thing or two when it comes to helping their vocabulary? You bet!

So, with my daughter's great urgency, I would definitely recommend "Pizza book" or as it is really called, "Things That Are Most In The World." It is a nice break in the day, and you and your kiddo will laugh and point at some of the CRAZIEST things you've ever seen. You'll have a lot of fun!

Other than the section on venison (which was very helpful), I have only skimmed this book, as I am not yet ready to actually butcher anything else. It seems to offer all the information and sketches that I will need, IF I ever need it ...

This book is just as packed full of information as the more expensive books. This is a great book for anyone who processes their own meat or who is wanting to learn how. However, there are some techniques in this book I don't completely agree with. Still, all in all it gets the job done.

This is one of the best, if not the best, informational/instruction book I have ever read. It covers every step with great detail. Anyone who even considers cutting up thier own meat, ( and in these's days with all the tainted meat in the stores, who doesn't? ) should buy this book.
I consider this a must for sportsman that hunt, as well as for anyone that raises thier own animals. We don't raise our own beef, however we do often buy a quarter, or a side from the butcher, and cut it up our self, thus insuring a clean environment, and safe meat. I also hunt, and have cut up my own venison for years, and still learned some valuable tips as to how to improve the process.
I highly recommend BASIC BUTCHERING OF LIVESTOCK & GAME by John J. Mettler.

Great for the beginner butcherer...recipes are good, but don't have all the ones that we were looking for but, what are in there are informative
I recommend to beginners...

Coming from a family of hunters, fisherman, as well as a family that has always grown much of their own food, be it a vegetable garden, or hens for eggs, angus for beef, the occasional pig, sheep, I firmly believe that women (I am one) should know as much about self sufficiency living as possible. This includes knowing how to raise healthy meat animals and how to slaughter them in the most humane and sanitary way possible. I like this book because its easy to read and follow and cover just about every domestic animal I have ever raised for meat, as well as most of the wild game I have had.

There is so much material in this well written, concise book that there is some danger it can overwhelm you. Pearce has a gift for conveying understanding without technical language, and is always interesting, so you will not get bogged down if you do not get overwhelmed. You do not even need much of a scientific background. I had to review carbon cycle (Wikipedia was great), but that is very atypical of Pearce's effort.

The point of the book is that climate in the past has changed dramatically over decades, or less, and while we know a lot, there is so much uncertainty in our climate modeling, and so many factors at play, that the "consensus" projections are conservative, almost best case scenarios. So far we have been lucky since carbon dioxide levels are at record highs, at least for the last 55 million years, and we sure would not want to be living in the climate of 55 million years ago when a "sudden" release of methane caused widespread species extinctions. Ice is melting faster than originally expected, as scientists discover new mechanisms which are likely to accelerate this melt, even if worldwide temperatures rise no faster than expected. In fact, one of the things that impressed me is that AVERAGE worldwide temperature need not change that much for there to be catastrophic side effects: major changes in ocean levels of course, but also major continental changes in weather conditions, including long term drought, and almost ice age cooling in large parts of the northern hemisphere while the tropical and southern hemispheres are getting warmer.

The instigator of climate change in the past, before the man made increase in carbon dioxide levels, has been the sun. In the first billion years of earth's existence, the sun emitted half the solar radiation it does today, and 500 million years ago it was 10% less. There are regular cycles of changes in the amount of solar energy reaching the earth due to cyclic changes in earth's orbit and tilt. Recently, another cycle averaging about 1500 years has been discovered, traceable to cycles in the amount of solar radiation emitted. The variability in solar energy reaching earth during these various cycles is not that great in itself, it is the feedback mechanisms which vastly exaggerate the effects: earth's climate is a very unstable system

Best book I have read on Global Warming (so far: as of summer 2008) and I have read more than a few good ones. This is the most up to date, comprehensive review of every significant aspect of global warming for the general public that I have read. All that you need to know and well organized review of a very complicated subject. This is where I would begin. It emphasizes the abrupt changes that are likely to occur in all weather predictions. Does NOT cover the intricacies of computer modeling. It does NOT cover the findings from the 4th IPCC but it covers the ground up to that point thoroughly. Pearce is the environmental writer for New Scientist and I would go to his articles for the latest since the publication of this book. My only qualms is that for a book of this quality the publisher should pull out all stops for the next edition and include graphs and maps and an annotated bibliography for those wishing to do further study without necessarily going to the original sources. I expect this could become the standard reference for high school and college intro courses.

Recommended reading for every adult and teen. I can't stress strongly enough that this should be read along with "Under a Green Sky" and "Hell and High Water." These books are partly about climate change and the effect of human activities. Even if we act now, the "express train" to a climate hostile to human life takes a long time to slow and may soon be unable to reverse. Unfortunately, "politics as usual" generally lack a sense of urgency. Too little may truly be too late ....

According to Dutch scientist Paul Crutzen, sometime in last two centuries the Earth left the relatively benign holocene and plunged into the uncharted waters of the anthropocene. "A single species is in charge of the planet," writes science journalist Fred Pearce, "altering its features almost at will."

While dyed-in-the-wool climate change skeptics such as columnist George Will continue to deny that Earth's climate and biological support systems are changing in response to human impacts such as surging greenhouse gases, deforestation, and ocean acidification, Pearce leapfrogs beyond them, and even beyond many mainstream climate scientists to detail the many ways in which Earth's systems are being pushed to the brink of tipping points, any one of which could have massive, irreversible impacts.

Among those tipping points:

Vanishing arctic ice. Instead of reflecting most of the sun's energy back into space, increasing areas of water will absorb the heat, potentially creating a runaway warming at Earth's high latitudes.

Ice sheets in Greenland and in the antarctic. As scientists learn more about how rapidly surface meltwater can cascade down to lubricate the beds of glaciers, massive loss of ice cover and massive sea level rises appear more likely.

Deforestation changes one of Earth's major carbon sinks to an enormous carbon source.

Enormous amounts of greenhouse gases that have been locked up in permafrost are starting to bubble out, creating another vicious cycle.

The same could easily happen with the vast quantitites of extremely potent greenhouse gas methane that until now has been locked up in heat-sensitive seabed deposits.

The ocean conveyer belt that distributes heat from the tropics could be overwhelmed by an influx of fresh water from increased rainfall and melting ice, and stall, bringing northern Europe's relatively benign climate to an abrupt end.

What is predictable, Pearce argues, is that human activities have pushed Earth's climate system from the relatively stable and predictable holocene to the precipice of a new, unstable, rapidly changing, and unpredictable epoch.

If governments, businesses and individuals are having a hard time coming to grips with the kind of gradual warming, slow sea-level rises, and somewhat increased climate variability predicted by mainstream climatogists, represented by the IPCC, what can we expect if we need to respond to the threat or reality of vast and sudden climate changes?

If you agree that forewarned is forearmed, please read this book, and soon!

With Speed and Violence: why Scientists Fear Tipping Points In Climate Change
By Fred Pearce
July 13, 2008

Mr Pearce works for New Scientist and has published several books on this subject including Turning Up The Heat way back in 1989. Here he looks at all the Doomsday scenarios out there, the ones we have all heard about: Gulf Stream shutting down, Greenland melting suddenly, the Amazon drying up, etc.

To his credit has been around a while and knows the players -- Hansen, Broeker, et. al. This gives him access where others might not get it. He has also been around scientists long enough to develop their trait of hedging their conclusions with a lot of maybes, possiblies, this suggests.

To his discredit he has abandoned most of the restraints here. Maybe (heh) he feels he has to in order to make his point, that he has to scare us into action. This reveals his reason for writing the book. He is not here to teach us but to get us on board, to prod us into action. His final chapter is his list of things we must do:


Adopt efficient appliances;
Improve automotive efficiency;
Increase use of public transport;
Effect a 50-fold increase in wind;
A 50-fold increase in biofuels;
A global program of insulating our buildings;
Cover an area the size of New Jersey with solar panels;
Effect a 4-fold increase in our use of natural gas for generating electricity;
Capture and store 1,600 gW-worth of carbon;
Halt deforestation;
Double nuclear power capacity;
Increase low-till/no-till agriculture times 10.

The few changes I would make to this list are to the nuclear part (bad idea for now) and the New Jersey part (why not just go ahead and cover New Jersey itself?) The rest make good sense in general terms. If we all use less we will experience an increase in efficiency which will give us room to grow without fouling our own nest. Our individual bills will go down, too.

One big problem I have with his text is his consistent conversion of square meters to square feet. The measurements are taken in the metric system and values of, say, solar output are quantified in terms of watts per square meter. Every time a square meter comes up, he writes it as 10.8 square feet. Is this because New Scientist is a British magazine? Then why not use BTU per square foot? It is because no one measures it that way. Moreover, a watt is a metric unit, one joule per second. A calorie will raise the temperature of 1 gram of water 1 degree centigrade; a BTU will raise the temperature of 1 pound of water 1 degree Fahrenheit. Thus, watt per square foot is a hybrid unit, like combining Greek and Latin into a phrase -- it just isn't done. His fear of writing the word "meter" in a book for the English-speaking world is misplaced. It makes him look silly and besides makes it more difficult for the reader, with his obscure "watts per 10.8 square feet".

Another lesser problem is the hyperbolic language. I don't need or want to be scared. I am a practicing atmospheric scientist so I actually prefer the kind of understatement I find in the journals. They leave it to the reader to draw their own conclusion, they don't tell you what to think about what you've just read. I am not the typical audience.

Nonetheless I side with Carl Sandburg: we should take it easy on "that old anvil, the people." We The People are tossed this way and that by the experts, all wanting some kind of action on our part. "If you knew what I know, you'd feel like I do," seems to be behind the idea that "the public must be educated on this." For me, our ignorance outweighs our knowledge on this subject by about 10 to 1.

We are just starting to probe the truth. Let's wait until the facts are a little better-established before we go around saying the sky is falling. I'm not talking about where the carbon came from or how to decrease it. I'm talking about the climate. Yes, the carbon is there and, yes, we should reduce it simply for efficiency's sake. Waste is bad, this seems obvious to my engineering brain.

But I can guarantee that climate change will be neither speedy nor violent. Weather can be observed but climate had to be invented, sort of like motherhood and fatherhood. By definition climate is a long-term matter. You can't say it has changed until a long period of time has passed. Currently we use 30-year normals updated every 10 years. This is not speedy. Climate is never violent. Is an average temperature of 75F "violent?" How is an average annual rainfall of 35 inches "violent?" See what I'm saying? Climate is a statistical concept.

Rather, it is the weather that is often speedy and violent. This blending of weather and climate is becoming a real problem. They are not the same! This brings me to my final point. Any meteorologist knows all about models. Our models are vital for our business. Note I said "models" in plural. I consult half a dozen synoptic-scale models, a few regional- or meso-scale models as well as different conceptual models every day. Ordinarily they do not agree. One says the storm will go left, the other right. One calls for intensification, the other weakening. Every model has its weakenesses and biases.

One thing we all learn in this trade is not to "jump on it." If a model has something interesting on Day 6, just note it for now, there is plenty of time to wait and see if it is still there tomorrow for Day 5. When it gets to Day 3 we can start to mention it and adjust our probabilities, slowly at first, just nudge them in the right direction. The climate modelers need to learn this. Every graduate student seemingly has his own model these days and when he tweeks an interesting result, publishes. Soon it is in the news and the public is set up for another whipsaw when it turns out not to be true. This is called "yo-yoing" in our forecasts and we avoid it by being conservative.

A model is just a model. What good does it do to know that temperatures world-wide will increase by 3.5F? This is a meaningless statistic. What is needed is a plausible physical mechanism whereby that statistic is turned into actual weather on the ground. Here is an example: let the air temperature over the Gulf Stream in my front yard increase by 3.5F. Now what? Well, since e-sub-s has increased, relative saturation will decrease and net evaporation from the water surface will increase. This will tend to cool the surface waters to the new wet-bulb temperature, which has increased by maybe half the total amount, say 1.75F. So we have the air 3.5 warmer and the sea surface 1.75 warmer -- the air has warmed more than the sea surface. Therefore static stability in the column has increased over the water and hence we would expect to see less cloudiness at sea by day. At night when the air cools a little, stability will decrease and cloudiness will increase. All this is exactly as observed today. The cloud fraction is small over the sea during the day and is a maximum around surise when we also experience a slight but noticeable peak in our hourly rainfall. So my simple model predicts sunnier days with more sunrise showers, along with a temperature increase that is strongly moderated by the nearby water mass -- not 3.5F but 1.75F. Why does no one talk in this straightforward way? Where is the violence here?

These connections are mostly missing in the climate models. We need to know more before we can say what it means.

Enough! Read more on the topic, educate yourself, decide for yourself what is right and good. Take no one's word. The climate experts are guessing when it comes to the weather.

I bought this book for my son as a birthday present, as he and I both like stories with Native American influences. He has read it many times since receiving it, especially when he wants to feel closer to me or to get through a bad day. This book is a wonderful addition to any young child's collection of stories.

This is a book we give as a gift for new babies and their families. It is a beautiful book with colorful illustrations and meaningful text. It is definitely a "keepsake".

RSW/Mechanicsburg,Pa.

My 1 yr old son enjoys having this read to him; however, my tongue doesn't. I find this book miserable to read. Unlike other books which tend to have more rhyme and rhythm, this one just has waaaaaaay too many adjectives and I find myself stumbling over the long sentences. Sometimes I even leave a few words out!

You may argue that it's the message that really counts (albiet this book tends to be a little mushy about it), but at the end of day, after having had my patience tried more times than I'd like to think, having to plow through this book is the last thing I want to do.

The illustrations are wonderful and my son DOES enjoy the book, and so I give it three stars for that.

This is a lovely gift for a new baby (forget the layette items, people get too many anyway!) - this and On the Night You Were Born are the books I send to all the new people I know. The sentiment in this book is perfect. In the prose-like text of this book, the little one is welcomed by the earth - the pictures are bold and fun to look at. I love it.

This wonderful book has become a personal tradition in my family. I give a copy to the parents for each new baby born. What better way to welcome the newest additions.