Science Nature Books

The Laws Field Guide to the Sierra Nevada (California Academy of Sciences) (California Academy of Sciences) (California Academy of Sciences)
This is an excellent field guide packed with accurate, hand drawn colored illustrations of everything you can imagine, from mushrooms to insects to reptiles.

This is an incredible book on the Sierra Nevada, written and illustrated entirely by Jack Laws, a fantastic naturalist.

We purchased this field guide to take on dayhikes and camping trips in the Sierra's with our 5 yr old daughter. We have thoroughly enjoyed it! It is very easy to use. I looked at many field guides and this one is by far the easiest to use. Small children can become bored easily on a hike. The field guide has made hiking more interesting for our 5 yr old. She finds it great fun to identify new flowers,plants,birds,ect. It delays the inevitable, "Are we there yet?" !

The detail drawing make it easy to identify the plants and wild life.
A great way to learn.

I have at least 10 books specifically on Sierra wildflowers and several field guides. This is the best all-in-one book. It's not too heavy for me to carry on a day hike.

Janice
in the Sierra

There is nothing I can say that would do any justice as to how great this book is. It was everything you could possibly hope for in an ethnographic text. You learn a lot about a culture very different from ours and it is truly just fascinating!

What do people make of places? Basso's opening sentence is a good example of what the Apache call `letting one's mind have room'. As we read through the chapters of the book Basso continues to add layers to the meaning of this opening question. It allows us to reflect on various uses of the word `make'. We make sense of places by interpreting them. We make places intelligible by foregrounding them. We make use of places; as sign posts or land-marks through the use of descriptive naming. We make places or constitute them as sites or repositories of learning; we invest them as placeholders for morality tales or homilies. We make places vital; we invest them with agency, we enchant them, animate them, in the spirit of golems; we take a piece of earth and through magic or metaphysics we bring it alive, giving it a mission and a life of its own.

Wisdom sits in places. The Apache are a good example of virtue ethics. This is a theory of ethics, usually based on Aristotle's Nicomachean Ethics, which argues against an ethical universalism and in favor of a particularism. It foregoes the quest for nomothetic foundations and looks instead to the development of certain skills or character traits. Aristotle created a catalogue of areas of behavior or traits with a continuum of possible dispositions. The virtuous behavior was the means between the two extremes of each continuum. Thus the virtue of bravery was somewhere in the range between cowardice and foolhardiness or irrational voluntarism in the face of impossible odds or a meaningless risk.
Aristotle's concept of phronesis finds an interesting parallel in the Apache moral imagination. Phronesis is a meta-virtue; it is the ability to choose the right action for each particular event; the ability to find the virtuous means between vicious poles. It is the essential skill for particularism which is the theory that the right action, the correct moral choice is particular to each unique event. It is opposed to the universalist proposition that there are sets of moral propositions or codes that we can apply in a covering law model. Universalism holds that when two of our moral codes clash we resolve the dilemma by applying a meta-rule, most commonly a deontological (Kantian) or utilitarian proposition.
The Apache's sense of wisdom is a good example of a pragmatic ethics informed by a set of virtues that are learned and continually developed throughout their life's journey. In the first chapter we note how each speaker brings the homily (the moral lesson associated with a place name) forward, making it their own, fleshing it out. One imagines that each speaker and hearer of place names is expected to silently immerse themselves in each homily; making it real by seeing it happen. The act of giving vision to the oral narrative is a process of developing layers upon layers of particular exemplars of the lesson. It is thus internalized and carried forward for the next use. As one gains wisdom one becomes more proficient at seeing when and where to apply these lessons.
This is similar to the thought of the American pragmatist and logician, C. S. Peirce, who proposed a fallibilism about knowledge, truth, and scientific results. He felt that we were always discovering more and that a full statement of any putative universal law was always deferred. Peirce's original pragmatism differed from what James and Dewey later made of it. For Peirce we expanded our sense of a truth through a process of discovering layers upon layers of particular applications and gradually gaining more of an understanding of the wider truth. But his sense of fallibilism posited rich moral concepts such as justice or duty as essentially contested concepts.

We have maps in our heads. There are other interesting parallels with the ancient Greeks besides virtue ethics. There is a significant body of study regarding Plato's thought on the spoken and written word. Plato argued that reality resides in absolute and eternal forms. Thus the impressions available to our senses are imitations that is but a shadow of these eternal truths; they confuse us and should not be trusted. Worse still are the imitations of imitations; thus his polemics against poetry, art, and the written word. It would be interesting to combine this with the study of texts in the 20th century to look at the Apache's preference for maps in the head. Barthes, Derrida and others all expanded our notion of what can serve as texts and it might be interesting to look at Apache use of places through some of those lenses.
In addition there are interesting parallels with the sophists. Although Plato and Socrates succeeded in creating our contemporary disdain for sophism, recent work in the study of Isocrates and others brings a new appreciation of certain tenets of sophism. The sophists exhibited some similarities to the Apache notions of epistemology. They both saw the elders and ancestors as the source of wisdom and warrants for knowledge to be used for current problems. They both argued that the knowledge of the past resided less in universal laws than in practices of the ancestors; actual responses to past dilemmas that are best accessed through interpretation rather than a rote use of the covering law model or a slavish rehearsal of rigid and dogmatic rituals.
They both thought that knowledge (as justified true belief) was discovered and ultimately ratified and warranted by the voice of the majority; the interpretation that found the most general favor. The sophists proposed that vigorous debate in an open forum of citizens is the most epistemologically sound form of inquiry. Their best speakers would take both sides on various propositions of what the ancestors would have done in the current crisis. The goal was to make the best possible argument for all options and let the citizenry decide.
Both the ancient Greeks and the Apache continued to observe religious rituals but it would also be interesting to compare characteristics of their religious cosmology, the role of the gods, and their associations with natural entities and nature in general.

This book was mediocre at best. Although Keith Basso did provide some insight into why the Apache people cherish their land, I felt that Basso kept on saying the exact same thing in every sentence. I had the point of the entire book by the time I was ten pages into it, and it kept on going, therefore making me lose my concentration on what I was reading.

Anthropologists, language students, and Native American culture afficionados will find this book, and any by Keith Basso, written links into a cultural past which struggles to exist today. As the Western Apache tribes become more modern, the information found in this and other Keith Basso writings, become necessities in the preservation of traditional Apache culture; with the exception of the knowledge of a few hundred very traditional Apaches still living in Arizona.

What do people make of places? This is the central question examined by Keith Basso in his ethno-linguistic study of the relationship between language and landscape among the Apaches of Cibecue, on the Fort Apache Reservation in central Arizona. Basso, a professor of Anthropology at the University of New Mexico, has spent over 30 years conducting field work among the Western Apaches. His publications concerning this group include articles on language, patterns of silence in social interaction, witchcraft beliefs, and ceremonial symbolism, among others. The idea for Wisdom Sits in Places stemmed from a study conducted between 1979 and 1984, in which Basso, with the help of a grant from the National Science Foundation and the guidance of the Apaches, conducted a study of Apache places and place-names; how the Apache refer to their land, the stories behind the place-names, and how these place-names are used in daily conversation by Apache men and women. The result is a stunningly informative account of the use of landscape and language in the social interactions of the Western Apaches.
Basso divides his book into four sections: Quoting the Ancestors, Stalking with Stories, Speaking with Names, and Wisdom Sits in Places. Each chapter's focus is to examine how landscape and language serve distinct purposes in Western Apache society. Basso incorporates the oral history of, and discussions with, local Apaches, as well as his formal training as an ethnographer-linguist, to explain the underlying themes of this book.
First, Basso introduces the reader to the idea of place-names and in the Western Apache construction of history. As conceived by the Apaches, the past is a "well-worn `path' or `trail' which was traveled first by the people's founding ancestors and which subsequent generations of Apaches have traveled ever since" (31). The ancestors gave names to places, based on events that occurred there. Regardless of the physical changes in the landscape that occurred over time, the story of what took place, as well as the place-name, was passed down through generations and serves as a connection between the people and their ancestors.
Second, Basso examines how the language and the land are "manipulated by Apaches to promote compliance with standards for acceptable social behavior and the moral values which support them" (41). The historical tales of place-names are without exception morality tales, intended to influence patterns of social action. Their purpose is to serve as warnings, criticisms, and enlightenment for those who are behaving improperly; not in accordance with the Apache way of life. The telling of a historical tale is "intended as a critical and remedial response" to an individual's having committed one or more social offenses. Apaches contend that if the message is taken to heart, a lasting bond will have been created between that individual and the site at which the events in the tale took place. In short, the land, accompanied with its historical tale, "makes the people live right" (61).
Third, through the act of "speaking with names", place-names can be condensed "into compact form their essential moral truths" (101). "Speaking with names" is considered appropriate only under certain circumstances, generally to enable those who engage in it "to acknowledge a regrettable circumstance without explicitly judging it, to exhibit solicitude without openly proclaiming it, and to offer advice without appearing to do so" (91). Evoking images of a particular place and narrative thus replaces a more direct form of advice or criticism, with "a minimum of linguistic means" (103).
Finally, with the guidance of his Apache friend, Dudley Patterson, Basso examines the path of wisdom in Western Apache society. Patterson explains there are two mental conditions, "steadiness of mind", and "resilience of mind", which lead to a third and most desirable condition, smoothness of mind. These three conditions are not innate; therefore, one must work on one's mind in order to gain wisdom. To work on one's mind, "one must observe different places, learn their Apache place-names, and reflect on traditional narratives that underscore the virtues of wisdom" (134). A resilient mind, according to Patterson, does not "give in to panic or fall prey to spasms of anxiety or succumb to spells of crippling worry" (132). A steady mind is "unhampered by feelings of arrogance or pride, anger or vindictiveness, jealously or lust" (133). Steadiness and resilience give way to a sense of "cleared space" or "area free of obstruction", conditions necessary for smoothness of mind. Only those who continue on the trail of wisdom their whole lives come closest to having a smooth mind, and are "able to foresee disaster, fend off misfortune, and avoid explosive conflicts with other persons" (131). Thus, wisdom is intertwined with the idea of survival through the consistent and thoughtful evocation of landscape and language.
Keith Basso and the Western Apaches of Cibecue have provided readers with an insightful and provocative account of the connection between language, land, and a people's cultural history. Wisdom Sits in Places opens the door for future research on place-names by shedding light on a previously overshadowed topic in anthropological studies. Basso's dissection of certain stories and social interactions can be overwhelming and a bit dry, but his purpose is made clear when his examinations are added together with the Apache narratives. What results is a clear picture of what language and landscape mean to the Western Apaches, the functional versatility of place-names, and the importance of being aware of one's sense of place.

Why would I want to go through the building of all these great weapons just to catapult some water balloons? PLEEAAAASE!!! Do you think Rome got to be Rome by doing just that? We can do better!

I always wanted to free the Genghis Khan inside me. And when I heard about this precious book containing everything you want to know about catapults, ballistas, trebuchets and onagers I knew I had to have it.

The construction of the catapult was pretty easy. It took me less than a week to build one (and if you think that a decent siege lasts for months, it is time well spent). Of course I did not lift a finger. My own troops did it. And the baby was gorgeous.

First we tried to catapult some dead goats but they did not go far. Then we tried several two ton rocks and the result was still disappointing. Finally I discovered what was wrong. You should never build the catapult in an apartment. Go outdoors. Get a house with a yard.

With that problem solved, let me tell you it was a sheer joy to use this magnificent weapon.

No need to say that after just a few tests involving some spies we caught recently, I was pretty confident to start invading my neighborhood. Although the book does not mention it, it is customary in these occasions to let "whoever you are about to destroy" have the opportunity to surrender peacefully and avoid one or two of the usual barbaric, shall I say... bureaucracies.

But don't let that hold you down. Just because you promise, it does not say you have to keep it. No dead will ever complain, right?

Right! So... so far, I destroyed several houses, killed most of my enemies and I haven't yet finished counting all the gold I pilled. My army already killed and raped (not in that order) nearly anything that moved and we're having a great time.

The onager, by the way, is a little difficult to "drive", specially if its contents are in flames. But after some practice any maniac can do it.

The trebuchet, sometimes, can be a nightmare to build and test. But, hey, that fortress isn't going anywhere, right (at least not in one piece). So why not give it a try, eh?

This book is recommended!

I'm now waiting for the second volume of this delightful collection "The Art of Nuclear Weapons: Build American B61 and B83, Russian RDS-7 and a British Violet Club".

This is a good book for people interested in learning about early ballistics, and for those who want to help them learn. While I was thinking about my son when I bought this, I have to admit that I've had a lot of fun with it so far.

My grandson & I will give this a full test this summer. He'll be thrilled to make things that work.

This book is not for engineers, but it does provide a good bit of history which was enjoyable. The drawings and instructions are average and are made for the average person. I did not buy this book with the intention of making any of the devices described within, but did buy it with the intention of knowing how exactly they all work. In that respect, this book was great!

The cover is a bit misleading and seems a bit skimpy but the book is well written and has lots of information, images, drawings, and projects. Just has some good basic information on the art of siege engines with a timeline and history of siege engines.
Just a nice blend of history, engineering, and actual projects. It's a nice way for kids to learn about catapults. The point is to not just read but to also do.

Expertly written and Adams interjects not a little humor into an otherwise depressing topic. I wouldn't mind a slightly longer treatment of some of the animals seen, and an afterword detailing the sad demise of a couple of them would be welcome.

What a fun, informative, important book. I put it on my summer reading list for my students!

I like everything Adams ever put out, but I consider this one his best. It may not be as appealing to those who are mainly interested in the science fiction aspects of his other work, but the quality of writing and the subject material here are top notch. This book is simultaneously heartbreaking and hilarious, and is one of my all-time favorites. As a popular science book, it is simply without equal, and I really wish he could have lived longer to write more like it.

It is sad that such books are needed, but there's some hope in the book that we can still overcome the extiction of at least some species that we are responsible for pushing to the brink of extinction.
And off course Adams provide some good humorous bits ;)

This book is extremely hard to find outside of Amazon which is a real shame because this is definitely one of Adams' greatest, one that is not only absolutely hilarious but that reveals his own amazing character and interests in a profound way.

If you are an Adams fan at all or just liked the Hitchhiker Guide you really need this book, I'm thinking about becoming a zoologist after reading this but I expect they are not as funny.

I got this product for a college course in astronomy and it's exactly what the professor asked for...works great for the class!

Compact and user friendly. Ideal for the whole family as we all enjoy it.

I was disappointed that the planets were'nt identified and the print is too small for my old eyes. All in all, it wasn't a good purchase for me.

I look at this, then look at the sky... can identify all I'm looking for.
The only thing it doesn't show is the planets. Thus 4 stars.

This is a very useful device for anyone interested in viewing the constellations. It is easy to use and much more versatile than star charts printed in magazines or newspapers since it can be used at any time of year. The star field rotates to match the sky at any time and date. Also like the rugged plastic construction, so that it is very sturdy. Only wish that Amazon stocked the 30-40 degree latitude version since this one is slightly too far north for my needs. Good price. Good value.

Ce nouveau guide des oiseaux du Pérou écrase largement l'ancien qui sur le terrain ne permettait pas de reconnaître grand chose !
La qualité des dessins d'identification en particulier sur des genres difficiles comme les Grimpars ou les Tyrannidés associée au fait que mâles et femelle sont systématiquement dessinés, avec même parfois des dessins d'oiseaux en vol, en font le meilleur guide en Amérique du sud.
Seul bémol, les textes sont trop pauvres, on est loin de la richesse des textes écris par Hilty dans "Birds of Venezuela".

Cordialement

Muy buen libro, 100% recomendable.
Esta guia contiene imagenes de muy buena calidad, a color
y con mapas bien detallados de la distribucion de todas
las especies que habitan Peru.
Cada especie incluye una detallada descripcion para su identificacion, sus voces, dimensiones, nombres, abudancias, distribucion en paises vecinos, etc. Mas de 650 paginas de un trabajo excelente!!!
Un libro basico para los observadores de aves de sudamerica.

not used it in the field yet, but all info looks great..detailed maps and cool (odd and kind of ugly for me) illustrations.. some huge so page space is not well used... anyways, a jewel expetected for so much time is now in our hands.... hardcover what makes it unconfirtable for the field..

I would not suggest this book to someone birding in Peru for the first time - it is missing several known species appearing in other volumes (ones that I have seen myself). Most notable, off the top of my head, is the Andean Duck. A more experienced birder who is more familiar with Peru will appreciate this guide, though.

After some three decades of work, Birds of Peru was finally published last year. This is the field guide that was first conceived by ornithologists John O'Neill, Ted Parker and Larry McQueen during the LSU Peru trips of the 1970s. Residing off reliable mail routes, I only just got my hands on a copy earlier this year. I had used photographs of the draft plates of this guide for fieldwork in Peru in the 1980s and on later trips had carried a pre-publication draft, and later a commercial copy of Clements' rather unsatisfactory Field Guide to the Birds of Peru. In short, I had been eagerly awaiting the finished product for 20 years, so I was very excited to get it. Suffice to say, given the original authors, and several others that subsequently joined the team, this guide was well worth the wait.

The first innovation is that plates, maps and text for each species are found together on a single spread, eliminating the need to flip from one section of the book to another. With 1,800 species to choose from, this is a distinct help! Secondly, this guide has over 300 plates - 304 to be precise. That in itself is quite an achievement - compare 96 for Birds of Ecuador, 69 for Colombia or 67 for Venezuela. Sure enough, there are more illustrations per plate in those guides, but we are still dealing with a highly visual field guide. Boreal migrants are properly illustrated, reducing the need to carry an extra field guide to North American birds.

The plates are by a number of artists. For me, Larry McQueen's are breathtaking. Perhaps that's a question of personal taste. His large, chunky watercolours capture the essence of the bird in similar way to another favourite artist of mine, Lars Jonsson. McQueen covers some key Neotropical groups including Woodcreepers, Furnariids, Antbirds and Tyrannids, which gives these groups a stamp of authenticity. Whether this approach works in the field is something I will have to test, but I can say that they look beautiful and faithful on the page. Although the plates are never less than good, another major Neotropical family, Hummingbirds, is - to my eye - the weakest of all the plates.

The text is concise and oriented towards field identification, with minimal or no natural history data - information which adds crucial extra weight. An indication of abundance, geographical and altitudinal range and migratory status is given in the first sentence. Identification features follow. The voice descriptions are, to my ear, accurate and pleasing.

Lastly, the book is sturdily bound so it won't immediately fall a part in the field. Compared to a north temperate field guide, Birds of Peru is heavy - but then it covers three times as many species. It might have been possible to lose a little weight by eliminating some of the white space on the plates, but this is a minor observation. At the end of the day, one of the world's major avifaunas now has an excellent field guide. Essential!

Chris Sharpe, 18 June 2008. ISBN: 0691049157

Teachers should be advised to identify to students the possibility of environmental hyperbole in Chapter 7, "Saving the Rain Forests". Absence of scientific attribution to deforestation rates make it difficult to know whether the authors are using reliable scientific sources for their data or simply repeating hyperbole found in radical environmental materials. Scientific documentation used by Dr. Bjorn Lomborg in "The Skeptical Environmentalist" appears to be contrary to the deforestation issue information as portrayed by Will Osborne and Mary Pope Osborne. I cannot recommend the use of Chapter 7 in this book in elementary school classrooms.

Our girls read this after a trip to the Amazon, and found lots that they recognized & enjoyed. The standard of information is rather higher than that in the Magic Tree house books, which is reasonable, given that they don't have to worry about plot & characters as well!

If your child enjoys Magic Tree house, and would like to know more about the Amazon this is fine, but I would also recommend One Small Square: Tropical Rainforests (by Donald Silver). We took this with us to the rainforest (see review) and found it to be excellent.

The Pumpkin Book by Gail Gibbons is an entertaining and informative book for elementary age children. This book is most appropriate for kindergarten through third grade students. The pictures are large and colorful. The text is limited mostly to the bottom of the page. Elementary students will need some vocabulary defined for them - examples: sprout, minerals, stamen, pollen, stigma, nectar, pollination, and harvest. A worthy addition to any parent or teachers' October activities.

The Pumpkin Book will be a sure hit with teachers doing theme planning around October events. Ms. Gibbon blends factual information with enough interesting tidbits to keep the attention of even squirmy 2nd graders. Excellent color illustrations, and recommended for K through 3rd grades, as well as for the teachers.

The Pumpkin Book will be a sure hit with teachers doing theme planning around October events. Ms. Gibbon blends factual information with enough interesting tidbits to keep the attention of even squirmy 2nd graders. Excellent color illustrations, and recommended for K through 3rd grades, as well as for the teachers.

What a great book! I am a 4-H Poultry advisor and am often looking for information regarding breeds, patterns, standards, etc. This book was not only gorgeous to look at, it is filled with wonderful information. I just love it.

This is such a great book, I was surprised at how beautiful and bright the pictures were! There are many many breeds in here as well as quite a few ducks/gees & turkeys. I wish there were a few more pages of pheasant (there is only 1) but that's not why I bought the book anyway :) If I had one complaint it's that I wish they had out a photo of the eggs laid by each breed along with thier pictures, then it would be perfect!

I am writing a fiction book about chickens. After reviewing several reference books from the library, this one stands alone as the MUST HAVE. I'm ordering a copy for myself for more research to finish the manuscript and for the sheer pleasure of reading about these fascinating species.

Overall just an okay book; more informative books are available about poultry breeds & avian species; nice photographs, however, this book would have been much better & more handy if it were published as a small 6" x 8" size field-guide; having made this such a big & bulky book was unnessary & a distractor for practical use of this publication!

Excellent breed descriptions with mutiple pictures of most to show color variations. Tells you who's on the endangered list and how many eggs to expect over a year. Which are the best broodys and which won't sit at all. Wish I'd had this before I began my backyard flock.