Science Nature Books

This book is one of the worst biology books I have ever read. The descriptions are very confusing and the questions at the end of the sections are meaningless. I would not recommend this book for high school biology when there are so many better texts on the market.

I had to use this book for my college I and II classes. I must say the book is very complete. Sometimes written on a high level but then again some topics of biology are hard in general like genetics and animal physiology. For really good test preparation questions, I was recommended to also get:
The Ultimate Study Guide for Biology: Key Review Questions and Answers with Explanations (Volume 1, Volume 2 and Volume 3). These three guides made me life much easier because the questions showed me what to expect on my actual college exams.

the main problem with this book is that you need a huge vocabulary to understand what its talking about. This book is not adapted for high school students. I was astonished how long and pointless the descriptions are. Although the labs are very good, it took my class several readings to understand the material. The main problem with this book is that its not written with kids in mind. I liked the materials at the back of the book (such as, how to use a microscope) as these are very useful, however I am not impressed with the contents of the book itself. It is extremely heavy and bulky and contains much unneded information. Although it has its' pros, there are too many cons.

This book really helped me with AP Bio and i really got into it! It focused on all the important information and gave great examples! its a new edition and is updated. go out and buy this book, if you read it thoroughly it will give you ultimate preparation or a good background in Biology!

Golden Guide Books are classic. This book is fabulous. These little Golden Guide Books are eduational and entertaining. I was so pleased to find this book as I have several in this series. This are well written and can be enjoyed by ages 7 to 70.

Not enough pictures of rocks as you find them. I wanted to see what agates really look like in the wild, so to speak,

Well, I certainly expected a more comprehensive book, sort of an "identifier tool". However it's very interesting, covers a huge subject well. The illustrations look like a 1962 Earth Science text, but other than that I recommend.

This was my first book on identification at the age of 10. These guides were invaluable teaching tools back when there wasn't much else around for the young reader, and this was one of the earlier guides in the set, which eventually grew to dozens of books, some on specialized topics, such as Fungi and Non-Flowering Plants, Pond Life, Fossils, Seashells, Spiders and Their Relatives, The Heart, Light and Color, The Sky Observers Guide, and Landforms, which was essentially the guide on structural geology, so they covered a huge range of subjects.

The guides dispensed a great deal of information in small compass, and they were all 256 pages long, which meant every topic had to fit into the same format. Originated and originally edited by the great Herbert Zim, who wrote about 90 books and edited another 90 or so books, these little books were wonderful little guides at a quite modest price.

This book covers all the main groups of rocks and minerals, with each page being devoted to a particular mineral. The chemical formulas appear next to the main name or heading, which back then, I didn't understand too well, but then I was only about 10. It peaked my curiosity to learn more. There is even a page showing the Bowen reaction series, which shows the thermodynamic relationship between the minerals in a typical silicate melt, which means how the minerals precipitate out and crystallize as the temperature cools. To this day, I still remember that sequence, which went from olivine, augite, hornblende, biotite, orthoclase feldspar, quartz, and zeolite on one side, and went from sodic to calcic feldspar on the other side of the diagram, which looked like sort of a tuning fork. (If only my memory was as good today 45 years later. :-))

There is also information on identification using oxidizing and reducing flame methods, specific gravity, optical methods, and hardness. The Mohs scale gets discussed of course, and some basic petrology, so you at least learn about the basic rock types, but most of the book is really about minerals rather than rocks or petrology per se. If you want to get a real background in rock types and identification, you'll need a more detailed book for that.

The illustrations are drawings and paintings rather than photos, and some people might prefer photos. Many of the other brief guides have photos.

These books were great teaching aids and have helped several generations of young readers increase their understanding and appreciation of nature and natural history. Many of my own natural history studies, such as those for birds, the stars, and rocks and minerals, were started with these unpretentious but still quite good Golden Guides.

I was once in touch with the editor of the series for many years (Alice McGrath), who said that some of my books were out of print and might even be collectors items at some point, so hang on to the hold guides, they might be worth something some day!

Once you get used to the format of the Audubon Field Guides, they are very easy to use. I especially like the thumb tab approach to locating an entry. Like all the Audubon series, this guide is compact, well-written, precise, comprehensive, informative, brilliant color plates, tough outer cover - what's not to like? Highly recommended.

As with all the Audubon Field Guides, so too with this one. The color plates are the best in all the field guides; these photos are indispensible for anyone who needs to ascertain which one of the 314 Western tree species needs to be identified.

The durable leatherette cover, along with the heavy duty (turtleback) book binding make this a book that can easily withstand much wear and tear.

The descriptive information is good; where the text starts to show deficiencies is in the Range, Habitat, and Summary sections on each species. The information tends to be vague and merely glosses over critical facts that should be included. I can only assume it's the usual story of the editors not having the space to include more relevant information.

The index is cross referenced to the color plates - this is a big plus when out in the field attempting to do identifications. As far as a good tool to increase one's knowledge of the natural world, this field guide is helpful and deserves a place in any naturalist's library.

The Cloud Reckoner

Extracts: A Field Guide for Iconoclasts

If your going to be stuffing your field guide into your pocket, glove box, daypack or backpack, the "turtleback" binding used by Audubon is perfect. Personally, I don't use it that way. When I encounter a species I cannot identify, I take notes (usually of the mental variety) -- leaf characteristics, bark characteristics, size, form, habitat, seeds, flowers, etc. -- and identify it when I return home. The photos and drawings in this volume are generally excellent. So far as I can recall, the Audubon guide has yet to fail me. It doesn't include very many introduced (non-native) trees, that's not it's purpose, of course, so it may not help you identify the trees that have been planted in your yard. The Sunset Western Garden Book, or perhaps your local nurseryman, will fit that niche.
Could the book be better? Well, the obvious answer is always yes, I suppose, but I don't know how. Would some kind of a 'flow-chart' for identifying specimens improve this edition? Well, there is one, created quiet simply in the way the book is organized; refer to the "How to Use this Guide" section in the front. I won't claim to be a connoisseur of guidebooks, but this one has worked very nicely for me for several years and I recommend it without hesitation.

I spent $20 on this at a local bookstore (that was a mistake: it is only $14 here on Amazon) and got it home and went into my backyard. An hour later, I was only able to identify one of the three trees in the yard.

I got the book because it had the Audobon name, and it included some sharp color photos. I should have got the Peterson guide instead.

What the Audobon book is missing is an algorithm or process to identify an unknown tree (they call this "differential diagnosis" in medicine). I was expecting something like: "If it has 5 needles per cluster turn to page 45, if it has grey bark turn to page 64, etc" until you pinpoint your tree.

I would even be happy if it had some illustrations like Silbeys bird book ... with arrows pointing to the discriminating features that distinguish the tree from similar trees.

But in the Audobon book, the reader is expected to browse thru dozens of photos and try to match your tree to the photo. But SURPRISE, the photos of similar trees all look alike and what then? You are expected to browse the the dense textual (!) descriptions and flip back and forth reading minutae like "two white strips on the undersides of the needles"

How about some color illustrations? How about a list of similar trees a given tree is often confused with? How about a handful of distinguishing characteristics of each tree?

Try Petersons book instead!

These Audubon books are the best ones for learning about the subject matter, ie: trees. Colored pictures are a MUST and these books have pictures that allow you to identify your tree easily. I have purchased a number of them over the years and will do so in the future.

I'll put it out now - I ranked top 5% for the NJ science league for physics I . I've had many experiences with questions aimed at really testing your knowledge, and some of these questions do that. But some of them do it too much, to an extent where the question covers information NOT even in the information they cover in their chapter review sections. Worse, there are many glaring errors, both in their review, in their tests/questions, and their reasoning for their questions. Their questions, like i said, aim to test you, but often it only comes off as confusingly worded. Sometimes, the answer they find uses numbers different than initially stated (one question used 125m/s, but the answer worked off 100m/s.).

To be honest, the only thing going for this book is its name - barrons, without a doubt, is tough. But too tough, even for the writers of the book. If physics is not a strong subject for you, then find another book. You will most likely find it easier to follow

Repetition is a good tool for teaching kids to remember important lessons. This book does a good job of repeating that hands are not for hitting, and also suggests what hands ARE good for (holding hands to cross the street, etc.). My 4 year old loves this series of books and we refer to the text often in conversation with her to remind her of the important lessons.

We have to read it frequently but it helps my toddler to address her feelings and her frustrations without hitting.

I saw this book recently featured in an article in a print periodical about child development

We've recently had minor problems with our 4-year old son acting out after preschool on days when he had been picked on by other kids. We got the book and used it is a bedtime story. It generated good dialogue (as good as you get with a 4-year old) and it made him think before he acted. It gave him some tools to use with the more physical kids so he resolves the problem in the moment without resorting to aggression. Wthat he doesn't have to resort to acting out to make the behavior stop. I am glad that I purchased this book.

We bought also 'Words Are Not for Hurting' and that one was not as useful for generating dialog.

This book reminds kids of all the fun things they can do with their hands and what is unacceptable behavior. Easy to read with nice illustrations.

This book is nice, but not fantastic.
I think I wanted more creativity in what hands are for...

good book, quick read. explains the problems of peak oil and the implications it has for the future of the energy industry.

This is another superb contribution on Peak Oil that I had the pleasure of reading by Richard Heinberg. By and large and once again, I would also classify this text as a classic. Other reviews do a wonderful job of summarizing the nuts and bolts of this book. I will not belabor such points.

Suffice it to say that this book is a well done addition to The Party's Over. It forces one to consider in even greater detail, the implications of the Peak Oil in the realm of economics, alternatives (and the latest developments), and some suggested courses of action to deal with the coming changes. Much like his previous books, it is indeed well written and oddly enjoyable (again, given the subject matter). I appreciate how he treats the entire political spectrum in the same manner, i.e. Democrats and Republicans alike, in how all have contributed and sustain the current course of events in one way or another. Heinberg shines in this effort.

[...]

Power Down is a powerful analysis of human modern civilization. The key element that boosted technology, medical advancement, world population and globalization is oil. This cheap source of energy is as Richard Heinberg says a "free ride" that will soon come to an end.
Oil have defined the boundaries of modern civilization and its inevitable depletion is gonna change the course of it, and its gonna happen soon.
Power Down, is a scientific and insightful and analysis of energy, it traces the multiple consequences of oil depletion and the possible solutions to an energetic solution for humanity.
However most importantly, this book rather than describing in depth the critical situation we are facing, it raises awareness of the great value energy has and it makes us think more about saving, having a more moderate lifestyle, and living more in harmony with nature and its valuable resources.

As with "The Long Emergency" I won't go into too much detail since there are already many excellent reviews of this book. However, I do feel it is important to add my voice since all the evidence points to the fact that what Heinberg and the other "peak oil" folks are saying is reality...

Heinberg has done a remarkable job of presenting the overall picture of the main issue: our reliance on cheap oil as the basis for civilization and how we are now at the time when cheap oil is about to disappear. He presents the facts in a very quick way since his other book, "The Party's Over" goes into much more detail on the subject.

He then presents the reader with four possible scenarios to deal with the problem. Unfortunately, the first one ("last man standing") is basically a great die-off due to resource wars and appears to be our present choice. The second one, "power down", involves massive global reductions in consumption. It makes the most sense but, of course, is beyond any political level to implement. The next one is some sort of new-age "technology will save us" way to sleepwalk into a die-off. And finally there is the individual and, potentially, community-level life-boat building solution.

To be honest, the prospects even for the last solution are daunting. However, I must say that Heinberg gives all possibilities equal presentation and stays remarkably calm and neutral as he develops all possibilities. The choice is up to the reader...

The writing style is engaging and his sidebar "stories" are excellent. This is a quick and interesting read.

This book is really just a simplistic view of "Limits to Growth" and Jantsch's seminal "The Self-Organizing Universe: Scientific and Human Implications of the Emerging Paradigm of Evolution" where these projections were made a long time ago. Too bad the baby-boomers didn't read and learn back then...

The first 85 pages (of a 186 page book) are dedicated to verbosely enumerating the arguments from his previous book (without effectively arguing his reasoning). He also spends quite a bit of space to describing his opinions of the current U.S. administration. While I might agree with his political opinions, I believe that he undermines the thesis of this book in the minds of a lot more people. It is this reason why I would categorize this book is really nothing more than a "preaching to the choir" book.

The heart of the book is a 28 page chapter named "Powerdown" which provides some suggestions, but is mostly fluff. Probably the most important page in the chapter is the list of books that actually do discuss the powerdown scenario.

The third chapter is about how technology is unlikely to save us from dwindling energy.

The fourth chapter is about how people would react to the coming situation. He spends quite a while rehashing Gibbon's arguments on Rome and Diamond's arguments about ecological collapse. If you've read those two books you'll quickly notice that Heinberg and these two authors are on completely different planes of scholarship.

I was excited that he discussed, however briefly, how we might save information from the coming Dark Ages. Though, it was for only two pages.

Overall I thought that the author's arguments were weak and there really wasn't much that I got out of this book. I hope that other (and future) books in this genre will describe and defend the thesis better, and they should give more suggestions of what to do.

I used this book to teach in a homeschool co-op class and absolutely loved it. The way the material was presented made it interesting and easy to teach. I love the Apologia series of books.

We used this book this past school year and loved it. My children now love to go outside at night to look for bats. They get out their field guides to try to determine what birds are in our backyard. My oldest (8) has actually been documenting the daily activities of a nest that is right outside our window. And you can't forget the insects! My girls love ants now and are more appreciative of bees - instead of screaming in terror when they come by (: The only problem I have now is that I can't squash any insects in the house now. They insist on saving them all! Even the flies with all their millions of germs...Gross! LOL

I've been home schooling for some time now and I have a rigorous academic standard in my school. I have to say, Flying Creatures of the Fifth Day was a great choice for my family. What a pleasurable presentation! The easy to read explanations made it usable for each member of my family (age range 5-12)in such a way that encouraged retention of facts, and also created a desire to learn. My children were ready to read more books from the library, on their own time, because they were intrigued by what they had learned.
The simple experiments were easy to facilitate, and at the same time, hit the point head on, so we really gained an understanding of concepts. The narration and notebook ideas encourage our writing skills. The beautiful photography, coupled with the availability of book extras, was a wonderful addition to our science studies. My children were educated and encouraged to love learning.
I was relieved as it is simple to teach and requires little lesson planning on my part. The online support via book extras and yahoo groups provides a nurturing teaching atmosphere as well.
Finally, having the opportunity to easily connect science with bible, makes this a genuine pleasure for us all. This was a great find. Thank you, Jeannie for your great line of science products.
Tina
Largo, FL

This book should be withdrawn from sale and its use as a so-called "educational" tool should be criminalised.

Repeat after me :-

This is not science.
This is not science.
This is not science.

Science is beautiful and seeks the truth, this book contains ugly lies.

I have to admit, I did not expect to LOVE this book. By the 2nd chapter, I was hooked. The suet recipe is a huge hit with the birds in our neighborhood, and we had a blast making it. Every day we sit at our table and watch the chickadees and nuthatches taking suet to their babies. The birdhouses were a whole family affair, and formed memories for our lifetime.

I chose this book because I have 2 animal lovers and thought this would be a good science book. It is way better than that. My kids love watching the birds and identifying them. The Field Notebooks are filled with pictures, dates, plants and animals all around us, and it was not a chore to get them to do them.

We have completed public school and other homeschool curriculums for science, but this is one the children WANT to do. Not only do they want to do it, they remember what they have learned far longer than the other curriculums. This curriculum uses all of the audio, visual, tactile, oral and manipulates to teach the course.

This book is great to use in a center when teaching a unit on landforms and is also great for those kids who are aching to know more about the science rhelm of volcanoes. It's age appropriate and children at the Step 4 reading level will be challenged enough with it. :)

I think that this is a good book and I know that this is a good book. The part I like about it is when the volcano erupts.The part I don't like about it is when people died.I
would recommend this to a 4th grade reader and I would have preferred for it to have more pages. I give it a 5 stars because it has nice pictures and I learned new information about volcanoes.

I decide to buy this book because I was looking for science books and books that could help my daughter learn about the human body. The book is absolutely great with the exception of one of the pages of the book. Sadly, there is one page in which the books say something about Halloween. In my case I don't celebrate Halloween and I always avoid anything that has to do with it. Unfortunately there is not way to know about the content of the book until you get it. I bought the book because I had not idea that there was something about Halloween in it and I want to alert other people so they don't make the same mistake I did.

This book is a great introduction to simple human anatomy that will be easily understood and enjoyed by preschool and primary school age children. Includes helpful, cartoon-like illustrations. It is full of information and also fun to read.