The Voyage of the Beagle: Charles Darwin's Journal of Researches (Penguin Classics)

Customer Reviews:

One of the best travel books written by one of the best scientists.......2007-10-04

Forget the image of Darwin as an old white-beard scholar. In The Voyage of The Beagle, written in 1839, we have the discoverer of the theory of evolution as an energetic young man in his early twenties travelling aroung the world in a three-mast ship. After a brief stop in Cape Verde, he travels to then slaveholding Brazil (where he visits for the first time a tropical jungle), to the Plata region (he visits both Buenos Aires and Montevideo and travels on horseback on the surroundings), to the Patagonia (where he meets strongman Juan Manuel de Rosas as he launches a campaign against the pampa Indians), the Falkland Islands, Southern Patagonia, Tierra del Fuego (where they bring back three Fuegians previously kidnapped by an earlier expedition), Chile from south to north, the Galapagos Islands (whose findings would be crucial for the theory of evolution), Polynesia, New Zealand, Australia, South Africa. As he travels, he writes about both the natural history of the places as well as the people he meets. He does a lot of fearless things, travelling on horseback around the Pampas then under the dominion of hostile indians, crossing the Andes from Chile to Argentina through some of the world's highest mountains outside the Himalayas, witnessing the life of the now extinguished Fuegians (considered to be among the most primitive societies in the world), crossing the dense, cold forests of the island of Chiloe, witnessing the aboriginal australians as they cope with the massive arrival of white people to their land, seeing the gravestone of Napoleon Bonaparte in the island of Saint Helena. Darwin was no racist and he forcefully denounces the slavery he witnesses in Brazil (in this respect, he was much more thoughtful and liberal than some of his later disciples). In short, one of the greatest travel/adventure books by one of the greatest scientists of all time.

Must-Read Combo of Science, Adventure, and Literary Flair.......2007-06-07

Darwin's autobiography gives us some idea of his zeal for the study of the natural world (remember the bug-in-mouth incident?) and The Origin of Species provides us with more than enough evidence of Darwin's incredible capacity for logically combining empircal evidence in support of his theory, but is his autobiographical Voyage of the Beagle that gives us the best look at Darwin's habits as a naturalist and that provides us with a deeper understanding of his unmatched skills of observation and analysis.
While the voyage is most famous for being the time when Darwin visited the Galapagos, it is striking that he actually spends very little time discussing this segment of his journey. Much of his time is instead spent on the portion of his trip that was spent in Argentina, and it is his observations of the wildlife, the landscape, and the locals here that make for the most enjoyable reading.
The Voyage works because of its successful combination of science, adventure, and literary flair (he often gets rather poetic) that Darwin was superbly capable of. While certainly long (and possibly even too long for some readers), The Voyage is a must-read for any self-respecting Darwinophile.

Another Handy Penguin Edition of Darwin.......2007-05-17

Much as is the case with the Penguin edition of Darwin's "On the Origin of Species," this relatively inexpensive edition is packed with helpful features that add to the reader's understanding of what Darwin was about on his prolonged scientific voyage. First among these features is an excellent introduction by Janet Browne and Michael Neve, both of that wonderful Wellcome Institute in London. Dr. Browne is the author of what many consider to be the finest biography of Darwin ever written; Dr. Neve also has contributed to the Darwin literature. Although 26 pages in length, a bit shorter than that in the "Origin" edition by J.W. Burrow, this introduction nicely puts the "Journal of Researches" into context, while pointing out several areas that are of special interest to the reader. While the text is abridged about 1/3 in length, a Note carefully explains how and why the deletions were made. For example, nothing relating to the Galapagos has been cut. The editors have added a brief guide to the individuals and books mentioned in the text which is quite helpful. Also added as appendices are the Admiralty Instructions for the Beagle voyage and an essay by Captain Robert FitzRoy on "Remarks with reference to the Deluge," reflecting his reversion to traditional Christian thinking during the voyage. Several very helpful maps and a chronology are also included, which come in quite handy. Obviously, it is of immeasurable value to read the "Journal of Researches" in conjunction wit the "Origin." One comes away truly amazed at the dedication and professionalism of Darwin (who was only 22 when he commenced his five year excursion) as he collects his speciments and charts various geological dimensions. So, this book is to my way of thinking indispensable for getting a grasp on Darwin, and this skillfully edited edition makes the experience a most pleasing one.

For the Serious Darwin Fan Only.......2007-05-14

Darwin's Voyage of the Beagle is an interesting, but often tedious detail of his journey around the world. With this in mind, I would have to recommend this book to the Darwin enthusiast and to those who are just looking for a deeper grasp of Darwin, the man. It's not for anyone looking for a quick, easy, or particularly exciting or sensationalist read. If that's what you're looking for, I recommend Cyril Aydon's biography.

With this disclaimer, the book really does offer insight into Darwin and why this journey would be such a critical point in his life. Darwin is incredibly observant, and details flora and fauna throughout with sometimes discouraging detail. But this fact just gives us a clue as to what made this man different from all the other preeminent scientists of the day. Why did Darwin fully get evolution while the others didn't? Certainly this incredible power to really see things provided him with evidence that others might have missed.

My favorite parts would have to be Darwin's description of his time in the inside of South America and his interactions with the people living there. His reactions were varied. He often voices disgust at the barbarism of the settlers towards the Indians in the wars that occur there, while simultaneously describing the Indians as savages with terrible habits. Overall, however, he seems impressed with South America from the classical liberal point of view, saying "It is impossible to doubt that the extreme liberalism of these countries, must ultimately lead to good results." It would be interesting to see what Darwin would think of South America today. Throughout the book he adamately denounces the slavery sees with a keen insight, saying of an escaped slave woman who killed herself rather than be reenslaved, "In a Roman matron this would have been called the noble love of freedom: in a poor negress it is mere brutal obstinancy." Darwin was ahead of his time in this respect.

The part of the book covering his time in the Galapagos is surprisingly short, at least in respect to the emphasis Darwin later put on his time in the islands. It's also interesting to consider Darwin's reaction to them (he thought they were ugly and barren) when considering the impact the diversity of species on the islands played in his evidence for evolution.

All in all, the book has really good, insightful things to pick up, but other parts, such as Darwin's lengthy description of the masses of tiny floating sea creatures, I could have done without. Pick it up if you are really looking to put together a really complete picture of Darwin's life, with tedious details included.

Did I Just Return from South America? No Wait, I Read Darwin.......2007-05-10

The striking characteristic of Darwin's "Voyage of the Beagle" is its completeness. Not only is Darwin infinitely observant and insightful in all of his descriptions, he takes interest in everything! He continues for pages about worms (Planaria) and fireflies (Lampyris occidentalis) in Rio de Janeiro, gauchos and the pampas in Argentina, and of course the famous giant tortoises (Testudo Indicus) in the Galapagos-- just for a few examples. The scope of his observations is stunning; he is equally comfortable discussing algae or societal conventions, such as slavery. However, the depth is equally impressive; the amount of information provided on, for instance, ostrich breeding patterns, makes one wonder how Darwin possibly absorbed so much information on such a relatively short trip-- five years is not so long when you're trying to catalog every single animal, plant, and person around you! The extraordinary detail combined with the range of subject matter creates such a vivid image that the journal reads more like an travel book than anything else; I definitely recommend it for an engaging and both naturally and historically informative read.

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BEST EDITION AVAILABLE, BY FAR
A Cape Cod Walk with Thoreau
Great Humor
Leave your brain at the door.
Cape Cod is the ultimate desert island beach book.

Cape Cod (Nature Library, Penguin)
Henry David Thoreau
Manufacturer: Penguin (Non-Classics)
ProductGroup: Book
Binding: Paperback

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ASIN: 0140170022

Book Description

Thoreau's compelling account of Cape Cod is here presented in the complete and definitive text. His trips to the Cape, he wrote, were intended to afford "a better view than I had yet had of the ocean." In the plants, animals, topography, weather, people, and human works of Massachusetts' long projection into the Atlantic, he finds "another world." Encounters with the ocean dominate the book, from the fatal shipwreck of the opening episode to the late reflections on the Pilgrims' Cape Cod landing and reconnaissance. Along the way, Thoreau relates the experiences of fishermen and oystermen, farmers and salvagers, lighthouse-keepers and ship-captains, as well as his own intense confrontations with the sea as he travels the land's outermost margins. Chronicles of exploration, settlement, and survival on the Cape lead Thoreau to reconceive the history of New England and to recognize the parochialism of history itself.

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Our way to the high sand-bank, which I have described as extending all along the coast, led, as usual, through patches of Bayberry bushes, which straggled into the sand. This, next to the Shrub-oak, was perhaps the most common shrub thereabouts. I was much attracted by its odoriferous leaves and small gray berries which are clustered about the short twigs, just below the last year's growth. I know of but two bushes in Concord, and they, being staminate plants, do not bear fruit.

Customer Reviews:

BEST EDITION AVAILABLE, BY FAR.......2007-06-13

This hardcover edition from Peninsula Press is unquestionably the best available edition of Thoreau's Cape Cod, for these reasons:

1) While all other editions are based on Thoreau's journal entries from only his first three visits to the Cape, this edition includes an epilogue compiling Thoreau's notes from his fourth and final visit, in which he traveled south to Chatham and Monomoy.

2) This is the only edition to translate the many, many Greek and Latin phrases Thoreau includes throughout the work, and it is also the only edition to provide illustrations, maps, and sidenotes in-text.

3) This is the only indexed edition ever created.

HIGHLY RECOMMENDED for fans of both Cape literature and Thoreau in general.

A Cape Cod Walk with Thoreau.......2006-08-05

Thoreau visited Cape Cod in 1849, 1850, and 1853. These trips formed the basis for a series of essays, several of which Thoreau published in magazines. After Thoreau's death, the essays were gathered together and published as "Cape Cod" in 1865.

Thoreau's "Cape Cod" is different in tone in theme from his earlier books. The tone is leisurely and light. Instead of solitude or the wild woods, the picture that remains with me from this book is that of a long walk, or, as Thoreau puts it, a "ramble" through the sand and dunes of Cape Cod. The book is picturesque, full of humor and wry observation. Thoreau unforgettably describes the ocean, in its storms, vicissitudes, and moments of peace, the fish and the fishermen, the sands, birds, plants and lighthouses of Cape Cod, and the people. I have visited portions of the Masachusetts coast, but I have never been to Cape Cod. Thoreau took me there in his book.

The book is arranged into ten chapters. It opens with a description of the shipwreck of the St John on a rock off the Cape. Thoreau then describes a ride by coach across the Cape. But the heart of the book lies in the following chapters in which Thoreau with a companion walks the 30 mile beach from Nauset Harbor to Provincetown with many stops and diversions along the way. I felt the salt air and saw the fishermen and the sandy beach as I walked with Thoreau.

The most vivid characterization in the book is in the chapter "The Wellfleet Oysterman", as Thoreau describes a grizzled, taciturn, and ancient native of Cape Cod and his family who offer him hospitality for the night. Another memorable chapter involves the description of the Highland Lighthouse, no longer standing, and its keeper. The stops with the Oysterman and the Lighthouse punctuate Thoreau's long walks through the day over the beach and his meditiations about and descriptions of what he finds there.

Thoreaus walk ended at Provincetown, on the northernmost portion of Cape Cod, with its wood walkway, shanty houses, and ever-present scenes of fishermen, boats, and drying fish. Thoreau offers what I found an affectionate portrait of these hardy fishermen and their families. Following a description of what he found at Provincetown, Thoreau offers a great deal of historical background on the exploration of the Cape, from the Pilgrims reaching back to earlier French, Icelandic, and English explorers.

Thoreau's "Cape Cod" is a worthy companion to his books describing his experiences inland, on Walden Pond and on the rivers and woods of New England and Maine. It is beautifuly written with unforgettable descriptive passages. It made me want to get up and go from my life in the city, and over 150 years after Thoreau wrote, wander and walk for myself along the dunes and sands of Cape Cod.

Great Humor.......2006-07-18

This book details the flora, fauna and people that Thoreau found in Cape Cod in the 1850s. Thoreau organizes the book around a single trip to Provincetown, although much of the material that he uses in the book came from various visits to the Cape, and to the ocean in general. He starts with a description of a shipwreck at Cohasset, then a stagecoach ride from Plymouth, then a walking trip with a companion along the outer shore to Provincetown. Along the way, he describes not only the plants and animals he encountered, but also the people who he met. The book finishes with a lengthy academic historical account of the discovery and mapping of the Cape.

I found this to be the most humorous of all Thoreau's work. The character sketches he provides in this book, sharpened with his trained eye for observation of natural phenomena, are legendary. The cultural description of the Cape and its environment is quite fascinating for those interested in the history of daily life in 19th century Massachusetts. As Thoreau describes the desolate, treeless desert that made up the far reaches of the Cape, one begins to comprehend what it meant for an economy to be based on wood and whale oil for fuels. Thoreau stresses how valued driftwood was for residents of the Cape, as one of their main sources of heating and cooking fuel. Doubtless, he would not recognize the Cape today with its lush new forests. Or its Wal-Marts--switching to an oil economy has brought mixed blessings for the Cape. For those who think Thoreau to be a humorless didactic philosopher, this book shows a very different aspect of Thoreau as a writer.

Leave your brain at the door........1999-06-24

You will forget about the outside world when you read this; nothing but sand, wind, and water. Plus some natural history, local folklore, a few shipwreck tales. Typical Thoreau; he finds beauty, interest, detail in the wilderness. The desolate landscape will help to clear your mind. Highly recommended.

Cape Cod is the ultimate desert island beach book........1997-01-31

Each year, in preparation for a week's retreat to the Outer Banks of North Carolina, I go in search of a book that would be perfect for a sojourn on a desert island. Of course, the Outer Banks are hardly deserted--the locals have printed up Wege's infamous photograph of a packed stretch of Coney Island with the caption "Nags Head, circa 2000 A.D."--but there we are on an island for seven days, my husband experiencing near death in the waves while I read. Sometimes we stop these pursuits and prowl the beach. Mostly we live as if we're the last two people on earth (which is easier in the off-peak season). I've learned that not every book is right for this way of life. The perfect desert island book has to celebrate the place you are in, not transport you. It should offer a tinge of society, because, after all, a human is a social animal, but it should not make you yearn achingly for what has been left behind nor should you be so repelled by it that you will never fit in again when you leave the island (you always leave the island). It should have some narrative sweep to withstand the competition of the seascape. It should make you think, at least a little: you want the stress to wash out to sea, not the little grey cells. Cape Cod by Henry David Thoreau is the benchmark by which I've chosen beach material for several years. it is the quintessential celebration of littoral life. If you are on the beach, you appreciate it all the more; if you are not, well, at least you know vividly what you are missing. There is drama, as in the specter of villagers racing to the shore at the news of a shipwreck. There is information, as in what part of the clam not to eat, how the Indians trapped gulls for food, how a lighthouse really works. There is Thoreau's contagious respect for solitude, his occasional crankiness, and that magic trick of his that can suck in high school sophomores and get them through his books without so much as a whimper. There is one flaw to Cape Cod: brevity. It lasts about a day and a half on the Robinson Crusoe plan. This is not to say that it does not withstand re-reading, it does, but at some point after you have committed it to memory, you may wish for the collected works of Shakespeare and move onto the Bard's beach play, The Tempest.

The Land of Little Rain (Classic, Nature, Penguin)

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Land of Little Rain
Overlooked Masterpiece of Nature Writing
Ho Hum
Makes me want to go to Death Valley
Intimate & Beautiful Appraisal of Life In a Harsh Land

The Land of Little Rain (Classic, Nature, Penguin)
Mary Austin
Manufacturer: Penguin (Non-Classics)
ProductGroup: Book
Binding: Paperback

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ASIN: 0140249192

Book Description

Beautiful, poetic study of the Southwestern desert. Fourteen sketches describe plants, animals, mountains, birds, skies, Indians, prospectors, towns, other features in serene, beautifully modulated prose. Desert seen as a place of rare, austere beauty that weaves a lasting spell over its inhabitants. Preface.

Customer Reviews:

Land of Little Rain.......2007-05-10

This book was about the desert and desert people which Austin knows well. Her language is beautiful. I purchased as a gift book for people who love the Southwest and the people.

Overlooked Masterpiece of Nature Writing.......2007-03-23

Mary Austin's work is roughly contemporary with John Muir's, although "The Land of Little Rain" comes after the publication of Muir's best work. It's been said that Mary Austin's work is the finest nature writing between John Muir's and Aldo Leopold's. I dearly love John Muir's writing, but Mary Austin is the better writer. There is a haunting, mystical quality in this book. At times it reads like beautifully stark poetry, like the landscape she describes. For me it reads like music. I read this after visiting Owens Valley, Death Valley and the valleys and mountains between. For me it was an affirmation of what I felt and sensed there. If you let it, the landscape has a way of burning itself into you, and she describes that very well.

Ho Hum.......2006-02-05

Land of Little Interest would be a better title; it looks like even old Cactus Ed didn't read beyond the first chapter. All the references he makes in his introduction are from the beginning of the book, and he seems to ignore the rest of the book, as I wish I had. Boring, unless you want to know about what grows next to irrigating ditches. And I still don't know what the hell a "campoodie" is (a term used over and over), but, who cares?

Makes me want to go to Death Valley.......2005-10-07

It's pretty easy to write a book that makes people want to go somewhere that already looks appealing to them--Manhattan, Yellowstone, other places where tourists flock to--but to write a book that makes one of the most desolate, bleak, inhospitable places on the entire planet seem like somewhere you have to see for yourself as soon as possible...well, that takes some skill.
That's what Mary Austin has done however, in "The Land of Little Rain." This book examines the wildlife, plants, terrain, weather, and people of Death Valley and the surrounding area, and it does so with the eye and the pen of a true poet.
Mary Austin lavishes her words on this area in sparse, measured prose, and distills the essence of this harsh California desert into sentences and paragraphs. She finds a handful of words that perfectly suit this terrain and the life it supports--words like white, slant, tilt, sessile, and winey--and bends and twists these words every way possible to serve her every purpose.
As a result, the land she describes comes across vividly. She writes of how the desert and the wilderness "uncramps our souls," of "the days too hot and white," of slant-winged scavengers," of wandering hopelessly through the desert trodding on vultures' shadows, of "the westering sun," "the late slant light," of "a stream that knows its purpose and reflects the sky," and of the sun dancing up the slope of a mountain.
Her prose is KILLER.
She also tells firsthand accounts of Death Valley's craziest miners, of little towns that could (kind of, sometimes), and of such sad sights as a cougar lamenting the destruction of its lair and family that had been destroyed by a torrential rainstorm, "crying a very human woe." In another such rainstorm she talks of "a bobcat mother mouthing her drowned kittens in the ruined lair built in the wash...."
I highly recommend this book. It's very brief, and is plotless, but the insights and descriptions are invaluable. I've never been to Death Valley, but I'm already planning on going there.
If the book has faults though, it's in some of the generalizations it makes about the area's people (All Spanish people dance and sing every evening? Really?), and in how abruptly it ends. It's a bit like taking a long, beautiful scenic drive and then ending up in a parking lot.
"This is so great, look at that--oh. Oh, we're there."

Intimate & Beautiful Appraisal of Life In a Harsh Land.......2005-04-11

The famous American-West landscape photographer, Ansel Adams and friend of M.H.A., said of The Land of Little Rain: "The sharp beauty of The Land of Little Rain is finely etched in the distinguished prose of Mary Austin. Many books and articles have probed the factual aspects of this amazing land, but no writing to my knowledge conveys so much of the spirit of earth and sky, of plants and people, of storm and the desolation of majestic wastes, of tender, intimate beauty, as does The Land of Little Rain." (Re: "A Note on the Land and on the Photographs", from "The Land of Little Rain"- Houghton-Mifflin Co. 1950).

Indeed, M.H.A. displayed an uncanny sensitivity and understanding of the desert lands in the Owens Valley, California. Death Valley is, indeed, harsh and unforgiving, but to the astute observer who has learned how to live within the limits of sparse resources, it is an unequaled Paradise. She writes so eloquently and poetically of how the desert people and flora/fauna survive. The interaction of desert botany, biology, hydrology, geography, meteorology, and ecology come across vividly and often humorously with such lines as:

"Once at Red Rock, in a year of green pasture (a wet year), which is a bad time for the scavengers, we saw two buzzards, five ravens, and a coyote feeding on the same carrion, and only the coyote seemed ashamed of the company". (chapter 3- "The Scavengers")

M.H.A. studied the land, the flora/fauna, the weather (her "2" basic desert seasons- summer and winter) and she learned from her neighbors the Shoshone and Paiute Indians (she preferred to call the American Indians "Amerinds") , the Mexicans, the white settlers, and many colorful desert loners such as the "Pocket Hunter" (for seeker of pockets of gold)- her name for an old prospector friend. She learned much wisdom and practical knowledge from her Indian friends like "The Basket Maker", Seyavi, whose life story is so eloquently told. The Indians shared with her their survival knowledge of how to find water from signs displayed by plants, how to read the activities of animals for food, how to "know" which plants are medicinal and/or edible and which plants to stay away from:

"Live long enough with an Indian, and he or the wild things will show you a use for everything that grows in these borders". (Chapter- "Shoshone Land")

This beautiful little book finishes with: "Come away, you who are obsessed with your own importance in the scheme of things, and have got nothing you did not sweat for, come away by the brown valleys and full-bosomed hills to the even-breathing days, to the kindliness, earthliness, ease of Pueblo de Las Uvas."

According to Ansel Adam's notes, Las Uvas is Grape Canyon or Creek and is part of the Tejon area south of Bakersfield, Ca.

After reading this fine book, one will come to understand why so many people have referred to M.H.A. as the "Henry David Thoreau
of the American West". Thoreau is the author of the renown classic, "Walden".

There are many different publications of The Land of Little Rain and many have variations from the original format, ie., different introductions, preface, illustrations, etc. The text is all that really matters, of course, but I have checked-out a few of the different copies from regional libraries so I could copy the intros by such notables as "Cactus Ed" (Edward Abbey- "The Monkey Wrench Gang", et al.). Abbey's Forward is in the 1988 Penguin Books edition. My copy is a reproduction of the original 1903 edition complete with line drawings by E. Boyd Smith who knew M.H.A. and the regions she wrote about.

Ansel Adams teamed-up with Houghton-Mifflin Co. in 1950 to give tribute to this outstanding classic by publishing a version her book with 48 of his photos taken in the Owens Valley, California region where the book was written and M.H.A. lived for sometime.

In describing the various areas and geographical locations in her book, M.H.A. cloaked many of the popular modern regional names with original Indian or old nicknames known only to a few to protect the privacy of those she wrote about. Adams and the editors used several resources to decipher the pseudonyms so he could match them to his photographs with the current regional names for accurate descriptions. They published an interesting glossary of all the names that could be deciphered in this 1950 edition.

More information including photographs of M.H.A. and her life can be seen at the Owens Valley Historical Society website:
www.owensvalleyhistory.com/mary_austin/page49.html

'The Moon by Whale Light: And Other Adventures Among Bats, Penguins, Crocodilians, and Whales

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An Ace for Ackerman
intriguing
Enchanting
Nature writer vs. naturalist who writes
The Light is Clear

'The Moon by Whale Light: And Other Adventures Among Bats, Penguins, Crocodilians, and Whales
Diane Ackerman
Manufacturer: Vintage
ProductGroup: Book
Binding: Paperback

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ASIN: 0679742263
Release Date: 1992-09-29

Book Description

In a rare blend of scientific fact and poetic truth, the acclaimed author of A Natural History of the Senses explores the activities of whales, penguins, bats, and crocodilians, plunging headlong into nature and coming up with highly entertaining treasures.

Customer Reviews:

An Ace for Ackerman.......2005-12-20

I was assigned to read this novel for an English class and was not excited to dive into a scienc book. But the depth of Ackerman's poetic words creates had changed my thought. The Moon by Whale Light not only capivates the reader's thoughts of the endless beauty of the natural world but also inhances our appreication of well-written literature. Needless to say I will be asking for another of Ackerman's poetry books for under the Christmas tree.

intriguing.......2005-11-10

Naturalist-writer Diane Ackerman writes passionately about several animals and their habitats in this collection of nature essays. In sensuous prose she captures the experiences of whale watching, alligator sexing, bat investigating, and visiting Antarctica to view penguins in the wild. Ackerman gets up close and personal with these intriguing creatures, using poetic prose to describe their habitats, habits and appearance. Not only do the animals come alive, so too do the naturalists and various people she meets in her travels.

Enchanting.......2004-02-22

I think this was the first book by a naturalist that I ever read (and it was many years ago that I first read this book) that was utterly enchanting and engaging. Most books of this nature are didactic with occasional leaps into literary writing. Ackerman, in contrast, balances fact with fancy and reality with conjecture; she balances personal experience with the universal; she asks original questions that have no known answers; she merges conversation with conservation; she gives us a sense of who she is without losing the thread of what she's writing about. Not being particular scientific, I was surprised to find myself clinging to every word, reading the book straight through in perhaps two nights of bedtime reading.
The chapters on diverse topics can be read separately as individual essays, but there's a sense of progression of Ackerman's life that lends a personal touch to the book. These wonderful essays found their first home in The New Yorker. Subjects are all over the map: bats, alligators, penguins, and of course the whales of the title, which reads like a misprint - but isn't. In the process, Ackerman underscores man's responsibility to act in the protection of the world's other creatures: we are but one among many (and we're hugely outnumbered, BTW).
Besides being a perfect melding of animal lore, objective study, and conservation, The Moon by Whalelight is an example of nonfiction storytelling at its best.

Nature writer vs. naturalist who writes.......2001-11-20

Basically, as stories about animals we don't have much contact
with, this is a pretty good book. As science, well... Two sentences that floored me read, "How could anything that heavy float? But doesn't the moon float?" Uh, Ms. Ackerman, the moon is outside the earth's gravitational pull and ships float. What exactly was your point?

The Light is Clear.......2001-10-29

Here is an author I would like to call and thank. Not only is she articulate, poetic and interesting, but her fascination with and love for her subjects shines in every essay she writes.

Here is the very special world of a woman who sees with the clarity of a scientist and writes with the perception of a poet. Moreover, she writes from her own experiences hanging out in front of bat caves, tackling 500 pound alligators and cuddling baby penguins in refrigerated nurseries. Nothing stops her and not much phases her, but a lot of what she sees and experiences makes her stop and think. It is the thinking that attracts me as much as her stories. She is hard at work on her own vision of the world and the place human beings occupy in it. It is a vision worth considering.

Book Description

The Natural History of Selborne (1789) is the distillation of a lifetime of observing nature, and ranges far beyond White's immediate neighborhood noted in the title. Written during a turbulent time in world history, it is a celebration of the endeavors of both human beings and animals to
survive. White's main aims were to induce readers to pay more attention to the wonders around them, and to advance their knowledge of the variety of life: his success has made this book a classic, and has made his name one of the most revered among British naturalists.

Customer Reviews:

watching nature carefully with great amusement.......2000-07-06

Gilbert White lived the quietest life, but he succeeded in gaining the attention of all the prominent naturalists of the 18th century. His only book was the result of years of observations of his gardens and surrounding countryside of southern England. Written in the form of letters to interested fellow naturalists, White comments on birds, geology, insects, and even a visit to a North American moose that has been imported by a neighbor. As a writer, Gilbert White is astute in combining his observations with a charming delight in everything he sees that makes the reader want to follow him wherever he goes.

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My son loves it
Outstanding photography and facts about penguins and puffins

Puffins Climb, Penguins Rhyme
Bruce McMillan
Manufacturer: Voyager Books
ProductGroup: Book
Binding: Paperback

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ASIN: 0152024433

Book Description

Join in a playful exploration of language while voyaging to opposite ends of the world to observe the natural habitats of Icelandic puffins and Antarctic penguins. Rhyming text and striking photographs illuminate the graceful daily rituals of these two exotic birds.

Customer Reviews:

My son loves it.......2005-05-20

My 2YO son loves this book. He knows it by heart.

Outstanding photography and facts about penguins and puffins.......1998-10-28

This is one of the best factual books about animals I have seen for young children. The photographs are outstanding, and the rhyme scheme is perfect for the youngest child. However, there is enough new and interesting information to intrigue older children -- and even the adult who gets to read it over and over again! If you thought you knew the differences between puffins and penguins, you need to read this book with your kids!

Ring of Bright Water (Classic, Nature, Penguin)

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Other Books
Ring of Bright Water
Why Otters Don't Make Good Pets
Otterly fantastic
A Book that Will Become Part of the Dream of Your Heart

Ring of Bright Water (Classic, Nature, Penguin)
Gavin Maxwell
Manufacturer: Penguin (Non-Classics)
ProductGroup: Book
Binding: Paperback

Scotland | Europe | History | Subjects | Books

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ASIN: 0140249729

Customer Reviews:

Other Books.......2007-09-03

There aren't too many otter books around, and this one is pretty serious. The story of a man's love for and relationship with the furry little swimmers.

He looks after and befriends them, and the book is an interesting and occasionally moving account of his life as affected by these entertaining animals.

Ring of Bright Water.......2007-03-17

I absolutely fell in love with Mij the Otter but how in the world can the writer say this is entertainment for children when the loveable otter gets killed by being hit over the head with a shovel!! I have never seen this movie until just recently and I sobbed for hours!! I just did not see any point in having him die.

Why Otters Don't Make Good Pets.......2006-10-26

The reason I don't recommend this book, despite the nice writing and decriptions of the Western Highlands, is for one dark fact: a number of wild otters died for Maxwell's selfish pursuit of having a wild animal as a pet. This is not the story of a man who raises abandoned wild otters cubs in the Western Highlands and releases them but the story of a man who takes otters from the wild in Iraq and Africa and tries to raise them in Scotland. What this story also tells us is that, if you are of a privillaged class, you can have any wild animal you want as your pet. Today this is illegal "pet" trading and it is responsible for pushing certain species to the edge of extinction. I know that at the time this practice was not looked down upon as it is today and certain other nature writers (Durrell, Heinrich) engage in the same practice but with a more educated populus it should be clear: wild animals are not pets and they should stay wild!

Otterly fantastic.......2004-11-02

I read this book when I was a child, and I really enjoyed it. I've seen the movie version several times since, and just recently decided to re-read the book. I was not disappointed. It starts off kind of rocky, but once the otters enter Maxwell's life, it's pure magic. He's an incredibly good writer with the ability to make you "see" everything he describes.

Staci Layne Wilson

A Book that Will Become Part of the Dream of Your Heart.......2004-05-13

Forever after you read A Ring of Bright Water, the beauty, wonder, and humor of this book will gently surface with a ring of bright ripples in the waters of you mind. I am never able to remember this book without simultaneously wanting to laugh and to cry-and always with a sense of awed wonder. This is the true story of Gavin's befriending of otters (or perhaps we should say of the otters' decision to befriend Gavin.) In one scene, on the first night Gavin has one of the otters in his home, the otter carefully watches Gavin get into bed and pull the covers to his chin. The otter then crawls in beside Gavin, lies on its back, and pulls the covers to its own chin. Other scenes describe Gavin's losing efforts to make certain parts of his cottage off limits to otters. Gavin never for the rest of his life produced prose that so translucently coveys the beauty of the waters around his cottage, or the sense of his own evolving life and emotions. Reading this book is giving a gift to yourself. It is one a dozen that I always look for used to give to friends.

Penguins: Cousteau Nature Adventure Books+F1428+F1175 (The Cousteau Society)

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Penguins: Cousteau Nature Adventure Books+F1428+F1175 (The Cousteau Society)
The Cousteau society
Manufacturer: Simon & Schuster Children's Publishing
ProductGroup: Book
Binding: Hardcover

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ASIN: 0671770586

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His scientific study embraces penguins of the world

Penguins
Lloyd Spencer Davis , and Martin Renner
Manufacturer: Yale University Press
ProductGroup: Book
Binding: Hardcover

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Albatrosses, Petrels and Shearwaters of the World (Princeton Field Guides)

ASIN: 0300102771

Book Description

Penguins are the world's most easily recognized--and perhaps most appealing--group of birds. Flightless, penguins spend the vast majority of their lives swimming in the sea, yet they cannot shake off their evolutionary past: they are warm-blooded air breathers, and they must return to land to lay their eggs. Thus penguins face the challenges of balancing two worlds-the land for breeding, the sea for feeding. This engaging book offers a complete and up-to-date overview of all the world's penguin species as well as new insights into their dual lives. The book shows that the diversity of penguin species, and in fact all aspects of their biology, can be explained largely according to the distance they travel for food. Exploring penguin colonies, social behavior, evolution, ecology, conservation issues, and more, the book provides a fascinatingly detailed portrait of these unique and popular birds.

Customer Reviews:

His scientific study embraces penguins of the world.......2004-05-06

Lloyd Spencer Davis and Martin Renner's Penguins comes from a research biologist in New Zealand who has studied penguins for over 25 years. His scientific study embraces penguins of the world and provides an overview of all the species and their natural history.

My Family and Other Animals (Classic, Nature, Penguin)

Average customer rating:

You'll end up reading this one over and over again...
I wish I could give it 6 stars!
the funny Durrell
Way better than Croc Hunter
Skeleton of a Plot embellished with tonnes of vocab

My Family and Other Animals (Classic, Nature, Penguin)
Gerald Durrell
Manufacturer: Penguin (Non-Classics)
ProductGroup: Book
Binding: Paperback

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ASIN: 014028902X
Release Date: 2000-02-28

Amazon.com

As a self-described "champion of small uglies," English writer Gerald Durrell (1925-1995) devoted his life to writing and the preservation of wildlife, from the Mauritius pink pigeon to the Rodriques fruit bat. My Family and Other Animals was intended to embrace the natural history of the Greek island of Corfu, but ended up as a delightful account of his family's experiences that were, according to him, "rather like living in one of the more flamboyant and slapstick comic operas."

As a 10-year-old boy, Gerry left England for Corfu with "all those items that I thought necessary to relieve the tedium of a long journey: four books on natural history, a butterfly net, a dog, and a jam-jar full of caterpillars all in imminent danger of turning into chrysalids." Durrell's descriptions of his family and its many eccentric hangers-on (he stresses that "all the anecdotes about the island and the islanders are absolutely true") are highly entertaining, as is the procession of toads, scorpions, geckos, ladybugs, glowworms, octopuses, the puppies Widdle and Puke, and the Magenpies. This is a lovely book.

Book Description

Soaked in the sunshine of Corfu, where Gerald Durrell lived as a boy with his "family and other animals," this book evocatively chronicles his five-year sojourn on the Greek island. With hilarious yet endearing portraits of his eccentric family and their many unusual hangers-on, My Family and Other Animals also captures the beginnings of Durrell's lifelong love of animals. In its passionate understanding of Corfu's natural history, this is an entertaining and enduring memoir.

Customer Reviews:

You'll end up reading this one over and over again..........2006-02-21

I must say this is one of the most light-hearted, hilarious books I have ever read. The story is of a world that one really may not get to see these days.. Go ahead and buy it..

I wish I could give it 6 stars!.......2005-08-09

This book is absolutely, brilliantly funny. The wit and unique characterizations are woven with great descriptions of the animals and plants of Corfu. That Durrell can hold the attention of readers who have no interest in biology simply demonstrates what a fine work this is. Gerald's depiction of a larger-than-life expatriate family on a larger-than-life Greek island is a tremendous celebration of life. The variety of different Greek characters parading through this book rivals the variety of Corfu's flora and fauna. Absolute great read!

the funny Durrell.......2005-04-24

Gerald Durrell was not only a naturalist and a gifted writer about his beloved animals, but a loving brother and son whose descriptions of his family and their foibles will keep you laughing all the way through. This is one of those books which I've reread so many times I've lost count, and which I've given to many friends who needed cheering up. Always works, too!

Way better than Croc Hunter.......2004-06-30

In todays day and age of Steve Erwin and Jeff Corbin who go around hunting for animals, it is easy to forget where it all started. With people like Gerald, and the London zoo. In this book, he collects animals, deals with his demented siblings and his long suffering mother who has to raise four kids and fend off the advances of a really persistent Colonel who gets increasingly vulgar and `grabby' when he drinks. This is a rare story that combines a humorous story with humorous writing and I once caused passengers in a flight to turn around and give me strange looks, so hard was I laughing.

Skeleton of a Plot embellished with tonnes of vocab.......2003-11-17

My Family and Other Animals is a bare-bones story in terms of plot. The Durrell family goes to Corfu, lives through what could be termed as a soap opera, and leaves. It's humourous, but not particularly challenging.

However, the older Gerald Durrell utilises vivid vocabulary over and over when describing the setting and people of Corfu. Fifteen-letter words that paint a crystalline picture are used frequently, relieving the never-ending roller coaster that is the life of the Durrells.

Overall, this is a highly entertaining book that will keep you engaged for the week or so that you will spend reading it every spare second you have.

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