The Organic Gardener's Handbook of Natural Insect and Disease Control: A Complete Problem-Solving Guide to Keeping Your Garden and Yard Healthy Without Chemicals

The Organic Gardener's Handbook of Natural Insect and Disease Control: A Complete Problem-Solving Guide to Keeping Your Garden and Yard Healthy Without Chemicals
Average customer rating:
The Organic Gardener's Handbook of Natural Insect and Disease Control: A Complete Problem-Solving Guide to Keeping Your Garden and Yard Healthy Without Chemicals

Manufacturer: Rodale Books
ProductGroup: Book
Binding: Paperback

General | Gardening & Horticulture | Home & Garden | Subjects | Books
Organic | Techniques | Gardening & Horticulture | Home & Garden | Subjects | Books
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ASIN: 0875967531

Book Description

End your worries about garden problems with safe, effective solutions from The Organic Gardener's Handbook of Natural Insect and Disease Control!* Easy-to-use problem-solving encyclopedia covers more than 200 vegetables, fruits, herbs, flowers, trees, and shrubs* Complete directions on how, when, and where to use preventive methods, insect traps and barriers, biocontrols, homemade remedies, botanical insecticides, and more* More than 350 color photos for quick identification of insect pests, beneficial insects, and plant diseasesNewly revised with the latest, safest organic controls.A New York Times Best Gardening Book

Average customer rating:

DELIGHTFUL - THIS IS ONE TO READ WITH YOUR CHILD.
Know an avid gardener?
A Book in Letters and Pictures
A wonderful book on several levels
The Gardener is a must have for your home or school library.

The Gardener (Caldecott Honor Award)
Sarah Stewart
Manufacturer: Farrar, Straus and Giroux (BYR)
ProductGroup: Book
Binding: Hardcover

Staff Favorites | Ages 4-8 | Children's Books | Subjects | Books

General | Ages 9-12 | Children's Books | Subjects | Books

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The Library
Tops & Bottoms (Caldecott Honor Book)
The Money Tree
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Owl Moon

ASIN: 0374325170

Book Description

By the author-and-illustrator team of the bestselling The Library

Lydia Grace Finch brings a suitcase full of seeds to the big gray city, where she goes to stay with her Uncle Jim, a cantankerous baker. There she initiates a gradual transformation, bit by bit brightening the shop and bringing smiles to customers' faces with the flowers she grows. But it is in a secret place that Lydia Grace works on her masterpiece -- an ambitious rooftop garden -- which she hopes will make even Uncle Jim smile. Sarah Stewart introduces readers to an engaging and determined young heroine, whose story is told through letters written home, while David Small's illustrations beautifully evoke the Depression-era setting.

Customer Reviews:

DELIGHTFUL - THIS IS ONE TO READ WITH YOUR CHILD. .......2007-05-04

The time of this story takes place in the mid 1930s and the family of the little girl of the story has had some hard times as so many families did during those horrible years. Briefly, the little girl is sent to live with her uncle Jim in the city until her father can find work and get the family back on thier feet. The author has chosen to tell this story via letter written back home to the little girl's family, by the girl herself. The story is through her eyes. The story is excellent, as it points out just what one person, even a little one, can do to change people lives. The running theme throughout of course is the little girls love for gardening. I certainly will not go into a blow by blow account of the plot, etc. as that has been done here several times, and done quite well. The text though, is quite readable and the illustrations are great. One other theme, other than the gardening, that runs through the story, is the fact that the little girl seems to be quite concerned over the fact that uncle Jim never smiles. In the end....well, you will have to read the story yourself, does he or does he not smile...you figure it out! Love this book and recommend it highly.

Know an avid gardener?.......2007-01-31

This children's book is a great gift for anyone with a heart who loves to garden. The little girl in the story must go to live with her uncle during hard times. He is a gruff baker but his little niece brightens his world with her loving charm and amazing gardening skills.

A Book in Letters and Pictures.......2007-01-19

This is a book is written as a series in letters and has a lot of great pictures. It is about a little girl whose mother and father don't have jobs. She also has a grandmother who gave her, her love for gardening. Lynda-Grace (the girl) has to go live with her uncle who never smiles. When she gets there she finds out that her uncle own a bakery and has helpers. One of the helpers name's is Emma. Emma and Lynda-Grace and Emma have a scheme to make Uncle Jim smile! Read the book to find out what happens!

This is a really good picture book. As I said before, it is in teh form of letters from Lynda-Grace to her parent's and grandmother. It is a fantastic book for all ages!

Give "The Gardener" a try!

A wonderful book on several levels.......2007-01-10

My mom bought this book last year for my daughter, now 6. My daughter loves gardening and "old-fashioned" books, and really enjoys the story and the pictures. She focuses mostly on Lydia's garden and cat. I cry every time I read it, because I focus on the little girl leaving her parents. My mom used to read this at a parenting group she ran at a women's prison. She said all the women were touched by it, as they had the experience of sending their kids away to live with other people. My mom pointed out that while Lydia's letters are very brave and positive, the pictures often show the sadness and loneliness of Lydia's situation in the first half of the book. So this is a very complex and thoughtful book, but still simple enough to be enjoyed by young children.

The Gardener is a must have for your home or school library........2006-11-11

For those of us that love flowers... well the basic plot of planting in a dingy city will bring much enjoyment. But there is much more in this book than beautiful flowers. There is a theme of enduring and the main character, Lydia Grace, models for us that we can bloom where we are planted. And in a simple way, she models for us that getting busy with a healthy project can be a nice way to cope and persevere. Her flowers, which transform her Uncle's bakery, are a great example of how we can touch others. When we let our own life flow and gently pursue our passions maybe we help others more indirectly than if we try too hard to please or try to become something we are not.

And speaking of being authentic and real, Uncle Jim in the story demonstrates for us that we all express our emotions and feelings differently! And not only is this more than okay, it is what makes us better. Uncle Jim never smiles, even when Lydia touches his life, and it is just how he is. Lydia's concern for her Uncle Jim reminds us that we should and CAN care about others, even in the midst of our own trying times! Lydia is far from home, in a dingy city, and maybe she is too young to realize the depressing facts of the hardship around her. Or just maybe... she models for us that we need NOT get worn out and broken from hard times; instead, we need to keep on living! And when we carry on with the things we love we can possibly inspire and help others. Lydia does just this - especially when she transforms the roof with her flowers. She touches lives and leaves us with a feeling that there is strength in unity and that our individuality makes us better, more balanced, and needs to be celebrated.

Living Water: Viktor Schauberger and the Secrets of Natural Energy

Average customer rating:

Good hagiography of a controversial man
Perfect Start for anyone interested in Learning about Water
An Excellent Appetizer, Please Pass the Main Course
Thought provoking intro to little-known qualities of water
Great introduction to IMPLOSION and what we missed out !

Living Water: Viktor Schauberger and the Secrets of Natural Energy
Olof Alexandersson
Manufacturer: Newleaf
ProductGroup: Book
Binding: Paperback

General | Biographies & Memoirs | Subjects | Books

General | Popular Economics | Business & Investing | Subjects | Books

Conservation | Environment | Outdoors & Nature | Subjects | Books

General | Conservation | Outdoors & Nature | Subjects | Books

Environmentalism | Conservation | Outdoors & Nature | Subjects | Books

Reference | Outdoors & Nature | Subjects | Books

Renewable Energy | Technology | Science | Subjects | Books

Hidden Nature: The Startling Insights of Viktor Schauberger
Living Energies: An Exposition of Concepts Related to the Theories of Viktor Schauberger
Energy Evolution (The Eco-Technology Series)
The Fertile Earth: Nature's Energies in Agriculture, Soil Fertilisation and Forestry (The Eco-Technology Series, Volume 3)
Nature As Teacher: How I Discovered New Principles in the Working of Nature (Eco-Technology Series)

ASIN: 0717133907

Customer Reviews:

Good hagiography of a controversial man.......2003-05-04

This is a good introduction to the theories and life of Viktor Schauberger, an Austrian naturalist and inventor. Born in 1885, Schauberger started life as a forester who tried to understand and copy Nature. From watching mountain streams he developed unorthodox theories based on vortex movement about water and its use. He started out designing highly efficient log flumes that used water in vortex motion and at its densest temperature of 4 degrees Centigrade. He then proposed cleaning up the Rhine River by rebuilding the natural curves which stimulate vortex motion in the water. He said that this vortex motion in the Earth caused spring water to be more alive than plain water. He believed that plants grew better in this living water and developed laboratory sized egg-shaped water energizers to activate water.

He also developed theories about the harmfulness of iron and steel tools in agriculture and proposed replacing them with copper ones. He designed an egg-shaped composter that was supposed to develop Noble compost which would be much more beneficial in gardens.

Around the Second World War his theories and experiments take a much different direction and he starts talking about Implosion energy as opposed to combustion explosion energy. He starts developing machines that generate more energy than they use and that run on water and air. Out of this research he claims to have developed a domestic power station that generates large outputs of energy from slight streams of running water. Even more fantastic is a flying saucer that used a 1/20 horsepower electric motor as a starter and then ran on the surrounding flow of air. The research on these inventions was destroyed at the end of the war. Schauberger and his son Walter never seem to have been able to find the resources to develop working models again.

Today his theories on vortex motion of water are taught at the Anthroposophical Emerson College in England. His copper farming tools are sold from the school his son Walter started, the Pythagoras Kepler Schule in Austria. His water, forestry, and farming theories have been accepted by Biodynamic Farming communities and may be helpful to organic farmers today.

There are two appendices at the end of the book by New Age science experts on the underlying theories of vortex energy. I find these actually detract from the book rather than help it. A Bibliography also is less than useful. Most of the sources are to obscure journals or original Austrian publications. These types of resources are less than helpful in such an introductory text.

Perfect Start for anyone interested in Learning about Water.......2002-04-06

I agree that this book is only a brief introduction into the thoughts of Schauberger but hopefully many people are inspired by this book to move forward into the area of water research in an effort to uncover many more truths about what really makes water healthy.

Unfortunately there is so much...on the market, evolving around new-age water products, which in-no-way copy Mother Nature as Viktor had stressed. All these people need to purchase this book in order to obtain some form of initial clarity if they are going to be involved in water research or water products of any kind. Living-water; revitalized-water; restructured water; clustered & micro-clustered-water; alkaline water; Pi-water; crystal-water; snowflake-water; cupcake-water; energized-water; polarized-water; magnetized-water; and all the many others that are on the market have obviously never read any of Viktor's work or at least understood it. Let us all use Viktor's work as a basis to change the planet and make this world a better place to live.

An Excellent Appetizer, Please Pass the Main Course.......2001-04-16

This is an excellent, brief introduction to the thought of Viktor Schauberger, and I hope it inspires works which are more complete. Callum Coates' books reach in this direction, but what is really needed are more people to read these books, synthesize their information, and come up with new and original books which take us further into depth in these areas. This will probably involve synthesizing the work of Schauberger, Grander, Bienveniste, and others.

An understanding of Schauberger is very important for those attempting to reconstruct an Indigenous European Perspective. Schauberger has the elements of a modern water shaman, and his shamanic / intuitive techniques of letting his body float with the water should be closely correlated with what Hans Peter Duerr has to say about "out of body" experience in his tome "Dreamtime". Although Schauberger lived in the 20th Century, his perspective allows us to imagine back what earlier indigenous practitioners may have been like. The Colonial, Imperialist Europe is only one side of the coin of Europe. We must also include the suppressed indigenous, pagan, and green sides. Significantly, the Inquisition represents a watershed in European history where a great deal of the indigenous healers and theorists were wiped out in holocaust proportions. An understanding of Schauberger, coupled with an appreciation of Steiner, Hildegard of Bingen, Hans Peter Duerr, and others, will allow us to reconstruct what a noncolonial, nonimperialist Europe was like.

Understanding water's nature is essential in this regard, for water forms the basis of our understandings of flow. Furthermore, understanding water's energetic qualities will help us understand how it interacts with the body. Traditional Chinese Medicine, for example, would benefit from an accurate and holistic understanding of water's qualities.

In short, this book is an excellent appetizer, but I await the main course ...

Thought provoking intro to little-known qualities of water.......1998-11-19

Although it occasionally veers into new-age speculation or pseudoscience, this book offers a rare look at truly alternative ideas about water and energy. The description of Schauberger's early work with flumes is enthralling, and the brief exposition of "flow forms" towards the end of the book is valuable. Search "flow forms" in any web search engine to see some of the sites around the world espousing a fascinating technology that unites water pollution control with esthetics.

Great introduction to IMPLOSION and what we missed out !.......1998-08-24

I have to say - I got very AGGRAVATED by some portions of this book , because it TOTALLY agreed and expanded on my very own frustrations with our retarded "modern" technologies.

I have ALWAYS dreaded NOISE - I haven't done empirical research on this subject, but my gut instinct has led me to run from & truly hate noisy machines. I feel like someone were stabbing me when I am exposed to a Harley Davidson on the road ! The only friends I really have in this matter I think are the ANIMALS - have you ever noticed the DREAD & FEAR with which ANY animal reacts to our machines ( most notably our motors - be they lawnmowers, drilling machines ... ) Even birds totally abhor the NOISE from our aircraft & automobiles .. notice their flight, as from terror, when they are flying over traffic !

Now I see that IMPLOSION is essentially a NOISELESS phenomenon !! And this is the technology that truly supports the LIVING ! My question - FOLKS, WHEN WILL WE RECOGNIZE THAT WE ARE NOT MACHINES ?? AND OUR SPIRITUALITY IS NOT SOME GOD-DEVIL-CRAP but a PHYSICAL manifestation of the higher ????

Book Description

In Darwin's Shadow is the gripping story of the heretical British naturalist Alfred Russel Wallace who co-discovered natural selection independently of his more well-known contemporary Charles Darwin. Utilizing a number of never-before-used archival sources that bring to bear new interpretations of this most fascinating scientists, best-selling author Michael Shermer applies his training in both the history of science and psychology to reveal the life, science, and personality of Wallace to unravel the mystery of his scientific, quasi-scientific, and non-scientific ideas. Shermer's unique approach goes beyond narrative story-telling to analyse the science, culture, and ideas that lie beneath the life story, in a path-breaking approach to biography. Shermer presents the two major points of intersection and conflict between Wallace and Darwin, one so radical that Darwin accused his younger colleague of intellectual murder! Wallace has always appealed to lovers of travel and adventure stories, because that is the life he led: In Darwin's Shadow will also appeal to historians of science, readers of popular science, and fans of Shermer's previous books.

Customer Reviews:

Darwin forever under a cloud...........2003-11-30

After reading a review in NY review of books of Shermer's book I snapped out of my previous opinion and decided to revise my previous review here. Distracted by the issues raised in A. Brackman's book, A Delicate Arrangement, 'rebutted' by Shermer, I wavered wrongly in my original view at what appears now as a clever whitewash of Darwin.
Putting Brackman's arguments to one side for the nonce, the plain fact of the matter is that Darwin was, and has been ever since, engineered by Big Science propaganda into the exclusive icon for the discovery of evolution. And is Shermer just the fellow for this displacement job on Wallace. Wallace confuses people because they think that Darwin on the descent of man is established science, when the reality is that an immense con job has always finessed the fact that science has no conclusive theory here, and Wallace honestly pointed it out. Period.
As to the rest of Shermer's arguments in his book, viz. on the 'science' of history, they are without merit and constitute another of the 'bilge and balderdash' necessary to cover up the fact that there is no science of history, also.
The whole Darwin field is addicted to a pack of lies and it seems all parties have lost the ability to distinguish truth from distortion. Reviewing the details of the Ternate affair, we seem to see the ambitious Darwin concerned to rescue his priority, after years of so doubting his theory he couldn't publish it, and getting his priority by rigging the priority list and rushing into print. We have spent over a century beholden to this farce. Time for a little skepticism.

In the shadow no longer.......2003-11-17

Alfred Russel Wallace seems to rate hardly more than a footnote in the history of the theory of evolution. Like most who have studied this subject, I knew of Wallace's mutual discovery of the theory and evidence in support of it. I knew too of Darwin's generous introduction of the man as a co-discoverer, and even of the theory that that introduction might have been more premeditated and less generous that it appears. In some of my reading I had even learned of Wallace's "defection" to spiritualism. However, where Darwin's life is everywhere paraphrased and his thoughts on the subject of evolution almost subject to canonization, Wallace's life and thoughts seemed just to have "fallen out" of the picture. Michael Shermer's book, In Darwin's Shadow, The Life and Science of Alfred Russel Wallace, provides a more detailed look at Wallace the man and scientist. It also looks at the subject of how history and biography reflects the psychology of their time-in some ways, he does so unintentionally.

In many ways A. R. Wallace, though not a formally educated man, was more of a research scientist than Darwin. He apparently plunged into the pursuit of regional studies with a vengeance for most of his youth, some twelve years abroad, studying natural subjects in their native habitat. Whether it was beetles in the tropics, indigenous people in their native and in their European dominated settings, the communities of animals characteristic of different regions in Southeast Asia, or the geology of various regions, etc, his studies were extensive and detailed. According to Shermer, he logged in over 20,000 miles on various collecting trips, and just on his Malay trip collected almost 125,000 specimens, over a thousand of which were new species (p. 14).

His reputation for openness and exposure to new experiences was amazing, especially for the day, and recognized even by those who did not necessarily agree with his opinions. His written output was prolific and varied, with topics ranging from ancient history, animal behavior, botany, ethics, history of science, linguistics, plurality of worlds, phrenology, spirtualism, taxonomy, womens rights, agricultural economics, literature and poetry, poor laws, and trade regulation (p. 15). Shermer indicates that even into old age Wallace wrote on a variety of subjects and had a life-time average output that ranks high, even when compared to modern writers like Gould, Sagan, and Ernst Mayr.

While I found Shermer's historical matrix model interesting, I felt that I learned more about how history and biography are created in our own time and what it says about us than I did about Wallace or his contemporaries. The matrix model seems to smack of psychobabble and Oprah "awarenesses" and introduces a lot of introspection into the possible effects of birth order, etc. on behavior. It tries to hard to get at the "whys?" of human behavior and motivation for which there is little proof for or against. It was only once the author got into the life and times of the man himself that I could more easily settle into Wallace's world. For one thing, I understood better what the flap about the man's delving into spiritualism was all about. I also learned where Wallace and Darwin differed, even from the beginning, in their own individual approach to evolution, and why Darwinian evolution is the model that gained the greatest respect and serves as the foundation of modern theories.

I think more than anything, the book introduces the reader to the fact that science is a communal thing, a human thing, and is subject to the vicissitudes of other human endeavors: chance, political and social prejudices, personalities and egos, readiness for new ideas, plain old mistakes, etc. I learned again that scientific discoveries occur in tandem, when the world is ready to receive them, that they're sort of "in the air." I learned that more than one person can come up with the same or similar idea, putting their own personal stamp on the concept, thereby forwarding human knowledge just a little bit more. I learned that scientists can be wrong or partly wrong about their topic and can be wrong or partly wrong about topics outside their expertise, and most importantly, that reputation should not be given total credence without proper thought. Because a person is famous does not mean that their opinions are any more valid than anyone else's.

An enlightening biography of an interesting man. While I think that Darwin's is the more carefully thought out and supported theory of evolution, I think that Wallace was the more interesting and happier person. I suspect it would have been more fun to have known him than to have known Darwin.

Interesting biography.......2003-06-09

A nice story of the scientist who came to a similar conclusion about natural history as his elder and more famous colleague, Darwin. I enjoyed reading about Wallace's background (quite different than Darwin's), his world travels, and the ways in which his theories differed from Darwin's. The author uses multivariate analysis on personality traits to attempt to explain some of these differences; I'm not fully convinced of the validity of that (for every statistical rule there are exceptions, and as Mark Twain colorfully observed, "there are lies ..."), but it's an interesting possibility.

The new phrenologists?.......2003-05-25

I bought this book rather in spite of than because of the other Amazon reviews, and lugged it with me on a flight out to the West Coast. The book lasted from Boston to Atlanta, and when it was over I closed it with a sigh of relief. While Shermer is certainly at times an engaging writer here he indulges in a rather peculiar form of quantitative psycho-history mixed in with the equally peculiar allocation of behavioural traits to birth order. There MAY be something in this somewhere, but at the same time it smacks of the 19th century Victorian fetish about cranial measurments that Shermer's evident hero-mentor Stephen Gould took to task in THE MISMEASURE OF MAN. That Shermer is so obsessed with his methodologies (he devotes a substantial portion of the book to 'how he did it") is a shame because it lessens and weakens his focus on his putative topic, the fascinating Alfred Wallace. Instead of really delving intoWallace's background and early experiences we get a few pages of quick gloss intertwined with what frankly struck me as mumbo-jumbo about what it means to be a Younger Child. This may be all very new Age & Hip right now, but I strongly doubt it will prove to have much in the way of scholarly legs. Then there is the tedious re-hashing of Gould's speculations which other reviewers have already re-hashed. Yup, they are old, they are trite, and can we please now move on? Perhaps the most interesting part of the book is the discussion of Wallace's involvement with various "Spiritualist" frauds during the second half of his career. Here the writing really picks up & one has the sense that "aha, now we are going to get somewhere". Alas, the excitement soon fades & the book itself fades out to a gentle glow at the end. i really don't know how to categorize this text. It is far too incomplete for someone unfamiliar with Wallace's life & work to get a real sense of the man and it offers such an odd view on Wallace's relationships with friends, family, colleagues & rivals that one is left wondering just what was intended. A footnote to a more general study? Maybe, but i agree with the reviewer who calls for the need of a REAL biography that puts Wallace AND his science in proper context.

Cursing the darkness.......2003-04-27

Restoring Albert Russell Wallace's reputation is an occasional occupation with historians. Some wish to elevate him over Darwin, usually on the question of "priority" - who first thought up evolution by natural selection? Others portray him as the victim of Britain's class structure - doomed to obscurity because of his humble background. Shermer, although the title implies otherwise, makes an attempt to reconcile Darwin and Wallace, at least over natural selection. From that point, Shermer follows Wallace through a complex life. This readable, if somewhat shallow, biography does Wallace justice, but at the cost of shedding the broader context. In support of his programme, he relies heavily on Frank Sulloway's research on "birth-order" and creativity. This innovative study has had a rocky career, but Shermer finds it useful. For him, the findings have meaning, but their validity remains unclear. Especially when comparing but two subjects.

Wallace was a complicated personality, perhaps even more so than Darwin himself. In order to build a coherent image of his subject, Shermer creates a "historical matrix model". This is a three-dimensional visual aid of the elements he's utilising in erecting Wallace's biography. Mixing time, Wallace's various excursions and interests, Shermer ties the whole structure to his subject's views on evolution of humanity and the mind. Whether this method works may depend on your attitude about applying mathematical structures to a man's life. Fortunately for readability, Shermer keeps the application of this device at a low key, saving his analytical summation to the end of the book - where it falls flat.

Shermer traces the voyages Wallace was virtually forced to undertake. Financial woes dogged the naturalist throughout his life, although it's hard to see that from Shermer's portrayal. Although Shermer puts Wallace "in Darwin's shadow" he was easily as fluent a correspondent as his more famous counterpart. Yet few of the cited letters contain appeals for employment. Instead, Shermer takes us through Wallace's views on social questions, spiritualism and variations on natural selection. He also shows how Wallace traveled and dealt with a broad spectrum of issues and the people associated with them. Darwin, of course, maintained almost a hermit's life at Down. It's strange that Shermer makes little note of the contrast of the two since much of Darwin's information leading to natural selection came from a global correspondence. Wallace, ever the field researcher, relied more on his own collections for evidence.

Although providing us with a highly readable biography of the man, Shermer is virtually silent on the general social scene of Victorian Britain. In pursuing his subject's life, we are given quirky events and some questionable people. There's an excuse for avoiding the tumultuous politics of the era, but Shermer follows Wallace in his admiration for socialist Robert Owen and the role of Mechanics' Institutes to educate the workers. Both schemes were designed to generate worker contentment at minimal cost - Britain retained a horror of worker rebellion after the Napoleonic era. No mention is made of the Luddite or Chartist movements, which should have elicited comments from socialist Wallace.

A more bizarre oversight is Shermer's failure to impart Wallace's feeling on some of natural selection's sharper criticisms. One in particular, Lord Kelvin's assessment that the age of the solar system was too short to allow the needed time frame for evolution. Fleeming Jenkin's point that changes in organisms would be blended back, a point that Darwin, ignorant of Mendelian genetics, agonised over, is also overlooked by Shermer. Since any biography of Darwin will deal with these issues at length, it's only logical that Shermer should have addressed them. Either that or Wallace ignored them - we remain in the dark either way.

Shermer's sins of omission may be forgiven as retaining clarity and brevity. His committed sins, however, cannot be condoned. His long career as an acolyte of the Pope of Paleontology leads Shermer to peck at Darwin's image. The worst examples are intrusions of "punctuated speciation" in a variety of disguises. Shermer's attempt to promote his mentor's outdated thesis borders on the pathetic. He aggravates it later in the book with other Gouldian pronouncements. Gould makes the index six times, with "punk eek" scoring another ten. In a biography of Wallace, this ploy is simply an outrageous non sequitor. He puts Wallace in "Darwin's dark shadow" [what other kind is there?], implying some sinister agenda. Wallace is "eclipsed" by Darwin - as if Darwin so intended. Darwin's opposition to spiritualism is a "secret war". The position is misleading. The shadow is cast by the long-lived eminence of Darwin's contributions, but Shermer makes no mention of that. It's history's verdict, not Darwin's.

Shermer's use of Sulloway is bewildering. Parallels between Darwin and Wallace are inevitable, but the author's are flimsy. "Birth order" as an issue with these two men is misleading. If he wanted to compare the two as personalities, why does Shermer ignore the similarity of Wallace's losing his first love, Marion Leslie and Darwin's loss of Fanny Owen? That Wallace delved into a wider list of topics than Darwin keeps the former's public life more interesting, but doesn't move the latter into a "shadow." Wallace wasn't dogged by illness throughout his life - his long life certainly suggests good health. He shed whatever Christianity he had at an early age, while Darwin was driven to abandon it from his studies and the loss of children. Shermer doesn't need to shatter Darwin's image to restore Wallace's, but that intent is broadcast in his title. It was a mistake. If Shermer is intent on restoring Wallace's reputation, he should have hired somebody to do it for him. Janet Browne would be a good first choice. [stephen a. haines - Ottawa, Canada]

Park Ranger True Stories from a Ranger's Career in America's National Parks
Average customer rating:

review of Park Ranger

A great read for anyone.

Exciting read!

Its not all ranger campfire talks

Snapshot of a Ranger

Park Ranger True Stories from a Ranger's Career in America's National Parks
Nancy Eileen Muleady-Mecham
Manufacturer: Vishnu Temple Press
ProductGroup: Book
Binding: Paperback

Contemporary | General | Literature & Fiction | Subjects | Books
General | Natural Resources | Nature & Ecology | Science | Subjects | Books
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ASIN: 0967459540

Book Description

What Park Rangers really have to deal with in any given day and how training, stamina and attitude make all the difference. Theis book could almost be a reference manual, training tool and recruitment handbook for any one interested in wearing a Smoky Bear hat. The author has lived and worked in parks ranging from USS Arizona in Hawaii to the Florida Everglades with most of her career at Grand Canyon.

Customer Reviews:

review of Park Ranger.......2007-09-22

This book was a quick read. There is a lot of interesting information about our national park system. The stories were interesting.

A great read for anyone........2007-07-01

I ran across this title by accident -- it looked interesting, and I bought it, being a frequent visitor to our National Parks. I thought that it would give me more-or-less an idea of what a typical ranger's day was like, but it didn't! In fact, it was much more than that! You see, Nancy Mecham is not only a ranger, but also a paramedic and a law enforcement officer. In reading the book, I learned a lot about basic law enforcement procedures and also what paramedics do on the scene.

Each chapter is a story in itself, most of the time, based on the author's own experiences. The writing style varies a little from the first chapter to the last, but this might have happened if the author compiled the manuscript over a long length of time. No matter, though -- it doesn't take away from the excitement of the book. You will find all of the stories interesting -- each in a different way.

This is a good read. Buy the book, enjoy a chapter or two at a time, and then, loan it to a friend. I especially recommend this book for a young person considering a career with the Park Service or possibly in paramedics or law enforcement. It will also make all of us better visitors to the National Parks.

Exciting read!.......2006-12-17

This is a wonderful depiction of life with the National Park Service, from training to working as a Law Enforcement Officer, paramedic, naturalist, and fire fighter. The stories are exciting, humorous, and amazing accounts of what it is like to be a ranger. Keeps you turning the pages to see what could possibly happen next. Definitly recommended for those interested in the Park Service as a career!

Its not all ranger campfire talks.......2006-11-06

Excellent account of the experiences of a National Park Ranger, and her experiences in various parks. Her accounts of law enforcement, EMT and fire fighting experiences are enlightening. Very well written.

Snapshot of a Ranger.......2006-04-26

I loved this book. The stories are riveting. I'm an avid backpacker; I find myself reflecting on this book while I'm in the backcountry. I usually have a short attention span, but I was captivated by the variety of situations and stories. One thing that I really enjoy is how the author assumes that you're intelligent enough to want to know what's going in the different medical situations. Most books that I pick up these days don't appeal to people that want to educate themselves; if you have any interest in medicine, the outdoors, adventure or interesting people, buy this book. Dr. Nancy Eileen Muleady-Mecham is one of those poeple that makes you wonder "how can one person do all that?" If you've ever visited a national park, you may or may not realize what these people do behind the scenes. They're expected to be protectors of our resources, law enforcement, fire fighters, medical technicians, and experts on the local environment. If you've ever gotten into trouble in the backcountry, you know these people are angels. They love their job and they have the best office in the whole world. There's not a lot of books out there that give you real insight on what goes on in a national park; this is the one to get. After reading this book, I have more respect than ever for what the rangers do; Dr. Muleady-Mecham is at the head of her class. If you know any young people that are considering a future in the National Park Service (or aren't sure what they want to be) - BUY THEM THIS BOOK!!

Aldo Leopold's Odyssey: Rediscovering the Author of A Sand County Almanac

Average customer rating:

A surprising, penetrating, lyrical study

Aldo Leopold's Odyssey: Rediscovering the Author of A Sand County Almanac
Julianne Lutz Newton
Manufacturer: Island Press
ProductGroup: Book
Binding: Hardcover

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A Sand County Almanac
For the Health of the Land: Previously Unpublished Essays And Other Writings
Aldo Leopold: His Life and Work
Home Ground: Language for an American Landscape
The Creation: An Appeal to Save Life on Earth

ASIN: 1597260452

Book Description

A household icon of the environmental movement, Aldo Leopold (1887-1948) may be the most quoted conservationist in history. A Sand County Almanac has sold millions of copies and his lyrical writings are venerated for their perceptions about land and how people might live in concert with the whole community of life.

But who is the man behind the words? How did he arrive at his profound and poetic insights, inspiring generations of environmentalists? Building on past scholarship and a fresh study of Leopold's unpublished archival materials, Julianne Lutz Newton retraces the intellectual journey that generated such passion and intelligence.

Aldo Leopold's Odyssey illuminates his lifelong quest for answers to a fundamental issue: how can people live prosperously on the land and keep it healthy, too? Leopold's journey took him from Iowa to Yale to the Southwest to Wisconsin, with fascinating stops along the way to probe the causes of early land settlement failures, contribute to the emerging science of ecology, and craft a new vision for land use.

More than a biography, this articulate volume is a guide to one man's intellectual growth, and an inspirational resource for anyone pondering the relationships between people and the land.

Customer Reviews:

A surprising, penetrating, lyrical study.......2006-11-06

Readers who think they know Leopold, whether from his classic A Sand County Almanac or from earlier writings about him, are in for a real surprise. We see here, far better than ever before, the science underlying Leopold's conservation thought; he was at the forefront of ecology, not merely a consumer of it. Even more, we see how Leopold moved step by step to the (for him) painful realization that true conservation was not possible without significant cultural change, which in turn required committed conservationists to step up and challenge dominant values and institutions. Newton shows clearly that it was Leopold's idea of land health, not his land ethic, that stood at the center of his mature conservation thought. She shows how land health, once carefully crafted, transformed his thinking on nearly every aspect of conservation. And she explains vividly-- far better than any other scholar--the precise meanings that Leopold attached to his famous ethical admonition to preserve the land's "integrity, stability, and beauty." Why did Leopold resist the federal conservation programs of the New Deal Era? How did he redefine wilderness over the final decade of his life and reshape his chief reasons for protecting it? What did he view as the main goals of wildlife management, and why did he turn against many basic assumptions in his classic book Game Management? What kind of startlingly new ecology text did he have in works when he died? These and other questions are answered for the first time, in this major work that is brimming with new information and new interpretations. The most sobering realization one has, though, upon finishing this splendid book, is that today's conservation cause might cite Leopold often but hardly at all understands who he was and what he thought. This is not just the best book we have on Leopold, it might well be the best book we've had on any conservation intellect.

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Another book of lovely excursions to the island of Corfu
Good product
Menagerie
Another fix of Durrell family fun
My family and other animals

Birds, Beasts, and Relatives
Gerald Durrell
Manufacturer: Penguin (Non-Classics)
ProductGroup: Book
Binding: Paperback

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My Family and Other Animals
A Zoo in My Luggage
Menagerie Manor
Marrying Off Mother: And Other Stories
The Whispering Land

ASIN: 0142004405
Release Date: 2004-06-29

Book Description

Part coming-of-age autobiography and part nature guide, Gerald Durrell's dazzling sequel to My Family and Other Animals is based on his boyhood on Corfu, from 1933 to 1939. Originally published in 1969 but long out of print, Birds, Beasts, and Relatives is filled with charming observations, amusing anecdotes, boyhood memories, and childlike wonder.

Customer Reviews:

Another book of lovely excursions to the island of Corfu.......2007-09-24

This is another wonderful books of Gerald Durrell's memories of his time on the island of Corfu prior to the Second World War. He takes us back to another time and place before the world changed for good.

Each chapter is a separate story and rememberence of those days when as a young man he marvels at not only the natural world around him, but also the various people he encounters and learns to appreciate. It is easy to get lost in one of these stories and feel like you are there with him on a hot summer day with his faithful dogs tagging along beside him.

I recommend this book to anyone who not only loves nature, but also can appreciate a time gone by when people were different and even strangers were looked as guests. This book is one that I intend to read again and again in the coming years and will appreciate the stories just much each time as the first time.

Good product.......2007-08-16

The books arrived in perfect condition and in very good time. I am completely satisfied.

Menagerie.......2003-10-07

Gerald Durrell is the younger brother of Lawrence Durrell. The island of Corfu lies off of the Albanian and Greek coastlines. The family settled there to escape the deary English weather.

Gerald's mother fought a losing battle with the Greek language. The family members became familiar with all of the peasants in the region. Gerald had a tutor named George who was an adept of fencing and an adult scientist friend named Theodore.

Gerald visited the rock pools while his sister swam. Margo's sun bathing bothered a church functionary, a monk. Gerald sought permission to follow a fisherman, to accompany him in his boat when he fished at night. The fisherman used a trident to catch scorpios.

There was a myrtle forest near the family's house. Gerald received a rich dark brown donkey for his birthday. The donkey was used by Gerald to transport things. Larry brought home friends, artists and writers, and brought home an artist who could play the accordian, Sven.

Theordore had told a countess that Gerald, who was a fairly young boy at the time, was a naturalist and had a number of pets. The countess offered to give him a white owl who had an injured wing. Gerald went to fetch it and to meet her on his donkey.

He wanted to add baby hedgehogs to his menagerie. When he went away for a weekend his sister overfed them and they died. The book is joyous and colorful. The snippets above are used to give the reader a sense of what to expect.

Another fix of Durrell family fun.......2001-02-06

I eagerly read this after "My Family and Other Animals" (which I had enjoyed immensely). It contains stories which were omitted from "My Family" and while the offerings were still magical and wonderfully well-written and sometimes hilarious (especially the story about the turtle), it lacked the memorability of its predecessor. There was also no real structure in the order of the stories, this is more of a miscellaneous collection.

My family and other animals.......2000-02-29

I read Gerald Durrell's books 10 years ago, while I was still living in Romania. I loved his books from the first page to the last and literally I couldn't put them down until I finished them. The best humour I ever met in books! His stile is unique. I am planning on reading all of them again in English. I would recommend them to anyone!

Average customer rating:

Beautiful book, helpful comments
Beautiful and accessible
One step further outside of Concord
To Live at Walden; A Visit with Thoreau
A Plethora of Riches

Walden: A Fully Annotated Edition
Henry D. Thoreau
Manufacturer: Yale University Press
ProductGroup: Book
Binding: Hardcover

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Walking
Henry Thoreau: A Life of the Mind
Letters to a Spiritual Seeker
Walden: 150th Anniversary Illustrated Edition of the American Classic
The Essential Writings of Ralph Waldo Emerson (Modern Library Classics)

ASIN: 0300104669

Book Description

Thoreau’s literary classic, an elegantly written record of his experiment in simple living, has engaged readers and thinkers for a century and a half. This edition of Walden is the first to set forth an authoritative text with generous annotations. Thoreau scholar Jeffrey S. Cramer has meticulously corrected errors and omissions from previous editions of Walden and here provides illuminating notes on the biographical, historical, and geographical contexts of Thoreau’s life.
Cramer’s newly edited text is based on the original 1854 edition of Walden, with emendations taken from Thoreau’s draft manuscripts, his own markings on the page proofs, and notes in his personal copy of the book. In the editor’s notes to the volume, Cramer quotes from sources Thoreau actually read, showing how he used, interpreted, and altered these sources. Cramer also glosses Walden with references to Thoreau’s essays, journals, and correspondence. With the wealth of material in this edition, readers will find an unprecedented opportunity to immerse themselves in the unique and fascinating world of Thoreau.
Anyone who has read and loved Walden will want to own and treasure this gift edition. Those wishing to read Walden for the first time will not find a better guide than Jeffrey S. Cramer.

Customer Reviews:

Beautiful book, helpful comments.......2007-06-14

This copy of Walden is beautiful and the extensive notes are very helpful.

Beautiful and accessible.......2007-01-31

This edition of Walden is a joy to read, with lovely typeface and layout. I am not a Thoreau scholar, but found the annotations accessible and absorbing. The layout allows you to read Walden straight through or wander off into the annotated notes, depending on your mood.

A book that serves as a miniature vacation every time you open it.

One step further outside of Concord.......2006-02-02

Walden, since the age of fourteen, has always been a special place for me. Ironically, I did not disturb the leaf laden path through Thoreau's wood until seven years after, but at a young age I enjoyed the utopia this book offers. Interestingly enough the surface was read, and with little understanding of history, of which I know have a Masters degree, I did not know the context. With this Annotated version you are thrusted further into Thoreau's world than ever before. I suggest strongly to read the text, then start over with just the annotations. It takes you into the historical/political context of the book's purpose, and from that, into a world leading to civil war, that would traverse those growing pains into a time of reform. Truly a book before its time, yet speaks to the reform movement of the latter 19th c., and perhaps today.

To Live at Walden; A Visit with Thoreau.......2005-02-15

150 years ago, a philosopher went to live in the woods off a small Massachusetts pond, and write about his experiences and meditations. Today, his thoughts, opinions, and experiences inform and educate us, enlightening us to a world of possibilities. Henry David Thoreau wrote Walden, and now all of us have a chance to spend time there in this richly illustrated edition.

Jeffrey Cramer, Thoreau scholar, has meticulously put together this labor of love for the book, as is shown on each and every page. Writing a short, insightful introduction to this book, and carefully research notes in the margins of the book, add layers of understanding to an already powerful book.

I hadn't ever visited Walden prior to this book. As a Walden novice, it served as an excellent introduction to an amazing man and an amazing work. I'm sure that both novices and scholars will benefit from this wonderful literary escape from the world. Yet the escape teaches us more about the world than we might ever know. Thanks to Cramer, and thanks to Henry for crafting this word feast.

A Plethora of Riches.......2004-09-24

Jeffrey Cramer's annotated "Walden" weaves together the "woof" of Thoreau's philosophy and observances with the "warp" of all the influences upon him in his life, current and remembered. Cramer brings light to bear on the puns and allusions that would likely escape the reader of today. It is an uncommonly rich reading experience.
The book itself is the best designed I can remember in years. The annotations are side by side with the text; the type is crisp and clear; the book opens flat for easy handling; and it is printed on fine stock. Cramer and Yale University Press have given us a rare gift.

Always, Rachel: The Letters of Rachel Carson and Dorothy Freeman, 1952-1964 - The Story of a Remarkable Friendship (Concord Library)

Average customer rating:

Great Book

Always, Rachel: The Letters of Rachel Carson and Dorothy Freeman, 1952-1964 - The Story of a Remarkable Friendship (Concord Library)
Rachel Carson , and Dorothy Freeman
Manufacturer: Beacon Press
ProductGroup: Book
Binding: Hardcover

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Rachel Carson: Witness for Nature
Lost Woods: The Discovered Writing of Rachel Carson
The Sense of Wonder
Silent Spring
The Edge of the Sea

ASIN: 0807070106

Amazon.com

Dorothy Freeman, a fan of environmental writer Rachel Carson, was also her best friend. The correspondence between them charts the growth of their long affection; it also offers much detail about Carson's concerns as a writer and scientific reporter, to say nothing of her misgivings about being anointed as one of the environmental movement's chief intellectual leaders. The letters are full of talk about birds, books, and the changing seasons. Fans of Carson--and of the forgotten art of correspondence--are sure to enjoy Always, Rachel.

Book Description

Rachel Carson's landmark book Silent Spring set the modern environmental movement in motion.This very special collection of letters from Rachel Carson to her Maine summer neighbor Dorothy Freeman offers an intimate, spellbinding look at Carson's private life and thoughts.

An intimate collection of letters from the woman who sparked the modern environmental movement.

"What is revealed in this selection of letters is the extraordinary, private person of Carson and her relationship with Freeman, the nature-loving, homebody friend of her later years. . . . It is not often that a collection of letters reveals character, emotional depth, personality, indeed intellect and talent, as well as a full biography might; these letters do all that."
-Doris Grumbach, The New York Times Book Review

Customer Reviews:

Great Book.......2000-12-05

I loved this book. It gives an inside look into the life of Rachel Carson. You get a sence of who she was and her passion for nature. I recomend it.

Nature Noir: A Park Ranger's Patrol in the Sierra

Average customer rating:

Good book for the plane
Mother Nature & Politics--Man is Always the Bad Guy
Slow, Ponderous
Poor writing with some good stories
Wildness and beauty at the heart of Mother Lode country

Nature Noir: A Park Ranger's Patrol in the Sierra
Jordan Fisher Smith
Manufacturer: Houghton Mifflin
ProductGroup: Book
Binding: Hardcover

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The Last Season (P.S.)
Shattered Air: A True Account of Catastrophe and Courage on Yosemite's Half Dome
Hey Ranger!: True Tales of Humor & Misadventure from America's National Parks
Park Ranger True Stories from a Ranger's Career in America's National Parks
Seaworthy: Adrift with William Willis in the Golden Age of Rafting

ASIN: 0618224165

Book Description

Nature Noir is the intensely original story -- part Edward Abbey, part James Ellroy -- of Jordan Fisher Smith's fourteen years as a park ranger on forty-eight miles of Sierra Nevada river canyons. The gorgeous government-owned land along the American River that Fisher Smith and his band of fellow rangers have pledged to protect is (think Catch-22) condemned to be inundated by a huge dam. As Smith learns from his first day on patrol, the provisional quality of life here attracts the marginal and the pure crazy. Ranger work, in this place where wildness tends toward the human kind, includes encounters with armed miners who scour canyons for gold, drug-addled squatters, and extreme recreators who enjoy combining motorcycles, parachutes, and high bridges. Nature Noir reveals some startling truths about park rangering on America's public lands. In one heart-stopping scene, Smith comes across the corpse of a woman runner, killed and partly eaten by a mountain lion -- the first Californian to die in that way since the nineteenth century. Elsewhere, the predator on the loose may be human, and Smith goes looking for the bones of a long-missing woman in the surreal landscape around a half-constructed dam slowly reverting to wild.

Customer Reviews:

Good book for the plane.......2007-06-20

I don't really have much to say about Nature Noir. I read it on the plane out to Denver. It was recommended to me by a non-fiction writer and I heard part of an interview with the author on the radio. I confess that I have not read a great deal of non-fiction aside from personal essays. "Nature Noir" read much like a long personal essay, interspersed with the customary commentary on landscape necessary in all nature writing. Smith's narrative seeks to dispel the idyllic image of wilderness and the life of the Forest Ranger. And I imagine for many people, particularly people who do not spend much time in the Western backcountry, Smith's reports of meth-labs, poachers, suicides, and predator attacks contrast their image of wilderness. But it's something most people who spend time in the backcournty have know about for some time. Ultimately I found his tales and observations somewhat pedestrian. The reviewer on the inside cover compared the work to Edward Abbey, Gary Snyder, and Aldo Leopold. Such comparisons are far too generous for this particular work.

Mother Nature & Politics--Man is Always the Bad Guy.......2007-03-26

Alas.......A good friend recommended this book for me. He really enjoyed the heck out of it, but I guess I didn't get the same thrill out of reading it. In fact, it was like a big sleeping pill for me to try and finish this book. Sorry 'bout that Steve......but like any book I've ever read, there are always some tidbits of information that makes a person smarter, so I'm not unhappy that I read it. If a person is really into environmental issues, then this just might be the kind of book some other reader is looking for.

Basically the author tells of his 20+ years as a park forest ranger on the north-western coast of California, Sierra Nevada of California, Wyoming's Grand Tetons, and a couple of other locations. His primary focus was the government-owned land of the American River that is condemned to be covered by a dam some day. In his mind it is doomed land that will eventually be flooded over and never to be enjoyed by human kind again. It will be a home that will be taken from the existing animals that now preside there. The flora and fauna will eventually be covered by water too. Of course, whatever good might come from the dam such as a new water supply for the ever-expanding human population, new wildlife in the form of fish, water fowl, underwater plant life, etc. aren't considered as a positive tradeoff. Instead, a new dam is just more human exploitation of mother nature.

Smith spends some time talking about the human element of being a park ranger and the kinds of people that spend time in the public park system, but mostly his focus was on the negative side of the human experience (the armed miners, wild druggies, alcohol-crazed losers, squatters, motorcyclists, gangs, bridge jumpers, etc.). Not much was mentioned about the vast majority of the public (families, campers, and nature lovers) who visit the national forests and treat it with respect.

Smith gives his reader lots of history and geography lessons throughout the book. What it was like to be a park ranger really took the back seat to the author pressing his environmental and political agendas. Instead, we are given a big dose of environmental politics and conservationist history which I found to be mostly dry and uninteresting. In my mind, Smith made 'Man' the bad guy. I also felt that he was a rather bitter person as he looked back on his years as a ranger.

Sooooooo........the bottom line is that this book didn't quite do it for me.

Slow, Ponderous.......2007-01-19

The book started with a bang and ended with a whimper. It was tedious reading by and large, as the Park System is viewed by kind of the Willie Loman of Rangers. He also, as is common in this day, blames all the world's ills on America's and particularly George Bush's failure to get with the program and turn America into a socialist paradise.
He also spent twenty years with his co-workers, but has about as much insight, overt compassion, and intimacy with them as I have with the people with whom I wait for the bus. I'd really have to suggest skipping this depressing and needlessly politicized book; the ramblings of an embittered man. It reminded me of a poor-man's "Zen and the Art of Motorcycle Maintenance".

Poor writing with some good stories.......2007-01-05

Jordan Fisher Smith's writing is extremely poor. However, some of the stories he writes on are interesting despite his lack of proper grammer. I am pretty sure he uses the word "I" 20 times in one page multiple times in this book. But if you can get through the poor writing the book is fairly interesting.

Wildness and beauty at the heart of Mother Lode country.......2007-01-02

Far from safeguarding the big-time, high-profile, and first-rate landscape and wilderness of the national parks and national monuments as a ranger, Jordan Fisher Smith instead worked to safeguard a second-rate, or even third-rate, semi-wilderness that was slated for damming and was open country for prospective miners, developers, and social misfits. For those who have sped through I-80 east through Auburn and Colfax, admittedly more interested in the snowcapped peaks of Emigrant Gap and Donner Pass than in the canyons of the Western Sierra foothills that cradle the forks of the American River, a reappreciation of this part of the Mother Lode country is inevitable, thanks to the powerful sense of place and environmental sensibility of Smith, not to mention a writing style infused with humility and devoid of preachiness. Hence the title "Nature Noir", where, unless you are a local who knew the land (such as Smith himself) or an avid river-runner of the North, Middle, and South Forks of the American River, you would have never thought twice of the wilderness quality of a place with a dam and reservoir that never existed but was already permanently emplaced on maps and mindset of people who had power over the use of the land for flood control, irrigation, and hydroelectricity. In this land, laws are broken, boundaries are pushed, and the moral resilience of rangers are tested, but there is salvation in the knowledge that nature still rules--pockets of wildness where human--and boat--tracks are erased, an aerial flood of beetles swarm from seemingly nowhere, people's lives are claimed by the power of water, a runner is ambushed by a mountain lion, wildflowers burgeon, and a clearer understanding of the complex geology merely underscores the power of nature over human folly where short-term gains tend to overlook long-term large-scale disasters.

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