Book Description
Steve Irwin's sudden and tragic death made headline news around the world. Shock and grief followed. He was a giant and the world has lost a man of heroic proportions: the Crocodile Hunter touched and change lives everywhere. Wildlife Warrior charts Steve Irwin's amazing life - from his childhood in Victoria, Australia, through his work in the wilderness and his zoo. It follows his story into marriage and his fame on the world stage as he took every opportunity to spread the word about wildife conservation. He was a natural historian, whose passion will be remembered long after the world has paid its final respects. A percentage of the proceeds of this book will be directed to ensuring the survival of wildlife around the world.
Customer Reviews:
This book should be RATED R, not for Christians or kids.......2007-09-27
Steve Irwin was a great man. This book has language in it that could have been left out. I wish I could return the book because I couldn't read all of it and it is something that I can never share for the language. There was no warning of this so beware.
An Honest and Fair Read.......2007-08-24
While I agree the book was written in a bit of a disorganized style, and some wording in sentences made me have to re read some to get the sense of it, I am Thoroughly enjoying the read, I'm almost done with it. Its Fair, esp. the part about Steve supposedly putting his baby in danger nearly feeding him to the crocs as so many put it.. I am a huge fan of Steve and Terri, and I KNOW how much he loves his family, I NEVER was worried or shocked, as I understand him and his thinking.. he'd NEVER take a chance of any kind with his children, family, friends, co-workers. Richard wrote about all of it fairly and honestly, which I appreciated, and felt he is also a fan too with a fondness for the man. Richard is an award winning writer, so I did enjoy the book. Some nice pictures in it.
First time using Product link, its for the new book by Terri Irwin herself, titled "Steve and Me" - not sure I did it right.Steve and Me: Life with the Crocodile Hunter
Could have been a little better, but hey.......2007-07-03
This book is mainly clips based on articles/personal opinions from many 3rd hand sources, and did seem maybe just a little disorganized, but not bad at all. I would still recommend this book highly for the mere fact that you get a good look into the life and chronicles of Steve Irwin. Sadly the book also discusses what his future plans were, and how tragic it was he died before he could finish them. His death was a terrible loss to the world.
Steve Irwin, a Man Who Changed the World.......2007-02-09
A wonderful look at the life of a truly great man.
Gone but never forgotten.......2007-01-16
A wonderful account of Steve's life from someone that dearly loved the man and his work. We should never forget Steve and what he stood for and continue caring and believing in what he did.
Book Description
Defying conventional wisdom even as it makes an impassioned plea for moral common sense, this book by an award-winning journalist sheds a new light on the history and politics of the African conservation movement. The book will anger and inspire anyone who cares about African wildlife and the people whose future is intertwined with the fate of these animals.
Customer Reviews:
Facing realities of complex African wildlife conservation.......2006-04-10
Ray Bonner is straight on with this book.Even though it was written in 1992 - the same issues, conflicts and concerns are as current today as they were then. The debate over how to manage wildlife and protect it, is the same arguements that Bonner has brought to light in this book, I still hear today. Having been born and raised in East Africa, lived extensively around wildlife all of my life, Ray Bonner has brought out the complexities of managing wildlife in a land with a large number of hungry, poor people and an expanding population. Often our family were called to help control wildlife such as hippos raiding crops nightly, elephant destroying small farms (often the whole food supply for the year!), maneating lion, stock killing leopard. I witnessed the deaths of local African people by elephant or buffalo, and understand Bonners findings why locals teach their children that "elephants are bad - they kill me". Bonner is great at bringing this "other side" to the table. He is looking at it from the African's point of view. His finding is correct that the International organizations, AWF and WWF, sit in their offices far removed from the daily issues of the African, control the purse strings and impose their visions of how the Africans will manage their resources and wildlife.Most of the decisions makers have never lived in the shoes of Africans, around wildlife. He shows that such organizations, arrive and rather than ask what do you think you need help with, the locals are told, this is what you will do. The points he makes that these organizations think "wildlife first" and people "second" is so valid - though in 2006, there is at least some thinking with newer and younger organizations that, "wildlife
On target for support of culling and trophy hunting..........2002-04-01
...off target scientifically and economically. Raymond Bonner, a well respected investigative journalist lived in Kenya for a few years in the early 1990's and he uncovered something. He says that much of the tourism revenue derived from safaris and visits to the big game parks such as Masaai Mara, Tsavo, Amboseli, Serengeti, Kruger, and Etosha was not benefiting the locals in the immediate areas. Further he came to see the dichotomy between how most Westerners view wildlife and how Africans do. Our view is colored by the romantic writings of Dinesen and Markham, and the adventurous hunting life enjoyed by Hemingway. Africans on the other hand see wildlife either as food or something to run away from. He's spot on with the reaction of a typical Kenyan toto who has been taught very early in life that "elephants are bad" because "they kill me." One star to Mr Bonner for his accurate assessment of the inadequacies of tourism development plans and programs for the environmental education of children in Kenya, Zimbabwe, and South Africa. The book gets another star for its exposure of the cultural biases and narrow self-interest that oftentimes politicizes organizations such as the WWF - the world's largest conservation agency - the World Wide Fund for Nature (formerly the World Wildlife Fund). However Mr Bonner runs out of stars and a persuasive argument when he proposes that it is AT THE HAND OF MAN (read Western white man and his do-good conservation ethics) that there is the greatest threat for the future of Africa's wildlife.
Mr Bonner is strongly opposed to the ban on ivory and he supports culling of elephant herds. Although he is eloquent in saying that he "can't understand" how someone would wish to hunt elephants or other big game, it is obvious from his arguments that he doesn't understand the close connection between culling and trophy hunting. I intend to deal with the book on it's scientific and economic arguments alone, and stay away from polarizing political ideology that sees everything as either cultural or science warfare. (I'm actually quite surprised that this book has not featured more in the debates as it is well written and Bonner certainly isn't shy in offering his opinion). Recent scientific work on the complexity of elephant social life and family structure, particularly the dominant role played by the matriarch, tends to undermine the scientific value of culling. Studies have shown that in times when overpopulation causes degradation of the environment (the main reason for culling) the matriarch utilizes a natural population-regulating system. She simply leads a group of female elephants away from the males in the herd to their eventual demise. Also man-made contraceptives that last for up to a year are now proving somewhat successful. On the economic front, wheras it's true that tourism revenues have not made much contribution due to corruption, mismanagement, or use for things other than community development, this is a double-edged sword argument. There is sufficient evidence to show that the revenues earned from the sale of culled elephant ivory (prior to the international ban) was not going to locals either. Further, when the ban was temporarily lifted in 1997, there was a concomitant increase in poaching. As for the income earned where trophy hunting is allowed as part of a culling process as in South Africa; let's just say "show me the money"! is probably the best analysis. Most of the money does not go to fees paid in Africa but in fact never even leaves the US. The majority is paid to the big US game hunting outfits that equip and organize the African hunting trips.
This book is a genuine attempt by a Westerner, who having lived in Africa, comes to some understanding of the gap between what we think about the continent and what it's really like and seeks to put his insights into words. It's also more than that. It is the work of a bright investigative journalist using his skills to expose some of the complexities of wildlife management and the biases that attend it. Unfortunately the book didn't stop there, it's still more. It's political. Bonner himself makes it so. "It was natural for me to take up this cause. I am a liberal, and a former public interest lawyer; I was a vegetarian for a period in the seventies and still eat very little meat, and I have been opposed to commercial whaling and cutting down forests." Oops there it is! Let the wars begin! and Bonner will desevedly get hit by both sides. Liberals will strike first slamming Bonner for saying that vegetarianism is a qualifying criteria for Liberalism! Conservatives will also go on the attack, when after reading the book, they realize that his real sympathies lie with them, and he makes a hash out of arguments they could defend. Everybody, fire away!
Average customer rating:
- The Diversity of Life
- Second time round
- The Diversity of Life
- A Good Introduction to the Tapestry Of Life
- Welcome to the Jungle. Gets worse here every day.
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The Diversity of Life (Questions of Science)
Edward O. Wilson
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ASIN: 0674212983 |
Amazon.com
Humans, the Harvard University entomologist Edward O. Wilson has observed, have an innate--or at least extremely ancient--connection to the natural world, and our continued divorce from it has led to the loss of not only "a vast intellectual legacy born of intimacy" with nature, but also our very sanity. In The Diversity of Life, Wilson takes a sweeping view of our planet's natural richness, remarking on what on the surface seems a paradox: "almost all the species that ever lived are extinct, and yet more are alive today than at any time in the past." (Wilson's elegant explanation is a scientific education in itself.) This great variety of species is, of course, threatened by habitat destruction, global climate change, and a host of other forces, and Wilson revisits his oft-stated call for the protection of wilderness and undeveloped land, noting that "wilderness has virtue unto itself and needs no extraneous justification." We should, he continues, regard every species, "every scrap of biodiversity," as precious and irreplaceable, without attempting to quantify that regard with utilitarian measures such as "bio-economics." In short, Wilson offers with this book a simple, workable environmental ethic that extends the work of Aldo Leopold and other conservationists. A remarkably productive and influential scientist, Wilson is also a fine writer, and his survey of biodiversity makes for welcome and instructive reading. --Gregory McNamee
Book Description
View a video on Professor Wilson entitled "On the Relation of Science and the Humanities"
"In the Amazon Basin the greatest violence sometimes begins as a flicker of light beyond the horizon. There in the perfect bowl of the night sky, untouched by light from any human source, a thunderstorm sends its premonitory signal and begins a slow journey to the observer, who thinks: the world is about to change." Watching from the edge of the Brazilian rain forest, witness to the sort of violence nature visits upon its creatures, Edward O. Wilson reflects on the crucible of evolution, and so begins his remarkable account of how the living world became diverse and how humans are destroying that diversity.
Wilson, internationally regarded as the dean of biodiversity studies, conducts us on a tour through time, traces the processes that create new species in bursts of adaptive radiation, and points out the cataclysmic events that have disrupted evolution and diminished global diversity over the past 600 million years. The five enormous natural blows to the planet (such as meteorite strikes and climatic changes) required 10 to 100 million years of evolutionary repair. The sixth great spasm of extinction on earth--caused this time entirely by humans--may be the one that breaks the crucible of life. Wilson identifies this crisis in countless ecosystems around the globe: coral reefs, grasslands, rain forests, and other natural habitats. Drawing on a variety of examples such as the decline of bird populations in the United States, the extinction of many species of freshwater fish in Africa and Asia, and the rapid disappearance of flora and fauna as the rain forests are cut down, he poignantly describes the death throes of the living world's diversity--projected to decline as much as 20 percent by the year 2020.
All evidence marshaled here resonates through Wilson's tightly reasoned call for a spirit of stewardship over the world's biological wealth. He makes a plea for specific actions that will enhance rather than diminish not just diversity but the quality of life on earth. Cutting through the tangle of environmental issues that often obscure the real concern, Wilson maintains that the era of confrontation between forces for the preservation of nature and those for economic development is over; he convincingly drives home the point that both aims can, and must, be integrated. Unparalleled in its range and depth, Wilson's masterwork is essential reading for those who care about preserving the world biological variety and ensuring our planet's health.
Customer Reviews:
The Diversity of Life.......2007-01-10
This is an outstanding book. If you read this before you read Darwin's Origin of Species you'll get soooo much more from reading the latter. Anyway, the book encapsulates in easy to read prose much information that your mind can easily wrap itself around.
Second time round.......2007-01-04
When I received the book, it appeared that I had already an earlier edition in my bookcase. I did not regret my purchase, because the new version is updated/upgraded and E.O. Wilson is an excellent author and scientist on the subject of evolution.
The Diversity of Life.......2007-01-04
To begin with, I would like to say that this book was fairly good. The book started talking about early life on this planet, the various pioneering species of early Earth, etc. The book then goes into detail about the eolutionary paths of some of these pioneer species and of evolution in general, and of how the biodiversity on Earth has grown both in size and complexity. Towards the end, the book goes into the human influence on the environment; mostly the negative effects of human activity on theenvironment. I read this book for an AP Environmental Science class, and although this book is not the best, it had many colorful graphics and was fairly interesting and not dull like many of the books you are forced to read in school.
A Good Introduction to the Tapestry Of Life.......2006-08-27
This is a very eye-opening book which shows how important the diversity of life forms is to all of us. It demonstrates how even when we think we are conserving nature by setting aside
small areas to remain undeveloped, we are still dooming many species of life to extinction. With the loss of some species, others are threated and in the end, all of us are threatened.
I would recommend this book to anyone who wants a large view picture of nature in this world and how it is all interelated.
Welcome to the Jungle. Gets worse here every day........2006-07-02
There are some books where the superlative is simply insufficient. Edward Wilson writes with panache and vigor. He knows how to describe and keep the reader entertained. It was like I was reading fiction.
Wilson also writes with detail and accuracy. He knows his science. He knows the intricacy of ecology, and knows enough to know he can't know everything. This allows him to keep the mystery alive for the reader. I was continually astonished to see how he pulled in various aspects of Biology when telling a life story, and various sciences, to show how it All was inter-related. He would pull in constant relationships between different forms of life, and just when I thought he was done, he would go down a microscopic level. And then down another five levels. If is possible to be a savant within ecology, then this is it.
Wilson doesn't stop with good writing and excellent research. He tells us there's a problem. This is another The Jungle- only this time, there isn't much of a jungle left. Through out the book he makes clear that the planet is dying, and dying fast, and the causes of this death. Through the use of the ecological relationships, we see how an attack on one species can be an attack on thousands. Better authors are brave enough to tell us that not everything is okay.
The best authors tell us that there's a way to solve these problems. There are gloom and doom authors out there, teaching the world that everything will be destroyed, and the only thing to do now is get saved yourself. That's too little, and too easy, for Wilson. He doesn't make the situation worse than it is- his facts, studies, and research make it clear the situation is pretty bad. But it's not hopeless. He lays out how we can be changing things, and there's still time to change things. Not that it will be easy. But like an economic austerity program, sacrifices must be made, that we all might survive. To make it clear, this is a survivalist book. If you are hoping to see our species survive, then this book will assist in that. If you're okay with losing out on our currect ecological richness, with the disappearance of all the ecosystems you are familiar with, and the end of a species that can create a world wide web- but the survival of constant insect lifeforms- then there's no need to read any further.
(This review refers to the 1992 edition.)
Book Description
It was the winter of 1902; South African park ranger Harry Wolhuter was on horseback, patrolling the area for poachers at Kruger National Park. Little did he know, he was also being stalked. Out of nowhere, two huge male lions pounced on Harry's horse, knocking the man to the ground. The horse ran off, leaving Harry to fend for himself. One of the lions lunged at him--piercing deep into his flesh and bones--and began to drag him far into the jungle to finish him off. Harry's only hope for survival was the small sheath he carried on his right hip, and he could not reach it easily. With a few quick stabs to the massive beast's chest, he waited and prayed for the best. Miraculously, after spending hours in a tree--drifting in and out of consciousness--with only his terrier standing between him and the second lion, he survived the attack and lived to tell his story.
But others have not been so lucky at Kruger National Park. Today, Mozambican refugees are being eaten alive in great numbers as they attempt to walk the Kruger, yet no one seems to know about these massacres, and nothing is being done to stop them. More lion attacks have been documented in the past year than ever before.
And so begins the investigative journey of journalist Robert Frump. In July of 2002, his plane touched down on the airfields west of Kruger, and what he discovered was beyond belief.
The Man-Eaters of Eden uncovers the simple truth, that more people are eaten by lions today, than ever before.
Customer Reviews:
A natural history of the park's two thousand lions and the plight of reguees who are their prey........2006-12-14
Mozambican refugees are being eaten alive en masse as they attempt to walk across South Africa's Kruger National Park - home to the notorious man eating lions that are a well-kept secret outside the area. Journalist Robert Frump journeyed to the region in 2002 in search of their story and found a complex social and political mileau instead of the simple tale he had anticipated. THE MAN-EATERS OF EDEN thus becomes as much a story of politics and regional issues as it is a natural history of the park's two thousand lions and the plight of reguees who are their prey.
Diane C. Donovan
California Bookwatch
Average.......2006-11-10
Not in the same league as Paterson's "Man Eaters of Tsavo" or Corbetts "Man Eaters of Kumaon". Needs more narration on actual Man Eating incidents in the Kruger National Park. Some of the Kruger incidents are old and I have read them in other books.
OF DEFINITE VALUE.......2006-11-04
This is an intriguing book because it's many-layered. On the one hand, it's certainly about man-eating lions. On the other, it's about waves of refugees willing to risk those lions on foot, unarmed and in the middle of the African night, to escape war and poverty. And the question of what you do, officially, in a famous wildlife preserve when your most charismatic tourist attractions are regularly killing and eating desperate political and economic refugees. Answer: You cover it up. You make sure your own tourists are safe (?) and you cover up the rest. There are no clear villains in this book- not the lions, who are just doing what lions do; not the refugees, looking for a viable life; not even the Kruger officials, who have no taste for the wholesale slaughter of animals in their charge. There is one hero, who does what he can in a refreshingly non-official, commonsensical way to help the refugees better their chances of staying alive.
I enjoyed Frump's style and narrative persona; he is no hero himself, out of his element and as scared of lions as anyone else. He's tantalized by the idea of crossing Kruger on foot and at night himself, but honestly relieved when he can find no one willing to guide him. He doesn't offer any easy answers and few judgements.
It's also humbling to realize how utterly helpless human beings still are when separated from our technology and set afoot in the dark among predators we must have known intimately for hundreds of thousands of years.
God's In Frump's Details.......2006-11-01
I found this to be a most intriguing read. At the very start of the book Frump gets your heart racing with the frightening tale of a corpse-spotting in Kruger. Even more gruesome lion-kill accounts create the intermittent suspense that boils up at just the right times throughout this book. That suspense is held together tightly with an honest and well-researched history of the state of game in African park and the plight of the African people who, victims of endless war, must unfairly confront Kruger's lions--the perfect killing machines. What's more, Frump helps the reader grapple with the natural guilt that comes from enjoying the suspense in this tragedy by tackling the sad moral quandry: lion or man. And perhaps best of all, it's a superbly crafted tale that is told in Frump's crips writing style.
Of Doubtful Value.......2006-10-06
I found this book to be a disappointment. I hunt in Africa (not South Africa) and am fortunate enough to return on return on a yearly basis. I do not consider myself an expert on Africa by any means, and indeed, I wonder if anyone can really become an expert on so vast a place as Sub-Saharan Africa, an area only slightly smaller than the 48 contiguous United States. This book has a disorganized feel as though it was rushed into print on short notice. It is hard to understand the point the author is trying to make. Africa has components that can be very dangerous at times, although no more dangerous than many other parts of the world including the US. The reality is that everyone tends to manage the dangers they are familiar with as best they can. This is no less true for Africa than for the US and the other Western nations. Many thousands die on the US highways every year, but people by the millions don't think twice about risking death by using them to get where they need to go. The same is true for Africa. If the indigenous Africans need to risk predation or similar dangers to get to where they need to go, they take the risk. Most people around the world manage risk quite well in their daily lives. A few behave recklessly, and they are the ones that tend to get into trouble. As the author finally points out at the end of the book, there are ways to cross Kruger National park without being killed by lions, but there is always a risk of death, just as there is always a risk of death in highly developed industrial societies. (Currently, the real risk of death in Africa is from AIDS.) Finally, his discussions about firearms show a real lack of knowledge. Someone knowledgeable about firearms, and organization of the written word, should have gone over this book before publication.
Amazon.com
In the early 1980s, working at the behest of the noted biologist George Schaller, Alan Rabinowitz traveled to the newly independent Central American nation of Belize to study jaguars, once extensive throughout the Americas, in a remote, densely forested part of that country. ("If the world had any ends, [Belize] would surely be one of them" Aldous Huxley once wrote.) There, deep within mountainous jungle, Rabinowitz conducted a thorough study of the jaguar's natural history, studying its diet (made up, he writes, of a surprising quantity of armadillos), movements, and territories, and learning the ways of the much-feared cat. He also learned a little something about himself--discovering, he writes, that "once I had overcome my initial fears of this dense, dark green world, I started to enjoy it."
Over his two-year stay, Rabinowitz developed plans to establish a forest sanctuary that would be free of the jaguar's principal enemies--not deadly fer-de-lance snakes or other large predators, but loggers, poachers, and cattle ranchers, all of whom had their reasons for wanting to see jaguars disappear from the region. Although he was successful in convincing the Belizean government to authorize the Cockscomb preserve, Rabinowitz writes in the afterword to this revised edition of Jaguar (first published in 1986), the jaguar haven came at a cost to Mayan people who lived in the area and were forced to relocate. His memoir will be of great interest not only to admirers of the jaguar, a magnificent animal by any measure, but also to students of international ecological issues. --Gregory McNamee
Book Description
In 1983, zoologist Alan Rabinowitz ventured into the rain forest of Belize, determined to study the little-known jaguar in its natural habitat and to establish the world's first jaguar preserve. Within two years, he had succeeded. In Jaguar he provides the only first-hand account of a scientist's experience with jaguars in the wild. Jaguar presents an irresistible blend of natural history and adventure; intensely personal, it is a portrait of an elusive, solitary predator and the Mayas with which it shares the jungle. Strong and sensitive, the book excitingly describes the rewards and hardships of fighting to protect this almost mythical cat." - George Schaller, author of The Last Panda and Wildlife of the Tibetan Stepp.
"The glimpse which Rabinowitz's painstaking and careful research gives us of the world of the mysterious jaguar is tantalizing ....... Packed with interest and adventure." - Jane Goodall, author of Reason for Hope and In the Shadow of Ma.
"An intimate look at the lives of rural Central Americans. At times Rabinowitz resembles a character from Joseph Conrad ... the tension between man and beast becomes startlingly vivid." - The Washington Pos.
"A jungle adventure story in the classic mold, of a daredevil westerner who penetrates the deepest jungles of Belize in search of his quarry. There are thrills and chills aplenty in this quest for the mighty feline." - Kirkus Review.
Originally published in 1986, this edition includes a new preface and epilogue by the author that bring the story up to date with recent events in the region and around the world.
Customer Reviews:
The Heart of the Jungle.......2004-11-29
"Jaguar" is the fascinating story of one scientist's journey to study and protect the elusive jaguar, the third largest cat in the world.
Written like a book of fiction, "Jaguar" reads smoothly, capturing your attention and curiosity with its first-person portrayal of life in an alien world: the jungles of Belize. It is peopled with the Maya, a culture rich in history yet suffering poverty, disease, and insignificance in modern times. And in this world exists the jaguar, a powerful cat who is rarely seen and is not a man-eater, yet is hunted almost to extinction for its exquisite spotted fur and because, quite simply, people fear it.
I read "Jaguar" in about 2 days, and fell completely in love with its spirit. The author, a young scientist, struggled hard to successfully understand the lives of these cats within its world and to keep it alive, often to his own personal tragedies. His description of the jungle is unromantic and riveting, as are the terrible hardships that go with it. I will never forget all the diseases, snakes, and parasites than run amok in this story, practically characters of their own. One lesson I came back with is how thankful I am to live in a country with exceptional sanitation and medical care.
"Jaguar" is haunting. You can't finish it without wishing to enter that dark, dangerous jungle of the majestic jaguar. It draws out the adventurer in you. It stirs your compassion.
Review of "Jaguar"".......2004-03-24
This book is essential reading for anyone interested in the Central American Rainforest. It has a little bit of everything..field notes, natural history, local culture, paranormal experiences, adventure, and romance. The book was engaging and easy to read. I learned a lot about jaguars and the struggle to protect them. The only drawback was Rabinowitz's negative portrayl of the present day Mayans. Undoubtedly, the author is a scientist and not an anthropologist, but i do feel that he should have shown more respect for their culture and more understanding of their situation.
I reccomend this book, and then i reccomend traveling to Cockscomb Basin in Belize to fully appreciate the conservation effort. Even if you can't get there, you will feel like you have been there after reading this book.
An excellent book for everyone!.......2002-12-10
My boyfriend had read "Beyond the Last Villiage" (also by Rabinowitz) and really enjoyed it so when we saw this one I figured I would see if I liked it. I am into nature and wildlife and this book is filled with all the goodies. I couldn't put down the book, I read it in 2 days! I wanted to see what happened to the jaguar that he caught and find out what happened to it.
I highly reccommend this book to anyone that is interested in our environment and wildlife. Now from reading this book I am planning my next vacation to Belize. I am in Thailand now and plan on visiting the National Park that he studied tigers and jaguars at...SO...my reccommendation is buy this book you won't regret it!
Armchair adventure and hair-raising thrills, jaguar style........2002-08-21
I never would have chosen this book, but it showed up in my mail and, well, what else is there to do but read it? I'm so glad I did.
This is a fascinating story of a zoologist who, in 1983, went into the rain forest of Central America to study the jaguar in its native habitat.
"On Dec. 2, 1984, the Cockscomb Basin was declared a National Forest Reserve, with a no hunting provision for the protection of the jaguar. This made Belize the first country in the world to protect jaguars."
This book tells an utterly fantastic tale -- sometimes terrifying -- of how that came to be. It portrays a world most safely enjoyed from the comfort of an armchair; a very personal story that is a combination of natural history and hair-raising adventure in the Stanley Livingston tradition.
An excellent read.......2002-03-21
This book will appeal to readers who have a specific interest in jaguars and those with more overall conservation leanings. Dr. Rabinowitz is a pioneer in research on this elusive animal and his groundbreaking work shows just how vital the jaguar is to rainforest ecologist, and the devestating impact man has had on this magnificent species. The book is also a remarkable story about the animals and people of the rainforest, who we get to know through Dr. Rabinowitz's exciting narrative. I found myself laughing and crying all at once and was not able to put this book down!
Book Description
How the body responds to high altitude—the classic study revised for the latest scientific findings.
·Cutting-edge information on how to prevent, diagnose, and treat altitude illness and hypoxia in everyday life
·Interweaves fascinating research discoveries with dramatic first-person accounts
·Authored by a celebrated mountaineer and physician who pioneered research in the field
From the time of his historic expedition to Nanda Devi in the high Himalaya, Charles Houston, M.D., has been fascinated by the effects of altitude on the human body. Why do people get sick in the mountains? What are the symptoms of hypoxia—lack of sufficient oxygen—that also occurs in everyday life, sometimes chronically due to disease? How can we decrease the incidence of illness and death?
This substantially revised edition incorporates new research of the last 10 years. Houston joins forces with an educator and a medical writer in a text made even more accessible for the average reader while retaining the depth of material of particular use to the medical community. It includes new chapters on vision and the eye at altitude, chronic and subacute altitude illness, and the limits to work at altitude (with implications for athletic training). It presents current information on genetics and gender differences and more on flight and space travel, on understanding and treating sea-level hypoxic illnesses, and on who can (or should not) go to high altitude, and much more. With an expanded glossary of terms.
Customer Reviews:
Going Higher - New and Revised .......2006-09-22
This is the fifth edition of "Going Higher", now revised and expanded by Dr Houston and two colleagues. The new book has added additional text and illustrations, as well as added sections including explanations of the effects of gender and genetics. The authors note that the high-altitude adaptation of the inhabitants of the Himalayas is better than those of the Andes, perhaps as a result the death of so many of the indigenous people in the Andes resulting in genetic narrowing following the conquest of South America by Europeans.
This is an excellent book on the effects of altitude on people. It reviews the history of mountain exploration, explains the physiological effects of the reduction of atmospheric pressure, and presents a practical guide for acclimatization to altitude. I agree with the observation that for effective acclimatization, there is a boundary somewhere between 8000 and 9000 feet. This has become apparent to me on trips to Colorado to climb 14,000 ft peaks. As amusing as Vail and Aspen at over 8000 ft may be, Breckenridge, Keystone, and Monarch at 9500 ft are much better, not to mention Leadville at over 10,000 ft. Of course, the best first step in altitude acclimatization is to read this book.
Book Description
The true tale of an edenic Rocky Mountain town and what transpired when a predatory species returned to its ancestral home.
When, in the late 1980s, residents of Boulder, Colorado, suddenly began to see mountain lions in their yards, it became clear that the cats had repopulated the land after decades of persecution. Here, in a riveting environmental fable that recalls Peter Benchley's thriller Jaws, journalist David Baron traces the history of the mountain lion and chronicles Boulder's effort to coexist with its new neighbors. A parable for our times, The Beast in the Garden is a scientific detective story and a real-life drama, a tragic tale of the struggle between two highly evolved predators: man and beast. 3 illustrations, 2 maps.
Customer Reviews:
Beast in the Garden Review.......2007-09-19
Extremely well written. I've recommended this book to all my friends and family.. not only is it intriguing and interesting, but its also incredibly informative. It opens your eyes to issues that you probably have not ever thought of. I'd give this book 10 stars if I could.
Beast in the Garden.......2007-06-27
I read this book because a friend at work had it.
I bought two copies from Amazon after reading it: one for me, and one for a friend researching/photographing mountain lions in South Dakota. I've already loaned out my copy to another friend who lives in Colorado and Nebraska and he said he remembers when the Idaho Springs incident happened.
This book is well written and does read like a detective story - but the reality is chilling. I couldn't stop reading it. I can't wait to read it again.
Thanks to Mr. Baron for such excellent work.
Tim Reigert
I loved this book........2007-03-08
"Beast in the Garden" was an extremely interesting book. It was full of facts and entertaining, although although a bit disturbing, at the same time. I live in an area where there are bears in many back yards and this book really takes a very informed look into the suburban/wildlife dynamic. I would definitely recommend it. My daughter is reading it now.
The Beast is Brilliant.......2007-01-09
This is a simply brilliant exposition of the Boulder that I grew up in. Baron examines the situation well and pays attention to the wildlife issues that were relevant at the time and are still relevant now. A few historical problems do come up, but they are merely anecdotal and hardly detract from the story.
Two things really make this a great book:
-if you're from Boulder or the Front Range, you'll be saying "Oh, I've been there" or "Hey, I know that guy" throughout the whole book.
-this book is action-packed. If they could make a movie out of it, they should.
Most of all, Baron pays attention to the characters and really goes in depth with who they are. I'm mostly interested in wildlife, however I found his portrayal of the people the most exciting.
A Cautionary Tale for Garden Dwellers.......2006-11-03
A fitness freak teenager, Scott Lancaster, skips his lunch period to run - his track a mountain trail just upslope from his Idaho Springs, Colorado, high school. The track lies within a few hundred yards of I-70, not far from Colorado's gambling towns, Central City and Black Hawk, about 40 miles west of Denver. Not unusual behavior for a youngster who often cut classes to go running.
But Scott Lancaster did not come back to school or to home. Two days later, a search team including many of Scott's fellow students, about ready to give up looking, found his brutally assaulted body in heavy underbrush, just off his trail.
A Beast in the Garden killed Scott.
The book tells the tale in a readable way. How the Garden came to be. How the wilderness areas at the edge of human development along the Front Range of the Rocky Mountains were set aside as nature preserves in which the Beasts could live undisturbed. How the Beasts' natural predators were driven off. How the Beasts adapted to co-existence with the humans at the edges of the Garden. How the Beasts were seen moving further and further into developed areas like Boulder and Idaho Springs. How the Beasts showed their killer instinct with dogs and cats and sheep and other smaller animals. How the Beasts changed their ways, hunting in broad daylight, killing animals people said it feared. How the Beasts repeatedly attacked humans, even though it was said they would not. How a Beast treed Lynda Walters. How Andy Peterson saved himself by gouging out another Beast's eye. How a Beast killed Scott.
The Beasts in the Garden were mountain lions.
The book is the story of a killing and the hunt for the killer. It is also a story of a young naturalist, Michael Sanders, then of the Boulder County Parks and Open Space District, helping humans learn to live with the raccoons and other small invaders from the Garden. Mountain lion sightings piqued Sanders' fascination for big animals. Sanders and others began to build a systematic knowledge base of verified mountain lion sightings. They showed how the population of mountain lions appeared to be growing. How the sightings were of behaviors that proved more and more dangerous to domestic animals, even to humans. How Sanders warned that mountain lions posed significant danger - and was often ignored.
Finally, the book is a study in eco-sociology. Of the forces that created and still maintain the Garden as a preserve for wilderness creatures. Of the conflicting values of those living on the edge of the Garden, those who would remove mountain lions from the Garden, those whose saw humans as the intruders onto the mountain lions' natural home. It is a story that pits neighbor against neighbor. More instructively, it pits Sanders and his friends against the State and Federal park and wilderness managers. It pits emerging reality against common wisdom.
David Baron is a reporter on science and the environment for National Public Radio who first became interested in the behavior of mountain lions in developed areas while doing a 1996 story on a hiker who was killed by a mountain lion near Auburn, CA. His interest took him to the Garden that is the wilderness near Boulder and to Scott Lancaster's and Michael Sanders' stories. Beast in the Garden is a very good read, a well-written mystery that would be thoroughly satisfying were it not for the macabre reality.
The reality is not unique to Colorado's Front Range. My local newspaper has reported many sightings in the town north of my community, sightings and attacks on sheep, goats, and other small animals. A cashier at the local supermarket lost her dog to a mountain lion that is a frequent visitor in the community 15 miles south of mine. A nearby vineyard owner reports a female that has given birth to twin kits annually for several years. The regional paper has reported mountain lion sightings in urban areas, one just a few blocks from the county's community college. On a recent ten-day swing through the Pacific Northwest, there were reports of mountain lion sightings in developed areas in the Tacoma News Tribune, the Vancouver Sun, the Lewiston, Idaho, Tribune, and the Portland Oregonian.
So reality reminds us that my community, a former sheep ranch of about 3000 acres that has been developed with 2300 properties and more than 1500 acres of common land - forests and meadows - is a Garden, too. We, too, are seeing mountain lions. Not just in the forests, but in our meadows, close to the trails along the ocean bluff. Deer kills are reported routinely. We, too, have lost some of the sheep we keep to reduce fire risk, and there are musings about pets that have gone missing. No attacks on humans - yet.
The lessons in Beast in the Garden do not stop at the Front Range; they are applicable in my community - and maybe yours.
Average customer rating:
- For lovers of wild cats
- One Amazing Animal
- If you love your cat, you will love the stories about Cougar
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Through Cougar's Eyes: Life Lessons From One Man's Best Friend
David Raber
Manufacturer: Thomas Dunne Books
ProductGroup: Book
Binding: Hardcover
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ASIN: 0312269188 |
Amazon.com
In one of those odd, unplanned moments of fate, David Raber paid a couple of thousand dollars to liberate a depressed and frightened cougar cub from a pet-shop cage. He took Cougar, the eponymous big cat, home, introduced him to the more compact cats that already lived with him, and watched as the household adjusted, bit by bit, to the unlikely newcomer. Everyone eventually did. So, too, did the neighborhood dogs, and most of the neighbors--though a few, Raber writes grumpily, behaved in less than friendly ways when Cougar went out for a stroll or kept vigil in the bushes. All the while, Raber observed his new housemate's behavior, learning how to interpret Cougar's growls and purrs, and how to give Cougar the freedom to act naturally in an unnatural setting.
Bringing Cougar into his home, Raber writes, "would refocus my priorities and change what I had considered important." He recounts that transformation and his changing view of wildlife and the environment, as well as the accidental fame that befell Cougar as the residents of one crowded Florida town after another came to appreciate his company. A kind of modern rejoinder to Joy Adamson's Born Free, Raber's memoir of his sentimental education in the ways of Felis concolor will interest animal enthusiasts of all kinds. --Gregory McNamee
Book Description
David Raber first saw Cougar when he was an eight-week-old kitten locked up in a toaster-sized cage, being put on display and poked and prodded by the crowd.Raber took him out, held him, and just couldn't put him back.He made four promises that day: one, no more petting, out of respect for Cougar; two, no more cages; three, he would educate people against exotic animal ownership, and four, he would make Cougar happy, and this has become a 24-hour-a-day learning process and a duty that he adores.Being the only large cat in the country who is federally licensed without a cage, Cougar strides down streets, roams hotel lobbies, enters speedboat competitions, and even films a Puma Sportswear ad with several Olympic gold medalists.Together, Raber and Cougar are a team, and in this book, Raber recounts their many adventures together - he teaches Cougar about elevators, switches, and doors while saving him from bullets and speeding cars; and Cougar teaches him about deer, oppossum, and squirrels while rescuing him from alligators and raging rivers.In helping each other, they share their weaknesses and become strong.As the official poster model for the IAMS company, Cougar has been seen by millions.Beautiful and touching, entertaining and provocative, Through Cougar's Eyes is a love story that dispels the prevalent and presumptuous thinking that mankind and wildlife can't get along and depicts sacrifice and dedication with a message: relating to animals will set you both free.AUTHORBIO: DAVID RABER graduated from DePauw University with a pre-med degree and went on to become a distinguished Naval graduate.His previous occupations include Naval aviator and the owner of an aircraft management charter business.He is currently employed as the loyal servant and devoted friend to his companion, Cougar.
Customer Reviews:
For lovers of wild cats.......2002-07-15
David Raber tells a unique story -- one which many animal lovers might wish to relive. His accounts of life with this amazing cougar are worth the read. But an animal expert he is not. He may know volumes about raising a cougar in his home, but he called an opossum a rodent. Other misstatements were less obvious but inexcusable. Still, the story was fun.
One Amazing Animal.......2001-12-07
Ever since I was a young kid I wanted to own a big cat. I have lived with a house cat ever since I was born, 21 yrs. It doesn't need to be said how happy I was to find a book detailing big cat ownership. How interesting is this book? Well, I read all 200+ pages in 2 days. While not the most professionally written, it is packed with tales of Cougar that at times seem almost to amazing to be true. When finished, I didn't want it to be. I want to hear more about Cougar's adventures. Although David is against big cat ownership, I think this book also shows possibilities with the right committment. I hope to someday meet Cougar and David to share in the joy that this great cat brings wherever he takes David. My best to Dave and Cougar
If you love your cat, you will love the stories about Cougar.......2001-05-19
I suppose it is every cat lovers dream to "own" a big cat like a cougar. But most people never get that chance, and if they did would quickly realize what an all consuming job it is to care for a tamed wild cat - time, money, emotion, legalities, not to mention the fact that you want to do the best for the animal. Well the author of "Through Cougar's Eyes" knows exactly what it is like to live with a big cat. And although he never in his wildest dreams ever even considered adopting a cougar he tells in touching detail how they came to be together for life.
I love cats and I love hearing cat stories. This is a humdinger of a cat story that chronicles the adventures of a man, his wife and a very large cat. It is simply amazing what David and Linda Raber were and are still willing to do to care for this beautiful animal. Are their efforts worth the sacrifices they have made? You bet they are. This animal lives a wonderful life because he is so loved and in return the Rabers have received so much joy.
I just love this story. If you love cats or if you love animals you are going to love this book and besides since Cougar is the national spokes-cat for Iams cat food you can actually meet him and his human family in person as they travel the country together, which I highly recommend it is such a treat, just like this book.
Average customer rating:
- Still outstanding
- The Next One Hundred Years
- "The Next One Hundred Years..." is Essential
- Provocative and insightful glimpse into earth's future
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Next One Hundred Years, The
Jonathan Weiner
Manufacturer: Bantam
ProductGroup: Book
Binding: Paperback
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ASIN: 0553352288
Release Date: 1991-02-01 |
Customer Reviews:
Still outstanding.......2004-04-10
Even today this book is the best read on the subject, I found so far. Concise, insightful yet entertaining, as in the hunt for (better: discovery of) the Keiling curve for CO2 concentration in the atmosphere - involving locations around the world and "peaking" in Hawaii. I also found it a fair treatment, giving some of the difficulties that the study of climate change is facing scientifically and politically. The emphasis is on science, thankfully. Jonathan Weiner learnt and teaches a lot through this book. Such as that global warming is a very slow process and manifests itself more in extremes and indeed will take yet another 20, 50 to 100 years until nature will prove the adherents or shock the skeptics of global warming. (Too late then.)
The action film "The Day After Tomorrow" due out in mid 2004 is a simplified, well meant dramatization of this subject. I recommend that you read this book before seeing the film and you will know the facts and then can enjoy the film even more (and smile and shake your head the wiser for it). Will take you a couple of feature film lengths to read this book, and fortunately the book is available via the indirect sellers on amazon.com.
The Next One Hundred Years.......2002-10-15
Although written more than 10 years ago, this book lays out in understandable terms to the non-professional scientist reader the foundation of the current global warming debate. Jonathan Weiner{winner of the 1995 Pulitzer Prize for Nonfiction for "The Beak of the Finch: A Story of Evolution in Our Time"}, gives compelling evidence that although a complex issue, global warming, climate change, ozone depletion, etc., are very real phenomena.
For those who wish to read more about the policy debate within government, NGO, and business circles; I recommend another Pulitzer Prize winner, Ross Gelbspan's "The Heat is On: The High Stakes Over Earth's Threatened Climate[1997]." I suggest reading Weiner's book first because it helps comprehend the jargon that professional science types tend to use.
"The Next One Hundred Years..." is Essential.......2002-02-08
Jonathan Weiner's book concerning the Earth and its biosphere and what is imperiled by the major increases in the burning of fossil fuels and the destruction of natural resources is one of the most important books for Ecologists, Environmentalists and leaders from all walks of life to read. This book allows the layman with a rudimentary science background to grasp the fundamental scientific facts supporting global warming. It tries to cover many different indications of global warming, from air bubbles frozen for thousands of years in Antartica to ocean temperatures, ground temperatures, carbon monitoring, and many other points of evidence. It introduces one to the history of the exploration of this phenomenon, giving a kind of personal tour of each major discovery and what its implications are. It incorporates actual weather disasters such as the drought of 1988 and how it affected farmers, people, politicians and news reporting. It takes you on the scene to the places where atmospheric composition is being carefully monitored. It covers the full range of toxic gases and what their build up could mean in the future. Most importantly, it describes the interelationship between toxic gases and air polution. In general, it seems to have a more detailed view of global warming than other books on the same topic.
Finally, it leaves you with little doubt that time is running out, and something must be done, sooner rather than later. This book should not become out of print, and should be read by leaders the world over. It resolves the ambiguities surrounding the global warming controversy.
Provocative and insightful glimpse into earth's future.......1999-03-13
Although nearly 10 years old this book is a very readable popular science assessment of the plight of our planet. It provides a provocative view of the forces that will shape our environment in the 21st century. I was inspired to begin collecting information on climate change that might one day form the basis of book of my own.
Books:
- Wind Power, Revised Edition: Renewable Energy for Home, Farm, and Business
- Wind Power, Revised Edition: Renewable Energy for Home, Farm, and Business
- 100 Butterflies and Moths: Portraits from the Tropical Forests of Costa Rica
- 15 Books in 1: L. Frank Baum's Original "Oz" Series. The Wonderful Wizard of Oz, The Marvelous Land of Oz, Ozma of Oz, Dorothy and the Wizard in Oz, The Road to Oz, The Emerald City of Oz, The Patchwork Girl Of Oz, Little Wizard Stories of Oz, Tik-Tok of Oz, The Scarecrow Of Oz, Rinkitink In Oz, The Lost Princess Of Oz, The Tin Woodman Of Oz, The Magic of Oz, and Glinda Of Oz.
- A+ Certification All-in-One Exam Guide, Sixth Edition (A+ Certification All in One Exam)
- A Clockwork Orange
- A People's Ecology: Explorations in Sustainable Living
- A Place for Everything: Organizing the Stuff of Life
- Against the Tide
- Agricultural Nonpoint Source Pollution: Watershed Management and Hydrology
Books Index
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