Book Description
Just when you thought it was safe to go in the water! The second astonishing ENCYCLOPEDIA PREHISTORICA book from Robert Sabuda and Matthew Reinhart is about to pop up everywhere.
While dinosaurs patrolled the lands, massive prehistoric sharks, giant scorpions, and colossal squid cruised the ancient oceans - most with just one thing in mind: eat or be eaten. In this companion volume to the best-selling ENCYCLOPEDIA PREHISTORICA: DINOSAURS, pop-up masters Robert Sabuda and Matthew Reinhart explore the prehistoric underwater world, where monsters like megalodon ruled the waves.
Full of captivating facts and more than 35 breathtaking pop-ups, this incredible volume is sure to astonish and amaze everyone from budding marine biologists to confirmed landlubbers. After all, if prehistoric coelacanths and crocodiles are still around, what else might be lurking in today's largely unexplored oceans?
Customer Reviews:
Encyclopedia Prehistorica: Sharks and other Sea Monsters.......2007-10-03
Absolutely gorgeous and intriguing pop-ups. Good information about the sharks and sea monsters. I love all things by Robert Sabuda. Good for kids 4 and older.
Encyclopedia Prehistorica: Sharks and Other Sea Monsters.......2007-08-25
This is an awesome pop up book! I bought it for my 3 year old's B-Day. He loves looking at the book while I read to him about the prehistoric Mega-Beasts. I actually have learned a lot myself from this book. Although you would normally think this book is for boys. My six year old daughter also enjoys me reading these books to her. They are fun and very educational. I am a high school teacher and I really think this pop up book would be very valuable to any science classroom. I liked this book so much I also purchased the other two in the set!
Excellent pop up book, reading is complicated.......2007-08-16
Cool book. Reading is over the age category of my daughters, but they simply enjoy the pop ups.
Absolutely amazing!!!.......2007-08-13
This book is unbelievable! The attention to detail is fantastic. Absolute value for money and a must for any child who is as taken with sharks dinosaurs as my son is.
Encyclopedia Prehistorica: Sharks and Other Sea Monsters.......2007-08-12
Robert Sabuda always does a fantastic job and this is just another example of an exciting, educational pop-up book.
Book Description
Written and illustrated by the creators of the popular Dino Life Guides for Families, this book uses precise language and humorous illustrations to offer specific ways to be a friend and specific ways not to be one.A special section on how to deal with bosses and bullies has valuable information for young children going forth in the world and encountering these situations for the first time.
Customer Reviews:
This book as taught us a lot!.......2007-07-13
I bought a bunch of books for my 4 year old son when I learned he was teasing the other kids at his preschool. This was one of them. He loves this book, and I notice that he has gotten so much better playing with other children since we started reading this book.
It has been so effective that I simply say "Jimmy, is that how you be a good friend?" when I feel he is being unkind, and he will answer me, using "good friend" examples from the book, and immediately change his behavior. He also tells other children how they can be "good Friends" too.
Unfortunatley, as he nears the age of being a "tattle tale", he is very quick to point out when other children aren't being "good friends" and tells them "You need to read Mommy's book." LOL
I highly recommend to any parent.
Great book for Kids.......2007-02-22
I enjoyed the book. It will help my students become better friends with personal ideas and reasons.
GREAT!.......2007-01-10
Reinforces the criteria and requirements that kids need to know to be a "GOOD" friend in easy to understand examples.
A fun read!.......2007-01-04
I bought this book to find out how to help my 10 year old with some basic friendship issues. This book was VERY basic and geared for a younger child, but I feel that it is a great book for any parent. My daughter read it also and said that she thought it was very helpful, but a little too "kiddy" for her taste.
Kid's Review.......2006-10-19
I actually give this book four and half stars. I liked it a lot and it had lots of good advice about how to be a good friend. It described how I feel when I feel shy. I am five and almost three quarters and my sister who is two liked it also.
Jacob (with help from his mom)
Book Description
History has long maintained that the Anglo-Saxon overtaking of the Iron Age Celts was the origin of the British people. Celtic Britain reconstructs the peopling of Britain — through a study of genetics, climatology, archaeology, language, culture, and history — and overturns that myth and others. The Anglo-Saxons, who supposedly conquered the Celts, contributed only five to ten percent of the British gene pool. The “Atlantic Celts,” long believed to have migrated to Britain from Central Europe around 300 BC during the Iron Age, can be linked genetically to the people of Basque country. And linguistic evidence suggests that, besides Celtic languages, a Germanic-type language similar to Norse was also spoken in Britain long before the arrival of the Anglo-Saxons.
In this groundbreaking study, Stephen Oppenheimer explaines the surprising roots of the present-day cultural identities of the English, Irish, Scottish, and Welsh.
Customer Reviews:
Great Britain as New Euskaria.......2007-09-23
An excellent book, like being back in college and taking a fun course with a witty, funny and knowledgeable professor. I appreciated the linear format with thesis backed with evidence approach. As a precaution, just like college, there were many terms and ideas that went over my head, which meant having to do some additional homework to catch up with text, but well worth the detour. To this regard, the appendix and glossary were extremely valuable. I have always been fascinated with the origins of the Basque; why would they be the only non Indo-European, Sub-Saharan or Semitic language in all of Europe and the Mediterranean and why stuck in the middle of Pyrenees? My other linguistic quandry was the lack of celtic words in the English language and the lack of consistency between English and Dutch/German/Danish. Finally the technology catches up with speculative history and paints a different picture of Western Europe. It is human nature to embelish, pander to the audience or just plain preach propaganda. But blood doesn't lie and for me all the pieces of the puzzle came together in Mr. Oppenheimer's book. I have no doubt the thesis will be seminal in the re-writing of British History.
Difficult, but intermittently rewarding.......2007-08-07
Not the place to begin, but this book may reward advanced readers who can handle a popularized but scholarly work on the implications of recent findings in DNA. Earlier readers posting here frequently disparage this book's ponderous prose and its massive array of recondite DNA analyses. After reading more accessible, and considerably shorter (no coincidence!) works on genetics and anthropology by Spencer Wells and Bryan Sykes (for both authors, their two most recent books reviewed by me on Amazon), I felt ready to tackle Oppenheimer's work, despite its difficulty. While the time invested paid off in a better knowledge of the Celtic and British origin debate and the possible influence of Germanic cultural and linguistic influences preceding not only the Anglo-Saxon invasion but the preceding Roman occupation, Oppenheimer while he may be a better scholar than Sykes remains a less entertaining writer. Sykes can popularize his findings in "Blood of the Isles" & "Seven Daughters of Eve." He also can profit from them if you note the enterprise Oxford Genetics. As I commented when reviewing Sykes' "Blood," it remains curious that two geneticists both at Oxford do not even mention the other colleague in hundreds of pages of closely documented and meticulously referenced texts.
This apparent rivalry aside, Oppenheimer acknowledges very late in his text that names given to Rostov or Ian or Helena are merely "aides memoires" for R1B-11 or the like in an alphabet soup of markers all geneticists rely upon. Readers of both Sykes & Oppenheimer sniff disdainfully at this popularization, but surely both scientists and lay people need assistance in imagining "Eve" or "Lucy" or the "Ice Man" to make more personal the findings buried in blood types or bone samples. Oppenheimer carefully explains his reasons for clarifying relationships among these difficult classifications, numbering in the thousands by now. Much explanatory material on genetics here is relegated to appendices and a glossary; while Sykes & Wells integrate more definitions and analogies into their briefer, more readable books, Oppenheimer opts for density.
This can bore a reader. My eyes glazed over in the second hundred pages full of dull genetics. The first hundred, tackling the Celtic origins debate and guardedly based on scholars such as Simon James & Barry Cunliffe, and Iron Age archaeologists such as John Collis, argues a southerly direction into the British Isles for Celtic infusion, not the La Tene Danube-Central European homeland and its overland route for entry into the Isles. Personally, I'd have liked to have Bob Quinn's book "The Atlantean Irish" (reviewed by me) credited for its prescience regarding the Atlantic Celt "fringe" movement that Cunliffe and others have since fought to replace the Continental migration theories of the 19c. This vexed matter alone, building upon the past two decades of Celtic revision, or Celto-skepticism, could fill an entire book easily.
But, I did perk up eventually. This is more a reference book on a variety of unevenly covered but admittedly provocative topics. He writes clearly in places and dully in many others, depending it seems on his diligence vs. his enthusiasm! This is an arduous trek, but you need to weather this if your curiosity's aroused about this intellectual terrain that for the first time geneticists and linguists have entered to do battle over, not to mention archeologists and historians!
Advances in DNA may soon rely on its suggestions, or they may overturn its assumptions. But, Oppenheimer bravely piles all he has amassed for the benefit of science. It may be too clunky and over-ambitious, but he has done specialized researchers, armchair genealogists, and academics like myself needing a non-technical explanation of dozens of arcane debates all a service.
Oppenheimer builds on this fact-laden if recondite foundation to posit that many of today's ancestors came to the Isles perhaps as early as around 15-7,500 years ago. The land bridge before the end of the last Ice Age became submerged allowed two major inflows of migration, from a Ukrainian-Moldavian refuge, and an Iberian refuge. The former provided a basis for North Sea movements added to later by Scandinavians, Saxons, Belgae, and other Continental peoples. The latter brought people in on the Irish, Welsh, and Scottish sides closest to the Irish Sea that opened up in the later periods of global warming. Germanic languages cannot have diverged in Old English so rapidly after the Saxon incursions, nor were (against the Welsh historian Gildas' spurious claims of Celtic "wipeout") the indigenous natives necessarily Celtic-speakers all prior to the landing of Hengist and his post-Roman mercenaries.
Percentages of genetic disruption rarely reach even the point of "decimation" of 10% in a handful of Anglian areas, according to genetic studies of inhabitants today in these long-stable regions of Britain. Simply and ineradicably, this persistent divide, genetically and perhaps linguistically, Oppenheimer proposes, persists in our DNA. This parallels the Germanic vs. Celtic division of languages in the Isles, the spine of mountains serving as an insular border between these two major routes for farming and colonization.
The hoary myth of a Celtic genocide by Teutonic overlords that inspired Arthur's last stand, it seems, proves more a "Dark Age" screed than plausible history. Granted that this early medieval era remains fraught with dangers for those reliant only on chronicles or a misleading archeological record, Oppenheimer here makes his boldest suggestion.
Probably the first to enter this fray as a geneticist, he confronts linguistic assumptions about the rapid spread and dialectal evolution in only a few centuries of Anglo-Saxon in post-Roman Britain. Germanic languages, he opines, might have become established long before Romans, let alone Saxons, entered into what was not necessarily a Celtic-dominated Brittania. Celts themselves, whatever this term means given the looseness of this pseudo-ethnic linguistic concept, did not rush en masse into the islands, and they too were perhaps the harbingers of not a massive demographic invasion but an elite influencing cultural and linguistic trends among the natives, who may date back ten thousand years before the arrival of Celtic-language speakers. Unfortunately, traces of any words that are pre-Celtic lurk rarely in the archaeological record, according to most experts. We lack a Rosetta Stone to decode whatever insular peoples spoke before Celtic languages became the norm among both the newcoming elite and the long-settled old-timers.
Therefore, Oppenheimer turns to DNA for clues. He challenges linguists who for a century have been indoctrinated to ignore searching for language origins. He argues that science can offer tentative solutions that account for a Germanic undercurrent that may not be that apparent on the surface, but which aligns with what we know about rates of linguistic change that may have begun as long ago as 3000 BCE (estimates differ) that can be calibrated with patterns of genetic migration.
His thesis? Most of the original British Isles inhabitants descend from a massive "founder population"-- maybe far more than three-fourths or more of those today living in some locales. Due to genetics and settlement patterns, most humans stick to one place for millennia. This conservatism therefore provides a solid bedrock. It cannot be eroded even by the waves of more recent, and tribally-named, intruders. While closer to us in time and in the historical record (however tenuous!), these famous warriors themselves often number in the low single-digits (5% often!) in terms of percentages of genetic "material" we British and/or Celts carry today.
All subsequent immigrations, whether Celt, Roman, Saxon, Angle, Jute, Viking, or Norman, Oppenheimer states in the closing line of his epilogue, diminish by their traces in the descendants of the majority who trace their roots to British-resident or Celtic-origin DNA today. Most of the origins of the British predate even the Celts. Oppenheimer concludes: "we are all minorities compared with the first, unnamed pioneers, who ventured into the empty, chilly lands so recently vacated by the great ice sheets." (421)
The Origins of the British: A Genetic Detective Story.......2007-08-02
Oppenheimer has written the most comprehensive, well organized and complete description of the deep origins of the British peoples. At the present time it is easily the best of any other available title. The author is at the very edge of contemporary genetic studies. One of the book's strengths is its inclusion of many of the findings of other genetic researchers. It also contains supporting materials from other disciplines and classical writers.
I found the book to be well written, meticulously documented, illustrated with maps and other visual materials, and well organized for a work of its breath. It is written for the educated or self-educated reader and does presuppose some familiarity with basic genetics and dna structure. If a potential reader fears he/she does not have this background, I recommend purchasing a companion primer on dna or download materials from even Wikipedia. Most genealogists will have little trouble with the technical terms.
I have read critiques that this book gives no final answers. This is true but the author provides the best interpretation of British prehistory available from today's science and supporting disciplines. A good companion book to read with this book is Barry Cunliffe's Facing the Ocean: the Atlantic and Its Peoples.
Accessible, yet not dumbed down.......2007-07-28
For anyone interested in the early history of the British isles this book is a must. Oppenheimer gathered all the information concerning the genetic history of the British isles floating around on the internet, scholarly journals, academic works, etc., and having assembled it all, presents it a serious, yet very readable fashion. Like Sykes and other genetic scholars he used cutsy names to represent specific genetic lineages, but he doesn't force the reader to have to deal with a fictional account of prehistoric lives. Instead the names are easily remembered catch phrases for the aforementioned groups.
Sykes confirmed earlier arguments about ancient regional divisions between populations in the British isles, but rather than beat the Anglo vs. Celtic drum, he argues that the English, Scots, Irish and Welsh all came out of the same prehistoric mix of Iberian, Near Eastern, and Eastern European migrants. Sykes does not, however, argue against the validity of "Celtic" as an lable representing certain populations in Western Europe. Rather, we need to rethink the way in which we use the term.
Using a rational - if not 100% believable argument - based on linguistics, history, genetics and archaeology, Sykes also contends that the roots of the English language in what is now Eastern England might predate the Roman invasion. In other words the linguistic division between the Welsh and the English is not the result of the Anglo-Saxon invasion, instead owing to more long-standing prehistoric social and cultural divisions.
Great Analysis.......2007-05-14
This book is incredibly insightful on a topic that few people know about. It accurately and convincingly dispels many rumors and genealogical cover-ups and gets right down to what is factual. That, in my opinion, is what is most important about a book that presents many important concepts in a objective manner. Forget about the fact that he happens to use "pet names," and that he can drone on a little. His contemporary Bryan Sykes, who wrote a book on exactly the same topic, does the exact same thing and comes to the same basic conclusions. In any case, the meat of the books, the facts, haven't been disputed as of yet.
Book Description
An unmatched reference work distinguished by its erudition and beauty, The Simon & Schuster Encyclopedia of Dinosaurs and Prehistoric Creatures is an illustrated who's who of prehistoric life, a Baedeker of more than 500 million years of evolution on Earth.
With entries for more than 600 species, each arranged in its evolutionary sequence, the book presents a panorama of enormous diversity, from predatory dinosaurs to primitive amphibians, from giant armored fish to woolly mammoths, saber-tooth tigers and dire wolves. Each entry features a specially commissioned full-color painting prepared according to the best research of today in close collaboration with world-renowned paleontologists. The records of the rocks -- fossil bones, teeth, skin, hair and even footprints and nests -- have been combined with knowledge of the anatomy and behavior of present-day descendants to arrive at informed judgments about posture, color and other aspects of appearance.
Lively and informative "biographies" of the creatures accompany these remarkable illustrations: how they moved, what they ate, where they ranged and the habitats and ecological niches they occupied. Comparisons are made wherever possible with familiar living animals, highlighting both the contrasts and similarities. Also included are articles on subjects such as the time scale of evolution, fossil formation and interpretation and convergent evolution.
Truly a magnificent sourcebook, The Simon & Schuster Encyclopedia of Dinosaurs and Prehistoric Creatures is both a triumph of scholarship and a work of art. It will stand as the best and most accurate presentation of the prehistoric animal world available.
Customer Reviews:
An engrossing and informative volume for laymen or experts.......2005-02-09
This volume is the best one I've found on prehistoric creatures. Having always been fascinated by them, I wanted as an adult to find something to broaden the base I'd built as a kid obsessed with Tyrannosaurus and trilobites. Though I'm far from a paleontologist or even a biologist (my own training is in anthropology and linguistics) I find this book a pleasure to browse and consult.
Beginning with the earliest worm-like organisms and evolving through the early fish, amphibians and armored sea creatures, the book continues on up through dinosaurs, Pleistocene megafauna and finally simians and hominids. The desciptions are brief but seem informative, but it is the quality of the artwork that I value most. I never tire of looking at the colorful depictions of the denizens of Devonian swamps, Ordovician seas and Jurassic forests.
So, while I cannot pretend to be an authority, and though I certainly must defer some credibility and ask that you look at my review in conjunction with those of my fellow critics who disagree, I offer my personal recommendation on this book to any person interested in prehistoric life and what it must have been like.
Engaging at first, but then the flaws ..........2000-07-04
This book looked great at first, but then, on closer inspection, the drawings are second-rate, the information is thin, and the inaccuracies mount. Yet, there are no real alternatives that seek to comprehensively catalogue ancient life. I'd still buy it, but my enthusiasm has waned.
On the second thought..........2000-02-24
Several months after acquiring the book I leaf through it and wonder how I could have given it such a high rating as I did. It has flaws throughout!
- The book appears to have a drastic shortage of species to list - it is only half as thick as Simon and Schuster's Encyclopedia of Animals - despite the fact that on numerous occasions they list but one or two species from a thirty-species family;
- The art is severely degraded from the above mentioned encyclopedia of animals. While I can see the puzzlement concerning the colors of the creatures' hides, there is no excuse for the the sloppy drawings of several of the animals! If you make a conjecture, please, be sure to follow through! On several of the animals the hair cover fails to obey the laws of physics, and most of the amphibians look like a horrid joke.
- The information is sketchy at best - on numerous occasions special biological mechanisms are mentioned (like a new jaw bone arrangement for the fishes, and the skull structures of the early land animals), yet are never explained in function. Almost all species are captioned with the basics like weight and dimensions followed with senseless filler.
- The between-section class summarizations and the cladistic graphs are also very, very basic. While I understand that the book was not intended for specialists, even the basic layman will find the charts a bit "dumbed down".
This book is flashy and artful, but lacking, lacking a great lot.
An incredible work.......1999-12-28
I have always longed for such a book. Probably it's a grave mistake on my part to make that the firt sentense of a review, but still. I daresay, anyone who has ever been in the very least intereste in paleontology has always longed for this sort of tome. The authors have satisfied both our love of visuals ( pictures are abundant - they accompiny every entry, in full blazing color by very trustworthy artists, generally sure to catch anyone's eye) and our love of the unknown ( this is the first non-specialist book that I have seen that goes beyond the everyday banal creatures like the pachycephalosaurus and the pterosaurids). This book is sheer pleasure while doing any sort of research, even for the specialists who need solid information. Perhaps there isn't quite enough data with every entry ( due to page limits), but the information that is included is accurate and up-to-date. This is a very good book.
Fascinating pictures and fascinating text !.......1999-11-10
I have been looked for such a book for a long time, and now I have it. Reading this book is delightful, as it gives you plenty of informations about prehistoric animals in a very attractive manner. You have very nice pictures of all animals, with a short explanation giving all essential data about them (size, anatomic singularities, food habits, ...). In addition, extremely interesting introducing sections give you a vision of each branch of animals, together with explanations on the evolutionary process concerning them.
This very up-to-date pictorial guide to now disappeared animals is a treasure for anybody interested in evolution and diversification of life. It gives you enough matter to become a specialist in this domain ! If you want to have one book on dinosaurs and other prehistoric animals, make it be this one.
Book Description
Since ancient times humans have felt intuitively that emotions and health are linked. But without compelling evidence, it has been impossible to say for sure that such a connection really exists and especially how it works. Now that evidence has been discovered.
A thrilling scientific detective story, The Balance Within tells how researchers finally uncovered the elusive mind-body connection. In this beautifully written book, author Esther Sternberg--a scientist whose discoveries were pivotal in helping to solve this mystery--provides first hand accounts of the breakthrough experiments that revealed the physical mechanisms--the nerves, cells, and hormones--used by the brain and immune system to communicate with each other. She describes just how the immune system can alter our moods, and how stress can make us more susceptible to all types of illnesses. Finally, she explains why understanding these connections in scientific terms can help answer such crucial questions as "Does stress make you sick?" "Does believing make you well?" and "How do our personal relationships affect our health?"
A fascinating, elegantly written portrait of a rapidly emerging science with enormous potential for finding new ways to treat disease and cope with stress, The Balance Within is essential reading for anyone interested in making their body and mind whole again.
Customer Reviews:
A must read for anyone who has experienced an autoimmune attack.......2007-01-22
This well written & interesting book became my bible in learning how stress can influence and/or cause an autoimmune attack. Understanding the connection between mind and body, and learning to cope with stress, is paramount to a complete recovery, so well explained by Dr. Sternberg.
a fascinating look at stress and the immune system.......2006-04-23
This book is useful for students, scientists, and those who are otherwise interested in integrative medicine. Sternberg augments her explanation of the stress-immune connection with interesting and relevant research studies. I found it useful as a student studying neuroscience and as an individual trying to understand and manage stress in my life.
Solving The Mind-Body Conundrum.......2002-12-12
I am a writer who is currently at work on a book on my living through colon cancer. I was diagnosed at age 47 with Duke's C-3 colon cancer. Because of the early onset of my disease, I was three years too young to be considered for routine colon cancer screening, which doctors are supposed to offer to patients when they reach age 50. I was lucky. Even with one year of chemotherapy (due to minor lymph node involvement) medical textbooks and doctors said my chances of surviving five years (a five year colon cancer survivor is considered "cured") were about 35 percent. Now, seven years later, I can say that Esther Sternberg's work validates some key elements of the survival strategy I developed for myself that links health and wellness and emotions.
Sternberg flies in the face of conventional medical wisdom by providing proof that stress can make you sick. She provides evidence that the immune system can be trained, citing the work of Bob Ader and Nick Cohen. And she offers evidence that nerve chemicals or hormones can affect immune-cell function in a physiological way.
This is ironic considering that when you ask a psychiatrist or even a psychopharmachologist how the latest generation of SSRI anti-depression/anti-anxiety drugs (Prozac, Zoloft, Paxil, Celexa etc.) work, the answer is that they are not exactly sure.
The medical establishment in the US tends to hive off the debate about health and emotions (the mind-body connection) to the area of alternative medicine. New age healing and some of the Eastern approaches tend to overlook the scientific connection. Sternberg taps history and science to frame the issue and if it were simpled down to the level of a mass market audience her book would be a best seller.
Through the Eyes of a Sensitive Human Being.......2002-02-19
Brilliant scientific exploration of the mind-body connection expressed in compelling, animated realism. I enjoyed this delightful learning experience. Dr. Sternberg not only demonstrates outstanding knowledge and expertise in the field of psychoneuroimmonology, but she does so through the eyes of a sensitive, caring human being. A true inspiration to read many times over. Especially recommended for anyone who is looking for a way to enhance their health and well-being....
Bold and Daring, Advanced Knowledge!.......2002-01-28
Dr. Esther Sternberg from the outset tells us that she wrote this book "out of a question" that "seemed ostracized from the rest of the scientific community." Clearly, it seems that the information in "The Body Within" is a daring challenge to present new brain-immune connection information to the lay public, and is determined to not let it stagnate only among the doctoral elite. I found all 11 chapters fascinating and richly detailed, gloriously free of slanted opinions and filled with highly intelligent questions. All 250 pages inform, with its interesting anecdotes and illustrations, and my gratitude goes out to Dr. Sternberg for ensuring that some of us, even though we do not have a "Ph.D" attached to our name, are nonetheless able to grasp concepts as the workings of the brain, the immune system and the role of various hormones and neurotransmitters.
"The Balance Within" is solidly founded in irrefutable facts "collected from rigorously performed experiments." It is a real treat to read about such things as Chapter 5, "It's a Two-Way Street: The Immune System Talks to the Brain and the Brain Talks Back" and Chapters 6 and 7, "When the Brain-Immune Communication Breaks Down" and "Can Stress Make you Sick?" I could easily spoil the conclusions of this book, which I dare not out of pure respect for Dr. Sternberg, especially when she so adeptly investigates such ideas as "Can Believing Make You Well?" Gradually the walls between the public and the scientific community are crumbling down, allowing us to make up our own minds and deciding what is right for our own bodies. This book is groundbreaking, indispensable and should not be out of your hands for another second. You may encounter resistance at first, as the author put it, "Whenever a new field comes into being, it comes up against the older dogmas. So the resistance that we felt was real and steeped in traditions going as far back as Galileo, Copernicus, and beyond...Whenever one tries to change prevailing opinion, resistance is inevitable..." Esther, I want to party with you, sister. A little less I talk, a little more I listen. I'm taking a page from your book!
Book Description
For dinophiles of all ages, Hunting Dinosaurs does for paleontology what Indiana Jones did for archaeology--makes scientific adventures exciting and entertaining. The stunning, full-color photos contained here present dinosaurs as never seen before.
Customer Reviews:
Great fun! And educational too.......2004-09-10
A result of Award winning photojournalist Louie Psihoyos' three-year field trip to the world's major dinosaur fossil sites, this oversized book, written with frequent collaborator John Knoebber, is a well-organized, energetic, stimulating, amusing and gorgeously illustrated trek through prehistory.
Accompanied by the bones of famous fossil hunter Edward Drinker Cope (you'll just have to read the book), Psihoyos visits the world's prominent paleontologists, lends a hand when asked and lets them talk for themselves.
The book is organized loosely by time periods, beginning with an introduction to the history of dinosaur hunting and concluding, cleverly, with opinionated statements from all the scientists on "What killed the dinosaurs?"
In between are colorful visits to major museums and field sites, lively discussions of the theories of warm-bloodedness, dinosaur physiology and evolution and the evidence to be found in tracks, scat and site environments.
Psihoyos' crisp, humorous style is reminiscent of the best of personal journalism - an irreverence for academic stodginess and a participatory flair - mixed with a deep respect for expertise and avid curiosity. His photographs are complemented by paintings and maps showing fossil sites.
impish and wonderful.......2001-05-07
This book is an original, combining the stories of discoverers, hard science, and masterful photography. It is a true feast, leavened by odd humor and genuine love of the subject. For example, there is a section on coprolites - petrified dino scat - that goes into what they are revealing about the ecology of the dino era. In addition, it features a lovely photo of a smiling scientist, as she preside over her coprolites like a baker advertising her wares: it is funny, informative, artististic. The stories in it are also fascinating, telling of their quirky personalities, inexplicable talents, and fanatical drive.
Reading it helped me to re-live my childhood love of these great and mysterious beasts as well as to update my knowledge on the state of the art today. Now I am introducing my children to them through this book.
Highly recommended.
A wonderful piece of photojournalism.......2000-08-14
Psihoyos, a photographer for National Geographic, has written a tremendous book about dinosaurs as we understand them today. Central to the book, of course, are Psihoyos' terrific photographs: Of fossils in museums, of individuals in their workplaces, of the beautiful landscapes to which paleontologists travel to search for bones, and of the bones themselves in varying states of discovery and repair. All by itself, this book gives you a deep respect for what really good photographers can accomplish with their craft.
Psihoyos also turns out to be a lively and witty writer, and the book provides a good general background on what we understand of dinosaurs and how they lived, as well as a history of dinosaur hunters dating back to the mid-19th century. I've been a casual "fan" of dinosaurs since childhood, and much of what's related here was completely unknown to me. Psihoyos outlines several of the controversies in the history of dinosaur digging, including the discovery of the reptile-bird archaeopterix, and the wars between the two great bone hunters of the late 19th century.
Along the way he also caught a few big breaks, such as discovering that there was no "type specimen" (defining example) for homo sapiens (humans), as well as getting caught up in the Tyrannosaur Sue controversy which resulted in lawsuits and jail time for some of those involved.
Anyone with any amount of interest in dinosaurs - from casual to deep - should find this book entertaining, and maybe even enlightening. For the pictures alone, it's a steal.
can't believe it's OP--check it out at the library!.......2000-04-25
This is a wonderful book for amateur paleontologists and those who just like dinosaurs. The authors visit all the famous locales, where the big finds were made (you know the names--the Badlands, Mongolia), and talk to those who are currently working in the field. You learn some of the interesting stories from behind the scenes. Beautifully photographed as well. Accompanied by the skull of Edward Drinker Cope ("the Man" when it comes to North american paleontologists, along with his nemesis, O.C. Marsh), this is the ultimate dinosaur roadtrip. Maybe it will come back into print soon, with the ever present interest and appetite for dinosaurs and dinosauria.
Librarians--while this was published as an adult book, Amazon's suggestion of YA is right on--glossy photos, some irreverant humour, nice layout with just enough white space, and a subject that is always in demand somewhere make it just right for a YA non fiction collection.
This book is exceptionally informative and beautiful!.......1999-01-07
I enjoyed the informative, humorous writing and beautiful photography of this book so much that I have included it in my course designed for teachers. Good work, authors!
Book Description
This cutting-edge book—with echoes of both Jane Goodall and Joseph Campbell—adds a fascinating new dimension to the debate about the origins of religion.
The study of evolution has uncovered invaluable information about many aspects of human behavior and culture, from the physiology of our bodies and brains to the development of hunting, technology, and social groups. But an understanding of the intangibles of human experience, especially religion, lags far behind. Attempts to discover the source of religiosity through genetic analysis and neuroscience have so far yielded intriguing but incomplete insights. Evolving God represents an exciting breakthrough. Drawing on her own extensive investigations into the behavior of our closest primate relatives and the most up-to-date research in archaeology, anthropology, and biology, Barbara King offers a comprehensive, holistic view of how and why religion came to be.
King focuses on how the Great Apes, our human ancestors, and modern humans relate to one another socially and emotionally, and she traces the growing complexities of communication throughout the course of evolution. She shows that, with increased brain capacity, the scope and nature of socio-emotional ties began with one-to-one relationships and expanded to group relationships (families and communities) and then to connections with long-dead ancestors, animal spirits, and “higher beings.” Her incisive, highly readable narrative takes readers from the earliest common relative of humans and apes (more than 6 million years ago), through the Neandertal period and the Stone Age, to the dawn of religion in early human societies.
Evolving God explores one of the greatest mysteries in human history—the question of whether humankind is innately religious—and provides evidence that will have a tremendous impact on current debates about evolution, creationism, and intelligent design.
Customer Reviews:
Good perspective for the source of morality and ethics in humans.......2007-08-23
The author has a sensitive view of the evolution of belongingness in apes and monkeys as an example of potential evolution of same in humanoids and humans. It is refreshing to see the potential fundamentals behind human morality and ethics, the need to belong to a social community with shared traditions, the root of religion.
I enjoyed reading the book and mentally exploring the paths the author has led me on.
Evoiving God offers a place to stand.......2007-06-30
On reading Evolving God I was filled with a great sense of enthusiasm and hope. Here is an author and a scientist who created a work that ordinary people can get their head around and understand. It offers a workable solution for those who want to have an intelligent faith stance but don't see it in the Fundamentalism that grips American life. The work brings together a way of considering the commonality that all religion shares and offers a clear basis for uniting instead of dividing communions. Here we have a clear and compelling call for the consideration of the real purpose and meaning of religion in the present time. This is a powerful statement of hope in a time filled with doom sayers and purveyors of dispair. By sharing her insights though her observations of animals over an extensive period of study Barbara King shows us how behavior makes all the difference. Religion is not about memorizing religious truth or doctrine but rather is about specific deeds of compassion, acts which demonstrate our belongingness and developing an ethic of respect for all life. This is a readable and thoughtful book that should be required reading for all those who want to become religious leaders. It needs to have wide spread exposure to Roman Catholic, Protestant, Muslim, Buddist and other major religious movements and their seminaries, institutes, Ashrams, Intellectual Centers of learning. This book will be very helpful over the course of the years ahead to discussions between religious leaders. It is one you won't want to pass up.
Too superficial and unfocused.......2007-06-13
It is probably unfair to expect any single book (especially one as brief as this) to be able to adequately cover the background material pertinent to this topic. Even so, the author does not do a very good job of bringing to bare the evidence that supports her idea that religion grew out of a need to belong. She presents bits and pieces of research from the fields of human evolution, primate behavior, and cultural anthropology but the material is not tied together well and for the most part does not relate directly to her thesis. In this respect, the book is not very well focused. Meanwhile, there is a vast literature on the evolution of morality that the book ignores despite the fact that religion and the codification of morality go hand in hand. It would also seem natural to discuss the relationship between the sense of belonging and other possibly innate behaviors such as nationalism (and the willing submission to authority), and the relationship between nationalism, xenophobia and religion (which also seem to go hand in hand). The genetic argument for morality, altruism, and so forth, are given short shrift. The author admits that it is difficult to form testable hypotheses in this area and her book is testament to that supposition because time and again speculation is based on speculation and evidence is cherry-picked to support her ideas. In short, I do not mean to imply that this is a bad book but if you have already read a number of books on primate behavior, evolutionary psychology, sociobiology and so on, you probably won't learn anything new from Evolving God. It might be a good first read for someone who has no prior knowledge of physical and behavioral evolution but it is too superficial and unfocused otherwise.
Disappointed.......2007-05-14
It is an easy read and the author is excellent as an anthropogist but getting to the origins of religion I thought was weak. I had hoped that there would be more on the evolution of the concept of god in our development from ape to man. It was not until you are half way through that the author gets to address the subject. I learned a lot about anthropology but I expected more than what was presented in the book. I also thought that there were giant leaps in the concepts that were reached and not enough substance to support the conclusions.
Weak example of an important point.......2007-03-20
King's "Evolving God" contributes to an increasing consensus in science on the naturalistic origins and evolution of religion. However, it does not contribute much.
The bulk of the book is a rehearsal of current knowledge of human evolution. For anyone interested in a readable presentation of human evolution, that will be of some value. But most of this main section has little specifically to say about religion, since we do not find anything vaguely like religion until at best Neandertals, in the last hundred thousand years or so.
King's point about "belongingess" is a worthwhile one, but she does very little with it. Yes, humans need to belong, as do all social species, and she is right to find the roots of religion in our primate ancestry. She even refers to some of the primary research on the subject, especially Frans de Waal and Pascal Boyer. However, she does not advance their insights at all, and she does not even use them to particularly effective ends.
Her theory of religion is quite weak, since religion may have roots in "belongingness," but it certainly is not limited to it. She also does not explain why human belongingness takes specifically "religious" form nor why it takes such a diversity of religious forms. She does not even have a substantial definition of religion.
Finally, she tries hard to be pleasant and popular in her treatment of religion, but by doing so she contorts herself into nonsense. She says that religion is not true but also that it is not false--which is sheer nonsense. A factual claim (about "God, gods, or spirits") cannot be both not true and not false. She refers to religion as "imagination," but of course that which we imagine but which does not really exist is false. Religion is interesting, and it is important, but it is false. Besides, her attempt to embrace all religions with that "God, gods, or spirits" phrase proves the poverty of her approach--no Christian would accept "gods or spirits" as real alongside their God. And her equation of religion and spirituality and mysticism is simply wrong: each is a distinct thing, and a thinker who cannot make appropriate distinctions makes all of her thoughts suspicious.
If you want to learn about the evolution of religion, go to the original sources she cites. She is a nice enough introduction, but she adds little or nothing to the current understanding.
Book Description
Before the Age of Dinosaurs there was an age in Earth's history known as the Triassic. It was a world of truly fantastic creatures, a genetic stew of the ancient and the modern. During this time the Earth took its first steps toward the creation of modern terrestrial ecosystems. This incredibly exciting period is brought vividly to life in the words of paleontologist Nicholas Fraser and the consummate artistry of Douglas Henderson. Together they have created a book in which the riches of Triassic life are presented with clarity, scientific accuracy, and imaginative recreation. Every lover of the life of the past will treasure Dawn of the Dinosaurs.
"Fraser (curator, vertebrate paleontology, Virginia Museum of Natural History) has prepared a serious work on Triassic paleontology. The text is accompanied by numerous color plates of animals and scene reconstructions as well as quality line drawings and illustrations... The book itself is rather readable and represents a comprehensive review of Triassic vertebrate evolution accessible to both experts in the field and generalists ... Fraser presents a comprehensive picture...A refreshing approach in a market saturated with "just so" stories and sanitized tales of evolution. Summing Up: Highly recommended. Graduate students through professionals." -- Choice May 2007
Customer Reviews:
A Triassic triumph.......2007-05-31
The creatures of the Jurassic and Cretaceous-the dinosaurs we are most familiar with-are those we most encounter in books. There are few that deal with the Triassic landscape and its beasts.
Nicholas Fraser has created, within the covers of this book, a veritable Triassic Park for the reader to wander through. Within the 307 pages of this book are numerous line drawings, color photographs of fossil impressions, and color paintings that restore the animals to life and place them in a natural setting that allow you to explore their world in your imagination.
This is not, however, a children's book. It explores the natural world through its geology, climate, and animal and plant life. It has appendices giving some of the geologic correlation charts, an overview of sedimentation, basic taxonomy (the new cladistics, of course), and very simple vertebrate anatomy. It also has a short glossary. But, these still do not give everything needed to read the text easily. The book expects some familiarity with basic geology, zoology, and botany. An overview of the history of life and general paleontology is also helpful, but not necessary.
With warnings in mind, you do not have to have extensive knowledge to enjoy this book. The pictures alone are worth the price of the book. Even those readers who have extensive knowledge of the period will love reading this book. Its chronological approach to covering the organisms through early, middle and late Triassic time makes it read like an enchanting story.
If you really want to know about and understand the early history of the dinosaurs and their contemporaries, you definitely want this book.
Animals Populate the Land.......2007-01-18
Dr. Fraser provides the reader with a sweeping view of the plants and animals of early palaeozoic times. This is not a gee-whiz book for children, but for the serious student of the past it provides a wealth of detailed information. Dr. Fraser is actively engaged in the acquistion and study of fossils from this period, and his enthusiasm comes across in lively prose. Highly recommended for university students.
A Good Intermediate-Level Look at the Roots of Modern Life.......2006-11-29
Based on the product page, I couldn't be sure this book wasn't just another dinosaur picture book. But Douglas Fraser specializes in Triassic vertebrates, so I figured he would include some solid information. Dawn of the Dinosaurs exceeded my hopes. The focus is on vertebrates and there are descriptions of many of them, but plants, invertebrates, the physical environment, and climate are also covered.
Fraser opens by describing the early Triassic landscape. It is often said that the Triassic was hot and arid, but Fraser also tells of more hospitable environments, some home to amphibians and crocodile-like animals. There is an overview of the animals, especially the vertebrates, and the plants that supported them. The rest of the book goes chronologically through the Triassic, with sections devoted to various geographic locations in each period.
There are many animals named here, far more that a reasonable person can memorize. My approach was not to try to remember names, but to get an idea of the diversity in the various environments. It is necessary, however, to know some of the groups of animals. For example, the ornithodira were the pterosaurs and dinosaurs and their unique common ancestors. To keep track of these I looked up some in Google, and I printed off cladograms from [..]
There is quite a bit of specialized vocabulary, especially regarding vertebrate anatomy and the time divisions within the Triassic. Some of this is found in the glossary and in the appendices. I suggest that you go to the appendices before reading the book and make sure you are familiar with the material. I also found myself looking up a number of words on the web.
Despite the specialized vocabulary, I would not say this is an advanced book. There are no difficult concepts here, no obscure principles and no mathematics. It may take time to absorb the vocabulary, perhaps more than one reading, but someone with a modest knowledge of ancient life can follow it. And it is worth it because, as far as I can tell, this very important period in the history of life is not well represented in popular media. There are explanations of such things as how to tell a dinosaur ancestor from a crocodile ancestor and how animals interact with each other and with their environments. There are also explanations of debates among paleontologists, showing the evidence and arguments they use. Thus it goes beyond a mere catalog of animals and that is why I ccall it "intermediary".
One section of the book is titled "The Birth of Modern Terrestrial Ecosystems" and it's very appropriate. The mass extinction at the end of the Permian had wiped out nearly all animal life and, unlike Noah's flood, this catastrophe left no boat filled with millions of animals ready to repopulate the earth. The few survivors grew in numbers and diversified and by the end of the Triassic there were new ecosystems very different from those before the crash. I'm not saying that you should regard Triassic animals as merely transitional forms on their way to becoming modern. Nature doesn't work that way. They thrived because they were well suited to their times and places. It's just that the world they created is very much the one we live in today.
While this is not primarily a picture book, I have to say that Douglas Henderson has created a number of attractive pictures which illustrate the text well.
Book Description
Revised 2001 edition of the original text.
New Foreword, Notes and Appendices.
Includes relevant anthropological and DNA research since 1978.
Michael Bradley delves back into our glacial past during the last Ice Age in order to find the prehistoric sources of the white race's aggression, racism and sexism. Relying on the researches of Alexander Marshack, Carleton Coon, Konrad Lorenz, S.L. Washburn, Ralph Solecki and others, Bradley offers a persuasive argument that the white race, the Neanderthal-Caucasoids, are more aggressive than others because of ancient sexual maladaptation. And, in tracing the effects of Caucasian aggression, Bradley offers an uncomfortable and all-too-plausible explanation for the pattern of human history.
Customer Reviews:
Truth is Truth.......2006-11-17
I wonder how many people discrediting this book and calling it a work of racism and bigotry actually know that the author is a white man. Hmmmmm.... Some whites, at times, can admit truth.
EXCELLENT BOOK.......2003-11-05
THIS BOOK IS FULL OF ALOT OF INTERESTING FACTS AS WELL AS PLAUSIBLE HYPOTHESIS ON HOW THE "CAUCASOID RACE" HAS COME TO DOMINATE THE WORLD THROUGH MILITARY MIGHT, FORCE, RESOURCE RAPE, AGGRESSION AND GENOCIDE. OF COURSE MANY WILL NOT AGREE WITH THE BOOK AND MANY WILL NOT READ IT. BUT IT IS VERY INTERESTING AND IT OFFERS A PERSUASIVE ARGUMENT TO THE EUROCENTRIC BRAINWASHING AND CULTURAL GENOCIDE AGAINST MUCH OF TODAYS HUMANITY. CAUCASOIDS HAVE DOMINATED THE GLOBE FOR OVER 500 YEARS AND THIS BOOK ANSWERS MANY OF THE QUESTIONS AS TO WHY.
opinions are an open field of collisions........2003-08-04
I've notice only the white viewers are screaming bigotry now look at the kettle calling the pot a bigot lol, please ppl lets stop pretending that skin color was not and is still not a factor, so if white men or being accused of these astrocities then take note, especially were white scholars admit to this by glorifying how different European nationalities conquered different parts of the world especially Black Africa. And no its not a matter of nature over nurture, you see everyone was not a club swinging baphoon lets not keep assuming like a ignoramous that a few findings of old bones of ppls lifestyles speaks for everyone else duh! but hey assuming with very little to go on is the European rationale system lmao! There is a big difference between being civilized and protecting your country from further attacks and being the aggressor who attacks and takes as they please. tsk tsk still in denial, whats next are white ppl going to lie about how they got control over america what a shame so i guess the indians were not the better fighter right? lmao!, more nonsense. Also claiming that everyones condition was primarily influenced by nature over nurture is a unproven claim especially when that had more to do with ones geographical condition which caused the types of different pschological devlepments as it pertains to enviromental survival, so to me this is just another sad cover up from guilt and the truth coming back to slap certain ppl in the face, now if any of the cry babies knew anything about African philosophy or culture then u would know it was nurture over nature indeed the nature of animalistic behavior was denied as shown throughout ancient Egypt and other African related areas to those teachings all the way up to the point of its decline from the western influences who were followers of set the animal or low self the material world lover, next time do the science and cry less. HTP
Is this for real?.......2003-05-27
[...] I was amazed. This guy is not only serious in his convictions; he seems to believe he has single handedly overturned the modern ideas on `race.' This is the kind of book I would have expected to find originally published a hundred years ago, of course with the targets being non-Europeans. Isn't this called racism? Yes, of course it is. So, Mr. Bradley, the races are permanently different? Everything is not only nature over nurture but is also easily discovered by tracing ancestry? All previous and much more thoughtful research has clearly shown that all cultures, or races if you can't get out of that rut, were and are equally prone to what are universal human behaviors. Aggression and violence are not more pronounced in Western Europe, it was simply these westerners who were better able to effect their aggression. I am amazed that this piece of, um, spurious scholarship was published. On second thought I can. I can only hope that only those who seek this kind of [...] will read this, [...], and not a person genuinely interested in history. Especially not someone who comes upon this book early in their explorations of a very interesting area of study. In short, if you have already made up your mind that white men have ruined the world, buy this book and find a companion in your unreasoning conviction. If you have not decided this, don't waste your time.
Not a serious book.......2002-09-15
This is not a serious work on anthropology, genetics, human evolution, history or biology. The assertions put forth within it don't hold up to even minimal scrutiny nor can they withstand even modest criticism. In fact, they simply outlandish, and therein lies the appeal of this book.. It will appeal to those who have some kind of bigotry towards whites, but for those who wish a book based on reality, fact, and reason, I suggest looking elsewhere.
Average customer rating:
- Green Philosophy for Greenhorn Environmentalists
- Wilderness is so important to living and being an American !
- A Wilderness Philosophy Buffet
|
The Great New Wilderness Debate
Manufacturer: University of Georgia Press
ProductGroup: Book
Binding: Paperback
 General
| Popular Economics
| Business & Investing
| Subjects
| Books
General
| Philosophy
| Nonfiction
| Subjects
| Books
General
| Archaeology
| Social Sciences
| Nonfiction
| Subjects
| Books
Wildlife
| Animals
| Biological Sciences
| Science
| Subjects
| Books
Environmental Science
| Earth Sciences
| Science
| Subjects
| Books
Conservation
| Environment
| Outdoors & Nature
| Subjects
| Books
Nature Writing
| Outdoors & Nature
| Subjects
| Books
General
| Conservation
| Outdoors & Nature
| Subjects
| Books
Reference
| Outdoors & Nature
| Subjects
| Books
Environmental Science
| Earth Sciences
| Professional Science
| Professional & Technical
| Subjects
| Books
Look Inside Business Books
| Trip
| Specialty Stores
| Books
Look Inside Nonfiction Books
| Trip
| Specialty Stores
| Books
Look Inside Outdoors & Nature Books
| Trip
| Specialty Stores
| Books
Look Inside Science Books
| Trip
| Specialty Stores
| Books
All Titles
| Qualifying Textbooks - Fall 2007
| Stores
| Books
Business & Investing
| Qualifying Textbooks - Fall 2007
| Stores
| Books
Nonfiction
| Qualifying Textbooks - Fall 2007
| Stores
| Books
Outdoors & Nature
| Qualifying Textbooks - Fall 2007
| Stores
| Books
Professional
| Qualifying Textbooks - Fall 2007
| Stores
| Books
Science
| Qualifying Textbooks - Fall 2007
| Stores
| Books
Similar Items:
-
Wilderness and the American Mind, Fourth Edition
-
The Idea of Wilderness: From Prehistory to the Age of Ecology
-
Uncommon Ground: Rethinking the Human Place in Nature
-
Sand County Almanac (Outdoor Essays & Reflections)
-
Reinventing Eden: The Fate of Nature in Western Culture
ASIN: 0820319848 |
Customer Reviews:
Green Philosophy for Greenhorn Environmentalists.......2005-01-11
I've always considered myself an environmentalist and supporter of wilderness, based on my many wonderful personal experiences with wilderness and nature. Shamefully, however, I never did much reading on the topic of wilderness. Nor, for that matter, did I do much THINKING about the whole CONCEPT of wilderness. What do we mean when we talk about "wilderness"? Where, and with whom, did the whole idea of wilderness begin? Has the notion of wilderness changed with our changing attitudes towards the environment and our role in it?
Luckily, you don't have to read several dozen dense volumes to get some answers to these questions. Instead, you can pick up this marvelous collection of essays spanning nearly 250 years of thought on wilderness and the environment. "The Great Wilderness Debate" gave me a chance to simultaneously catch up on the "classic" wilderness texts AND many later influential essays, including plenty that I would otherwise never have read, and several unique to this collection.
The book is divided into four parts, each of which synopsizes a different strand of wilderness writing. The first section focuses on the origin and emergence of the wilderness ideal. It includes the "classic" stuff - selections from Emerson, Thoreau, John Muir, Aldo Leopold, and Sigurd Olson - as well as essays on early wilderness preservation in the United States. A definite must-read is the Wilderness Act of 1964, which not only provided a federal definition of "wilderness" but also established the Wilderness Areas that we have today. This section alone makes the purchase of the book worthwhile.
The second section is devoted to "Third and Fourth World Views of the Wilderness Idea." The essays in this section introduced me to the fact that "wilderness" is not some kind of universally-understood concept. Instead, the American/Western/First World concept of wilderness (i.e. as a place without humans) is being imposed on a global scale. The authors in this section take issue with the colonialism inherent in forcing "our" wilderness on others, and discuss the many problems of universalizing a concept of "wilderness."
I most enjoyed the third section, a sort of philosophical WWF match where various eminent environmental thinkers - including William Cronon, Holmes Rolson III, and Dave Foreman of EarthFirst! - go head-to-head over a (seemingly) simple question: Is the "Wilderness Idea" useful in today's world? Can "true" wilderness even exist anymore? Does a focus on "pristine" areas distract us from appreciating the nature in our own backyards? It's fun to watch a bunch of hotshot environmental philosophers tussle over definitions, but it's also unnerving to think that they might actually succeed in undermining one of the few pillars supporting "wild" areas in America (however you define "wild").
Which brings us to the fourth section, "Beyond the Wilderness Idea", which attempts to go beyond the sort of "sound and fury" debate of the third section and instead to actually USE wilderness philosophy to inform environmental policy. There's a lot of discussion here about what wilderness SHOULD be and CAN be and WOULD be if only someone would listen to the philosophers. Initially, however, I found this section to be a bit of a letdown. Several of the ideas discussed here - preserving big areas, promoting biosphere reserves - have already become accepted notions since "The Great Wilderness Debate" was published in 1998, so there's a good bit of "old news." More importantly, the policies expounded here are frequently WAY too idealistic to be practical - they're nice to think about, but not something you could take to your congressman.
But what I later realized is that fundamentally "The Great Wilderness Debate" is about the philosophy and ethics of wilderness, NOT the practical policy issues. Those who would create wilderness policy would certainly do well to read this book, as these essays provide a grounding in the basic beliefs and writings that have informed the concept of wilderness. I'm sure there are plenty of great essay collections on environmental policy, but this is not one of them and is not MEANT to be one of them.
If the environmentalist movement has taught me anything, it's to THINK before you ACT. There's no doubt that "The Great Wilderness Debate" really makes you THINK about a lot of the assumptions we make everyday, about what constitutes nature, what is wild, and what is worth preserving. Consequently, I encourage anyone with a strong interest in wilderness and the environment to read this book. It's a wonderful resource for philosophy, a powerful tool for policy, and a great read for any "greenie."
Wilderness is so important to living and being an American !.......2001-07-25
If you had to pick one volume to capture some of the greatest thinking on wilderness, this is probably your single best choice. Almost all of the key ideas and influential writers are included. In fact, for most readers, there is probably too much here ! Over 40 wonderful, dense, and thought-provoking articles from all eras of wilderness thought !! 7 of the contributions are new to this volume.
The title of the volume refers to the recent challenges to the idea of wilderness, and therefore the book starts with the received notion of wilderness. There are wonderful selections from well known U.S. wilderness writers as Ralph Waldo Emerson, Henry David Thoreau, John Muir, Bob Marshall, and Aldo Leopold. There are also important ideas from Jonathon Edwards, Teddy Roosevelt, and Sigurd Olsen -- each representing important components of the wilderness idea such as spiritualism, redemption, sacred american virtues of the frontier, etc.
Then J. Baird Callicott, William Cronon and an assortment of postmodern and postcolonial scholars take this 'romantic' notion of wilderness to task. The idea of wilderness is seen as dualistic, ethnocentric, racist, and an attempt to 'freeze frame' nature. Defenders of the wilderness idea then include Reed Noss, Dave Foreman, and others. To some this debate is now a little weary, but it was a high profile and contentious discussion that is still doing the rounds today.
There are also some hidden gems in this volume, and it is to those that I return most readily. Some examples are Fabienne Bayet's story from the Aboriginal communities of Australia, Jack Turner's call for the wild, Gary Snyder's more recent reflections on Turtle Island, and Tom Birch's piece on the incarceration of wilderness. These are cutting edge ideas that are taking many of today's wilderness thinkers beyond the postmodern debate into tackling questions of ecological restoration and the role of wilderness management.
In summary, a solid and thorough discussion of the idea of wilderness. For those of us living and working in the U.S., wilderness is a crucial part of what it means to be American - the ideas in this volume deserve a large readership. But, don't expect to read from cover to cover - this is a collection to which you will continue to return and find great insight and delight.
A Wilderness Philosophy Buffet.......2001-03-13
This is a useful sampler of wilderness philosophy. It's well balanced account of American debate of wilderness and what "wilderness" and "natural" really mean. It contains influential authors such as Aldo Leopold, William Cronon and John Muir. It also has some important reports relating to the history of wilderness management like the "Leopold Report". I've been using it as a starting point for research and it has been a good spring board for finding good authors and diversity of opinion.
Books:
- Essential Cell Biology, Second Edition
- Finite Math with Applications (9th Edition)
- Finite Mathematics and Calculus with Applications (7th Edition) (Lial/Greenwell/Ritchey Series)
- Finite Mathematics and Its Applications
- Finite Mathematics for the Managerial, Life, and Social Sciences (with CD-ROM and Printed Access Card iLrn Tutorial, vMentor 1-Semester)
- Flow Measurement Engineering Handbook
- Food of the Gods: The Search for the Original Tree of Knowledge A Radical History of Plants, Drugs, and Human Evolution
- Foundations of Image Science
- From So Simple a Beginning: Darwin's Four Great Books (Voyage of the Beagle, The Origin of Species, The Descent of Man, The Expression of Emotions in Man and Animals)
- Functional Analysis (Pure and Applied Mathematics: A Wiley-Interscience Series of Texts, Monographs and Tracts)
Books Index
Books Home
Recommended Books
- George Washington A Biography 7 Volumes
- Beyond Acceptance: Parents of Lesbians & Gays Talk About Their Experiences
- Whiskey Priest
- Timothy, or Notes of an Abject Reptile
- Treasure Island
- Biology: The Unity and Diversity of Life
- A Field Guide to the Birds of Eastern and Central North America
- Louis XIV and the Parlements: The Assertion of Royal Authority
- Totem Poles And Tea
- Tracks Behind the Fence
Encyclopedia Prehistorica Dinosaurs: The Definitive Pop-Up
Castle: Medieval Days and Knights (A Sabuda & Reinhart Pop-up Book)
Encyclopedia Prehistorica Mega-Beasts (Encyclopedia Prehistorica)
The Wonderful Wizard of Oz: A Commemorative Pop-up
Mommy?
