Environment and Nature Books

This is my absolute favorite children's book. My twins are 22years old and of all their books this is the one they remember. The illustrations are beautiful!! I have purchased this book for many friends children and the reaction is the same.beautiful

What a beautiful, rich book! I can't believe I've never seen this book before a friend passed it along. Besides magnetizing illustrations, the whole story concept of the cycle of life is sensitive and calming. I as an adult find myself reading and pouring over it again and again. My 4 year old liked it at age 4 and now loves it more than ever. I also like that it was originally written and published in the "Soviet Union" so the perspective is a little different than the usual American fare.

This book was read read to me throughout my childhood, so i am saddened to see such a short synopsis. Granted that is the essence of the story, but what is most important about it, is the sense of interconnectedness in nature that Nathalia illustrates. Many different organisms live in a less glamorous way and often go underappreciated in environmental texts. It's about time that bugs and worms had their say, too. I thoroughly recommend it.

What a beautiful, rich book! I can't believe I've never seen this book before a friend passed it along. Besides magnetizing illustrations, the whole story concept of the cycle of life is sensitive and calming. I as an adult find myself reading and pouring over it again and again. My 4 year old liked it at age 4 and now loves it more than ever. I also like that it was originally written and published in the "Soviet Union" so the perspective is a little different than the usual American fare.

"Our World: Our Future" is a must read for anyone interested in peace and survival of our race. In spite of our affluence and scientific excellence, over half of our race live in poverty and subhuman condition, but none of our scholars ever addressed this most important human problem in any of the books available in the world today. Dr. Anil K. Sarkar, a medical specialist was born in utmost poverty in East Bengal 76 years ago and could see the East and the West, poverty and affluence and the realities of the unkind world in a way never posible for anybody born in
affluence and in the West. To know how our race progressed from the Stone to the Computer Age and how our religious fanatics and the selfish military industrial complex are about to destroy our world, and also to know how easy it is to bring peace and survive, this is the only complete but comprehensive book one has to read.

No one seems to want to address the inhuman indifference we exhibit towards poverty, disease, homelessness, and the lack of hope among us. Dr. Sarkar has courageously taken up this task, and explores the dark side of human existence in his work, Our World Our Future.

Half of the inhabitants of this small planet live in abject poverty while the other half lives in affluence and wealth. If all of the human beings on this planet do not get the basics they need to survive, there will be unrest and friction. We seem more focused on destroying life on this planet as we know it, and accumulating ungodly amounts of wealth in the process.

Dr. Sarkar examines this problem and warns of the impending danger to the human race if we do not correct our callous indifference to our fellow man. We must develop an attitude of caring for every one and reject the way we currently treat the poor and less fortunate. And we must do so quickly. Our World Our Future is a must read: it is an urgent call that we must listen to or perish from the face of this planet. The book is chilling and thought provoking; it defies time, geography and race. It is a sobering look at the dark side of human nature.

Despite this perspective, Dr. Sarkar offers concrete solutions and hope for mankind. I share in this hope, and encourage you to read this work and do the same.

A nation cannot stand half slave and half free, Lincoln proclaimed to a nation on the brink of a national bloodbath. Can the world of today survive half enslaved by the scourge of poverty and half affluently flaunting its wealth?
Comes now OUR WORLD, OUR FUTURE, a unique and fearlessly subjective history of the world by an author who rose out of the depths of low-caste impoverishment in India and Pakistan. Dr. Anil K. Sarkar became a physician as well as a self-educated polymath who has spent a lengthy lifetime in pursuit of knowledge in all disciplines.
Clearly his summa is not meant to be a scholarly exercise for academics, a dispassionate display of historical erudition, but rather an outspoken and populist bias in favor of the oppressed peoples of developing and Third World countries. Such a view demands a wrenching shift in international strategies by both the United Nations and the major powers of the globe. The alternative: endless terrorism, wars, famine, and disease rooted in poverty and its spawn: overpopulation and environmental decimation that is destined one day to shut the door on a prosperous and peaceful planet.
Out of an insatiable thirst for learning in all areas of human endeavors, astronomy, physics, geology, paleontology, archeology, anthropology, religion, political science, and economics, Dr. Sarkar has fashioned not just a richly factual tapestry of our planetary and human evolution but an incisive social critique of past events, especially of the last century, that have shaped our present and threaten to shatter our future.
In looking back, the author has boldly laid bared the foibles, follies, hubris and horrors of the power elite of history, including the religious manipulators and mullahs no less than the political machiavels and megalomaniacs.
Despair and despondency, however, are not the sum of his panoramic study of 15 billion cosmic years in the evolution of a rational animal, Homo Sapiens. Only a lover's quarrel with our imperfect past could drive such a voracious curiosity in search of a remedial wisdom to our global problems. Plus a desperate hope and dogged faith that our collective sanity and humanity can prevail over the darker dimentions of our nature.
OUR WORLD, OUR FUTURE is an awesome achievement, an illuminating and inspiring labor of love painstakingly built from a life of hardship, struggle, deep thought, and a passion to communicate a prescription of salvation for an ailing world, an alternative to apocalypse, an option for a nobler, more peaceful and harmonious home for the entire human family.

A Reviewer's Comments on Anil Sarkar's, Our World: Our Future
Bloomington, Indiana: 1st Book
Library, 2002
ISBN:0-759-66980-5

FOR AMAZON COM

Dr. Anil Kumar Sarkar, a retired physician, is an Indian immigrant who was motivated by global social inequalities to write this book. He critically viewed "the affluence of the West," and asks a profound question, "Why, in spite of all our prosperity and technological excellence, are the majority of our fellow human beings malnourished and without the basic needs for life or human dignity?" As a social activist, Dr. Sarkar has personally experimented with social development demonstration projects on rural development in his native village in India with some success, and draws on this experience in writing this book.

This book is a comprehensive history of the world civilization designed primarily for the general public rather than for scholars of world history or political science. It is written in a style designed not to focus on historical chronologies, but on the social dimensions of historical events. The author's analyses thus are that of a social critic, rather than as a scholar of history, and that is precisely where the value of the book lies. Towards the later pages of the book, Dr. Sarkar has specific public policy recommendations for the policy makers of developing countries and for affluent western nations. In sum, he recommends changes in domestic and foreign policies of nations, and the strengthening of the global governance system while keeping in mind the need for serving the entire mankind without becoming unnecessarily Utopian in his work.

This book is primarily aimed at general readers who will enjoy reading this book by Dr. Sarkar. He has offered clear and enlightened descriptions on complex social and historical issues and events, which will be appreciated by general readers.

Dr. Sarkar's book also represents a new type of American ethnic literature, specifically, Indian immigrant literature. There is already a large body of literary writings by the Indian immigrants in the USA who constitute about slightly over 2 million people according to the 2000 census. But Dr. Sarkar's book stands out as the first or only such book on the social history of mankind. American public libraries that stock fictions and novels by the Indian immigrants to enrich their holdings with ethnic literature should seriously consider adding this work to their collection. This reviewer is of the opinion that that this highly readable book should find a place among the American tapestry of ethnic writers. American public and university libraries are a rich gold mine of South Asian American writings would be remiss if they fail to acquire this book by a physician from India, now an American citizen by choice.

Prof. Manindra Mohapatra
Director, Center for Governmental Services
INDIANA STATE UNIVERSITY

This was the first of Gerald Durrell's (yes, he's the kid brother of novelist Lawrence--who appears in several of his other works, such as My Family and Other Animals and Birds, Beasts, and Relatives) long string of animal books that I ever encountered, and over the next 30-odd years my mother and I literally read our copy to pieces. Durrell was the youngest collector ever commissioned when he set off for the British Cameroons in search, chiefly, of the less spectacular examples of African fauna. With a mixture of near-lyricism, earthiness, and the kind of humor that will have you gasping for breath, he describes the people he met (primarily native villagers), the creatures he caught (and how he did it), and the land it all took place in. Even at this early date, long before his famous Jersey Island zoo was more than a faint gleam in his eye, his deep love of nature shines out on every page, and he's an author every animal fan should know. (Don't miss the tale of his next expedition, The Bafut Beagles, which is equally as good.)

This book is about a business that, for the most part, no longer exists - the business of collecting animals for display in zoos. Wildlife conservation has changed a lot since then so the kind of expedition that Gerald Durrell and his companion, John, undertook in 1953, described in this book, just could not happen now.

Gerald describes how he and John spent several months in Cameroon collecting a variety of animals, birds and reptiles and some of the adventures they had, including the triumphs and disappointments. He acknowledges right at the beginning that the expedition may seem more exciting than it really was, because all the boring aspects have been omitted. Even so, there were enough exciting moments to fill this book.

He describes some of the local people, who he mostly got on well with - but of course he did have some problems and we are told about these. He describes some of the creatures he collected, and the disappointment when some died or escaped.

My favorite (both at school and now) was a chimpanzee that had already been domesticated. Gerald was asked to look after him before he could be shipped to London. This was no ordinary chimpanzee, as he not only enjoyed smoking cigarettes but was able to light his own using either matches or lighter, and also displayed other characteristics more normally associated with people than with chimpanzees. Always remember that this was 1953.

This is a highly entertaining book, which I first read at school, where it was compulsory reading - and it was the only such book that I enjoyed. I still enjoyed it when I read it again recently, after discovering (to my surprise) that it is still available in the UK.

Durrell's descriptions are so enthralling, I actually read the entire book in one night. If you like books about animals, such as the All Creatures series, you must read this book. I first read this book when I was 10, and this was probably the first adult book I read. The way Durrell describes the catching of animals and the way he captures each character's essence is incredible. You will fall in love with this book. I strongly recommend it.

Gerald Durrell spent most of his life collecting interesting animal specimens and Durrell is an interesting human specimen himself. His well chronicled life (mostly chronicled by Durrell) begins with the hilarious, and very succesfull, "My family and Other Animals". It is ably followed up with the equally hilarious "Birds, Beasts and Relatives". Both books are full of tales from the Durrell family's years on the Greek Island of Corfu, pre WWII. Little Gerry dives right into the flora and fauna of the island, including its human fauna. I own very few nonfiction books with such a plethora of memorable characters. Now, of course, we get to the volume in question. It is plenty good, and worth multiple readings over years, as is "A Zoo In My Luggage" and several other books detailing trips to collect animals. A word of warning, don't go nuts and buy all the zillion Durrell titles. Some of them are out of print for a reason and were most likely dashed off by Durrell to finance a collecting trip or two. If you read a sampling of Amazon.com reviews you will sniff these out and avoid wasting you hard earned lucre. And please, get "My Familiy and Other Animals and "Birds, Beasts and Relatives" right now, if you dont have them already.

This is the only book I know of which provides theoretical framework for sustainable development using integrated management of economic, ecological, and social systems. The theoretical frame work is based on hierarchy and complexity theories.

You do not want to miss reading and owning it. It belongs in the library of all future oriented executives, economists, ecologists, sociologists, business planners, and policy makers.

A very interesting read. A well developed theoretical framework for examining contempory 'sustainability' issues (social, physical, cultural and so on). Interesting case studies used.

I weighed into this book on the basis of an article I read about Panarchy. Some of the text is too technical for me (all the chapters are written by academics) so I confess that I skipped some parts. Nonetheless for anyone who is trying to grasp how change happens in our world, this is an outstanding source for understanding the complexities and inter-relatedness of everything.

On balance, Resilience and the Behavior of Large-Scale Systems (Scientific Committee on Problems of the Environment (SCOPE) Series) is the better book but this one is the thicker heavier more math-laden pretender--the problem is they have their own citation cabal, and while the bibliography is much broader and deeper than the above recommended book, there are too many gaps and an excessive reliance on obscure formulas that I have learned over time tend to be smoke for "I don't really know but if I did, this is the formula.

Also published in 2002, also with 20 contributors, this book lost me on the math. As someone who watched political science self-destruct in the 1970's when "comparative statistics" replaced field work, foreign language competency, and actual historical and cultural understanding, and a real-world intelligence professional, I'd listen to these folks, but I would never, ever let them actually manage the totality.

The book is the outcome of a three year effort, the Resilience Network as they called themselves, and there are some definite gems in this book, but it is a rough beginning. Among other things, it tries to model simplicity instead of complexity, and continue to miss the important of true cost transparency as the product and service end-user point of sale level, and real-time science that cannot be manipulated by any one country or organization (Exxon did NOT make $40 billion in profit this year--that is a fraction of the externalized costs, roughly $12 against the future for every $3 paid at the pump--that level of public intelligence in the public interest in missing from this book).

Page 7, "Observation: In every example of crisis and regional development we have studied, both the natural system and the economic components can be explained by a small set of variables and critical processes." This rang all of my alarm bells. If I did not have total respect for what the authors and funders are trying to do, that sentence alone would have put this book firmly into my idiocy pile.

I just do not see in this book the kind of understanding of the ten high-level threats to humanity interaction with one another, such as can be seen free online or bought via Amazon, A More Secure World: Our Shared Responsibility--Report of the Secretary-General's High-level Panel on Threats, Challenges and Change, nor do these distinguished practitioners of their own little "club" see the strategic coherence of identifying ten core policies from Agriculture to Water that must be harmonized at every budget level, nor the irrelevance of anything we do unless we can persuade the ten demographic challengers with an EarthGame online that delivers real-time science and near-real-time cost-benefit analysis.

I find several of the authors to be a bit too cavalier in their dismissal of the contributions of economists, ecologists, and others.

Theories of change and next cycles are useful. Concepts of cascading change and collapsing panarchies are good. Log number of people in Figure 4.1 is very good.

In discussing adaptive response to change these learned scholars appear to have no clue of what is possible in delivering neighborhood level granularity of data for online social deliberation and models for gaming. There are early light references to deliberative democracy, but right now these folks have models in search of data in search of players. I did like the discussion of the larger model for levels of discourse, but WikiCalc and EarthGame are a decade ahead of this book's contents (which I hasten to add, was started in 1998 and published in 2002).

Table 11-1 on page 310 was so useful I list its row descriptors here, Factors and Adaptation and Possible Effect on Resilience (the latter not replicated here.

Factors:
Biota
Diversity-spacial
Diversity-production strategies
Energy sources
External resources
Mental models
Population structure
Savings
Scale
Technology

This is no where near the 10-12-8 model at Earth Intelligence Network, but I see real value here, and the need for a cross-fertilization. The fatal flaw in this book is that they confuse the failure of expertise with the failure of democracy--if we can achieve electoral reform and eliminate the corruption inherent in most governments, and certainly that of the US government which is broken and "running on empty" while every incumbent sells their constituents out to their party or special interests, it would be possible to connect data, change detection, alternative scenario depiction, and deliberative democracy at the zip code level.

Gilberto Gallopin, Planning for Resilience, is alone worth the price of the book, in combination with above and the closing summary, which is also a real value. My final note: too much gobbly-gook (to which I would add, "and no clue how intelligence-policy-budget connections are made and broken.

The key to eradicating the ten high level threats to humanity, among which environmental degradation is number three after poverty and infectious disease, is not better science--it is better democracy, participatory democracy, combined with moral capitalism. Below are a few titles to help make this point.

These 20 contributors are all part of a future solution, but they cannot be allowed to drive the bus.

See also (apart from my many lists):
Running On Empty: How The Democratic and Republican Parties Are Bankrupting Our Future and What Americans Can Do About It
Breach of Trust: How Washington Turns Outsiders into Insiders
Vice: Dick Cheney and the Hijacking of the American Presidency
The Battle for the Soul of Capitalism
Green to Gold: How Smart Companies Use Environmental Strategy to Innovate, Create Value, and Build Competitive Advantage
The Philosophy of Sustainable Design
The New Craft of Intelligence: Personal, Public, & Political--Citizen's Action Handbook for Fighting Terrorism, Genocide, Disease, Toxic Bombs, & Corruption
Collective Intelligence: Creating a Prosperous World at Peace

Baskin provides an excellent introduction to invasive species, chronicling through many enlightening anecdotes the history and consequences of this problem. All too often this subject is presented by specialists for others with biological training, but this book is written well-enough for the general reader. She provides examples of the hard work to remedy the problems associated with invasive species, as well as potential solutions for the future, giving us hope that there is light at the end of the tunnel, if we make the effort and dedicate appropriate resources. If I had to find faults with the book, I would say that she focuses too intensely on just a few regions (albeit important ones): Montana, Hawaii, Galapagos Islands, Australia, New Zealand, and South Africa (a little about Florida). Problems in other regions receive little or no attention. But the book is still a great one for this very neglected yet extremely important subject.

Plague Of Rats And Rubber Vines provides a very important discussion of species invasions around the world while also addressing many of the little-known consequences of such invasions, including the consequences of global trade and world travel so popular with Westerners. Plant and animal communities are increasingly being degraded by invasive species, and Plague Of Rats And Rubber Vines provides a discussion which includes solutions to the threat.

In a world shrinking because of an increase in global trade and travel, the economic and ecological impacts wrought by invasive species can no longer be ignored and, in some cases, it may already be too late to react.
That's the premise of a new book entitled "A Plague of Rats and Rubber Vines - The Growing Threat of Species Invasions", by Yvonne Baskin (Island Press/Shearwater Books 2002). Baskin, a Montana-based science writer and author of a 1997 book, "The Work of Nature", paints an occasionally grim picture of how humans have diluted, mixed and meddled with the planet's biological wealth, often with troubling consequences.
Written in an easy-to-read style, Baskin makes her case using plentiful examples, from the so-called Cinderella Snail that once promised economic miracles in the Philippines yet managed the opposite, to the dreaded zebra mussel, the tenacious Kudzu vine and the vanishing iguana. She writes candidly and authoritatively on the propagation of feral goats overrunning parts of the Galapagos Islands, and the common house sparrow that lived and bred innocuously in Europe, but "exploded" upon arrival in North America and New Zealand.
As she put it, "Take the house sparrow, a rather sedentary bird that fledges three to five chicks each year in its European homeland. What formula could have warned the acclimatizers and their like - had they cared - that this sparrow would rapidly take much of the New World by storm? Yet nineteenth century observes reported sparrow pairs producing 24 fledglings per year as the birds exploded across North America, and 31 fledglings per year in New Zealand."
In the Galapagos National Park, feral dog packs were killing off the iguana population in the late 1970s. It prompted a captive-breeding program to bring back the numbers. Baskin noted that "few of the nitty-gritty details of reptile husbandry were known then, such as how to get males to breed with females instead of killing them, and how long and at what temperature to incubate iguana eggs." Studies of free-living iguanas helped provide the answers. Further, many of the dogs, pigs, cats and rats preying on the iguanas were eliminated, but such eradication efforts are becoming increasingly more difficult. Sharpshooters have been hired to reduce the goat population.
On a small island east of Auckland, the author and a companion peered under thickets to catch sight of a kokako, New Zealand's largest surviving native songbird. According to Baskin, the kokako belongs to an ancient family of wattlebirds that exist only there, yet her foray into the bush ended before she had heard its organ-like call. Such an observation might easily have been forgotten by the reader, considering the book is laden with examples of decreasing biodiversity, but Baskin relied on popular culture to cement her point. "The kokako's song reverberates through the sound track of director Jane Campion's 1994 Oscar-winning movie, `The Piano', which portrays British colonists carving out a settlement in New Zealand's primeval forests in the 1850s," she wrote. "In that era, male and female kokako regularly greeted the down with resounding and complex duets. These days, seeing or hearing a kokako in the remnants of those forests is rare."
For environmental journalists looking to grasp the concept of invasive species in a way that might be easily conveyed to their readers, this book is a necessity. "A Plague of Rats and Rubber Vines" is both reference tool and map for what is being done to help nature fight off the introduction of plants and animals in regions where they have no place being. Baskin quotes Donald Kennedy from a 2001 article in the journal Science: "Modest gestures have been made, such as special laws regarding ballast pumping and used tire inspection. But there is neither a general strategy for dealing with these invaders nor a widespread awareness of our vulnerability. We have made the globe a biological Cuisinart, and we will either have to deal with the consequences or use our scientific capacity to improve forecasting and monitoring."
Baskin acknowledges that some governments are taking steps to thwart the impact of invasive species by adopting new regulations on importation, and by funding efforts to bring problem species under control. Still, mistakes are made daily at airport and dockside customs desks, which allow invasive species to enter regions amid nursery stock, eventually establishing themselves where they don't belong and could cause catastrophic problems. Seed packages sold by international companies routinely cross over political borders without ecological concern. Planes, trains and automobiles all contribute to this process.
Certainly the problem of invasive species differs by region, but the effects are measurable and, in most cases, the culprits can be traced back to their point of origin. It's here that the environmental journalist can play a major role, partnering with biologists to identify the invaders and increasing the level of public awareness. After all, a species invasion can begin innocently enough with grandma tucking a few green shoots into her pocketbook while visiting relatives in Cambodia, and replanting them upon returning home to St. Louis.
---David Liscio, ecology professor Endicott College, Beverly, MA, and correspondent to the Society of Environmental Journalists.

Every now and then I take a look at my garden - does my passion vine do well?, are my ferns lush and green?, and so on. After reading this book, I'm still looking at my garden, but in a different way. Is that vine a potential invader? That knotweed overthere, is it causing trouble somewhere else where it invades the natural area? Are there potential killer weeds in my garden??

Baskin's book changed my view, not a minor achievement. The reason is simple: A Plague of Rats and Rubbervines is an excellent read, informative and well written! It's about biological invasions in a broad sense, from crop pests and foreign diseases to ecological catastrophs caused by alien wildlife. Writing about such a topic has the danger of monotony, and endless lament on past and lost paradise. But Baskin skillfully knows to circumvent such a negative approach. Although the first chapters sketch a grim picture of the havoc caused by alien invasions, the book than continues by describing what current measures must turn the tide. Quarantain at borders and airports are an essential ingredient of fighting invasions. Though often a nuisance to naive passengers, these measures are much more understandable to me now I've read this book. There are also some succes stories about invasions that have been combatted and nearly or completely defeated.

Rats and Rubbervines does not give an exhaustive overview of all invasions - there are simply to many to do this. But more importantly, such an approach would be of little interest. Instead, Baskin offers the reader insight in the underlying causes of invasions, and the economic aspects involved. After reading Rats and Rubbervines, you have a reasonably balanced overview of this important topic.

There is one minor drawback: readers not familiar with common names of the plants and animals involved would love to see a line drawing or picture of the organisms, but apart from a small number of photographs illustrations are lacking. An idea for a second edition? The book certainly deserves that!

Mr. Behan's main theme in PLUNDERED PROMISE is how political and economic overshoot has led to the increasing plunder of public lands for private profit. His deeper look at how the growth of corporations, hyperconsumerism, and centralized oligarchical government has led to the plundering and degradation of US Federal lands frames our present Bush administration problems and he directs the reader to authors such as Cobb-Daly, Kemmis, Prugh, Yaffee, etc. for workable, practical solutions.

After a synoptic opening chapter, there are chapters on the first century of public land management, the rise of corporate capitalism at the start of the 20th century, the rise of professional management and 'sustained yield' at mid-century and finally, "The Economics and Politics of License: Corruption and Predatation, 1976 to the Present.

Behan's development of the concept of economic and political overshoot and how it effected public lands is of key importance to environmentalists. The history of the development of governmental subsidization of private use of public lands and the momentum of the growth economy in degrading forests, overgrazing grasslands, overfishing the commons, etc. is crucial. Revoking corporate charters and devolving government out of Washington to local 'neighbourhoods' are revolutionary tactics advocated to get the philistines out of the temple.

Good as Korten, Greider and Klein. Well worth your while.

Behan explains in fascinating detail many of the quirks -- mostly intentional -- that make our government behave today the way it does. The convoluted process that got George Bush elected is only a glimpse of the deep issues. He explains how it is virtually impossible, and has been since our foundation, to say we have rule by majority in our government. This is all explored from a foundation of federal land policy, but applies equally to the rest of our governmental operations. It was eye opening, and angering, to learn how we got where we are.

This book is worthwhile reading for anyone who proclaims a political opinion, or perhaps simply draws a breath. It is not an unbiased book, and you are unlikely to agree with every argument. I don't, but, after teaching forest policy and economics to university students for 25 years, I regret not having had the advantage of this book as a text. It would ideally complement a standard text in an undergraduate policy course, and it would serve well as core reading in a graduate seminar, supplemented by books on related topics. Several good choices, in fact, are cited in "Plundered Promise."

Behan is an engaging, provocative writer so his description of the evolution of land use policy in the United States is entertaining as well as instructive. He makes clear the process by which we have moved from the capitalistic ideal of individual private property ownership of all lands to one of reserving some lands to be held in common, and provides a logical defense for why we did it. The rationale, he notes, for maintaining such a "public good" has grown stronger with time. These public lands are a collective national treasure like no other in the world.

Behan then makes the case that we are hell-bent to squander this "promise" of the book's title. The great evil in this story is our unwitting, and presumably unwilling collaboration with modern (huge) corporations in a senseless, wasteful social party of conspicuous consumption. Modern corporations, many with global reach and stunning political and financial command, attempt to create demand for their massive and efficient production by devising market strategies to convince us to over consume; to acquire material goods as a measure of our social success and prosperity. The below-cost, ready access these giants have to our public lands treasure in order to supply their raw material needs, and for air, land and water sinks, requires consumers (all of us) to bear costs disproportionate to gains from such enterprise.

How have we been duped into this distorted market? Behan provides a fascinating and fresh perspective on the way America's founders contrived a unique constitional government that precludes majoritarian democracy. Political, legal and economic power has been concentrated among elites in Washington, D.C. Along the way, he notes, corporations were legally granted unique constitutional privileges. This argument deserves careful consideration. It is not the stuff of high school civics courses, or an uncritical recitation of the wisdom of free enterprise. It ties together the facts and the thesis of the book, and because it challenges the standard assumptions most Americans hold about their individual rights, prerogatives and powers, this argument alone makes the book required reading.

The way out of the jam, according to Behan, is for citizens to moderate their consumptive behavior, to resist the importuning of corporate advertisers, to pursue legal redress of corporate license, and to seize control of the political process at the local level. He offers specific examples of local or community level politics in practice, with attendant successes in resolving land use issues while protecting public land values. This resolution, while appropriate for many issues, and promising as an idealistic framework, seems less reassuring when one considers the complexities of international politics and global environmental issues. What can we do for a national energy policy, for example, wherein the real costs of our consumptive behavior, at whatever level, must be assessed globally and then allocated equitably among all of us? What can we do locally about issues that transcend national boundaries?

One optimistic notion that Behan suggests as a partial solution seems practical, and likely to work, and that is the power of Internet communication. This could facilitate the formation of "communities of interest" to address problems in ways that transcend normal geographical limits. Much needs to be done, and too much has been done badly, but the necessary dialogue has begun. Richard Behan's book, "Plundered Promise," is an essential component of that dialogue.

A lot of people might find Behan's book illuminating. Among them: anyone whose job moved overseas to a cheaper labor force; anyone who has looked from the window of a commercial airplane flying from Seattle to Los Angeles and marveled at the size of clearcuts on public forestland. Anyone who has wondered why the treasury doesn't receive fair value for the minerals extracted from publicly owned land, for the grazing rights, for the timber and for the water resource. Beyond the public land issues Behan addresses, the book is is an informative read for anyone who has wondered why there is no public agenda in the United States -- and, instead, a plethora of interest groups and PACs that shape the direction of legislation. As an aside, the book is a civics lesson for all of us who wonder why we find ourselves voting against the least-unappealing candidate in a two-way race instead of choosing enthusiastically from among outstanding candidates. Forestry professionals should read it in hopes of renewing the passion, optimism and zeal with which they began their careers. Behan is a scholar, and the work is carefully written and the cases he makes are well-documented. Yet there's sparkle in the prose. Even so the book isn't an easy read. The facts he presents are depressing, and the hopeful recommendations Behan makes at the end seem ever so far from being adopted. Or even considered in my lifetime.

This is a great photo book about our fellow primates. It includes many primate species you don't usually see in books.

It has at least one photo of all different types of primates, from bushbabies and lemurs to mandrills and gorillas, and everything in between. It also has Asian, African, and South American species, which is a nice variety.

The photos here are of very high quality, and quite beautiful. They are all original for this book, not photos grabbed from other places. Each species also gets a nice little write up.

It looks small on the image here but it's actually almost 200 pages long and about an inch thick. The paper is high quality glossy and the printing is well done. The cover is nice, but the binding is of low quality, unfortunately.

Primarily a photography book, PRIMATES offers an intimate and often humorous (but not condescendingly so) look into wild primate life. Even the brief text, by Barbara Sleeper, is first-rate, revealing details about each species not often encountered by lay people. This is not meant to be a comprehensive text, however, but a celebration of some of our closest relatives. The photography is at times stunning, capturing intelligence, emotion, innovation, and above all personality. If you love primates, or are even vaguely attracted to their study, this is a must-have book.

This book is suitable for all ages. I just loved Art Wolfe's photographs. With so much emphasis on "trendy" primate species like gorillas and chimpanzees, this book introduces readers to the dozens of primate species of which you may never have heard. Like the gibbons, the lesser and often forgotten apes - whose domestic lives are lived by the standards humans so often fail to meet (sexual equality, no color bars, paternal role in infant rearing, monogamy)! Plus tiny marmosets you can old in the palm of your hand. All these animals are there. I loved this book. It is not a comprehensive guide or identification manual like Noel Rowe's book which I also like. It is a pleasant and readable book! Shirley McGreal, Chairwoman, International Primate Protection League

Filled with excellent photographs by Art Wolfe, this book shows more than 100 species of monkeys, apes, and lemurs. Seperated by geographical location and family, each specie represented has a short and comprehensible synopsis accompanying one or more beautiful photos. A great introductory book to the world of primates, I highly recommend it to anyone interested in the field. Thomas R. Null, A Walk on the Wild Side: International Nature and Wildlife

How many people today remember Rachel Carson? When you see an eagle or a falcon or a hawk, you can than k Rachel Carson. Her book "Silent Spring" incited action almost immediately against irresponsible pesticide use, including DDT, and launched an ecology movement that led to the Clean Water Act and the Clean Air Act. This is quite an accomplishment for an author of natural history books; Rachel Carson must have been larger than life, practically immortal, in order to have pulled this off.

But...as Linda Lear documents in extraordinary detail, Rachel Carson was entirely mortal, and all too human, and was not lacking in the faults most of us possess. Success came to Carson late (almost too late), but Carson's love of nature and her dogged determination allowed her to complete what is, perhaps, the most important book of the 20th Century before she succumbed to breast cancer. Lear's detail is incredibly deep; over and again she recounts instances from Carson's life that seem trivial and mundane until the reader feels bogged down in the excess of it. But this detail is critical, because Carson's life itself seemed mundane and trivial, that is until the last decade of it. Carson was a regular person-she was no superstar-and Lear's depth of detail is necessary in order to explain Carson's journey from a less-than-middle-class upbringing to government functionary to the preeminent nature writer of her time. Carson's life evolves slowly and ends tragically; she never married and she never had children-it is almost as if she was born to deliver "Silent Spring" at exactly the right moment in history, when it was needed the most, and then pass on.

In "Witness for Nature", Linda Lear does not allow Rachel Carson to become a cardboard icon of an earlier time; Lear recreates Carson as a complete person with loves and fears and faults. Carson's greatness rises on its own from Lear's writing.

Lear's detailed biography offers an unmatched look at Carson's personal and professional life. This book takes the reader behind the scenes of Rachel Carson's brilliant works in order to demonstrate the difficulties that dogged her every day existance. Lear chronicles Carson's personal perservance and dedication to the environmental cause in an immensely readable format. A wonderful and inspiring book to read!

An absolutely fabulous book on an environmental pioneer, "Witness for Nature" offers up three very important reminders: (1) We must never forget the prophetic contribution of Rachel Carson; (2) we must carry on her bold and visionary mission, never backing down from, as the book described them, the "powerful adversaries" of the chemical industry, corporate agriculture and others that seek to impose their technological will on the rest of us; and (3) we must treasure every day we have left and take the time to cherish our gifts in the natural world. I only wish Rachel Carson had lived to be 100 so she could have carried on her ecological vision for many more decades.

The first reviewer, Shari Just, has captured perfectly the quality, scope and value of Lear's biography. If you have ever wondered "can one person make a difference" this is the proof. A readable blend of history, place, people and events describing a modest scientist that loved to communicate scientific findings to a wider audience.

John Terborgh has written a book that is a must read for anyone involved or interested in the protection of biodiversity through reserves and parks in the tropics. This book contains content that is tough to swallow but like a prescribed bitter pill hopefully it will have a salubrious effect.

I am not a biologist or professional park administrator but as a member of a board of directors on a regional land conservation organization. I will be recommending this book to all on the board. Through my travels in Africa, Central America, and South America I can understand the plight of the parks that Terborgh describes. His experience and his passion for biodiversity show in the book and as I read it I found it hard to put down. Reading this was like attending an excellent lecture knowing that the speaker was presenting a clear assesment of the situation and a novel and important directive to solve the problems.

Terborgh brings up startling facts in the book such as the entire funding for tropical conservation by all conservation organizations in the United States totals $200 million per year. This again is for every country, every continent, all the tropical parks. Yet within the United States the National Park Service has funding of 1.7 billion per year and is underfunded.

If you consider the difference in species diversity in one park such as Manu National Park in Peru with a possible 1,000 species of birds compared to all of North America north of Mexico with about 700 species
you can understand the significance of protecting these sites.

I hope that many people will read this and that many more will take action to rectify the problems that Terborgh has written about.

When John Terborgh publishes a book, anyone interested in the conservation of nature should read it. One of the world's foremost tropical ecologists, Terborgh writes in an unusually pleasing and, at the same time, provocative style. If the reader is only seeking entertainment or if a rigorously researched documentary of the context of personal experiences is sought, s/he will be disappointed; but, if the interest is in stimulating thought about the problems of nature conservation, the reward will be extraordinary. "Requiem for Nature" surpasses even Terborgh's own "Where Have All the Birds Gone?" as a intellectually challenging treatise.

For me, the richest passages in "Requiem for Nature" are those in Chapter 2 that describe the ecological relationships that must be maintained if nature is to be conserved and the need for a coherent, long-term strategy to meet the challenges.

As an anthropologist who has worked in areas near Manu National Park since 1971 --even before Terborgh arrived there-- I have long been following his work and thinking on tropical forest conservation issues. And I have many, many disagreements with his perspectives. However, no one can deny the value of his contributions in challenging current fashions in thinking about nature and its conservation.

The weaknesses of "Requiem for Nature" include serious inaccuracies in Terborgh's information about the historical and political contexts of the places he describes on the basis of his own and others' work, particularly in Chapters 3 and 4.

For example, the Summer Institute of Linguistics is said to have brought the Machiguenga into the Manu Park in the 1960s (p. 29); the Manu Park has been a Machiguenga homeland since at least Inka times and probably much longer. The purpose of Belgian linguist Marcel d'Ans's work is inaccurately described as "to open communication with uncontacted indigenous groups as a prelude to luring them out of the park" (p. 42).; d'Ans was there to develop policies for incorporating the indigenous peoples into park strategies, not to contact isolated Indians. There are numerous references to Amahuaca Indians in the Manu National Park (pp. 42-45). There are no Amahuaca in the Manu Park; they live along tributaries of the Urubamba and Ucayali Rivers farther north. The people referred to are Yora, a Yaminahua sub-group, in voluntary isolation until 1984.

Terborgh attributes many of the Manu Park's problems to regionalization (p. 35). But the regional governments in Peru only existed between late 1990 and April 1992, when they were closed by the Fujimori government. The inept Park officials accurately described by Terborgh, although designated and with administration from Cusco, were representatives of the central government, like those who served during "the halcyon days of the park's early period" (p. 31). The inspired Agrarian University professors of that time were in Lima, not in the Manu Park. The Park's director until July 2000, Ada Castillo Ordinola, accurately described as "competent and committed" (p. 38), worked closely, from an NGO, with the Inka Regional Government in planning for more satisfactory Park administration, while that Government lasted. Terborgh praises the policies of the Fujimori Government as enlightened (p.38), but he fails to recognize the failure of that Government to involve local peoples and institutions in planning for and administering the Park in a more effective manner. Democratic processes are clearly not one of Fujimori's strengths.

In Chapter 10, Terborgh makes convincing arguments regarding the limitations of most conservation efforts in recent decades, although he inaccurately describes USAID's role as promoting sustainable development in a manner opposed to conservation (pp. 164-165). Moreover, in chapter 11, he raises important points about the illusions of continuous economic expansion at the expense of nature.

Terborgh correctly calls for "a new paradigm" (Chapter 10) and a coherent public strategy to safeguard nature and its beseiged ecosystems, forests, and biological diversity. However, such a paradigm and strategy are more likely to be successful if they involve people and entire national territories, rather than exclude people from a few unique protected areas that justify, in the public mind, the destruction of natural wealth everywhere outside these areas. Local communities, especially indigenous peoples, are unlikely to accept relocation, as Terborgh advocates, and there is little reason to expect support for the massive public effort that Terborgh calls for on behalf of theoretically pristine natural areas unless they may serve people, including their indigenous inhabitants and other communities in surrounding areas, or even national populations, not just a few privileged scientists from northern hemisphere countires with large research budgets.

In short, "Requiem for Nature" is must reading even for those, like myself, who will be infuriated at the arrogance of some of its proposals. The debate it is inspiring cannot fail to be useful to our understanding of nature and conservation needs.

Thomas Moore; Lima, Peru; moore@terra.com.pe

This is a very interesting book. I was pleasantly surprised by the way the author presents his ideas openly, with a strong passion for wildness that can be felt page after page. The most outstanding feature of the book was the author's holistic approach to describing current environmental problems. He was able to articulate specific details without losing the book's overall "big picture" perspective. Written in a simple language, it is easily understood, and technical terms are kept to a minimum. His discussion of the environmental degradation processes all over the world allows readers to get a deeper understanding of looming threats to biodiversity, and the struggle of the different species for survival. Population growth and increasing competition for scarce resources are addressed as the main causes of today's environmental problems.

His policy recommendations call for a top-down approach, which the author regards as the only alternative that could bring positive results in the long run. In his scheme, local population surrounding protected areas are only small players on the ground, powerless to influence conservation processes. I cannot but disagree with these statements. Having worked for several years with indigenous peoples and local communities in the Peruvian rainforest, my research has evidenced that local people are key stakeholders in this process, and their engaged participation is critical in conservation efforts. At the policy level, I would call for a nutcracker approach instead, where efforts at the top level are matched with bottom-up initiatives, as a more effective way of achieving conservation in the tropics.

In my opinion, the biggest shortcoming of the book is the series of oversimplistic statements regarding the social dimensions of conservation. The author's arguments are basically explained from an anecdotal perspective, lacking a systematic analysis about the human potential for conservation. The book gives little credit to current sustainable development efforts, addressing them as merely "wishful thinking". For example, Integrated Conservation and Development Projects (ICDPs) are discarded upfront, based exclusively on assumptions about what ICDPs "frequently do", without single mention of concrete situations to back up his statements.

In practice, however, sustainable development projects have been getting results on the ground. In the surrounding area of Manu National Park (1), the Pro-Manu Project (2) promoted different activities, including (3) a successfully land-titling process, enhancement of health care services including family planning education and responsible parenthood, environmental education, institutional strengthening of the parks' management system, besides small projects aimed to increase food security among local communities. After project completion, national NGOs (4) continued to support the local people, allowing certain continuity in the accompaniment process. Thus, it reduced significantly the amount of land available "up for grabs by the first comer", acted to reduce birth rates and population growth, contributed to developing environmental awareness, and helped improve people's life conditions. At the same time, it strengthened the institutional capacity of the government agency responsible for park protection. In sum, a brief analysis of a single sustainable development project directly contradicts the assumptions regarding ICDPs presented in the book.

Overall, the book provides an important contribution to the current debate about conservation, especially if read from a critical perspective. It is a recommended material for an informed discussion on biodiversity conservation and sustainability at different levels.

(1) The Manu National Park in Peru is the place where the author leads a biological research station
(2) Pro-Manu was a Peru-European Union Agreement for a sustainable development project in the surrounding areas of Manu National Park
(3) In these cases, Pro-Manu acted by subscribing and financing the implementation of formal agreements with the government agencies responsible for conducting the required actions
(4) Civil society organizations like CEDIA, DRIS-Peru, and ACCA aimed to implement projects in the area after the activities of the Pro-Manu Project concluded.

When John Terborgh publishes a book, anyone interested in the conservation of nature should read it. One of the world's foremost tropical ecologists, Terborgh writes in an unusually pleasing and, at the same time, provocative style. If the reader is only seeking entertainment or if a rigorously researched documentary of the context of personal experiences is sought, s/he will be disappointed; but, if the interest is in stimulating thought about the problems of nature conservation, the reward will be extraordinary. "Requiem for Nature" surpasses even Terborgh's own "Where Have All the Birds Gone?" as a intellectually challenging treatise.

For me, the richest passages in "Requiem for Nature" are those in Chapter 2 that describe the ecological relationships that must be maintained if nature is to be conserved and the need for a coherent, long-term strategy to meet the challenges.

As an anthropologist who has worked in areas near Manu National Park since 1971 --even before Terborgh arrived there-- I have long been following his work and thinking on tropical forest conservation issues. And I have many, many disagreements with his perspectives. However, no one can deny the value of his contributions in challenging current fashions in thinking about nature and its conservation.

The weaknesses of "Requiem for Nature" include serious inaccuracies in Terborgh's information about the historical and political contexts of the places he describes on the basis of his own and others' work, particularly in Chapters 3 and 4.

For example, the Summer Institute of Linguistics is said to have brought the Machiguenga into the Manu Park in the 1960s (p. 29); the Manu Park has been a Machiguenga homeland since at least Inka times and probably much longer. The purpose of Belgian linguist Marcel d'Ans's work is inaccurately described as "to open communication with uncontacted indigenous groups as a prelude to luring them out of the park" (p. 42).; d'Ans was there to develop policies for incorporating the indigenous peoples into park strategies, not to contact isolated Indians. There are numerous references to Amahuaca Indians in the Manu National Park (pp. 42-45). There are no Amahuaca in the Manu Park; they live along tributaries of the Urubamba and Ucayali Rivers farther north. The people referred to are Yora, a Yaminahua sub-group, in voluntary isolation until 1984.

Terborgh attributes many of the Manu Park's problems to regionalization (p. 35). But the regional governments in Peru only existed between late 1990 and April 1992, when they were closed by the Fujimori government. The inept Park officials accurately described by Terborgh, although designated and with administration from Cusco, were representatives of the central government, like those who served during "the halcyon days of the park's early period" (p. 31). The inspired Agrarian University professors of that time were in Lima, not in the Manu Park. The Park's director until July 2000, Ada Castillo Ordinola, accurately described as "competent and committed" (p. 38), worked closely, from an NGO, with the Inka Regional Government in planning for more satisfactory Park administration, while that Government lasted. Terborgh praises the policies of the Fujimori Government as enlightened (p.38), but he fails to recognize the failure of that Government to involve local peoples and institutions in planning for and administering the Park in a more effective manner. Democratic processes are clearly not one of Fujimori's strengths.

In Chapter 10, Terborgh makes convincing arguments regarding the limitations of most conservation efforts in recent decades, although he inaccurately describes USAID's role as promoting sustainable development in a manner opposed to conservation (pp. 164-165). Moreover, in chapter 11, he raises important points about the illusions of continuous economic expansion at the expense of nature.

Terborgh correctly calls for "a new paradigm" (Chapter 10) and a coherent public strategy to safeguard nature and its beseiged ecosystems, forests, and biological diversity. However, such a paradigm and strategy are more likely to be successful if they involve people and entire national territories, rather than exclude people from a few unique protected areas that justify, in the public mind, the destruction of natural wealth everywhere outside these areas. Local communities, especially indigenous peoples, are unlikely to accept relocation, as Terborgh advocates, and there is little reason to expect support for the massive public effort that Terborgh calls for on behalf of theoretically pristine natural areas unless they may serve people, including their indigenous inhabitants and other communities in surrounding areas, or even national populations, not just a few privileged scientists from northern hemisphere countires with large research budgets.

In short, "Requiem for Nature" is must reading even for those, like myself, who will be infuriated at the arrogance of some of its proposals. The debate it is inspiring cannot fail to be useful to our understanding of nature and conservation needs.

Thomas Moore; Lima, Peru; moore@terra.com.pe

I HIGHLY recommend reading all the books in this series for all who are seeking spiritual growth.

The books in this series are so good that the people I've lent them to have ordered their own copies, knowing that they would want to read them again (and again). They are books that you want to live with; they are books you want to live. After reading the ringing cedars series life can never be the same. Book 2 follows the skeptic's journey back into city life, where he asks all the questions the first book may have left you with...and proceeds to answer them.

As Vladamir Megree, the transcriber of Anastasia's Truth would say: "Wow, Anastasia you are living in tune with nature!" And as we have been warned both by Luddites and sensitives, our mechanical/electronic inventions, one by one erode away our innate abilities to be in contact and communicate with all that is. Two examples: The mature cedar trees of the Siberian Tiaga wish to be cut down and distributed as little discs for folks to wear so that the cosmic radiation they have stored up over 500 years can be reradiated back to mankind. When you plant your garden, stand barefoot in the soil and put some of your seeds under your tongue for a few minutes so that the seeds can read your energy field and bring forth fruits that will heal your weaknesses and make you whole. A delightful and inspiring book. It is the first of a series of 10

The Ringing Cedars of Russia, the second book of the Series, in addition to providing a fascinating behind-the-scenes look at the story of how Anastasia came to be published, offers a deeper exploration of the universal concepts so dramatically revealed in Book 1. It takes the reader on an adventure through the vast expanses of space, time and spirit - from the Paradise-like glade in the Siberian taiga to the rough urban depths of Russia's capital city, from the ancient mysteries of our forebears to a vision of humanity's radiant future.

REVIEWS

"The Ringing Cedars of Russia invites us to step into a world where love is the primary creative force behind real physical events. This energy of love shows us how to focus on the here and now, in which happiness is revealed. It also guides us in the healing of our relationship with the whole planet."
-- Dr Richard Bolstad, New Zealand psychologist, author of RESOLVE: a new NLP model of therapy and Creating a cooperative world

"The Ringing Cedars Series will impact a new generation of readers, like the works of Carlos Castaneda did for a previous generation -- only this time through awakening the latent spiritual connection each of us has with nature. This is not about a walk in the woods, rather these books catapult us to an entirely new way of being on planet Earth."
-- Steven Foster, American naturalist, author of A field guide to medicinal plants and herbs

ABOUT THE RINGING CEDARS SERIES

In 1994 a Siberian elder told entrepreneur Vladimir Megre a fascinating story about 'ringing cedars' -- trees respected from Biblical times for their power to re-connect Man with the Divine. The elder told him where such a ringing cedar was growing in the Siberian backwoods. Vladimir Megre set out on an expedition to find the tree, but his encounter with the elder's granddaughter, named Anastasia, transformed him so deeply that he abandoned his commercial plans and, penniless, went to Moscow to fulfil his promise to Anastasia and write a book about the spiritual insights she so generously shared with him.

What happened next has thrilled and inspired millions. With no advertisement other than word of mouth, books of the Ringing Cedars Series have sold over 10 million copies in Russia alone and have been translated into 20 languages, making Vladimir Megre one of Russia's most widely read authors. Inspired by the Ringing Cedars, thousands of people are now planting trees, changing their lifestyle and, in search for a spiritual re-connection with the Earth, relocating to new eco-villages sprouting all over Russia and beyond. Thousands of readers have felt a huge creative upsurge and started writing poetry and songs and doing paintings.

These mind-stirring books read like a fascinating novel, have the authenticity of a documentary account and present spiritual insights of incredible depth. Spanning dozens of subjects from child-rearing to gardening, from adventure to the meaning of human life, from megalithic science to breast-feeding and from sexuality to religion, they present an incredibly beautiful and equally practicable vision of humanity's spiritual connection to Nature that helps us understand ourselves and heal our Earth.