Environment and Nature Books

Laura and Bill Riley's book is a unique directory and guide to the best wildlife reserves around the world. It is a tremendous resource for ecologists and orginary tourists like myself. The many photographs are beautiful and the detailed descriptions are suberb. The book is a valuable tool for travelers and fascinating and enjoyable even if you cannot make the trip.

Nature's Strongholds, by Laura Riley and William Riley, is a very important book for the history of life.
It is not really an encyclopedia. Nor a lesson in geography. It is not just a very practical travelog with rich inside information.
It is all of those, but what it really shows is a detailed locator, through all the continents, of the Sacred Places, indeed the Strongholds, where the evolving wildlife is guarded, protected and preserved for now and the future.
The pictures and text are brilliant and flow from their many years of exploration and devotion.

This book is a must for serious travelers who like to include visits to intereesting natural habitats and wildlife--I have given the book to a number of friends and they are all thrilled with it--Bill Etz--wildbilo@aol.com

An indispensable guide if you're thinking of going to any of the great places, but equally wonderful armchair reading if you're staying home. Marvelous photographs.

Nature's Strongholds is one of the most beautiful books I have seen in a long time. The photographs are not only gripping and moving, but also sharp, clear and very carefully printed. The layout makes the wealth of information enticing and accessible, which is a great boon to the armchair traveler as well as to the regular explorer. The information provided for each site is just what the serious traveler, amateur ornithologist, conservationist, or eco-tourist would want, too--a list of significant birds, beasts, and other features not to be missed. Most valuable of all, perhaps, is the inside information on each location that the Rileys, explorers and conservationists of many years experience, provide. Both as a record and as a call to preserve the spectacular refuges described, Nature's Strongholds is a magnificent gift to the world!

This beautifully written book follows a young Maasai girl as she reaches the age for her initiation into womanhood that includes the traditional circumcision and marriage. Times are changing for the Maasai and she would prefer to keep her freedom by delaying this ceremony and possibly even going to school. She has ulterior motives, as she has privately witnessed the birth of a baby rhino whom she names "Our Secret, Siri Aang", and claims the baby and mother as her other family. She secretly visits them daily but would lose track of them if the ceremony were to take place, since the recovery requires four months of isolation. Her father also struggles, trying to keep the traditional Maasai ways in his family, but seeing how changes are affecting it. He believes that school is a waste of time and is ashamed of his daughter for considering it and for questioning her responsibilities as a young woman. He has also witnessed his warrior son sell his soul by allowing passing tourists to photograph him for money. His inner turmoil leads him to actions that a Maasai, "the keepers and protectors of all wild animals", should never consider. The suspenseful journey allows the reader to consider the choices made and suffer along with the characters as their good intentions lead them farther and farther from their Maasai roots. This is an excellent book, well told and well characterized. My only complaint is the cover that, although I am confident is an authentic Maasai girl, is very unappealing to me. I did keep referring to it as I read the book because it matches the descriptions in the book perfectly of what a young Maasai girl would look like, but I rarely find that photographs make me want to pick up a book to read it.

Our Secret - Siri Aang is a well-written, thoughtful and evocative book for young people. The Maasai girl in this story is full of energy and courage, even though the traditions in her life are beginning to clash with her new awareness. The author, Cristina Kessler, writes with insight, love and a huge talent.
Africa and the Maasai culture come alive in this story, woven into adventure and intrigue.

No matter where Kessler might be, when she writes of her beloved Africa, she is there. And so are we.

- Jacqueline Buie
Santa Cruz, CA

Our Secret is a powerful story of a Masai girl facing a web of dilemnas. Christina Kessler has the ability to mix intrique, cultural values, and strong yet not sentimental characters. This book relates an important tale of a culture that is rapildy changing.
The details of daily life in a Masai village will appeal to readers as well as the indentification with an adolescent girl who must make difficult decisions.
Adolescent readers will not feel pandered to by reading this book that makes the reader a better person.

This touching tale is a coming-of-age book about a twelve-year old Maasai girl, Namelok. It is set in today's Africa, where the Maasai face unwelcome changes imposed upon them by the outside world. Namelok is a mature and aware young woman who is unafraid to question the traditional ways. She is lured by the sights and sounds of the bush where she goes to gather firewood. One day she witnesses a black rhino giving birth. She whispers to the mother, "...let's call your beautiful baby Siri Aang, for that's what she shall be - Our Secret." Christina intertwines the theme of Namelok's protective stance toward the rhinos with the girl's maturing in a way that weaves a captivating story.

A book that bears more similarities to "Fiddler On the Roof" than (as I originally assumed) "Shabanu: Daughter of the Wind". After reading a certain number of children's books, a person runs the danger of becoming ever-so-slightly jaded. You start ticking of the cultures and countries covered. Have I read a tale of a nomadic child in the Cholistan Desert of modern day Pakistan? Check. How about a child in nineteenth century Southern Libya? Check. So when I saw this book about the contemporary trials of a girl living as a Maasai, I was already checking the title off in my head. I was not particularly heartened by the fact that this book had sat, untouched, in the New Books section of my library for a month or two. For all its good writing (which I will get to) this book sports a cover that kids do not readily gravitate towards. And this is a pity. Author Cristina Kessler is a far better author than most of the two-bit hacks out there, and as a Peace Corps volunteer, she knows from whence she writes. In "Our Secret, Siri Aang", we find that all human beings are complex characters with both good and bad inside of them. It just takes one girl to learn the hard way that her heroes may not be as perfect as they first appear.

A twelve-year-old girl in the Maasai culture will inevitably have a lot on her mind at all times. Namelok is no exception to this rule. Namelok carries with her the weight of a series of secrets, all exciting and all dangerous. First, she witnessed the birth of a baby black rhino in the bush, and has committed herself to the health and well-being of both the mama and the child. Second, her menstrual cycle has just begun, and she wants nothing to do with it. Menstruation can only mean an end to her childhood days and a fast circumcision (or "emuratare") before being married off to a man her father chooses. Third, she wants to learn from the village schoolteacher. This is expressly forbidden, not only because she is a girl but also because the Maasai do not believe such knowledge to have much use. All in all, the odds are stacked pretty squarely against Namelok. Then, one day, things get worse. Poachers are spotted in town. Her beloved older brother participates in a bit of foolishness that sets off a whole series of events. And when Namelok goes to visit her beloved rhinos, she sees vultures circling above. By the end, Namelok sets out on a quest to bring justice to the world and make her father see her as an equal and not just a young girl fighting to understand the world around her.

The book runs the slight danger of falling into the category of girl-refuses-an-arranged-marriage books (ala "Catherine Called Birdy" or the aforementioned "Shabanu") or the female-circumcision-in-children's-books camp (as with "No Laughter Here"). Fortunately, author Kessler avoids such trite topics. Namelok will have to deal with these problems later on down the line, but this tale is far more concerned with the ideas of change in a community and dying traditions. Our heroine's father fights the encroachment of unfamiliar ways and, in doing so, is led to a supremely foolish act. Readers of this book may not initially understand why it is so shameful for young Maasai warriors to pose for tourists' photographs for money, but the story eventually shows just how wrong the act can be. I loved that this was a book in which the heroine really does grow and mature before your eyes. I also loved that the ending left multiple strings hanging in the breeze. If "Our Secret, Siri Aang" were a more popular title, I would suspect that a sequel might be in the works somewhere. Alas, this is probably not the case.

Basically, this is a good title for those kids who want books with complex moralities. Where the world is not necessarily drawn into sections that are either black or white. At the same time, Kessler seems to have a firm grasp on Maasai culture and its people. You can put yourself completely into her hands as a writer without fear of any skimping on the details. All in all, the book takes an initially unrecognizable setting and puts the most human of faces onto it. A splendidly written piece of work.

My Favorite Childrens' Book Of All Time! This book has a very good moral about recycling and saving the earth, it's a great book to read to a child. If I could I'd rate it with ten stars!

A Pig Tale is a very catchy poem about a little pig named Ziggy and his dad, Pop Iggy. Ziggy gets made fun of by everyone because his dad collects junk. Then one day, his dad announces that he will make something spectacular with all of his junk and everyone waits to see what it will be. When the barn doors open, everyone sees his "amazing invention, a most beautiful thing!" It's a beautiful balloon! Ziggy and his father circle the globe in their balloon and Ziggy is very proud of his father. The story has a wonderful morale: "Protect our dear earth. Don't throw it away. You, too, could make magic from garbage someday. This is an excellent book to have around during the study of Earth Day, especially for younger children.

I think when someone has great talents such as Olivia they need to do something with them. Of course, to a certain extent, but to not share them by acting, singing, or writing or whatever it takes to express/share the talents is selfish & wasteful. I have loved Olivia Newton-John since she first hit the scene & have never been able to get enough of her. I am not meaning to sound weird or anything, it's just that Olivia has rare qualities & if she shared just a little more of herself through acting or more importantly a book on her self it would prove to be a great asset to the world & the many people who would benefit from it, like myself. I would love to have a recent book of Olivia Newton-John on my bookshelf to reinstate juvenation, as an inspiration & just to enjoy in my leisure. I don't know about others but I find many people interesting; however, Olivia takes the cake. I'm not saying she's obligated in anyway or that she should be obligated to do these things with her talent, because of course she is human, too, & deserves her freedom; but if I had talent like that & someone said these things to & about me, I think I would be encouraged to fill their request(s) not due to obligation but simply in the term of that "IF I CAN HELP EVEN JUST ONE PERSON GET THROUGH LIFE A LITTLE EASIER, THEN I HAVE ACCOMPLISHED A LOT!!!" & I believe the world would greatly benefit from a person with Olivia's talents & therefore a recent up-to-date book on herself. I would really like to have something from Olivia to this effect. Olivia is a fantastic person & is a Blessing in disguise.

Sit down with your children and read a very pleasent story. They will love it and so will you. A great way to have some real family time together.

I've read this book to my kids time and time again. The message of the importance of recycling has really hit home with them. They enjoy the rich illustrations and the rhyming verses are very catchy. Your kids will love it too!

WOW!!...every parent reading this book to their child will benefit as much as their children...it's about as "GREEN' as it gets.

At last,an 'instruction manual' for today's children on how to preserve and enrich our enviroment written in a language they can both enjoy and understand. Disney and the world would both benefit from the animated version.

Finally, a delightful, colorful children's book that addresses some of the ills that are facing our planet today. This book with page turning and upbeat illustrations defines some of the challenges to our planet and the need to be "green". Written in simple language that a child can understand, it also explains some of the ways that the child can be part of the solutions. They feel important and happy that they can contribute to resolving the problem. All the children that I have shared this book with, request it be read to them over and over again! They love the story and the pictures!

In this charming,informative book young children learn how they and their family can make small changes to improve the environment.Colorfully illustrated,easy to read, with helpful suggestions for young readers.Ideal for beginning a dialogue about "thinking green."
Buy it for your children and grandchildren.Planet Earth Gets Well

Planet Earth Gets Well This is a refreshing take on how to help our world survive the harm that we humans continue to inflict on it. Kids will like the voice of the main character, a young Planet Earth with fever and sniffles. Appealing and educational without being stuffy, Mother Nature and the rest of the charming cast help round out the message that we can all do our part to clean up the environment.

An interesting read that entertains while it teaches, this environmental history of Israel is worthwhile for political junkies, environmental advocates as well as those interested in Israel and the Mideast.

I recently completed a university research paper on air pollution in Israel and found this book to be an important source. The closest copy of this book was hundreds of miles away. The book was purchased and used for the paperand then donated to the university library. I found this book to be the ultimate source for information on the topic.

Pollution in a Promised Land is a masterpiece of research and compilation written by the one Israeli who probably is as responsible as anyone in the country for moving the nascent Israeli environmental movement into the 21st century. If it is not already Pollution in a Promised Land is surely bound to become the text of choice for anyone interested in the development of the Israeli environmental movement in response to the environmental challenges faced by Israelis. Alon Tal has captured it all and told a very interesting story.

This is an engaging book describing the economic and institutional development of the Holy Land from the time of the Turks, through the British Mandate period, to the present day. Despite the heft of this volume, the book is a very enjoyable read, and provides a fascinating perspective on the development of the institutions of the State of Israel, the priorities of the naescent state that led to environmental degredation, and the individuals, public interest groups, and government institutions that have tried and often succeeded to stem the tide.
The author, as a founding member of Israel's premier environmental legal advocacy group, has a unique, often first hand view of many of the recent events.

It's really refreshing to read something about Israel that isn't focused, yet again, on the Arab-Israel conflict, but on an entirely different universe of challenges. If you like history that relies on interesting anecdotes then you'll really like this book.

Oren Rosenthal
Newton, MA

This book gives children who are beginning to understand minutes, hours and days a good idea of the enormity of time. The drama of the story is captured in drawings of intense colors and engaging images. Each page allows focus on one idea, which is clearer, for younger children. The interactions between David and the kids, and the kid's reactions, are good. The main idea -wildness has wisdom- is well emphasized: even the mysteries e.g. how life began. The additional information at the end is a good reference for older children. Also, places to help the planet is useful.

This book is an excellent example of a children's book format which can appeal to the gamut of age spans. The illustrations are remarkable, as is the story line itself. If you have children or wish you were a child (again) this book is an invaluable addition to your library. I recommend it to anyone who holds in their heart a place for special things.

I've long admired David Brower. And Aleks Petrovitch has done a great job illustrating this book and bringing David's thoughts to our next generation of environmentalists.

This is a good way to educate a child you know about the environment and why it is important.

I highly recommend it.

Harry S. Pariser Publisher, Manatee Press

Aleks Petrovitch has done a wonderful job depicting early earth and portraying the evolution of life in a context easily understood by kids. By using an imaginitive story line with beautifull illustrations, this book is a must for parents wishing to provide initial insight into conservation, protecting our beaches and general history of our earth! Aleks has also provided a more in depth analysis to each page of his book which help refresh our sciences allowing each story reader to emphasize particular points and aide in explanation! Well Done!

This book is an excellent example of a children's book format which can appeal to the gamut of age spans. The illustrations are remarkable, as is the story line itself. If you have children or wish you were a child (again) this book is an invaluable addition to your library. I recommend it to anyone who holds in their heart a place for special things.

I have to say that I bought this book on a lark, not expecting much from it. I was wrong. It presents a whole new way to look at the typical suburban lawn, namely mine. I have to admit that I have not yet come to grips with the notion that a dandilion might have a place in my lawn, but I have come to love the sea of white that is a clover lawn in bloom.

The difficulty in that is that my neighbors do not love my clover lawn. Mowed short, my new lawn has still drawn criticism. Next spring, I will begin to add elements of a meadow to my lawn. That should be an adventure with my neighbors.

The book is really interesting. What is does more than anything else is to rewrite what might be possible in even thinking about what "lawn" means. That there is an alternative to a sea of uniform green is wonderful. That adding the usual fertilizer/weed killer chemistry actually takes the life out of my lawn is an eye opener. And that one might be released from being enslaved to a kind of lawn that is utterly foreign to where I live is truly a relief.

The practical steps back to sane lawn work and to a life giving lawn are clear, useful, inspiring, and effective. Take a look at this book. Read it slowly and at least allow the possibility that it offers a better way.

This book was truely a revalation for me. I consider my self to fairly conservation minded, yet I had know idea how much more I could do. This book taught me, more than anything else, that it truely is the little things that count. I liked it so much I gave copies to my family of christmass.

Most Americans do not realize how much their tastes in gardening have been affected by marketing on the part of lawn care companies. Nor do they seem to realize what environmental havoc they wreak through the lawn care practices preached on TV, and promulgated every time they watch the Masters Golf tournament on TV and think they should try to emulate those greens and fairways at home. They have been seduced into an unrealistic world that wastes their time (why mow?), money (why put fertilizer down 4 times a year?) and the environment (Do they really even have the weeds or bugs in their lawn that the 'weed and feed', and 'grub killers' are prescribed for? If not, why are they paying extra for the privilege of putting down toxins they don't even need?)
This book is a scholarly approach to reviewing the problem - highly recommended if you tend to ask "WHY?" before "How much?"

This book's forté is 2 things: Its' explanation of the negative impact of millions of monoculture, traditional lawns - not on just the environment, but on the lifestyles and wallets of those who tend them. And then it offers sound advice (which does -NOT- start with "get rid of your existing grass") which can be easily followed by the average homeowner. The solutions proposed in this book are not radical, unattractive schemes, and most of the suggestions offered will result in a BETTER LOOKING YARD and savings of time and money. I read it from cover to cover twice. I hope to soon have my yard working for me, instead of me working for my yard.

I found a good compliment to this book in "The Lawn, A History of an American Obsession," by Virginia Scott Jenkins. If you're interested in more of the history and background of the entire lawn concept, (and some neat old pictures of advertising,) you'll love this book. It explains how agriculture, chemical companies, the garden industry, golfing, housing developments, world wars, etc... and the advent of new inventions have come together to result in an entire lifestyle revolving around 'the lawn.' The complete answer to the question, "Why do we have lawns, and what did people used to have around their property?" Read this, then read "Redesigning" to see what having all these lawns does to the world and the people in them, (and, of course, suggestions for improving things in your own little slice of the world.)

This is a wonderful resource about a very important environmental problem - the American lawn. The diagrams are especially clear and complete. It provides the history of the lawn, scientific background about the problems associated with the lawn, and also gives very practical advice about how to create a Freedom Lawn. I initially got this book (first edition) from the library, but decided this was one I wanted to have for my personal reference - especially since the second edition includes updated information.

Brian Walker, Program Director Resilience Alliance and a scientist with the CSIRO. Canberra Australia, has, with the assistance of science writer David Salt, written the best and most straightforward work on ecological resilience entirely suitable for a wide audience of readers; activists, teachers, scientists from any number of disciplines, interested in gaining a familiarity with a study area that is of critical importance in this present world of catastrophe, forever changing with the calamitous onset of climate change and where stategies of adaptation are quite indequate mechanisms for survival in the white-water world we will have to navigate.

It is not a scientific treatise but a work from which all interested readers will benefit substantially no matter what their background or credentials. This is a twentyfirst century production coauthored with a skilled science writer and a model for any NGO or scientific group who wish to influence and inform policy makers with something they can readiliy understand.. Resilience capability and building such capacity is perhaps the best, but still uncertain, way to buffer social-ecological systems--your everyday environment--from unpredictable, disastrous events and accompanying change. Adaptation and models based on orthodox science are unfortunately inadequate to meet such crises. I recommend this book to any concerned person no matter their level of understanding. They will find something new and enlightening here.

This is a gem of an educational book. Mixing case studies with elaborating chapters on key concepts, it's as a good a volume as I have found for teaching undergraduates, graduates, and practitioners (farmers, factory managers, investors) the core ideas needed to restore a sustainable social-ecological system.

Highlights for me:

+ Optemization is a false premise, simplifies complex systems we do not understand, with the result that we end up causing long-term damage.

+ Resilience thinking is systems thinking. I cannot help but think back to all of the excellent work in the 1970's and 1980's--the authors were simply a quarter century ahead of their time.

+ In a nut-shell, resilient system can absorb severe disturbance.

+ System resilience is affected by context, connections across scales of time and space, and current system state in relations to threshholds.

+ Fresh water, fisheries, and topsoil depletion are major failures.

+ Drivers of environmental degradation are poverty, willful excessive consumption, and lack of knowledge (from another book, I recall that changes to the Earth that used to take 10,000 years now take three, one reason we need real-time science).

+ Key concepts are threshholds and adaptive cycles. Adaptive cycles have four phases: Rapid Growth; Conservation; Release; and Reorganization.

+ Redundancy is NOT a dirty word (just as intelligence--decision support--should not be a dirty word within the United Nations)

+ Ecological networks cannot be understood nor nurtured with a tight linking and understanding of the social networks that interact with the ecological networks.

+ Subsidies are a form of social denial, as they subsidize unsustainable practices and prevent adaptation and change.

+ Lovely--absolutely lovely--chart on page 89 about time-scales of climate and natural disasters like major fires.

+ One size does not fit all--solutions for one social-ecological network, e.g. in the USA, will not be the same as for another, e.g. in Norway.

+ Diversity is the key to regeneration.

+ Governances must be able to see and act upon key intervention points.

+ A Resilient world would be characterized by:

1. Diversity
2. Ecological variables
3. Modularity
4. Acknowledgement of slow variables
5. Tight feedbacks
6. Social capital
7. Innovation
8. Overlap in governance
9. Ecosystem services

Within this small and very easy to absorb book one finds a great annotated bibliography of recommended readings, a fine reference section, and a very solid index.

Other books that come to mind as complements to this one (limited to ten links by Amazon):
The leadership of civilization building: Administrative and civilization theory, symbolic dialogue, and citizen skills for the 21st century
Society's Breakthrough!: Releasing Essential Wisdom and Virtue in All the People
Ecological Economics: Principles And Applications
Natural Capitalism: Creating the Next Industrial Revolution
Green to Gold: How Smart Companies Use Environmental Strategy to Innovate, Create Value, and Build Competitive Advantage
Cradle to Cradle: Remaking the Way We Make Things
The HOK Guidebook to Sustainable Design
High Noon 20 Global Problems, 20 Years to Solve Them
Pandora's Poison: Chlorine, Health, and a New Environmental Strategy
The Blue Death: Disease, Disaster, and the Water We Drink

A MUST read for environmentalists. And for business, community and anyone willing to adapt the thinking to their situation. Brian and David have done a superb job in translating resilience theory and its close ties to complex adaptive systems. I have been looking for a book to recommend to my clients and students and this is it. I would also strongly recommend that the 'old guard' sustainability brigade have a look at this. The strategies that sustainability largely pursues are unsustainable. Resilience thinking is a more accurate path for us to head toward something that resembles sustainability. Well done.

This book is Latour's actor network theory in another guise, with the physicalization of Kuhn's paradigm shift thrown in for good measure. It is a very interesting book on an emerging way to look at environmental crises (note, not the environmental crisis. We seriously need local knowledge and local experience to manage each individual ecosystem).

My major issues with this book are twofold. One is that it is not well written, though not altogether poorly written, you can simply tell when the science writer came in to jazz things up. Secondly, the authors spend a little too much time trying to convince the reader that resilience thinking is NEW, DIFFERENT, SUBVERSIVE, and the like. We get, on page 29, something that I just cannot stand: a little briefer than brief history of challenge to dogma. Galileo spoke out about the Copernican model (which was still perfect circles, Kepler had it right but Galileo ignored him) and the church shot him down. Darwin dared to say species change and the world exploded! Now, we, the humble new scientists bring you a new challenge to the dogma of ecology today. Give me a break! I would have thought a science writer on the team would have had the experience to leave out this trite nonsense. Just tell me about your idea and spare me the drama! Sorry, but poor history of science is a real pet peeve. :-)

But either way, this is still an important book that should be read by ecology students, politicians, resource managers, and anyone interested in new ideas. The case studies are really informative and clear, and the message is properly urgent

This is a great book. I've read several books on this topic, and so far, they have all had a similar issue: They are written by people who are scientists first, writers second. This book has two authors. One is a scientist and the other is a science writer. This made for a well put-together, understandable explanation of complex adaptive systems, which are what ecosystems are currently understood to be.

The authors have done a few things to make the book great. First, they have broken the topic down into a set of subtopics, with one chapter explaining each subtopic. At the end of each chapter is a summary of important points so it's clear what the authors are hoping you get out of the chapter. Each chapter is then followed by a case study that is used to illustrate the ideas just covered.

If you are looking for an introductory book on ecosystems and how humans affect their ability to maintain themselves, this is the book to read. The authors also provide several good resources at the end of the book if you would like to expand your knowledge further.

I'm often frustrated by books on "the environment," much of which talk about pollution, toxic chemicals, recycling and related topics. Those strike me as questions of human health and safety - - these issues don't really value the environment for itself, but only in terms of whether or not humans are fouling our nest.

This book lays out a different vision, one much closer to the kind of manifesto that I've been looking for. Foreman wants to "rewild" large chunks of land in North America. Some of these lands will be strictly preserved, such as wildernesses and national parks, but much of the action takes place in buffer zones, corridors between preserved areas, and thinking about how to make the human-occupied matrix more friendly to nature.

Foreman wants to create four "Continental MegaLinkages," which would preserve a network of preserved lands. The MegaLinkages are breathtaking: the Pacific MegaLinkage (Baja to Alaska); the Spine of the Continent MegaLinkage (Central America to Alaska through the Rockies); the Atlantic MegaLinkage (Florida through the Appalachian Mountains to New Brunswick); and the Arctic-Boreal MegaLinkage (from Alaska across Canada to the Maritimes).

Did you notice that the prairies of the United States and Canada are completely left out? Neither did Foreman. He never discusses them. That was my biggest single disappointment of the book, and it cost him that fifth star.

To make his argument, Foreman talks about how humans have caused extinctions from the Stone Age until the present - - 40,000 years of environmental destruction. Then he talks about the core ideas of conservation biology to set the stage for his proposed MegaLinkages. In particular, he emphasizes the importance of cores, corridors and carnivores.

Both the extinctions chapters and the presentation of conservation biology are well-written and clear. If you're not familiar with these ideas, this is a good place to get an introduction.

Then Foreman descends to the nitty-gritty details about how activists can survey a region and put together proposals for preserved lands and linkages between them. These chapters draw heavily on his own experience in the Southwest, especially in New Mexico. It's not obvious to me that they translate well to, say, boreal Canada - - or to the prairies. A greater diversity of examples would help him here.

Objections aside, this is an impressive and impassioned manifesto. Foreman makes a convincing case that we need to think about how to preserve a lot of lands on a very large scale. There are other books making similar cases, and I've reviewed a few others on Amazon, but this one is the best for the general reader.

Finally there is something which dares to challenge conventionality in its face and say capitalism and manifest destiny arent doing us any favours... This books opens your mind to greater processes and aspirations than what were are trained for in society... go for it!

Nearly 60 years ago, Aldo Leopold gave the world a treasure: his "Sand County Almanac". "Rewilding North America" is the Sand County Almanac of our time, in eloquence as well as vision. Dave Foreman, who raised the conservation bar so shockingly (and successfully) with "Earth First!" 25 years ago, has now become an elder, a respected colleague of the leading lights in conservation biology, while carrying on his legacy of showing the rest of us new possibities for bolder and more biocentric paths of ethics and action.

"Rewilding North America" is THE environmental vision for this era and for this continent. The book begins with the most succinct and heart-stoppingly depressing summary of the bad news of biodiversity and ecological losses that I have yet encountered. But hang in there, because Foreman then masterfully unfolds a program of possibility that is both radical and realistic -- and inspirational beyond measure!

As we biodiversity and wilderness advocates continue the important work in the paradigm of preservation (that is, saving all the pieces we can against the onslaught of vapid consumerism), we can also begin to take the exciting first steps in a new form of ecological restoration. Dave's "rewilding" proposal is long-term in both directions: He considers a baseline for rewilding that goes back 13,000 years to just before the first humans arrived in North America, while setting forth a vision that is intended -- dare I say, destined -- to grow over this century and the next. That means we don't just stop at bringing back Wolf and Griz; we also start plotting paths for repatriating Cheetah to its continent of origin, and assisting Order Proboscidea in once again leisurely reshaping the tusked behemoths of the Old World into New World natives.

Onward with the Great Work!

Foreman paints both a depressing and hopeful picture of the state of eco-affairs. Sobering information regarding the war on nature along with a plan to recoup some of the biological losses mother nature has endured in the industrial/tech ages.

This is a MUST READ book for anyone with an ounce of caring in their bones for the future of life on Earth.

Dave Foreman (of Earth First!) has written a powerful manifesto for the recovery of American wild space. What is so refreshing about his approach is that, like Leopold and Thoreau before him, he recognizes that the real problem for an environmentalist who values wilderness is not how to preserve pockets of wilderness against human activity, but how to reintegrate wilderness back into our lives and habitations. One reason for this is that pockets of wilderness are unsustainable --to flourish they need to be large enough to sustain populations of large predators and that requires much more space than we currently allot to our wildlife preserves, and even this amount of space is constantly under threat. The solution is to allow for corridors that connect wild spaces, and Foreman shows how this can be done and is already being done in certain parts of North America. Another reason is that in the long run to survive as a species we are going to have to move away from the fuel intensive and non-localized approaches to economy that have been largely responsible for the decimation of vast chunks of land. Finally, he argues that there is something about wilderness that is essential to our humanity, and that the presence of vital natural areas and even of large predators closer to home is an important factor in fostering the humility in the face of nature that we are going to need to rediscover if we are to learn to live sustainably. In some ways this all might seem like a utopian project, but what is powerful about the book is how elaborately it lays out the details of how such a project can be accomplished, and how it explains the conservation science at the root of this project, and identifies the networks of organizations already working with these concerns. The point is not utopia -- literally a non-place -- but learning how to get back into place as a culture. I don't know if his vision can be put into practice but I like the vision -- and find it much more exciting and realistic and motivating than, say, the vision of conquering space and going to Mars. I also think his vision of a recovered American wildness is compatible with and complementary to visions of a green economy. This is the kind of visionary book that young politicians and activists should be reading today.

Honours children's closeness to Spirit and is a beautiful story - being based on a true story all the more memorable.

Heard about this book on NPR and bought it for nephew cos I liked the idea and the story. What wasn't clearly told was just how incredibly rich Peter Sylvada's illustrations are... all oil paintings... they capture the beauty and harsh environment of Alaska, as well as slices of life from a native Alaskan village. Even southern dwellers can see some of why those who love it do so. The story is clearly and simply told, with a very likeable heroine, and gave me shivers at the end... but it was really the illustrations that blew me away.

I purchased this book (among many on here) for my unit on whales and the Inuit (Eskimo) people for my first grade class. This was a great book to share the relationship the people have with whales. It also shared a wonderful way the communities work together as well. What a great book! If you like whales, this is a great one to read to children!

Although technically a children's book, "A Symphony of Whales" shook me up and blew me away with rich illustrations and an even more potent story. Sweet and simple, author Schuch tells the beautiful story of an Inuit girl and her whale spirit friend "Narna" -- and (not to give away the ending) the dramatic escape of three thousand whales trapped in an icy inlet of the Pacific ocean.

Not to be cute, but the book really is as much for adults as for children. Illustrator Peter Sylvada's pictures must literally be seen to be believed.

I liked the girls kindness for the whales. She was cute and lovable. She was like a mother.