Marine Life Books

Meg Strathmann (and her colleagues) put together a wonderful reference book that is a must-have item for anyone doing work on the reproductive biology or larval biology of marine invertebrate animals along the Pacific coast of the North America. This book is also a great source of reference material for invertebrate biologists anywhere in the world.

This book includes information about methods, and hints about culturing and maintaining marine invertebrate larvae. It also contains published or unpublished (but documented) observations on the reproduction and development of marine invertebrates of the northern Pacific coast.

The book is divided into chapters devoted to different invertebrate phyla, including methods for culturing their larvae, as well as information on the timing of spawning and development of as many Pacific NW species as have been studied.

The book, published in 1987, is now approaching its 15th year in publication. Even though some parts of it are slowing slipping out of date, this book remains the best reference book on this topic.

Absolutely top notch reference material, 5-stars!

Alan Holyoak Dept of Biology Manchester College, IN

This monumental seven volume work covers the early life of most of the fishes in the Ohio River Basin. This is volume 4 and covers the percidae family. This includes fish such as the perch, pikeperch and darters that are found not only in the Ohio but throughout much of the rest of the United States.

The book concentrates on the early life of the fish, which is distinctly different from the life of the adult fish. This provides invaluable information for anyone interested in protecting the spawning grounds or habitat of the fish.

This is a very large book, it reports on extensive research on these fish including drawings, measurements, distinguishing characteristics, and more. These books represent the definitive authority on the subject and represent a type of research that has been all to infrequent in these days of bioinformatics and concentrations on things like gene analysis.

This lovely picture book does what most of us -- child or adult -- don't have the time or opportunity to do: watch the same river scene for a whole day just to see who shows up and what happens. With each turn of a page, we advance two hours and encounter a variety of creatures, from moose to dragonfly. The two-hour intervals begin at 6 a.m. and continue until the next morning at 6 a.m. Wadsworth's natural information is good, and Kratter's paintings combine well with the words to make it a unified presentation. His colorful illustrations have a watery, river-like look to them, which are just perfect for this book.

"River Discoveries" is great for reading aloud at story hour and for introducing children of any age to a river habitat. The helpful end-page glossary defines concepts that might be new to the youngest readers.

This is a book that young nature lovers will never outgrow. In fact, it's difficult to close the cover and put the book aside. When you finish it once, you find yourself turning right back to the beginning and reading through it again.

In River Life: The Natural And Cultural History Of A Northern River, naturalist and ecologist John Bates takes the reader on a fascinating and informative exploration of Wisconsin's Manitowish River. Packed with historical and environmental information, River Life carefully examines current ecological studies, draws upon fur trader journals and archaeological surveys, and is replete with Bate's own personal observations to vividly describe the "life" of this small northern Wisconsin river. River Life is enthusiastically recommended for students of natural history and river-based ecological systems, and would serve as an ideal template for similar historical and environmental accounts of other small to medium sized rivers throughout the United States.

My two year old loves this book, we have to read it every night. She loves the bright pictures and the rhymes. She really gets the concept of it being the boys imagination and she likes finding the "real" bath stuff in the pictures as well. This author and illustrator also teemed up for Starry Safari which we read right after this one.

Duncan Maxfield is right on with his merry tale of the RugRats gang and their discoveries at the Aquarium. Remember back to when you were a kid and the things that frightened you? While Chuckie, Joey, Phil n'Lil and the gang might be cartoon charcters, Maxfield creates a storyline on confronting fear to which real kids can relate. Adults will like it too, especially the artwork. I recommend this book to those kids, both young and old, who enjoy the adventures of the RugRats.

This book is just what the subtitle says - it deals with the relationship between Inuit and seals. Not just the Inuit using the seals as a source of food, fuel and clothing but also as the respect they feel for the seals. They treat the seals, and other animals, as if they have souls and their legends, rituals and traditions reflect that fact. At just over 127 pages, with tons of photos, this is an easy read.

What extraordinary good fortune when I spotted this book on the publisher's table at a boat show last summer, fresh off the press and being sold publicly for the first time. In fact the publisher told me I was buying the first copy and the author told me later that I was probably the first person outside the publishing industry to have read the book. The subject of the book by Robert L. Webb is the very gifted marine artist Charles Robert Patterson who, right from the time I first became aware of his work about 40 years ago, was my favorite in a wide open field of many great 20th century marine illustrators and artists. Anyone who ever had a Seamen's Bank for Savings calendar hanging on his wall, or read Greyhounds of the Sea by Carl Cutler, or Some Famous Sailing Ships by Richard C. McKay could not help but remember the unforgettable sailing ship renditions by Patterson. A seafaring man who painted ships and the sea as they should be painted with the correct amount of sail for the sea condition and just the right amount of foam at the bow. In my opinion and that of the author these are some of the things that make a Patterson painting stand out. The ones who did it seemingly portrayed it the best. Patterson's early years at sea served him well.

Since he died in 1958 Patterson's work seems to have faded from view with the exception of a few short lived gallery exhibits and the calendars and books mentioned above which have also faded from view. Mr. Webb's book does, however, contain an extensive bibliography. Patterson's body of work was much smaller than many other popular artists and is seldom found for sale or auction. I have, however, made a personal crusade of seeking work by Patterson. This book will certainly bring Charles Robert Patterson back to the attention of discriminating marine art lovers everywhere.

Patterson started as a marine illustrator but it was his full blown oil paintings of clipper ships, downeasters, fishing schooners and naval subjects that brought him fame. He, together with author friend Felix Riesenberg, was greatly responsible for the ship lovers movement of the 1920s and 30s, which died out with World War II, but has been revived today. Mr. Webb describes the movement with great authority in chapter 6, one of my personal favorites. Patterson had an odd family life, leaving wife and daughter on the west coast while painting on the east. He also grew more cantankerous as he got older often having disagreements with important clients. Notwithstanding, his work was masterful and remains so today when compared to a great many outstanding modern artists who may have been inspired by Patterson as was I.

The book is thoroughly researched and annotated. There are eight pages of color plates. One wishes that the rest of the black and white illustrations could be color also but that is more than remedied by the numbers.

Mr. Webb is to be congratulated and his book is highly recommended.

I found this book to be very informative. Gave me just about all the information I needed in order to begin my hobby! One thing I wish they would have done is list brands of the equipment mentioned and show the inside anatomy of the typical fish. I realize both of those are really hard things to do with everchanging products and the question of if there really is a typical fish!

I also found this book to be super easy to read. There wasn't a lot of words that I didn't understand and if they were new to me Skomal did a great job of explaing what that term meant.

I would highly recommend this book to anyone!

Manatees are very cute and they are always fun to enjoy in classic literature. "Sam the Sea Cow" is no exception. Francine Jacobs and Laura Kelly combine to create a powerful and moving adventure into the underwater world of the manatees. From the adorable beginning to heart-wrenching tragedy all the way to the poignant ending, "Sam the Sea Cow" is a treat for any manatee devotee. "Above and beyond five stars!" raved Chessie. "Beautiful and touching," gushed Temba and Colossate. But this book can best be described in the words of Sam the Sea Cow himself: "Very manatee."