Wildlife Books

we loved this book!! a sweet and simple story with a compelling social justice message. Was perfect for our elementary schooler.

Oliver and the Oil Spill is indeed a timeless tale of environmental awareness and protection. It is definitely a book that I recommend purchasing for your children and young students. The astounding fact is that such a literary work can be produced by Ms. Chandrasekhar at the age of 9! I guarantee that readers young and old will find it a worthwhile read.

Really recommend this book for teaching kids about the environment, social responsibility, life and death issues, etc.

What a touching and sensitive book! Teaches young children the importance of conserving our environment in a readable and emotionally-sensitive format.

This book is the sensitive, thoughtfully-told tale of the Exxon Valdez oil spill, narrated from the point of view of a baby otter who loses his mother in the tragedy. It is an excellent introduction to environmental issues for youngsters as well as a primer on grieving and loss for youth. A must-read for every child

Dear Grandpa,
Ollie the Otter is about an otter who lived in the ocean before he got captured by a fisherman named Red Beard. Red Beard gave the otter to Kris,she works at an aquarium with otters,a sea turtle, and one bird named Bingo. The otters names are Sadie, Ollie, Fuzzy, and Browner and they also have one walrus named Fnadago. One day the animals set off to the deep dark sea along the way they met a swordfish, two jellyfish, and one great white shark named Tooth. Will the animals survive against the shark, the jellyfish and the swordfish? I don't know you'll have to find out for yourself.I certainly think that Ollie the Otter is the best book I've ever read.

Love,
Brianna
Brianna is my Granddaughter age 9

I read this book on advice from a friend. Then I read it to my 7 year old son. He loved the book and Ollie. We talked about Ollie and his love of life and what that meant for my son and I personally. It was a great couple of hours. Thank you Mr. Williamson.

Gordon Wolf PhD

My 6 year-old son really enjoyed this book and now says it is his favorite! I enjoyed reading it to him. Ollie is a teenage otter with attitude. He doesn't always listen and this gets him into an adventure with his other animal friends. The book may be for ages 8 and up, the it reaches a broader age range.

Ollie is a wonderfully uplifting and positive character that I found to be great for kids. His adventures are truly original and the friends he makes along the way are very memorable. This book is exciting, funny, informative and fast moving. Dive in and hang on for a good long swim.

I thoroughly enjoyed this book! My primary goal in reading Ollie the Otter was to review and approve its content for my young son. I soon found myself in tears of laughter in several very colorful scenes. The animals in the story have rambunctious and vivid personalities which stand in stark contrast to the animal stories that I read as a child 30 years ago. I had a series of pink books (don't recall the author) that contained individual adventures (volumes) of a bear, squirrel, muskrat, and field mouse, but none compare to Ollie! I have taken the liberty of sending copies to my friends for their children to enjoy.

Larry N. Olson is most likely the best landscape photographer to come out of the Pacific Northwest EVER. His work speaks for itself. A truely fantastic book.

Larry N. Olson is a talent to be watched. His photography will speak to you.

A beautifully reproduced book with very unique compositions

The work of landscape photographer Larry N. Olson easily rivals the best of his better-known peers like Art Wolfe and David Muench. Terms like "overpowering" and "awe-inspiring" accurately describe the scenes in OREGON RIVERS--but so do the words "elegant" and "exquisite." Olson neither "takes" nor "makes" photographs: his work gives us neither merely pretty pictures nor ego-obtrusive "studies." Instead, the union we see and feel is greater than either half. In Olson's photographs we experience true art which somehow, magically, lets nature luminesce through.

Oregon Rivers is one of my favorite books ever, and not just because I have fished some of the rivers so lovingly photographed and described herein. Olson's excellent eye for subtleties and fascinating accounts of the hard work necessary to capture the perfect moment, had me wishing for more. The essays by John Daniel add depth to the understanding of the importance of water to this extremely diverse region. Thus this is not just a beautiful coffee table book, but begs to be repeatedly referred to for its insights into how the state's wealth of resources is treated in this age of environmental conflict. This makes the book an educational tool for all of us, no matter where we live, to appreciate our limited water resources with their inherent beauty. But first and foremost, the book is a gorgeous work, to be loved for its display of a superior artist's love for his subject.

I found this to be a well written, high quality book that should prove to be a great read for anyone. The language is easy to understand which makes it a good leisure read but at the same time it provides a wealth of information about wildlife, habitats, environments, and interactions that, as a grad student, I still found very interesting and informative.

The Great Plains of the North America extend from Alberta to Texas and from the Rockies to the Mississippi river. It's the heartland of America.

This book, profusely illustrated and reverantly written is the story of the heartland. While it is the story of people, it's more the story of the land itself. It's the story of ancient seas, of Tyannosaurus Rex, Triceratops, and grass. Grass, seemingly engless miles of grass. Tall grass, short grass, drought resistent grass, food for the buffalo that wandered here in vast herds.

Of course the book talks about man's impact on the land. Farming plants a handful of crop species, where 5,000 wild plants grow in the Great Plains.

The future has to be discussed in a book like this, and for once the news is not all bad. To be sure, there are species at risk, but the overall picture is certainly one of hope.

A fascinating book on an area that is rarely thought about, let along the subject of books.

An excellent book. Well written and scientifically accurate. I highly recommend this book to anyone who is enchanted with the beauty and grandeur of the North American prairie.

I love the prairie, no doubt about that, and I'm proud to have been born and raised in the vast expanse of the middle of the great continent. The prairie brings a unique feeling of solitude, quietude, and openness that can be found not many places else in the world. I fully recommend this book to those that love the prairie, but also to those who are not interested at all in the vast expanse, who, as the book asserts, would rather get across it as quickly as possible. Scientifically and emotionally written, it is a beautiful book, with many illustrations, one that is worthy to be read.

The book is very well written, and the many artful photos in the book really make me wish I could spend a whole summer in the prairies. The author knows what she's talking about for certain. I could just keep on reading such educating books.

The author, Charles Alsheimer, does a fantastic job bringing the ourdoors inside and providing valuable information that would be of great help to anyone interested in deer hunting and the management of that valued resource--the whitetail deer. I even bought a second one to give to a fellow hunter/land owner friend who is also interested in quality deer management.

I have read several books about creating better habitat, food plots, etc for whitetails, and this book is by far the most comprehensive, in depth book I've read. The author truly knows his stuff and gives tons of tips for improving your deer herd and deer hunting. Excellent buy, great photography.

Charlie Alsheimer is possibly the best white-tailed deer writer of all time. He is certainly the best deer photographer. His new book Quality Deer Managment the Basics and Beyond, is a prime example of both his talent as a writer and his brilliance as a photographer. I believe it to be his best book ever.
The book is written in Charlie's classic down home, easy to read style with easy to grasp explinations of complicated deer managment issues. He covers virtually every aspect of the QDM scene with common sense and uncommon insight. His treatment of the topic is inspirational and leaves you wanting to get out there and start practicing QDM now!
The photos chosen to illustrate the text are nothing short of spectacular. They bring the entire text to life in brilliant color and give you an up close and personal view of whitetails as only Alsheimer can.
After reading this book I picked up a copy of "Grow 'em Right" the new "how to" habitat and food plot book by Dougherty & Dougherty and am now ready to conquer the world of Quality deer managment. Now white-tailed deer book library is complete without this book

I couldn't put the book down. I grew up in Steuben County in the town of Caton. Iam going to start implementing some of the things I learned in this book this year. I would tell anyone interested in learning how to grow bigger deer (buck or doe) should read this book.

Alsheimer shows what deer hunting is made of with this book. You'll get top-of-the-line information on planting food plots, managing trees, keeping records on your deer, hunting deer for your setup--everything!! He not only tells you how to manage your property and deer, but also explains how deer live throughout the entire year.

Charlie Alshiemer is a photographer by trade, which is very obvious in this book. His photos of whitetails are nothing short of amazing.

His style is very matter-of-fact and easy to understand, making it that much more enjoyable to read.

This is by far the most informative book I have ever read. Buy it today; you will get your money's worth. I wish there were more books like this one on the market!! I'll give it as many stars as are available!!

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.

We saw many turtles in the water during our Panama Canal cruise. It was unexpected. Got the book after we returned home and enjoy the info. Great pictures.

this book has lots of superb images and interesting facts about sea turtles. I thouroughly recommend this book to anybody interested in sea turtles.

This book provides good basic information and wonderful photographs about sea turtles. After a general overview of a turtle's life from hatchling to adult, the author describes in detail the currently eight recognized living species of sea turtles: loggerhead, hawksbill, leatherback, Kemp's ridley, olive ridley, green turtle, black turtle, and Australian flatback. He also shows how fishing, pollution, beach armoring, development, raking and beach driving threaten the reptiles' existence, and how various projects aim at increasing the turtle population.

It's a great source of information for anyone: compact, well researched, and thought-provoking.

This is a wonderfully comprehensive book on the characteristics, life and hazards facing sea turtles. The well written text truly gives the reader a feel for what life is like for a sea turtle.

Facts covered include ancestry, feeding, growth, navigation, migration, mating & nesting. Then there are sections on the 8 major species of sea turtles describing the distinctive features of each.

The photos are terrific, with many great underwater shots of these graceful and powerful swimmers. There are also nesting turtles and adorable hatchlings. A number of conservation efforts are shown as well.

A major focus of the book is the threats facing these endangered species, with numbers diminished by decades of hunting, natural predators and environmental decline. Hopeful efforts are underway to reverse this trend.

This book is amazingly detailed for its size. It's an ideal quick reference with fabulous photographs. If you want to learn about sea turtles with plenty of basic facts (quite a few!) and photos but not an excess of science, this is the one for you. Perfect for the layman's library.

This is a lovely, straight forward book on seashells that can be enjoyed by all ages. The photography is wonderful.

Who doesn't like a day at the beach collecting seashells. Only nature can create such beauty. This book would go great with "Beach Lover's Guide to the Perfect Sandwich" This book contains great sandwiches to eat at the beach and at beach parties. You can use the shells you collect to decorate your table of sandwiches.

Great photography and interesting text that is easy to read. Anyone who loves seashells will love this book. I'm so glad I got it. Well worth the price.

I needed to find a well-illustrated book on Seashells for an overseas friend. I know nothing about seashells, so I was a bit apprehensive how my first purchase with Amazon would turn out.

I need not have worried. The book was delivered within 48 hours and I was able to read it myself, before it went to Thailand with me. I was delighted with the book.

The recipient, a government Marine Biologist was thrilled.

I thoroughly recommend this book to anybody and everybody.

I was recently on vacation at a seacoast resort and every bookstore and gift shop in the area had a small book, almost a mini coffee table book, entitled SEASHELLS. The book contains both photographs and text regarding shells. Customers picked up the book, leafed through the pages and were amazed. The amazement was a reaction to the stunning photography of Jodie Iselin. The shells are arranged in a variety of settings from natural to artful and we see the grandeur and beauty of these objects that we often take for granted. The text is somewhat perfunctory, explaining the type of shell and where it can be found, but it serves more as an aid to the photographs rather than giving specific scientific information about the shells.

It's a perfect gift for anyone who loves shells, and judging from what appeared to be brisk sales, many people purchased it either as a gift for someone else or themselves, but when I purchased it, it was not as a gift. I am an amateur photographer, and I love photographing shells. It's not as easy as it looks. The shells often have rich textures which makes can make them difficult to photograph, or at least difficult to get sharp photos. For me, the book is more inspiration than anything else and while it may be a long time if ever that my photos will be even close to those in the book, it gives me something to work toward and ideas of how to arrange shells, and I'm sure come Christmas, I'll find it will be a gift idea too.

This is the 15th year I have given my mother the Sierra Club Engagement Calendar for Christmas. I must confess I made a big mistake one year and gave her a different kind. This was NOT okay! She loves this calendar and saves every one of them. She enjoys looking back through them; it is like a walk down memory lane, "Oh, I remember when...". I am grateful that you are able to give her such enjoyment. Last, but not least, the photographs in there are awesome! Keep up the good work.

I got this for my aunt for christmas one year, just on a whim, and every year since she's always made absolutely certain that I'm getting it for her again. She loves it. The thing I like most about it is that it's got a new photo every time you flip a page... I hate the kind that only have, like, 5 pictures total in the whole thing. I suppose my only caution would be that having so many great pics leaves less room for actual writing space... so if you're one of those people who need to plan out ever last little 15 minutes of time between 6 am and midnight... this might not be best for you. ;]

Sierra Club 2004 Engagement Calendar:
"The most popular nature calendar ever published".
Stunning images of flora and fauna.
Week-by-week format with 57 full-color photographs.
Gift-boxed.
In order to view 12 thumbnail images, go to this page:
sierraclub.org/books/calendars/
This exquisite appointment book rates 4 stars rather than 5
because the paper utilized in its production is neither
Totally Chlorine Free (TCF) (ie, produced w/o chlorine nor
with any chlorinated bleaching compound) (H2O2 is OK), nor
50% (or more) "Post-consumer reclaimed waste" (that is,
reclaimed paper-fiber that has served its end purpose).

I am a professional photographer so I truly enjoy the artwork inside this book. On top of that, there is tons of room for me to write in my appointments and client information. It's a great calander to have!

This engagement calendar contains REALLY beautiful photos for every week of the year. The photos range from rocks, to water, to wildlife, to mountains. There are a few closeups of small animals, leaves, and snowflakes. The calendar has photos covering all seasons, as well. The week starts with Monday at the top of the page, and finishes with Sunday at the bottom of the page. There is plenty of room to write in appointments. Dimensions are about 7" x 9", x 1/2". The quality of the paper is lovely. I bought it for myself, and I love it.

I have this calendar - it's great. I always buy the Sierra Club engagement calendar. I happened to notice that the 2006 price by private sellers on Amazon is quite high, while you can get the 2006 calendars from the Sierra Club for $5. If for some reason you want a 2006 at this point, go to the Sierra Club.

This is about the 8th year I've gotten this and always enjoy the weekly colorful scenes.

For 8 years I have purchased the beautiful Sierra Club
Calendar. There is enough room to record all of my appointments,
follow through on the results of the appointments, note all of the important crises that occur. and all of the wonderful
"mouthings" of my children! What a beautiful "book" to
treasure!!

I am a photographer and a writer and the author of numerous books on photography and I have had a copy of the Sierra Club Engagement Calendar on my desk every day for more than 20 years. I find this calendar to be an inspiration in terms of both its beautiful photography and its wonderful geographic diversity. I've never had a photo published in the Engagement book, but I've probably gathered more inspiration and ideas from these little calendars than from the hundreds of how-to books in my office.

The photos in these engagement calendars are the cream of the cream of the crop of the world's best nature photography. Master photographers like the late Galen Rowell, who had many dozens of photos published here, consider it one of their finest showcases--and who can blame them. Sierra Club has never relented on the quality of the reproduction of these superb datebooks and considering there are more than 50 photos in each book, the price is a bargain.

I have used this calendar as a journal and a diary of my writing progress for, literally, decades. And whenever my brain starts to freeze after writing about photography for weeks on end and I need a new idea to write about, I simply flip through the calendars and I can discover hundreds of them in the work of many of the greatest modern nature-photography masters. Also, when I'm looking for travel ideas, places to go to shoot new pictures for my books, I also look here for inspiration and ideas. The Mojave Desert, Monument Valley, the Everglades, the Sonoran desert--these are all places that I learned about in great detail from these datebooks. You learn more about a place by seeing great photos of it than you ever will by reading about it--or so I feel. (Of course, you learn a great deal more if you hop on an plane and go see it!)

Finally, I gave my mother the engangement calendar for Christmas every year for around 20 years and she used them as a daily journal. I still have every one of those journals and they are a great joy to flip through and see what she was up to each day.

Why this long winded (and very sincere!) endorsement for such a simple product? Because I owe these caldendars (and the Sierra Club) a debt of gratitude for inspiring me day after day, year after year, with the greatest photography in the world. If you have a young photographer in your life, inspire them, show them how spectacular photographs of the natural world can be. For an investment of under $15 you can change their perceptions of nature and help educate them about fine photography. Someone gave me my first copy of this calendar many years ago and I've been grateful ever since.

Of course, I have to warn you, once you look at some of these photos you'll want to put your camera up on Ebay :) But don't do it! Instead, use these photos as your photographic inspiration and your goal.

Jeff Wignall
Author, The Joy of Digital Photography (Lark Books)

I am an environmentalist, and once served as an officer of my local Sierra Club chapter, although I later parted ways with them on account of their anti-private-sector views and tendencies toward "Political Correctness", and I now favor less-radical groups such as The Nature Conservancy. That said, I still continue to purchase one of these little spiral-bound Sierra Club engagement calendars every year--they're just so handy, and the photography is beautiful. There's usually also space on the facing page (with the photograph) to make additional notes.