Wildlife Books

This book is exactly what I was looking for - and I didn't even know it. I thought the book would be basic explanations of keeping a nature notebook with the bonus of having the authors (and her children's) sketches in it. I was VERY pleased to find that it was that, plus a whole lot more. A homeschooling mom has written the book and she very articulately shows how using journals can incorporate into more than just art or nature study. In the book, I found a brief history of different people who have kept journals through the ages and the various reasons why. (This alone has given me many ideas in helping to introduce journals to my children.) She goes on to give suggestions on how to get started and what supplies are needed. Five different chapters are included on teaching & incorporating various subjects with your Discovery Journals. And the appendices give a list of books with examples of nature studies, and a list of famous men & women whose journals can be looked into for further study. I found this to be a wonderful resource. I have always kept journals but never ventured into keeping a nature journal. This will be an excellent resource to get me started and keep me going and its quite a bargain for all the information packed into this lovely little book.

This is a slim volume, a quick read, I finished it in under three hours. The author, Karen Skidmore Rackliff writes in a colloquial manner which is easy to understand. The author tells of how she and her seven homeschooled children spend one day out of every two weeks in nature. When the family (and especially mom) is feeling stressed out by errands and household tasks they pack meals and snacks and head off for a full day in nature. Rackliff calls these "wild days".

When she decided to have her children keep nature journals, at first she forced each child to record words and images in what she calls a "discovery journal" (what others call a "nature journal").

She is not ashamed to admit that her oldest son didn't like this and said she feels that over time he continues to be disinterested. With subsequent children she stated she was less forceful, and simply modeled journaling by (continuing) to make her own journal in their presence. She said she felt that this was key in subsequent children being more creative artistically and with the written word in their own journals.

The author's approach to their nature journals changed over time to what I feel is more like "unschooling" in which the child is placed in a stimulating environment with art supplies and a blank journal, and where the parent doesn't really care if the journal is ever used or not. I wondered if the difference in her two sons' reaction to their use of the discovery journal could possibly be due to the child's interest or learning style; the son who was so creative with detailed writing entries may have a talent or special enjoyment of composing written journal entries rather than focusing on having more drawn images.

I appreciated the listing of published nature journals that are on the market today and plan to use these lists for future reading "wish lists". However, being completely untalented in any area of artistic endeavor, I was wishing for some references for books for beginners, to learn basic drawing and watercolor skills. The author made it clear that she taught herself to draw and paint by just doing it, practicing and experimenting and feels we all should do it this way. While the notion of not needing to take classes or read books before starting a journal is appealing, it is actually scary to me. Here again, I think the author's own learning style preference of just doing it and jumping in as a novice is due to her own learning style, whereas my comfort level-learning style is to learn a little about technique from reading about it to give me some concrete information and some confidence, before facing the blank page.

All in all when I finished the book I was excited at the idea of planned time in nature to observe, relax, and de-stress. I have always wanted to learn to draw and paint and this book has really inspired me. I also appreciated the content to support my continued attempt to have my own Charlotte Mason style homeschooled children keep a nature journal.

I would have preferred a bit more detail about which brands of art supplies are good, rather than her just saying "ask the storekeeper at the art supply store" for recommendations of good products.

I enjoyed the small black and white photographs of the discovery journal entries which ranged from her young children's art to her own beautiful entries. They were nice to see and helped me get a gist for what is typical of young children's drawings (when they are not taking formal art lessons).

Note: I wrote this review in April 2003. I continue to recommend this book as it is the most `real' book about nature journaling with children that I've ever seen. I also have since tried drawing in pencil and ink. I have read other books on art journals and drawing, check my profile to read those.

Stacey has many talents of the great game of life and believe it or not, they are almost all useful to the Californian Mountainman. His book is very funny it is very hard to put it down when nature calls.

Gebhards writes of his experiences in lucid prose expressing his love for the wilderness with philosopical insights punctuated with humerous anecdotes. He traces his enchantment with the "Wild Thing" from his boyhood in the Mississippi bottom lands to the formalization of his education at Utah State University to his employment as an Idaho fishery biologist, mule skinner, folk musician, reluctant politician, winter survivalist, camp cook, wilderness meteorologist and wild river runner. His tales are loaded with humor sometimes wry and other times raucous. A modern mountain man, Gebhards' love of the Rocky Mountain wilderness is unrelenting as it is passed on to the reader.

Written by an experienced animal control handler of exotic wildlife Tim Harrison, Wild Times: Tales From Suburban Safaris is an amazing collection of true life anecdotes and candidly personal stories. From rescuing alligators, to rehabilitating birds of prey, to dealing with lions in city streets, and more, Wild Times is the fascinating true chronicle of a man with a unique love of wildlife, and is charged with the sometime difficult duty of protecting both humans and wild animals from one another. Wild Times is very entertaining and especially recommended reading for animal rights activists and wildlife enthusiasts.

This guy and his stories are great! He's a firefighter, policeman, paramedic who, for the last twenty years, has been called to remove bears from apartments, lions from city streets, pythons from worksops, and cougers from backyards. He has met, and rescued, alligators from local rivers and farm ponds, pet stores and basements. His wildest captures are in this book. But his goal is to let people know of the growing chance that they'll be coming across an exotic, wild animal as their population increases in suburbs across the country, and to discourage people from buying and keeping this animals as pets!Excellent (lifesaving) snakebite protocol in the back of the book. Great stories for all ages.

no matter how much you think you know about the natural northern world, specifically flora and fauna, this book knows more. sure, we all know that a spider's webbing can be twice as strong as steel for its size but did you know that spiders can custom blend their webbing for different tasks? stretchy, sticky, tough..umm...buoyant..er ,well, other qualities relevant to spiders. its like a more basic, easier to understand kinda string theory.. sorry, slipping off topic here. this book is great, breezily written, funny even. get it, put it in the bathroom and in just 30 mins a day.. no,wait, that's the learning company..you will be able to amaze and confound all your friends from wood chucks to marine biologists with your arcane knowledge of the great outdoors. well, hey, its working that way for me.

Having just lived through another l-o-n-g winter for the privilege of living in the northwoods, this book was like a breath of fresh air. From mosses to white pines, water striders to black bears, this very readable book covers most everything you're likely to find in the northern woods -- and there are even segments on clouds and constellations. One-stop shopping for all your info needs if you love the woods and are curious about its other inhabitants. Lots of little-known facts written in an intelligent and engaging fashion. An easy-to-use reference that even children could enjoy, with entries that make you want to check out "just one more thing." After buying it yesterday we had a long road trip ahead of us -- that sort of flew by as I read entries aloud to my husband. It would be a great addition to our cabin "library" on a pine shelf behind the woodstove, but I kind of think I'll keep it here at home, close at hand.

As an RN,Trauma Nurse Specialist, I found this book to be well written and highly informative. With the speed of modern travel it's also a great reference to have for injuries and illnesses that can occur in far away places that one doesn't see often, or ever in your "home" ED.

As a field geologist, Gulf War veteran and former EMT, I can say that this book is the most comprehensive text I have ever seen regarding outdoor dangers, survival and wilderness medicine. If you work outdoors or spend a lot of time recreating outside, this is a MUST HAVE book!

Foregoing knowledge of the existance of this text was unkown, until it was needed in an emergent situation on site. At that time a stingray injury required our immediate attention. With no previous experience in this kind of injury, the book provided immediate no frills information on treatment, backup care and procedures. After this experience, I carefully examined the text at length and was amazed at the comprehensive nature of the topic that was covered. I would recommend this text to be present in all health care provider libraries and offices, as it is in mine. Dr. H.J. Willis D.O. Emergency & Trauma Physicia

It is no surprise that the Fifth Edition of this unique medical reference is better than ever. For those who are new to this authoritative tome, you will immediately notice how well it is organized to help those in an emergency effectively find the answers they need. The chapters cover Mountain Medicine, Cold and Heat, Burns, Fire and Radiation, Rescue and Survival, Injuries and Medical Intervention, Animals Insects and Zoonoses, Plants, Food and Water, Marine Medicine, Travel and Environmental Hazards, Equipment, Special Populations (issue related to children and the elderly) and the Wilderness.

Every subject is carefully explained so the medical injuries surrounding the subject can be identified and understood in context and with greater detail. For example, to understand how to rescue someone from an avalanche, the reader must understand how avalanches are formed. The book also goes into detail on rescue equipment and their correct use as well as proper self and organized rescues before discussing medical treatments for avalanche victims.

The bulk of the book consists of chapters regarding various injuries and conditions encompassing symptomology, description diagnostic techniques (tests and such) that can be employed, treatment options, and the range of expected prognoses--in a nutshell, what is the likely injury, how do we treat it, and what's the outlook in terms of cure and survival.

A wealth of reliable, understandable information is readily accessible primarily targeting the medical professional but also for the lay person accompanied by very helpful illustrations.

The update is most welcome, as the area of wilderness medicine has grown significantly beyond rescue of mountain climbers to the practice of medicine in situations of constrained resource, during times of catastrophe like 9/11 or Katrina and often in appalling conditions. This new edition also identifies new and better treatments of everything from high-altitude pulmonary and cerebral edema to heart stroke.

An excellent book that I whish everybody in the world would be able to see and realize that the real richness we have in our lives is nature. Help protect the last wild places

The three massive books of this series ("Megadiversity", "Hotspots", and the latest, "Wilderness.") should be considered a "must have" for every person who is concerned about the future of life on Earth. The photographs of the natural world are many and without parallel - in huge format and by the world's greatest nature photographers (Gil, Lanting, Rowell, Wolfe, etc.). The accompanying text is by no means "lite" reading - indepth description of the threats currently facing earth's last remaining wild ecosystems and how Conservation Internation is addressing those threats.

"Wilderness" also pays special attention to the human cultures that are on the brink of extinction side-by-side with the lemurs, tigers, and tamarins.

It should be noted that these are, physically, some of the largest books I have ever seen. They weigh over 20 lbs and measure 12" by 14" - not something that is easily read in bed - but still handsome and absolutely stuffed with content.

I will treasure this book (and its two sister volumes) for the rest of my life and look forward to sharing them with my children. If anything, they are a super-detailed, highly poignant accounts of the state of Earth's biosphere in 1998-2003, and what mankind was doing to both destroy and save those systems.

I love animals and I love art so there couldn't be a more perfect combination for me than this book. Many of the finest contemporary wildlife artists have contributed to this collection. Creatures from all areas including water, seashore, mountain, rainforest, field, forest, plain, lake, marsh and swamp are here.

Information on each piece includes the artist, title, medium and size as well as a brief note about it from the artist, giving the book a personal touch. My only wish is that some of the stunning artwork was a bit larger. Most are only about a half a page.

My favorite area is the rainforest. It includes a mama gorilla and baby, an adorable tree frog, a gorgeous macaw and a lizard chasing a butterfly. Favorites from other areas include a hooded warbler bird with rhododendrons, a selection of woodpeckers, rhinos under a baobab tree and a solitary cougar in the snow.

I like this book so much I plan to buy another copy so I can frame some of the pictures and put them on my walls. If you're seeking a wonderful coffee table book that will inspire you with the beauty and diversity of nature, this is the book to get.

This is personally my favorite of all books on wildlife art. Each of the artists has produced excellent quality work. There are also many surprises, people who I am sure that we will be hearing about more in the future. The format of this book is simple, each artist has written several paragraphs about their work. For the aspiring artist, this information is useful; for the collector like myself, it is very interesting to know more about the artists whose work we collect. I have several other books on this subject, but since I purchased it several months ago, it has been the only one that I have since re-opened.

I love this book. It has a beautiful gallery of pictures and instructions to help the crafter improve their craft. The projects in the book are animals and scenery, but with a little imagination you will be able to learn and transfer the skill to any art form.

Lora Irish puts forth in amazing detail relief carving using hand tools. The book is well worth the purchase price for the artwork alone, her teaching is masterful.

Are you studying at the graduate and undergraduate level in the area of wildlife management and conservation? If you are, this book is for you! Authors Anthony R. E. Sinclair, John M. Fryxell and Graeme Caughley, have written an outstanding 2nd edition of a book about how conservation has become an increasingly important component in the management of animal populations and their habitats.

Sinclair, Fryxell and Caughley, begin with an explanation about what wildlife management is, how it relates to conservation, and how it should operate. Then, they provide a brief overview of the main ecological divisions in the world and supply a background of natural history. The authors continue by outlining the mechanisms by which the evolutionary process of speciation , convergence, and radiation come about. In addition, they also discuss food and nutrition. The authors also consider how ecological constraints shape the behavior of individual organisms and, conversely, the effect of individual behavior on the dynamics of populations and communities. Then, the authors deal with the internal workings of a population that result in a change of population size. Next, they explore some of the reasons why populations are found where they are. Then, the authors describe the theory and evidence for the stability of populations through regulations. Next, they review the competition and facilitation between species. The authors continue by describing the behavior of predators with respect to prey. They also introduce parasitism and disease within wildlife populations. In addition, they also explore those things an animal needs to eat to survive and reproduce resources. Next, they deal with the counting of animals. Then, the authors explore age and stage structures. Next, they explore the methods for choosing between such alternative models or hypotheses. The authors continue by explaining how a technical judgment can be evaluated, by posing it as a question. They also deal with theory that has been developed to account for why and how populations become extinct. In addition, they review actual extinctions or near extinctions to show what are the commonest causes of extinction in practice. Next, the authors consider how to estimate an appropriate offtake for a wildlife population. Then, they show you how a control operation is similar to a sustained-yield exercise but is conceptually more complex. Finally, the authors put the various aspects that they have discussed throughout the rest of the book into the context of the ecosystem to show how these are pertinent to management and conservation.

The authors have also provided a CD that illustrates in close detail how to calculate most of the mathematical concepts discussed in this most excellent book, including all of the simulation models. To further the development of problem-solving skills, the authors also included a series of computer labs, touching on several key concepts.

This is a most excellent book. Aimed at the intermediate to advanced student Sinclair et al.'s book covers an enormous amount of ground with detail and grace. The authors manage to pull the best out of the lessons that wildlife ecology, conservation biology, and habitat management should have taught us over the past 30 years, and present the results in clear insightful prose. While this book is not for the faint of heart -it does NOT scrimp on mathematical modelling- the examples presented are straight and to the point, and running it by a small seminar of (admittedly clever) undergrads I found them well able to keep up with what was going on. What I really like about WECAM (excuse the abbreviation) is the real attempt to integrate the three often all-too-disconnected "disciplines" of the title. Throughout one gets the sense that these folks are professionals who have been out in the field AND ALSO in front of the computer and are presenting stuff that has really worked for them. Beyond the text itself there is a useful glossary of terminology plus an exhaustive Lit. Cited that is worth the price of admission by itself. -oh yeah, speaking of price. this book is significantly cheaper than other texts in the field, has a CD with working examples of the models attached, and even in paperback is well constructed & won't fall apart in student backpacks when you tell 'em to "bring the book" on overnight field trips. Most Excellent!