Wildlife Books

The product was just as it was pictured/described on the website. It arrived quickly and in perfect condition. I was very pleased!

This was my first by archaeology report. I hope you like it.

Presented in an innovative format of book, music, and interactive CD-ROM, Arctic Odyssey was inspired by the journey photographer Richard Olsenius made through the Northwest Passage, a waterway that's still treacherous, mysterious, and alluring to adventurers. It all works very well to capture an authentic feeling for the majesty of the Arctic. The main attraction here is the music, which is beautifully done with a far greater range of melody than I've come to expect from New Age music. Indeed, thankfully it bears no resemblance to that idiotic, monotonous, whiny New Age stuff that makes me psychotic to the point where all I can think about is strangling somebody. The music here is mostly piano-based, and the whole package is well worth seeing and hearing.

Ms. Baines is quite possibly the finest author we have seen since William Shakespeare. Arctic Tale is a breathtaking look at the life of a polar bear family. Baines' incredible detail made it seem as if she had lived among these creatures, as a Polar Bear herself. Her eloquent use of rhetoric was pleasing to any reader's palate and is unparalleled by any other modern literary champion. Although I was crying throughout the entire book, page 11 definitely hit me the hardest. If you read this book, it will change your life. I got my copy two days ago and I have already read it 38 times. Ms. Baines deserves 100% of the profits from this book as well as the movie. She is truly a genius and I can't wait for more of her work to be released.

In this book, the legendary Gerald Durrell (author of The Amateur Naturalist) uses the occassion of the 'birthday' of his zoo and conservation trust to reflect on a long career of adventures and misadventures with animals (human and otherwise) in the service of saving the planet. There are many laugh-out-loud funny moments, many triumphs, and a few depressing failures looked at with head-on honesty. A recommended read for all Durrell fans and animal lovers.

Unlike the famous areas of the West, Arkansas has very few great vistas from which to photograph. The views here are smaller, more subtle. Tim Ernst has captured many great images of Arkansas, from the well-known parks and views to the wilderness areas that few have seen. This is a must book for anyone who loves photograpy.

Jim Arnosky scores a home run with a wonderful book about why we, especially children, should care about endangered animals. He tells us there is hope, and that "each small act of kindness toward the natural world helps better the environment in which we all live." This is an excellent selection for an Earth Day message, or any time of year. Thanks Jim!

This book provides brief descriptions of about a dozen extinct species like the dodo, the passenger pigeon, the Cuban red macaw, the huia, the Hawaiian Oo, the blaubok and the Tasmanian wolf. The authors then give the details of what brought about each species' extinction. The most remarkable aspect of this book is the illustrations. This book features a full-page, museum-worthy painting of each animal described. Reading this book to a young child is a moving experience. My six year-old turned his face away and cried when he realized he could never see the tiny red macaw or the blue deer because these animals are gone forever. It was a sad lesson in respecting wildlife.

Before Al Gore became the spokesperson for the health of the planet, Anne LaBastille had not only saved a few species from certain extinction but had also won awards for her work in international conservation. This book, released in 1980, details her work in Central and South America in the 1960s and early 1970s. If you know LaBastille only for her four "Woodswoman" volumes on Adirondack life, then you are in for some interesting reading here.

Her outreach began in the mid-1960s, when she found herself in Guatemala, studying the flightless giant pied-billed grebes ("pocs," to the natives) that lived on Lake Atitlan. What began as simple research on a little-known species soon became a detective story. Why could she and her makeshift native team find only 80 birds, when the region should have been able to support 200? Were the reed-cutters removing too much nesting material? Were hunters guilty of poaching? Were too many new vacation homes carving up the shoreline? Readers tag along as Anne explores each possibility and poses still more questions. The culprits eventually turned out to be the bass that had been introduced to the lake for sport fishing purposes a few years earlier. Those fish gobbled up the grebes' food supply before the birds could get to it. Anne's discovery led to the establishment of the first national wildlife refuge in Guatemala in 1968. (I haven't read it, but I'm sure her book "Mama Poc" tells the same story, but in more detail.)

Anne's apparent success with the grebes led her to work on behalf of the national bird of Guatemala, the quetzal. From there, even more research took her to sites on Anegada Island and in Panama, the Dominican Republic, Peru, Brazil, and along the Amazon River. We go along for the ride. She networked with colleagues and saw even more intriguing sights when she attended professional conferences in India, Venezuela, and Costa Rica. And in 1974, Anne LaBastille trekked (in spite of a newly-healing broken pelvis) to Geneva, Switzerland, to accept 1974 Gold Medal for Conservationist of the Year. The woman gets around!

And as the chapters progress, and she enters each new region and takes a look around, a theme begins to emerge: "Save the habitat in order to save the species." Over and over again, that's the enduring lesson. (It's a no-brainer NOW, but back in the 1960s, that wasn't entirely the case.) As a scientist, Anne also models good behavior for any scientist planning on intruding on another culture for field work. A collateral message is to include the native people. Ask them what's been happening, and you'll get clues about the health of the habitat. Ask them to get involved, and they'll take ownership of the project. As well they should.

One wonders about the status of these initiatives today. Are conservation / preservation efforts still in place? Or have human greed and overpopulation encroached and overtaken the habitats needed for the survival of the creatures mentioned here? Readers will want to know ... but, like me, they might be afraid of ferreting out current information and learning the cold, hard truth. And so they might be apt to just close this particular book on the subject. Or, perhaps Anne herself will give us an update someday. We'll stay tuned.

This is another excellent book from author and artist Roger Bansemer. The art is superb, the writing is first rate. It's the equivalent of a birding trip to Florida without the hassle of the airport, or the long drive ( and the expense of $4 a gallon for gasoline). There is something in this book for everyone-- whether a bird watcher, naturalist, fan of the sunshine state, or art enthusiast. I enjoy this book- it also makes a great gift.