Service Animals Books

The National Park Service's (NPS) 1918 statement of policy says that "in the construction of roads, trails, buildings and other improvements, particular attention must be devoted always to the harmonizing of these improvements with the landscape" (123). Linda Flint McLelland's Building the National Parks explains how this was done in the early days of the NPS. Over and over again, the book reminds readers that such improvements, especially those in the Civilian Conservation Corps era, were built so that the landscape was not injured and so they would, as much as they could, blend in to the natural environment.

The volume's explanation of the early construction of campgrounds is one of the more interesting examples of how early NPS landscaping attempted to lessen the impact on the environment. Plant pathologist E.P. Meinecke, known as the father of the modern campground, discovered that human activity caused a myriad of ecological problems and therefore applied his understanding of plant ecology to campground planning and design (279). Meinecke chose campground sites by type of soil, density of vegetation and then "divided up into individual campsites of legitimate sizes, each one offering approximately as much privacy, shade, and other advantages as the other (278). Environmentally conscious readers will hopefully think twice before camping somewhere outside an established campground.

The book presents facts and statistics well, but doesn't tell an engaging story. For instance, the volume lists the overall park visitation statistics from 1914 to 1918, which demonstrates a significant rise, but never offers any analysis on why those numbers augmented. Many journalism professors tell their students to "show, don't tell." McLelland's text tells, but doesn't show. Many pages feel like an organized list of particulars in paragraph form, offering little or no analysis. The pictures and their accompanying captions tell the best story. When investigating landscapes and landscape elements, visual presentation shows more and leaves a more lasting impression than any page of text.

Building the National Parks' title is somewhat misleading. The book also discusses landscaping in numerous state parks across the country. "Building Yosemite and Other Selected National Parks" would not be a far-fetched title as McLelland chronicles nearly every landscape decision at Yosemite and doesn't give other deserving national parks equal share. Perhaps 1916-1940 should be placed in the title after "construction," since that period is the book's focus. The last chapter covers the history of landscaping since 1940 and proves itself as a fascinating portion of the volume, explaining that the "naturalistic harmonies" in NPS landscape design once strictly adhered to have been thrown by the wayside with emphasis on functionality and safety rather than aesthetics (462-467). It goes to show that the period of 1916-1940 was truly the golden age of the national parks.

This book speaks to the social justice issues considered important by the author in relation to world events of the 1970s and early 1980s. He reviews human primitive behaviors and attacks human behaviors of his own time. He is keenly concerned with pollution of the earth and misuse of the earth's plant and animal life. He also reviews four social revolutions: Sweden, Mexico, Russia and China and evaluates the state of affairs in the late 1970s/early 1980s United States. He concludes with his ideas challenging humans to chart a new, sound and peaceful course of existance. The author was a founder of the Society for a World Service Federation in 1964 and served as its president.

This book pretty much gave you the answer right from the begining,it wasn't as exciting as the other books in the series.BUT,it had an unusual ending that may shock you.The author,in my opinion ,did pretty good for her first book in the series,I hope it won't be the last one she makes

The topic of the book itself is a current and very much of State of the Art Technology. Geographical Epidemiology is a century old but the GIS applications makes the field more reacheable to the masses. It also focuses on the appropriate use of IT in the subject. This will be an asset to the Health planners and epidemiologists for better planning.

NAIS is a wonderful marketing plan if you happen to be corporate agriculture wanting to sell your meat products globally. But NAIS will put a heavy burden on those who own even one horse, cow, pig, or other livestock animal. While factory farms get one lot number per groups of animals and less reporting of movements the average joe will have to register their premises (clouding title to property), microchip and file movement reports on every critter they own. Then if disease is suspected in an area, the USDA can depopulate that 6 mile radius, giving the factory farms reasons to tell the global market, "see what a safe food supply we have!" This does not address the concerns that NAIS traceability ends as slaughter which is when many food safety issues happen. NAIS can be compared to a rich man having a disease but passing legislation that the poor must take the medicine and pay for it, then that rich man gets to brag to everyone how healthy he is!

I ordered this book to learn more about the Malinois and instead what i got was a quick description of the breed a hand full of photos and then thats it on them.. The photos were very basic. the information was ok but went on to discuss handlers, choosing dogs, and then KNVP.. all the informaiton is basic.. it only brushes over the information. The book did not even discuss traininng techniques in details... Very disapointing book..

The great thing about this book is its focus. Most dog breed books tend to look at conformation, rather than the working aspects of the breed. This book is all about the wonderful working attributes of the versitile Malinois. There is a detailed account of how to bring up a young dogs drive and make him tollerant of any situation. The author even discusses the KNPV exercises in the Dutch Police dog trial. I believe this book is perfect for anyone interested in owning/training a malinois for police work or sport.

Jan Kaldenbach's paperback book on the Belgian Malinois was anything but on the breed. The book is meant for someone interested in having an introduction to the sport of French Ring and would want to know how to go about training. However, even that information is limited. Kaldenbach has a touch and go feel to the book about the Malinois. Which means that very little information is given about the breed. The book hardly has any pictures of Malinois, and only one picture of a nice looking Malinois. Kaldenbach took an exciting, versitile dog and made the breed Ho-Hum. by lack of vital information. Not a good book for anyone wanting to learn about the breed itself or to check out what the breed is meant to look like. All through, Kaldenbach barely touches on his subject in order to cover a lot of information in a small space. However, by doing so the reader does not get to learn very much about the breed or its potential.

The book was not very informative had mostly history of the Dog.
I thought the book was waaaaaay over priced for the content.

J. Kelley

It is not a long book, but there does not seem to be a lot of information on the subject of Malinois. Overall, it is good because the author trained this breed of dog for years. He knows a great deal about the dog. The book is slightly geared towards police dogs, but you can still learn a good amount of information from this book. If you want a dog like this, even for a house pet, than read this book. You need to get a good understanding of what this dog is all about.

If you're going to read just one book on the subject of animal rights, let this be it!

You'll hear from leading experts about each of the issues, with well substantiated information presented in a matter-of-fact way that's easy to read and contemplate, although by no means "dumbed down". This is not a heavily biased, screaming activist book for the previously converted; it's a balanced approach to thinking rationally about life-and-death issues.

When you've read this book, you'll realize you've opened yourself to a whole new way of thinking about animals and their roles in our lives.

I have been interested in the ethical issues surrounding animals in society for some time, but have only recently taken the step of becoming actively involved in the welfare of animals. I thought this book would provide a comprehensive introduction to activism. I found much of it to be highly abstract to the point of being incomprehensible. The "ideal" that seems to be sought is certainly well-detailed, but to me it seemed to be so far away from what is "practical" that I finally gave up. I guess I'm more interested in getting my hands dirty and really doing something to lessen the suffering of animals than just thinking about doing so and constructing convoluted philosophies that will never be implemented.

I have been interested in the ethical issues surrounding animals in society for some time, but have only recently taken the step of becoming actively involved in the welfare of animals. I thought this book would provide a comprehensive introduction to activism. I found much of it to be highly abstract to the point of being incomprehensible. The "ideal" that seems to be sought is certainly well-detailed, but to me it seemed to be so far away from what is "practical" that I finally gave up. I guess I'm more interested in getting my hands dirty and really doing something to lessen the suffering of animals than just thinking about doing so and constructing convoluted philosophies that will never be implemented.

Why Nonhuman Animals Deserve Human Rights

Nonhuman animals have been an issue being discussed in philosophical debates in recent years. The question that is often asked is " is it right to treat nonhuman animals as a means to our ends?" In other words, "is it morally justified to use these animals for food, entertainment, or tools in research? As Cavalieri points out, nonhuman animals deserve the same respect and equality as humans. He argues it is wrong to treat nonhuman animals simply as mere things in which one can do what he/she wants with these innocent creatures. After reading The Animal Question, I believe that the argument for Cavalieri's conclusion is strong.
The overall premises that Cavalieri uses to provide evidence for his conclusion can be summarized as follows:

1. The idea of equality needs to be based on the capacity to feel pain and pleasure, to pursue one's goals, and to enjoy one's life, rather than basing it on one's morals, values, and/or interests because if this change did occur, equality could not continue being effective for homo sapiens specifically. Nonhuman animals would have to be included.

2. Similar situations create different effects for animals than it does for human beings. An example Cavalieri uses is the idea of being captured. If a human is captured during a time of war, we can explain to them that their lives are not being threatened and there is no reason to worry. However, if we take a similar situation, capturing animals that have been free their whole lives, we cannot explain to them that they will not be harmed. Therefore the animals will have a greater feeling of fear than the humans. Nonhuman animals do not understand the difference, therefore making this type of action wrong and unfair.

3. Nonhuman animals should not be made to feel pain and suffer for the good of humans. They should not be thought of as machines in which humans can do with them as they wish.

4. Nonhuman animals are conscious and have desires. Their minds are similar to humans and should be treated in the same ways.

5. The removal of nonhumans from the category of things or items of property is essential to ending the inequality of nonhuman animals.

Cavalieri's argument is an inductively strong one. Because the argument has all true premises, it is also an inductively cogent argument. The argument is complete due to the fact that all relevant evidence is taken into account. Throughout the book, Cavalieri uses others different as well as similar opinions, such as Peter Singers, Harlan B. Miller, and Will Kymlicka, to support good and convincing reasons to support his own premises and conclusion. With all these qualities, it is obvious that he has given a strong, convincing argument.
In conclusion, Cavalieri offers a strong argument for his conclusion. The other people he used throughout the book who often presented different ideas than his own failed to convince me as well as Cavalieri that animals are only here for human conception. Although Cavalieri was difficult to follow in a sense, his basic idea that animals have rights too, was conveyed. Perhaps in our society, animal rights is an issue similar to that of abortion, religion, etc. in that people think that their way of thinking on a certain issue is the only way, and it is often difficult to convince others to adopt a different belief system. Although this causes some distress, I've come to realize that there will probably not be an end to using animals for food, clothing, and entertainment. We (including Cavalieri) that one day we will find out from God if animals were put on earth for that reason. It is wrong to use nonhuman animals as a means to our ends.

Despite the book's cute cover, for most people this is not an ideal introduction to ethics and animals topics. The problem is that it's just not an ideally clear and straightforward example of philosophical writing. It's not an easy book to read. Perhaps this is because it's in translation, but I think many -- unless they are already skilled in reading philosophy -- will have a real hard time with it. Try DeGrazia's book or the "Magpies, Men and Morals" book for a more accessible introduction. The content of this is good, it's just not as accessible as it should be.

Petrinovich does an excellent job of laying out and then applying his particular theory of morality based on the implications of evolutionary biology -- essentially, Petrinovich believes traditional morality is governed to a large extent by sociobiological considerations and that in turn we can learn how to apply morality to controversial issues such as animal rights by examining the evolutionary implications of our actions.

Much of the book is concerned with the debate over animal testing for medical research, and this part of the book is outstanding. Petrinovich aptly defends medical experimentation and punctures holes in both the factual and philosophical claims of animal rights activists, while at the same time presenting a realistic look at genuine problems and debates over medical research.

Unfortunately the book is marred by the final two chapters, one on meat eating and and other on zoos & pets, which seem tacked on to the book as an afterthought. Neither chapter even comes close to the level of the rest of the book -- whereas Petrinovich is very familiar with the literature on medical experimentation, for example, his review of issues in animal agriculture are cursory and rely on a handful of sources with little attempt at a balanced review.

Still, Petrinovich's book is an important contribution to the debate over how humans treat animals.

The book disappoints. Factually, there are very powerful cases of non-human animal bonding that exceeds even so-called normal human bonding. Secondly, the author neglects to take seriously the 'argument from marginal cases'. So, for example, autistic children, senile and retarded adult humans and the like, are simply incapable of even the minimal bonding that the author believes inhabits 'normal' humans. The result, on parity of reasoning, is that these marginal humans deserve lesser moral treatment. This seems at odds with our considered moral beliefs; indeed, many of us would think that these humans deserve extra care and consideration. The book is rather philosophically naive and leaves obvious objections unaddressed.