Book Description
Racing the Antelope
"The human experience is populated by dreams and aspirations. For me, the animal totem of these dreams is the antelope, swift, strong, and elusive. we chase after 'antelope,' and sometimes we catch them. Often we don't. But why do we bother? I think it is because without dream 'antelopes' to chase we become what a lapdog is to a wolf. And we are inherently more like wolves than lapdogs, because the communal chase is part of our biological makeup."
In 1981, Bernd Heinrich, a lifelong runner, decided to test his limits at age forty-one and race in the North American 100-Kilometer Championship race in Chicago. To improve his own preparations as a runner, he wondered what he could learn from other animals--what makes us different and how we are the same--and what new perspective these lessons could shed on human evolution. A biologist and award-winning nature writer, he considered the flight endurance of insects and birds, the antelope's running prowess and limitations, the ultraendurance of the camel, and the remarkable sprinting and jumping skills of frogs. Exploring how biological adaptations have granted these creatures "superhuman" abilities, he looked at how human physiology can or cannot replicate these adaptations. Drawing on his observations and knowledge of animal physiology and behavior, Heinrich ran the race, and the results surprised everyone--himself most of all.
In Racing the Antelope, Heinrich applies his characteristic blend of scientific inquiry and philosophical musing to a deft exploration of the human desire--even need--to run. His rich prose reveals what endurance athletes can learn about the body and the spirit from other athletes in the animal kingdom. He then takes you into the heart of his own grueling 100-kilometer ultramarathon, where he puts into practice all that he has discovered about the physical, spiritual--and primal--drive to win.
At once lyrical and scientific, Racing the Antelope melds a unique blend of biology, anthropology, psychology, and philosophy with Heinrich's passion for running to discover how and why we run.
Customer Reviews:
An Unique Perspective.......2004-03-30
This is a great little book. It's title doesn't fully convey the complete story which includes one man's quest for a life-time-in-the-making run.
While Bern Heinrich's description of his quest pertains to ultra-marathoning, I found the principles he brought out equally applicable to lesser efforts. His vignettes of the natural endurance abilities various animals and insects are useful to ponder as one tries to squeeze a little extra performance out of a marathon. I found his observations of mankind's natural abilities and their comparisons to wildlife very interesting. I also found his commentary of his thoughts and tactics in preparation for and during his actual 100k race identical to some that I've had during my own endurance runs.
All in all, a unique read for the experienced runner who doesn't need another "how to" book on running.
Distance Running.......2002-11-19
This was a thoughtful venture into the science of distance running. The authors presents us with this scientific material (the physiology of endurance running) in a digestable manner. His prose is excellent for a scientist.
I'd Rather Eat Worms than Deplete.......2001-12-02
Anyone (like myself) who likes to run longer distances (and likes ~bugs~ to boot) will just plain enjoy reading about Heinrich's passion for the simple, elegant and primordial sport of running. Heinrich has woven his autobiography with scientific inquiry...his vocation (biology) is what gives this book about his avocation (running) an interesting bent. Heinrich talks about antelope, birds, toads, dogs and cats etc. and investigates what those animals can teach us about running, and what humans do or do not have in common with these animals regarding stamina, endurance, and even focus. I think that this book gives the reader / runner something to think about and be inspired by in an abstract way rather than serving as a ~step-by-step process~ on how to be a better runner. This is not some boastful read for the old-fart jock club (which by age I would qualify for), but an inspirational life story ~and~ scientific investigation regarding the human spirit, our primal / animal need to run (well, some of us anyway) and the drive to pursue our dreams (that goes for all of us!).
Very entertaining book.......2001-10-18
I can't disagree with the other reviewers that say this book is original and intense. However, I'm struggling to find out how my running can benefit from Heinrich's advice. The problem I have with the book is that it's disorganized. It starts off comparing the physiology of animals and humans' running ability, and ends with Heinrich's triumph at the big ultramarathon. I'm not sure what message the author and publisher are trying to convey to me. I was totally enthralled though with the discussion of the physiology of animals. I guess I was hoping for more details on how a runner can best prepare for an ultramarathon.
Don't Forget We are All Animals!.......2001-09-22
Racing the Antelope is one of the finest books on running I have ever read. Heinrich draws us in with his anecdotes as an ultramarathoner and enriches us with his deatiled knowledge of biology and physiology. The technical aspects are informative yet not too heavy. Any experienced or even beginner runner can profit from his examples. Well done!!
Average customer rating:
- A textbook, with pluses and minuses
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Wildlife Issues in a Changing World, Second Edition
Michael Moulton , and
James Sanderson
Manufacturer: CRC
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The Beast in the Garden: A Modern Parable of Man and Nature
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Biodiversity and the Law
ASIN: 1566703514 |
Book Description
Students of conservation encounter some of the most complex issues on our planet. The resolution of existing problems become more complex when humans create further stresses on the natural balance. Moulton and Sanderson brought the challenging issues in wildlife conservation into greater clarity in Wildlife Issues in a Changing World. The Second Edition of this definitive reference focuses more closely on the causes of wildlife issues. The examination of Jared Diamond's "Evil Quartet" (the four principal causes of extinction) provides a framework for categorizing and resolving these issues. The authors encourage the use of the scientific method basis for resolution - especially where environmental laws have failed. The three new chapters provide further counterpoints to preconceived notions. A two-part history of wildlife in the U.S. shows how wildlife had already been decimated by the year 1900. "Can Humans Manage Wildlife?" questions efforts to revive endangered species, acts which may inadvertently jeopardize the survival of other life. Viewing the natural order from prehistoric times to the present, Wildlife Issues in a Changing World, Second Edition gives students and instructors an all-encompassing introduction to past relations between humans and nature; explorations of current threats to species and their habitats; and recent "novel solutions," where humanity and industry have made adjustments to protect the natural order. Professionals will also find invaluable reminders of the importance of their work - the continuation and endurance of wildlife everywhere on Earth.
Customer Reviews:
A textbook, with pluses and minuses.......2006-09-30
Wildlife Issues in a Changing World is a textbook on... wildlife issues! There is an emphasis on the United States, but there are a good number of international examples as well. I really like the chapters on the Evil Quartet, what is wildlife, and what are wildlife issues. As I use this book in my courses, I depend on it as a source of wildlife issue examples, supplemented with DVDs and videos (to "bring" wildlife into the classroom).
It is, in general, a hard book for students. I don't mean hard in terms of the materials. It is well-written, and rather easy to read. It is hard to use to study for tests. I tell students that it compliments the lectures, and doesn't repeat them. Students tend to complain that it has too many examples, so the "themes" that they are tested on are difficult to find.
I still find it the best text for my purposes for a general course with primarily non-natural resource students. I like it for its price as well.
Book Description
Draw into the lives of wolves through the experience of Jim and Jamie Dutcher and the wolf pack they lived with for six years.
Customer Reviews:
The Best Wolf Photography Book.......2007-03-21
As a huge wolf freak and artist, I always found it difficult to draw the beautiful bodies of wolves from tiny little pictures shoved in the corners of other books. Although the info was great, I always felt a tad sad to see such a lovely picture shrunk down. In this book, the photos are huge, and beautifuly detailed. I treasure this book and reccemend the Wolves at our Door book by Jim and Jamie Dutcher as well as their two documentaries: Living with wolves and Wolves at our Door
Outstanding.......2007-01-10
I have always loved wolves and had watched the Sawtooth pack since they were first formed. Now the originals are all gone. The pictures in the book are magnificent and tells their story.
Kids Can Read This Book, too!.......2006-09-25
(My mommy is typing this for me but she wrote down everything I wanted to say on a piece of paper first.)
Hello. My name is Jordan Elizabeth and I am 8 years old. I really, really love wolves and I have read about 20 books for kids about wolves. Wolves are very special creatures but a lot of people don't know that. A lot of people think wolves are mean and want to hurt people but actually they don't.
Of all the books I have about wolves, "Living With Wolves" is my favorite even though it's more like an adult book. While searching for more wolf books with my mommy on her computer, I saw "Living With Wolves" on this website and wanted to say what I also think about this book because not many people wrote their thoughts here yet.
I got this book in New York City where my family flew and we went to a museum to see and meet the Dutchers. This was the greatest time of my whole life! I've never actually met a movie star before until I met Jim & Jamie. I've seen their dvds about a hundred times and I think it's so cool that they actually lived with wolves! After they were done speaking we bought this book.
The next day we got on a plane to fly home and my mom and dad let me take out the book. They didn't want me to wreck it because it is the nicest wolf book and it is very heavy with amazing pictures. On the plane I started to read the book. My mom helped me with some of the bigger words but not a lot. The pictures are really beautiful in the book and there are some of the wolf pups that are so adorable, too! In the beginning I couldn't wait to read what the Dutchers had to say and I just started reading the book all by myself. Usually I love to find all the pictures first but this time I didn't.
I think this book is great for everyone and I am writing this because the Dutchers write a good book that even kids will like and teaching us about them. My parents weren't really interested in wolves before they got me the Dutcher's dvds and now they love them, too. The book even came with a CD stuck inside that has just wolves howling and I love listening to their sounds!
So that's what I think. I hope the Dutchers can live with the wolves again sometime so I can learn more because they are kind and caring and really great teachers.
Bye.
Living With Wolves.......2006-02-23
Absolutely awesome photography and story!
Some of the best wolf photography I have seen.
This book is very well done with the photography and the story; the vocalization CD certainly completes it. One can listen to the howls, look at the pictures, and feel like a part of this wolf family.
EXCELLENT book for wolf lovers.......2005-09-01
This is the best book of its type about wolves. Jim and Jamie Dutcher's photography catches the full range of experiences and emotions. The photography alone is worth 5 stars in my opinion.
I was also glad to see that half the book was NOT taken up by pictures of dead wolves and wolf pelts. The slaughter of wolves at the hands of humans NEEDS to be stopped, yet I look for books which celebrate the beauty of the LIVING wolf instead of showing page after page of dead animals. This book is a "must buy" for all wolf lovers.
Book Description
Arusha National Park in northern Tanzania, known for its scenic beauty, is also a battleground. Roderick Neumann's illuminating analysis shows how this park embodies all the political-ecological dilemmas facing protected areas throughout Africa. The roots of the ongoing struggle between the park on Mount Meru and the neighboring Meru peasant communities go much deeper, in Neumann's view, than the issues of poverty, population growth, and ignorance usually cited. These conflicts reflect differences that go back to the beginning of colonial rule. By imposing a European ideal of pristine wilderness, Neumann says, the establishment of national parks and protected areas displaced African meanings as well as material access to the land. He focuses on the symbolic importance of natural landscapes among various social groups in this setting and how it relates to conflicts between peasant communities and the state.
Book Description
In Why We Run, biologist, award-winning nature writer, and ultramarathoner Bernd Heinrich explores a new perspective on human evolution by examining the phenomenon of ultraendurance and makes surprising discoveries about the physical, spiritual -- and primal -- drive to win. At once lyrical and scientific, Why We Run shows Heinrich's signature blend of biology, anthropology, psychology, and philosophy, infused with his passion to discover how and why we can achieve superhuman abilities.
Customer Reviews:
Interesting.......2007-02-08
This book was interesting, though a little too dry at times. Glad I purchased it though.
Unique in the genre.......2007-01-10
I am an ultrarunner, and read this book expecting a book on ultrarunning.
I have recommended this book to runner and non-runner friends alike. When they ask what it's about, I describe it as 1/3 personal memoir, 1/3 biology book, and 1/3 training log. The author's accomplishment he writes about is extraordinary, and his portrayal of "the race" at the end will be re-read by me many times.
Some of the "biology book" sections are a little drawn out and tough to slog through, but it all comes together by the end of the book. I acknowledge some of the criticisms posted here, but I guess I wasn't as sensitive to them.
I enjoyed the book and will read it again.
Great Justification for Nutso Runners Like Me.......2006-09-27
This book is truly a classic on the biology and anthropology of exercise. I first stumbled upon it in the bookstore when I was just looking for some more books on running. I wasn't looking for anything in particular and I picked up "Why We Run" off the shelf to give it a chance.
It was just what I was looking for.
The exploration of human anthropology and the scientific explanations of why we run were in exact alignment with my beliefs. Heinrich's basic assertion is that we run because we're supposed to run. Our systems are made to use fatty acids and glycerol as fuels for long distance, nomadic type activities, not quick glucose intensive activity.
This clearly sheds light on the heart rate formula for weight loss and what is particularly best for any specific person. If Heinrich's points are correct, then the conclusion would be a lower heart rate is most effective for weight loss and the preferred zone for any type of exercise. Any exercise in the higher heart rate zones could be classified as survival training--or expending energy that is meant for fight or flight type activities, like running away from tigers or the like. This is clearly not anything we have to do in our modern times.
Heinrich goes to great lengths to explore his arguments. He takes the biology of the other animals and compares them to ours in a very "easy-to-read," unscientific way--something that is relieving for anyone who's spent hours with their nose buried in anatomy books.
The book is anecdotal, because Heinrich bookends the story with his own 100K run. This makes the book entertaining as well and not just a dry scientific read. It's also great biological justification (translated: "excuse") to tell a spouse who thinks you spend too much time training for the next big race!
Perfect for runners and walkers who want to understand their body and what is best for optimal health!
Kevin Gianni, NCSF-CPT
Author, Personal Trainer
Original and unique...at times, quite compelling.......2006-08-29
This is one of those books that is almost impossible to categorize. It's part natural history, part autobiographical, and part training log of a world class ultramarathoner who set a master's record over two decades ago that still stands. It covers a wide breadth of biological research into animal and human locomotion in an attempt to explain what the author claims in an innate human nature to run.
I found the writing to be first rate at times. For a scientist, Heinrch can really write, and certain parts of the book took on a lyrical quality. Other parts unfortunately came across as an uneventful day in biology class. When Heinrich recounts various times of his life, he passion shows. Many of the chapters on animal and biological location are quite interesting, but a few are bit tedious to get through.
The book ends with Heinrich documenting his training and motivations for a 100 kilo Meter race in Chicago in 1981. There is a building expectation as his training comes together, and a certain thrill in his description of the race and what he had to go through to achieve the highest level of his sport. I found the various attempts to train his energy pathways by altering his diet and purposely exhausting certain energy stores in his body quite interesting, and advanced for his time.
A slight problem I had with the book is that Heinrich considers the drive to run an innate human characteristic. While this drive to run is certainly true of Heinrich, I didn't entirely buy that all humans share this trait, that may well be more a characteristic of Heinrich's and like minded individuals psychology than of general human biology.
a must read for endurance athletes in any sport.......2006-03-20
This book was published in 2001, 20 years after the author ran in the 100 kilometer ultramarathon race in Chicago at the age of 41. You can guess the outcome :) This is one of those rare books where the writing gets better towards the end, unlike the deadline rush or inspiration vacuum that afflicts the quality of too many books in the last chapters. The early part of the book is devoted to biological treatises on various animals and examples of extreme adaptations (e.g., the speed of the antelope, the distance capacity of the camel without water, the extreme distances of certain bird migration patterns). This stuff reads very academically (the author is a PhD biologist) and won't appeal to all readers, but is interesting in that you see how it fuels the author's thinking about his own training preparations later in the book. The last few chapters are simply superb. It is the story of the author's training and experimentation with energy management of fats and carbohydrates during training, his stream of consciousness during the race itself, and of course the race outcome. Imagine running 62 miles in less than 7 hours! At the age of 41. Some of the author's philosophy of running and of life itself emerges as well, and you get a sense of an unassuming ego that is so pleasant in today's fist-pumping narcissistic age.
Customer Reviews:
Incredibly insightful!.......2007-10-08
I discovered the "Keepers" series two years ago. At first I was unsure of the format, and it took me a while to appreciate all the activities, but now they are the foundation in my homeschool curriculum. The stories and activities are suitable for a wide range of ages so that they may be used for years with the same child. There is so much depth and insight to all of the Keepers books that it is a compliment to any style of homeschool. For naturalists, home schoolers, un-schoolers, classical educators or public schools - these books are absolutely a must for every child living in North America! I can't say enough about these books.
Keepers Series.......2000-10-24
Joseph Bruchac is a natural stort teller. This whole series is wonderful. I have used these books with children from the ages of four through fourteen. But of all of them the cassette of The Keepers of the Animals is my favorite and the only one that I cannot keep because I am continually giving it away. It is not only the quality of Bruchac's voice but also the cadence that he brings to the telling that adds a resonance, a native rhthym to the stories, that enhances understanding. This is the way that these stories should be told and should be heard. Native American culture has a rich oral tradition and the sounds, the rhthyms of the language are an important part of the telling of a story. We may not have the sounds of the language per se except in the names but we can hear a little of the native cadence in Bruchac's delivery. These are wonderful tapes for small children and again this is my very favorite.
Bringing Native Stories to Life.......2000-07-20
I've been lucky enough to see Michael Caduto perform theseNative stories in person. He brings Native beliefs to life inunexpected and delightful ways. The stories he and Josheph Bruchac have put together here do the same thing. They give young readers a chance to explore Native cultures while they learn and enjoy the stories! In addition to Native tales, this book provides factual information and activities on nature and animals. It's an outstanding resource for teachers, parents, and kids of all ages.
Book Description
A passionate recounting of the natural history of the rise and fall of salmon in England, New England, and the Pacific Northwest-with recommendations for bringing the salmon back.
The salmon that symbolize the Pacific Northwest's natural splendor are now threatened with extinction across much of their ancestral range. In studying the natural and human forces that shape the rivers and mountains of that region, geologist David Montgomery has learned to see the evolution and near-extinction of the salmon as a story of changing landscapes. Montgomery shows how a succession of historical experiences -first in the United Kingdom, then in New England, and now in the Pacific Northwest -repeat a disheartening story in which overfishing and sweeping changes to rivers and seas render the world inhospitable to salmon. In King of Fish, Montgomery traces the human impacts on salmon over the last thousand years and examines the implications both for salmon recovery efforts and for the more general problem of human impacts on the natural world. What does it say for the long-term prospects of the world's many endangered species if one of the most prosperous regions of the richest country on earth cannot accommodate its icon species? All too aware of the possible bleak outcome for the salmon, King of Fish concludes with provocative recommendations for reinventing the ways in which we make environmental decisions about land, water, and fish.
Customer Reviews:
Say Goodbye to Salmon.......2005-09-13
I read this book with great interest and I am saddened by what I learned. I was raised in a town on the Columbia River and as a young fisherman, heard stories of large historic Salmon runs described in near myth-like terms. Back then I was taught to blame the tribes, gill netters and other commercial fisherman for the diminished runs. If only the problem were that simple. As Montgomery clearly describes, through an interesting comparative analsis, Salmon runs have historically been driven into extinction, first in Europe, then England, then New England, and now the Pacific Northwest in more or less the same fashion. As the areas around native salmon waters became populated and developed, our society has made certain choices, economic v. environmental, which not surpisingly have nearly always favored the economic. As a result, salmon runs were decimated by the construction of dams, overfishing, pollution, misguided hatchery programs, the clearing and diking of streams, destruction of wetlands, logging practices, and simply by population growth and development, which Montgomery describes as a death by a thousand cuts. Presently, salmon runs in the Pacific Northwest are at just 6-7% of their historical numbers. As the region's population is expected to double within this generation, conditions will likely only get worse. While Montgomery identifies steps than can be taken to revive these runs, it seems doubtful there is enough public sentiment or political will to effect these changes. If anything, this books is a sad commentary on our society's ability to manage its resources. Salmon, which are a symbol of the great Pacific Northwest, will soon be gone for good.
Capitalism can't protect the Salmon.......2004-05-22
Dr. Montgomery shows that if the toxic and human waste poured into the rivers of the industrial revolution did not poison Salmon, the incipient capitalist institution of commercial fishing would swallow most of them.. Montgomery quotes records from the holder of fishing rights on a specific part of the Thames river. The records of this particular holder shows he caught 66 salmon in 1801, 18 in 1812 and only 2 in 1821....by the 1960's, the annual salmon catch of England and Wales was a quarter of that a century earlier. He quotes an account of MP Robert Wallace about parliament blocking effective salmon protection laws at the behest of the commercial fishing industry, dam operators, etc.
He quotes accounts from the early 19th century including from Henry David Thoreau about the severe depletion of salmon stocks in Northeast U.S. rivers caused by the disruption of salmon spawning beds by the transportion of boats and logs down the river, dams, factory poisons and so on.
Salmon stocks continued to decline to near extinction in Eastern U.S. waters. The Danish government agreed to ban its fisherman from engaging in their highly destructive open ocean fishing off the coast of Greenland, where salmon from Britain, the U.S, and Canada often converge for their sojourns in the Ocean, in 1972. However Danes continued to fish heavily near the Greenland shore, and used vessels under other nation's flags to circumvent their salmon catch quota under the 1972 agreement.
Montgomery shows how salmon have been sacrificed since the Great Depression in favor of the dams which have provided water and electricity in the Eastern Pacific Northwest from the Snake and Colombia Rivers. In 1937, U.S. fisheries commissioner Franklin Bell let it be known that he wasn't going to strain himself too much on behalf of the Salmon. "Aside from blind restriction" of commercial fishing, he explained, "the protection of individual runs menaced by virtual extinction must be left to chance."
Native Americans in the Pacific Northwest thrived on salmon for subsistence, and to preserve the run, would commonly allow half of the run to pass through its nets. But with the coming of commercial fishing dominated by whites, Indian livelihood was wiped out. They could not compete in commercial fishing, lacking the wealth to purchase the sophisticated boats and nets increasingly becoming common. Indians became a racist scapegoat for the depletion of salmon stocks. He notes He notes though that state records that the entire Indian fishing catch from 1935 to 1950 was less than the total commercial catch during a typical year.
Washington State had always claimed that on traditional Indian fishing grounds based on treaties made regarding Colombian basin rivers in the 1850's, Indians merely had the same rights as whites to exploit salmon. But in 1970, federal district court judge George Boldt ruled that the treaties actually reserved for Indians half of the annual salmon supply. In 1975, the Supreme Court upheld Boldt's decision. In 1980, Federal Judge William Orrick declared that under the old treaties, maintaining decent habitat for salmon spawning fell to Washington state. Shortly thereafter a three-judge panel of the 9th circuit overturned the decision. The issue of maintaining the habitat has not been resolved. He points out that native Americans have not been given "special rights" in fishing, as white fisherman and the demagogues inflaming them have claimed but the treaties, signed as they were under pressure, were grants by the Indians to the White man on the Indian's land. Not grants by the white man to the Indian.
, Hatcheries were promoted as the catchall solution to salmon shortages. Huge investments were made in this new technology by Washington and Oregon governments beginning the late 19th century. However, writes Montgomery, in the long term, hatcheries have clearly failed. Salmon cannot simply adapt to any stream or river. They seem genetically programmed to operate in limited regions. Hatcheries salmon are selected from a very limited gene pool i.e. lack of genetic diversity and can produce defective offspring with their wild brethren. The hatchery salmon are found to be much more aggressive than their wild counterparts in eating up the food supply, thus making the wild ones lose out in the survival of the fittest. In particular hatchery fish, can introduce deadly diseases to their wild brethren. In the mid-70's a parasite from hatchery fish wiped out restored wild salmon stocks in Norwegian rivers.
By the early 1990's, while the Colombia river held an estimated 11 to 16 million salmon before the arrival of Europeans, by then it had dwindled to around 2 million wild fish. Yet the number of hatchery fish in the river was estimated at the time to be around a hundred million.
Likewise, on the East coast, salmon produced in "farms" i.e. maintained in cages at sea, sometimes accounted for the majority of spawning salmon in a river. An estimate of the National Research Council declares that 180,000 fish a year escape from their farms in Maine. They spread disease to wild salmon and mate with them, creating large numbers of genetically limited salmon. According to Montgomery, those 180,000 fish are ten times the number of wild salmon left in New England. In Europe, he notes, the amount of farm salmon being produced was 100 times the catch of wild salmon.
He advocates strictly enforced moratoriums on fishing, increased preservations of wetlands to allow for the creation of flood produced salmon-friendly side-channels, strictly enforced regulations on placing passageways for salmon in dams, regulations to prevent salmon waterways from being polluted and to make sure that salmon do not end up as carcasses on farmland after being swallowed through irrigation pumps. The economic actors involved continue to block serious efforts to protect the salmon as they always have. He notes how the Bush administration has blocked efforts to address over-fishing.
How to Save Salmon - Lessons from History.......2004-03-20
Montgomery's book is centered on the notion that we are failing to learn from history when it comes to the Pacific salmon crisis. In England, eastern North America, and now the Pacific Northwest, human actions that inevitably destroy the "king of fish" have been repeated. Overfishing, blocking salmon from their spawning habitat, and causing the deterioration of habitat quality through pollution, land clearing, and simplification of the river are the culprits. Montgomery also tells why hatcheries are not the solution and never have been. He closes with a clear and, to me, indisputable analysis of what we must do to preserve and recover this most amazing of creatures. The book is quite accessible to a layperson; you don't need a scientific background, or even any knowledge of the problems facing Pacific salmon, in order to enjoy and learn from the book.
Book Description
Sometimes by accident and sometimes on purpose, humans have transported plants and animals to new habitats around the world. Arriving in ever-increasing numbers to American soil, recent invaders have competed with, preyed on, hybridized with, and carried diseases to native species, transforming our ecosystems and creating anxiety among environmentalists and the general public. But is American anxiety over this crisis of ecological identity a recent phenomenon? Charting shifting attitudes to alien species since the 1850s, Peter Coates brings to light the rich cultural and historical aspects of this story by situating the history of immigrant flora and fauna within the wider context of human immigration. Through an illuminating series of particular invasions, including the English sparrow and the eucalyptus tree, what he finds is that we have always perceived plants and animals in relation to ourselves and the polities to which we belong. Setting the saga of human relations with the environment in the broad context of scientific, social, and cultural history, this thought-provoking book demonstrates how profoundly notions of nationality and debates over race and immigration have shaped American understandings of the natural world.
Book Description
Three Among the Wolves is a highly readable true-life adventure tale combined with a fascinating natural history of the wolf. Helen and Bill Thayer, accompanied by their part-wolf, mostly Husky dog, Charlie, set out on foot to live among wild wolf packs — first in the Canadian Yukon and then in the Arctic. They eventually set up camp within 100 feet of a wolf den, and are greeted with apprehension at first. They establish trust over time, because the wolves accept Charlie as the alpha male of the newly arrived "pack."
The Thayers discover the complexities of wolf family structure, including how pups are reared and how the injured are tenderly cared for. They view the intricacies of the hunt firsthand — how ravens direct wolves to prey in exchange for carrion — as well as the wolves' finely honed survival skills and engaging playfulness. Readers observe the ways Helen and Bill model pack behavior and how they address an unforeseen event: the Arctic wolves attempt to lure Charlie to join them.
Customer Reviews:
A Fantastic Read.......2007-07-16
This book was incredible, and is definantly my favorite non-fiction book. This book is great for anyone who has a slight intrest in nature. It helps if you think wolves are awesome as I do.
Wolves are beautiful creatures; this is a beautiful book........2006-02-28
This book is my second literary experience with Helen Thayer and her dog Charlie following her 2002 book "Polar Dream," in which the pair join together as Ms. Thayer became the first woman (and oldest person at 50) to walk and ski solo (not counting Charlie) to the Magnetic North Pole. In this adventure her husband Bill joins the pair as they spend a year living with wolves in the wild above the Arctic Circle. It's easy to see why the National Geographic Society/National Public Radio has named Ms. Thayer one of the great explorers of the 20th Century. Her stamina and perseverance are phenomenal. The trio infiltrates the Richardson Mountains in Canada's Yukon Territory in search of the greatest villains in all of children's literature. After struggling through most difficult terrains, they come upon a family of wolves and spend months living in a tent within the animals' sight studying the social interplay of these beasts. Completing this phase of their adventure, they sadly leave this family and trek further north into the shifting and dangerous ice of Beaufort Sea to discover the wintertime interplay between wolves and polar bears, considered by many to be the most dangerous of all wild animals. After this near-death adventure, they ski back to the Mackenzie Delta and set up housekeeping next to another group of wolves. The hardships and danger the three faces on a daily basis are amazing to contemplate. The payoff from this book is two-fold. First, the scientific data discovered for the first time. But maybe more importantly is the realization that these creatures are truly magnificent and caring individuals, and anyone who reads this book with an open mind will forever despise hunters who slaughter entire packs by shooting them from low flying airplanes. Ms. Thayer makes it crystal clear that wolves deserve to be part of the world community. There is a bit of repetition in the book. I only need to be told once that the northern lights are called aurora borealis or that animals burrow under the snow were it is a few degrees warmer than above. But that's nit picking. There is also repetition in the telling of their studies, but that captures the flavor of their scientific existence, so is acceptable. To enhance this telling, dozens of pictures taken during this adventure are sprinkled throughout. All outdoorsmen, naturalists, and animal lovers will treasure this book.
Remarkable----Page Turner.......2004-06-03
A true story of two people, their wolf-dog and their amazing adventures with wild wolves in Canada's far north tundra and frozen ocean.
Helen Thayer, a recipient of many awards and honored by the White House, is a veteran world wide explorer over many years. She and her husband explore the world's remote places seeking material to add to their highly successful educational programs which I and fellow educators nationwide use in classrooms.
Her writing and lectures have inspired people of all ages in many countries. I had the pleasure of meeting this dynamic 66 year old, five feet two inch woman after she spoke at a national corporate convention in Florida.
This is a true life experience of living among wild wolf packs in which Charlie, her Inuit dog who once saved her life from a polar bear attack, is the story's star. Just as POLAR DREAM was, this new book is well written with vivid description that takes you on this remarkable journey. This very different approach to wolf study is a welcome addition to our knowledge of these animals. We see the close relationship of many species of animals sharing wild wolf habitat, and at times depending on each other.
Her first book, POLAR DREAM, tells of her adventure with Charlie when she became the first woman to walk alone pulling her own sled without dog teams or snowmobiles to the Magnetic North Pole.
This exciting story and THREE AMONG THE WOLVES are on the same informative, page turning level. The observation of wild wolf family life, their ability to adjust their survival skills, the raising of the pups and even the concern over an injured family member show close observation and remarkable intuitive understanding of wolf behavior. Of course beloved part-wolf Charlie is the reason for the success of the year long project as the author readily acknowledges.
The story is fast moving and flows smoothly from one chapter to the next. Also beautifully descriptive, compassionate and in places humerous. The numerous photos add to the account. A valuable addition to the story are the descriptions of the various animals the Thayers' encountered who share wolf habitat. An excellent addition to anyones book shelf.
A Fascinating Read.......2004-05-12
I collect books about wolves. This book is different with a new perspective both fascinating and informative.The author, explorer Helen Thayer,her explorer husband, and their Inuit dog Charlie of the best selling book, "Polar Dream" fame,(the author's book about her first ever by a woman to walk alone to the magnetic North Pole)lived a year with wild wolves above the Arctic Circle summer and winter. The author tells us "it would have been impossible without Charlie.He was the bridge we needed to cross the gap that allowed us to live alongside wolves and share their lives."
Charlie, part wolf, was quickly accepted. His human pack was accepted shortly afterward. The affectionate nature of wolves, their interaction with other animal species, even polar bears, that's not well documented elsewhere, is truly enlightening. The escapades of the mishievious pups are adorable as is their care and teaching by the adults.
The amusing episodes, the highly emotional times and the valuable information makes this book a winner. Beautifully written, vivid description, allows the reader to share this amazing and unique experience.
The reader soon knows each wolf, its personality, and its role in family life as if the reader were right there with the author.
A true winner in wolf literature.
Book Description
Now in paperback– the ten things we must do to ensure a safe and peaceful world, from legendary environmentalist Jane Goodall and brilliant animal behaviorist, Marc Bekoff.
Combining her life's work living among the chimpanzees with her spiritual perspective on the relationship between humans and animals, legendary behavioral scientist Jane Goodall sets forth ten trusts that we as humans have as custodians of the planet:
1. Respect all life
2. Live as part of the Animal Kingdom
3. Educate our children to respect animals
4. Treat animals as you would like to be treated
5. Be a steward
6. Value the sounds of nature and help preserve them
7. Do not harm life in order to learn about it
8. Have the courage of your convictions
9. Act knowing that your actions make a difference
10. Act knowing that you are not alone.
Filled with inspirational stories, The Ten Trusts provides lessons Jane Goodall has learned from a lifetime of experience, with the warmth and emotion her readers have come to expect from her. Marc Bekoff, cofounder of the Roots and Shoots program with Jane, also contributes his profound insights and research, which Jane has come to rely on. Together, they share their hope and vision for humanity and all the earth's creatures, distilled into ten eloquent spiritual lessons. Within these ten trusts, Goodall reveals how we can gain true enlightenment by living in harmony with the animal kingdom and honoring the interconnection between all species.
Customer Reviews:
Respect for all species.......2007-06-15
It's nice to see and qualify the feelings many of us have had since childhood about loving animals. It seems to get faded as we grow older and integrate in a society that has put a lesser value on them for some reason. But here is a book that helps us accept those good emotions of the past and perpetuates the feeling that one day all life will be regarded having equal value. What Jane has done in the world is amazing and rocked the boat of science and for that reason alone one should experience her writing. Animals certainly can teach us a lot about ourselves..and this can only make our lives better. If you are ready, read this light hearted, easy to read book.
Speaking Out For Those That Can't.......2007-05-27
One additional trust are the author's themselves; who better to speak for the animals than Jane Goodall and Marc Bekoff? The formatting of conversational style writing with each author's commentary separately noted, gives an insight and understanding of their personal experience, and individual dedication relating to their life passions. The stories, facts, and touching emotions that come through in the author's words, should make anyone stand up and want to do something, no matter how big or small, to make a difference in helping to save our natural environment. The world needs more great people like Goodall and Bekoff, to speak out for those that cannot, before it is too late.
A Global Essential.......2004-05-29
Of the many books I have read dealing with environmental issues, this has had a major impact. The authors have tremendous credibility and scientific knowledge. If ever there was a canary in the mine, it is this book. We have plundered our planet, ignored the quality of life for other sentient beings, and have failed to see the need for a balance in nature and our own lives.
There are messages here that all should heed. But, most of all, there is hope if we pay attention.
Our current U.S. and world leadership has failed our planet. Hopefully, there are those who can steer the world back on course.
Thank you Jane and Marc.
Jay Pierson
Georgetown, Texas
Together we can make a difference.......2004-03-02
This book lay for months on my bedside table before I found the strength to read it. I could not bear to touch it because I knew it would contain suffering. The book makes powerful painful reading. Once I started reading it I just could not put it down. In order to be able to make a difference I really needed to know what is going between humans and animals. How we abuse them. The book is not all gloom, it also tells about many persons who have come forward in their defence of animals. Sometimes even at great persnal loss.
The ten trusts are gives you a way to know!
Rebuilding Our Ethics Through Trust.......2002-11-09
Dr. Jane Goodall and Dr. Marc Bekoff have compiled ideas, stories, experience and much more about living a humane and ethical life into a book accessible to all. As the animal protection community has done for 50 years, this book shows that humans must respect the environment and all life if we, as a species, expect to survive. It is a very simple premise yet humanity has yet to catch on. The Ten Trusts not only gives us a path to follow, but it shows how others have acted before in trying to alter destructive patterns. Caring for others (animals, humans and nature) is not something radical, it is - humane! It is something everyone must do.
Goodall and Bekoff share their experiences from living a life of compassion and a boundless ethic. Few people are as well known and respected as Jane Goodall, but she has never rested on her fame. Instead, she stepped away from her field research and beloved friends in Gombe National Park, not to build monetary wealth, but to share her wealth of knowledge with young and old alike through lectures and programs such as Roots and Shoots. While Bekoff has spent years educating a more humane youth at the University of Colorado, all while helping us to better understand and appreciate animal behavior.
Over the last two years the Bush administration has systematically deconstructed even basic protections for the environment in order to please corporate greed. The Ten Trusts talks about many issues, one of which will certainly reappear following recent elections, is the drilling for oil in Alaska's ANWR. Even though the American public is opposed to destroying the last pristine environment, the Administration hopes to lull us into a belief that it is needed.
This does not have to be. Goodall, who revolutionized how humans think about other species through her work with chimpanzees and Bekoff, who is a leader in showing us that the minds of animals are as unique and complex as ours, have concisely gathered a wonderful set of ethics into an easily readable book. A book that everyone should read because it shows how we really can and MUST be compassionate.
Books:
- Real Estate Development: Principles and Process 3rd Edition
- Regression Methods in Biostatistics: Linear, Logistic, Survival, and Repeated Measures Models (Statistics for Biology and Health)
- Sensory Transduction
- Special Agent: My Life On the Front Lines As Woman in the FBI
- Statistical Methods in Bioinformatics: An Introduction (Statistics for Biology and Health)
- Survival Analysis Using SAS: A Practical Guide
- Survival of the Sickest: A Medical Maverick Discovers Why We Need Disease
- Teach Me How to Love You: The Beginnings
- The Botany of Desire: A Plant's-Eye View of the World
- The Cell Cycle: Principles of Control (Primers in Biology)
Books Index
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