Baby Beluga (Raffi Songs to Read)

Book Description

Raffi's signature song and the top seller in his Songs to Read series, Baby Beluga is now available in a quality board book edition perfect for his youngest fans.

Customer Reviews:

Great for Special Ed Preschoolers with audio.......2007-09-26

Baby Beluga is a fantastic book for the class I work in. The three and four year old special ed students LOVE this book along with Raffi's music being played. I strongly recommend it for any child. I'm purchasing the book and the CD for my nephews who do not have any disabilities because I know they'll love it too.

My Daughter LOVES This Book!.......2007-08-23

My daughter is crazy about this book, and she has been since she was about 8 months old. I think the fact that you can't help but sing the story when you read it makes it much more interesting. I've never actually heard the whole song before, so I can only guess if I'm singing it correctly. She loves it though. As always, the cardboard pages make for a very durable baby book.

Classic sing-a-long.......2007-07-03

It's great to have a classic song in book form with attractive illustrations. It's one of my 11-month old's favorite bedtime books. He turns the pages while I sing him the tune. The pages are sturdy enough for him to turn them himself.

Wonderful!.......2007-05-29

This board book is a wonderful addition to our collection of books as the colors and images grab my son's attention and he can see the words that accompany the song I sing to him often. What a wonderful idea to create a book using the Baby Beluga lyrics.

Baby Beluga.......2007-05-28

A fun book for preschoolers! As a child care professional this is a book (and CD as well) that the children enjoy. They actually can see the pictures that go with the words of the CD. A must have for all Family Child Care Providers!

Beluga Days: Tracking a White Whale's Truths

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Beluga Days
beluga days
Beluga Days Review
Beluga Days
Beluga Days

Beluga Days: Tracking a White Whale's Truths
Nancy Lord
Manufacturer: Counterpoint
ProductGroup: Book
Binding: Hardcover

General | Conservation | Outdoors & Nature | Subjects | Books

Endangered Species | Conservation | Outdoors & Nature | Subjects | Books

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ASIN: 1582431515
Release Date: 2003-12-23

Book Description

Living in waters adjacent to Anchorage, Alaska, the beluga whales of Cook Inlet are an isolated and genetically distinct population. Thought to number more than 1000 in the early 1990s, a sharp population decline has brought them near extinction. Original in approach and incisive in its questions, Beluga Days explores how conservation laws, management policies, and human behaviors have affected the shrinking beluga population. From hunters, regulators, environmentalists, researchers, and businesspeople to whale enthusiasts, Lord encounters an ongoing debate wrestling with the immediate need to protect the whales, as well as a respect for the centuries-old tradition of Native subsistence hunting. Beyond its compelling characters and particulars, Lord's story offers readers a deeper understanding of the often uncomfortable, often rewarding, juxtaposition of humans and the natural world.

Customer Reviews:

Beluga Days.......2005-12-05

Nancy Lord does a great job really opening your eyes to the dwindling numbers of beluga whales in Cook Inlet, Alaska. These numbers have dropped drastically from about 1,000 in 1990, to a couple hundred currently recorded today. The reader is introduced to the everyday threats to the belugas and what is being done, and what isn't being done, to help them. She focused primarily on one population in Cook Inlet which I thought would be somewhat disappointing. Starting the book I was hoping to gain a better knowledge of many belugas around the world, but through reading the book I found that it was actually better to focus on the one species because they were easier to keep track of and study everyday. Lord, who lives in Alaska, has completely immersed herself in the lives of the Cook Inlet belugas and the relevant doings of politicians, environmentalists, scientists, and the native people who still have the right to hunt whales. Lord offers different perspectives on the situation and considers who shares the responsibility for the declining number of belugas. The book is full of her personal encounters with the beluga whales of Cook Inlet, and the way she writes about these animals makes you care for them as much as she does. She recognizes the fact that the native Alaskan people do have the right to hunt these whales, and shows a deep respect for it, but at the same time is trying to do what she can to protect them. Overall this book enlightens readers of the Cook Inlet belugas and how they are threatened on a daily basis. She shows how truly difficult it is for her and the others involved to protect and save these whales. I would recommend this book to anyone wanting to learn more about the Cook Inlet belugas specifically, and mammal conservation in general.

beluga days.......2005-12-02

Beluga days is an extremely interesting book for anyone that is interested in the conservation of marine life or nature in general. The story follows author Nancy Lord and she takes many steps in gathering information and researching the Beluga whales of the Cook Inlet in Alaska. She goes into detail about the problems facing these belugas. The population has been decreasing rapidly as of late due to excess hunting and pollution. She also discusses the major contamination problem in the St.Lawrence river which is killing off many Belugas as well. However, much more emphasis is placed on the Cook Inlet whales.

I really enjoyed the way the book was written because if felt like i was learning about the situation along side Nancy Lord. The reader went along to meetings and different research projects concerning the matter. I also enjoyed learning about the political aspect of the issue. It was a very effective writing style.

Although i enjoyed the book thoroughly i wish that alittle more time could have been spent on the St.Lawrence belugas because I feel that the contamination of their waters is very important due to all of the dead belugas found to have high levels of toxins in their bodies.
Overall i thought it was a fun book to read and very informative.

I would recommend this book to anybody interested in marine animals and the current problems that are ruining the oceans.

Beluga Days Review.......2005-11-30

This is a compelling documentary about the small population of beluga whales at Cook Inlet in Alaska. It delves deep into many research techniques and theories concerning the depletion of this population in more recent years. The reader follows, fisherman, Nancy Lord as she attends conventions, research vessels and other locations while she takes a closer look at Cook Inlet belugas. Emphasis is put on reasons for depletion, questioning of the current status of whales and action that can be taken to both educate people and save the whales.
Lord talks with native hunters and expert scientists at conferences in Alaska and learns that overhunting and contamination are major concerns to Cook Inlet belugas. She travels all over to talk to many scientists about their own thoughts and concerns. She is able to board a research vessel as scientists do population counts, captures and tagging. Lord balances her education with a more casual visit to observe captive belugas at a zoo for a closer look. She doesn't restrict herelf to Cook Inlet belugas though; she participates in research about the St. Lawrence belugas and the connections with contamination. All of these are some of the captivating experiences that shape Lord's understanding of what is being done to, hopefully, save the beluga's.
Lord's style of writing helps the reader to become educated right along with her. She asks questions that any person would be compelled to ask and it made the book all the easier to be drawn into. It is quite easy to read although some difficult words work their way in occasionally.
She does have a tendency to go back to previous concerns, making it repetitive at times. Usually it's about the controversy over whether or not native hunters are the beluga's largest threat.
Overall, it is an intriguing book and would probably be best for people interested in any sort of nature or marine topics. I would recommend it especially to those interested in what goes on behind the scenes as far as research, getting an animal listed for concern or beluga depletion in general.

Beluga Days.......2005-11-29

Beluga Days is a terrific book about the Beluga Whale population in Cook Inlet, Alaska. The story tells how the population has decreased very significantly over the course of time, especially just recently. The book points out many reasons as to why the population has decreased and it is all due to human disregard. It tells of the Beluga Days, when the whales seemed over-populated, and people would kill them off like they meant nothing, but soon people began to realize the numbers were incredibly small and this could not be turned around. The book tells of the many uses of the Belugas and how they were viewed as predators to big-game fish, and these were originally why the whales were so popular to kill. Before too long the numbers had decreased so much and these beutiful creatures have not, and may not, ever recover. Lord
incorporates different historical events such as the ESA and the MMPA and this makes the book even more informative.

One thing, in particular, that I enjoyed was the style in which Lord wrote the book. At times in the book it seemed like Lord was interviewing major players in Beluga whale population in the Cook Inlet. The way the book starts is a great example as Lord talks to George Hayden, a former Beluga hunter from the Cook Inlet, and her conversations with Hayden lead to other stories of how the Belugas have changed over the course of time.

The novel never really touched on other populations of Belugas and this is the main thing that I disliked. I wish that Lord talked more about other Beluga populations in other regions around the Arctic besides the Cook Inlet. Even though much of the book was only about the Cook Inlet, Lord's writing ability made most of the reiterating of the same Beluga population to be tolerable and still interesting.

I would recommend this book to people who have any interest in marine mammal conservation. It was an interesting and enlightening read and I, a conservation novice, enjoyed the book thoroughly.

Beluga Days.......2005-11-29

Beluga Days takes an in-depth look at the plight of a distinct population of beluga whales in Cook Inlet, Alaska. Plauged by over-hunting, these whales have fallen from a population of approximately one thousand animals in 1990 to an estimated two hundred fifty today. The book discusses the politics of regulating native hunting, the difficulties of getting the whales placed on the endangered species list, and the pros and cons of placing belugas in captivity. Lord herself is a salmon fishermman who is familiar with the Cook Inlet region and the ecosystem which exists there. She has observed the steady decline of the belugas from her own home and explores the reasons for their decline and the whales themselves in Beluga Days. Lord witnesses a native beluga hunt, helps perform research on the slaughtered whales, and spends getting to know the natives involved in the hunt and the importance of the beluga to their society. She also encounters belugas from places other than Alaska by visiting captive belugas in Chicago and going out on a research vessel to observe the ailing population of the St. Lawrence estuary in Quebec.
Lord has managed to write an extremely informative novel without making it too complex or "wordy," as is the case with many science and nature-based works. Her style of writing held my interest but still relayed information. I also appreciated the unbiased point of view from which she writes. Lord obviously wants the population to thrive once more in Cook Inlet, but she also understands the significance of native hunting and discusses different opinions on the best ways to save this population.
One thing about Beluga Days which I disliked was the monotony of its having such a finite subject matter. The majority of this novel discusses only one distinct population and the information starts to seem repetitive after reading for long periods of time. This makes Beluga Days a difficult novel to read in one sitting.
Although this book would not be of interest to everyone I would recommend it to anyone interested in cetaceans or nature in general. At some points it may be easier to comprehend with some previous knowledge of whales, but is written simply enough so that most people can appreciate it.

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Cute and Educational

Baby Beluga (Seaworld Library)
Patricia A. Pingry
Manufacturer: Candy Cane Press
ProductGroup: Book
Binding: Board book

Board Books | Baby-3 | Children's Books | Subjects | Books

General | Ages 4-8 | Children's Books | Subjects | Books

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ASIN: 0824966430

Customer Reviews:

Cute and Educational.......2007-03-06

This book is fantastic and has a combination of cartoon pictures as well as photographs. The information is simple and clear. Sturdy pages stand up to my baby girl throwing all her books on the floor.

A great addition to our library.

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A fun Arctic introduction plus science
Arctic Learning Fun
A Fun Artic
Fun As Well As Educational
A playful children's picturebook

In Arctic Waters
Laura Crawford
Manufacturer: Sylvan Dell Publishing
ProductGroup: Book
Binding: Hardcover

Picture Books | Ages 4-8 | Children's Books | Subjects | Books

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ASIN: 0976882345

Book Description

An arctic variation of "This is the House that Jack Built," In Arctic Waters follows polar bears, walruses, seals, narwhals and beluga whales as they chase each other around "the ice that floats in the Arctic waters." Not only is the rhythmic, cumulative prose good for early readers; it is a pure delight to read aloud. The "For Creative Minds" section helps children learn how these animals live in the cold, icy arctic region.

Customer Reviews:

A fun Arctic introduction plus science.......2007-09-24

A fun book that introduces a preschooler to third grader about the Arctic animals and their relationship to the natives in the area. You can play this book both ways, as a fun rhyme for kids and as a more serious science topic for older kids. The book not only has the basic story line but also has additional materials in the back that explains the scientific and cultural significance of each character such as the Inuit's role in area.

-Kaycee Ogoc, Library Weekly

Arctic Learning Fun.......2007-05-23

In Arctic Waters

What an enjoyable way to learn about Arctic sea and land animals in this rhyming tale! The book, created by author Laura Crawford, has the cadence and cumulative story of the rhyme "The House That Jack Built." It is wonderful that the charm and humor in the book is such that a young child can easily identify with each animal.

Ben Hodson's paintings wed the rhyming text perfectly. Children will delight in the expressions of each animal, expressions that tell the tale as much as the text. At the end of the book there is a mini encyclopedia where the inquisitive child can learn more about each animal. It can also be the basis of a classroom unit. Highly recommended for ages three to seven.

A Fun Artic .......2007-03-28

Parents, grandparents and teachers looking for a fun read for young children will embrace this new book by Laura Crawford, a Chicago-area [...] teacher. The book has the familiar rhythm and plot of The House That Jack Built, but the author has set this story in Arctic Waters on a floating chunk of ice. One by one the animals, including a fish, a blubbery thick beluga, a narwhal and more, get on the floating ice until it can hold no more. The attractive illustrations are just right. The story is fun to read aloud. Sure to become a favorite of young readers.

Fun As Well As Educational.......2007-03-20

Reminiscent of This is the House that Jack Built, Artic Waters is written in the same type of ongoing rhyme. The characters in this charming book are: a furry white polar bear, a walrus, a seal, a beluga, a fish, and the man who hunts them. The sea creatures are saved when a large piece of iceberg breaks off, the fish scurry to safety and the hunter paddles off to safer hunter grounds.

Sylvan Dell books are always charming, funny, and brightly illustrated. But the most wonderful thing about them is the "For Creative Minds," in the back of each book. Arctic Waters offers five-pages of educational supplements. Beginning with instructions how to find the Arctic Circle, there is also information about the people who live there, polar bears, walruses, seals, narwhal, and beluga whales.

You and your child will love this book

A playful children's picturebook.......2007-03-07

Written by second-grade teacher Laura Crawford and illustrated by award-winning children's book artist Ben Hodson, In Arctic Waters is a playful children's picturebook that narrates an arctic water adventure among different native creatures in a "House that Jack Built" style poem. As the animals chase one another in the waters around an iceberg, suddenly a human hunter appears to change everything! The final portion of In Arctic Waters is an educational supplement that teaches young people more facts about the arctic and its native animals, as reviewed for accuracy by wildlife experts. Highly recommended.

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Beluga Whales (True Books)
Ann O. Squire
Manufacturer: Children's Press (CT)
ProductGroup: Book
Binding: Paperback

General | Ages 9-12 | Children's Books | Subjects | Books

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ASIN: 0516255800

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Jack London It Ain't
A gripping, page-turning read
The Bear Hunter
Adventure and Jack London Together Again
The Bear Hunter

The Bear Hunter
James, Hart Isley
Manufacturer: Alabaster Books
ProductGroup: Book
Binding: Paperback

Action & Adventure | Genre Fiction | Literature & Fiction | Subjects | Books
ASIN: 0979094917

Book Description

Spine-tingling, hunting adventure in the Alaskan wilderness.

Customer Reviews:

Jack London It Ain't.......2007-08-30

A mature old grizzly wakes from his winter sleep in the Alaska spring, his belly screaming for food.
Two men from the Lower 48 settle comfortably into their first class flight to Anchorage, on the way to a grand adventure.
On the same plane, further back, a man recovering from a bitter (and costly) divorce tries to enjoy the only asset left to him - a pre-paid, already-booked bear hunt in Alaska.
Before the second chapter is finished, the reader knows these four beings will meet, and the resulting aftermath probably won't be pretty.
James Hart Isley, a former nature videographer, touts "The Bear Hunter," his first novel, as "destined to become a standard for exciting wilderness adventures." Now, call me skeptical, but putting that out there - on the back cover, no less puts a great deal of pressure on a neophyte writer.
Isley introduces us first to "the bear," a creature with instincts honed over years at the top of the Alaska Range food chain. From his first appearance, "laying quietly in his dug-out cave," the bear is depicted as an inexorable force of nature, pushing his way out of the dripping lair he has spent the winter in, gulping fresh air, surveying his domain for food.
The two men sitting in first class are Dominick Petrone, a seasoned hunter, and Jeremy Miller, a writer for a running magazine and the son of Jake Miller, bear hunter extraordinaire. Dom and Jeremy are on their way to Jeremy's first bear hunt, a way for Jeremy to bond with his recently deceased father. Oh, and he also plans to write a book about the man, so his hunt is actually research.
They hook up with Barry Lyons, pilot, and Jean-Luc Le Rouge, guide, for a first-class-all-the-way trip to Game Management Area 16 (McGrath, Talkeetna, Tyonek and Kenai).
The bitter man flying coach is Stan Phillips (although he isn't identified by name until Chapter Four). He's mourning the loss of his wife and kids, angry at her infidelity, pissed off at "the incompetence of his discount attorney," and just mad at the world.
Stan connects with his guide, Pierre (AKA Frenchy) Le Rouge (yeah, they are father and son - that's an overriding theme throughout the book, but more on that later). But first, he endures a lost hotel reservation, crummy customer service, lots of booze and too little sleep. Turns out, they are going to Game Management Area 16 as well, although they're hoofing it (Pierre doesn't believe in using planes for hunting).
Two different camps, two very different levels of "adventure" (Isley really likes that word), but one goal: Shooting a grizzly, preferably 8 feet or bigger, and taking home a trophy.
Although a non-hunter might think that hunting bears in the spring, when they're groggy and weak from the long winter, is unsporting, our intrepid hunters really do have to work for their trophies. Dom and Jeremy are stuck in camp for days because of unending spring fog that makes it too dangerous to fly the Cessna in search of game. Stan finds himself hiking miles each day, first to the camp and then through the area surrounding the camp, in search of a shot. It's cold (still), wet and boggy. And then he falls through the ice still covering Beluga Lake and almost freezes to death.
And the bear doesn't just sit around, waiting to be shot. He's constantly on the move, searching for anything that will fill his stomach.
Of course, the long periods of fog-bound inactivity lead to tall tales and bonding, and the reader discovers that Jeremy never really felt his father loved him, and this hunt is a way for Jeremy to discover the man behind the legend. Jean-Luc and Pierre have their own back story, having become estranged because of differing philosophies regarding hunting and guiding, and Pierre's addiction to drink and his violent tendencies when under the spell of alcohol.
The fatal encounter (and before you start yelling "SPOILER ALERT," know this: This particular incident is teased on the jacket of the book) occurs when Jeremy, wanting a photo of the Arctic fox that has adopted the camp, sets up a lure with frozen bacon grease. But instead of the little fox, Jeremy attracts the attention of the old boar, which has become desperate to fill his stomach, having had no luck for many days.
The encounter does not end well for any of the men, including Jeremy, who runs from the camp while the bear is otherwise occupied. Having been training as a triathlete, Jeremy thinks he can put enough distance between him and the bear (even though the ground is still covered with snow, and Jeremy, in his sleeping bag at the time of the attack, is wearing only socks) and find his way to safety.
You can guess the rest of that scene. And the end of the book (all 30 pages of it - in a 191 page novel). I won't spoil it for you.
The book, although depicting a hunt, is "as much about the strong bond between father and son as it is about the taking of game," according to the jacket, although I saw more fighting and estrangement than bonding. But hey, I'm a girl - what do I know about the complex relationships between men and their male offspring? But it didn't seem to me that any of the characters resolved any of their problems, or even came to grips with them, other than whining that "Daddy didn't love me."
There are a lot of other problems with this book, but the biggest problem, and one I have found far too often in books lately, is that it's badly written. Badly as in not technically competent; badly as in poorly constructed and executed; and badly as in misspellings, typos, awkward phrasing, overwriting, and wrong or missing punctuation.
Newsflash: One uses a colon (:) to introduce a related thought or example into the sentence, i.e., "He and Jeremy's father had been together on many adventures: Alaska, Africa ...." The semicolon (;), on the other hand, separates two different thoughts in one sentence.
One would expect an adventure story to be fast-paced, to rush headlong into excitement and a massive adrenaline rush. But Isley's writing is passive, over done and uses far too many words to convey meaning. "Easing down the mountain, the grade would sometimes become so steep that the bear would turn around and slid rump first."
Perhaps I wouldn't have been so hard on this first-time writer had he not set himself up for harsh judgment: The jacket touts him as the next Jack London, and breathlessly gushes, "Not since Peter Benchley's blockbuster hit of 1974 has there been an adventure like `The Bear Hunter.' " And being that this is a self-published book, that wording came from the author, not the publisher. But Isley hasn't earned those praises, not with this book.
Bottom line: This adventurer was sorely disappointed. This book definite did not live up to its hype, and I was seriously rooting for the bear.

A gripping, page-turning read.......2007-08-12

I thought "The Bear Hunter" was very well-written and totally believable. The story really flowed and I could really picture the scenes described by the author. Alaska sounds like an incredible wilderness and the book really piqued my interest in exploring that part of the country. Similarly, I was intrigued by the various characters in the book, especially the locals, and felt a kinship to the different characters and their places in life.

There are a few parts of the book that are realistically gruesome and R-Rated. However, if you are a fan of Wild Kingdom and can endure watching predators go after and capture their next meal, you should be fine. Overall I was very happy with the book and would recommend it to anyone who likes adventure-seeking, outdoorsy, thrillers.

Felicia Brown
Author & Recording Artist
Just Breathe: Guided Meditations for Inner Peace

The Bear Hunter.......2007-07-04

What an amazing, heartfelt, deeply emotional book!! I was totally unprepared for the authors insight into human suffering, feelings of inadequacy, anger, lust, love and the deep connections that fathers have for their sons. All this in the mist of a bear hunting trip that expounds on the beauty of mother nature in the great Alaskan wilderness. This author delights and surprises you with his story turns. Sometimes funny, sometimes emotional, and sometimes keeping you sitting on the edge of the chair! One of those books you just can't put down! You'll love it and be waiting for more! So Mr. Isley, when is your next book??

Adventure and Jack London Together Again.......2007-05-04

Well written novel that captures the realities and posibilities of an Alaskan bear hunt. There is a raw element of Jack London in the authors writings which I look forward to in future work. Well done.

The Bear Hunter.......2007-05-03

This was a very good book. I really didn't want to put it down. I had to keep seeing what was going to happen next. It was very believable.

The World of the Arctic Whales: Belugas, Bowheads, and Narwhals

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The World of the Arctic Whales: Belugas, Bowheads, and Narwhals
Stefani Paine
Manufacturer: Sierra Club Books for Children
ProductGroup: Book
Binding: Hardcover

Arctic | Polar Regions | Travel | Subjects | Books

Mammals | Field Guides | Outdoors & Nature | Subjects | Books

Reference | Outdoors & Nature | Subjects | Books
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ASIN: 0871563789

Book Description

This new paperback edition, lavishly illustrated with 45 dramatic color photgraphs, portrays the natural history of belugas, bowheads, and narwhals--the only three species of whales that live year round in the icy Arctic waters.

The Beluga Café: My Strange Adventures with Art, Music, and Whales in the Far North

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Who are we to say
a wonderful story

The Beluga Café: My Strange Adventures with Art, Music, and Whales in the Far North
Jim Nollman
Manufacturer: Sierra Club Books
ProductGroup: Book
Binding: Paperback

General | Biographies & Memoirs | Subjects | Books

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The Man Who Talks to Whales: The Art of Interspecies Communication

ASIN: 1578050871

Book Description

Animal communication expert Jim Nollman has sung with orcas, plucked a Jew's harp in waters teeming with humpback whales, and shaken rattles in the company of bottlenose dolphins. Now, in this heartfelt and quirky true adventure story, Nollman and two artist friends set out for Canada's vast Mackenzie Delta, electric guitar and underwater sound equipment in tow, to make music with belugas--the elusive white whales of the Arctic.
Traveling the expanses of this beautiful northern land, the three friends unwittingly find themselves at the center of a heated controversy over the Beaufort Sea belugas: Why have the whales stopped coming into the Mackenzie Delta, possibly jeopardizing their own calves, who live the first part of their lives in these shallow, warm waters? As they attempt to unravel the mystery, they encounter various intriguing characters now laying claim to the resources of the Mackenzie Delta region--Native people (who are allowed to hunt the whales), wildlife officials, and oil company engineers--all vividly described by Nollman. Along the way, he also conveys both the wonders and the realities of being deep in the wilderness--experiencing the connectedness of all living things while scratching the bites of the world's most fearsome mosquitos.
With its rich and passionate nature writing evoking lovely and remote landscapes, The Beluga Café suggests profound metaphors for our time about animal rights and animal intelligence, the role of science in conservation, the politics of extinction, and the place of art in the epic struggle to save the natural world.

Customer Reviews:

Who are we to say.......2005-07-06

This is a very powerful book. It is not the typical wilderness adventure book. Unlike the TV nature show, amazing things don't happen every few mintutes. In fact few amazing things happen at all, yet the whole experience of small wilderness experiences add up to a book that will take you to another place.

"It seems critical to me to devote some part of each year to this nothingness, this time without time, this confrontation with animal demons real and imagined, learning once again how to surrender to some internal environment made external."

Nollman confronts the question of us versus them strongly in this book with the us being modern society and them being animals, nature and native cultures. He feels the chance has been lost to learn from "them" in a way that everyone would benefit, instead of disregarding that knowledge and destroying it.

Chapter 15 begins with a wonderful quote by Carl Safina from Song for the Blue Ocean. "Ecosystems are now like history books with many of the pages ripped out. And when people come along there is no way for them to know what was on those torn-out pages. Their values are not constructed around the abundance that once filled those holes. They accept the blank parts as though they've always been there."

Nollman pulls no punches in what he experiences on this trip including describing the constant difficult and loving give and take among the three soujourners.

This is a strong book and well worth the time to read it.

a wonderful story.......2005-03-30

This is a quite wonderful story.... a music of words.... ebbing and flowing between near-surreal and ultra-surreal with only a few intrusions of pure didactic rationalism. Buy it and read it.

Average customer rating:

a must for whale lovers
Beluga-A Farwell to Whales

Beluga: A Farewell to Whales
Pierre Beland
Manufacturer: The Lyons Press
ProductGroup: Book
Binding: Hardcover

General | Nature & Ecology | Science | Subjects | Books

Reference | Outdoors & Nature | Subjects | Books
ASIN: 1558213988

Customer Reviews:

a must for whale lovers.......2003-03-06

"Beluga: A Farewell to Whales" is definitely one book I wish the title for was not so apt. In this work Pierre Beland does an amazing job in bringing to life a remarkable animal, the beluga whale, and in particular one population of this species, those that inhabit the immense St. Lawrence estuary in Canada. He also brings to life in a sad and sometimes sickening way the plight facing these animals, cetaceans that even though legally protected in the St. Lawrence since 1979 do not seem to be showing any signs of signifcant population increase.

Beland's book in part reads like the current popular medical and forensic autopsy shows, as the author, a dedicated and highly trained biologist, seeks to determine what is killing the whales of the St. Lawrence. Ready at a moment's notice - even on holidays, the dead of winter, or in the middle of the night - to retrieve whale corpses found ashore or adrift, Beland and his colleagues probe each whale carcass for the secrets of its life and its death. With dedication and skill worthy of a criminal forensic team they uncover the truth of each whale's demise, which are often untimely as young whales or even newborns are almost as common in his lab as much more mature adults.

What Beland finds is chilling. The whales appear to be dying from pollution, a case he boldy and definitely makes in this book. Examintion of the tissues from the deceased whales reveal staggering amounts of industrial and agricultural chemcials, including polychlorobiphenyls or PCBs, DDT, dieldrin, mirex, chloradane, and more. Even though some of these chemicals haven't been used in the region for decades, their use banned, they continue to wash into the St. Lawrence, a vast river system that drains almost the whole of the Great Lakes region. Beland writes that beluga whale milk in the estuary has been found to contain as much as ten parts per million of PCBs and six parts per million of DDT; a lot considering fish containing fives times fewer PCBs are considered unfit for human consumption. Ships carrying waste with more than fifty milligrams of PCBs per kilogram (or fifty parts per million) require a special transit permit; sadly, the average male beluga roaming these waters already has that concentration of PCBs in his blubber by age nine. Without suprise, this massive concentration of pollution within the whale's bodies has lead to a host of ailments. St. Lawrence belugas boast the dubious honor of the highest incidence of cancer in any marine mammal, perhaps even a higher rate than that found in man. Beland discusses not only the cancer but also the other health problems that are affecting this population of whale's very survival.

Beland clearly is in love with the beluga, a beautiful white whale that he writes wears that "peculiar beluga smile," a feature that gives the species "the look of an enigmatic wise man or, rather, of a happy imbelice." Remarkable animals, the author spends a great deal of time discusses the biology and behavior of belugas, particularly in a very concise and fact-filled appendix. Among the most vocal of all whale species, their repertoire is more varied than that of dolphins and extremely complex. Highly social creatures, they may surpass dolphins in their potential for social communication. They also according to Beland clearly surpass dolphins in terms of their echolocation capability; in fact this ability is so sophisticated that the belugas have been held for many years by both the United States and the former Soviet Union for studies to aid in the development of sonar technology. Beland discusses this at some length, including the remarkable story of a beluga that escaped from such a facility in the Ukraine and ended up in of all places the Turkish coast, very far indeed from the species usual haunts.

The book is also valuable for its history of the interaction between the beluga whales and the people of the St. Lawrence. Hunted for centuries - from the days of the earliest European settlers and by native peoples before that - Beland discusses the use of weir fisheries to trap whales and of the odd, bizarre, and cruel war fought against the beluga between 1928 and 1939 which even involved bombing the poor whales from the air! Also discussed is the history of the beluga in captivity, covering everything from the early futile attempts involving the likes of P.T. Barnum to today's more sophisiticated modern oceanairums, which although Beland has some misgivings about them, may play a vital role in trying to save the species.

Finally the book is a good one to get for those interested in the St. Lawrence estuary itself, an impressive body of water and ecosystem in its own right. As much a sea as a river, the St. Lawrence flows downstream only half the time, it main current reversed every six hours by the tide in a never ending war between the light brown river waters flowing from the Great Lakes and the green salt water alive with seaweed and all matter of marine animals. Home to a variety of seabirds, fishes, crustaceans, molluscs, and four species of seals - many of which are more charaterstic of arctic climates and are not found as far south anywhere else in the world - even without belugas the river and its life are remarkable and need protection.

Beluga-A Farwell to Whales.......2000-04-15

A charming, heartfelt book concerning a species not often written about. The sad toll the animal's own environment takes on it's health, and the dawning inevitability of the whale population's demise is shocking. The novel made me not only want to find out more, but it woke me up and made me want desperately to help.

Average customer rating:

I'd give it 3 stars but I've given better 3 stars, so it's a big 2!
LOOK AT ME! I'M A CHEF!
delicious!!!!
Review on Beluga
I was Amazed

Beluga

Manufacturer: Goliath Books
ProductGroup: Book
Binding: Hardcover

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ASIN: 3936709114

Book Description

A ravishing mixture of exquisite photography with tastebud-dazzling recipes shot in Antwerp's oldest, kitschiest Chinese restaurant. This unique setting provides the perfect decor for a multicultural range of beautiful models. And chef Wouter Keersmaekers' Michelin-starred kitchen offers up his stylish Belgian international culinary creations to top off this exotic combination of savory faire. Bon appetit!

Customer Reviews:

I'd give it 3 stars but I've given better 3 stars, so it's a big 2!.......2007-08-03

I accept my lack of knowledge or depth of understandings about many things in life. For those who reckon this book is really significant and treat it like some sort of masterpiece or something-they must be able to see things I, in my ignorance, don't.

It's a pleasant little curiosity but, like nipples on men,....why?! Is this a recipe book or a nude study? My interest comes from it's nude study component. At that level it's OK but nothing terribly special. I haven't attempted any of the recipes so would have to assume they are also `middle of the road'. I like the incongruous, things out of context and unrelated juxtapositions so it does have some appeal, but just to that eccentricity in my nature.

Though it hardly `floats my boat', if something inside you drives a need for a recipe book with a nude study made using the ingredients, kitchen, dishes etc as props, this is probably the best on the market. Even if there's better nude studies and probably better recipe books, if that's the combination you need your choices are likely to be limited and this is probably the best available.

Cheers

Lloyd

LOOK AT ME! I'M A CHEF!.......2006-10-06

Woah, wait a second... stop looking at me. Look at the ladies. They are even tastier than the food. Mmmmmmm Mmmmm Mmmmmm....
You know, just the other day I was thumbing through my recipes and I started thinking... these recipes need pictures of devistatingly HOT girls and then life would be perfect.
Well, apparently someone else thought the same thing, and they went out and found the girls, and just the right recipes and put them together in a book. Now, I don't have to hide this book under the bed, I tell babys momma... I'm a CHEF! And the book stays safely in the kitchen, for whenever I need that late night snack. :)

delicious!!!!.......2006-08-07

Gorgeus nudes, elegant like beluga, a smooth collection rounded in a book with delicious recipes. Belongs to every good houshold.Enjoy!

Review on Beluga.......2006-07-01

This fresh and inspiring book is bringing a new dimension to cooking in general, by using a very untraditional background and astonishing models combined with extraordinary recipies this is the perfect fusion of new cuisine. This book is highly recommendable for people who like something really new !

I was Amazed.......2005-08-10

This is a great book. Fashion meets erotica in an elegant way. Incredible girls and amazing photography.

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