Insects and Gardens: In Pursuit of a Garden Ecology Review

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(More customer reviews)I found the ideas in this book to be very exciting and the author to have a great sense of humor. I have a Backyard Wildlife Habitat, but I hadn't given enough thought to the role of insects in my garden. After reading this book, I am looking at my garden with new eyes. The author has provided some very good reasons for gardening the way I tend to do anyway - pack it with as many different plants as possible, leave it a little messy, and don't use pesticides. It's very nice to have this approach validated and especially to know why it seems to work! Now I just have to get an insect identification book ...

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Threads from the Web of Life: Stories in Natural History Review

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(More customer reviews)This marvelous book makes me wish I had spent more time at ground level just watching and enjoying the littlest things in life.Mr. Daubert uses magic to bring nature to us. I will certainly use this is my classroom and it will be my "gift of the year' for every party I attend.It's simply a treat!

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Bill Nye the Science Guy's Consider the Following (REISSUE): Bill Nye the Science Guy's Consider the Following Review

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(More customer reviews)Being an ardent fan of the TV series, "Bill Nye the Science Guy", I was delighted to buy the book "Consider the Following". It covers many, but not all, the topics dealt with in the TV series. Each chapter begins by first posing a thought provoking question, which is then followed by an easily understood explanation of the topic, and lots of easy-to-do experiments. Bill Nye and Ian Saunders, the contributing author, understand their reading audience, and the language used and explanations given are appropriate to the age-level (also to the young at heart!). They give the phonetic pronunciation of new, potentially difficult, Scientific words, so that the words become fun to say, instead of being a hurdle. In its soft cover, the book has the feel of a magazine, and is packed full of useful information for anyone wishing to augment their viewing of his Educational videos, although it is not necessary to have seen the Videos to benefit from reading this book. As a teacher, I have found it useful to have all the experiments written out, using common items found in the kitchen of my home. There is a good index and glossary at the back of the book. The tone of the book is one you would expect from Bill Nye - fun, but full of good teaching. The only criticism that I have is that the illustrations are a bit disappointing. They are clear, but mediocre. I would also liked to have seen a chapter at the beginning of the book, devoted wholly to the explaination of electrons, molecules, and atoms, as although these terms are mentioned (and explained) several times in subsequent chapters, it would have been good to see them consolidated into a chapter of their own. I am glad I have the book, and I enjoyed reading it. I will find it a useful resource tool in planning my future Primary Science Lessons, in Physics, Chemistry, Life and Earth Science.

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Bill Nye is hot because he makes science so cool. Based on a segment of the wildly popular syndicated TV series Disney Presents Bill Nye the Science Guy, this entertaining nonfiction book poses more than 50 intriguing science-based questions and then takes readers through fun-filled experiments to find the answers and explanations. Full color.

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The Voice of the Infinite in the Small: Re-Visioning the Insect-Human Connection Review

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(More customer reviews)The Voice of the Infinite in the Small has opened up vast new understandings in my mind and psyche, about the beauty, dignity and yes, the sacred nature of the Insect Kingdom. Joanne Lauck holds a mirror up to the unnatural aversion, the hatred, and the venomous attacks by human culture on that which it cannot manipulate and control.She reveals how afraid we have become of a genuine give and take with our fellow species and with natural systems in general. This is the life threatening Crisis of our time.
Lauck also points out with tremendous richness of reference, from Aboriginal myth to current expressions of the New Sciences,how the insect kingdom can reflect and communicate the Natural Intelligence that pervades all- if encountered with CLEAR, RESPECTFUL INTENT. This book is amazingly detailed and thorough. It is an example ofa powerful intellect placed in the service ofwholeness and the original, natural self we are longing to recover for our human survival and ultimate success.I could feel the peace surround me and the love rush in when absorbing these ideas. May this book be circulated, appreciated, amplified throughout the world!It is powerful medicine in a dark and dangerous time.

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The Tapir's Morning Bath: Solving the Mysteries of the Tropical Rain Forest Review

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(More customer reviews)In a lake in Panama sits a six square mile island, Barro Colorado, and there are permanent research and living facilities there which have made the island one of the best-studied patches of rainforest in the world.A wonderful book, _The Tapir's Morning Bath: Mysteries of the Tropical Rain Forest and the Scientists Who Are Trying to Solve Them_ (Houghton Mifflin) memorably shows what the scientists are up to.Elizabeth Royte is a journalist, not a naturalist, but she was not just taking notes but taking part.She ingratiated herself into the society of strange eggheads who loved fieldwork by simply making herself available as an extra pair of untrained but willing hands.Because of this we get to follow her on all sorts of recondite forays to coax the jungle to give up its secrets.She follows spider monkeys in order to catch their feces, which she bags so that they can be analyzed for hormones.She climbs out branches to hang insect traps, and counts ants.She drives a Boston whaler zooming around the lake so that a biologist perilously hanging off the front can net migrating moths, and she learns to sex the moths by squeezing their thoraces.She triangulates to find out where bats fly around in the dark.She climbs trees to help monitor the behavior of creeping vines that modify the forest.At one point, a newcomer naturalist comes into Royte's room, mistakenly thinking she has found a fellow naturalist: "Oh, hi.Hi.Do you happen to have a syringe smaller than 1 cc?I'm trying to inject some solution into a butterfly's ear canal and what I have is way too big."Royte is excited about all these tasks, and her enthusiasm is on every page of her book.In addition, she has humorous descriptions of the men and women working on the island, but playing as well, with Ultimate Frisbee one of the least controversial amusements.But it is their work that makes the book.One of them explains that if he were intent on conservation, he'd be doing other work to promote it directly, and that he is attempting something like pure thought: "I'm setting up this experiment as an exercise in thinking. I don't want a utilitarian reason for everything. Why do we need art? I feel the same way about basic science: It's good for us."
Reading Royte's book is good for us, too.There is a wide array of scientific information presented here, and plenty of good humor, raconteurship, and insight into how science is done and what makes scientists do it.It is also a deeply personal document, as during the year Royte married (to someone back in the States), became pregnant, and found that her reflections on nature and on evolution were deepened by the embryo growing with her.This is a surprisingly moving book about scientific endeavor and the solving of puzzles within and puzzles without.

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Bees Review

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(More customer reviews)When I read this book I was astonished that he wrote with such empathy for the bees. He also explains why the bees are disappearing and predicted there decline over a hundred years ago. He explained the benifits of formic acid and the connection of the bees, wasps and ants to our lives and the life of plants. He considers these animals as emotional and feeling and writes for all of them as such.

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In 1923 Rudolf Steiner predicted the dire state of the honeybee today. He said that, within fifty to eighty years, we would see the consequences of mechanizing the forces that had previously operated organically in the beehive. Such practices include breeding queen bees artificially.
The fact that over sixty percent of the American honeybee population has died during the past ten years, and that this trend is continuing around the world, should make us aware of the importance of the issues discussed in these lectures. Steiner began this series of lectures on bees in response to a question from an audience of workers at the Goetheanum.
From physical depictions of the daily activities of bees to the most elevated esoteric insights, these lectures describe the unconscious wisdom of the beehive and its connection to our experience of health, culture, and the cosmos.
Bees is essential reading for anyone interested in understanding the true nature of the honeybee, as well as those who wish to heal the contemporary crisis of the beehive. Bees includes an essay by David Adams From Queen Bee to Social Sculpture: The Artistic Alchemy of Joseph Beuys.
The art and social philosophy of Joseph Beuys (1921-1986) is among the most influential of the twentieth century. He was strongly influenced by Rudolf Steiner's lectures on bees. The elemental imagery and its relationship to human society played an important role in Beuys's sculptures, drawings, installations, and performance art. Adams' essay on Beuys adds a whole new dimension to these lectures, generally considered to be directed more specifically to biodynamic methods and beekeeping.

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The Trees in My Forest Review

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(More customer reviews)If you love books about wild animals and wish that someone would write about trees, this book is for you.Heinrich takes you to his forest in Maine and explores the trees in it.Some have personalities, and they live as part of a community of trees, animals and sometimes people.

Heinrich writes well, as readers of his other books know.Again, his natural curiosity shines through, as does his storytelling and teaching abilities.

The book includes a wonderful set of drawings by Heinrich.Unfortunately, most of them aren't discussed in the text so it's hard to know what to make of them.

Much as I enjoyed the book, I wish that Heinrich had spent some time on tree identification.It would be much easier for me to observe the trees in my forest -- if I had a forest -- if I knew all their names.

Those criticisms aside, this was a thoroughly enjoyable book.I also came away with an understanding of how a true forest differs from the monoculture tree farms that are taking over parts of our country.While he walks us through his experiences trying to maintain a forest, he also provides lessons in sustainable forestry.

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