Book Description

Customer Reviews (4)

A Good, Bad, and Ugly Field Guide
The Good:
This is the most comprehensive guide to rainforest mammals that I have found. The text covers just about everything you could ask for, even giving dentation patterns for the various families in case you stumble onto a skull in your wanderings.
The Bad:
Unfortunately, probably to save money, this guide uses the technique of placing all the pictures together, separated from the text. I much prefer the more expensive technique of putting the text on a page facing the pictures. Here, though, the guide falls down by failing to put cross-references on the page facing the pictures, necessitating a flip back to the index in most cases to locate the text.
The Ugly:
Whoever was responsible for quality control for this book should find another job. I was ready to return the book as defective when I noticed an "errata sheet" that explained that the page with the text corresponding to plate 1 was actually located following page 193. This is much too serious an error to occur in a published guide.
The bottom Line:
The best thing to say about this field guide is that it is disappointing. If you are planning a trip to the rainforest in the near future, and you are interested in mammals, then buy the guide despite its shortcomings. Otherwise, wait for a revision.

You can't go without it.
This book, referred to by many other authors, is THE guide for this group of Mammals. I found it indispensible for use in the rainforest, even if most mammals are very hard to see. The perfect illustrations, combined with the thorough descriptions and clear distribution maps, make it easy to determine what kind of animal you've seen. Very helpful to understand the local guides are the translations of the names in many tongues.

It's a very practical and well illustrated fieldguide
It's the most usefull book I own related with the mammalfauna proyects ( inventories, education, management ) we are doing in Central and Western Colombia. Every aspect of the text and illustrations has proven to be veryusefull and practical. The taxonomical descriptions are generaly goodenough to clasify the bigger species in the field, and the habit andhabitat descriptions coincide mostly with our own experiences. Thedistributionmaps included in the text are also very usefull. Theillustrations are sometime a little small, but have proven to be easilyrecognized by the local habitants, what is extremely usefull during quickinventaries. The relation price-quality is outstanding

wonderful
Adorei este livro, à muito tempo não vejo um livro sobre mamíferosneotropicais com este. A primeira vez que o li foi na universidade onde euestudo. Sou aluno de veterinária e pretendo trabalhar com animaissilvestres, por isso gostaria de ter este livro. Gostaria de saber maissobre trabalhos ou livros publicados por estes autores. Um abraço, AdrianoCarneiro (Pernambuco- Brasil). ... Read more

Book Description
Question Time: Rain Forest explores wet and leafy habitats and asks a variety of questions such as How do bees help orchids? Why do chameleons change color?and Why are some frogs poisonous?. ... Read more

Book Description

Customer Reviews (1)

a good starting point
This book introduces the reader to the research and state-of-the-art in evolution and conservation of rainforest fauna. Very good texts, some of them very biased towards certain trends. Worth taking a look. ... Read more

Book Description
Each 24-page book includes a special flip-down paper pad (designed to be used while the book is open) that is preprinted with 11 unfinished drawings for the child to complete. And when each drawing is finished, a special "reward" sticker completes the scene and provides a sense of accomplishment. ... Read more

Book Description
The work of Rosita Arvigo and Michael Balick to bring the knowledge of the Mayan healers to the Western reader deserves due credit.This revised and enlarged second edition includes much additional information about the major herbs in the Mayan pharmacopoeia.Their work proves that the rainforest has more value to mankind alive than cut down! ... Read more

Customer Reviews (2)

A useful field book.
Not the best field-guide ever, but a very competent, useful, well-compiled book overall.Drawings are useful, though could use more detail or photos in some cases.Descriptions are useful in identification.

The shining point of this book is in the details after the plant information.Uses, both local and western are given with information that would point you in the direction of further inquiries.Common and binomial names are given, making it even more useful for cross-referencing these plants.

An excellent ethnobotanic book.

user friendly accurate guide
Being a student of rainforest medicinal plants myself, I found this book one of the best, published or unpublished, to-date. The drawings are excellent, making field identification easy. The presentation of both thecommon and scientific names of plants is invaluable. I found it interestingthat the Carribean people of Belize and the Carribean people of Costa Rica(where I am) use the same names and uses for many of the medicinal plants.This book is a wealth ofinformation for such a small price, not tomention, motivation for further inquiry. Thank You! ... Read more

Book Description

A doctor's astounding story of promising new treatments from the rainforests of Brazil for diseases that compromise the immune system.

During a working visit to Brazil, Dr. Thomas David was given a packet of leaves and bark by a native patient as thanks for his work, and a shaman gave him a recipe for a tea used by the rainforest people to treat a variety of ailments. Dr. David began using these plants in his clinical research in Europe and soon discovered that they were producing amazing results among patients suffering from cancer, AIDS, and other diseases that compromise the immune system.

Preliminary studies performed at Stanford and Harvard have substantiated his findings, bringing Dr. David international attention for his groundbreaking work.

Dr. David's story is significant not only for its account of research that may herald a major breakthrough in curing diseases that have been the scourge of the modern world, but also for its emphasis on the vast and largely unrecognized pharmacopoeia of the rainforest that is in imminent danger of being lost forever. ... Read more

Book Description

Book Description
A Teacher's Guide to A Walk in the Rainforest. Based on Pratt-Serafini's picture book favorite for rain forest study, this guide includes lessons about habitat, interdependency of species, the rain forest water cycle, native peoples, oxygen generation, and much more. ... Read more

Customer Reviews (1)

very thorough resource
All of the Dawn teacher guides by the Malnors are superior resources. They are very well-organized and easy to follow. There are enough activities suggested to be very selective and still have more than enough material.Plus, what I love about these guides, is that all modes of learning areaddressed:for example, the body and the feelings as well as theintellect.My other favorites are the rainforests and ocean guides. ... Read more

Book Description
If you want to drive from North America to South America, you'll have a hard time when you reach Panama's southernmost province, Darien. The Pan-American Highway ends just sixty miles short of Colombia. It's the only missing link in what would otherwise be uninterrupted highway from Alaska to Tierra del Fuego.

When Balboa marched through Darien's jungles to cross the narrow isthmus in 1513, he was the first European to sight the Pacific from its eastern shores. For the next four centuries, pirates, gold miners, rebels, and political schemers all gravitated to Darien. Scotland failed miserably in its attempt to establish a colony. An American Navy expedition wandered lost in its jungle for two months with seven men dying, and countries fought to control the region's traffic and trade.Yet today, Darien is best known as a roadless backwater, home to native communities, Colombian guerrillas, and the descendants of black slaves and Spanish colonists.

For twenty years, Martin Mitchinson has travelled in Central and South America. Fascinated by tales of Darien, he arrived aboard his 36-foot sailboat Ishmael, and spent the next 18 months navigating physical challenges, native politics and the constant risk of kidnapping. Mitchinson found temporary shelter in native communities while he followed footpaths through the rainforest, and paddled a dugout canoe along Darien's rivers. With two Kuna guides, he set off to follow Balboa's historic route across the continental divide to the Pacific.

Drawing on firsthand accounts and personal interviews to illuminate the history of the region, and recounting his travels with extraordinary honesty and grace, Mitchinson has produced the first of what we hope will be many fine travel narratives. ... Read more

Book Description
Sunken cities in the jungle and towering temple pyramids reflect only a small portion of our knowledge about Mayan culture.These fascinating people achieved the landmarks of an advanced civilization in the classical period (AD 300-600), earning them a place among the greatest civilizations in the world.The contributions included in this magnificent volume range from the origins of the Mayan culture all the way to modernity, giving insight into everyday life and religion as well as the artistic accomplishments and intellectual abilities of this important culture. ... Read more

Book Description
A rich, interdisciplinary study of Central African land ethics incorporating conversations with local rainforest inhabitants that yield vibrant new insights into the dilemmas of sustaining Africa's rainforests and its people. In Conversations in the Rainforest, Richard B. Peterson combines interdisciplinary research and intimate, first-hand conversations with members of various indigenous communities in the Democratic Republic of Congo. He reveals the startling depth and clarity of local peoples' perspectives on nature, on Western-backed conservation projects, and on the challenges of preserving Africa's rainforests. In doing so, Peterson points toward an environmental ethic applicable to rainforests and to the world at large. Can any lessons for long-term environmental sustainability come from Africa, a continent long perceived more as a cauldron of environmental disasters than a cradle of environmental solutions? In Conversations in the Rainforest, Richard B. Peterson answers an emphatic yes. Peterson deftly interweaves the ideas of African and Africanist historians, theologians, anthropologists, philosophers, writers, and ecologists with a series of remarkable conversations he shared with inhabitants of the rainforests of the Democratic Republic of Congo. Yet, rather than remain in the background of his analysis, these conversations-on subjects ranging from traditional interpretations of nature to contemporary indigenous perspectives on modern environmental challenges-constitute the very core of this book. Through this enlightening and frequently mesmerizing narrative approach, Peterson brings the foundations of Central African land ethics into vivid relief. With uncommon empathy and insight, he shows how ecological and social sustainability projects in the region can be based more firmly on these foundations. This book holds invaluable lessons for environmental practitioners, scholars, and anyone interested in long-term environmental sustainability on a global level. ... Read more

Customer Reviews (1)

We are part of nature not set apart from it.
Professor Peterson believes that:
1)The commercialized use, more than indigenous peoples' use of the forest lies at the root of Africa's environmental problems.
2)Central African traditional ecological knowledge suggests that we would do better to try to control the market forces that lead to overexploitation of the environment rather than unjustly restrict the subsistence practices of people who have lived in these forests much longer than ourselves.
3)The environmental wisdom of Central African forest peoples stems from the knowledge and belief that nature and humans are never separate entities but parts of one system.
4)We are part of nature not set apart from it.
5)Nature and culture, humans and environment, social ethics and environmental ethics, ecology and justice go hand in hand.
6)It is not humans or nature that are central; rather it is life that is primary, and that includes the entire community of life, for all of life is important, all of life is bonded, all of life is sacred. ... Read more

Book Description

Customer Reviews (6)

Solid
Some dated material, but hindsight gives special interest to some of these travels. Great writing is always a pleasure.

truth is stranger than fiction
Batfishing in the Rainforest is a collection of Randy Wayne White's essays - some of them poignant ("the Legend", White's tale of his dog is fabulous), many of them gut-bustingly funny (his experiences at a health spa and advice on "How to be a Competent Southern Waterperson are priceless), a few had me shaking my head (how can a person be suprised they got mugged in Lima? and how come I never meet fun travel companions in third world countries?) All of them are a pleasure to read.

White never takes himself (or others) too seriously, and typically has a light and humorous take on things. The stories are brief - many originally written for Outdoor Magazine. I found the book thoroughly enjoyable and I strongly recommend it.

For those of you who are familiar with White's "Doc Ford" novels, you can see where many of his characters, plots and the "research" for his tales come from. For those readers who have not yet discovered this marvelous writer, I encourage you to begin here and then sample his hand at fiction.

Funny travel writing
This is usually not my sort of book, but after reading the first story, I was hooked. This story, "The Legend," about the author's hilarious Chesapeake Bay retriever, is worth the price of the book by itself, especially if you're a dog lover or animal lover, because it's the best story about a dog, or any animal, that I've ever read.

But there is plenty more where that came from in this entertaining collection of essays. Although not what I was looking for initially, this book was a delightful surprise, and after reading this, Mr. White has another fan. I now intend to buy and read all of his other books, and I'm recommending him to my other friends as well.

Real simple, and real good, White's voice is authentic.
Randy Wayne White has more hits than misses in this book of essays. He hasan authentic American take on the world, with a Floridian's amusement andacceptance of foul weather, tough dogs, tougher kids, and bugs of allkinds. This book is a keeper, and we are lucky it has been reprinted.Hismysteries are real good, too, but somehow I wish that he would take hisgift more seriously. By that, I think he could be a major American literaryforce, if he didn't have to pay for braces, college tuition, and fishinggear.However, being sun dried, and wind weathered, he should last longenough to get back into that true and raw, and heart felt need to be avoice from the salt flats that reaches people in a Pulitzer kind of way.

An Absolutely Wonderful Travel Book
Batfishing in the Rainforest is one of the funniest, most insightful andheart touching collections of essays I've ever read.After reading Mr.White's newest novel (The Mangrove Coast) I have now gone on a search forevery book he's written, and Batfishing in the Rainforest is unlikeanything he -- or anyone else -- has done.Mr. White wrote most of theseessays while he was a fishing guide, he says, at a lovely old marina onSanibel Island, the famous vacation spot in Florida.From that littlemarina, he ranged far afield, traveling around the world to write quirkystories for Outside Magazine.The first story in the collection, a taleabout his hilarious dog, Gator, is absolutely unforgetable and well worththe price of admission.The stories which follow, although occasionallyuneven, are always uniquely written, often funny and always intelligent. Mr. White is one of those writer we all love to "discover'.DAH ... Read more

Book Description
Rainforests cover only about 6 per cent of the Earth's surface, yet they are home to over half of all the species of plants and animals in the world. Learn About Rainforests explores the tallest treetops, reveals the noises of the canopy, and unveils the secrets of the dark and dripping forest floor. ... Read more

Book Description

Dynamically illustrated with colorful artwork to hold the young reader's attention and with clearly explained texts, the books in the Animal Homes series will introduce children to the major environments of the world.

In this dynamically illustrated book, readers will discover what life is like in each layer of the rainforest. Readers will enjoy learning about dangerous crocodiles and poison arrow frogs. They will be able to watch rainforest babies, from mammals to reptiles to birds, as they grow up. Readers will also be informed about the dangers that tropical rainforests face today.

Customer Reviews (1)

a classic work of history
A few years ago I read John Womack Jr.?s ?Zapata and the Mexican Revolution? which struck me as being the ultimate book on the subject.While Vansina?s PATHS IN THE RAINFORESTS bears little similarity to the former book, it does resemble it in one way:it must change the way people look at its subject, it is an earth-shaking work in tropical African history.As an interested, but non-specialist reader, I found PATHS IN THE RAINFORESTS extremely hard going, though the writing is clear.The volume of unfamiliar names of peoples, rivers, and other geographical features is overwhelming, despite the many excellent maps provided.Vansina backs up his arguments about political evolution in rainforest Africa with an enormous array of facts, Bantu linguistic transformations, and difficult kinship terminologies.The system of using semantic innovations and transformations over centuries to ?excavate? knowledge about economic and political changes in tropical African societies is extremely impressive, but must have been incredibly hard to do.Except for serious students of history or African history, the volume will not appeal to many.However, if you are a reader of challenging books, rather than those which take the ?easy path?, then you will find this particular path through the rainforests both rewarding and eye-opening.

After first contact with African cultures in the equatorial forest zone of central Africa, Westerners tended to regard them as 1) being cut from a single cloth, 2) unchanging. Albert Schweitzer?s view of Africans as sick, poor, primitive, and never-changing permeates Western thinking beyond academia. ?Tradition? meant that they had no history, but had lived the same way for thousands of years.As no written records existed, scholars tended to write central Africans off, saying that they were people ?without history?.Vansina shows, in a most scholarly way---mustering thousands of facts, using every possible technique except DNA research (which didn?t exist when he wrote)---that these presumptions are all products of ignorance and prejudice.New crops, new technologies, political and social innovations abounded.The first two chapters explore the rainforest environment and the original Bantu tradition, several millennia old.The following three chapters show how the tradition changed in separate regions of the equatorial forest region.The changes encompass an amazing variety of political innovation.Chapter Seven deals with the arrival of the Europeans on the Atlantic coast and the challenge that their slave trading and new material goods posed to the African societies of the time.The next chapter, most grim, describes the destruction of the African societies during the colonial period---wars conducted by colonial armies exterminated over half the population, while missionaries who scorned everything African tried to erase the culture of the survivors.The region?s suffering today stems from this history.The last section of the book discusses trends and patterns in history and tradition in general.While historians have often written as if the process of political development in the world, from tribe to empire, is known and set, Vansina questions that assumption.If major kingdoms appeared in the Kongo area, but did not elsewhere, should we regard their absence as a case of abnormal or arrested development ?Or should we presume that many roads are possible ?This and many other questions abound in this seminal book.I cannot imagine the amount of work and accumulated scholarship necessary to complete it.It is surely a masterpiece.

... Read more

Book Description
Chocolate milk, chocolate fudge, chocolate frosting on chocolate cake.Children love chocolate, and this book, filled with fun facts, introduces them to theflavor's exotic story.It begins in the rainforests of South America with the bitter seeds of a strange tree.The Aztecs served their human sacrifices chocolate mixed with blood. Conquistadorssent chocolate home to Spain where, sweetened with sugar, it became the rageamong aristocrats. But not until 1847 was the first solid chocolate candy made, andonly in the past century has the sacred treasure of ancient kings become the populartreat of millions.

Profusely illustrated and meticulously researched, Chocolate accompanies amajor exhibition that travels from Chicago's Field Museum to 10 other sites. ... Read more

Customer Reviews (4)

Pure Mayan Gold
Chocolate: Riches from the Rainforest is one of the most attractive books I've come across in some while.This is far more than a picture book though.Chock full of chocolate history, kids of nearly any age will find this book enticing.

Very Educational and Enjoyable
I'd like to first point out that I gave this book 5 stars.Second...Amazon is selling this book at only $3.39 at this writing.This is a REALLY good deal and I'm going to buy the book.Now for my review:

I saw this book on display in the children's section of my local library.It has a very appealing cover to it and the word "Chocolate" written in it's title so...I HAD to check it out.

When I brought it home I thought it would be way to advanced for my 5 year old to be interested in but I wanted to read it myself. It is written for children maybe twice her age but she was VERY interested in the history of her favorite food and remained attentive to the whole book.

There were words and situations I had to give her a background on--such as what an African slave was/is.Unfortuneatly, slaves are still sometimes used in the production of chocolate to this day according to the author Robert Burleigh.

We loved the looks of this book...the lay-out, the yummy chocolate colors, photos, and illustrations are very eye appealing.

We now know a lot about the rainforest cacao (ca-COW) trees, the pods,the seeds and the complicated process that it goes through to become the chocolate we so love.Good thing we live in today's world.We also learned of chocolate's ancient infancy which at times was violent. Cacao was once only for royality and the very rich--not for 5 year old chocolate freaks like the one that lives in my home.We learned a lot and we loved this book!

A concise, yet thorough history of a wonderful food.
Most of us carry out an intense love affair with chocolate. To some, it is a fundamental part of our love affair with another human and to a few, it ignites the passion in their life. This book describes the history of chocolate, and like some foods, one wonders how it was first discovered. Until I read this book, I did not realize how chocolate is made. It is derived from the seeds inside the fruit of the tree and requires a great deal of processing before it reaches the form that we love. This was an interesting book to read, well illustrate it is a concise, yet thorough introduction to the history of one of my favorite foods.

Read this one with a Hershey bar!
Chocolate: Riches from the Rainforest tells the story of chocolate.The book begins by discussing where chocolate comes from and who discovered it.It goes on to describe how the ancient Maya and Aztecs drank chocolate regularly and offered it to their gods, and how the Spanish added sugar to chocolate to give it the sweet taste.The book also describes how chocolate making has changed over time and how it is made today.In addition, the book includes a glossary of terms used in the book and an author's note about some of the things he learned while writing the book.

I would recommend this book for ages 10 and 11.Children these ages will enjoy learning about the history of chocolate.I do not feel that this book would be appropriate for younger children due to the discussions of human sacrifices and slavery.I would recommend using this book during the summer as part of a fun segment on chocolate.Having chocolate available for the kids to eat would be ideal because it is difficult to get through this book without craving it. The book is filled with wonderful photographs and illustrations.These pictures add to the story by showing children the plant that chocolate comes from and some of the items that the Maya and Aztecs used to make and consume chocolate.There are also step-by-step photographs detailing how chocolate is made today. ... Read more

Book Description

Book Description
Far to the north along the Pacific coast of Canada lies an area where abundant rainfall nourishes everything from bright green grasses and colorful wildflowers to ancient, towering cedar, spruce, and sitka trees.This rainforest is the perfect habitat for salmon and a wide variety of birds, insects, and animals, most notably a unique type of black bear called the spirit bear, which is sometimes clothed in creamy white fur and has become legendary among the First Nation people who live in the region. Noted naturalist Dorothy Hinshaw Patent describes the elusive spirit bear and its home, which is in danger of being destroyed by loggers and settlers as they clear-cut the ancient forests for lumber.Every part of the delicate ecosystem is threatened.But steps are now being taken to set aside a protected spirit bear sanctuarya living museum where people could come and see the spirit bear's realm.The beautiful, detailed watercolors by Deborah Milton will transport readers to this magnificent yet vanishing region. ... Read more

Customer Reviews (1)

Interesting and beautiful book
This beautifully illustrated book is interesting and informative.I had purchased it for my 6 year old, who enjoyed looking at it, but prefers a fictional story to a non-fictional account. I believe it will be considered a treasure in a few years.I would recommend this book if you are interested in rainforests, the far north, or spirit bear, or if you just want a lovely book. ... Read more