The cover alone is worth the price! Each stone in this photograph of 46 specimens of turquoise is identified at the start of the book. High quality natural stones from the most important mines of the Southwest are pictured side by side with treated and plastic versions.

The book is a collection of 10 articles written for New Mexico Magazine. Titles include "Turquoise and the Native American", "Buyer Beware: Hidden Facets of Turquoise", Young Native Jewelers Signal Change of Guard" and "The Plight of Old Pawn". High quality photographs of famous mines, artisans and jewelry, both historic and current, will whet the appetite of would-be collectors but also leave an impression of love and respect for the land and its native inhabitants.

Read this book under a strong light to catch the full depth of color!

Classic Middleton

I found this book to be a real eye-opener with respect to all the facets of the this truly magnificent species.

Extremely well written and thought provoking - especially the references to ancient saint cells.

I enjoyed reading about the lives of these wolves. I only wish I could have been there. The books also contains some great photos.

In terms of finding a wild, uninhibited introduction to the radical and mindspinning worlds of Breton and friends I can assure you that this is a challenging but rewarding read. However, take note that those who feel prose must have structure and communicate linear thought, please leave your textbook at the door. This is work that burrows deep into the subconcious and festers like a tick.

A well written realistic adventure of two children visiting a wildlife refuge made to protect the American Bald Eagle. Their naturalist guide introduces them to facts about the life cycle of the eagle, folklore, and environmental issues. Beautiful watercolor illustrations enhance the story.

Reading level: 4th grade

This book is an outstanding guide to the marine life found along the shores of the Pacific Northwest. Before I go further, I should note that it is NOT a pocket guide. But if you slip it into a daypack, you will be amply rewarded. Dr. Niesen has written a book that in very clear language helps you identfy what you are looking at, learn about its life habits, and learn about its habitat. Its emphasis on habitats, and arrangement by type of organism within each habitat, is extremely helpful. The black and white photos are usually pretty good, although sometimes dark, but the section of color plates is really good. What are really outstanding are the line drawings--David Wood, the artist, really captures the organisms in a way that brings out details yet preserves the basic nature of the organism.

The book also gives a great (meaning clear yet not too simple) introduction to marine biology for the Pacific Northwest, explaining tides, currents, the origin of the coast , and the basic biology of the major groups (taxa) of organisms. Furthermore, he provides tips on beachcombing.

All in all, a very handy reference. I will consider it for my Marine Biology class for non-majors (I'd use it with a majors course, too, if I taught one!).

The amount of information in The Bird Almanac, and the diversity, is staggering, and there is far too much to cover in a short review. The information covers both birds and bird watching, starting with a complete checklist of the world's birds. There is a chart showing the suggested fossil history of birds. The sections on anatomy include not only the traditional bird diagram, but also labeled drawings of the skeleton, digestive system, brain, eyeball, feather tracts, and other systems. There are charts on heart rates, metabolic rates, hearing range, and number of taste buds in various species, and dozens of others in the physiographic section. There are also charts on wing loading, flight speed, daily flight distance, average altitudes of migrating birds, and the ability of birds to transport prey after capture. The mortality section includes charts on the relative occurrence of a long list of diseases and lists of threatened and endangered birds.

There is a section on biggest, smallest, longest, most traveled birds, etc. A section on who's who in bird biology and conservation includes not only the expected names, but important figures less well-known. Do you want to know who was president of the AOU in 1938, or any other year? Who are the recipients of the Elliot Coues Award? It's all here, as well as which teams have won the World Series of Birding and who has won the Duck Stamp competition. There is a section on resources for bird watchers that includes a list of the world's bird watching and ornithological organizations, with addresses, lists of Internet resources, a compilation of the world's bird watching magazines, lists of rare bird alerts, tour companies, CD ROMs, and on and on.

This is one of the most impressive, and useful, one-volume collection of information about birds and bird watching available anywhere. Readers will find themselves delving into it for pleasure over and over, and it will be one of the most frequently used references on the shelf. My copy is going on the shelf next to the Birder's Handbook and the small set of references that are my first line of defense whenever anyone asks a question or I need a quick answer. This book belongs in every bird watcher's library.-Eirik A.T. Blom

This book is great for a beginner or bird enthusiast. It even has a section on how to build avairies. It is very thorough and the pictures are great. Much more detailed than some of the other beginner finch books.

Reading the sections on the extinct birds is quite distrubing since has an acute sense of frustration that they are in fact gone forever and cannot be braught back to life. This book in question, i.e., Birds in Jeopardy : The Imperiled and Extinct Birds of the United States and Canada by Paul R. Ehrlich, et al, is a good reminder that we have a huge responsibility towards other species in other surrounding enviroment and we have the obligation to keep the list of extinct animals from growing since loosing more species would indeed be quite devestating. Highly Recomended.