This field guide is well organized with beautiful photos. Each butterfly listed has a key for recognition, variations, life history as well as habitat range and the time of year you are likely to see this butterfly on the wing. A particularly nice feature is is the list of names for each as butterflies often have akas (also known as.)Dr. Pyles broad knowledge of nature allows him to include additional information about the history of butterfly study. This book will supplant other field guides whose scope intends to include the entire continent. The beautiful durable cover will look good on your desk and will function well in your field pack.
The tremendous amount of data collected in these pages reflect a dedication to the study of butterflies that is inspiring to the amateur and professional naturalist.

The Butterflies of Papua New Guinea - Their Systematics and Biology - Dr Michael Parsons (736 pages, 26 B/W plates, 136 colour photos)

This is a marvellous book and is long overdue. The butterflies of PNG include some of the largest and most magical butterflies in the world and Dr Parsons has researched his subject thoroughly for more than 15 years, and was a senior entomologist in the Wildlife Division in Papua New Guinea from 1979 - 1984.

The book is divided into two parts plus an extensive bibliography, a glossary, index, line drawings, (selected) genitalia, 11 appendices, 57 text figures, 8 tables and 136 colour photographs, including 32 of early stages (the photograph of a fully grown Queen Alexandra's Birdwing caterpillar on a man's hand is awesome).

Part 1 has 11 very comprehensive chapters: Scope & Format; New Guinea Past & Present; World Faunal Regions & Butterfly Diversity; Origins & Composition of the New Guinea Butterfly Fauna; A History of Butterfly Collecting in New Guinea; Butterfly Conservation & Commerce in PNG; Aspects of Butterfly Ecology in PNG; Mimicry in New Guinea Butterflies; Collection & Study; Adult Structure; Classification & Nomenclature.

Part 2 lists and describes over 820 species by family and there is a checklist of 959 species so far discovered on the island of New Guinea and its satalite archipelagos. Not only are descriptions of all stages given, but also a history of each species from when it was first described to the present. Known ranges, foodplants of larvae and habits are also given. Some species, notably the birdwings, have distribution maps. This section brings the serious entomologist bang up to date with the subject and also provides the enthusiastic novice with a book that will lead him or her through the wonderful PNG butterflies without losing the reader in a sea of technical jargon.

The colour plates illustrate nearly 3000 specimens, depicting all the major forms and morphs of PNG's butterflies, many natural size. The 32 plates of early stages show nearly 400 photographs of eggs, larvae and pupae, as well as some adults photographed in the field and clearly demostrate the diversity of forms these take.

I can thoroughly recommend this book, and although the price is high, it is the result of many years study by an acknowledged expert and will be the standard text on PNG butterflies for years to come.

Very entertaining for dinosaur fanatic kids. Written as if you were there, witnessing a day in the life of 10 different dinosaur species. Complete with battles, danger, eruptions, tidal waves, etc., with vivid colorful illustrations.

Discovering Dinosaurs In The Old West: The Field Journals Of Arthur Lakes, deftly edited by Michael F. Kohl (Amateur paleontologist, Head of Special Collections at the Clemson university Library, and the discovered of Lake's missing journals) and John S. McIntosh (Emeritus Professor of Physics, Wesleyan University and a paleontologist specializing in sauropods), is a unique presentation of the original journal entries from 1877 to 1880 by geologist Arthur Lakes and presented with numerous annotations, clarifications, maps, black-and-white photographs and a great deal more. Enhanced with an informative foreword by John Ostrom (Professor Emeritus of Geology and Geophyiscs, Yale University) Discovering Dinosaurs In The Old West is a superbly presented and invaluable addition to personal, professional, and academic paleontology supplemental reading lists and reference collections.

The authors approach the issue of environmental crisis from the Krishna consciousness point of view. The authors are part of ISKCON movement. The book should interest any one concerned about environmental crisis even if he is not interested in ISKCON movement. The part one introduces in a concise manner the nature of crisis in all contexts : water pollution, soil loss, acid rain etc. The second part discusses the case of meat eating. It looks at the issue primarily from ecological point of view. Third part is the key argument of the book. It identifies that all attempts to solve the crisis based on materialistic perspective, are bound to fail and it advocates the spiritual approach. It identifies the problem of sense-gratification as the root cause. Seeking nonmaterial happiness is the only solution. Fourth chapter identifies that modern science led to the crisis. To some extent, Capra and others have also argued like this. But this chapter is weak in detail. The later chapters delve into how ISKCON can offer the solution to the crisis. Discussions on Bhagavat-Gita is followed by discussion on karma and meat eating. Last chapter give details about various rural communities of ISKCON. There are short biographies of various people working in this direction. The book is well written. The layout is good. The number of pages is just 95. The book has index and bibliography. Ideal book for a gift.

This is an awesome books on dolphins!Tells about feeding,family life,humans and dolphins,coservation and lots more. I don't know how so much info could be in 1 small book!The pictures are GREAT!I've looked at them a million times.No complaints here, I highly recommend this book!!

Being an amateur and looking for good books on dragonflies is hard. This book gives plenty of facts and pictures. A great alternative if you are not ready to spend $... on some of the the more well known books.

This is a very useful book because it has well-taken pictures that show the habitat where the fungi was found. Also, the beginning of the book has pictures of spores as they look under a microscope and a color chart for the colors described in the text. The description of each fungi also lists any chemical reagent useful for identification and the expected result. A wonderful identification guide. He should write a similar book for fungi of the United States.

[Ferns and Fern Allies of the Trans-Pecos and Adjacent Areas by Sharon C. Yarborough and A. Michael Powell], Native Plant Society of Texas News, 20 (Nov.-Dec. 2002): 3.

To look at a fern is to travel back in time. Ferns date from over 300 million years ago, long before the appearance of the first flowering plant. Although I knew nothing of this remarkable ancestry when at a young age I saw my first ferns in the forests of Breton Woods, their delicate beauty nonetheless captivated my imagination. My childhood fascination with ferns was hardly unique, however. People have been attracted to ferns for some time. During the 19th Century, for instance, nothing less than a fern craze sprouted up in England, where suddenly once wild ferns were abundantly cultivated in gardens, purchased as indoor potted plants, and replicated in ornamental designs on numerous household items.*

When I arrived in Austin in 1969, whatever fern-desire I may have harbored soon withered in the heat. Although my first Austin home was located on a creek site, all the land surrounding it was caliche-hardly ideal for ferns or much else. Ferns, I had always observed, thrive in a shady, moist habitat. It was not until many years later when an acquaintance of my daughter gifted us with ebony spleenwort (Asplenium platyneuron) that my fondness for ferns revived. While this Texas native plant may not be as aesthetically appealing as the more delicately textured wood fern (Thelypteris kunthii), it is both hardy and drought tolerant. I have become very attached to ebony spleenwort. Planted along the north side of my home's foundation, it has thrived, even remaining green throughout every winter. After a protracted stretch of heat and drought, it signals the need for some water by yellowing slightly.

That there is yet more hope for Texas fern lovers who live in such dry places is evident in Sharon C. Yarborough and A. Michael Powell's new book. It identifies many native pteridophytes adapted to the arid conditions of the Trans-Pecos region-that Maine-sized western part of our state situated between the Rio Grande and the Pecos rivers where the average annual rainfall is a mere 12 inches. One of the intentions behind this book, in fact, is to promote the ferns of this locale as suitable candidates for xeriscaped home gardens.

The Trans-Pecos ferns conserve water by producing hair-shaded fronds somewhat smaller in size than average. Some of these plants will wither after a long period of dryness, and yet these very same seemingly dead flora will immediately green up again whenever water becomes available. It is likely, moreover, that these plants reproduce more by asexual means-vegetative buds forming on a tiny heart-shaped prothallus that normally produces eggs and sperm on its underside when moisture is present. Fern reproduction is a curious business, in any event, and the authors of Fern and Fern Allies do very well explaining the intricate process so that it can be easily understood by lay readers.

Including spikemosses, horsetails and scouring rushes, this attractive field guide provides detailed keys designed to facilitate plant identification in the wild. Besides useful information concerning the floral morphology and habitat conditions of Trans-Pecos pteridophytes, Yarborough and Powell provide 37 line drawings. In the matter of fern identification such detailed drawings are more helpful than photographs.

A comparison with David L. Jones's Encyclopedia of Ferns and Boughton Cobb's A Field Guide to the Ferns, in the Peterson series, provides another measure of the value of Ferns and Fern Allies. Of the 15 examples in the new book of members of Cheilanthes, the largest genus of the maidenhair fern family, only 3 appear in Cox's book and only 2 in Jones's volume. Similarly, of the 11 members of Selaginellaceae (the spikemoss family) described in Fern and Fern Allies, 2 are included in Jones's work and none in Cobb's guide. As these statistics and results of a comparative review of the remaining plants both suggest, Fern and Fern Allies is as valuable as it is handy.

What an invitation to adventure Yarborough and Powell's book provides. Like several columbines native to the same region, many of the Trans-Pecos ferns are hidden in unusual places. To be seen they must be searched out. And, as the authors note, "there are probably more rare treasures to be found in certain microhabitats" of that area of Texas. Let's hope so, and let's hope, too, that native plant nurseries will make some of these arid-adapted ferns available for our home garden landscapes.

*See David E. Allen, The Victorian Fern Craze: A History of Pteridomania (London: Hutchinson, 1969).

William J. Scheick, a former NPSOT vice-president, is also a member of the Central Texas Horticulture Council and a frequent contributor to Texas Gardener.

"Field Epidemiology" by Gregg (editor) and colleagues from the U.S. federal government's Centers for Disease Control and Prevention is a vital resource for epidemiologists, health advocates, and public health researchers and specialists. The book is remarkable both for its content and the high quality of editorship, too rare a combination in biomedical texts.

The book's content addresses field epidemilogy, which is somewhat awkwardly defined as "..the application of epidemiology under the following set of general conditions: *The problem is unexpected. *An immediate response may be demanded. *Public health epidemiologists must travel to and work in the field to solve the problem. *The extent of the investigation is likely to be limited because of the imperative for timely intervention." Despite an awkward definition (i.e., defining field epidemiology by its antecedents), field epidemiology is the reality of responsive, responsible, comtemporary public health practice: A cluster of disease occurs of unknown origin, the public becomes concerned, public health agencies are expected to respond with compassion and utilitarian epidemiological methods. In this book's 18 chapters are described the hows, whys, and whats necessary to conduct field epidemiology. Each chapter is written by an expert in his or her area of epidemiology. A sample of chapter titles includes: Conducting a Field Investigation, Analyzing and Interpreting Data, Developing Interventions, Communicating Epidemiologic Findings, Dealing with the Public and Media, and Legal Considerations in a Field Investigation.

This book should also be savored for its clarity of expression, taut editorship, and integration of chapters. "Field Epidemiology" is an outstanding resource for any health professional's bookshelf.