I liked the book since I was doing a report on the rainforest animals and I liked it because I enjoy reading about other parts of the world.Most of all I read it because its for a grade in science and language arts.

Rick Bass' New Wolves (1-58574-265-1, $14.95) charts the return of the Mexican Wolf to the American Southwest and the controversies surrounding its preservation. Political, social and natural history blend in essays which survey the wolves and provide first-person observations. A recommended pick for any who love animals and natural history.

This is a wonderfully illustrated book for those who love nature and wildlife art and are enthusiasts of Robert Bateman. He takes us through a journey around the world to his favourite nature spots and then reveals the beauty and complexity of those sites through his inspired artwork. A must for wildlife art enthusiasts.

As a newcomer to the Northwest, I sought a book that would enable me to identify the various seashells I had begun to collect on area beaches. This book is the only complete "non-scientific" field-guide type of text I have found on the subject. In other words, species are referenced by English common names, rather than simply by their more correct, but intimidating Latin names. All species are depicted in color photographs, with corresponding descriptions of habits, habitat, physical features, abundance, etc. Of particular interest are the color photos of the "shows", or siphons, of buried live bivalves.
There is some room for improvement in a future edition. I would like to see more specific information on distribution and abundance, collecting techniques, and on distinguishing species of similar appearance. However, it is the best existing guide to the topic that I yet know of, and it has greatly expanded my knowledge and enjoyment of Northwest shells.

An extremely comprehensive history of American sentiment about the wolf. This book does an excellent job of covering the various aspects of changing legislation on the wolf at both the federal and state levels. It also thoroughly cites chants, essays, poems and treatises that map the varying American views about the wolf. Do not look for detailed biological information in this book, however, this is a study on human attitudes as they have affected the wolf. A good read for anyone interested in conservation, or the plight of the wolf in specific.

The book may be useful for an extreme novice in bug collection and identification, or for helping youngsters. It superficially treats any given group of insects, with less detail than I had anticipated. Most of the insects illustrated are foreign, which was disappointing. This is a book that will sit on the shelf until I decide which nephew to give it to.

This book was the first one I ever bought and it was very helpful.It is just loaded with useful information, and helpful diagrams. However, if you like hands on experiences, its loaded with all kinds of easy to do experiments that are fun and educational. However, due to the amount of scientific words and phrases, I would not recommend this book to children under seven.

Back when I first began my fascination with insects, I picked up a copy of this book hoping it would help me with a project. I was impressed with the way it presents information order by order in true entomologist fashion. The pictures are great and the text informative. I would recommend this book to anyone who is just beginning in entomology and is looking for a great overview of insects and their lives.

Rick Bass does it again! This book, as much a character desription of grizzly expert Doug Peacock as it is a search for supposedly extinct grizzly bears in the San Juan Mountains of Colorado, is a great triumph. The story is compelling, the language is beautiful, and the search itself is important. Truly, our attitude toward grizzly bears must be a direct reflection of our attitude toward ourselves. Although sometimes Bass gets a little heavy-handed with his metaphors--we probably could figure out that Doug Peacock has many grizzly-like traits without his coming out and telling us--his plea for the protection and defense of grizzlies is compelling, believeable, and genuine. A wonderful read.

As Rick Bass and Doug Peacock go high and deep into Colorado's San Juan Mountains, on the chance there might still be grizzlies somehow surviving there, we are treated to glimpses of unspeakable beauty and wonder. It's as though Bass were able to blend his own Ninemile Wolves with Peacock's Grizzly Years. Their journey is both exhilerating and meditative. Reading this book was a pleasure.

Lost Grizzlies is a superb read! Rick Bass is fast becoming (may already be) our premier writer of the american wilderness. Bass' descriptions of the books characters and the wilds of the San Juan Mountains of Colorado are vivid. I enjoyed Bass' descriptions of Doug Peacock's brilliance and brutishness. I enjoyed reading ABOUT Peacock almost as much as I enjoyed reading Peacock's book (Grizzly Years).

Curtis has written a true gem. This book will get any novice on his or her feet within the time it takes to read the book. The book is comprehensive in breadth and is quite detailed without getting too cut-and-dried (or maybe I just find the subject matter too interesting =-P). Clearly, the author knows what to cover and to what extent -- there's something to be said for a man who, as the head of the Princeton Outdoor Action, must get a lot of contact with people new to backpacking. Even somewhat experienced backpackers will be able to gain much useful information from this book, particularly from such unusual topics as reading and predicting the weather. Additionally, Curtis' almost die-hard approach to true leave-no-trace backpacking is quite appealing to me -- it only takes a few careless or reckless people before a previously pristine location is ruined for weeks or even months. All in all, this is *the* must-get guide to backpacking. It's comprehensive, adequately detailed (1/4 to 1/3 of the book is dedicated to first aid!) and, best of all, reasonably cheap! =-)

I've been backcountry camping and backpacking for 37 years, and Rick Curtis' Backpacking Field Manual is the best text I have ever found for teaching backpacking skills to group leaders and those new to the sport.

It is very evident that Curtis approached this manual with the mindset of a teacher, deciding which skills the student needs to learn, and building the necessary knowledge incrementally so the student understands completely. I found that because Curtis assumes that the reader has no knowledge of such simple things as how a camp stove works, that I learned things that I never knew about my own campstove, that were not even covered in the manual.

Another thing that makes this book especially good for all levels of backpackers is Curtis' coverage of Leave No Trace techniques. Curtis does a very good job of explaining the LNT guidelines and giving practical examples and suggestions for making the minimum impact on the ecosystems while we are backpacking and camping. The manual offers some food for thought by pointing out how many backpackers do simple things that have very significant impact on plant and animal life (e.g. Going swimming in streams and ponds without first washing off toxic chemicals like insect repellant and sun screen).

I think this book would be especially useful for leaders who are looking for an organized way to teach backpacking skills to students.

This book covers everything that a general backpacker needs to know about hiking and camping. The few things the author doesn't cover (great detail about hiking specific specialized terrain, for example), he lists additional resources for. This book is well-written and clearly organized, and includes wilderness first aid, cooking and menu-planning, navigation, how to pack a backpack comfortably, how to select gear, and where to go for more information. There is much more included in the book, including stories from the author's own experience, and some information about ultralight backpacking. Especially valuable is the detailed information about leading a group into the wilderness, how to send out a search party, how to signal for help in all environments, and how to ensure that everyone in a group is comfortable.

I've seen many other similar books, and none provide the excellent level of detail that this book provides. I recommend it most highly.

The "need to know" what kind of bird you are seeing, no matter where you are in the USA, is the reason to purchase this useful guide. Excellent photographs (more than 2,000) and succinct descriptions make bird identification easier. Though not the best book for beginners (I highly recommend "Stokes Beginner's Guide to Birds") "Focus Guide to the Birds of North America" is a very good book for intermediate and advanced birders. Kaufman organizes his book by placing the birds in groups according to their shape rather than color. Thus, using his methodology, identifying a bird was slower than other bird guides I have used. Nonetheless, this would be a welcome gift any birders library. Recommended.

That amazing guru Kenn Kaufman has finally finished his all new birding field guide "Birds of North America" using touched up photographs and "pointers"(similar to Peterson) I think this guide will catch on and be loved by amature and beginner birders.

I think the maps are very good and the many colors used really help the maps.Kenn uses two colors for the each of the seasonal ranges. A darker color indicates the area where the species is common during that season, while a paler color indicates areas where the species while present is less common or rare.

The pictures for me at times can become a little crowded and some of the photos are a little pale, but most of them are much better than any other "photo guide". Some of my Photos and ink smeared in my book, so you may want to double check before purchasing your book. This field guide makes it very simple to look up a bird on the field. The Color Tabs are simple as well as the index in the back. I enjoyed the vocal I.D. for each bird but that is a very personal taste.

Each I.D. also adds a little something I miss in a lot of field guides, for example: "A hyperactive midget, common in winter in woods and thickets of south. Harder in summer, when often high in tall conifers. Flicks wings open and shut especially when excited." Golden-Crowned Kinglet

In closing I must say this is one of the easier field guide to birds to use and is a warm welcome to the birding community.

Martin Phillips

I started birdwatching in the mid-seventies and used as my first field guide the Golden book. It is the perfect size to go anywhere and it includes the range maps of the species on the same page as the painting of the bird. (My major complaint of the Peterson guide is the maps are at the back of the book.) The Golden was my favorite until I purchased the National Geographic 3rd edition. The NG contains more variations of each species with great detail. However, this turned out to be a double-edged sword. Too much detail to look through on an unfamiliar bird, and the book is cumbersome in the field. Checking out Ken Kaufman's new field guide from my local library and using it during the waterfowl migration this spring, convinced me it is my must have book in the field. I was never a fan of the photographic guides, but with today's technology, Kaufman and his crew hit a home run. Clear digitally- enhanced photos. It IS field guide size with range maps next to the bird's picture. The one-page, short index inside the back cover is very helpful in looking up a bird quickly. I own eight field guides including the Sibley guide, but this is the one I take in the field. If you're looking for a single book to get started in birdwatching, this is my pick. Happy birding!

Rick Bass has written a plea that is at times elegant and at other times shrill. The best writing in the book are the stories of long-time valley residents (both human and animal) trying to exist in a habitat that is shrinking in the hands of indifferent government and corporate stewards. Every 30-40 pages there is the ripe whiff of the holier-than-thou that usually occurs when a gifted writer transplants himself to the West and somehow comes to believe he is the only one who can truly interpret its significance. But this is possibly a quibble based on the prejudices in my head as a longtime Wyoming rancher. In any case, it's good to know that each member of the Congressional delegation received a copy of this book, although it's doubtful that Conrad Burns or Craig Thomas ever cracked the thing.

I bought this book after visiting the Yaak. and loved the wonderful prose and the enormous feeling of the wilderness.

I loved the book, and recommend it highly -- it really focuses on the valuable resources we have but often don't appreciate.

A very well written glimpse of life in a wild valley in northwest Montana. Book is an account of some of author's experiences in the Yaak, but much of book focuses on author's lifelong struggle to fight against the destruction of his home. As other reviewers have noted, this book serves as a powerful motivator for activism in the service of our national forests and against the wasteful, short-sighted strategies of Forest Service timber management. Much of his points can be found in Sierra Club pamphlets (e.g., through the forest service, U.S. taxpayers lose millions of dollars annually to build roads to allow timber companies to clearcut forests, the profits go to stockholders and executives and local economies suffer, etc., etc.) but his prose makes it all seem fresh. I got as mad as the author. However, this book is far from an "eco-rant", it's a moving argument for the importance of a place and community and a call to end the disastrous economic practices of the timber industry. Bass argues for sensible logging that sustains communities.