Harbour Publishing titles

The following titles were published by Harbour Publishing of Madeira Park, British Columbia, Canada:

                                                                                                                                                            
A) De Maddalena, Alessandro et al.. Sharks of the Pacific Northwest: including Oregon, Washington, British Columbia and Alaska. 2007. Paperback: 144 pages. Price: $21.95 U.S.
SUMMARY: Those who think of sharks as something only found in tropical waters will be surprised to learn that there are 18 species of sharks in the cool waters of the Pacific Northwest, from the 27-inch brown catshark to the 39-foot basking shark.
    Sharks of the Pacific Northwest provides for the identification of these species, with spectacular photographs and accurate paintings and drawings, plus summaries of the sharks’ classification, morphology, distribution, habitat, diet, reproduction and behaviour. It also includes a concise general account of shark evolution, anatomy and physiology, as well as discussion of attacks on humans and details of shark fisheries. It is primarily aimed at a broad, non-technical readership, but its up-to-date and detailed contents make it a useful tool for professional biologists and zoologists.

                                                                              
B) Druehl, Louis. Pacific Seaweeds: A Guide to Common Seaweeds of the West Coast. 2001. Paperback: 190 pages. Price: $24.95 U.S.
SUMMARY: What is rich with vitamins, minerals, carbohydrates and proteins, is used to develop everything from cosmetics to pesticides and can be found on any beach in the Pacific Northwest? The answer, many will be astonished to discover, is seaweed.
     An important food source in Asia for centuries, seaweed is increasingly used in the West for industrial and scientific chemicals, plant fertilizers and livestock feed supplements.
     Scientists are also just beginning to explore the medicinal value of seaweeds; the powerful nutrients in these amazing plants have been used to treat hypertension (high blood pressure), some cancers and strokes.
     With line drawings and vivid colour photographs, this easy-to-use book thoroughly documents every aspect of seaweed life, from species identification and seaweed biology to the essential - and often surprising - roles seaweed plays in the marine ecosystem and our everyday lives.
     Clear and informative, and packed with comprehensive scientific information, interesting facts, further readings and even an assortment of tasty seaweed recipes, this unique and highly readable guidebook will appeal to marine biologists, amateur beachcombers and everyone in between.

                                                                                                                                                            
C) Harbo, Rick M.. Shells and Shellfish of the Pacific Northwest: A Field Guide. 1997. Price: $25.95 U.S.
SUMMARY: Shells and Shellfish of the Pacific Northwest is the indispensable guide for beachcombers, seashell collectors, divers or anyone who wants to know more about the shells and shellfish found along the saltwater beaches and intertidal areas of the Pacific Northwest. Everyone from weekend adventurers to serious collectors will love this book!
     This comprehensive field guide introduces more than 250 species of mollusks - clams, oysters, scallops, chitons and more - whose range extends from Alaska to B.C. to Washington, Oregon and California. Rick Harbo has included detailed descriptions and colour photos of familiar species like the mussel as well as more obscure ones like the checkered hairysnail and the gutless awning clam. Shells and Shellfish of the Pacific Northwest is also packed with information on places to find shells, the importance of shells in Native art and culture, and guidelines on edibility and conservation. A special full-colour section on identifying clams by their siphons or "shows" is a first for shell guidebooks.
     Discover the rich, varied marine life of the Pacific Northwest with this fascinating, easy-to-follow book. Don't go to the beach without it!
RECOMMENDATION: Of these three books, I like the Shells and Shellfish title the best! I also recommend these two titles by the same company:

The Weekly Birdbooker Report

My WEEKLY Birdbooker Report can be found here:

http://www.guardian.co.uk/science/punctuated-equilibrium/2011/aug/28/2

New Title

                                                                                                                                                             
1) Nikiforuk, Andrew. Empire of the Beetle: How Human Folly and a Tiny Bug Are Killing North America's Great Forests. 2011. Greystone Books. Paperback: 232 pages. Price: $17.95 U.S.

SUMMARY: Exposing some startling connections between beetles and humans, one of North America's foremost environmental writers investigates the continent's massive forest die-off
     Beginning in the late 1980s, a series of improbable bark beetle outbreaks unsettled iconic forests and communities across western North America. An insect the size of a rice kernel eventually killed more than 30 billion pine and spruce trees from Alaska to New Mexico. Often appearing in masses larger than schools of killer whales, the beetles engineered one of the world's greatest forest die-offs since the deforestation of Europe by peasants between the eleventh and thirteenth centuries.
     The beetle didn't act alone. Misguided science, out-of-control logging, bad public policy, and a hundred years of fire suppression created a volatile geography that released the world's oldest forest manager from all natural constraints. Like most human empires, the beetles exploded wildly and then crashed, leaving in their wake grieving landowners, humbled scientists, hungry animals, and altered watersheds. Although climate change triggered this complex event, human arrogance assuredly set the table. With little warning, an ancient insect pointedly exposed the frailty of seemingly stable manmade landscapes. And despite the billions of public dollars spent on control efforts, the beetles burn away like a fire that can't be put out.
     Drawing on first-hand accounts from entomologists, botanists, foresters, and rural residents, award-winning journalist Andrew Nikiforuk investigates this unprecedented beetle plague, its startling implications, and the lessons it holds.
 RECOMMENDATION: An interesting read on an often overlooked subject.

                      Mountain Pine Beetle (Dendroctonus ponderosae)
                      Image: Wikipedia

APP News: FREE APP

                                                                              

Press release from Appweavers Inc.:

Peterson App Celebrates 100,000th Download With Free Bird Lists

San Anselmo, CA, August 23, 2011, Appweavers Inc. developers of natural history apps for the iPhone, iPod touch, and iPad, today announced a significant milestone for their free backyard bird guide. Initially released in April of this year, Peterson Feeder Birds of North America, a comprehensive guide to 160 North American backyard birds, passed 100,000 downloads from the iTunes App Store. To celebrate, the company is extending its innovative Bird Finder service, previously available only to users of the company's paid app, Peterson Birds of North America, to users of the free backyard birds app.

Peterson Feeder Birds of North America is based on the highly acclaimed Peterson Field Guide series of natural history books published by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt. The app features Roger Tory Peterson's inimitable bird illustrations and his unique series of arrows highlighting field marks that differentiate one bird from another.

{ You can download this APP for free here:
http://itunes.apple.com/us/app/peterson-feeder-birds-north/id431948401?mt=8
You need to scroll down a ways}

Appweavers has leveraged the design and organization of the best-selling book, Peterson Field Guide to Birds of North America, in developing the feeder birds app. A unique user interface guides the user through the process of identifying birds he observes, with similar species grouped for easy comparison. Zoomable illustrations show male, female, juvenile, and in-flight images, and a tap on the screen allows for side-by-side comparison of bird songs and range maps. In addition to illustrations, songs, and range maps, the app gives detailed information from eight Peterson Guides and includes indexes, search, sightings, and life list features.

"We are extremely pleased with the way users have taken to the new Peterson Feeder Birds app," said Lisa White, Director of Guidebooks at Houghton Mifflin Harcourt. "Roger Tory Peterson dedicated his life to raising awareness of our natural environment, and this app does a fantastic job of furthering that goal."

Last month, Appweavers debuted Bird Finder, a free web-based service that lets users download lists of birds for specific locations across the U.S. and Canada. Each list customizes the Peterson app to the user’s geographic location. Lists also include sighting frequency indicators, showing anticipated abundance of each species for every week of the year. These are essential aids to birders trying to determine whether an observed bird is normally found at a particular location.

{For more information about Bird Finder see here: http://petersonguides.com/BirdFinder/ }

Bird Finder uses the Peterson app’s unique listing feature. Tapping on a specially formatted web link or on a file attached to an email message, from a mobile device, automatically imports the list to the app. Users can then save the list as an icon on their home screen for fast access.

Appweavers currently provides lists of birds for every county in the U.S. and Canada and for specific points of interest recorded in the Cornell Lab of Ornithology eBird database. Bird watchers from around the world regularly update eBird with their observations. More than three million sightings were recorded in June of this year alone. This wealth of information has made Corenell’s eBird database one of the largest sources of biodiversity information in the world, and Appweavers is not alone in providing access to this “Big Data.” Apps like the popular BirdsEye also offer indispensible aids to birders. To celebrate the 100,000th download, users of the Peterson Feeder Birds app now have access to lists for every county in the U.S. and Canada, tailored for backyard birds.

"While apps like BirdsEye give users an excellent up-to-the-minute view of bird activities in their neighborhood, they lack historical context," said Nigel Hall, President, Appweavers. "With aggregated information for every species recorded at geographic locations across the U.S. and Canada, Bird Finder lists provide a more comprehensive aid to identifying birds, and they will be a boon to Peterson Feeder Birds users."

New Title

                                                                              
1) Love, Milton S.. Certainly More Than You Want to Know About The Fishes of  The Pacific Coast: A Postmodern Experience. 2011. Really Big Press. Paperback: 650 pages. Price: $29.95 U.S.
SUMMARY: Here it is, the steroid-stuffed new version of the classic Probably More Than You Want to Know About the Fishes of the Pacific Coast. Here is the low-down (and for that matter the high-down) on a mind-numbing 490 species, with 688 color images, in 672 pages. Be the first person on your block (neighborhood or cell) to really understand what these fishes do, where they go, and how they feel about life. Signed copies can be ordered here:  http://reallybigpress.com/store/#ecwid:category=1437584&mode=product&product=5820441
RECOMMENDATION: A must have for those with an interest in the marine fishes of the Pacific Coast of North America!

Forthcoming Title

For those with a technical interest in ornithological literature, this forthcoming title will be of interest:

Priority! The Dating of Scientific Names in Ornithology: A Directory to the Literature and its Reviewers. Compiled and Edited by Edward C. Dickinson, Leslie K. Overstreet, Robert J. Dowsett and Murray D. Bruce. DUE OUT: October 2011. Price: GBP: 80.00 (about $131.87 U.S.) plus GBP 7.50 postage (orders in the U.K. and Europe only).
PRE-publication discount (up to 1 October 2011): GBP 67.50 (includes postage to the USA!).

FEATURED TITLE

                                                                              
1) Robson, Craig. A Field Guide to the Birds of South-East Asia. 2011. New Holland Publishers. Flexibound: 544 pages. Price: GBP 24.99 (about $41.14 U.S.).

SUMMARY: The first-time flexi-cover edition of this classic field guide, which is the definitive volume on the region's birdlife. This award-winning book, which was first published in 2000, was fully updated in 2009 to include 76 new species for the region that were recent new discoveries for science, taxonomic 'splits' or had been recorded there for the first time. This comprehensive field guide to the birds of South-East Asia covers all of the 1,327 species recorded in the region and each has been fully illustrated. This edition has many new artworks and 16 more colour plates than the original guide, and the text has been meticulously updated to take in all the most recent information. The vast diversity of South-East Asian birdlife attracts increasing numbers of birdwatchers each year. Covering Thailand, Vietnam, Singapore, Peninsular Malaysia, Myanmar, Laos and Cambodia, this unique and indispensable guide covers in detail the identification, voice, breeding, status, habitat and distribution of all the species and distinctive subspecies of the region.
RECOMMENDATION: Despite lacking range maps, birders will find this book very useful!

New Title

                                                                              
1) Sale, Peter F.. Our Dying Planet: An Ecologist's View of the Crisis We Face. 2011. University of California Press. Hardbound: 339 pages. Price: $34.95 U.S.

SUMMARY: Coral reefs are on track to become the first ecosystem actually eliminated from the planet. So says leading ecologist Peter F. Sale in this crash course on the state of the planet. Sale draws from his own extensive work on coral reefs, and from recent research by other ecologists, to explore the many ways we are changing the earth and to explain why it matters. Weaving into the narrative his own firsthand field experiences around the world, Sale brings ecology alive while giving a solid understanding of the science at work behind today’s pressing environmental issues. He delves into topics including overfishing, deforestation, biodiversity loss, use of fossil fuels, population growth, and climate change while discussing the real consequences of our growing ecological footprint. Most important, this passionately written book emphasizes that a gloom-and-doom scenario is not inevitable, and as Sale explores alternative paths, he considers the ways in which science can help us realize a better future.
RECOMMENDATION: A must read for those that care about the planet Earth.

The Weekly Birdbooker Report

My WEEKLY Birdbooker Report can be found here:

http://www.guardian.co.uk/science/punctuated-equilibrium/2011/aug/21/3

New Title

                                                                              
1) de Waal, Edmund. The Hare With Amber Eyes: A Hidden Inheritance. 2011. Picador. Paperback: 354 pages. Price: $16.00 U.S.

SUMMARY: Edmund de Waal is a world-famous ceramicist. Having spent thirty years making beautiful pots—which are then sold, collected, and handed on—he has a particular sense of the secret lives of objects. When he inherited a collection of 264 tiny Japanese wood and ivory carvings, called netsuke, he wanted to know who had touched and held them, and how the collection had managed to survive.
     And so begins this extraordinarily moving memoir and detective story as de Waal discovers both the story of the netsuke and of his family, the Ephrussis, over five generations. A nineteenth-century banking dynasty in Paris and Vienna, the Ephrussis were as rich and respected as the Rothchilds. Yet by the end of the World War II, when the netsuke were hidden from the Nazis in Vienna, this collection of very small carvings was all that remained of their vast empire.
RECOMMENDATION: For those with an interest in Jewish studies or Japanese art.

NEW APP: Mammals of North America

                                                                                
Princeton University Press has just announced a new APP of their field guide: Mammals of North America by Roland W. Kays and Don E.Wilson. For more info go here:

http://itunes.apple.com/us/app/mammals-of-north-america/id456581570?mt=8#

You need to scroll down a ways for the info.

UPDATE: To celebrate this inaugural app, PUP is giving one copy away on the app's new facebook page. Entering the giveaway is easy. All you have to do to be entered into the drawing is become a fan of the app on facebook - visit this page (http://www.facebook.com/#!/pages/Mammals-of-North-America/144382022315184) and click the like button. The winner will be announced this Friday, 26 August 2011.

New Title

                                                                              
1) Hochschild, Adam. To End All Wars: A Story of Loyalty and Rebellion, 1914-1918. 2011. Houghton Mifflin Harcourt. Hardbound: 448 pages. Price: $28.00 U.S.

SUMMARY: World War I stands as one of history’s most senseless spasms of carnage, defying rational explanation. In a riveting, suspenseful narrative with haunting echoes for our own time, Adam Hochschild brings it to life as never before. He focuses on the long-ignored moral drama of the war’s critics, alongside its generals and heroes. Thrown in jail for their opposition to the war were Britain’s leading investigative journalist, a future winner of the Nobel Prize for Literature, and an editor who, behind bars, published a newspaper for his fellow inmates on toilet paper. These critics were sometimes intimately connected to their enemy hawks: one of Britain’s most prominent women pacifist campaigners had a brother who was commander in chief on the Western Front. Two well-known sisters split so bitterly over the war that they ended up publishing newspapers that attacked each other.
     Today, hundreds of military cemeteries spread across the fields of northern France and Belgium contain the bodies of millions of men who died in the “war to end all wars.” Can we ever avoid repeating history?
RECOMMENDATION: An interesting take on a forgotten chapter of WWI.

New Title

                                                                              
1) Plaxco, Kevin W. and Michael Gross. Astrobiology: A Brief Introduction (Second Edition). 2011. Johns Hopkins University Press. Paperback: 330 pages. Price: $30.00 U.S.

SUMMARY: Informed by new planetary discoveries and the findings from recent robotic missions to Mars, Jupiter, and Saturn, scientists are rapidly replacing centuries of speculation about potential extraterrestrial habitats with real knowledge about the possibility of life outside our own biosphere—if it exists, and where. This second edition of Kevin W. Plaxco and Michael Gross's widely acclaimed text incorporates the latest research in astrobiology to bring readers the most comprehensive, up-to-date, and engaging introduction to the field available.
     Plaxco and Gross expand their examination of the origin of chemical elements, the developments that made the Universe habitable, and how life continues to be sustained. They discuss in great detail the formation of the first galaxies and stars, the diverse chemistry of the primordial planet, the origins of metabolism, the evolution of complex organisms, and the feedback regulation of Earth's climate. They also explore life in extreme habitats, potential extraterrestrial habitats, and the current status of the search for extraterrestrial life.
     Weaving together the relevant threads of astronomy, geology, chemistry, biophysics, and microbiology, this broadly accessible introductory text captures the excitement, controversy, and progress of the dynamic young field of astrobiology. New to this edition is a glossary of terms and an epilogue recapping the key unanswered questions, making Astrobiology an ideal primer for students and, indeed, for anyone curious about life and the Universe.
RECOMMENDATION: For those with a semi-technical interest in astrobiology.

New Title

                                                                              
1) Cooper, William T.. Capturing the Essence: Techniques for Bird Artists. 2011. Yale University Press. Paperback: 124 pages. Price: $42.00 U.S.

SUMMARY: In this stunningly beautiful book, bird artist William T. Cooper explores and demonstrates all aspects of drawing and painting birds. Renowned for his gorgeous and accurate wildlife renderings, Cooper here explains in detail how to create a true impression of a bird's appearance. The author describes his own experiences among birds in the wild, discusses bird anatomy, and lays out the essential principles of realistic painting. He guides both seasoned artists and enthusiastic beginners through all the techniques and processes involved in depicting birds anywhere in the world.
     In the first part of the book, Cooper covers materials, bird anatomy, methods of working from captive birds (in zoos, for example), and methods for working in the field. He places special emphasis on the artist's understanding of the subject and how this knowledge can be transformed into drawings and paintings. The second part of the book deals with watercolors, acrylics, and oil paints, explaining for each medium the step-by-step processes leading from beginning sketches to finished work.
RECOMMENDATION: A must have for those with a serious interest in bird art! You can read the introduction here: http://books.google.com/books?id=vZf_KyZwX6gC&pg=PA1&source=gbs_toc_r&cad=4#v=onepage&q&f=false

The Weekly Birdbooker Report

My WEEKLY Birdbooker Report can be found here:

http://www.guardian.co.uk/science/punctuated-equilibrium/2011/aug/14/2

New Title

                                                                              
1) Beolens, Bo, Michael Watkins and Michael Grayson. The Eponym Dictionary of Reptiles. 2011. Johns Hopkins University Press. Hardbound: 296 pages. Price: $100.00 U.S.

SUMMARY: Who was Richard Kemp, after whom the Kemp's ridley sea turtle is named? Is Wake's Gecko named after Berkeley's Marvalee Wake? Or perhaps her husband, David? Why do so many snakes and lizards have Werner in their name? This reference book answers these and thousands of other questions about the origins of the vernacular and scientific names of reptiles across the globe.
From Agkistrodon piscivorus conanti, the Florida cottonmouth subspecies named for Roger Conant, to Xantusia, the night lizard genera namesake of John Xantus, this dictionary covers everyone after whom an extant or recently extinct reptile has been named. The entries include a brief bio-sketch, a list of the reptiles that bear the individual's name, the names of reptiles erroneously thought to be associated with the person, and a summary of major—and sometimes obscure or even incidental—contributions made by the person to herpetology and zoology. An introductory chapter explains how to use the book and describes the process of naming taxa.
Easy to use and filled with addictive—and highly useful—information about the people whose names will be carried into the future on the backs of the world's reptiles, The Eponym Dictionary of Reptiles is a handy and fun book for professional and amateur herpetologists alike.
RECOMMENDATION: For those with a technical interested in reptilian nomenclature. These titles are also available:

New Title

                                                                              
1) Hagberg, David. Abyss: A Kirk McGarvey Novel. 2011. Forge. Hardbound: 496 pages. Price: $24.99 U.S.

SUMMARY: It's a pleasant summer afternoon in the Gulf Stream, twenty-five miles off Hutchinson Island on Florida's east coast. NOAA scientist Dr. Eve Larsen is about to prove she has the answers to global warming, and the solution to stopping killer storms across the planet. She is a part of a multi-trillion dollar, multinational project to farm clean, endless energy from the oceans' currents--and alter the planet's weather for the better.
     At that moment, contract killer Brian DeCamp walks into the Hutchinson Island Nuclear Power Station, aiming to cause a meltdown so catastrophic it'll make Chernobyl seem like nothing. Security cam footage leads to an intervention by legendary former CIA director Kirk McGarvey, who manages to thwart the catastrophe...but the failed sabotage sets off a chain of events more terrifying than McGarvey could ever have imagined. With Big Oil ruthlessly hunting for profit after the BP disaster in the Gulf, the fate of the world hangs in the balance.
RECOMMENDATION: If you like environmentally themed SCI-FI adventure, you might like this book.

New and Recent Titles

                                                                              
1) Golemon, David L.. Legacy: An Event Group Thriller. 2011. Thomas Dunne Books. Hardbound: 422 pages. Price: $25.99 U.S.

SUMMARY: The New York Times bestselling author of Leviathan and Primeval is back at full throttle with an adrenaline-pumping addition to the Event Group Thriller Series.
     The United States is ready to make a triumphant return to the moon, striking out boldly into the solar system in an attempt to regain the confidence of the heady days of the Apollo program. The first of what are to be many missions to the lunar surface was designed to find the frozen water needed to prepare to build a base to launch an assault on Mars.
     But a shocking discovery at Shackleton Crater brings the first Prometheus mission to an abrupt halt. Remote robots uncover human skeletal remains and a base that had been destroyed countless millennia ago. The information is sent back to earth where forensic analysis at NASA reveals the corpse to be over seven hundred million years old.
     A secret this devastating cannot be kept forever, and the news is leaked to the world. Soon nations are thrown into a head-long collision, pitting governments against their own citizens as the flames of fundamentalism start a conflagration that threatens to engulf the world as a race to return the moon is on.
     The Event Group is tasked to unravel the mystery and to offer something that can either explain our ancient visitor or, at least, keep the world from descending into chaos. Colonel Jack Collins once again leads a team of the world's greatest scientists and philosophers on a journey that will take the Event Group to the airless world of space. But while a battle rages over the truth of our heritage, the Event Group realizes that this may not be humanity’s war alone. Could something else—someone else—be coming to finish a war that they started almost a billion years ago?
 RECOMMENDATION: Fans of the author's Event Group Thriller series will enjoy this book.

                                                                              
2) Schmoe, Floyd. A Year In Paradise. 1999. The Mountaineers Books. Paperback: 204 pages. Price: $17.95 U.S.
SUMMARY: In midwinter 1920, Floyd Schmoe and his bride struggled up Mount Rainier on snowshoes on a long-delayed honeymoon. As the new caretakers at Paradise Inn, they would be alone in a towering world of snow and ice and incomparable beauty, until the plows arrived to free them on the fourth of July. So began a long love affair with Mount Rainier. And here is Floyd Schmoe's account of it; a delightful and informative portrait of a mountain through the seasons of the year.
     Through his personal narrative, Schmoe writes of many things that combined to cast a spell on him: the shy mountain goat, the reproductive processes of trees and plants, techniques of climbing, the habits of glaciers and volcanoes, the curious fact of a mouse being found at very high altitude, the peculiarities of tourists-and much more. This is a book for anyone drawn to the mysteries of the high country.
     The author was the first naturalist for Mount Rainier National Park and a two-time nominee for the Nobel Peace Prize.
RECOMMENDATION: An interesting account of mountaineering and natural history in the Cascade Mountains of Washington State that happened nearly 100 years ago.

The Weekly Birdbooker Report

My WEEKLY Birdbooker Report can be found here:

http://www.guardian.co.uk/science/punctuated-equilibrium/2011/aug/07/3

New Title

                                                                              
1) Falk, Dean. The Fossil Chronicles: How Two Controversial Discoveries Changed Our View of Human Evolution. 2011. University of California Press. Hardbound: 259 pages. Price: $34.95 U.S.

SUMMARY: Two discoveries of early human relatives, one in 1924 and one in 2003, radically changed scientific thinking about our origins. Dean Falk, a pioneer in the field of human brain evolution, offers this fast-paced insider’s account of these discoveries, the behind-the-scenes politics embroiling the scientists who found and analyzed them, and the academic and religious controversies they generated. The first is the Taung child, a two-million-year-old skull from South Africa that led anatomist Raymond Dart to argue that this creature had walked upright and that Africa held the key to the fossil ancestry of our species. The second find consisted of the partial skeleton of a three-and-a-half-foot-tall woman, nicknamed Hobbit, from Flores Island, Indonesia. She is thought by scientists to belong to a new, recently extinct species of human, but her story is still unfolding. Falk, who has studied the brain casts of both Taung and Hobbit, reveals new evidence crucial to interpreting both discoveries and proposes surprising connections between this pair of extraordinary specimens.
RECOMMENDATION: For those with an interest in human evolution.

New Title

                                                                             
1) Dunn, Rob. The Wild Life Of Our Bodies: Predators, Parasites, and Partners That Shaped Who We Are Today. 2011. Harper. Hardbound: 290 pages. Price: $26.99 U.S.

SUMMARY: A biologist shows the influence of wild species on our well-being and the world and how nature still clings to us—and always will.
     We evolved in a wilderness of parasites, mutualists, and pathogens, but we no longer see ourselves as being part of nature and the broader community of life. In the name of progress and clean living, we scrub much of nature off our bodies and try to remove whole kinds of life—parasites, bacteria, mutualists, and predators—to allow ourselves to live free of wild danger. Nature, in this new world, is the landscape outside, a kind of living painting that is pleasant to contemplate but nice to have escaped.
     The truth, though, according to biologist Rob Dunn, is that while "clean living" has benefited us in some ways, it has also made us sicker in others. We are trapped in bodies that evolved to deal with the dependable presence of hundreds of other species. As Dunn reveals, our modern disconnect from the web of life has resulted in unprecedented effects that immunologists, evolutionary biologists, psychologists, and other scientists are only beginning to understand. Diabetes, autism, allergies, many anxiety disorders, autoimmune diseases, and even tooth, jaw, and vision problems are increasingly plaguing bodies that have been removed from the ecological context in which they existed for millennia.
     In this eye-opening, thoroughly researched, and well-reasoned book, Dunn considers the crossroads at which we find ourselves. Through the stories of visionaries, Dunn argues that we can create a richer nature, one in which we choose to surround ourselves with species that benefit us, not just those that, despite us, survive.
RECOMMENDATION: An interesting take on human medicine, ecology and evolutionary biology.

Princeton University Press giveaway

                                                                              
Princeton University Press this week is giving away, via Facebook, a copy of Antarctic Wildlife by James Lowen. Details are here:
http://press.princeton.edu/blog/2011/08/01/this-week%e2%80%99s-book-giveaway-3/