| The Magazine of the CALIFORNIA ACADEMY OF SCIENCES |
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Reviews The Natural History of the Fitzgerald Marine Reserve, by Diane R. Conradson, editor. Friends of the Fitzgerald Marine Reserve, Moss Beach, CA, 1999, $10.95, paper. This book will allow both visitor and student to appreciate and understand the physical and biological phenomena of San Mateo County's Moss Beach, a rich tideland reef, and other parts of the Fitzgerald Marine Reserve. The book examines and explains the fauna and flora of the ocean shore between the tides and the nearshore land, concluding with a discussion of geology and climate. The book is well illustrated in both black and white and color with enough detail to assist in identification.
1934-1998, by Arthur C. Clarke. St. Martin's Press, New York, NY, 1999, 558 pp., $35.00, cloth. The millennium slowly approaches in this semi-autobiographical collection of nonfiction writings by science fiction writer and science commentator Arthur C. Clarke. Though associated with the year 2001, as a visionary Clarke can equally well be associated with the whole millennium. Here Clarke writes eloquently about science, astronomy, science fiction, and the ocean. The collection includes pieces on many of the most important technological and historical developments of the last half of the twentieth century. Clarke brings clarity to complex scientific issues, but he also is a critical moral voice examining the power of science and technology to solve our social and political problems. Clarke provides his predictions for the twenty-first century, which include a human landing on Mars in the year 2021. We can only hope he will still be here to explain it to us.
Plants of the Tahoe Basin: A Photographic Guide, by Michael Graf. University of California Press and the California Native Plant Society, Berkeley, CA, 1999, 308pp., $40.00 cloth, $19.95 paper. The Tahoe Basin is a discreet geomorphologic area, and it deserves its own plant identification book. Now it has one. Residents and visitors alike will appreciate the convenience of not having to wade through a long list of non-local entries. The book also includes coverage of nearby areas such as Donner Lake, Sagehen Basin, Granite Chief, and Carson Pass. Although there are more than 600 species covered, the book is aimed at amateur and casual users. Final identification is further aided by over 300 color photographs, augmented by a glossary and drawings of plant anatomy. The index includes common and scientific names. Introductory material has very informative discussions of the ecological history of the basin and its vegetation, geology, and climate.
Recommended Reading from the Editors' Desks Status and Trends of the Nation's Biological Resources , U.S. Geological Survey. U.S. Government Printing Office, Washington, D.C., 1998, two-volume set, 964 pp., $98.00 paper. This massive work is an effort by nearly 200 scientists and other experts to comprehensively assess the condition of the country's natural resources. Part One examines how natural and human factors such as land use, invasions by alien species, and pollution have affected the environment. Part Two divides the country into 14 regions, then describes the natural history and ecology of each region and how they are presently faring. It ends with a long chapter on marine resources. The books were designed and written for policy makers as well as lay people. Each chapter contains plenty of color photos, charts, graphs, and maps that reward even the casual browser with pointed and up-to-date information. Sprinkled liberally throughout are sidebars that provide detailed looks at cases in point. The 52-page California chapter, for example, includes sections on fire in the Sierra Nevada, population declines in abalone, and the ecology of Torrey pines, among others. With so many authors, the clarity of writing in Status and Trends varies wildly. But the U.S.G.S. has succeeded in producing an important work for anyone curious about the environment. Totem Salmon: Life Lessons from Another Species, by Freeman House. Beacon Press, Boston, MA, 1999, 228 pp., $25.00 cloth. The Mattole River Basin long hosted Native American tribes whose lives were bound to those of the salmon that came each year to spawn in the upper reaches of the gorgeous Mattole. The salmon were a precondition for human settlement of the place, says Freeman House, yet by 1982, when his book opens, logging and irresponsible habitation had nearly destroyed the salmon runs. House tells of his community's determined efforts to draw the creature back from the edge of extinction. It seems at first to be a futile and desperate act, as the motley crew constituting the Mattole Salmon Watershed Support Group fixates on restoring the run. But House and his cohorts find myriad rewards for the time, effort, and love they invest. Their lives intertwine with one another, with their home, and with the mysterious and powerful creatures whose bodies and souls become their obsession. The book is about an effort to restore a habitat, and a run of salmon, but something more is mended as well. Gift of the Whale: The Inupiat Bowhead Hunt, A Sacred Tradition, by Bill Hess. Sasquatch Books, Seattle, WA, 1999, 180 duotones, 240 pp., $40.00 cloth. A census some twenty years ago incorrectly estimated that there were no more than 1,500 bowhead whales left and, judging from the number of calves observed, their reproduction rate was exceptionally low. The International Whaling Commission decreed a harvest of no more than 12 animals. There was an outcry from the Inupiat people. Today, the bowhead population is about 8,000, and native hunters are allowed to kill about 50 animals--enough to supply the needs of the 5,000 Inupiat, most of whom eat whale meat or maktak (blubber) at least five times a week. The bowhead hunt is now back at the heart of their culture. Author and photographer Bill Hess first visited the Native community of Barrow in 1982, and he spent much of the next 15 years documenting the lives of the inhabitants. |
Winter 2000
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