SUMMER
READING SUGGESTIONS FROM
THE ACADEMY LIBRARY'S MEMBERS' LENDING COLLECTION, 2002
And Videos, Too!
California Academy of Sciences Library
Summer is a perfect time to do a little reading by the pool, in the comfort of your own home, on the bus on the way to work, or just about anywhere!
The books and videos
below have been selected not with summer in mind,
but to provide a great experience any time of the year!
Pub. QH305.2 .U6 P38 2000
Biologists and the Promise of American Life: From Meriwether Lewis to
Alfred Kinsey / Philip J. Pauly. Princeton, NJ: Princeton University
Press, c2000.
A history of the biological sciences
in America over the past 200 years is provided in this interesting volume. Not
only does the book examine the effects of the scientists on understanding of
biology, but also the ways that the science and the scientists impacted the
growth of the country and American culture.
Photographs and illustrations are included, along with notes by chapter and
an index.
Pub. QH104 .C87 1991
The Curious Naturalist. Washington, D.C.: National Geographic
Society, c1991.
"This indispensable guide encourages
the practicing amateur to become an expert in the natural world." The book
focuses on 9 distinct North American ecosystems through individual articles.
The habitats presented include local areas in your own backyard, woodlands,
grasslands, deserts, mountains, streams and lakes, beaches - both sandy and
rocky shore, and sky. The authors of the articles range from naturalists to
poets.
The volume contains fabulous color photographs, illustrations, and an index.
It also includes projects and items that you can make yourself, including a
barometer and an underwater pond viewer.
Pub. QL676.8 .C65
2001
Hope is the Thing with Feathers: A Personal Chronicle of Vanished Birds
/ Christopher Cokinos. New York: Warner Books, 2001.
The author, a former head of the Kansas Audubon Council, tells the stories
of 6 birds that were driven to extinction, who tried to save them, who tried
to kill them, and more. In telling the stories he brings to life birds that
we will never see again, vividly painting images of their lives and habitats.
Birds detailed in the book include the Carolina Parakeet, Passenger Pigeon,
Heath Hen, Great Auk, Labrador Duck, and, a bird that has been making a great
deal of news recently because people are still hopeful that they still exist,
the Ivory-Billed Woodpecker.
Pub GN409.5 .M46 1998
Man Eating Bugs: The Art and Science of Eating Insects / Peter
Menzel and Faith D'Alusio. Berkeley, CA: Ten Speed Press, 1998.
Australia, China, Indonesia, Thailand, and the United States are just a few
of the countries examined in this book regarding bug-eating habits. A wealth
of color photographs are included in this volume that also, occasionally, includes
recipes for dishes that contain bugs. The authors' use field notes to relate
their experiences in the countries and give an immediacy to the stories and
photos.
Pub QE90 .N8 A38
Roadside Geology of Northern California / David D. Alt and Donald
W. Hyndman. Missoula, MT: Mountain Press Publishing Co., 1987.
This volume is an attempt to put
paid to some of those "What the heck is this rock?" questions that
geologists are constantly asked. The authors
have sketched broad outlines of the story, along with more detailed information
about certain features. The books is divided into geologic sections that make
sense to the lay person, following the highway system in California to provide
valuable reference. Maps, photographs, a glossary, and a selected reference
list are all included.
Pub QH197 .L38 2000
Stinging Trees and Wait-a-Whiles: Confessions of a Rainforest Biologist
/ William Laurance. Chicago, IL: University of Chicago Press, 2000.
In 1986, biologist William Laurance
arrived in Australia to conduct fieldwork in the country's rapidly disappearing
rainforest. Fifteen years later, he is giving all of us an opportunity to learn
about his fieldwork, the ups and downs of research, volunteers, locals, and
more. His nontraditional account of his time in the rainforest makes an entertaining
and illuminating memoir of a scientist in action.
Photographs and suggested readings are included.
Pub. HF5413 .R93 1997
Stuff: The Secret Lives of Everyday Things / John C. Ryan. Seattle,
WA: Northwest Environment Watch, c1997.
Follow
an ordinary, average citizen through an ordinary and average day and you'd be
surprised at the amount of consumption that one person goes through, 120 pounds
on average, in a single day! Find out how items are made and where they're made,
the costs to the environment, and what you can do to make things better.
Shoes, coffee, and computers are just some of the items examined. A glossary
and an index are also included.
Pub. QL86 .T64 2001
Tinkering with Eden: A Natural History of Exotics in America /
Kim Todd. New York: W.W. Norton & Company, 2001.
Kim Todd has taken a fascinating
and diverse history and tied it together in one volume. Exotic species have
been a reality in the United States and the "new world" since explorers
first set their boats in the bays and their toes in the soil. Todd has taken
some of the those species and locations, mosquitoes in Hawaii, gypsy moths,
and others, and identified the social and natural climates into which they were
introduced, and the problems that they helped to solve and/or cause. Her research
shows how man cannot help changing his environment, from creating cities to
introducing birds and plants from far away homes.
References, an index, and illustrations are included.
Pub. HD4482 .S77 1999
Waste and Want: A Social History of Trash / Susan Strasser. New
York: Metropolitan Books, 1999.
This very readable and informative
book covers the history of trash in American culture. The author traces from
the 1800s to today, from the books written for women on saving everything, from
saving fat for candles and soap to cutting off pant legs and turning them around
to hide wear, to disposable products that are all the rage today.
The book includes notes by page and an index.
Pub. G200 .P65 2001
Women of Discovery: A Celebration of Intrepid Women who Explored the World
/ Milbry Polk and Mary Tiegreen. New York: Clarkson
Potter/Publishers, 2001.
More than 80 women are profiled in
this volume detailing the lives and achievements of "women who explored
the world." Starting with early exploration like Dutch voyager Elizabeth
van der Woude, 1657-1694, and ending up with Jill Cornell Tarter, born in 1944
and an astrophysicist, the books examines the lives of women who, even today,
are counted as something special for their interests and abilities. Sylvia Earle,
Alice Eastwood, Zora Neale Houston, Margaret Mead, and many more featured.
Each segment of the volume is beautifully illustrated and/or photographed. A
selected bibliography, notes, and an index are also included.
Pub. Juv PZ7 .L8787 Bo 1997
Boogie Bones / Elizabeth Loredo. New York: G. P. Putnam's Sons,
1997.
The flyer that blew into the graveyard
said "Dance Contest," and Boogie Bones the skeleton loved to dance.
So he hatched a plan to go into town and dance at the contest, even though skeletons
never leave the graveyard unless they're trick-or-treating on Halloween. With
help from the other skeletons he puts together a disguise and heads off to the
contest, never guessing what would happen when the music really got jumping!
Pub Juv QL795 .C66 C93 1996
The Cricket's Cage: A Chinese Folktale / retold by Stefan Czernecki.
Winnipeg, Mantioba, Canada: Hyperion Press, 1996.
This volume is a charming story of
the design for the Forbidden City in China. The Emperor is unhappy with all
the designs so he threatens the trusted minister, who threatened the Master
Builder, who threatened the Carpenter and left it all on his shoulders, but
he couldn't work without a plan! His best friend gives him a cricket for good
luck, but the Carpenter knows without a design he'll be killed in the morning.
Everything ends happily, but how does the man, with help from the cricket, satisfy
the Emperor? Through text and wonderful color illustrations, the story comes
to life.
Pub. Juv QE861.5 .W34 2000
The Field Mouse and the Dinosaur Named Sue / Jan Wahl. New York:
Scholastic, Inc., 2000.
The field mouse was sleeping in his
home in a field, under his roof of bone. Suddenly, the bone was taken from the
roof of his house, and, in his attempt to get it back, he begins an adventure
that takes him to Chicago, Illinois and the Field Museum of Natural History.
The story is the story of Sue, the amazing dinosaur find, told from the point
of view of the mouse. He observes the scientists on their dig, in the museum,
and the actual construction and display of Sue before he finds his bone, and
a new place to sleep in this exciting place.
Pub Juv QL617.2 .L565 1990z
Fish is Fish / Leo Lionni. New York: Dragonfly Books, 1970.
Fish's friend Tadpole becomes Frog
and lives outside the water, but he comes back to tell about what he's seen
in the outside world. Fish imagines each creature as frog tells the story, and
then Fish wants to see for himself!
Pub. Juv QH70 .A1 W97 1998
How to Take Your Grandmother to the Museum / Lois Wyse and Molly
Rose Goldman. New York: Workman Publishing, c1998.
Grandmother likes to take Molly to
her favorite places and teach her about interesting things. But Molly is shocked
to discover that Grandmother has never been to one of her favorite places, the
Museum of Natural History! Molly is determined that this lack in Grandmother's
education won't last long, and they set out together for the Museum. Once there,
Molly gets to have the fun of introducing Grandmother to new things like the
Apatosaurus.
This charming book and it's role-reversal of child teaching elder is bright
and entertaining. The illustrations are charming, and are interspersed with
real photos in some of the museum exhibits.
Pub. Juv QH48 .H53 1998
The Jumbo Book of Nature Science / Pamela Hickman. Toronto, Ontario,
Canada: Kids Can Press, 1998.
More than 100 activities and experiments
to explore nature in all of the seasons, for both indoors and outdoors, are
provided in this kid friendly book. Activities always tell you everything you
need for completion and give a lot of information. Some of the activities include
making your own terrarium, learning how to measure a tree from its shadow, and
bird-proofing your windows at home.
Pub. Juv PZ8.1 .K5 Ko 1997
Konte Chameleon Fine, Fine, Fine!: A West African Folk Tale /
Retold by Cristina Kessler. Honesdale, PA: Boyds Mills Press, c1997.
Konte Chameleon begins to think that
he's sick, sick, sick! He has suddenly, and without warning, turned bright red!
Off to Dr. Jalloh he runs, where
he learns a thing or two about chameleons and that sometimes being red is what
it's all about. The illustrations are lush and beautiful, and the repeated words
in the story will entertain both children and adults.
Pub Juv QL666 .C536 C34
2000
Little Turtle and the Song of the Sea / Sheridan Cain. New York:
Crocodile Books, USA, 2000.
Little Turtle is a sea turtle, still
in its egg, on the sandy shore. Through the thin shell, Little Turtle can hear
the sound of the sea. Once he cracks his shell, the sea beings to sing to him,
urging him to come home to the sea, to safety. Through illustration and text,
follow Little Turtle on his journey from the sand, past the crab, around the
bird, to the sea.
Pub. Juv QH541.5 .R27 W44
1991
Panther Dream: A Story of the African Rainforest / Bob Weir and
Wendy Weir. New York: Hyperion Books for Children, 1991.
Lokuli is not allowed to enter the
rainforest that surrounds his small farming village in Africa. The people in
his village are content to trade with the people who dwell in the forest, their
crops for the forest dwellers' meat. One day, there isn't enough meat for trading,
so Lokuli decides to enter the forest on his own, track a duiker, and return
to his village with the much needed meat. What follows is a magical journey
through the rainforest under the watchful eye of a panther who teaches Lokuli
the proper way to hunt in the forest.
Pub. Juv QE842 .J63 2000
Pippin and the Bones / K. V. Johansen. Toronto; Niagara Falls,
NY: Kids Can Press Ltd., 2000.
Pippin the dog likes bones. And to
keep other dogs from getting to her bones, she loves to bury them in Mabel's
garden! Mabel has other ideas, however, and she scolds Pippin for ripping up
her tomatoes. So Pippin takes her new beef bone and heads off to the woods to
find a better place to bury it. In all that digging, she finds more bones than
she could ever imagine, including a skull! Follow the cheerful illustrations
and humorous text to find out what happens next, and discover how Pippin's bones
find a new home.
Pub. AV&M QL82 .B32
1999
Baby Animals with Whoopi Goldberg at the San Diego Zoo. [Alexandria,
Va.]: PBS Home Video ; Burbank, Calif. : Distributed by Warner Home
Video, c1999.
When she was asked where in the world
she would like to go for In the Wild, Whoopi Goldberg, who hates to fly, chose
the exotic location of the San Diego Zoo. Who could have ever guessed that by
doing so, she would get to interact with baby animals from Australia, California,
China, and more. Conservation, artificial insemination, breeding tactics, and
other topics are examined in Whoopi's inimitable way. She provides relationship
advice to a lovesick panda, meets and albino koala, feeds a baby rhino, and,
in general, has a grand and educational time.
Pub. AV&M QH198 .G3
G349 1996
The Galapagos Islands with Richard Dreyfus. [Alexandria, Va.]:
PBS Home Video; Atlanta, GA : Turner Home Entertainment [distributor], c1996.
This wonderful 60 minute video follows
Academy Award winner Richard Dreyfus on a three week trip to the Galapagos Islands,
a hot bed of adaptation, evolution, and home to some of the strangest animals
on Earth. Within the first five minutes of the video, the intrepid Dreyfus is
bitten by a guinea pig, but that doesn't end his determination and sense of
adventure. On journeys through the 16 islands he views dolphins, plays and swims
with sea lions, encounters marine iguanas, tortoises, green turtles, and more.
He also discusses evolutionary theory and natural selection through examples
like the masked booby birds.
Pub. AV&M Ql698.3 .L53
1999 Tapes 1-5
The Life of Birds. [Bristol, England?]: BBC Video; Beverly Hills,
CA: 20th Century Fox Home Entertainment [distributor], c1999.
Each 100 minute tape contains two
episodes of David Attneborough's fabulous series about bird life. Brilliant
images take you to places you've never been, focus on things you've likely never
noticed, or show you things that happen so quickly you can't see them with the
naked eye. Through it all, Attenborough is your host, narrating the scenes and
popping up in the strangest places to take you further into The Life of Birds.
The episodes from the series are To Fly or Not to Fly, The Mastery of Flight,
The Insatiable Appetite, Meat-Eaters, Fishing for a Living, Signals & Songs,
Finding Partners, The Demands of the Egg, The Problems of Parenthood, and The
Limits of Endurance.
Pub. AV&M SF487 .N37
2000
The Natural History of the Chicken. [Alexandria, VA]: PBS Home
Video, c2000.
This video is an examination of the
relationships between chickens and people, the feelings that people have for
chickens whether they keep them as pets or raise them for food. The examinations
of people and situations are interspersed with factual information and trips
to a hatchery and other places. Watch mouth-to-beak resuscitation, see the egg
and chick drawers at a hatchery, and thrill to the tales of lawsuits over roosters
by popping in this 60 minute video.
Pub. AV&M QL49 .S63
2000
Special Animal Secrets. [Washington, DC]: National Geographic
Kids; [Burbank, Calif.]: Distributed in the U.S. and Canada by Warner Home
Video, c2000.
Along with puppets of a honey possum,
a bush baby, and a chameleon, children ages 2-5 learn about the things that
make different kinds of animals special. A wacky and animated pink flamingo
named Francisco comes along for the ride, too, and helps the children sing,
get close ups of animals, and learn about why every living creature is special.
All of the materials above are available for loan to Academy members.
For more books and videos, try this link to the lending page!
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June 25, 2002.
