The Official Urban and Wilderness Emergency Survival Guide

Book Description

This book is the Cadillac of survival manuals -- without question the best in the world! It is highly recommended by all the experts. For example, Sergeant Red Smith, U.S, Marine Corps survival instructor said: "This guy really knows his stuff. Best survival book I've ever seen!" Tom Dodge, Heartland USA wrote: "The perfect survival manual. Every person should keep one in their home as well as one in their vehicle." It is without a doubt the best, most practical, easy-to-use, survival manual on the market today. Profusely illustrated and power-packed with easy-to-understand information on every aspect of basic survival, emergency medicine, edible plants and medicinal plants.

Customer Reviews:

Steps to write a book. 1. Use a photo copier 2. copy.......2003-03-27

Nothing new here. This is more or less a copy of military TM and FM publications on survival. This information is at times out of date. The illustrations are poor. I was very disapointed.

Useless Illustrations.......2002-08-27

This book features solid survival information with some unique tips but the illustrations only resemble pixelclouds. The guy responsible for the repro obviously did a bad job! Fortunately most pictures are copied from other military and survival manuals you might already own. The content I think is still worth buying the book.

Average customer rating:

Outdated & Unpractical for professionals and rescuers
Best wilderness first aid guide out there

The Official Wilderness First Aid Guide
Wayne Merry , and St. John Ambulance
Manufacturer: McClelland & Stewart
ProductGroup: Book
Binding: Paperback

Dictionaries & Terminology | Reference | Medicine | Subjects | Books

Emergency Medicine | Specialties | Medicine | Subjects | Books

General | Nature & Ecology | Science | Subjects | Books

General | Health, Mind & Body | Subjects | Books

Safety & First Aid | Health, Mind & Body | Subjects | Books
ASIN: 0771082509
Release Date: 1994-03-01

Customer Reviews:

Outdated & Unpractical for professionals and rescuers.......2004-07-17

I guess this book isn't a bad introduction for someone who is new to first-aid but much like St. John Ambulance courses in Canada, this book is limited in its scope and not much good for professionals or someone spending extented time in the backcountry or a remote setting. As a doctor, I would even go as far as saying that there is incorrect medical information but some of this could be the book and author seem to be out of touch with modern approaches to wilderness medicine and backcountry rescue. Again, this isn't terrible, there are just much better wilderness first aid publications out there: try Medicine for Mountaineering, or one of the Wilderness Medical Associates or NOLS publications.

Best wilderness first aid guide out there.......2000-07-17

I've been using Wayne Merry's Wilderness First Aid Guide to teach St. John Ambulance Wilderness First Aid courses since 1995. If you only read one wilderness first aid book, this is the one to read.

Published in 1994, the Wilderness First Aid Guide was developed under a grant from the Donner Foundation to create first aid training that would be relevant to remote Northern First Nation and Inuit communities where help is often days away. It remains one of the best Wilderness First Aid publications available today.

It's divided into 4 sections: first response, caring for casualties, wilderness injuries, and wilderness illnesses. There are sections at the end on: improvising first aid supplies, first aid kits, medications, signaling for help, and first aid checklists for documenting a rescue. Each problem is described in context, with many helpful examples and illustrations, and with sections on prevention, recognition of signs and symptoms ("How to tell") and the appropriate first aid ("What to do"). Wayne differentiates between the first aid needed if help is an hour away and first aid if help is days away.

In a wilderness setting, a rescue involves 8 steps. 1. Survey scene, 2. Find/ treat life-threatening problems, 3. Move casualty to shelter (or erect shelter over casualty), 4. Perform secondary survey and document findings/treatment, 5. Make evacuation decision, 6. Signal/send for help, 7. Provide "second aid" (warmth, fluids, food, & waste management), and 8. Move casualty to help.

Most other wilderness first aid books focus on the help needed in the first hour, but are sketchy beyond that. The Official Wilderness First Aid Guide explains the mechanisms/physiology underlying serious wilderness problems like hypothermia, dehydration, and shock in simple language, helping first aiders understand not just what to do but why. The chapter on moving a casualty to shelter details over 14 short distance lifting techniques for 1, 2 or multiple rescuers. The chapter on moving a casualty to help details techniques for stretcher building, carrying, and belaying, and reviews the pros, cons and special considerations of various land (ATV, snowmobile, komatik, dogsled), water (canoe, cabin cruiser) and air (airplane, helicopter) evacuations. There are also comprehensive chapters on second aid (taking care of someone while you wait for help), keeping warm, bear attacks, and abdominal complaints. These are crucial wilderness first aid skills that other manuals cover in a page or two, if they talk about them at all.

Currently, this book is used as a text for the four day wilderness first aid courses offered by St. John Ambulance in British Columbia, Alberta, Ontario, Quebec, and New Brunswick. It has been translated into German, and in Germany you must have a Wilderness First Aid Certificate in order to purchase a Personal Locator Beacon rescue device.

I recommend this book highly to anyone who spends time in the outdoors.

Average customer rating:
St. John Ambulance Official Wilderness First-aid Guide
Wayne ; St. John Ambulance Council Merry
Manufacturer: Maclelland & Stewart
ProductGroup: Book
Binding: Paperback
ASIN: B000ILIY04

Average customer rating:
The Strangest Plants in the World
S. Talalaj
Manufacturer: Hill of Content
ProductGroup: Book
Binding: Paperback

General | Plants | Biological Sciences | Science | Subjects | Books
Reference | Outdoors & Nature | Subjects | Books
ASIN: 0855722053

Average customer rating:
THE STRANGEST PLANTS IN THE WORLD.
D. & J. Talalaj
Manufacturer: Hill of Content Publishing Co.
ProductGroup: Book
Binding: Paperback
ASIN: B000WQ4AJE

Book Description

This essential guide to the AMC hut system includes access trails, local day hikes from each hut, self-guided nature walks, and natural history.

Customer Reviews:

Best AMC hut book ever written?.......2001-09-11

Well, I think it's the only book ever written about the AMC's high huts in the White Mountains. And it is quite informative and useful if you plan to do a lot of hut hikes. The maps and short hike info definitely enhanced my hut trip.

But I would rather see something a little less blandly "official" and a little more "behind the scenes." I'd have appreciated more anecdotes about what goes on during those long summer days when the hut crews have spare time. I know that the crews famously play pranks on each other. And surely the advent of "co-ed" crews has resulted in some, eh, hanky panky? If there are such interesting stories, they are not in this book.

BEST HUT BOOK EVER WRITTEN!.......2001-03-16

My dad and I love to go to AMC huts and this book is my bible. I read it all the time, and bring i t with me when going to huts. Just be warned, if you are hiking on the gulfside trail from Madison Springs Hut to Lakes of the Clouds hut, the book says 4.5 hours. WRONG. The correct time is 9.5 hours.

Book Description

Over one third of the earth's terrestrial surface is situated in the tropics, with environments ranging from hot deserts to tropical rain forests. This introductory textbook, aimed at students studying tropical ecology, provides a comprehensive guide to the major tropical biomes and is unique in its balanced coverage of both aquatic and terrestrial systems. The volume considers the human ecological dimension, covering issues such as population growth, urbanization, agriculture and fisheries, natural resource use, and pollution. It is international in scope and addresses global issues such as conservation of biodiversity, climate change, and the concept of ecological sustainability. The text is supported throughout by boxes containing supplementary material on a range of topics and organisms, mathematical concepts and calculations, and is enlivened with clear line diagrams, maps, and photographs. A cross-referenced glossary, extensive bibliography, and comprehensive index are included as further aids to study.

Valuing watershed services: concepts and empirics from southeast Asia [An article from: Agriculture, Ecosystems and Environment]

Average customer rating:

Valuing watershed services: concepts and empirics from southeast Asia [An article from: Agriculture, Ecosystems and Environment]
S.K. Pattanayak
Manufacturer: Elsevier
ProductGroup: Book
Binding: Digital
ASIN: B000RQYER2

Book Description

This digital document is a journal article from Agriculture, Ecosystems and Environment, published by Elsevier in 2004. The article is delivered in HTML format and is available in your Amazon.com Media Library immediately after purchase. You can view it with any web browser.

Description:
Few empirical studies have rigorously analyzed the downstream economic benefits of watershed protection to generate economic values of watershed services. By developing a conceptual framework and using household level economic and environmental data to illustrate its empirical tractability, this paper addresses the neglected, but critical, question of the importance of watershed services to farming communities in southeast Asia. A case study from Flores, Indonesia provides evidence of a substantive, quantified economic benefit of watershed service based on a fixed-effects regression model of water collection costs. The paper also offers lessons for researchers at all stages of data collection and analysis and a research agenda for enhancing our toolkit for policy analysis. This discussion of conceptual, empirical and methodological issues collectively suggests that ecosystem valuation can provide critical input into the design and evaluation of conservation and development policies in the tropics.

Book Description

This book provides the first unified reference work for silicon-based polymers. It brings together in one volume research on the synthesis, properties, chemistry, electronic structure, applications, and technology of these materials. The volume is built around a series of critical overviews of these rapidly advancing fields and is supplemented by a substantial number of shorter papers that focus on current findings. It also provides insight into possible directions for future scientific and technological advances in the field.

Book Description

Modeling and Simulation Environment for Satellite and Terrestrial Communications Networks: Proceedings of the European COST Telecommunications Symposium will be of interest to network designers, developers, and operators.
This book is a collection of papers given at the European Cost Telecommunications Symposium. The Symposium was broken down into four sessions:

Modelling and Simulation.
Teletraffic Modelling.
Communications Networks Simulation.
Problems in Simulation.

Each session addressed a wide spectrum of subjects. The symposium covered nearly all of the important aspects of simulation modeling and tools for the design and performance evaluation of communication techniques and systems. Emerging techniques were emphasized.
Modeling and Simulation Environment for Satellite and Terrestrial Communications Networks: Proceedings of the European COST Telecommunications Symposium is a useful reference work for practicing engineers and academic researchers.

Book Description

Aurora Leigh, now available in the first critically edited and fully annotated edition for almost a century, is the foremost example of the mid-nineteenth century poem of contemporary life. It is an amazing verse novel which provides a panoramic view of the early Victorian age in London. The
dominant presence in the work however, is the narrator Aurora Leigh, as she develops her ideas on art, love, God, the "Woman Question", and society.

Customer Reviews:

As If Jane Eyre Were Written by Shakespeare.......2005-10-28

Having been brought up on the notion that Elizabeth Barrett Browning was the slighter and less-talented adjunct poet of her husband Robert, I was pleased to find I was wrong.

She's terrific.

This is a brilliant work, full of dazzling poetry and insights.

It's loaded with allusions and references (I read the Penguin edition; and the notes there run for many, many pages--and these barely skim the surface), but it is remarkably accessible and fun.

This is a work full of wisdom and unusual perspectives. Luminous and grand and down-to-earth all at once. Imagine Jane Eyre written by Shakespeare.

It's an education in Victorian (upper-middle-class) England, and also the Victorian English infatuation with Italy. It's also a biting and incisive feminist portrait, full of rebellion and self-discovery.

I strongly recommend it to anyone who likes poetry, or Victorian novels.

An amazing achievement.......2001-05-20

E.B.B. set out to outstrip Milton and does so in an amazingly original way. Aurora Leigh is a novel in blank verse that is actually longer than Paradise Lost! She combines the genre expectations for a woman writer--the novel--with an audacious bid for poetic immortality. The book tells a good story but it also works as a formidable reminder to her contemporary poets that the novel is taking over and poets must make sure that they are writing in the spirit of the age.

Book Description

This subversively brilliant rock memoir, ingeniously styled as a biography, is the work of a nameless, faceless writer hired by an Orwellian entity called "the Corporation" to capture the essence of Ray Davies, lead singer and songwriter of The Kinks and one of the greatest rock 'n' rollers of all time. Tales of London and the swinging Sixties rock scene evolve as R.D. reveals his life and times to the writer, often passing his stories directly into the writer's consciousness. Carnaby Street, "Top of the Pops," the Cavern Club, The Beatles, The Rolling Stones, The Who, and other fixtures of the period fade in and out of this compelling narrative. Part memoir, part social history, part psychological thriller, this elusive and daring book exposes rock stardom as the heaven, hell, and purgatory that it is.

Customer Reviews:

Not your usual biography.......2007-01-12

X-Ray: The Unauthorized Autobiography by Ray Davies is exactly what you would expect from the leader of the 60s band The Kinks. One only has to listen to a few of the songs he has authored - "Dandy," "Dedicated Follower of Fashion," "Muswell Hillbillies" to name three - to know that Ray Davies wears his heart on his sleeve. Whether expressing jealousy at those more attractive than he (the first two listed songs - probably about brother David) or fear and scorn at those "nameless men in gray" (the third song about government-managed social experimentation), Davies has already been ready to address issues that are not often addressed in rock `n' roll, and to do so in the most convoluted manner possible.

In writing his autobiography through roughly the end of the 70s, Davies could have simply told the story. But, you have to know that this is way too easy and conventional. Instead, X-ray is a story within a story. An unnamed minor clerk in a more-or-less unnamed department of the British government that maintains records about entertainment and entertainers is charged with "updating the file" on a certain Raymond Douglas Davies. In his effort to fulfill this objective, he meets with a reclusive, eccentric, almost Faginesque character who weaves a rambling story about himself, the band and the English music scene in general. Amidst the mass of narrative, the story of The Kinks unfolds with some remarkable clarity and candor about the band and its interaction with its management and record companies.

It is in these stretches of story-telling that the book nears conventionality. We learn of the early management team, Robert, Grenville and Larry, who got the band the contracts that made them successes but also virtually robbed them of the ownership of intellectual property; David was 16 when he signed. We learn of Ray's first wife: the result of "doing the right thing" upon learning of her pregnancy.

This conventional approach to autobiography is, however, pushed into the background by Davies' desire for political rhetoric. This is not the first time this has appeared in his work. One only has to think of the "Lola versus Powerman and the Money-go-round" for evidence of his distaste for the business side of things and his loathing thereof.

Like many Brits, Ray Davies has an internalized conflict between the desire for a quasi-socialist solution to major socio-economic issues and the distaste for the inevitable bureaucracy that must accompany it. This is the stage and background on which our hero - not Davies - is sent on a voyage of discovery through his relationship with Ray Davies. The end of the book is certainly not supposed to be the end of the story, although the last few pages see the apparent death of Davies and a notional redemption of the hero.

If you are interested in Ray Davies - not because of the Kinks, per se - because of a deep love and respect for who he is and his remarkable ability to be the most human of any major rock `n' roller and you have not read this book: DO IT AS SOON AS POSSIBLE! You won't be disappointed.

There has been talk for years that Ray Davies would return to this genre and bring it up to date. While possible, it becomes less likely as time passes. In fact, it would be my contention that the CDs "The Storyteller" and "Other Peoples' Lives" are the logical extensions of X-Ray: The Unauthorized Autobiography

A Peek into the Life and Mind of Ray Davies.......2006-07-25

Ray Davies's "unauthorized" autobiography gives us a tantalizing peek into the private world of the singer/composer/musician/rock pioneer. The method Ray chose to tell his tale - through the eyes of a reporter - might be creative, but I found myself skipping over much of the fictitious narrative and seeking out the parts where Ray speaks in the first person. There are interesting stories of the early days of the Kinks and their unscrupulous management; and tales from inside recording studios, hotel rooms, and the author's mind. For readers interested in 1960s London and the early British pop music scene, "X-Ray" provides invaluable insight into the times, the players, and the action. Kudos to the reclusive Ray for revealing more details about his personal tragedies than expected, and for exercising restraint and class when writing about his brother Dave, with whom he's had a tumultuous relationship over the years. Yet, in spite of all that is revealed, the book felt like merely a trailer for what could have been a big-screen epic. I was gratified by the glimpse, but it left me wanting more.

Too much garbage to wade through.......2006-03-27

I'm sorely disappointed in this one. Much as I enjoy reading this kind of book, I couldn't make heads or tails of this. Ray has insisted to be "arty" and turn his story into a novel. Problem is, it doesn't come off as all that "arty", but confused. It's sad to see a pair of brothers who dislike each other as much as Ray and Dave, but I think it was inevitable. They're both kind of on the creepy side. Is there a coherent Kinks bio out there, because neither X-Ray or Kink fit the bill. Just this side of unreadable.

Better than usual for a rock book........2005-09-25

Ray davies i sevidently a better than average storyteller and riter when it comes to rock related literature. A good, nostalgic look at the British Invasion scene and often funny.

A must for die-hard fans-only we would suffer through it!.......2005-01-31

Nobody has ever claimed that Ray Davies is the most tightly-wrapped man in the world. Attempting suicide in a clown suit kind of eliminates you from that competition. This book really confirms many of the opinions held about the brilliant Mr. Davies. "X-Ray" was one of the most pretentious, disjointed, self-serving things that I have ever read. Having said that, I stayed home on a Saturday night and awake into the wee hours of that night to read it. I think Ray Davies is alternately a whack-job and a genius and this book proves both of these theories. A fan will have read other works so that you don't mistake this telling for an accurate history and a casual reader would do better to read those works instead. Nonetheless, a Ray Davies fan can't miss this opportunity to peek into his mind.

Average customer rating:

X-Ray : The Unauthorized Autobiography
Ray. Davies
Manufacturer: Overlook Press
ProductGroup: Book
Binding: Paperback
ASIN: B000M6DHYI

Customer Reviews:

Ditto: Another fake SEAL.......2004-06-07

This book is a fabrication of stories written by another SEAL wannabe.Do not waste your money.This man was NOT a SEAL.

A Detailed Book About SEAL Operations In Vietnam.......2004-01-31

I was never in the military, but I found this book to be of interest. It is filled with details about SEAL operations in Vietnam. It should of great interest to individuals wanting to know more about SEALs in combat. But, it's not very long and lacks storytelling pace and punch - very dry and to the point. It is, after all, a non-fiction account.

Comprehensive Review.......2001-04-12

A well-written and comprehensive account of SEAL operations during the Vietnam War. Describes missions in great detail and provides data to backup his assertions.

A Fake SEAL.......1999-07-30

The dust jacket says Hutchins is a former SEAL, but this is not true. The book contains many detailed descriptions of operations for which the sources are unexplained--Hutchins, who had never been a SEAL, had not participated in them, does not mention any names of participants, does not say he has interviewed participants, and does not cite documents or written sources.

Book Description

This fascinating exchange between two of the most prominent figures in contemporary culture, Daniel Barenboim, Music Director of the Chicago Symphony Orchestra and the Deutsche Staatsoper Berlin, and Edward W. Said, the eminent literary critic and scholar and a leading expert on the Middle East, grew out of the acclaimed Carnegie Hall Talks. A unique and impassioned discussion about politics and culture, it touches on many diverse subjects: the importance of a sense of place; the differences between writing prose and music; the conductors Wilhelm Fürtwangler and Arturo Toscanini; Beethoven as the greatest sonata composer; the difficulty of playing Wagner; the sound at Bayreuth; the writers Balzac, Dickens, and Adorno; the importance of great teachers; and the power of culture to transcend all national and political differences——something they both witnessed when they brought together young Arab and Israeli musicians to play at Weimar in 1999.

Although Barenboim and Said have very different points of view, they act as catalysts for each other. The originality of their ideas makes this a book that is both accessible and compelling for anyone who is interested in the culture of the twenty-first century.

Customer Reviews:

Parallels and Paradoxes.......2007-02-07

I never received this book. Your earlier message said it was sent the middle of January but to day it was not received. Please track for me. David Fine

Mildly interesting, but we've sorta been here before.......2004-09-10

This book encompasses a series of talks between conductor Daniel Barenboims and writer Edward Said just before the turn of the millenium. It is short and an easy read, and to my mind doesn't really go anywhere bold or surprising. If you've seen intervies with Barenboim before--on 60 Minutes, for example, or on the several conductor and pianist DVDs on which he appears--you've heard him say much of this before--music is the opposite of silence and it is not the printed page but rather the notes the of the orchestra that are the composition. He also talks about such subjects as the "velocity" of music (a subject distinct from tempo) and the interrelation between music and politics. It is here in particular that he and Said go off on all sorts of tangents about the Israel-Palestine peace process (a process that has since basically collapsed), as well as the role of anti-Semitism in Germany, in Wagner's time, Hitler's time and now. Again, I've heard this before from Barenboim and Said many times--the difference between Wagner's ideals and Wagner's art and whether the two are separable, and so forth.

The most interesting chapter to me was the last, where both men made a very persuasive argument that classical music is dying or dead because of a narrowing of our cultural and intellectual life, especially in America, excluding anything universal and to limiting one's knowledge deliberately to a narrow sphere. It's virtually a proud provincialism, reinforced and encouraged by our consumerism culture that discourages critical thinking and expanding horizons, prefering sheep to minds. Wisely, neither man professes to have "the solution" but they do show how it's hard to really grasp the message of Beethoven this way, and I feel they have a strong point, one you won't find dealt with in most classical magazines or programs, as they too are an encouragement of a sort of mindless capitalism (disguised as "Art").

However, the best thing I can say about this volume is it refers often to the writings of Theodore Adorno, whose dense essays, though in some cases dated, are far far more penetrating and interesting than the rather pedestrian concepts bandied about here. At least this book is inexpensive and a quick read, so if you're curious it can't hurt to check it out. However, this volume will be taken to the second-hand shop the next time I go weeding through my stuff. For those of you who think you may be interested in this, and who don't mind thick, densely-written books, check out Adorno's "Essays on Music," also available from Amazon.

The meaning and value of music.......2004-01-25

I was very excited to read a book written by one of my favorite 20th century intellectuals and one of my favorite pianists. This is not a musicology text; it is perhaps, something more valuable than that. Edward Said, who died recently, was a pianist himself; this fact combined with his explorations into the meaning of democracy and social culture made reading this book a very interesting proposition alone. The book did not disappoint and offered many surprises both in terms of exploring what classical music can offer to contemporary culture and what music - especially Beethoven's music - means in political terms. The book is organized as a series of conversations in which Baremboim and Said discuss topics that include the apparent detachment that classical music has today from the rest of culture as opposed to the time when an understanding and admiration for it was deemed indispensable for the educated and higher classes. However, what makes the book a pleasure to read is one one level Said and Baremboim clealry love music passionatley, on the other Baremboim is an Israeli citizen, who was the first to perform in the occupied Territories with a palestinian orchestra and also sponsored a Palestinian orchestra to play inn Germany. Edward Said was an intellaetcual that argued passionatley for the Palestinian cause. Their firendship and coomon interest in music offers an undeniable sense of hope for those of us, like myself, who are troubled by the ongiong Arab-Israeli conflict that appears to worsen ebery day. That this hope should be nunaced and coloured with the music of Beethoven seems to be not only fascinating and beautiful, but a tribute to a composer who saw and used music to shake the world and argue for freedom. In so doing baremboim and Said discuss the possibility that music can serve as a model or for undertsanding between peoples and global citizenship. They are both idealists in this sense, but their vision makes beautiful sense nonetheless.

Two cultures, one uniting force.......2003-06-17

Having heard Barenboim and Said interviewed on NPR I rushed to Amazon to acquire this book. I was not disppointed! These are highly literate men, wise men, who see music in a social context. Although their roots are Israeli and Palestinian, their exposure to other cultures has broadened their perspectives so that their opinions are informed by their experiences in Egypt, Argentina, America, Germany, Israel, etc. The continuing theme is music, especially that of Beethoven and later Wagner, but in the context of their societies and ours. It may be that the hope forpeace in the world is shared music!

A Book So Full.......2002-12-17

If there is a book that presents valuable and valid lessons in how to resolve differences, be they in attitudes towards the arts, the lack of music in our educational system, the etiology of the Israeli/Palestinian dichotomy, and so much more, then this collection of conversations between Daniel Barenboim and Edward W. Said as edited and synthesized by Ara Guzelimian is it. This powerful but too brief book reaches for the Nobel Peace Prize in its courage, exploration of the state of man and the possibilities for the future, and in its tremendously accessible format that makes the workings of these three great minds available for us all. Each of the extended conversations taped betaween 1995 and 1999 addresses an interesting topic that serves to open vistas that go far beyond the crux of the topic. Hearing Barenboim expound on the fact that no one can exactly interpret a composer's score because the spirit is not on the page but in the making and experiencing the 'sound' that happens in a live performance rather obliterates all critics who descry individual interpretation of the great composers as "not the composer's intention!" Said carries this into the realm of literature, suggesting that contemporary writers are where they are because of the giants of the past and that we, as readers, are influenced in our interpretation of new work dependent upon our exposure and digestion of works by the old masters. Contemporary music by composers such as Carter, Schoenberg, and Birtwistle are discussed in a way that assists our concept of listening and learning in the concert hall. Similar parallels and similar paradoxes in the international political arena are given the same level of inspiring dialog and paths to understanding. This is a fine, fine book and we are indebted to Ara Guzelimian not only for his written and conversational contributions, but for persevering in having this volume published. Read this and gain insight and intelligence on many streams of thought that will help us all save this planet.

Amazon.com

Rebecca Reynolds brings nature to the elderly, the infirm, and the imprisoned. Her "Animals as Intermediaries" program travels to hospitals and other closed-care institutions. Bring Me the Ocean collects her wonderful vignettes of how these small brushes with the natural world restore patients with a sense of mystery and wellbeing. A boy with cerebral palsy feels a rapport with an injured owl. An adolescent girl finally speaks while playing with a dog. Working with farm and companion animals and permanently injured wildlife, the program also re-creates natural environments in hospital rooms and prison libraries. Bring Me the Ocean has been known to bring autumn meadows, winter marshes and forests indoors. These stories are proof of the healing power of the natural world. Photographs of the outdoors, the animals and people accompany the text.

Book Description

True stories about a program called Animals As Intermediaries that uses nature to help troubled or isolated individuals

Customer Reviews:

Proof that "We can never have enough of nature".......2004-02-18

Rebecca Reynolds and her Animals As Intermediaries colleagues conduct outreach programs at hospitals and special schools, bringing all types of natural objects into institutional settings to share with patients and students. She begins her text with the Thoreau quote that "We need the tonic of wildness. ... We can never have enough of nature." The real-life vignettes that follow illustrate the healing / spiritual power that nature has had on individuals of varying ages with special mental or physical challenges. We see how connections are made between the human spirit and Nature -- in the form of dogs, rabbits, moss, seaweed, even buckets of ocean water. The sight, smell and touch of cattails, grasses, marsh ice, and rabbit fur can console and heal. They can stimulate communication where none previously existed and unearth personal histories that were previously buried and unknown to caretakers. Reynolds' storytelling style makes it easy to witness these encounters in person. Readers can feel the starkness of a typical hospital room made temporarily more livable by bringing Nature inside. Inspirational reading for environmental educators, pet therapists, animal lovers, and those feeling a bit disconnected or locked behind four walls themselves.

Touches everyone with the power of animal healing.......1999-12-15

I recently met Rebecca at a conference where she gave a lecture that followed along with the idea of the book. When it was over,I purchased the book and have since read many of the vignettes that it contains. Each story is filled with tender details of how nature and animals have helped people come to grips with illness and sadness. The book shows us how the world around us can help us come to terms with various problems and conditions in life. I work in the field of Animal Assisted Therapy and have found this book an inspiration to what I do. Bring Me An Ocean validates what I see everyday with my dog when we visit hospitals. The gentle touch of an animal or the opportunity for a patient to smell a flower or touch a seashell sometimes provides more healing that all the medicine in the world. For anyone who loves nature and wants to nuture the souls of loved ones who may be ill, or not, this book is a must.

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