Wild Harmony: Animals of the North

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brilliant prose and accurate portrait of the north country

Wild Harmony: Animals of the North
William O. Pruitt Jr.
Manufacturer: Douglas Mcintyre/see Pgw
ProductGroup: Book
Binding: Paperback
ASIN: 0888946333

Customer Reviews:

brilliant prose and accurate portrait of the north country.......2002-10-23

I thought that this book excellent. pruitt's tale is a story of the north country that exposes the bevahoirs, violent or not of its residents. pruitt explores the interelatedness of all thing and the ecological balence that the north country assumes. pruittt examines the predator and prey relationships and provides the reader with an understanding from all view points. pruit tells this tale in a way that envoke the almost nostalgic pure reactions for such a place. pruitt is not telling a book about a magic forest adventure though, everything is the truth, the author is a professor of zoology. the combination of effective prose and scientific fact make an interesting read.

Book Description

336 pages (all in color)

Customer Reviews:

My favorite travel guide.......2007-05-18

I have bought many travel guides for Provence & the Cote D'Azur and this is my favorite. I like how it is broken up into regions and what that region offers. I always return to this guide for information. I only wish more books were available from this specific series.

Spectacular and different!.......2003-06-26

I bought so many guides for our trip to Provence. Among others (like the Touring in Wine Country and the Markets guide) this one is one of the best (despite the fact that the prices are not actualized and everything is still in french francs). Anyway, you'll find many tips and places to go that you won't find in the classic guides to Provence. And don't forget the price!!! for $ it is more than worthy!!

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Advanced Quantitative Analysis, a Companion Volume to Elementary Quantitative Analysis, by Willard, Hobart Hurd, And Diehl, Harvey by Willard, Hobart Hurd, And Diehl, Harvey by Willard, Hobart Hurd, And Diehl, Harvey
Hobart Hurd, And Diehl, Harvey Willard
Manufacturer: D. Van Nostrand company, Inc,
ProductGroup: Book
Binding: Hardcover
ASIN: B000LH5JVM

Average customer rating:
Advanced quantitative analysis,: A companion volume to Elementary quantitative analysis,
Hobart Hurd Willard
Manufacturer: D. Van Nostrand Company, Inc
ProductGroup: Book
Binding: Unknown Binding

Analytic | Chemistry | Science | Subjects | Books
ASIN: B0007GRT92

Book Description

In contrast to other books devoted to the averaging method and the method of integral manifolds, in the present book we study oscillation systems with many varying frequencies. In the process of evolution, systems of this type can pass from one resonance state into another. This fact considerably complicates the investigation of nonlinear oscillations.

In the present monograph, a new approach based on exact uniform estimates of oscillation integrals is proposed. On the basis of this approach, numerous completely new results on the justification of the averaging method and its applications are obtained and the integral manifolds of resonance oscillation systems are studied.

This book is intended for a wide circle of research workers, experts, and engineers interested in oscillation processes, as well as for students and post-graduate students specialized in ordinary differential equations.

Multifrequency Oscillations of Nonlinear Systems

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Multifrequency Oscillations of Nonlinear Systems
A. M. Samoaeilenko
Manufacturer: Springer-Verlag New York, LLC
ProductGroup: Book
Binding: Hardcover
ASIN: B000MHGCIK

Customer Reviews:

One of the greatest of all storytellers.......2006-11-19

Singer is one of the greatest writers of stories the world has known. He came to the United States at the age of thirty- one and for the next approximately five decades created the bulk of his fiction. Singer wrote in Yiddish and the lion's share of his work is set in Eastern Europe in pre- War Poland.
This is what William Dereseiwicz has to say about this collection in his NYTimes Review."The sheer abundance of his production, along with that famous interest in sex, suggests a Jewish Boccaccio, and Singer is indeed Boccaccian in his exuberance, facility and invention. Rejecting modernism with its deliberate difficulties and programmatic experimentation, he remained faithful to the older pleasures of character and plot. Singer can get a story going in no time flat, conjure characters so vivid you feel as if they're sitting next to you, pour forth an endless supply of situations and surprises. Some of his stories are mere trifles (the third volume in particular contains a fair number of throwaways), but many more are enigmatic or mordant or sly, hauntingly strange or piercingly sad. Reading through the 2,500 pages of this collection, I found myself bored maybe twice."

My favorite Singer stories are included in this collection. "Short Friday" " Gimpel the Fool" " The Spinoza of Market Street" and " The Little Shoemakers"
This collection is a true treasure one 'American Library' is to be commended for putting out.

Book Description

Physics textbooks identify Thomas Young (1773-1829) as the experimenter who first proved that light is a wave--not a stream of corpuscles as Newton proclaimed. In any book on the eye and vision, Young is the London physician who showed how the eye focuses and proposed the three-color theory of vision confirmed only in 1959. In any book on ancient Egypt, Young is credited for his crucial detective work in deciphering the Rosetta Stone. It is hard to grasp how much he knew.
Invited to contribute to a new edition of the Encyclopedia Britannica, Young offered the following subjects: Alphabet, Annuities, Attraction, Capillary Action, Cohesion, Colour, Dew, Egypt, Eye, Focus, Friction, Halo, Hieroglyphic, Hydraulics, Motion, Resistance, Ship, Sound, Strength, Tides, Waves, and anything of a medical nature. He asked that all his contributions be kept anonymous.
While not yet thirty he gave a course of lectures at the Royal Institution covering virtually all of known science. But polymathy made him unpopular in the academy. An early attack on his wave theory of light was so scathing that English physicists buried it for nearly two decades until it was rediscovered in France. But slowly, after his death, great scientists recognized his genius.
Today, in an age of professional specialization unimaginable in 1800, polymathy still disturbs us. Is this kind of curiosity selfish, even irresponsible? Here is the story of a driven yet modest hero, the last man who knew everything.

Customer Reviews:

Only read if..........2007-05-18

Only read this book if you are secure with your own IQ. If you are not, you will leave feeling terribly inadequate as Thomas Young was amazingly portrayed in this book!!!

Inspiring........2006-12-06

Chapters include:
Preface
Introduction
Child Prodigy
Fellow of the Royal Society
Itinerant Medical Student
'Phenomenon' Young
Physician of Vision
Royal Institution Lecturer
Let There Be Light Waves
'Natural Philosophy & the Mechanical Arts'
Dr Thomas Young, M.D., F.R.C.P.
Reading the Rosetta Stone
Waves of Enlightenment
Walking Encyclopedia
In the Public Interest
Grand Tour
Dueling with Champollion
A Universal Man
Notes & References
Bibliography
Index

***** A fantastic biography of Thomas Young that is not only great for fans of history, but also for students to use in subject reports! *****

Reviewed by Detra Fitch of Huntress Reviews.

A Little Dry, But Worth the Science.......2006-10-20

There isn't a great deal of personal, emotional information about Thomas Young, the title polymath here. But then his life was mostly in his work. And there is a lot to be learned following Thomas' investigations of a variety of scientific and scholarly subjects.

His range truly was amazing. How did people accomplish so much in previous centuries? Well, I suppose without TV to suck away time... But Thomas was exceptional even for his overachieving, turn-of-the-18th-century age. And this biography allows a reader to follow in the path of his curiosity - about how the eye works, about the nature of light, about Egyptian writing.

The biographer's descriptions of Thomas' researches into the physiology of the human eye can get pretty gruesome. These pages are not for the squeamish. Thomas often used himself as subject, probing his own eye socket to get to the bottom of things.

The section on his investigations into light is really enlightening and presents some of the clearest descriptions I've read of the split-screen diffraction experiment. This experiment was key in leading Thomas to his pioneering proposition that light is wave-like in nature.

And then the section on his work translating the Rosetta Stone was news to me! I had always assumed that ancient Egyptian hieroglyph writing was a form of picture writing like Chinese, with each symbol representing a whole word. But Thomas' break-through lay in the realization that the Egyptian symbols were actually largely like our modern English alphabet - that each symbol represented a sound, a phoneme. And so he gave us the key to reading the inscriptions on the ancient Egyptian tombs and obelisks.

The writing here is generally clear and will keep you turning page by page, tracking Thomas' investigations as he unlocks one mystery after another.

you might not like this book.......2006-06-09

If you're already intrigued by the concept of polymathy (a man who studies and works in many different subjects), were a triple major with two minors in college, or have a general interest in Thomas Young, you'll come away from this satisfied. Young's a fascinating guy, and given the task of understanding a man who worked in such varied areas, Robinson does a decent job writing his biography, or perhaps more properly, measuring and framing Young's contributions in the various subjects listed on the cover. The problem is that I don't think this book would cross over to a general audience that doesn't fit one of the above criteria. But then again, I could be wrong.

Excellent Snapshot of Thomas Young's Life and Work.......2006-04-26

Although, as specified by the author, this is not meant to be a full biography of Thomas Young, this book certainly does give the reader an excellent perspective of the man, his many activities and his times. Any meaningful sketch of Thomas Young would need to include, amongst many other topics, some discourse on his work in physics, particularly the wave properties of light. This book certainly includes such discussions. The author has the ability to present physical principles with the utmost clarity - something that is, most unfortunately, lacking in many a scientific paper. I was not aware that Thomas Young was involved in so many fields, including Egyptology. In particular, I have always been under the erroneous impression that the deciphering of the Rosetta Stone was solely the work of Champollion; this book sets the record straight on that matter. The book is well-written and should be accessible to everyone. It would make a valuable addition to any library, particularly one leaning towards topics pertaining to the history of science.

Amazon.com

In How Far from Austerlitz? accomplished military historian Alistair Horne covers the pivotal decade of Napoleon's career. Starting with the victories at Ulm and Austerlitz and concluding with the defeat at Waterloo, Horne treats his subject like the hero of a Greek tragedy, full of the hubris that ultimately will cause his downfall. He shows, for instance, that once the conquering begins, it can rarely stop. One victory demands a second to protect the gains of the first, and so on. Before long, resources are spread thin and the empire topples. That's essentially what happened to Napoleon, and Horne tells the tale well. In addition, he draws interesting parallels between the French emperor and Hitler: both were more or less confined to the European continent by British naval power, both launched a doomed invasion of Russia, and both had an fatal thirst for conquest.

Book Description

A London Sunday Times Book of the Year
A Daily Telegraph Book of the Year

Customer Reviews:

Serviceable and readable history of the slow descent to the final defeat of Napoleon.......2007-01-08

This is an easy to read history of Napoleon's descent from the peak of his success, at the battle of Austerlitz, to his final defeat at Waterloo. The author notes a key lesson of such a study (page xxvi):

". . .it is the old repeated maxim of conquest leading only to further conquest; dictators and nations can win striking victories, but still lose wars--and the peace. Then follows the exhaustion, failure, or death of the dynamic leader, and everything collapses. Wellington understood. 'A conqueror, like a cannon ball,' he observed, 'must go on; if he rebounds, his career is over.' Napoleon and Hitler never perceived this. . . ."

The book begins with a brief description of Napoleon's rise. Then, campaigns from 1805 to 1815 are described. A nice aspect of this book is a series of useful maps, to help make sense of the key battles over time.

The procession of battles begins with major Napoleonic victories at Ulm and Austerlitz. The book does a nice job of explaining how the combination of Napoleon's skills and the skills of some of his key commanders simply was were too much for such inferior commanders as General Mack on the opposing side. Both battles were smashing victories for the French, and may have represented the high water mark of their success on the battlefield.

In 1805--the year of Ulm and Austerlitz--the naval battle at Trafalgar also occurred, and that forever ended any hope of victory at sea. There were other victories to come, but by the time of the win at Wagram (in 1809), these were becoming "hairsbreadth Harry" victories, where the French won but did not destroy the enemy--and led to heavy French casualties. Thereafter, the poor results for France in Spain and the disastrous result of the doomed Russian invasion foreshadowed the ultimate defeat of Napoleon.

Leipzig in 1814 and Waterloo in 1815 ended the Napoleonic era. Overreach. As Horne notes (page 375): "Yet even if Waterloo had been won by Napoleon, it would almost certainly, in view of the overwhelming forces closing in on him, have been followed sooner or later by the ultimate defeat." A lesson that is difficult for major powers to learn. There comes a time when continued efforts at even greater triumphs may lead to ultimate defeat.

Excellent Popular History of the Fall of Napoleon.......2006-09-17

Alistair Horne's "How Far From Austerlitz" traces the career of Napoleon from the apogee of his glory as victor of the battle of Austerlitz in 1805 to his final defeat and exile to St. Helena in 1815. Horne, a marvellously gifted writer and practiced popular historian, provides a highly readable account accessible to the general reader and the historical buff alike.

Horne opens with a quick review of Napoleon's dramatic rise to power and to the circumstances that led him and the Grande Armee to Austerlitz in 1805. The account of the battle itself reveals Napoleon at the peak of his powers as a political leader and general; the aftermath makes clear his failings as a diplomat and strategic thinker.

The ten years between Austerlitz and Waterloo would be marked by increasingly costly and less decisive battles and by an inability to orchestrate a general peace in Europe. Napoleon, as portrayed by Horne, is his own worst enemy in this endeavor. Repeated success in battle feeds a growing meglomania that makes him incapable of the kind of "soft" peace that might have been available to him. Napoleon will overreach himself in Spain, and more dramatically, in Russia, ultimately depriving himself of the forces necessary to defeat the coalitions he called into being by his invasions.

Horne's narrative is enourmously readable; Napoleon's fall is presented as the Greek tragedy of a gifted leader undone by his pride. Horne has the good journalist's sense for place and for people. The book is punctuated with thumbnail sketches of the various personalities who played key parts in the drama of 1805-1815, including Napoleon's marshals, his family, the other crowned heads of Europe, and his various military opponents.

This book is highly recommended to the general reader with an interest in Napoleon and his era.

Great essay about Napoleon.......2004-09-18

How Far From Austerlitz? is a presentation of Napoleon Bonaparte starting in 1805 and ending with his death in 1815. Horne's overview guides the reader through the most important events during this time period, supplied by page after page of useful information in an understandable and entertaining format.
The first couple chapters of background information provide the base to which the rest of the book is built. For any novice on Napoleon or of this time period, the information provided is sufficient to give the reader an understanding of what propelled Napoleon to where his is in 1805. It is a good introduction to some of Napoleon's most famous event: Austerlitz, the Russian campaign, as well as Waterloo. Horne's detailed explanation of the battlefield terrain and troop movements, used in conjunction with the clearly drawn maps, paint a vivid picture of each engagement. Concise footnotes are also included to provide extra information without confusing the reader.
The essay does not concentrate solely on the war campaign of Napoleon. Additional topics such as politics, parallel events in Europe and America as well as Napoleon's personal life are included in minor detail. Probably the second most important aspect of Napoleon's life is addressed, his need for an heir for the empire he was building and the lengths he would go to obtain it. Some of Napoleon's correspondences are included, giving an insight to his personal feelings, especially towards Josephine. Alternate theories and possible outcomes are also hypothesized: Wellington fighting in Canada against the United States, Napoleon not offering the Louisiana purchase and Britain not fighting the War of 1812 to name a few.
As a supplement, an epilogue follows the conclusion of the essay. This chapter details the lives of many of the principle characters who played a key roll either with or against Napoleon. Much of the information contained here answers a common question at the end of any historical collection: What happened after the essay ended. A short synopsis explains some of the major events to occur that Napoleon influenced either directly of through his family. The reader discovers what became of people such as Napoleon's mother, brothers and sisters, the Duke of Wellington, Talleyrand, Blucher and Alexander I.
Throughout the essay Horne makes many references to historical personalities, most notably the would be conqueror Adolf Hitler. The parallels enable the reader to evaluate similarities between the two dictators, especially the common mistakes they made. Given the numerous similarities, Horne's inclusion allows the reader a reference point to a more familiar figure from which to gain a better understanding of Napoleon.
While this is not a complete account of Napoleon, Horne's goal was to educate on the fall of one of histories greatest field generals and leaders. His submission accomplishes the task with a style that entertains and enlightens the reader. Horne provides detailed information without the endless list of statistics or useless facts detracting from an excellent story.

St. Helena is a Long Way from Austerlitz.......2002-04-29

"How Far from Austerlitz?" is almost exactly what I was looking for: a brief, highly readable account of the Napoleonic Wars (about which I know relatively little). Horne explains why Austerlitz was Napoleon's most brilliant battle, carried out when he and his soldiers were at their peak. Using that battle as its frame of reference, the book describes the rise and fall of Napoleon and the Grand Army.

My only complaint is that "How Far from Austerlitz?" looks at this fascinating period almost exclusively from the perspective of Napoleon and other major players. While that's fine as far as it goes, I would have preferred an "Ambrose-style" narrative that also told the story of the rank-and-file Napoleonic soldier.

A good overview, but not the best-written Napoleonic history.......2002-03-25

This book is not a bad place to start one's reading of Napoleonic history, but less well written than works by military specialists John Keegan or David Chandler. "How far from Austerlitz" is neither a detailed study of military strategy nor a broad historical context for the Napoleonic era, but contains elements of both and excels at neither.

The prose is occasionally clunky and the text would benefit from more numerous, more detailed maps next to the battle descriptions. Map and description are usually separated by several pages, which is frustrating.

Readers of this book might also enjoy "The Art of Warfare in the Age of Napoleon" by Gunther Rothenburg, which is strategy-oriented and "Napoleon and Wellington" by Andrew Roberts, which traces the events that eventually brought the two great generals together at Waterloo and suggests that the two men's regard for each other was different than many suppose.

For a fascinating account of Napoleon's attempts to rewrite history from Saint Helena, try "The Black Room At Longwood" by Jean-Paul Kaufmann. Kaufmann wears his frenchness on his sleeve and makes no effort to refute Napoleon's endless rationalizations, but he writes beautifully not just about historical events but about the nature of time, memory and solitude.

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How far from Austerlitz ? Napoleon, 1805-1815.
ALISTAIR HORNE
Manufacturer: See notes
ProductGroup: Book
Binding: Hardcover
ASIN: B000RQH9HE

Average customer rating:
How Far from Austerlitz? (Napoleon 1805-1815)
Alistair Horne
Manufacturer: St. Martin's Press
ProductGroup: Book
Binding: Hardcover

General | Europe | History | Subjects | Books
General | Military | History | Subjects | Books
ASIN: 0333655494

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HOW FAR FROM AUSTERLITZ?: NAPOLEON 1805-1815
Alistair Horne
Manufacturer: St Martins Pr
ProductGroup: Book
Binding: Hardcover
ASIN: B000NXHDCM

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How Far from Austerlitz? Napoleon 1805-1815
Alistair Horne
Manufacturer: St. Martin's Griffin
ProductGroup: Book
Binding: Paperback
ASIN: B000OTKEI0

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Informative and Enjoyable

"Counting lives" meant "killing people"

An enjoyable read

Excellent second book to read about Chernobyl

Chernobyl - have the lessons been learned?

The Truth About Chernobyl
Grigori Medvedev
Manufacturer: Basic Books
ProductGroup: Book
Binding: Paperback

General | Politics | Nonfiction | Subjects | Books
Hazardous Waste | Environmental | Civil | Engineering | Professional & Technical | Subjects | Books
Safety & First Aid | Health, Mind & Body | Subjects | Books
Similar Items:

The Legacy of Chernobyl

Voices from Chernobyl: The Oral History of a Nuclear Disaster

Ablaze: The Story of the Heroes and Victims of Chernobyl

The Warning: Accident at Three Mile Island: A Nuclear Omen for the Age of Terror

JOURNEY TO CHERNOBYL: ENCOUNTERS IN THE RADIOACTIVE ZONE

ASIN: 0465087760

Customer Reviews:

Informative and Enjoyable.......2007-05-25

I really enjoyed this book. As a teenager with a morbid interest in nuclear accidents like Chernobyl, Medvedev gave a perfect amount of detail and information while making his account readable. This book is very well-written, which I didn't expect when I checked it out. It reads almost like a novel rather than like a non-fiction book. However, like others have said, it doesn't give a lot of definition for things like nuclear measurements (I must admit, I looked for a glossary when I saw the word "roetgen").

All in all, a great book and a pleasant surprise.

"Counting lives" meant "killing people".......2007-03-18

Those who wish to hide the truth delight
in creating new vocabulary to hide behind.
On p 234, Medvedev writes:

"...the phrase 'counting lives' had
acquired a new meaning." The meaning
was the number of men to be killed
in a procedure being considered.

However, I was disappointed he didn't
mention "bio-robots," the euphemism for
men sent to handle the fuel rods w/o
any protection.

I agree with other reviews that the
author (a) is a good writer and the
story moves right along, and (b) he
assumes that the readers knows a bit
more about nuclear measurements than
most of us do.

An enjoyable read.......2006-08-30

Grigori Medvedev puts us on a time machine back into a nostalgic world of nuclear innocence. The world in consternation by the destructive power of the atom at the end of the World War, has forgotten quickly within 30 years of what devastation and power the atom still holds. The book is simple enough to entertain the public but also has a touch of sophistication that entices even the unimpressionable scientists and engineers. First the book surgical removes the bland details of the events that led up to the crisis in Chernobyl. It quickly gives the reader a background that he needs to get himself emerged into the crisis. It does an excellent job in taking someone like myself who has no background in the science or the history of the disaster to a nominal understanding that led to the disaster and its after effects. It not only seeks a scientific approach but also provide a statement of how politics and science can clash and lead to catastrophic accidents. The bulk of the book is spent on the events of the 2 critical days of April 1986, which is followed by his very poignant criticism of the leadership and the academia that allowed such a culture to be embedded in Russian mentality. The shift in mentality that was set in as a result of Chernobyl is the most interesting part I thought of the book. He claims that Chernobyl has brought a warning to "man not to become intoxicated with his own power, not to take [that] power lightly, and not to seek in it ephemeral gains and pleasure and the glitter of prestige." The same recurring theme of pride and power, which haunts all man in every civilization and which opens for war and destruction, fuels also the scientific and engineering achievements. Of anything, I take away from the reading that even in the scientific world, one have to examine the agenda and the truthfulness of the material presented which cleverly hides behind the complex language of science.

Excellent second book to read about Chernobyl.......2006-05-05

This book is an excellent account of the accident. Besides being personally knowlegable, the author quotes NUMEROUS eye-witnesses to the disaster. He goes minute-by-minute (sometimes second-by-second) with virtually all the individuals who were present during the accident, and the politicians who, before and during the accident, made things worse.

However, in order to fully appreciate this book, some prior knowlege is needed. For example, terms like roentgens (a measure of radiation exposure) were never explained in laymen's terms - although even a layman can understand that, as the author points out, an instrument whose scale only goes up to 3.6 roentgens is inadequate to measure radiation in the range of 20,000 roentgens! Thus, most of the most important facts are fairly easy to deduce from context, although a glossery of nuclear terms would have been helpful.

Because the author has such a detailed knowlege of the subject, his account can occasionally loose the forest for the trees. For this reason, I say that it is an EXCELLENT second book to read about the disaster. If you already know the outlines of the events and have had the major terms defined for you (the "forest") by some other book, you cannot find a better book to explore every "tree" in detail. You don't need a physics doctorate, just some basic background.

But, even without any prior knowlege - my situation - the author's writing style is excellent. He captures the drama and the heroism with crackling intensity. He jumps from person to person, all around the plant, but he keeps the context, so the reader can see all these diffenerent groups and individuals working desperately in lethal conditions. And his pacing is excellent. Every person's experiences are described in detail, yet no one's account is sacrificed for anyone else's.

In conclusion, go get some basic background first, then READ THIS BOOK.

Chernobyl - have the lessons been learned?.......2005-09-23

I found this report a fascinating insight into the safety of the nuclear power industry in the former Soviet Union and elsewhere. Mr Medvedev is actually pro nuclear but he makes it clear we have to take responsibility for the massive potential for destruction that this technology entails - even during everyday operations. Mr Medvedev in turn provides detailed technical analysis, describes the psychology of the individual's involved and the inervating affect on decision making of a bureaucratic culture that rewarded cronyism and did not want to know about problems. The technical details took me a couple of reads to grasp sufficiently to understand the unfolding disaster, but this was offset by the human story and emotional response of the author to the disaster and its aftermath.

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Truth About Chernobyl:/The
GRIGORI MEDVEDEV
Manufacturer: See notes
ProductGroup: Book
Binding: Hardcover
ASIN: B000RQH3PM

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The Truth About Chernobyl
Illustrated by Ellen Levine Grigori Medvedev (Translatted from Russian By Evelyn Rossiter
Manufacturer: Basic Books
ProductGroup: Book
Binding: Paperback
ASIN: B000HZGPKW

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The Truth About Chernobyl
Grigori Medvedev
Manufacturer: Harper Collins
ProductGroup: Book
Binding: Paperback
ASIN: B000VEUR26

Book Description

The great deciduous forest that covers much of eastern North America is one of the continent's most important and magnificent natural resources. Twenty thousand years ago, however, during the last ice age, this forest did not exist. Instead, deciduous tree species formed only minor parts of forests dominated by pines, spruces, and firs that were better adapted to the glacial climate. As the climate warmed, the deciduous forest emerged as the dominant vegetation throughout the southeastern quarter of the continent. Native Americans occupied this forest, depended upon its resources, and influenced its dynamics in distinct ways. The human influence on the forest intensified greatly with the onset of European colonization, and the forest has been significantly modified during the past 200 years as a result of human activities. As demands for living space and resources accelerate and as global warming increases, the size of the remaining forest diminishes and its prospect for survival in the present and future greenhouse world grows increasingly dim.

In Forests in Peril, Hazel Delcourt takes the reader on her personal journey to document the history of the forest from its elusive and nebulous presence at the peak of the last ice age through its development as a magnificent natural resource to its uncertainty in today's, and tomorrow's, greenhouse world. Along this journey, the reader is introduced to methods of studying vegetation, collecting and interpreting data, and applying the insights of forest ecology and history to project future needs of the forest in a world that is increasingly dominated by human activities. The philosophical, intellectual, and methodological perspectives contained in Forests in Peril will appeal to readers interested in understanding how the natural history of North America has been studied and how that study can contribute to the protection and preservation of America's important biological resources.

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