Money, Labour and Land in Ancient Greece: Approaches to the Economics of Ancient Greece (Routledge Classical Monographs)

Book Description

Drawing on comparative historical and anthropological approaches, sociological, economic and cultural theory, and developments in epigraphy, legal history, numismatics and spatial archaeology, this volume will be of interest to all students and scholars of ancient economies.

Book Description

The Enchantment of Reason is a lively critique of American legal thought and the American legal system’s deification of reason. In an attempt to understand the current malaise of American law and the depressed condition of American intellectual life in general, Pierre Schlag diagnoses what he believes is an epidemic of pathological reliance on the principle of reason. Contending that legal thinkers continually fail to recognize the aesthetic and ethical prejudices of rationalism, Schlag creates a genealogy that shows how the call to reason has become a manipulative vehicle of power, faith, and prejudice.
In examining the fierce resistance to questioning reason’s primacy, this renowned critic and professor of American law demonstrates how those who use and study the law perpetuate their own methodological blind spots. Claiming that reason has been endowed with a virtually mystical power to organize social life, Schlag unravels the seemingly rational world of judicial opinions, statutes, doctrines, and legal principles. In the process, he paints a shocking—and sure to be controversial—picture of the chaos and, indeed, violence of the American legal tradition.
This bold commentary on the irrationality of reason in American law and legal studies will interest not only legal scholars and philosophers but also serious thinkers across a broad disciplinary spectrum.

Customer Reviews:

Normative and Nowhere to Go.......2000-09-18

Schlag's humorous writing, chatty style, and brilliant applications of contemporary critical theory to the study of legal thought has made him notorious within the legal community for his radical perspectives on legal theory.

Most academics and theorists are content to argue within legal theory. Not Schlag. Launching an all-out attack on legal academia and theory in general, Schlag argues that the entire legal community is actively complicit in the pain and suffering of millions. Blinded by an adherence to normative moral and theoretical legal concepts, law students are daily placed in roles as transcendental theoreticians that leave them unable to act in ways that empower individuals and communities.

Most will find this theme offensive, and Schlag doesn't always relate it clearly. But his writing is always clever and brilliant, and people interested in the philosophy of law will be fascinated by the way he raises issues of subjectivity, meta-ethics, and postmodernity.

Book Description

Handbook of Animal Models of Infection is a complete revision of a three-volume text that was published in 1986. It incorporates the major advances in the field during the past decade, in particular those concerning molecular biological procedures and new models that have been developed. It focuses on both methods and techniques, which makes it an essential and comprehensive reference as well as a benchtop manual. The Handbook will help investigators save time and effort in formulating an approach to test a new potential therapeutic agent or combination of agents for in vivo efficacy and to position the therapy for specific infections where it may have therapeutic promise. The book is divided into five sections; the first covering the general methodologies, followed by sections describing experimental bacterial, mycotic, parasitic, and viral infections.

Key Features
* Discusses ethical and safety aspects in an introductory background section
* Covers principles of animal care and current techniques appropriate for the use of animal models of infection
* Details a wide range of animals including rodents, rabbits, cats, and primates
* Provides hands-on descriptions of how to set up the model
* Discusses the major advantages and limitations of each model
* Ensures full coverage of bacterial, fungal, viral, and parasitic infections

Book Description

Learn about the revolutionary new technology of negative-refraction metamaterials

Negative-Refraction Metamaterials: Fundamental Principles and Applications introduces artificial materials that support the unusual electromagnetic property of negative refraction. Readers will discover several classes of negative-refraction materials along with their exciting, groundbreaking applications, such as lenses and antennas, imaging with super-resolution, microwave devices, dispersion-compensating interconnects, radar, and defense.

The book begins with a chapter describing the fundamentals of isotropic metamaterials in which a negative index of refraction is defined. In the following chapters, the text builds on the fundamentals by describing a range of useful microwave devices and antennas. Next, a broad spectrum of exciting new research and emerging applications is examined, including:
* Theory and experiments behind a super-resolving, negative-refractive-index transmission-line lens
* 3-D transmission-line metamaterials with a negative refractive index
* Numerical simulation studies of negative refraction of Gaussian beams and associated focusing phenomena
* Unique advantages and theory of shaped lenses made of negative-refractive-index metamaterials
* A new type of transmission-line metamaterial that is anisotropic and supports the formation of sharp steerable beams (resonance cones)
* Implementations of negative-refraction metamaterials at optical frequencies
* Unusual propagation phenomena in metallic waveguides partially filled with negative-refractive-index metamaterials
* Metamaterials in which the refractive index and the underlying group velocity are both negative

This work brings together the best minds in this cutting-edge field. It is fascinating reading for scientists, engineers, and graduate-level students in physics, chemistry, materials science, photonics, and electrical engineering.

Download Description

Learn about the revolutionary new technology of negative-refraction metamaterials Negative-Refraction Metamaterials: Fundamental Principles and Applications introduces artificial materials that support the unusual electromagnetic property of negative refraction. Readers will discover several classes of negative-refraction materials along with their exciting, groundbreaking applications, such as lenses and antennas, imaging with super-resolution, microwave devices, dispersion-compensating interconnects, radar, and defense. The book begins with a chapter describing the fundamentals of isotropic metamaterials in which a negative index of refraction is defined. In the following chapters, the text builds on the fundamentals by describing a range of useful microwave devices and antennas. Next, a broad spectrum of exciting new research and emerging applications is examined, including: Theory and experiments behind a super-resolving, negative-refractive-index transmission-line lens 3-D transmission-line metamaterials with a negative refractive index Numerical simulation studies of negative refraction of Gaussian beams and associated focusing phenomena Unique advantages and theory of shaped lenses made of negative-refractive-index metamaterials A new type of transmission-line metamaterial that is anisotropic and supports the formation of sharp steerable beams (resonance cones) Implementations of negative-refraction metamaterials at optical frequencies Unusual propagation phenomena in metallic waveguides partially filled with negative-refractive-index metamaterials Metamaterials in which the refractive index and the underlying group velocity are both negative This work brings together the best minds in this cutting-edge field. It is fascinating reading for scientists, engineers, and graduate-level students in physics, chemistry, materials science, photonics, and electrical engineering.

Book Description

Now Read On is the first anthology to bring together literatures in English, from around the world, on an equal footing. Featuring works by writers as diverse as Oscar Wilde, William Carlos Williams, Grace Paley and Anita Desai, this unique collection contains approximately 80 texts and extracts of texts in English. With its variety of genres-poetry, short stories, drama, novel-and a wide range of countries represented, including India, New Zealand, Singapore, Australia, Malaysia, Philippines, South Africa and Great Britain, it offers the reader a delectable sampling of the written word from the world over.

Customer Reviews:

a superb resource.......2003-07-05

One of the problems of so many texts aimed at E.S.L. students is that they use only material from the country of publication. This book draws on so many diverse sources for its passages, including some from the countries of origin of many of those students. What could be better? Although many of the passages are just parts of the overall work (e.g., not all of a Shakespearean play), they are wonderful selections showing a great diversity of literature. Bravo to McRae and Vethamani for coming up with such a brilliant idea (in the British sense of brilliant) and producing this most interesting book.

Great Academic Book.......1999-04-05

A must read for students of ELT. Provides great hints and techniques for teaching of literature. A major difference from other books and definately a plus point is the extensive use of Asian literature in the book.

Amazon.com

Even as academics increasingly break down the historical profession into areas of subspecialization, American Heritage continues to satisfy the public demand for "master narratives" of the American experience. The latest tome, Great Minds of History, is a lively collection of question-and-answer sessions conducted by veteran journalist Roger Mudd with five renowned scholars of the American Revolution, the Civil War, the West, the Gilded and Progressive Ages, and the late 20th century.

These conversations (drawn from the transcripts of a TV documentary series) allow each author to expound upon the more significant aspects of his field of expertise. Gordon Wood, for example, airs his controversial thesis that the words of the founding fathers and the egalitarianism of New England artisans made the American republic significantly different from its English progenitor. Other interviews stress the historian's craft in constructing causal relationships between events. When James McPherson is asked if the South came close to winning the Civil War, he offers three fully detailed, plausible scenarios for Confederate independence. Pressed to identify the most important Western historian, Richard White answers, "Buffalo Bill Cody," calling the showman's mixture of fiction and authenticity the first example of postmodern historical thought. David McCollough and Stephen Ambrose also make thoughtful (and occasionally bellicose) contributions to this collection, which should please fans of the History Channel and American Heritage alike. --John M. Anderson

Book Description

The great historians of our day take you on an exhilarating tour through the crucial moments in American history . . .

"Easy reading and very informative."- Civil War News

"All the interviews are fascinating."- Tampa Tribune-Times

"Fascinating . . . Highly recommended."-Library Journal American Heritage Great Minds of History

In a series of interviews that are as valuable as they are engrossing, today's best and brightest historians weigh in on the crucial moments in American history. Whether it's the First Continental Congress or the Cold War, American Heritage ® Great Minds of History takes you there, imbuing the past with an immediacy that goes well beyond the scope of formal histories.

Conducted by Roger Mudd, the highly respected news commentator and anchor for the History Channel, this collection shares the fascinating insights and rare anecdotes of: Gordon Wood on the Colonial era and the American Revolution; James McPherson on the Civil War and Reconstruction; Richard White on westward expansion; David McCullough on the early twentieth century; and Stephen Ambrose on World War II and the postwar era.

American Heritage magazine, the country's leading magazine of history, has published dozens of highly acclaimed books, including American Heritage® History of the United States, American Heritage® New History of the Civil War, American Heritage® New History of World War II, American Heritage® Dictionary of American Quotations, and American Heritage® Encyclopedia of American History.

Customer Reviews:

Excellent, just excellent.......2007-09-03

Roger Mudd interviews 5 prominent historians. Interestingly, these are all historians who specialize in writing readable histories that outsell the dense, uninteresting treatises many of us were forced to read in college. These are men who do their research, know their facts but also understand that historians should be, first and foremost, the storytellers - the modern, well-researched equivalent of the old person in the village that memorized the stories of the old days and passed them down.

-Gordon Wood talks about the Revolutionary War/Constitutional era.
-Richard White talks about the American West.
-James McPherson - the Civil War
-David McCullough talks primarily about the late 19th century, but he also veers into other topics - he meanders the most and is, perhaps, the most enjoyable.
Stephen Ambrose talks about World War II, Eisenhower and Nixon.

Along the way, lots of personal observations about the past, the recent past and the present are tossed in and it makes an enjoyable read for any serious readers of history.

Mindful of Great History.......2006-02-03

This was my first audio book. Purchased from Amazon (because they delivered overseas) to keep me company on my daily metropolitan Tokyo commute from Uraga-Cho to Yokosuka Naval Base.

My only complaint is that I wanted more. So compelling are the topics, questions, answers and analysis of assorted aspects of American history, that upon initial trial, you are addicted. GIVE ME MORE! Make a volume 2, please.

I found the period between the Civil War and WW1 most compelling, probably because I was least familiar with this area. Yet I learned it was these decades that truly set America on its path of economic greatness as well the ability to rise to, meet and destroy the forces of fascism, and additionally place the roots for the future expansion of civil liberties. Of course the other topics of American history are gripping too; especially when framed by the discerning questions of Roger Mudd and answered insightfully from great historians. As a bonus we get to listen to the great voices of Roger Mudd, David McCullough, Stephen Ambrose, the others are enjoyable as well.

Interaction with Great Minds.......2001-06-29

Perhaps you saw the television programs or have viewed the videos of one or more of them. Perhaps you have listened to the audiocassettes. In any event, this book consists of a series of thought-provoking questions posed by Roger Mudd which are answered by five of our nation's most eminent historians: Stephen Ambrose, David McCullough, James McPherson, Richard White, and Gordon Wood. Their respective subjects are:

The Colonial Era and Revolution (Wood)

The Civil War and Reconstruction (McPherson)

Westward Expansion (White)

The Industrial Era (McCullough)

World War II and Postwar America (Ambrose)

Obviously, a reader's specific interests will determine which of the Q&A exchanges are of greatest value. Richard Snow provides an excellent Introduction. His associates at American Heritage are also to be commended for completing background research and then writing profiles of the five historians. Mudd is a skillful interviewer. In book form, inevitably, his style and pace can only be suggested but are in great form when the exchanges are heard or (better yet) seen.

Snow is quite correct when observing that the five-part narrative "is always kinetic, darting, and oblique; and the narrators have at once too high and too close a regard for their subject to sentimentalize it. Nevertheless, the cumulative message is clear and heartening." For Ambrose, here is the clear and heartening message: "this is the best country that ever was. This is the freest and, right now, the most prosperous that has ever been conceived anywhere. And, by God,, somebody had to be doing something right to bring us to this point. I want to celebrate the people who brought us to this point." He does so with passion and eloquence. The perspectives and insights provided by the other historians (whose contributions precede Mudd's exchange with Ambrose) also expand and clarify the context within which our nation's history has evolved from one dynamic era to the next.

Shows How to Make History Come Alive!.......1999-10-07

This book is a fabulous resource for those of us who have tried to explain why the study of history is so important. The "interviewees" show that the best way to present history is by "story telling" about the lives of real people rather than making a dry recitation of facts. All of them are extreemly enthusiastic about their subjects.

a truly wonderful book!.......1999-03-30

What a truly wonderful book! A unique opportunity to explore American history with several of the country's most exceptional historians.

AmericanHeritage American Voices Westward Expansion (American Heritage, American Voices series)

Average customer rating:

AmericanHeritage American Voices Westward Expansion (American Heritage, American Voices series)
David C. King
Manufacturer: Jossey-Bass
ProductGroup: Book
Binding: Hardcover

Book Description

Explore the American West with the people who settled it!

In 1805, when William Clark first spotted the Pacific Ocean-highlighting the famous Lewis and Clark expedition across the continent-it marked the beginning of a massive westward movement that lasted through the century. Westward Expansion provides a rare glimpse into the day-to-day experiences of pioneering Americans as they followed Lewis and Clark's lead, risking their lives to explore, farm, seek their fortunes, and establish communities in what had been considered a vast wilderness. Through rich primary sources, you'll find yourself living and working alongside the brave men and women who came to typify the American West, including pioneers from the eastern states, from Europe, and from Asia; Native Americans defending their homeland; freed slaves searching to carve their own destinies out of America's wilderness; prospectors searching for gold and silver; and many other colorful characters.

From Daniel Boone's account of first exploring Old Kentucky to Chief Joseph's explanation of why he would no longer fight against the U. S. Army, Westward Expansion presents a wealth of period documents, including diaries, letters, articles, advertisements, speeches, and more, from both famous figures and ordinary citizens. Find out how all of these American voices working together helped make this country what it is today.

Book Description

This is part one of the fifth volume in the comprehensive and authoritative series, Germany in the Second World War. It deals with developments in wartime administration, economy, and manpower resources in Germany and its occupied territories from 1939-1941. Series description This is the fifth in the magisterial ten-volume Germany and the Second World War. The six volumes so far published in German take the story to 1943, and have achieved international acclaim as a major contribution to historical study. Under the auspices of the Militargeschichtliches Forschungsamt [Research Institute for Military History], a team of renowned historians has combined a full synthesis of existing material with the latest research to produce what will be the definitive history of the Second World War from the German point of view. The comprehensive analysis, based on detailed scholarly research, is underpinned by a full apparatus of maps, diagrams, and tables. Intensively researched and documented, Germany and the Second World War is an undertaking of unparalleled scope and authority. It will prove indispensable to all historians of the twentieth century.

Customer Reviews:

5 stars for content, zero stars for pricing.......2005-06-17

While these ten volumes are indispensable to anyone seriously interested in studying Germany in the second world war, Oxford have priced the translation so extortionately that even many libraries will not be able to afford them.

What they get out of this I really can't see - at this price point I doubt they will sell more than a few dozen copies worldwide per volume.

Although realistically this is never going to sell in large quantities, interest in the Third Reich and WW2 is so extensive they could undoubtedly sell many more copies at a normal academic paperback price point as their are hundreds of academics working in the field who would want a set if they could afford it.

Plus as every publisher knows there are many thousands of militaria fanatics and Nazi-obsessive general readers who will buy anything with a swastika on the cover.

As regards libraries very few will buy the full set at this price (I only know of one academic library in London that has it) - or allow it out of the reference reading rooms if they do - but at a sensible price it would be placed on many more university course reading lists.

Given that the authors are the Military History unit of the Bundeswehr who are hardly going to be profit-driven, I doubt they are driving Oxford's pricing.

Certainly translating this mountain of verbiage must be very expensive but that is all the more reason to sell it at a price that would maximise sales.

Given that the German edition costs 'only' 50 euros a volume from amazon.de (one-sixth of the Oxford translation price) it would probably be cheaper for normal mortals to pay for advanced language courses and read it in the original.

Average customer rating:

Enjoyable and well-researched book on the world of tropical field biologists

Of Ticks and Tapirs

Hanging out with the socially challenged

Barro Colorado Is Well Worth Investigating!

journey of discovery

The Tapir's Morning Bath: Mysteries of the Tropical Rain Forest and the Scientists Who Are Trying to Solve Them
Elizabeth Royte
Manufacturer: Houghton Mifflin
ProductGroup: Book
Binding: Hardcover

Environmental Science | Earth Sciences | Science | Subjects | Books
General | Science | Subjects | Books
Rain Forests | Nature & Ecology | Science | Subjects | Books
Environmental Science | Earth Sciences | Professional Science | Professional & Technical | Subjects | Books
Similar Items:

Tropical Nature: Life & Death in the Rain Forests of Central & South America

A Magic Web: The Forest of Barro Colorado Island

A Neotropical Companion

The Cobra Event

A Guide to the Birds of Panama

ASIN: 0395979978

Book Description

One hundred and fifty years ago, Charles Darwin asked how a rain forest could contain so many species: "What explains the riot?" The same question occupies the scientists who toil on Panama's Barro Colorado Island today. Tropical and steamy, these six square miles comprise the best-studied rain forest in the world, a locus of scientific activity since 1923.
In THE TAPIR'S MORNING BATH, Elizabeth Royte weaves together her own adventures on Barro Colorado with tales of researchers struggling to parse the intricate workings of the rain forest, the most complicated natural system on the planet. Through the lens of the field station, she also traces the history of modern biology from its earliest days of collection and classification through the decline of the naturalist to the days of intense niche specialization and rigorous scientific quantification.
As Royte counts seeds and sorts insects, collects monkey dung and radiotracks bats, she begins to wonder: what is the point of such arcane studies? The world over, rain forests are rapidly disappearing and species are going extinct. While humanizing the scientists in the field, she explores the tension between their research and the reality of a world that may not have time for the answers.

Customer Reviews:

Enjoyable and well-researched book on the world of tropical field biologists .......2007-05-06

_The Tapir's Morning Bath_ by Elizabeth Royte is an interesting look at the world of field biologists working in the American tropics. The author spent about a year living and working with scientists at a scientific station that was located on Barro Colorado Island (often abbreviated as BCI), an isle that rises steeply from near the middle of Gatun Lake, the enormous midsection of the Panama Canal. Isolated by the waters of the Chagres River (dammed in 1910 to form the canal), BCI was once the highest peak of the now submerged Loma de Palenquilla range. Its summit rises 119 meters above the lake's surface and covers some 1,564 hectares or about 6 square miles.

The Smithsonian Tropical Research Institute (STRI) runs a lab on the island's northeastern shore, a facility that has operated continuously since 1923, its backyard the most-studied tropical rain forest in the world. The preservation of the island and the lab was the brainchild of James Zetek, a U.S. Department of Agriculture entomologist who had been working on mosquito control in the Canal Zone during its construction.

The island is a nearly ideal laboratory for researchers. It is home to 65 terrestrial mammal species (including agoutis, peccaries, deer, sloths, howler monkeys, anteaters, tayras, and tapirs), 70 bat species, 381 bird species, 58 species of reptiles (including crocodiles), 32 amphibian species, and 1,369 species of vascular plants, including 300 tree species. The animals are reached by a series of maintained trails and some are so well studied that good population figures are had for a number of species (there are about 2,500 agoutis on the island for instance).

In order to ease her way into the island residents' culture and also to get a handle on both what life is like as a field biologist and what it was they were studying, Royte volunteered to be a free field assistant to anyone who wanted her. At first the scientists were reluctant but soon she was eagerly sought by a variety of researchers. The heart of the book is really her work in the field with these biologists, describing both what they were studying and the field biologists themselves, what motivated them, what they hoped to achieve, and their views on both their research subjects and larger issues in science.

One scientist she spent a lot of time in the field with was Chrissy Campbell, who was doing a study of spider-monkeys. Her study a difficult one, requiring her to follow the island's one spider-monkey troop all day until it bedded down at 6pm and then be back in the field at 6am to follow it again (if she was late she had to spend all day locating it and was often not successful). She sought to collect fecal samples from the troop's five adult females and record their behavior, hoping that analysis of the samples in the lab and correlation with the behaviors she recorded would reveal information on female hormones, adult behavior, and the relationship between the two.

Another scientist she worked with was Bret Weinstein, who was doing a study of tent making in bats. This behavior (which consisted of a bat biting and bending leaves into shapes to conceal and protect them as they slept) was noted to have evolved three separate times among bats and was found only among small, canopy fruit eating bats of the American tropics. Weinstein hoped to discover the reasons behind the tent-making, a job that kept him up all hours of the night, running through the jungle at night chasing faint signals on radio transmitters he attached to some of his study subjects.

She was field assistant to Paul Trebe, himself a field assistant to a scientist who was back at his university in the U.S. His laborious daily job was to visit scores of traps every morning on BCI and on several small adjacent islands (one island had 99 traps) for the nocturnal spiny rat, collecting information on that species population size, age structure, sex ratio, and reproductive output, which along with manipulating conditions on some of the small islands enabled the scientist back home to do complicated studies that impacted on such issues as the animal's role in seed dispersal and as a reservoir for infectious agents.

Other researchers Royte worked with included a geologist studying the forest's effects on runoff and the canal watershed, two scientists doing a diversity study of lianas, and a researcher studying the effects of leaf-cutter ants on tree growth.

While in the field and talking to the island's residents, Royte noted that there was a rivalry between field biologists and those who worked in laboratories. Field scientists often had a "working-class pride," and "cultivated a spunky disdain for lab jocks." She said that pure animal-behavior studies were "decidedly out of fashion in these molecular times" and was perceived by many as a "soft" science. Many on the island griped that molecular biologists got the lion's share of money and prestige, though some did acknowledge they provided useful insights (particularly in the area of taxonomy).

Royte pondered the often incredibly narrow focus of researchers there, joking once that she "damned tropical biology as a black-art discipline and scientists as high priests of esoterica." Sometimes researchers labored on projects that seemed to have little application and gained deep knowledge about very narrow aspects of an organism but were often "ignorant of the whole." Royte wrote that the increasing number of scientists and decreasing amounts of funding available (consumed partially by huge university bureaucracies) forced scientists to specialize early, to carve out a niche that no else had in order to "avoid competition and make names for themselves." She also noted that sometimes seemingly very arcane research results can yield surprising answers to larger puzzles.

A very good book, I enjoyed her descriptions, the obvious research she did, and a subject she came back to repeatedly in the book, why tropical rain forests are so diverse.

Of Ticks and Tapirs.......2006-12-22

This is a really good book! I'm a biologist and I'm currently in Panama and I've spent the last couple of years in Central America. I can assure you that this is an excellent work about biologists, research, and life in Central America.

The writing is straight ahead, no flourishes of flounces to get in the way. The story is simple but clear and funny and heartwarming. I don't know what more you can ask for in a book.

The BCI Research Station is one of the last great centers for basic research into topical ecology. While it is being taken over, gradually, by biologists who know everything about what's going on inside the cell wall but cannot tell a Red Deer from a Bulldog, there are still enough who are trying to understand what animals and plants are doing and what is the relationship between them.

Whether you intend to travel to the rain forest or not, this is a good read and you will enjoy it. I did and I highly recommend it.

Hanging out with the socially challenged.......2005-08-24

Ms. Royte has written the book that I've always wanted to write. I've done my share of hanging out with biologists and archeologists at field sites in Central America watching them undertake tedious and lengthy data collections under uncomfortable situations. She captures how caught up these people can be in the work they do and how hard it can be for them to relate and function in social situations. Toward the end of the book she describes the migration of the Urania butterflies. I live in Panama City and there is a migration going on outside my window right now. Only it is much more enjoyable after reading Ms. Royte's explanation of what is going on.

Barro Colorado Is Well Worth Investigating!.......2005-04-19

Imagine riding a rickety train through the forest to a boat launch, boarding a tiny boat to an obscure island where six foot long iguanas drape nonchalantly over the paths. Imagine an evening in a screened in porch, much of that screen covered with 6" beige flying cockroaches. Imagine a creature not unlike a raccoon, called a coatimundi, traipsing over from the trash bins the following morning to sniff and greet you. Imagine a tapir standing mysteriously in the brush nearby as howler monkeys howl and cackle overhead, throwing debris from the upper story of the forest.

Some twenty two years ago, I had the great privilege of experiencing exactly this as a young girl, spending a year with the many American biologists steadily working in the jungles and facilities of Panama, including several stays on Barro Colorado Island (BCI).

While I freely confess that I have not yet read this book, I was utterly delighted to find that someone, at last, has documented the important yet seemingly obscure research being conducted in this tropical stronghold. I plan to purchase this book for as many friends as possible, knowing that our awareness of biodiversity will ultimately hold the key to funding needed research into the mysteries and wonders of this wild and vital terrestrial treasure chest.

journey of discovery.......2002-11-27

On the trail of the scientists who make the trails

A journalist follows researchers into the South American rain forest to study the mystery of their devotion

By Diana Muir

Deep in the tropical rain forest, a small fruit-eating bat carefully nicks the veins on the underside of a philodendron leaf, causing the edges to fold down like a miniature tent. The bat curls up under its little tent and goes to sleep. Other bats don't make tents, why do these?
In "The Tapir's Morning Bath," journalist Elizabeth Royte follows field biologists into the rain forest with a similar question: Other people, after all, do not feel compelled to sit up all night being bitten by mosquitoes, ticks, and chiggers. Why do these?

The Panama Canal is made up of a channel leading inland from each coast, joined by an immense manmade lake that covers what was once a rain forest. Numerous islands dot the lake. In the 1920s, a group of foresighted scientists managed to have the largest, Barro Colorado, with its nearly intact tropical forest, set aside as a scientific preserve.

In these pages, the present-day researchers of Barro Colorado spring vividly to life. Royte follows a young biologist from UC Berkeley, as the biologist follows a troop of spider monkeys.

Studying monkeys like this entails long days of trailing the agile little creatures as they skitter through the treetops, clambering easily from branch to branch. For an earth-bound researcher, keeping up with the troop entails scrambling up steep ravines, pushing through tangled undergrowth, and skidding down hillsides slick with rain. The early weeks are especially frustrating, as distrustful monkeys shy away from the interloper.

Royte, a New York journalist, is as much an interloper on the island as this scientist is among the troop of monkeys. The scientists, after all, have paid their dues to get here. They have spent years in graduate school, and they reach Barro Colorado only after their laboriously planned studies survive rigorous review to be selected for funding.

But Royte ingratiates herself by offering to help. On the island, these scientists work long hours, and conversation can be larded with arcane jargon incomprehensible to an outsider. She's willing to wade through this - and the muck of mangrove swamps - to hang insect traps on branches and sit on the forest floor counting the number of leaf-cutter ants that march past.

As they whiz across the lake in a Boston whaler, Royte is determined to pursue her subject at full throttle, even as the distinguished biologist perched in the bow tries to net moths without falling overboard. He shares his excitement about the natural world in all its magnificent complexity.

For instance, he tells her, urania moths migrate annually. Some years, however, only a few hundred appear. Other years, several hundred million moths fly past the island. No one knows where they come from or where they are bound. In Royte's retelling, scientific enthusiasm is infectious. Soon we, too, want to know what drives these winged nomads.

Readers will come away from "The Tapir's Bath" with an appreciation of the way narrow research questions become the material from which useful knowledge is constructed. But don't read it for that.

Read it for the thrill of the chase. Will the young researcher from Berkeley who has trudged the forest for three days without so much as a glimpse of a non-human primate ever locate her spider-monkey troop? Will the German biologist whose sophisticated equipment fails manage to contrive an impromptu method to measure the effect of leaf-cutting ants on the trees they harvest? And will the PhD candidate from the University of Michigan astound his professors by synthesizing a new theory to explain why biological diversity decreases with distance from the equator, or fulfill their expectations by failing even to discover why bats make tents?

And just why does a tapir take a morning bath?

* Diana Muir is the author of 'Bullough's Pond,' winner of the 2001 Massachusetts Book Award

Books:

Books Index

Books Home

Recommended Books