An informative exploration of the subtleties of bird songs, which experienced birders will appreciate, and a helpful guide...
A celebrated ornithologist chronicles his 10-week, cross-country cycling/birding trip with his 24-year-old son.
Most nights, Kroodsma (Emeritus, Ornithology/Univ. of Massachusetts, Amherst; Birdsong by the Seasons: A Year of Listening to Birds, 2009, etc.) and David camped out, rising before dawn to record the bird chorus that greeted them each morning. The author, then 56, describes them as pioneers, and their focus was bird songs and calls, which provide “a window into their minds.” Although his 35-year scientific career had focused on songbirds, this trip was a first. “No one before [had] experienced the continent,” as they would. Traveling from Yorktown, Virginia, to Newport, Oregon, father and son enjoyed the peaceful countryside, took pleasure in meeting friendly local people and fellow cyclers along the way, and inspected the historic Civil War battle sites they passed through on their 10-state journey. Despite the strains and sprains of the unaccustomed physical exertion—particularly for the author—they averaged 100 miles or more each day, and they toughened up physically as they went along. Kroodsma evokes the profound pleasure of rising before dawn to listen to the morning songs of the birds and ending the day with their evening choruses. As the pair travel through different parts of the country, the author explains the subtle differences between songbirds of the same species. His special scientific interest is how these relate to the ways in which different species master their special repertoire—e.g. songs passed on genetically, learned from their fathers, or picked up from neighboring birds. Kroodsma’s verbal descriptions of the bird songs and their calls accompany the text, but they are also available as online recordings.
An informative exploration of the subtleties of bird songs, which experienced birders will appreciate, and a helpful guide for newbies but likely of less interest to general readers.Pub Date: June 1, 2016
ISBN: 978-0-691-16681-0
Page Count: 344
Publisher: Princeton Univ.
Review Posted Online: April 10, 2016
Kirkus Reviews Issue: May 1, 2016
The history of the USS Monitor, written with panache, sophisticated understanding, and attention to detail by deKay (Chronicles of the Frigate Macedonian, not reviewed). The Monitor may have been a ``doughty little Civil War ironclad,'' as deKay writes, but it was an elegantly minimalist mechanical marvel, a milestone in naval technology, with a design so original (including a revolving turret), it had 40 patentable innovations. At a time when naval strategy relied upon ships of the line—colossal square riggers with 120 guns and a crew of up to 1,200—the Monitor was a freak and a harbinger: armor-clad, steam- powered, with a mere two guns and a crew of 58. It was hardly the first of its kind—the king of Syracuse had an armor-plated vessel in the third century b.c., and Fulton's Clermont was steaming along in 1807—yet it was the right ship, in the right spot, at the right time. DeKay tells the Monitor's story with building suspense: It was the brainchild of the Swedish engineer John Ericsson, which became the best hope of the Union forces to maintain a critical blockade at Hampton Roads, Va. Finally, the author relates the wicked confrontation with the Confederate's ``awesome dark monster,'' Merrimac, another ironclad whose tale deKay sharply limns. It was a standoff at first, then the smaller Monitor exploited its opponent's unwieldiness to gain ascendancy. DeKay's tale is a richly brocaded one, serving up the sweetheart deals and political shenanigans that marked the Monitor's progress; elaborating on the rumors that flew before the epic battle like expectations before a championship heavyweight fight; bringing into play the weather and tides and most any other thing that touched upon events. This book is, simply, a little treasure. (25 b&w illustrations, not seen)
Pub Date: Nov. 13, 1997
ISBN: 0-8027-1330-0
Page Count: 240
Publisher: Walker
Review Posted Online: May 19, 2010
Kirkus Reviews Issue: Sept. 15, 1997
BOOK REVIEW
A heap of difficult-to-read information on a relevant topic.
A textbook on “biocatastrophe” as a global public-safety issue.
Biocatastrophe is a term the authors coined for “the simultaneous degradation of the Earth’s principal ecosystems, including those inhabited by humans, as a result of the radical alteration of the Earth’s climate and natural landscapes.” This hefty text aims to explore the causes of biocatastrophe and the significance of its effects on the human and natural world. The authors put this crisis into the context of other ecological crises, like global warming, urbanization, deforestation, mass extinction and loss of ecosystem biodiversity–all of which, they write, are elements of an overarching biocatastrophe. In neatly organized chapters, the authors–who were inspired to write the book after their experiences as volunteer firemen in the 1960s and ’70s–detail the history of human ecology and how biocatastrophe fits into health, politics and economics. The text proves it is up-to-date with contextual information on the global financial crisis and evidence that two seemingly unrelated activities (the environment and the global economy) are indeed linked. Though the authors don’t explicitly describe our future, they strongly hint that Earth’s citizens will have to redefine their values and prepare to live with finite resources. To emphasize the sheer magnitude of biocatastrophe, nothing that can be defined as a military, industrial or commercial activity is spared the author’s dissection. The sentences are packed with information, and an editor would do well to streamline the writing into more digestible servings. The resources in the back of the book are ample–glossary, charts and several appendices provide sources and helpful data.
A heap of difficult-to-read information on a relevant topic.Pub Date: May 11, 2009
ISBN: 978-0-9769153-8-6
Page Count: -
Publisher: N/A
Review Posted Online: May 23, 2010
Review Program: Kirkus Indie
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