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List Price: £7.99
Our Price: £3.99
Author:
Angus Mcneice, Maisie Mcneice, Travers Mcneice
By Orion Childrens
 A wonderful and inspiring read., 2008-10-15
Written by three children living with their energetic mother in the African bush and studying lions, the book is eloquent, warm, funny and fascinating. It covers not only the habits of the lions and other animals, but also the domestic and emotional difficulties of running a family in this environment, very different to their Middle England roots. I felt like I was there with them.
List Price: £27.99
Our Price: £18.40
Author:
Donald R. Prothero
By Indiana University Press
Unleashing a great diversity, 2008-09-23
For life on the land, it was simply a resetting of the clock. A great rock arrived on Earth to precipitate - or complete - a massive extinction. Successfully dominating the planet for over 120 million years, the hordes of saurians were expunged. The sea-side plains and woodlands they had inhabited were now empty. Not entirely devoid of life, however, for sharp-eyed creatures who had been around as long as those dinosaurs peered out from hiding places, observing the emptiness. They quickly began to occupy it for themselves. In so doing, they founded an immense diversity of lineages, one of which ultimately led to ourselves.
Donald Prothero, who has contributed much to our knowledge of fossils, the scientific process and mammalian evolution, offers here a work of great scope. Tracking the changes in life over 65 million years is no small task, and he copes with the challenge well. In this work, he lists the forms of mammal life, some of the sea life along the shore and in the deep, and the environment shifts in general. Those environment shifts were great prompts to changes in life and he explains as much as is known about what caused the Earth to warm from the end of the Cretaceous through the Eocene when temperatures went into decline.
Although North America receives what seems an inordinate amount of attention, that is due to geophysical conditions here through the Cenozoic and to the rich fossil trove it has produced. That doesn't prevent the author from addressing the rest of the planet, which he does in extensive detail. The interaction of life between Europe, Asia and North America is nearly continuous during the period. Africa remained close, but detached, as was the case with South America for many millennia. Australia was increasingly isolated over time, while India was making a mad dash to link with Asia. All these geologic shifts had major repercussions on climate, as well as plant and animal life. It is those great interactions which form the underlying theme of this book. Climate change institutes other change, much of it severe and long-lasting. Prothero's message is clear, if subtly presented: human induced climate change is already underway, and we'd best prepare to learn to cope with the changes that will follow.
As with all Prothero's books, this one is richly illustrated. It presents informative photographs of working digs and museum specimens, artwork of skeletal reconstructions filled in with flesh and fur. There are explanatory diagrams showing the relationships of various fossil species and the significant changes occurring over time. There are some jarring images, such as the sabre-toothed cats, who at first glance seem unlikely to survive with the extended dentition they carried about. Yet, they persisted successfully for nearly two million years. Huge, flightless predatory birds inhabited South America instead of the sabre-toothed cats. Prothero's diagram [p. 225] of these creatures' size compared with a human, should give anybody watching a passing robin a bit of pause. Today those creatures are docile seed or insect eaters, but not long ago they would have been pleased to feast on you.
Finally, of course, Prothero must bring in the most ecologically successful species of them all. The hominids and their many precursor species in Africa. Throughout this segment, he explains how climate was a prompt for many of our accomplishments as a new species. He puts the rise of proto-humans in context with events and conditions over the rest of the planet. The Ice Ages is given detailed attention with what is known of the Neanderthal subspecies living through the early stages. In all this is an excellent book for anybody who cares to learn the background of our lineage and that of our mammalian cousins. [stephen a. haines - Ottawa, Canada]
List Price: £41.99
Our Price: £26.31
Author:
Jay F. Hemdal
By TFH Publications,U.S.
 Fantastic but not a bible, 2008-05-08
As per usual I read the blurb about the book which promises all the usual things that every other 'new and all-encompassing' aquarium book does and 9 times out of 10 they contain all the same information as all the other books you have seen and read before.
This one has new information! It is not a bible, a person looking to set up an aquarium would struggle with the information in this book. It is exactly what it says on the tin, a book full of ADVANCED MARINE TECHNIQUES. I have read many books on the subject and have not found information like this in them. If you are an old-hand in regards to aquariums then this book will provide you with fresh information, opinions and ideas to re-inspire you.
If you want a bible then shell out the money on the REEF AQUARIUM trilogy by SPRUNG and DELBEEK (especially volume 3). If you've bought all the rest and want something a bit different (but still containing valuable information), then give this a read!
It would have been a five star, except for the fact that I was annoyed that they have tried to promote it as a bible, this could end up with people buying the book hoping for something different (sorry, just my little bugbare).
Not a bible, but maybe a missing book of the bible??
List Price: £32.50
Our Price: £26.73
Author:
John D. Altringham
By OUP Oxford
Bats: Biology and Behaviour, 2002-01-26
An excellent book which is very readable but also has plenty of depth. Beautifully illustrated.
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