[bksvol-discuss] Ecoviews by Whit and Anne Gibbons requested by a member

From: Cindy <popularplace@xxxxxxxxx>
To: bksvol-discuss@xxxxxxxxxxxxx
Date: Sat, 6 Nov 2010 15:28:00 -0700 (PDT)
The book below was requested by a member. Sister Dolores has scanned it and it 
is available for proofing. (The requesting member is not a volunteer). I have 
put 2 different reviews of the book below.
Ecoviews: Snakes, Snails, and Environmental Tales - Paperback (Mar. 20, 1998) 
by J. Whit Gibbons, Anne R. Gibbons, and John Cairns Jr.

In the hope that familiarity will breed appreciation, the authors (Whit is a 
professor of ecology, Univ. of Georiga, and Anne a freelance editor) attempt 
"to engender esteem for the wealth of biodiversity on earth" by delighting the 
reader with stories of plant and animal ecology. While many interesting 
vignettes are included?e.g., the Patrick McManus-like tale of a live alligator 
loose in a speeding vehicle?the book suffers from a lack of organization and 
focus, touching on topics as diverse as scientific research on animal behavior, 
environmental education ideas for children, and environmental degradation. One 
especially disjointed chapter includes segments on nature poetry, dragons, 
political correctness and "Peter and the Wolf," and the vagaries of weather 
prediction. Though Ecoviews does include much useful information, a book such 
as Jerry Dennis's It's Raining Frogs and Fishes (HarperPerennial, 1992) 
accomplishes the same goal with a narrower
 focus and more clearly defined audience. An optional choice for public or 
school libraries.?Maureen Delaney-Lehman, Lake Superior State Univ. Lib., Sault 
Ste. Marie, MI
Copyright 1998 Reed Business Information, Inc.
From Kirkus Reviews
Musings on the environment, particularly that of the southeastern US, delivered 
with an easy fireside manner, from the Gibbonses (he's author of Their Blood 
Runs Cold, not reviewed; she's a freelance editor). It is unlikely there's 
anything in these pages that hasn't been said before, much of it frequently and 
in more impressive prose, but it is impossible to deny the Gibbonses' 
enthusiasm for their topic: the protection of biodiversity. They see as their 
mission the firing of young imaginations to create an attitude that considers 
the protection of biodiversity estimable and commonsensical. To this end they 
spin out the web-of-life theories and the value-of- species-diversity theories 
most readers will already know (though often with a decidely anthropocentric 
cast: ``Perhaps the most important reason we should care about the environment 
is that natural habitats and wildlife are an essential foundation for human 
culture''). But where the Gibbonses will
 likely make their impact is in deploying ecological curiosities and vagaries 
peculiar to the American Southeast (he teaches at the University of Georgia) to 
make their point, a niche that hasn't been overexplored in popular 
environmental literature. There is fascinating material here on cottonmouths 
abroad in winter; how it is that aquatic turtles unerringly locate the 
next-closest body of water (``Do they look up at the sky and somehow perceive 
light reflected from the surface of the water?''); why one should never pause 
when slinging a seven-foot whipsnake between one's legs (which, of course, begs 
the bigger question). These are enthralling regional tidbits, the kind of stuff 
that makes readers yearn for more, for the big picture. (illustrations, not 
seen) -- Copyright ©1998, Kirkus Associates, LP. All rights reserved.


      
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[bksvol-discuss] Ecoviews by Whit and Anne Gibbons requested by a member

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