BOOK REVIEW
February-March 2006
This is an article from WaveLength Magazine, available in print in North America and globally on the web.
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BOOK REVIEW
Out of Eden: An Odyssey of Ecological Invasion
Alan Burdick
2005
ISBN: 0374219737
Alan Burdick is the editor of Discover magazine, so it’s not surprising he’s one of the rare writers who can take us globetrotting to invasion hotspots like Guam, Hawaii and Tasmania, introduce us to the top scientists in the field, and explain the science behind it. He deftly covers classic ecology, as well as some of the radical new ideas that are creeping into the field, getting at the very nature of what invasive species are. The not-so-simple nature of that question forces us to confront the definition of nature itself, and our place in it.
The Wild Coast: A Kayaking, Hiking and Recreation Guide for North and West Vancouver Islandby John Kimantas Whitecap Books, 2005 ISBN 1-55285-648-8 $24.95 Cdn, 300 pp, softcover color photos and maps, index This excellent guide to exploring the west coast of Vancouver Island is well illustrated with many detailed color maps and photos. Kimantas has divided the coast into eleven regions, beginning with God’s Pocket at the northeast tip of the island, then moving down the outside coast from Cape Scott south to Quatsino Sound, Brooks Peninsula, Kyuquot Sound, Nootka Island and Nootka Sound, North Clayoquot Sound, South Clayoquot Sound, Barkley Sound and Alberni Inlet, Juan de Fuca Strait and Sooke. He provides much information about communities, access points, hazards, attractions, camp sites, etc. gained from personal experience, all presented in an attractive and accessible format (the edges of the pages are even color coded to make it easy to find a chapter). This is a comprehensive and invaluable guide for circumnavigators or weekenders. |
Secret Coastline II: More Journeys and Discoveries Along BC’s Shoresby Andrew Scott Whitecap Books, 2005 ISBN 1-55285-662-3 $22.95 Cdn, 224 pp, softcover, color & b/w photos, index, From his favorite mode of transportation— a kayak—author Andrew Scott regularly explores the coast adjacent to his home on the Sunshine Coast of BC. Secret Coastline II is the second volume of essays he has written to share his discoveries and love of the lush landscape, the people and the wildlife he encounters on his travels. Organized into twenty-four essays in four categories (Natural History, Kayaking Tales, Coastal Communities, Islands Everywhere) Secret Coastline II is not a guide book to take you from here to there; rather it is a collection of stories, reminiscences and information, and is fascinating reading for those who love the coast or would love to visit. |
Waters Less Traveled: Exploring Florida’s Big Bend Coastby Doug Alderson University Press of Florida, 2005 ISBN 0-8130-2903-1
In Waters Less Traveled, Doug Alderson tells a rambling story about Florida, interweaving history, botany, biology, and even astronomy with his personal experiences as a kayaker of the Big Bend Coast. Anecdotes about the people he has encountered, observations about the politics and development of the state, and amusing memories of the physical discomforts he and his paddling partner have endured, make for entertaining, and at the same time, informative reading. This is one volume in a series of books published by the University Press of Florida to raise awareness of the history and culture of Florida and to increase the number of people who care about the welfare of this special place. |
Return of the Plankton: The Season Underwater in Puget Soundby John F. Williams (Director), Bruce Claiborne (Divemaster and Science Advisor), Cameron Snow (Producer) Still Hope Productions, 2004, 27 min. DVD $25 US, Crystal clear video images and an informative soundtrack make this instructional DVD a pleasure to watch. Two divers explore Puget Sound through the seasons, showing the importance of plankton as the base of a complex food web. The seasons are depicted in seven minute segments, which can be viewed one at a time. Study aids are also included on the DVD. |
Stewart Marshall Painter: a season with…by Jocelyn Lacroix and François Laliberté, Realisation Cinq Inc., 2003 $20, 55 min. DVD Montreal born Stewart Marshall has been painting since childhood. He now lives in a small community on the BC coast, and spends several months each year traveling north to Alaska in his hand built kayak, living off the land and sea, and painting. This documentary video follows Marshall on one such trip, and records his thoughts about his life and his work. Paddlers, artists and coast lovers will enjoy this DVD for its excellent photography and production qualities, and for the beauty and simplicity of Marshall’s chosen lifestyle. |
This is the Sea Two by Justine Curgenven Cackle TV Productions, 2005, $29.95 US Beginning at the Skookumchuk rapids in BC’s Sechelt Inlet and moving on to Newfoundland, Japan, Norway, Tasmania and Wales, Justine Curgenven takes viewers on a wild ride in sea kayaks to some great rough water locations. This video production is for fun, not instruction, and comes complete with great music and amazing footage. |
by Andy Lamb and Bernard P. Hanby Harbour Publishing, 2005 ISBN 1-55017-361-8 $69.95 Cdn 400 pp, hardcover, color photos, glossary, index Author and biologist Andy Lamb has teamed up with underwater photographer Bernie Hanby to create this unprecedented work. With 1700 color photos and brief, informative notations about 1400 species that occur on the Pacific Coast between central California and Alaska, this book is an absolute must-have for avid beach walkers, divers, paddlers and students of marine life. The most comprehensive collection of photographs of Pacific Northwest marine life ever published, it includes species never before featured in print and identifies virtually any organism commonly encountered on this coast. The Pacific Northwest coast is home to a multitude of plant and animal species, but even this abundance of life is threatened by human presence and behavior. This extraordinary encyclopedia of marine life can’t help but inspire its readers to appreciate the diversity of coastal life, and to contribute to its conservation. |
Marine Life of the Pacific Northwest: a Photographic Encyclopedia of Invertebrates, Seaweeds and Selected Fishes
In the Wake of the Jomon: Stone Age Mariners and a Voyage across the Pacific by Jon Turk McGraw-Hill Ryerson, 2005 ISBN 0-07-144902-7 $32.95 Cdn, $24.95 US, 303 pp, hardcover, Following the discovery of an ancient, apparently Asian skull Near Kennewick, Washington in 1996, Jon Turk— adventurer and science writer—was obsessed with the desire to trace the route that he surmised this man must have followed before his death alongside the Columbia River. And so he set out to paddle a kayak from Japan, where the Stone Age Jomon people lived, north along the Russian coast to Alaska. This is the story of Turk’s journey, a remarkable journey that he completed over two summer seasons in 1999 and 2000. It is a fascinating read, because it documents not only the amazing endurance ordeal of Turk and his paddling companions (why do people willingly put themselves into such extreme situations?), but also the lives of contemporary Russian people who live in abject poverty and governmental neglect in an incredibly severe environment. Turk’s thrilling expedition doesn’t prove that the Jomon people traveled to North America by following the Siberian coast, but it does prove that it could be done. |