Customer Reviews

After the Ice Age: The Return of Life to Glaciated North America

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This is a marvelous book. I confess that when I first heard that Professor Pielou had written another book my heart sank, as I have found some of her earlier work beyond me (my Statistics professor in Grad school told us straight that "nobody understands Pielou, but they'll be very impressed to see herbook on your shelf."). Have no fear! This is a highly readable highly informative summary of a critical phase in the ecological history of Nort America. Pielou brings up interesting questions, provides tantalizing hints, presents elegant arguments, and gives clear and forthright explanations. Beautifully illustrated, easy to read, a must for every advanced undergrad or first year graduate student interested in the field.

This book is an account of the patterns, in space and time, by which plants, animals, and people populated North America after the most recent glaciation, and the climatic and topographical changes that created these patterns. That makes for a much smaller subject than we sometimes see handled in popular science writing; you may doubt whether it could possibly be "great." But the restraint in Pielou's ambitions allow her space to treat her subject in reasonable detail without assuming too much knowledge in the reader, and without oversimplifying technical debates. This last point deserves emphasis: I have called this a popular book, but the fairness with which Pielou describes competing theories could be studied with profit by many specialists.

In summary, Pielou's book is a marvel of clear, accurate, and concise writing, as well as a pleasure to read. In it's description of the constant change in the earth's environment, and the extinction of organisms and species as a result of that change, there is considerable food for thought. There are very few books indeed about which you can say all that.

I am not a geologist, just a glacier climber. I found this book well writing and detailed, but not beyond a laypersons grasp. Pielou does an excellent job in picturing North American during and after the iceage. The book includes information on flora and animals, as well as origins of North America's indigenous people. It made me view areas I hike and climb in a whole new light! I could not put this book down and it is one of the rare books that I missed reading when I finished!

This was an introduction for me into ice age ecology and I really enjoyed it. Not too technical for a guy with a science background, but deep enough to engage me. It provided many fascinating insights into the dynamic relationship between climate and ecology, opening up a new perspective for me. Makes my backcountry trips that much richer while I ponder glaciated peaks.

Unbelievable that such a topic could be brought to my blue collar level. Absolutely fascinating and gave me a feeling of connection to a wonderful place called earth. Really balanced opinions, thus not a doctrinal text of good and evil but rather a text of here's the evidence and here's our interpretation. I wish Ms. Pielou were my next door neighbor to chat with.

I discovered this book in the library stacks and enjoyed it so much that I had to purchase my own copy. It is an accessible book, with scientific data and interpretation but Pielou writes in an lyrical fashion, so the lay person can understand and visualize.

This might be a great book. I was however not able to finish it. I bought the kindle edition, which seem s to be a poorly edited (and probably not proofread) OCR scan. A lot of formatting errors. At least on every second page. Words badly screwed up. 10 bucks for crappy formatted book.

One of the most far-ranging books I have ever read. The first chapter, on glaciation processes, covers an an enormous amount of ground (no pun intended). This book can give perspective on such issues as climate change and on the ongoing rapid change of plant species in North America.

It provided information about glaciation that made me fighting mad about the abuse of glacier images in Al Gore's movie. He is doing no service to us by using specious evidence in support of his views on global climate change.

The author's style can make you feel that you are on the business end of a fire hose, but what a great way to cover a lot of important territory fast.

This book is far more than its title implies. Yes, it's about animals and plants in the wake of glacial retreat, but it's also a travel guide to ancient lakes and seas, an explanation of the cause of glaciers, and seeing the distribution of life throughout North America in an entirely new way. And as if this weren't enough, Ms. Pielou's precise descriptions are consistently presented in a very readable way.
I've just finished my first reading, and will be reading it again soon. It's a great book.

This is a fabulous book. I have read it twice, will read it again and again. I am not a scientist, have little background in geology, ecology, earth science, don't know E. C. Pielou from Norman Mailer, but for me it has been a page turner from preface to index. I have learned that at 40+ below zero Fahrenheit black spruce trees stop procreating via seeds, turn to cloning,which allows them to survive alpine frigidity beyond all reason. I have learned that maple trees followed the ice north faster than chestnuts because they blew in on the wind while chestnuts had to be carried along by squirrels. I have learned that THE ice age was just the latest, that there have been at least 200 similar periods since Day One, and that the next one is surely on its way - global warming or no. There was a time in Earth history when it rained day and night, week after week, month after month, year after year, for thousands of years. Who knew? Treat yourself to a rare delight. Get this book and share it.