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A Citizen's Guide to Ecology
 
 
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A Citizen's Guide to Ecology [Paperback]

Lawrence B. Slobodkin (Author)
4.3 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (3 customer reviews)

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Book Description

0195162870 978-0195162875 May 15, 2003
The earth is continuously changing and evolving yet it is unclear how environmental changes will affect us in years to come. What changes are inevitable? What changes, if any, are beneficial? And what can we do as citizens of this planet to protect it and our future generations?
Larry Slobodkin, one of the leading pioneers of modern ecology, offers compelling answers to these questions in A Citizen's Guide to Ecology. He provides many insights into ecology and the processes that keep the world functioning. This important guide introduces observations that underlie arguments about all aspects of the natural environment--including both global and local issues. To clarify difficult concepts, Slobodkin uses lake, ocean, and terrestrial ecosystems to explain ecological energy flows and relationships on a global scale.
The book presents a clear and current understanding of the ecological world, and how individual citizens can participate in practical decisions on ecological issues. It tackles such issues as global warming, ecology and health, organic farming, species extinction and adaptation, and endangered species.
An excellent introduction and overview, A Citizen's Guide to Ecology helps us to understand what steps we as humans can take to keep our planet habitable for generations to come.
"This beautifully written book brings together careful observation, personal reflection, and theoretical understanding to explain the major environmental problems that confront us. Dr. Slobodkin's superb and sweeping work invites us to contemplate a great many facts and a few large values to motivate a clear and compelling response to losses of biodiversity, the problem of invasive species, global warming, and other environmental concerns."--Mark Sagoff, School of Public Affairs, University of Maryland

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Editorial Reviews

From Scientific American

Slobodkin, professor emeritus of ecology and evolution at the State University of New York at Stony Brook, provides a calm voice amid the rancor often arising in discussions of ecology. "I have two goals," he writes. "One is to enhance appreciation of the pleasure and beauty to be found in nature. Another goal is to help individual citizens understand the real and unreal assertions about existing problems and impending disasters in nature." Dismissing ecological fanatics and faddists, he focuses on "real ecological problems that require solutions," in particular, global warming and endangered species. "If ecologists are very successful," he says, "they will help maintain the pleasant and livable properties of the world. If not, the world will change in unpleasant ways." (122)

Editors of Scientific American

From Booklist

Ecology professor Slobodkin writes that a tendency to alarmism or complacency in television programs and popular literature about nature has impelled him to write this description of his science. Its presentation is laconic--but all the more clear for that unadorned style. Effective, too, is Slobodkin's precept that popular misunderstanding of what ecology involves enables "experts" on ecological problems to gain support for policies that may not be scientifically justified. To aid understanding, he minutely describes how in one ecosystem, a lake, patterns of species interactions and nutrient flows alter during a year, and then extends basic principles thus elucidated to ocean and land. Slobodkin then proceeds to explain the mathematical dynamics of population growth and decline, the concept of ecological niches, and definitions of biodiversity. As these elements come together as influences on global warming and species extinction--the prime worries about ecology as expressed by the public--Slobodkin's sober examination of those two topics offers the empowerment that arises from genuine knowledge about problems. Highly recommended. Gilbert Taylor
Copyright © American Library Association. All rights reserved --This text refers to the Hardcover edition.

Product Details

  • Paperback: 256 pages
  • Publisher: Oxford University Press, USA (May 15, 2003)
  • Language: English
  • ISBN-10: 0195162870
  • ISBN-13: 978-0195162875
  • Product Dimensions: 8.1 x 5.4 x 0.8 inches
  • Shipping Weight: 13.6 ounces (View shipping rates and policies)
  • Average Customer Review: 4.3 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (3 customer reviews)
  • Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #1,120,416 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)

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Average Customer Review
4.3 out of 5 stars (3 customer reviews)
 
 
 
 
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Most Helpful Customer Reviews

6 of 7 people found the following review helpful:
5.0 out of 5 stars Citizen's Guide to Ecology, July 26, 2003
By 
Melvin J. Etra (Port Jefferson Station, NY United States) - See all my reviews
This review is from: A Citizen's Guide to Ecology (Paperback)
If you want to learn about the science of ecology .... here's the book to read.. It it is scholarly, without being didactic --- entertaining, without being trivial.

The author seems to come right out of the pages and invite the reader into his thoughts. You'll find yourself immersed in the subject, and talking back with questions, which seem to answer themselves as you go on to subsquent pages.

I didn't become an expert in the subject by reading this book, but I certainly did gain a greater respect for it, as well as for the author. Read it!!

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2 of 2 people found the following review helpful:
5.0 out of 5 stars Ecology for grown-ups, February 21, 2004
By 
Hal (Roslyn, NY United States) - See all my reviews
This review is from: A Citizen's Guide to Ecology (Paperback)
Standing alongside Stephen Hawking, the world of ecology is discussed for adults by not only a master ecologist but also a master storyteller. I was swept away by his ability to looke with 3 pair of eyes at almost any ecological encounter--entertained by his irreverence towards would-be pundits--and truly enlightened by his thoughtful, profound wisdom. This is a book I will cherish and give as a gift to anyone who I believe has earned it--Earned it by being thoughtful and wanting a little bit of their universe unfolded for them by a master teacher.
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0 of 1 people found the following review helpful:
3.0 out of 5 stars Studying, June 26, 2006
This review is from: A Citizen's Guide to Ecology (Paperback)
Its a good read, but possibly a bit lacking if you want it to be used for studying purposes.
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Inside This Book (learn more)
First Sentence:
Before we look at any specific ecological systems it will help to understand two fundamental facts that are basic for understanding everything else. Read the first page
Key Phrases - Statistically Improbable Phrases (SIPs): (learn more)
applying ecology, species packing, reproductive value, upwelling regions, species survive
Key Phrases - Capitalized Phrases (CAPs): (learn more)
The Big Picture, Two Major Current Problems, United States, South America, Endangered Species Act, North America, Lake Tanganyika, Rift Valley, Soviet Union
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Front Cover | Table of Contents | First Pages | Index | Back Cover | Surprise Me!
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