Dry Borders: Great Natural Reserves of the Sonoran Desert [Paperback]

Richard Stephen Felger (Editor), Bill Broyles (Editor)

Book Description

Publication Date: November 7, 2006

Swearing and mumbling against heat and drought, I was unwittingly seduced by this wonderful land. A passionate fascination grew in my heart. Slowly, gradually, the desert won my affections.' —from the foreword by Exequiel Ezcurra
This evocative and informative excursion into the Sonoran Desert along the U.S.-Mexico border brings to life the beauty of a spare and seductive terrain, telling the stories of the people, plants, and politics that layer a landscape in need of understanding and protection. The contributors, all experts in their fields, bring to their respective essays both a passion for and a wide-ranging depth of knowledge of this jewel of the Southwest. The book also continues a stunning array of both color and black and white photographs.

The book is divided into six sections:
I. The Place: delves into the geography and geology of the region, giving shape to its rivers and ranges.
II. People of the Place: introduces those who make the desert their home, including both native peoples and visiting scientists.
III. The Desert: discusses birds, bugs, and botany, all the things that live and grow in the borderlands.
IV. The Gulf: examines the waters and the aquatic life of the region from the Colorado River to the Sea of Cortez.
V. Conservation: focuses on protecting and preserving the desert and its increasingly endangered species into the future.
VI. Place-names: includes a geographic dictionary.

Part natural history, part call to conservation, and part love song, Dry Borders speaks to the parts of our souls that long to delve beneath surface appearances to find the true, beautiful heart of a place.

Editorial Reviews

Review

"Everyone will find something of interest here, from overviews of the history and geology to tributes to those hardy explorers who set the standards for the decades of fieldwork that followed. Highly Recommended."—CHOICE
 

"Blending natural and cultural history, biogeography, and conservation, Dry Borders presents a comprehensive background to the Sonoral Desert that is extraordinarily readable. Although scholarly, the conversational tone and nontechnical prose makes the personality and passion of the contributing authors apparent and creates an engaging work. This large, handsome volume imparts to readers a profound "sense of place" and will be an asset to anyone seeking to understand the history, complexity, and future challenges of this starkly beautiful region."—Quarterly Review of Biology

"Provides an intriguing blend of natural and human history, scientific information, personal reminiscence, and pleas for conservation of the region, presented by some of the key figures in the recent scientific exploration of the lower Sonoran Desert. Clearly a labor of love that will remain for many years an essential introduction to this remarkable desert region."—Journal of Anthropological Research

"A series of elegant, sometimes haunting love letters to the Sonoran Desert. A vital, important book. If you're already a desert fiend, it's a must-have, and if you don’t know diddley about the desert, you need to pick it up. There really is no other book like this."—Tucson Weekly
 

"I can imagine many readers in a colder or more thickly peopled terrain curling up with it to dream, with this difference: what it's selling is not the idea of moving to the desert, but of caring about it."—Orion

About the Author

Richard Stephen Felger studies natural history in arid lands, specializing in the Sonoran Desert. He is founding director of the Drylands Institute in Tucson.

Bill Broyles is a research associate at the Southwest Center at the University of Arizona.

Product Details

• Reading level: Ages 18 and up
  
• Paperback: 816 pages
• Publisher: University of Utah Press; 1st Edition edition (November 7, 2006)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 0874808197
• ISBN-13: 978-0874808193
• Product Dimensions: 11 x 8.4 x 1.7 inches
• Shipping Weight: 4.2 pounds (View shipping rates and policies)
• Average Customer Review: 5.0 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (2 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #900,732 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)

Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

6 of 6 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Accessible to lay readers, natural history enthusiasts and scientists alike., March 5, 2007

By 

Midwest Book Review (Oregon, WI USA) - See all my reviews

This review is from: Dry Borders: Great Natural Reserves of the Sonoran Desert (Paperback)

Edited by natural historian Richard Stephen Felger and research associate Bill Broyles, Dry Borders: Great Natural Reserves of the Sonoran Desert is an in-depth natural history reference and resource of the Sonoran Desert in southwestern Arizona and northwestern Mexico. Chapters examine the Sonoran Desert's geography, geology, flora and fauna, indigenous people, aquatic life of the adjoining gulf, and much more. An inset selection of color plates a geographic dictionary of place names, and an index round out this comprehensive guide accessible to lay readers, natural history enthusiasts and scientists alike.

5 of 5 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars An incredible compilation, February 4, 2007

By 

Dr. Jan B. Newman (Clinton, Mt. United States) - See all my reviews
(REAL NAME)   

Amazon Verified Purchase

This review is from: Dry Borders: Great Natural Reserves of the Sonoran Desert (Paperback)

I recommend this book for anyone who has any curiosity about desert ecosystems, the Sonora and the Gulf of California. Rarely does one find a book that is both highly authoritative and immensely readable. This one is both.

The book is richly illustrated with photographs, diagrams and tables. The authors personally discuss their journeys of discovery. By the time one goes through this book they have had a first hand tour of the desert, the people of the Sonora and their great personable travel guides.There is also mention of the impact of time and "civilization" on the Sonora.

I recommend this book highly for Sonoran and desert hikers as a field book and those looking for a reference. You can't beat the price.