Customer Reviews

Ecology: Concepts and Applications

5 star:		(10)
4 star:		(5)
3 star:		(2)
2 star:		(2)
1 star:		(2)

 

 

Molles has outdone himself with this book. It presents the reader a great book for students who are not majoring in ecology and a great way to understand ecology and the different field works done in the area. The tables and organization are great. I speacially like the way the author makes a subject easy to understand and the way the tables and pictures help you to understand. It's a great book.

This book is the first science text I have ever encountered which I enjoy reading. It generally takes the form of a series of stories which the author deftly uses to illustrate ecological concepts. It's not technical enough for a serious ecology student, but I hope that many people read it to gain an appreciation for ecology without encountering some the fanaticism which had previously turned me away from the subject entirely. Thanks.

One of the kinder books I have had to read this semester, and I'm a non-ecology major. Does an excellent job of helping the reader understand complex ecological concepts. Maps and digitally enhanced graphs are extremely helpful visual aids. According to the professor the is not different enough from the 4th edition for those who own it to be obligatory to purchase. Otherwise, it is truely enjoyable (as far as textbooks go) and definitely a worthwhile investment.

EDIT: Turns out I had a pirated book. I sent it back to Amazon and got a full refund. Make sure to look through your book when you get it, and if it matches the review I wrote below, you got a bad copy.

Here is my original review:

The first thing I have to say about this text is that the number of typos in it is absolutely appalling. For fun, I just went through a page and highlighted all the errors I found at first glance. I found 21 on one page. This book is blatantly unedited to the point where it distracts completely from the material. I honestly cannot remark on the quality of the material presented just because it is impossible for me to get into the concepts with all of the typos distracting me.
I thought maybe the author was foreign, and this would maybe allow me to forgive some of the errors. On the first page, in large bold print directly below the author's name it says the institution he teaches at "University of Mew Mexico." Not being able to spell the institution right makes me seriously doubt the material in the rest of the book.

To add to the typos, the book is of extremely low quality. The paper is low quality and after just a week of use the pages are beginning to fall out.

Bottom line: if you are assigned this book for a class, I hope you are good at overlooking typos or you will never be able to learn anything from this book. The author needs to learn to spell. Or at least get an editor who knows how.

Well even though my class called for the 5th edition, and I mistakenly ordered the 4th edition, it made no difference! The pages have virtually the same information, with maybe a few pictures missing here and there. I give this book a positive review, and I recommend the 4th edition IF you are trying to save money!

I ordered this tome for my son who is a junior in college. This international version is a fraction of the cost of the US text and is almost identical. However, you should check with your course instructor in advance of purchase and if you get the OK as we did, go ahead and order this text. With the ever-rising cost of education, saving yourself a little money is a not a bad thing at all.

The book was brand new like it said it would and it came in a timely manner. I would definitely buy again!

I bought the Kindle Edition of this book because it was cheaper than the actual book and I thought it would be easier to carry around my kindle than a big heavy textbook. The text is easy to read and it's exactly what I wanted substance wise. However, it would not download on to my kindle, which was the whole reason I bought the Kindle version in the first place. Instead, I had to read the book on the Kindle for Mac/PC app, which was slightly less convenient as I had to lug around my laptop. I found at the top of the product page that it is "exclusive" for Kindle for Mac/PC, which I found to be slightly misleading since it's labeled for Kindle use. I would've liked to have known that before I bought the book. Once again, nothing wrong with the text or the format, just be forewarned about the compatibility with your Kindle.

received the book within just a few days! I was very impressed with the quick service! Thank you! I appreciate it.

This textbook is great, I only wish there weren't multiple typos per page. Especially with key-term definitions or statistical statements, a typo is a real nuisance. The typos seem to be a publishing glitch rather than an author mistake: for example the letter " T " might be replaced with a symbol " ( ". Other than that, the book is fantastic. I don't see anyone else mentioning the obvious abundance of typos in their reviews which makes me wonder if somehow my copy is different - but I doubt it. Beware the typos!