Environmental Interpretation: A Practical Guide for People with Big Ideas and Small Budgets [Paperback]

Sam H. Ham (Author)

Book Description

ISBN-10: 1555919022 | ISBN-13: 978-1555919023 | Publication Date: January 22, 1993

Environmental Interpretation is the first truly applied treatment of environmental communication written specifically for people with big ideas and small budgets. Drawing on 20 years experience and the successes of his colleagues worldwide, Sam Ham presents an unusually diverse collection of low-cost communication techniques that really work.

More than 200 illustrations, photos, and technical insets provide simple instructions for designing and implementing effective education programs in forests, parks, protected areas, zoos, botanical gardens, extension and community programs, and in all kinds of agriculture and natural resource management programs.

Aside from its step-by-step, "how-to" approach, what sets this volume apart is its solid theoretical foundation. Readers learn not only how to communicate their ideas more forcefully but why the methods work. Some 20 case studies, carefully selected from throughout the Western Hemisphere, stimulate the imagination and show how others have successfully applied what this book is about.

Written for beginners and experts alike, the book represents a valuable resource for anyone faced with the need to communicate about the environment yet constrained by lack of money and experience.

Editorial Reviews

Review

Those of us who have had the pleasure of working with Sam Ham will be pleased to see how much of himself he has put into this book, and what a complete treatment of theory, techniques and examples he has made available to the natural resource interpreter. - Dr. John G Robinson, Director, Wildlife Conservation International

About the Author

Sam H. Ham is professor of Environmental Communication and International Conservation in the University of Idaho's College of Forestry, Wildlife, and Range Sciences. Dr. Ham's workshops on communication and interpretive methods are in demand both in the United States and abroad.

Product Details

• Paperback: 486 pages
• Publisher: Fulcrum Publishing (January 22, 1993)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 1555919022
• ISBN-13: 978-1555919023
• Product Dimensions: 9.1 x 7 x 1.1 inches
• Shipping Weight: 2 pounds
• Average Customer Review: 4.0 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (3 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #32,760 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)

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Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

8 of 8 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars A 'Must Have' for Interpreters, June 3, 2007

By 

A. Ford "rangeramy" ('But It's a Dry Heat', AZ) - See all my reviews
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This review is from: Environmental Interpretation: A Practical Guide for People with Big Ideas and Small Budgets (Paperback)

This fun-to-read, chock-full of useful ideas book should be in any Interpreter's library. In fact, if I could only buy one book for my interpretive library, this would be it. Several rangers I know (inc. myself) refer to this book as 'the Bible'. This was the book I chose for the required textbook for the Interpretive training course for docents at the Desert Botanical Garden. The chapters are concise and full of examples of interpretive theory IN ACTION. Lots of whimsical pictures to illustrate main points-- but don't think just because it has pictures that it is full of fluff. It's a reference book you will pick up again and again to review interpretive techniques. Definitely a 'how-to', hands-on book.

4.0 out of 5 stars Excellent guide to preparing interpretive programs, if a little dated, November 6, 2010

By 

Mark W. Bohrer "Technology Writer & Documenta... (Saratoga, California) - See all my reviews
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Amazon Verified Purchase

This review is from: Environmental Interpretation: A Practical Guide for People with Big Ideas and Small Budgets (Paperback)

Sam Ham's Environmental Interpretation distills Freeman Tilden's six principles of interpretation into four essentials. The book then serves as a comprehensive 'how to' guide to preparing your own interpretive programs, from guided walks to exhibit signage.

Ham's principles guided me in the creation of my documentary "Tracking the Anasazi - How Great Houses and Stripped Resources Led To Abandonment". His section on creating a theme for any presentation especially helped me focus on what I wanted to say. Answering the audience's unspoken question 'So what?' is essential in any presentation.

The sections on slides shows and blackboards may be a bit dated, but their general principles apply to any media you use. Overall, this book is very valuable to anyone doing interpretation. The National association for Interpretation (NAI) uses it in their certification test.

Ham is apparently working on an updated edition, but there's no word on when it will appear.

0 of 1 people found the following review helpful:

3.0 out of 5 stars Good book, July 2, 2008

By 

J. Prekker (MN) - See all my reviews
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This review is from: Environmental Interpretation: A Practical Guide for People with Big Ideas and Small Budgets (Paperback)

This is a pretty good book, but if I had to have only one on hand for interpretation this would not be it. I appreciated a lot of the information-especially the case studies of what other people have done, but the slide shows info. and making interp. signs seemed outdated or unrealistic.


Conductiong Meaningful Interpretation was/is a much better book in my opinion, but this is an interesting read.