Florida's Living Beaches: A Guide for the Curious Beachcomber [Paperback]

Blair Witherington (Author)

Book Description

Publication Date: April 2, 2007

Florida has 1200 miles of coastline, almost 700 miles of which are sandy beaches. Exploring along those beaches offers encounters with myriads of plants, animals, minerals, and manmade objects all are covered in this comprehensive guide with descriptive accounts of 822 items, 983 color images, and 431 maps. Beginning with the premise that beaches are themselves alive, this guide to the natural history of Florida beaches heralds the living things and metaphorical life near, on, and within the state's sandy margins. It is organized into Beach Features, Beach Animals, Beach Plants, Beach Minerals, and Hand of Man. In addition to being an identification guide, the book reveals much of the wonder and mystery between dune and sea along Florida s long coastline.

Editorial Reviews

About the Author

Blair Witherington is a research scientist with the FWC Fish and Wildlife Research Institute. He has bachelor's and master's degrees in biology from UCF and a doctorate in zoology from UF. Dawn Witherington is a graphic designer and illustrator trained at the Art Institutes of Colorado and Ft. Lauderdale.

Product Details

• Paperback: 336 pages
• Publisher: Pineapple Press; 1st edition (April 2, 2007)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 1561643866
• ISBN-13: 978-1561643868
• Product Dimensions: 9.2 x 6.5 x 0.9 inches
• Shipping Weight: 1.6 pounds (View shipping rates and policies)
• Average Customer Review: 5.0 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (53 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #7,603 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)
  • #3 in Books > Science & Math > Nature & Ecology > Ecosystems
  • #5 in Books > Science & Math > Nature & Ecology > Oceans & Seas
  • #17 in Books > Travel > United States > Regions > South

More About the Author

Discover books, learn about writers, read author blogs, and more.

Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

14 of 14 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Super informative guide, broad and deep at the same time., July 11, 2007

By 

Jay Wherley (Central FL USA) - See all my reviews
(REAL NAME)   

Amazon Verified Purchase

This review is from: Florida's Living Beaches: A Guide for the Curious Beachcomber (Paperback)

I am astounded at the quality and quantity of information in this book. Every page has three or four color photos of the items being covered. These items range from beach foam, through shells, plants, rocks, seabeans, floats, coins, fossils, birds and more. I was about to say it didn't have mammals - but checked and they are there too. Each item has the scientific name, the area in Florida and season it might be found, scale information on the photo, and a "Did You Know" section with fun facts. I have seen many nature guides - Sibleys, Audubon, Peterson etc - and this ranks near or at the top - yes it's that good. See you at the beach!

8 of 8 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars The Only Field Guide you will need when you go to the beach, December 6, 2007

By 

H. Domke (New Bloomfield, MO USA) - See all my reviews
(REAL NAME)   

Amazon Verified Purchase

This review is from: Florida's Living Beaches: A Guide for the Curious Beachcomber (Paperback)

This is a comprehensive identification guide, but it is much more. Unlike most identification guides, it is possible to sit down and read this book for pleasure.

There are wonderful photographic illustrations, often with more than one picture to illustrate a subject. The text is clear and concise but not too concise. On every topic they have a feature called " Did you Know". This is a paragraph about some odd fact about the subject. For example, "Laughing Gulls are the beach bird most likely to steal food from your hand..."

This may be the only field guide I will bring with me on future trips to the beaches in Florida.

6 of 6 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Best resource for the Beach, July 27, 2007

By 

C. Stevens "Cathy Knits" (Bainbridge, GA USA) - See all my reviews
(REAL NAME)   

This review is from: Florida's Living Beaches: A Guide for the Curious Beachcomber (Paperback)

I purchased this book for our trip to the beach as a resource for the family. Each person who looked and used this book LOVED it. In the few weeks we have had it, our daughter has gone back to this book time and time again. Also several asked where we got the book --- this book will be their next birthday or Christmas book! Great photographs and detailed explanation about everything BEACH.