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4 of 4 people found the following review helpful:
5.0 out of 5 stars
"Canopy Meg" is the Perfect Role Model for All of Us, May 10, 2006
This review is from: It's a Jungle Up There: More Tales from the Treetops (Hardcover)
What a really terrific read! In this book Dr. Lowman has co-authored with her sons, we find a beautiful story of developing a conservation ethic for families. The tone is so positive and inviting, I felt like I was up in the canopy with them.
One of the really captivating elements of this book is the wonderful journal notes and essays by her sons. Their authentic voices make this a great book to share with young people. For example, her son's last touching essay in the book summarizes their family quest to combine science and spirituality in efforts to expand scientific research into a more global sense of responsibility through conservation. This is a topic seldom touched in science writing. What wise thoughful teenagers!
What I loved most about this book was that many parts of Lowman's story are the story of women in science, my story, about the challenges of balancing a career and the rest of our lives. Lowman's book is just the ticket for inspiration AND some reassurance that we can have a well-lived life that combines a passion for science with family and community. I am in awe of the courage it must have taken to share such a personal story, filled with adventure, challenge, adversity in the work place, loss, humor, and quite a few poisonous snakes. We could use an Earth of sons and daughters raised by her.
Lowman really is a role model for parents to become stewards of all of Earth's creatures, and her passion and work efforts certainly have made inroads to this goal. Through this story, Dr. Lowman and her sons will inspire and mentor thousands of current and future naturalists, both boys and girls. As I finished the last pages of this book, I decided I need to find my copy of her earlier book "Life in the Treetops" and read it again. What a terrific adventure.
I highly recommend "It's a Jungle Up There" and will be giving copies to all the young people I know for birthdays, graduations, and other celebrations. And I believe I will share it with a few adults who could use a great read, and a little vicarious adventure.
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6 of 7 people found the following review helpful:
3.0 out of 5 stars
Be warned, February 13, 2007
This review is from: It's a Jungle Up There: More Tales from the Treetops (Hardcover)
I suppose it depends what you're expecting. I felt a little deceived having read 'It's a Jungle Up There', not that it's Lowman's fault. The packaging, press and quotes suggested it might be something more, say along the lines of E O Wilson. But this is not an original look at man's relationship to the world. It's more of a cheerleading exercise for the mixture of motherhood and biology. It's filled with enthusiasm for nature, but also with personal asides and exlamation marks. ("Happy Anniversary Michael!"). At the risk of sounding like a real grinch, the book is unforgivably padded by pages written by her two sons. All of these essays, of which there are many, read like college applications. It's a thin book, aimed perhaps at a younger generation. People looking for meatier stuff should keep on looking.
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2 of 2 people found the following review helpful:
5.0 out of 5 stars
Notes On Meg's Book, February 28, 2006
This review is from: It's a Jungle Up There: More Tales from the Treetops (Hardcover)
Notes on Margaret Lowman's book, "It's a Jungle Up There---More tales from the Treetops," with Edward and James Burgess. Yale University Press, 2006.
Margaret Lowman is a remarkable woman scientist. I say this not only after reading this book and her first book, "Life in the Treetops," but because I had the rare opportunity to be her Executive Assistant for 8 months during 2002-2003 while employed at the Marie Selby Botanical Gardens in Sarasota, Florida. Meg is an inimitable, intriguingly interesting scientist, enthusiastic about canopy research, ecology, and her family. This excitement exudes from within her into one's very own, and no matter what one does, it cannot be ignored.
Likewise, "It's a Jungle Up There," is also enthralling. Her many scientific pursuits are entwined with her two boys' experiences in the field with her, into a wonderful and educational view of the world, its ecology and the workings of the world's ecosystems. For many single parents, Meg sets the stage as a fine example of "get up and go," and "leave no stone unturned." There appeared to be no obstacle that could not be overcome by personal persistence, with the end result of reaching the goal. Even small setbacks were used as stepping stones to move forward and to be used to a positive advantage.
Her chapters on canopy research, canopy walkways, encounters with internationals, and environmental ethics for families, educate the novice in this comparatively new research area. Providing her children with an always new and exciting way to experience life through nature is certainly an example parents and teachers should emulate.
The book is comfortable to read, has a glossary of terms and a selected bibliography for further reading on each chapter. An index of names and places referred to in the text also assists the reader for quick reference.
Both Meg's books are fine examples demonstrating what a person can do if willing to accept the challenges offered. Do some self-promotion and be cognizant of an ever-increasing need to be a guardian of the world's biosphere. As her Executive Assistant for even a very brief time, I am proud to have shared some of the pages of "the padded chair" with her, and will always recall Meg as a fair, straight and honest supervisor.
Susan A. Jarzen CPS
Secretary, Florida Museum of Natural History
February 27, 2006
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