Customer Reviews

Marine Biology

5 star:		(12)
4 star:		(3)
3 star:		(0)
2 star:		(0)
1 star:		(0)

 

 

I have begun to use the third edition of this book in my introductory marine science course. I have to say that the Castro and Huber have taken a professional, effective approach to covering a diverse subject. The book takes a typical approach. Part 1: The nature of science and the physical environment. Part 2: Life in the marine environment, starting with physiology and moving on to diversity. Part 3: Ecology, covering basic principles and exploring various arine habitats. Part 4: Man's impact on the sea. Things that I like about this book include: the excellent illustrations, both photographs and diagrams; box readings on special topics; and the chapter self reviews. Things that I do not like include the failure to put the various groups of animals in evolutionary relationships. There are two chapters on marine organisms, vertebrates and invertebrate. This arrangement fails to recognize the over all diversity of these groups and frequently unrelated groups are piled together for no reason but convenience. I think perhaps a simple appendix of cladograms of the various groups would address this. There is also a companion web site that I have not had the time to explore.

In all, it is an effective introduction to marine biology. I am enjoying incorporating it in to my class. I also think that it would be a fine choice for persons who want to study marine biology on there own. It is written at such a level that a person with a high school education can understand it with only a few references to the glossary or other books.

Anytime you look for a sourcebook on a specialized topic such as Marine Biology, you want to make sure it covers all the groundwork. By that, I mean the full foundation of the field needs to be established. What Castro and Huber might lack in specifics, they make up for by encompassing the true nature of Marine Biology and what it entails.

For anyone new to Marine Biology, this is the book to go with. It is well structured and covers everything in an instructive, yet simple to understand manner. There are a plethora of illustrations, diagrams, and tables to help aid the reader, and the text is well placed. The information touches most everything, including the very nature of Marine Biology, the habitats involved, the diversity presented, and even man's impact on the stature of the subject. I have no complaints on the presentation, and any inexperienced learner should find themselves involved in a very fascinating subject.

For those already experienced in Marine Biology, there is still much included that will catch your eye. Although the text is obviously leant for beginning, I found myself quite interested in much of the text and enjoyed analyzing and recalling sections of the field that I hadn't dealt with or devoted time to for months or even years.

There are some weaknesses, but most are minor or insignificant. Because Marine Biology is such a diverse field, it is near impossible to include EVERYTHING the subject entails. This text leaves some intriguing (albeit small) parts out, but overall I did not feel cheated about what I might have missed. There was also little focus on evolutionary associations, but then again, this is designed for a beginner and I expected little in this regard.

Overall, one way or the other, I feel that Castro and Huber have really developed a text that is very nearly a "can't miss" in Marine Biology. I recommend it to anyone, from the newest pupil to the most experienced professor. The bottom line is that you WILL learn.

I am a high school student and this is a college course, and the only reason I am bought this book was because my school can't afford to supply the students with it. This book is great and is going to almost guarantee me a passing grade in my Marine Biology class. Although this is just an introduction book it is full of information and it is and interesting subject to study. Coming from a student I recommend this book to any Marine Biology teacher. This subject is overall fun and even if you are expecting to be something non-related to this subject when you choose your career this is still very educational.

I found Marine Biology by Castro to be a fairly good introductory textbook to marine biology. The reading is not too technically difficult that an average high schooler could comprehend most of what is said without becoming lost in science talk. There are plenty of pictures and diagrams to supplement the reading and make the pages appealing to the eye without boring you to death. However, as most academic textbooks go, reading alone is almost never enough to fully understand the material. I used this book as part of an introduction to marine biology course and found it to be very helpful to read before lectures. It can be a little dry at times and hardly goes into full detail of topics, but being an introductory book, it fully met the needs of my course. Overall, it's a good textbook that I'd recommend to someone taking an introductory course to marine biology.

This book when purchased NEW is shrinkwrapped and has the ISBN 0-07-293356-9. The shrinkwrapped package contains the Marine Biology textbook (ISBN 0-07-250934-1) which contains "The Premium McGraw-Hill Online Resources" access code (ISBN 0-0-250935-X). If you are buying a used book keep in mind that the online access code may only be used once and is not transferable, so if any of the previous owners have used the code it will not work for you. If your instructor uses Blackboard or WebCT, you may NEED a valid access code. A new access codes may be purchased from the McGraw-Hill "Premium" Site for $12 if you get stuck with a used book without a valid OLC code.

The book is great, I highly recommend it to anybody interested in the subject. For instructors though, I feel that this book based on the length and the number of chapters is probably better suited for classes on the Semester system (16 weeks) rather than those on the Term system (11 weeks.)

I'm not a student, just a guy who wants to learn new things. I became excited about marine biology after reading 'The Highest Tide' by Jim Lynch. Finding this introductory text took me in to a world I never knew. The descriptions and photos make the reading both enjoyable and easy to understand. I know it is a lot to take in on the first reading...but I will be reading it again and again. If this is a new interest for you...start with this book. You can't go wrong.

My children had more questions than I had answers. This book moved weekend beach time to a common ground for conversation and exploration. Great place to start.

Thanks for the fast service, item just as described and arrived quickly. need more of these books for classroom resource

I got this book for a marine biology class I was taking (it was the required text) and it is just brilliant! I think even if you just have a general interest in marine biology it would be good as it explains everything really well, there are a few things that could be covered in more depth but I think you would probably buy a more specific book if you were looking at those things anyway. I would normally sell my textbooks at the end of the semester when I no longer need them, but I'm keeping this one!

This was a great book! Very easy to read and informative. I also loved the tests you could take on the companion website.