Customer Reviews

A Naturalist Along the Jersey Shore

5 star:		(2)
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3 star:		(1)
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Without a doubt the most fascinating book I have ever read on what happens out on those little sand islands in Jersey's bays. Why? Because Joanna Burger took a few supplies out in a little boat & lived on one. She followed the dream of so many young human "shorebirds" who longed to escape the crowded beaches & waterfront developments to see where the birds lived. This isn't polite ecology with fine line drawings & quotations from Thoreau, but hot piles of sands baking in the sun & wretched North Atlantic winter weather.

By going to the heart of our shore's natural beauty, Burger also finds the ongoing threats. True, the waterfowl population has increased over the past 40 years, several species at the expense of others. But road runoff is killing the bays & so-called "personal watercraft" (jet skis) are wrecking intertidal wetlands, creating incredible noise pollution & bringing hundreds of knuckleheads into first contact with the wildlife that has found relative safety from human interference in our back bays, estuaries & marshes.

I can't emphasize strongly enough the importance of Burger's writings. They should be taught in our schools & be required reading for everyone who ventures out on to the wonderlands that exist behind our stressed out barrier islands.

A beautiful & unique book. The birds love her & so do I. Give this scientist a laurel wreath, if you can find her.

Bob Rixon, WFMU-FM

If you are interested in nature and/or live along the Jersey Shore this book is wonderful to read. I've been to most of the places she describes and never saw all that was there. Joanna Burger brings to life the nature around us even in a crowded place like NJ.

this book is just eh!
i was expecting this wonderful survey of nj, having read from journal articles by joanna burger.
The book is a drag to read, although informative and containing subject matter not tackled by anyone else.
having had dr. burger as a professor at rutgers, i would say read the book, don't take the class.