Buy New

$21.95

FREE Shipping on orders over $25—or get FREE Two-Day Shipping with Amazon Prime

Only 2 left in stock (more on the way).

Ships from and sold by Amazon.com. Gift-wrap available.

Turn on 1-Click ordering for this browser

Ship to:

Select a shipping address:

Buy Used

$11.99

FREE Shipping on orders over $25.

Used: Very Good | Details

Sold by Kwik Finds

Fulfilled by Amazon

Turn on 1-Click ordering for this browser

Added to

Unable to add item to List. Please try again.

Have one to sell? Sell on Amazon

Flip to back Flip to front

Listen Playing... Paused You're listening to a sample of the Audible audio edition.
Learn more

See all 2 images

The Tree Rings' Tale: Understanding Our Changing Climate (Barbara Guth Worlds of Wonder Science Series for Young Readers) Hardcover – November 30, 2009

by John Fleck (Author)

6 customer reviews

See all formats and editions Hide other formats and editions

Price

New from

Used from

Hardcover

"Please retry"

$21.95

$15.24

$8.00

Hardcover
$21.95 19 Used from $8.00 21 New from $15.24 1 Collectible from $12.50

The science of tree rings--dendroclimatology--had not been developed when John Wesley Powell made his epic voyages down the Colorado River in 1869, 1871, and 1872. Nevertheless he observed that the rising and falling of the river differed over the years and came to understand the important role these variations played in the lives of people trying to live in the West.

While Powell was braving the Colorado River's rapids, a tree in southwestern Colorado was putting on rings. In 1869 it was a modest ring. In 1871, the year Powell returned to begin his second trip, the ring was remarkably thin. In 1872, as the river rose to levels that made it almost impassable, the tree's ring was fat. We know this because, over a century later, paleoclimatologist Connie Woodhouse has studied that tree and many others in the Four Corners region, using the fat and thin rings to estimate how much water has flowed down the Colorado River each year for the past millennium.

The Tree Rings' Tale addresses one of the most important guiding principles for life in the arid West and one that scientists have long recognized: climate variability. Combining classic climatology with oceanography, meteorology, geology, archaeology, and even a touch of astronomy, this exploration offers young scientists a chance to unravel how, over the past 150 years, we have come to learn more about the natural world. Activities included after each chapter provide hands-on experience with some of the very processes scientists use to understand how our world works.

Ages 13 and up

The Tree Rings' Tale: Understanding Our Changing Climate (Barbara Guth Worlds of Wonder Science Series for Young Readers)

$21.95
FREE Shipping on orders over $25—or get FREE Two-Day Shipping with Amazon Prime Only 2 left in stock (more on the way). Ships from and sold by Amazon.com. Gift-wrap available.

Frequently bought together

Total price: $35.51

One of these items ships sooner than the other. Show details

Buy the selected items together

This item:The Tree Rings' Tale: Understanding Our Changing Climate (Barbara Guth Worlds of Wonder Science… by John Fleck Hardcover $21.95
Only 2 left in stock (more on the way).
Ships from and sold by Amazon.com.
FREE Shipping on orders over $25. Details
An Introduction to Tree-Ring Dating by Marvin A. Stokes Paperback $13.56
Only 8 left in stock (more on the way).
Ships from and sold by Amazon.com.
FREE Shipping on orders over $25. Details

Customers who bought this item also bought

Page 1 of 1 Start overPage 1 of 1

This shopping feature will continue to load items. In order to navigate out of this carousel please use your heading shortcut key to navigate to the next or previous heading.

Marvin A. Stokes

10

Paperback
$13.56
John Fleck

23

Hardcover
$20.90

Special offers and product promotions

Editorial Reviews

From the Inside Flap

Science writer Fleck addresses one of the most important guiding principles for life in the arid West and one that scientists have long recognized: climate variability.

About the Author

John Fleck is a science writer and journalist for the Albuquerque Journal who routinely writes on drought and water issues. This is his first book.

Age Range: 8 - 12 years
Grade Level: 5 - 7
Series: Barbara Guth Worlds of Wonder Science Series for Young Readers
Hardcover: 104 pages
Publisher: University of New Mexico Press; First Edition edition (November 30, 2009)
Language: English
ISBN-10: 0826347576
ISBN-13: 978-0826347572
Product Dimensions: 7.4 x 0.6 x 10.2 inches
Shipping Weight: 1.2 pounds (View shipping rates and policies)
Average Customer Review: 6 customer reviews
Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #1,541,157 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)
- #638 in Books > Science & Math > Biological Sciences > Paleontology
- #1138 in Books > Children's Books > Education & Reference > Science Studies > Nature > Weather
- #1346 in Books > Science & Math > Earth Sciences > Rivers

Would you like to tell us about a lower price?
If you are a seller for this product, would you like to suggest updates through seller support?

NO_CONTENT_IN_FEATURE

Customer reviews

3.7 out of 5 stars

5 star		66%
4 star		0%
3 star		17%
2 star		0%
1 star		17%

Write a customer review

See all verified purchase reviews

Top customer reviews

A page-turning reader for young scientists

ByCynthia Barnetton December 7, 2009

Format: HardcoverVerified Purchase

John Fleck may have written _The Tree Rings' Tale_ for young readers, but this grown-up found it a highly readable, engaging book. Fleck builds his narrative around the science of tree rings and the scientists who research the rings and other clues to figure out climate variability in the arid West. The book is an excellent primer on climate and its most important impact on humans: water supply. It's also a page-turning reader - not a common attribute, unfortunately, of most kids' science books.

The publisher suggests ages 13 and up, but I read it to my science-and-invention-loving 8-year-old and he was rapt. (He was hooked in the first paragraph, thanks to Fleck's harrowing opening scene from John Wesley Powell's 1869 Colorado River expedition.) In addition to tree ring science, Fleck explains complexities such as forecasting, drought, weather and climate change in an easy-to-understand style that still respects kids' intelligence.

Part of what makes _The Tree Rings' Tale_ so readable is Fleck's use of actual scientists to weave his tales, which range from ancient climates to El Niño/La Niña. Much appreciated: About half of these scientists are women, a refreshing refute of the continuing gender disparity in so many science books, such as Richard Dawkins' new _Oxford Book of Modern Science Writing_, with only 3 women scientists' work featured out of 83 texts.

Fleck has an eye for the detail that will grab a young person's attention. My son was interested to learn that scientists in these different fields get to shoot down rapids, launch giant weather balloons and climb rocks. He also loved Fleck's details about some of the makeshift tools scientists use to do their work. After all, using a Pringles can to store paper straws that in turn store super-skinny tree-bore samples is just the sort of thing kid-scientists do.

I highly recommend _The Tree Rings' Tale_ to parents and science-minded readers 8 to elder, and to middle- and high school science teachers. I'm convinced that America's water-supply problems are linked in part to a lack of scientific understanding about water that begins in childhood. _The Tree Rings' Tale_ would be a strong textbook to help fill this gap, not only in the West where the book takes place, but in any state in the nation.

0Comment 11 people found this helpful. Was this review helpful to you?YesNo

Great for kids with a scientific bent!

ByD. E. Cheneyon January 30, 2017

Format: HardcoverVerified Purchase

This is a nice book for young people by this specialist in water. He does a much better job writing for adults in his book "Water Is For Fighting Over"--great depth and understanding of water issues. This book about tree rings is one I'm giving to my grandson.

0CommentWas this review helpful to you?YesNo

original and absorbing but the title is misleading

ByPCBon March 21, 2012

Format: Hardcover

This book of 100 pages is more about climate shifts than tree rings, though there are interesting accounts of people who have used them to date periods of drought near the Grand Canyon. There is nothing about how specimens are obtained and used in research and only one annotated picture. With that title I would have expected a little more about what can be deduced from tree rings and how the different factors affecting them are disentangled. The chapters on observing and understanding weather have a fresh approach which might well prove inspiring to the young: e.g. 'Scientists can't always look things up in a book. When they face a new question they often have to invent a new way to answer it'.

0CommentWas this review helpful to you?YesNo

A powerful survey of climate science's relationship to all other scientific disciplines

ByMidwest Book Reviewon February 15, 2010

Format: Hardcover

The Tree Rings' Tale: Understanding Our Changing Climate is intended for advanced elementary to middle school readers but is reviewed here for its importance to all ages in explaining the science of tree rings - which had not been developed when adventurer John Wesley Powell made his epic voyages down the Colorado River in 1969, 71 and 72. In linking his biography with the evolution of climate science, THE TREE RINGS' TALE provides a powerful survey of climate science's relationship to all other scientific disciplines.

0Comment 3 people found this helpful. Was this review helpful to you?YesNo

Lucid, compelling, informative

ByP. S. Bratermanon November 26, 2011

Format: Hardcover

This book embeds the sciences of dendrochronolgy and climate change with the human details of how we actually come to know what we know. So we have a merging of many different strands of scientific reasoning - always a delight to witness. It will arouse curiosity in its intended audience, leaving them better informed, eager to learn more, and protected against obfuscation.

0Comment One person found this helpful. Was this review helpful to you?YesNo

Tree science is a JOKE!

BySteve Holmeson November 8, 2012

Format: Hardcover

I decided to to a study of tree rings when I read how they supposedly matched up the tree rings from some 8000 year old tree to some dead older tree to extend the timeline to 12,000 years. Well, I examined the tree rings of six trees, all cut down the same year in the same park and all dead from Dutch Elm Disease. I saw NO correlation between the rings.
So, I did the same thing at Lake Tahoe. Still, no correlation.
So, no, I didn't WASTE my money on this book.

22 comments One person found this helpful. Was this review helpful to you?YesNo

Set up an Amazon Giveaway

Amazon Giveaway allows you to run promotional giveaways in order to create buzz, reward your audience, and attract new followers and customers. Learn more about Amazon Giveaway

This item: The Tree Rings' Tale: Understanding Our Changing Climate (Barbara Guth Worlds of Wonder Science Series for Young Readers)

Set up a giveaway

What other items do customers buy after viewing this item?

An Introduction to Tree-Ring Dating Paperback

Marvin A. Stokes

10

$13.56
Fundamentals of Tree Ring Research Paperback

James H. Speer

17

$37.78

Pages with related products. See and discover other items: history of climate, new mexico's animals

Buy New

$21.95

Turn on 1-Click ordering for this browser

or

or

Buy Used

$11.99

Turn on 1-Click ordering for this browser

The Tree Rings' Tale: Understanding Our Changing Climate (Barbara Guth Worlds of Wonder Science Series for Young Readers) Hardcover – November 30, 2009

Frequently bought together

Customers who bought this item also bought

Sponsored products related to this item (What's this?)

Special offers and product promotions

Editorial Reviews

From the Inside Flap

About the Author

Product details

Customer reviews

Top customer reviews

Set up an Amazon Giveaway

What other items do customers buy after viewing this item?

Buy New $21.95

Turn on 1-Click ordering for this browser

or

or

Buy Used $11.99

Turn on 1-Click ordering for this browser

Sorry, there was a problem.

Sorry, there was a problem.

The Tree Rings' Tale: Understanding Our Changing Climate (Barbara Guth Worlds of Wonder Science Series for Young Readers) Hardcover – November 30, 2009

Frequently bought together

Customers who bought this item also bought

Sponsored products related to this item (What's this?)

Special offers and product promotions

Editorial Reviews

From the Inside Flap

About the Author

Product details

Customer reviews

Top customer reviews

Set up an Amazon Giveaway

What other items do customers buy after viewing this item?

Buy New

$21.95

Buy Used

$11.99