About this title: From the bestselling author of "Winter World" comes this highly anticipated, accessible, and eloquent illumination of animal survival during the summer season. color photo insert; line drawings throughout.
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Description: New. 0060742178 Brand New Book With Remainder Mark. May Have Slight Shelf Wear. In-Stock Now For Immediate Secure Packaging & Delivery. read more
Binding: Spoken Word MP3-CD
Publisher: Tantor Media Inc
Date Published: 2009-04-06
ISBN-13:9781400161751ISBN:1400161754
Description: NEW. Spoken Word MP3-CD. From an inventory that is 100% brand-new, 100% direct from the publishers' distribution channel. We carry NO pre-owned, NO remaindered. We pack in CARDBOARD to ensure the pristine quality is maintained. (Bubble-wrap alone is NOT sufficient to protect from USPS equipment. ) Guaranteed brand-NEW, protected with CARDBOARD, your satisfaction is guaranteed. BKLUVID: 9781400161751. read more
Binding: Audio CD
Publisher: Tantor Media
Date Published: 2009
ISBN-13:9781400161751ISBN:1400161754
Description: New. Brand New! Buy with confidence-your satisfaction is guaranteed at B-Logistics! Due to the large scale of our operation, we do not have access to the specific contents/condition of our items. Please note that Expedited shipping is not available at this time. read more
Binding: Hardcover
Publisher: Ecco Pr
Date Published: 2009-04-01
ISBN-13:9780060742171ISBN:0060742178
Description: NEW. Hardcover. From an inventory that is 100% brand-new, 100% direct from the publishers' distribution channel. We carry NO pre-owned, NO remaindered. We pack in CARDBOARD to ensure the pristine quality is maintained. (Bubble-wrap alone is NOT sufficient to protect from USPS equipment. ) Guaranteed brand-NEW, protected with CARDBOARD, your satisfaction is guaranteed. BKLUVID: 9780060742171. read more
Binding: Spoken Word Compact Disc
Publisher: Tantor Media Inc
Date Published: 2009-04-06
ISBN-13:9781400111756ISBN:1400111757
Description: NEW. Spoken Word Compact Disc. From an inventory that is 100% brand-new, 100% direct from the publishers' distribution channel. We carry NO pre-owned, NO remaindered. We pack in CARDBOARD to ensure the pristine quality is maintained. (Bubble-wrap alone is NOT sufficient to protect from USPS equipment. ) Guaranteed brand-NEW, protected with CARDBOARD, your satisfaction is guaranteed. BKLUVID: 9781400111756. read more
Binding: Hardcover
Publisher: Ecco
Date Published: 2009
ISBN-13:9780060742171ISBN:0060742178
Description: New. Glued binding. Paper over boards. With dust jacket. 253 p. Contains: Illustrations. Brand New with no marks or wear. We don't sell shopworn or remaindered books as new. read more
Binding: Hardcover
Publisher: Ecco
Date Published: 2009
ISBN-13:9780060742171ISBN:0060742178
Description: New. Brand New! Buy with confidence-your satisfaction is guaranteed at B-Logistics! Due to the large scale of our operation, we do not have access to the specific contents/condition of our items. Please note that Expedited shipping is not available at this time. read more
Binding: Audio CD
Publisher: Tantor Media
Date Published: 2009
ISBN-13:9781400111756ISBN:1400111757
Description: New. Brand New! Buy with confidence-your satisfaction is guaranteed at B-Logistics! Due to the large scale of our operation, we do not have access to the specific contents/condition of our items. Please note that Expedited shipping is not available at this time. read more
Binding: Spoken Word Compact Disc
Publisher: Tantor Media Inc
Date Published: 2009-04-06
ISBN-13:9781400141753ISBN:1400141753
Description: NEW. Spoken Word Compact Disc. From an inventory that is 100% brand-new, 100% direct from the publishers' distribution channel. We carry NO pre-owned, NO remaindered. We pack in CARDBOARD to ensure the pristine quality is maintained. (Bubble-wrap alone is NOT sufficient to protect from USPS equipment. ) Guaranteed brand-NEW, protected with CARDBOARD, your satisfaction is guaranteed. BKLUVID: 9781400141753. read more
Binding: Audio CD
Publisher: Tantor Media
Date Published: 2009
ISBN-13:9781400141753ISBN:1400141753
Description: New. Brand New! Buy with confidence-your satisfaction is guaranteed at B-Logistics! Due to the large scale of our operation, we do not have access to the specific contents/condition of our items. Please note that Expedited shipping is not available at this time. read more
"Lots of observations of New England (and the occasional African) bugs, frogs, birds, and plants that at times don't seem to add up to much but do maintain the reader's interest. The author's perspective is that all this peculiar behavior is a marvel that must make sense; to me, though, it often seemed somewhat creepy and rather arbitrary. It's a world of, as Heinrich unflinchingly and even admiringly puts it, "predators, parasites, hyper-parasites and hyper-hyper-parasites, cannibalism, and disease organisms." Ah, summer! Pass the lemonade!
The author definitely subscribes to a Darwinian view, so that even behaviors that seem totally nonadaptive or out of synch with the (adaptive) norm for the species are viewed as strategic in the long run -- providing the necessary variation that is selected for (or not). In general, some of the stretches of imagination Heinrich displays in attempting to make sense of peculiar (but normal) bug etc. behaviors, seemed so fanciful and amusing that the human theorizing behaviors really became more marvelous than the bug etc. behaviors under examination! And I had a moment of genuine shock when I read that NASA defines life as "a self-sustaining chemical system capable of undergoing Darwinian evolution." So that's what we are! (Can we try to not beg the question in our definitions, though, please?) Along with Darwin, Heinrich is a fan of Edward Abbey's, so there is the occasional lament over our treatment of our bug etc. brothers and sisters here, too, but who can argue with that?
I couldn't help but notice that this book could have used some further help from its editors. The narrative (and it is a narrative text) had a sort of patchwork quality, jumping back and forth in time both in terms of years and months. Sentences were repeated, and Heinrich has favorite words that he uses unnecessarily frequently ("proximate!"). So the writing could have been a bit more elegant. It reads like field notes given a first attempt at first-person narrative structure. The book itself -- print, pages, and illustrations (the latter by Heinrich) -- is lovely."
"Its too bad that I read Winter World before reading Summer World, because I might have been more receptive. Summer World is no Winter World. Winter World was written because the author was fascinated by the survival techniques of animals utilized to get through a New England winter. Summer World was written because his publisher thot it would make an interesting companion piece. Hmmm .... Part of the charm of Winter World was Heinrich's quirky study methods, such as his interminable whacking of trees with a club to flush out their residents. Summer World has very little of this eccentricity. There were interesting chapters, particularly about insects."
"I learned a lot from this book about the adaptive abilities of trees, ants, caterpillars and spiders over time. Who knew all this was going on! Learning about the Welwitschia plant which lives in the desert, stays hydrated and has two lifelong leaves that may grow for more than 1,000 years was just one of the gifts from reading Heinrich's book.
I am inspired to become more attentive to the bugs, birds and plants when walking in the woods or meadow or just relaxing in my yard and to think about the lives they lead and to watch and learn."
"The author is an old fashioned biologist who looks at insect and bird behavior in great detail. He stops short after bringing up the topic of overpopulation. Just when I thought he would give me scientific examples to boost my own arguments for zero population growth, he quits that subject. Then he talks a little about pollution in his environs, but again fails to use this as an example of the world problem of pollution. Many obscure facts about wasps, caterpillars etc, but no universal application of his knowledge."
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