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Arizona-Sonora Desert Museum
A Natural History of the Sonoran Desert
$31.95, £18.95 paperback
978-0-520-21980-9
Available Now
639 pages, 6 x 9 inches, 32 color illustrations, 27 b&w photos, 397 line illustrations, 8 maps
December 1999, Available worldwide
Categories: Natural History; Ecology, Evolution, Environment; California & the West; Environment
December 1999, Available worldwide
Categories: Natural History; Ecology, Evolution, Environment; California & the West; Environment
"Solid [and] ambitious." —Arizona Daily Star
"A Natural History will go with me on my next road trip west."—Santa Fe New Mexican
"An indispensable guide for any desert visitor."—Sunset Magazine
"A Natural History will go with me on my next road trip west."—Santa Fe New Mexican
"An indispensable guide for any desert visitor."—Sunset Magazine
"This fine book offers one-stop shopping for authoritative answers to all your questions about a most wonderful place, the Sonoran Desert. Bees, birds, beetles, biodiversity, all right here in one place in accessible prose. Who can ask for more than that?"—John Alcock, author of In a Desert Garden
"Definitive and delightful—a fabulous compendium of facts and experiences written by the most knowledgable scholars in the field. This encyclopedic guide will make desert rats out of those who aren't already."—Ann H. Zwinger, author of Run, River, Run
"Once in a generation, a guide to understanding a major North American landscape comes along. This book is such a touchstone, sure to become a classic. The emphasis here is on biodiversity, mutualism, co-evolution, and, especially, ethno-relationships—the long history of connection between desert peoples and their homeland, on both sides of the border. This book gives desert dwellers everything they need to develop the crucial awareness, to say, 'This is a remarkable place, filled with astonishing creatures and processes. We must act now, with fierceness and tenderness, or it will be gone.'"—Stephen Trimble, author of The Sagebrush Ocean
"Definitive and delightful—a fabulous compendium of facts and experiences written by the most knowledgable scholars in the field. This encyclopedic guide will make desert rats out of those who aren't already."—Ann H. Zwinger, author of Run, River, Run
"Once in a generation, a guide to understanding a major North American landscape comes along. This book is such a touchstone, sure to become a classic. The emphasis here is on biodiversity, mutualism, co-evolution, and, especially, ethno-relationships—the long history of connection between desert peoples and their homeland, on both sides of the border. This book gives desert dwellers everything they need to develop the crucial awareness, to say, 'This is a remarkable place, filled with astonishing creatures and processes. We must act now, with fierceness and tenderness, or it will be gone.'"—Stephen Trimble, author of The Sagebrush Ocean
The Sonoran Desert is one of the most wildly diverse and fascinating regions in the world. Covering southeastern California, the southern half of Arizona, most of Baja California, and much of the state of Sonora, Mexico, this vast area is home to an amazing variety of plants and animals. Its terrain varies dramatically, from parched desert lowlands to semiarid tropical forests and frigid subalpine meadows. A Natural History of the Sonoran Desert provides the most complete collection of Sonoran Desert natural history information ever compiled and is a perfect introduction to this biologically rich desert of North America.
The authors—experts in many fields—begin with a general look at the region's geology, paleoecology, climate, human ecology, and biodiversity. The book then looks in depth at hundreds of plants, mammals, birds, reptiles, amphibians, native fishes, and invertebrates that live in the northern part of the Sonoran Desert. Throughout, the text is supplemented with anecdotes, essays, color and black-and-white photographs, maps, diagrams, and 450 finely-rendered drawings. This comprehensive, accessible natural history is written for nonscientists and will surely become an invaluable companion for nature enthusiasts, birdwatchers, hikers, students, and anyone interested in the desert Southwest.
A copublication with the Arizona-Sonora Desert Museum
The authors—experts in many fields—begin with a general look at the region's geology, paleoecology, climate, human ecology, and biodiversity. The book then looks in depth at hundreds of plants, mammals, birds, reptiles, amphibians, native fishes, and invertebrates that live in the northern part of the Sonoran Desert. Throughout, the text is supplemented with anecdotes, essays, color and black-and-white photographs, maps, diagrams, and 450 finely-rendered drawings. This comprehensive, accessible natural history is written for nonscientists and will surely become an invaluable companion for nature enthusiasts, birdwatchers, hikers, students, and anyone interested in the desert Southwest.
A copublication with the Arizona-Sonora Desert Museum
FROM THE INTRODUCTION:
"This book, then, is a fresh look at the ecological and cultural patterns which shape the richest, most complex desert in all of the Americas. If you have the chance to walk through the threshold, to let its creatures and cacti speak directly to you, leaf through this book before you go and after you return. Read it by campfire light at night, or when you get stuck below a rocky overhang that summer day when a sudden downpour forces you to head for cover. Savor it as you sit beneath a saguaro cactus, eating its succulent fruit, hearing the breeze make music as it blows through the cactus spines—a living finger piano. And use it as a wellspring for reflection, to remind all of us human mortals that there are other lives on the face of this earth which enrich our own."
"This book, then, is a fresh look at the ecological and cultural patterns which shape the richest, most complex desert in all of the Americas. If you have the chance to walk through the threshold, to let its creatures and cacti speak directly to you, leaf through this book before you go and after you return. Read it by campfire light at night, or when you get stuck below a rocky overhang that summer day when a sudden downpour forces you to head for cover. Savor it as you sit beneath a saguaro cactus, eating its succulent fruit, hearing the breeze make music as it blows through the cactus spines—a living finger piano. And use it as a wellspring for reflection, to remind all of us human mortals that there are other lives on the face of this earth which enrich our own."
Introduction to California Desert Wildflowers, Revised Edition, by Philip A. Munz
California Desert Flowers: An Introduction to Families, Genera, and Species, by Sia Morhardt and J. Emil Morhardt
The Jepson Desert Manual: Vascular Plants of Southeastern California, edited by Bruce G. Baldwin, Steve Boyd, Barbara J. Ertter, Robert W. Patterson, Thomas J. Rosatti, and Dieter H. Wilken
The Deserts of the Southwest: A Sierra Club Naturalist's Guide, Second Edition, by Peggy Larson and Lane Larson
Adventuring in the California Desert, Completely Revised and Updated Edition, by Lynne Foster
California Desert Flowers: An Introduction to Families, Genera, and Species, by Sia Morhardt and J. Emil Morhardt
The Jepson Desert Manual: Vascular Plants of Southeastern California, edited by Bruce G. Baldwin, Steve Boyd, Barbara J. Ertter, Robert W. Patterson, Thomas J. Rosatti, and Dieter H. Wilken
The Deserts of the Southwest: A Sierra Club Naturalist's Guide, Second Edition, by Peggy Larson and Lane Larson
Adventuring in the California Desert, Completely Revised and Updated Edition, by Lynne Foster
See Planeta.com for a review and interview