Amphibians and Reptiles of the Great Lakes Region (Great Lakes Environment)

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You'll never mistake a newt for a skink again

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Amphibians and Reptiles of the Great Lakes Region (Great Lakes Environment)
James H. Harding
Manufacturer: University of Michigan Press/Regional
ProductGroup: Book
Binding: Paperback

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Reptiles & Amphibians Of Michigan: Field Guide (Reptiles & Amphibians (Adventure Publications))

ASIN: 0472066285

Book Description

Most people have limited knowledge about the reptiles and amphibians found in the Great Lakes area, so they do not realize the importance of these species to the environment. This book by James H. Harding is a welcome volume that is sure to increase the awareness and knowledge of these often-misunderstood Great Lakes animals.

Reptiles and Amphibians of the Great Lakes Region offers thorough coverage on all the important subjects and issues confronting the world of herpetology today. While being a volume of great usefulness to naturalists in this field of study, it is also accessible to high school and college students. It serves as a handy reference tool for the many people who live in the Great Lakes wilderness areas and for tourists venturing into the wild for the ¹rst time.

James H. Harding is among the most respected herpetologists in the Great Lakes area. Throughout his career at the Cranbrook Institute for Science and Michigan State University, Harding has been very active in educating people about snakes, turtles, toads, and lizards through his numerous books, articles, and presentations.

Customer Reviews:

You'll never mistake a newt for a skink again.......2004-06-23

Michigan is not a state that is well-known for its reptiles and amphibians, but if the whole drainage basin of the Great Lakes is taken into account, as it is in this book, we host a total of 33 amphibians (mostly salamanders!) and 42 reptiles (mostly snakes).

"Amphibians and Reptiles of the Great Lakes Region" starts with a preface on how to use this book, followed by a brief 34-page introduction to Herpetology. Most of 378 pages are taken up by descriptions of the 75 species of reptiles and amphibians that might be encountered by those of us who live near one of the Great Lakes. The color photographs and distribution maps are well-suited for species identification. I was able to recognize a pair of snakes that rove through a swampy area near our driveway as Northern Ribbon Snakes (Thamnophis sauritus septentrionalis), a handsome species of garter snake. The frogs that are currently hopping through the lawn are Wood Frogs (Rana sylvatica), not a brown variation of Leopard Frog (Rana pipiens), as I had originally thought.

Each of the species narratives is divided into the following sections: "Description;" "Confusing Species;" "Distribution and Status;" "Habitat and Ecology;" "Reproduction and Growth;" and "Conservation." The author stresses 'nonconsumptive' observation of these interesting creatures in their habitat, since many of the species are in decline. Newts seem to be especially vulnerable to degradation of their habitat and the author suggests conserving and protecting them by "creating ponds that are close to woodland habitats." I've lived in Michigan all of my live and have never seen any form of salamander, including newts, so I'll have to start looking more closely in and near the local woodland ponds. They are not for picking up, though. The author states that all members of the Salamandridae family have skins that "are well supplied with poison glands that help discourage predators."

"Amphibians and Reptiles of the Great Lakes Region" is a well-organized, well-written, and well-illustrated guide for all budding herpetologists or for those of us in the region who are curious about our natural surroundings.

The Best.......2003-08-29

Mr. Harding is fairly well known in Michigan. When he does public speaking about his loved amphibians and reptiles, people respond well to him. This book shows the depth of his love for the natural world and his knowledge of these underappreciated creatures. Since there are relatively few amphibians and reptiles in the Great Lakes area you don't have to know 100s of different species. That alone makes identification easier. The high quality color photos and excellent descriptions in this book make identifications even easier.
Mr. Harding's text includes general biological information about the various creatures described in the book--frogs, toads, salamanders, newts, turtles, lizards and snakes. So, in addition to helping with identification, this book also helps the reader understand the biology and ecology of the animals. Though most people have little love for these animals, Mr. Harding's book will help us appreciate their places in the ecology and their biological functions.

Since there are so few books dealing with the amphibians and reptiles of the Great Lakes (is this the only one?), we are lucky that this one is truly excellent. Highly recommended to all people wanting to further their understanding of these creatures. Thanks to Mr. Harding for an exceptionally fine book.

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Book Description

Chance was Conrad's first commercial success after nearly twenty years as a writer, and his first novel to have a happy ending. It tells the story of Flora de Barral, the abandoned daughter of a bankrupt tycoon, and her long struggle to find happiness and dignity.

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And the best of it was that the danger was all over already. There was no danger any more. The supposed nephew's appearance had a purpose. He had come, full, full to trembling--with the bigness of his news. There must have been rumours already as to the shaky position of the de Barral's concerns; but only amongst those in the very inmost know. No rumour or echo of rumour had reached the profane in the West-End.

Customer Reviews:

Conrad's Strangest Triumph.......2007-02-16

So well-crafted, so engaging, so powerfully written - it's hard believing "Chance" was written by Joseph Conrad. Not that Conrad didn't write great books, just that nothing in "Lord Jim," "Heart Of Darkness," or the rest of his tough, unsettling oeuvre prepares you for the wry warmth and hidden sunlight of "Chance."

Well, you do have Marlow again. The narrator of "Jim" and "Darkness" is back here telling another story about people he doesn't actually know first-hand. This time the central character is young Flora de Barral, set adrift in England by her father's scandal-plagued financiering. Haunted and helpless, her wide blue eyes giving her the look of "a forsaken elf," Flora takes what comes in life, seemingly unable to function for herself. Can she find her own way? Will she become ruthless if she tries?

All this may sound precious and twee, very much in the style of period romances more suited to Henry James than what you expect from the shamelessly macho Conrad, with his damned souls sailing heedless into typhoons. Yet Conrad makes this odd Merchant-Ivory production work by making you care for Flora in a way that draws you in more deeply than even the classic "Lord Jim" ever did. "Jim" was a philosophical novel; "Chance" is a uniquely intuitive one, more about feelings than ideas, yet quite brilliant in its concept all the same.

Published in 1913, one year before World War I would change forever the genteel world it so painstakingly describes, "Chance" was the one book by Conrad that clicked with readers in his own lifetime. It's been disregarded since, as modern readers embrace more dour Conrad fare like "The Secret Agent" and "Nostromo."

It's our generation's loss. Missing "Chance" is missing the other side of Conrad, the bleak nihilist discovering for once "the precise workmanship of chance, fate, providence, call it what you will." Other Conrad books feature broken-up narratives and odd framing devices, but the structural convolutions in "Chance" actually propel the story rather than hold it back.

Marlow's narration is a marvel of storytelling economy, carrying you across windswept moors and the high seas, not to mention a source of much dry wit as the rather mysterious misogynist fires many shots across the bow of womankind. "Mainly I resent that pretence of winding us around their dear little fingers, as of right," he snorts.

Is Flora exhibit A in this case against? Certainly she winds the helplessly infatuated Captain Anthony around her finger, despite her apparent total lack of reciprocal devotion. Flora does love, only it is in a flawed way, for her crabbed, corrupt father who believes the two of them too good for the rest of the world. Yet love can be a form of redemption despite itself.

Women, Conrad writes, can be fiendish and dumb, yet they are "never dense." "There is in woman always, somewhere, a spring." Realizing that spring here is at the heart of "Chance," and makes for Conrad's strangest triumph, the one book of his that not only makes you feel smarter for reading it, but happy to be alive.

An obscure gem from one of history's greatest writers.......2006-12-13

My first Conrad read was Victory, and I have been hooked ever since. I chose Chance because it was Conrad's first commercial success, and I was curious to see what the public liked better than so many other great novels such as Lord Jim. As other reviewers have suggested, the ending must have been the difference. There is far more sweet than bitter, and it's usually the other way around in his books, especially the love stories. I suspect we may learn more from sad stories than from happy ones, but in any event, Chance is not without pain and suffering. As the capable narrator Marlowe repeatedly emphasizes, the novel's heroine, Flora, leads a difficult life. Her father is one of the great villans in literature. He really steals show from Marlowe--well, almost.
What I like most about Conrad's use of the narrator, particularly in Chance, is his role as an interpreter. In most novels, the reader must examine the story itself for the life lessons Conrad so uniquely presents. Marlowe enables Conrad to speak more directly to the reader, and I found him doing so more in Chance than in Lord Jim. There are a few arguably gratutious digressions--one about the differences between men and women comes to mind--but that's Marlowe.
The bottom line: if in reading Lord Jim, you really enjoyed Marlowe's character, you will love the extra depth and insight Chance provides. If you love Conrad, then I expect you will find this to be one his most enjoyable books. And, if you have never read Conrad, but are curious, this is an excellent novel to start with, for it cannot be sterotyped as a South Seas adventure novel full of Pacific atmosphere and nautical terms.

A sublime piece of work.......2004-06-29

From the author famous for seminal works like The Heart of Darkness, The Secret Agent and Nostromo this novel is often left unmentioned within his repertoire of books. This is unfair. I would say Chance is Conrad's most beautiful story, the construction of the plot masterly from start to conclusion, and probably the only novel of his which genuinely leaves a good feeling and makes the reader smile. His handling of the material from Marlow the teller of the tale, the way the novels flits from present to the past and back again flawlessly, surprises one how so far ahead Conrad was compared to the standard straight-line story telling that dominated writing of that era. But bottomline is despite the technical perfection, a story would only succeed its telling if it has heart. Here Conrad never faltered and one feels for the heroine in the story, and it would be hard not to let out a whoop of bemused joy once the final page is turned. Simply sublime.

Marlow does it again.......2004-04-29

Chance is a wonderful Conrad novel that no one really pays attention to nowadays. True, it does not have the same magic as Lord Jim or Heart of Darkness, but it is brilliant in that Conradian way. It features the return of Marlow, so it is an especially interesting read for Conrad fans who have been with Marlow through other novels and stories. His role in this book is less hands-on. He does not have a very strong tie to the two characters he most discusses. He does, however, have a more active role in the actual narration. His audience this time is not passive, but questions his analyses and puts in their own ideas. A hilarious example:
"You are the expert in the psychological wilderness. This is like one of those Redskin stories where the noble savages carry off a girl and the honest backwoodsman with his incomparable knowledge follows the track and reads the signs of her fate in a footprint here, a broken twig there, a trinklet dropped by the way."

For those unfamiliar with Marlow, the commentator is refering to his capacity for putting together pieces of information to create a sketch of a person, and we have to filter through some of Marlow's pretensions to get a real view of what is going on in his story. At one point, he compares women to electricity. Both have been captured, "but what sort of conquest would you call it? (Man) knows nothing of it. And the greater the demand he makes on it in the exultation of his pride the more likely it is to turn on him and burn him to a cinder." Ah, Marlow, you rambling fool.

This is the novel that brought Conrad popular success, rather late in his career. It is one of his only female characters with a dominant role, but don't expect a strong feminist type. Flora de Barral is naive, at the mercy of others and their wills. I didn't feel quite as close to the characters, and Conrad tries a little too hard to philosophize on the role of chance and circumstance in our lives. Still, very enjoyable, witty, pure Conrad that you shouldn't miss.

Excellent.......2002-02-14

This book is just perfect. It's very well written. Conrad shows an understanding of the predicament of women of his time. Conrad advances the plot though the voice of the characters, who tell a story, which involves another character telling a story, etc. At one point the tale is six levels deep; but such is the skill of Conrad that you do not notice and are never lost. One of Conrad's two or three best. A book I was sad to end because I was enjoying it so much.

Chance: A Tale in Two Parts - Joseph Conrad - Paperback

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Chance: A Tale in Two Parts - Joseph Conrad - Paperback

ProductGroup: Book
Binding: Paperback
ASIN: 0393004562

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CHANCE A TALE IN TWO PARTS
Joseph Conrad
Manufacturer: Doubleday & Company, Inc.
ProductGroup: Book
Binding: Hardcover

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Chance A Tale In Two Parts
Joseph Conrad
Manufacturer: Doubleday Doran & company
ProductGroup: Book
Binding: Hardcover

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Chance A Tale In Two Parts
Joseph Conrad
Manufacturer: Doubleday, Page & Company Garden City NY
ProductGroup: Book
Binding: Hardcover

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Chance a Tale in Two Parts
Joseph Conrad
Manufacturer: WILLIAM HEINEMANN
ProductGroup: Book
Binding: Hardcover

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Chance a Tale in Two Parts
Joseph Conrad
Manufacturer: Doubleday
ProductGroup: Book
Binding: Hardcover

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Chance, a Tale in Two Parts
Joseph Conrad
Manufacturer: Doubleday, Page & Company
ProductGroup: Book
Binding: Hardcover

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Chance: A Tale In Two Parts
Joseph Conrad
Manufacturer: METHUEN & CO. LTD
ProductGroup: Book
Binding: Hardcover

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Chance: A Tale In Two Parts
Joseph Conrad
Manufacturer: Doubleday, Page & Company
ProductGroup: Book
Binding: Hardcover

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447 pages, hardcover

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