Product Description
Winner of the 1990 Western States Book Award for Creative Nonfiction, The Telling Distance evokes the yearning expanses of our southwestern deserts and finds them full of sensuous marvels, erratic life forms, eccentric fellow travelers, dry humor, and surprise.In prose that revels in paradox, it reveals desert distances to be doubly telling: they both magnify our spirit and have incomparable tales to tell. ... Read more

Customer Reviews (1)

Tales of the Southwest
An excellent collection of short stories about the Southwest--its history, its fauna and flora, its people, and just a little about where it may be going if suburbia continues to encroach.

At its best, Bruce's writing style verges on poetry, refining the imagery into a few well chosen lines that beg to be read and read again. The very short story about the Metaphysical Tent is one the best short pieces I have read. ... Read more

Product Description
A boldly illustrated tale captures the brilliance and power of a raging storm as it hits a quiet desert, suddenly causing the landscape to change dramatically and the animals to flee for shelter. ... Read more

Customer Reviews (2)

Beautiful Artwork, Beautiful Writing
I just love this book!My children enjoy the building of the storm and the calmness afterward.It is a great bed time story.

Storm on the desert
A well-written, well-illustrated book on how the desert experiences rain and the animals who live for the infrequent event of abundant supply of water.I recently read this book to my third grade bilingual(Spanish/English) classroom when we were working on our desert unit.Along with the words and illustrations, I included some music that also corresponded with the movement of the story.At first my students didn't connect, but when the downpour occurred, they instantly related to what was happening.When asked to declare their favorite selection of all of the books we had read in the unit, my students overwhelming selected this book.This is a must-have book for any library! ... Read more

Product Description
A profusely illustrated and lively primer on the plants and animals of the Sonoran Desert. This classic includes scores of photographs by top southwestern nature photographers. ... Read more

Customer Reviews (1)

The Sonoran Desert...
In the southwestern part of North America there are three major deserts: the Mojave, the Sonoran, and the Chihuahuan. Only the Mojave is exclusively in the United States. The later two extend significantly into Mexico. This book concerns the flora and fauna of the Sonoran, most famous for its saguaro cactus. Most of southern Arizona is composed of the Sonoran, with half of the desert extending into eastern California and Mexico.

George Olin does a solid job organizing his subject by first defining what a desert is, and then identifying the various types of desert terrain. As he says, the master sculpture of the desert is erosion. He has a total of five chapters on the principal terrain sections: the alluvial plain, the sand dunes, the bajada (this Spanish word means the decent, or coming down, and the area refers to the eroding mountainsides above the alluvial plain), the canyons, and finally the desert mountains. In each chapter he discusses their geology, and the flora and fauna that flourish in these terrains. There is also a chapter on a special fauna, pre-historic man, how he managed, and the artifacts that remain from his presence. At the end there is some practical advice for visiting the desert, including the various dangers that should be avoided. There is also some brief speculation on the future of desert areas, and finally a recommended list of desert destinations.

There are several informative maps, but the real strength of the book is in the quality pictures of the topography, flora, fauna and artifacts of man. The cover photo, of saguaros with backlighting is most appealing. The most startling aspect of the book, one deeply grounded in the ecology of a certain area of the planet, is that "Orientalism" has appeared even here. On page 24, desert sands evoke an image of "...nomads still fold their tents and plod across the burning sands as a sheik riding a camel carries the heroine away to some distant oasis."

Overall though, it is the essential guidebook to the Sonoran Desert, and few places are better for observing it than the Organ Pipe Cactus National Monument in southern Arizona, adjacent to the Mexican border - and what better time than the Thanksgiving holidays? I regret that he did not write similar guides on the other two deserts, including the all important "differential diagnosis."
... Read more

Product Description
Rodents are conspicuous and important components of the desert biome. Many general concepts in modern community and behavioral ecology use them as a main model. This volume compiles and generalizes data on the spatial structure of desert rodent communities, taking into account both global (biogeographic) and local (ecological) patterns. It is based on studies of rodents in different deserts of the Northern Hemisphere (Karakum, Kyzylkum, Bet-Pak-Dala, Gobi, Thar, Chihuahua, Negev, and North Caspian deserts) as well as on a thorough analysis of the literature. ... Read more

Product Description
A story about the mighty saguaro cactus. ... Read more

Customer Reviews (8)

Great reader or science reader.
We used this book in our 2nd grade class as a reader and for our science class on plants.We wanted to look at desert plants.Then we used it again in our next science subject which was on mammals, reptiles and amphibians.Children loved the beautiful art work.

Saguaros
This is a cute and informative book.The illustrations are enjoyable, too.It taught me something about the giant cacti and will interest children in them and the desert eco system.

You will learn so much
You will learn a lot about the animals that live in the desert. Very educational and interesting. Love it!

Great book!
The grandkids loved the book. They live in Tucson and see the Saguaros every day!

Very educational
This book is very educational to use in a classroom or an education focused day camp and is not an easy read as a story book at bedtime. ... Read more

Product Description
‘A wounded mountain lion moves from his mountain habitat to a Papago Indian hut in Arizona’s Sonoran desert during a record-breaking July day.All creation adapts to the blistering heat until a cloudburst causes a flash flood.With a measured yet vivid style, this introduction to desert ecology makes a memorable impact." —SLJ.

... Read more

Customer Reviews (4)

A good way to teach science to children
This books teaches people about the desert plants and animals as well as the climate. The real life and death struggle for survival is most intense at the edge of where life can survive. The result is some evolutionary marvels like toads and cute kangaroo rats.
As short and too the point as this book is, I liked it.

A dramatic look into an otherworldly environment
Naturalist Jean Craighead George introduces us to the world of the mountain lion, the road runner, the cactus, the kangaroo rat, the ringtailed cat, the swift fox, the elf owl, the coyote, and the bombadier beetle in this book as she did wolves and caribou in JULIE OF THE WOLVES and peregrine falcons in MY SIDE OF THE MOUNTAIN.A young Papago Indian girl named Bird Wing and her mother live in Arizona's Sonoran Desert.This usually arid place is about to fall victim to a terrible thunderstorm and a flash flood.Bird Wing and all the animals of the desert struggle to find shelter before the flood.Some will survive--and some will not.This is a beautiful story about the close connection between human beings and all living things, and the unpredictable ways of nature.Other books in the ONE DAY series that include exciting natural disasters are ONE DAY IN THE ALPINE TUNDRA and ONE DAY IN THE PRAIRIE.There is also the fascinating ONE DAY IN THE WOODS and ONE DAY IN THE TROPICAL RAIN FOREST.And don't forget Jean Craighead George's 80+ stories about nature, like The Thirteen Moons series and THERE'S AN OWL IN THE SHOWER.

Introducing young readers to the desert world
Yet another wonderful book by an author very much in tune with nature and ecological concerns. She teaches while she entertains. Having lived in the region portrayed in this book, it became a gift to young friends back inMinnesota to introduce them to a COMPLETELY different world. Yielded fundiscussion and comparison. They wondered at and enjoyed it very much!

This book was not that great
As I was reading this book it did't tell me that much about anything except that this did this and that did that. If I were you I would not buy this book. Although it is my opinion on the book, you might really like it. ... Read more

Product Description
The popular Rookie Books expand their horizons - to all corners of the globe! With this series all about geography, emergent readers will take off on adventures to cities, nations, waterways, and habitats around the world…and right in their own backyards. ... Read more

Customer Reviews (1)

Great for Emergent Readers, even ESOL students!
This is a terrific series for those who are teaching emergent readers and ESOL students.This books are presented in simplified, clear language for readers, followed by photos to reinforce concepts.This series is great and helps me quite a bit with higher readers learning social studies concepts too. ... Read more

Customer Reviews (1)

An excellent, enthusiastically recommended addition to regional ecological studies shelves and college library collections
Though the Mojave Desert is a land of temperature extremes and vast spaces without water, it is also home to Native American peoples and numerous rare wildlife and plant species, including some that can be found nowhere else. The Mojave Desert: Ecosystem Processes and Sustainability is an anthology of essays by thirty-eight scientists, all specialists in desert ecology, reporting on the latest specific threats to Mojave Desert as well as options for its natural recovery and active restoration. The importance of gathering long-term data and balancing human impact on the desert are also discussed a length. Individual writings include "Human Population in the Mojave Desert: Resources and Sustainability", "Ecological Effects of Vehicular Routes in a Desert Ecosystem", "Mojave Desert Root Systems", "A Review of Selected Long-Term Ecological Studies of the Mojave Desert Ecosystem", and much more. A scholarly collection of cutting-edge research and insight, The Mojave Desert is an excellent, enthusiastically recommended addition to regional ecological studies shelves and college library collections. ... Read more

Product Description
One of the first concepts a young student learns is that of community, which helps a child understand how he or she fits into the world. This series gives young readers a tour of what it's like to live in different communities all over the world. ... Read more

Product Description
This volume is produced from digital images created through the University of Michigan University Library's large-scale digitization efforts. The Library seeks to preserve the intellectual content of items in a manner that facilitates and promotes a variety of uses. The digital reformatting process results in an electronic version of the original text that can be both accessed online and used to create new print copies. The Library also understands and values the usefulness of print and makes reprints available to the public whenever possible. This book and hundreds of thousands of others can be found in the HathiTrust, an archive of the digitized collections of many great research libraries. For access to the University of Michigan Library's digital collections, please see http://www.lib.umich.edu and for information about the HathiTrust, please visit http://www.hathitrust.org ... Read more

Product Description
Renowned western writer and former Publisher of Desert Magazine, author Choral Pepper evokes the mystery and magic of southern California's desert, spinning tales of lost mines, Indian myths, legendary characters, strange natural features, and fabled treasure ships. Her self-guiding walks and drives enable the explorer to experience the stories beyond the vistas along byways and trails from the Palm Springs area to the Salton Sea, down the Colorado River, and through the desert parks from Joshua Tree to Anza-Borrego. As in oral and written tradition the world over, these stories have become the essential myth of this fabled land and its people. Choral's lively style samples the range of desert California from often told tales of treasure ships to the first-time report on "the pyramids at the center of the world." ... Read more

Customer Reviews (4)

Great fun by someone who's been there

A former publisher of Desert Magazine gives many brief looks at the mythology of the Southern California desert.

Very entertaining and great fun, if a tad short for the price.

Very happy with the book and the service!!!
Book was in new condition, arrived promptly, well packed, what can I say?what's to complain.I would highly recommend this vendor based on my experience.

Lots of History; Great for Beginners
I actually loved this book as I have traveled to just about every area this book talked about.I especially like the personal knowledge that Choral Pepper shows of all the areas due to her experiences in the region.I learned a lot of different and fascinating facts that I had never known despite years of familiarity with these places.

My ONLY complaint is that I wanted even more details, but I suppose that might make a long and tedious book for some people.People unfamiliar with the area will find this book a good introduction to the geology and history of the people and landscape.I found myself transported back to these areas whenever I was reading this book.

Southern California's Mysterious Deserts
In the second edition of Desert Lore of Southern California, Choral Pepper, former owner and publisher of Desert Magazine, takes readers on a wide ranging journey around the lower deserts of California.Her knowledge of the history and legends of the area is unsurpassed.Desert Lore beginswith a brief natural history of the Salton Sea, followed by a fascinatingsketch of the human history behind the origins of this, the latestreincarnation of ancient Lake Cahuilla.From this point, the book divergesthrough the desert, weaving its tales of lost gold, fabulous gems, Vikingships wedged into geologic formations, plank roads and Felicity, CA, TheCenter of the World.

Travelers crossing the desert in anticipation ofother, more moist environs, as well as thehardened, grizzled,sand-blasted desert rat can garner much by carrying this fine book alongwith them during their travels. ... Read more

Product Description
Look closely. Look very closely. Is it...a pincushion? Monster's skin? Give up? Just turn the page and, lo and behold, it's a prickly pear cactus. See what looks like cornsilk revealed as sandstone, a birthday candle as a saguaro cactus flower, and many more surprises when you look closely across the desert. The Looking Closely series takes children on a journey of discovery through four environments the forest, the shore, the desert and the garden. Frank Serafini s camera lens enlarges each world through the magic of close-up photography. Young eyes will rediscover our planet as a place of beauty, mystery and delight. Readers are first challenged to guess the identity of each closeup photograph. The next page reveals the entire photograph of the plant, animal or natural object accompanied by a simple but detailed description of the habitat. By inspiring children to ask questions and use their imaginations, these books help build problem-solving skills. They also encourage curiosity about environments that, examined this closely, are full of unexpected wonders. ... Read more

Product Description
This digital document is an article from Endangered Species Update, published by University of Michigan, School of Natural Resources on November 1, 2002. The length of the article is 2002 words. The page length shown above is based on a typical 300-word page. The article is delivered in HTML format and is available in your Amazon.com Digital Locker immediately after purchase. You can view it with any web browser.

Citation Details
Title: Lands of contrast, diversity, and beauty.(desert ecology)
Author: Jim Rorabaugh
Publication: Endangered Species Update (Newsletter)
Date: November 1, 2002
Publisher: University of Michigan, School of Natural Resources
Volume: 19Issue: 6Page: S4(4)

Distributed by Thomson Gale ... Read more