Time Is Short and the Water Risesby John Walsh; Robert Gannon

Time Is Short and the Water Rises by John Walsh; Robert GannonReview by: Herbert S. ZimThe American Biology Teacher, Vol. 31, No. 4 (Apr., 1969), p. 266Published by: University of California Press on behalf of the National Association of BiologyTeachersStable URL: http://www.jstor.org/stable/4442537 .

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there is great attention to the life which appears in this environment, there is also a great deal of attention to types of water, origins, and its ul- timate destination. However, the per- vading emphasis of the books is on the life in the streams.

As is true in all of the previous volumes, the illustrations are stunning. The text is written for junior, senior, and collegiate students, and most adults will delight in reading the details of the fascinating world of the rivers and streams.

THE LIFE OF PRAIRIES AND PLAINS, Dur- ward L. Allen, 232 pp., $4.95. Mc- Graw-Hill Book Company, New York, 1967. One of the Our Living World of

Nature series produced by the pub- lisher, World Book, and the U.S. Park Service. It affirms the reputation of previous volumes of beautiful illustra- tions, interesting text, and an unfor- tunate lack of clear correlation of illus- trations and text. This volume has a most unusual chapter on some of the ancient history of the prairies with man appearing there some 8500 years ago. This is a touch missing in previous volumes.

Prairie history lends itself to some sad stories of man's influence and its ultimate bad results. The author is a skilled writer, organizing his treat- ment into the flora of the prairie, the fauna, and the ecological community with the final chapter on man's role in the prairie.

An excellent book for home and school.

THE LIFE OF THE MARSH, William A. Niering, 232 pp., $4.95, McGraw-Hill Book Company, New York, 1967. Another one of the Our Living

World of Nature series produced joint- ly by the publisher, World Book En- cyclopedia, and the U.S. Park Service. As usual, the full color illustrations are stunning.

It is difficult to follow the themes of the book by simply looking at the pictures; one must read the text and captions carefully. Also, as usual in this series, the text is interestingly written with attention-grabbing items to start out each section. The first part tells how lakes die and become bogs, wetlands, marshes, etc. Then a description of the energy webs in an ecological sense is given, followed by a description of the various orga- nisms one would find in these areas from insects to beavers. The final sec- tion is a stirring defense of the con- servation of wetlands and a descrip- tion of the disgraceful results of pollu- tion. The appendix is taxonomic and a listing of wetland areas.

An excellent book for the biology classroom and the general library.

THE LIFE OF THE DESERT, Ann and Myron Sutton, 232 pp., $4.95, McGraw-Hill Book Company, New York, 1966. Another ecological book in the Our

Living World of Nature series pro- duced by the publisher, U.S. Park Service, and the World Book Ency- clopedia. As is true in the other vol- umes of the series, the illustrations are stunning and there is a useful appendix of taxonomic detail, locations of deserts, etc.

The American desert areas are the focus of the authors as they describe the remarkable group of organisms there and their adaptations which tell so much of evolution. The physical factors of desert life are also described vividly. Although the picture is Dan- tesque, the result is beautiful. The main sections describe a typical day, the water relationships, survival mech- anisms, and descriptions of various deserts.

A book for all biology libraries, the general library, and for the delight of those at home who have adventures vicariously.

THE LiFE OF THE OCEAN, N. J. Berrill, 232 pp., $4.95, McGraw-Hill Book Company, New York, 1967. One of the Our Living World of

Nature series jointly produced by the publisher, World Book, and the Na- tional Park Service. The author is a well-known marine zoologist who writes interestingly and knowledgeably. As is true in other volumes of the series, picture story inserts are not placed in the most relevant place in- sofar as the text is concerned. The chapter titles tell the story: winds, below the surface, bounty of the ocean. and the ocean floor. As usual, the illus- trations are stunning, in full color, and depicting very well the life and en- vironment of the ocean. The appendix has taxonomic data as well as infor- mation on the tools of the oceanog- rapher. The first chapter is a pot- pourri of diverse items of information, presumably to whet the reader's ap- petite for more systematically pre- sented material.

An excellent and recommended book for the general library, home, and biology teaching area.

RICHES OF THE SEA, THE NEW SCIENCE

OF OCEANOLOGY, Norman Carlisle, 128 pp., $3.95, Sterling Publishing Co., New York, 1968. A generously illustrated book for

the young as well as older but un- sophisticated reader in oceanology. A great deal of space is devoted to the instrumentation of the new science, including the larger submarine equip- ment. One of the fascinating sections is devoted to mining, and it was a surprise to find that diamond hunting

is now being actually pursued. Too, the Russian experiments in using tides for power generation were new to this reviewer.

For the science student there is much to whet interest and appetite for this kind of study. This is not a scientific exposition, but it is an in- terest catcher. Quite suitable for the general library.

TIME IS SHORT AND THE WATER RISES, John Walsh with Robert Gannon, $6.95, Dutton, New York, 1967. When a stray kitten is treed or a

dog gets stuck in a fence, the Society for the Prevention of Cruelty to Ani- mals comes to the rescue. On a larger scale, this service is performed by the International Society for the Protection of Animals whose field officer, John Walsh, ably aided by Robert Gannon, a free-lance writer, tells a very read- able and exciting story about the rescue and release of thousands of mammals and reptiles trapped by the flooding waters behind the Afobaka Dam in Surinam in South America.

He writes of the magnitude of the job and of the bone-wearying task of capturing and removing starving ani- mals from the shrinking islands and treetops and the water rose; a battle with rain, mud, insects, and fungi to save deer, tapirs, monkeys, porcupines, and turtles. Adventure comes in the form of bushmasters and piranhas which biologists will learn "can snap off a toe as though it were a carrot."

In spite of the biological background, the adventure and a bit of humor, the overall ecological problems of the river, the dam, the flora, fauna, and people don't quite come into focus. Was all the effort worth while? And-bush Ne- groes pushed out by the rising water make you wonder what happened to the International Society for the Pro- tection of Man. But perhaps this de- mands too much from one account. The book is an honest, sentimental adventure with more purpose than most adventure stories; with excel- lent photos to enrich the tale. The sentiment behind the rescue of a stranded kitten or 10,000 animals is very much the same and it is a hope- ful reminder of the human and the humane. This isn't all of conservation, but it's the facet that a wide audience will read, enjoy and remember.

Herbert S. Zim Vacation Village, Florida

THOSE OF THE FOREST, Wallace Byron Grange, 314 pp., $7.95, Arno Press, New York, 1967. The Arno Press is reprinting Those

of the Forest as a part of the New Abercrombie and Fitch Library, a series which will make available many books on sport or adventure now out of print.

266 THE AMERICAN BIOLOGY TEACHER, APRIL, 1969

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