A Neotropical Companion
by John Kricher
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Book Summary Information
Author: John KricherForeword: Mark Plotkin
Edition: Paperback
Audio: English (Original Language); English (Unknown); English (Published)
Published: 1999-08-16
ISBN: 0691009740
Number of pages: 451
Publisher: Princeton University Press
Book Reviews of A Neotropical Companion
Book Review: great general guide
Summary: 4 Stars
This book provides a good overview of several ecosystem types within the neotropics, including information on plants, insects, birds, mammals, and inter-species interactions. It's written in an academic but accessible style. My only criticism is the presence of numerous typographical and measurement-conversion errors in the book. Overall, I would definitely recommend this book - I brought it with me to Peru, and read it from cover to cover.
Summary of A Neotropical Companion
A Neotropical Companion is an extraordinarily readable introduction to the American tropics, the lands of Central and South America, their remarkable rainforests and other ecosystems, and the creatures that live there. It is the most comprehensive one-volume guide to the Neotropics available today. Widely praised in its first edition, it remains a book of unparalleled value to tourists, students, and scientists alike. This second edition has been substantially revised and expanded to incorporate the abundance of new scientific information that has been produced since it was first published in 1989. Major additions have been made to every chapter, and new chapters have been added on Neotropical ecosystems, human ecology, and the effects of deforestation. Biodiversity and its preservation are discussed throughout the book, and Neotropical evolution is described in detail. This new edition offers all new drawings and photographs, many of them in color.As enthusiastic readers of the first edition will attest, this is a charming book. Wearing his learning lightly and writing with ease and humor, John Kricher presents the complexities of tropical ecology as accessible and nonintimidating. Kricher is so thoroughly knowledgeable and the book is so complete in its coverage that general readers and ecotourists will not need any other book to help them identify and understand the plants and animals, from birds to bugs, that they will encounter in their travels to the New World tropics. At the same time, it will fascinate armchair travelers and students who may get no closer to the Neotropics than this engagingly written book.
A second revised edition of John Kricher's well-received 1989 text, A Neotropical Companion distills whole libraries of information on the Americas' tropics. Kricher explores the workings of a rainforest with admirable clarity, discussing matters such as regeneration pathways and ecological succession. He also takes a sidelong glance at current issues in evolutionary theory, using his deep knowledge of the tropics to add to the literature on speciation and various hypotheses surrounding it. Ethnobotanists in particular will want to have a look at Kricher's catalog of tropical medicinal plants, in which lie the promise of cures and reliefs for a host of modern illnesses.
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