BOOKSHELF

Natural History, Feb, 2001

Nature Out of Place: Biological Invasions in the Global Age, by Jason Van Driesche and Roy Van Driesche (Island Press, 2000; $29.95)

Tinkering With Eden: A Natural History of Exotics in America, by Kim Todd (W. W. Norton, 2001; $27.95)

Invasive Species in a Changing World, edited by Harold A. Mooney and Richard J. Hobbs (Island Press, 2000; $55)

Virtually no place on Earth remains isolated from migrant faunal, floral, or microbial species. Three books zero in on the ecological problems, dangers, costs, and even benefits associated with such bioinvasions.

The Living Wild, by Art Wolfe; edited by Michelle A. Gilders (Wildlands Press, 2000; $55)

Wildlife photographer Wolfe's striking portraits of 140 species of animals and their habitats are accompanied by essays written by scientists and conservationists William Conway, Richard Dawkins, Jane Goodall, John C. Sawhill, and George B. Schaller.

Reaping the Wind: How Mechanical Wizards, Visionaries, and Profiteers Helped Shape Our Energy Future, by Peter Asmus (Island Press, 2000; $24.95)

"The winds blowing on just 6 percent of the windiest land sites in the United States (excluding Hawaii and Alaska) could supply one and one-half times the entire nation's electricity needs," writes journalist Asmus in his account of the stormy history of attempts to create U.S. markets for wind power.

Beneath Our Feet: The Rocks of Planet Earth, by Ron Vernon (Cambridge University Press, 2000; $29.95)

The surface of our planet is a mass of vividly patterned inorganic chemical compounds that are aggregated into solids with names such as olivine, gabbro, basalt, and breccia. Here is a guidebook to that glittering ground.

No Man's Garden: Thoreau and a New Vision for Civilization and Nature, by Daniel B. Botkin (Island Press, 2000; $24.95)

Ecologist Botkin meditates on how Thoreau's approach to knowledge can help us not only make thoughtful contact with the natural world but also deal with revolutionary developments in biology and computer science.

Half a Brain Is Enough: The Story of Nico, by Antonio M. Battro (Cambridge University Press, 2001; $19.95)

A neuroscientist tells the story of the successful "sculpting" of three-year-old Nico's brain following radical surgery to cure severe epilepsy.

The books mentioned are usually available in the Museum Shop or through the Museum's Web site, www. amnh.org.