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Ecology, Revised and Expanded: A Pocket Guide
Offering essential environmental wisdom for the twenty-first century, this lively, compact book explains more than sixty basic ecological concepts in an easy-to-use A-to-Z format. From Air and Biodiversity to Restoration and Zoos, A Pocket Guide forms a dynamic web of ideas that can be entered at any point or read straight through. An accessible, informative guide to achieving ecoliteracy, it tells the story of the amazing interconnectivity of life on Earth and along the way provides the ecological understanding necessary for fighting environmental degradation. This new edition has been updated throughout and features five new essays on the topics of biotechnology, global warming, migration, smell, and tourism.
192 pages, Kindle Edition
First published November 1, 1998
25 people are currently reading
222 people want to read
About the author
Ernest Callenbach
117 books54 followersErnest Callenbach was an American author, film critic, editor, and simple living adherent. He became famous due to his internationally successful semi-utopian novel Ecotopia.
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Displaying 1 - 12 of 12 reviews
July 10, 2020
Overall this book was a satisfying read to become familiar with ecological concepts and understanding the fundamentals of our Earth and biosphere. I did learn many interesting facts such as too much oxygen in the air would start spontaneous fires, and the algae in the ocean produces most of our breathable air, and that fungi creates massive underground networks to feed the forests. If you are expecting this book to be filled with this kind of specific information, be wary. Overall, it is still a pocket guide and skims only the surfaces of major topics in the science. I do recommend though if you are curious in ecology and want to understand some of the actionable steps we can take to sustain our lives and environment.
August 1, 2022
Ekolojiye giriş niteliğinde oldukça basit bir kitap. Hepimizin bir şekilde bildiği, duyduğu temel kavramları ekolojik bağlamda açıklıyor. Büyük bir beklenti olmadan okunmalı.
November 5, 2011
I tend to intensely dislike any book I am being forced to read.The pressure of knowing I have to read something and by a deadline... just doesn't sit well with me. In short, I'd rather read a depressingly boring book that I choose than an interesting one I am told I "have to read."
This book falls into the category of "have to read", but I didn't get the feeling I normally do. It's very easy to follow and it great if you want to read in short spurts. I liked that it's compact, which made it easy to bring with me and read when I had the spare time.
Ecology as a subject... is also not my thing. However, I genuinely enjoyed this book and I have to mention that it did not feel like a school textbook!
This book falls into the category of "have to read", but I didn't get the feeling I normally do. It's very easy to follow and it great if you want to read in short spurts. I liked that it's compact, which made it easy to bring with me and read when I had the spare time.
Ecology as a subject... is also not my thing. However, I genuinely enjoyed this book and I have to mention that it did not feel like a school textbook!
August 1, 2017
10% Ecology, 90% Social Studies with Environmentalism: a Pocket Guide would've been an honest title earning a higher rating. However Ecology: a Pocket Guide was another mid 90s to mid 2000s popular attend to make ecology, a science, instead a synonym for environmentalism, and political ideology.
The great irony here is that this book preaches to the choir and, even though I'm a member of the choir, I picked this book to read about the natural world and the interactions within it. There's too little of that. Of what is there has an interesting, unique interpretation compared to the tired descriptions in textbooks. However, it's just too little of the book. I don't like people turning something pure into something with an agenda, and I'm not a fan of being preached to.
I've met people that refuse to read a science book because it's boring compared to the emotional and personal ethic validation of a political book. However, abusing the term "ecology" perpetuates and perhaps even initiated the idea that environmental protection is partisan beliefs instead of something universal. Besides not being seen as universal to the survival of society, it's also often seen as something to serve humans instead of a part of an intrinsically valuable entity in the universe. The anthropocentric mindset.
On some level I understand teaching sciences in terms of human values to retain people's attentions and, so to say, making the sale to people that don't inherently value nature, but you can do that honestly. Misusing "ecology" is unnecessary. There's environmental studies (the social side of environmental sciences), environmental stewardship, natural resources (though can be an objective term, "resources" is broadly regarded as referring to human resources), environmental sociology, environmental economics, environmental ethics, and ecological anthropology (how humans interact with the natural world) would have been better terms to use as a title.
I prefer "environmental stewardship" in this case since the author goes over his ethics and ideology--and writes them as if they are absolute and objective, not a style I'm fond of--and general, objective methods that we can be more responsible to the environment. It seems to fit under stewardship than anything else. I think it also would've been a better read and more bona fide to his purpose if he wrote in an essay style than an encyclopedia one. Essays are supposed to be a mix of opinion and supportive facts, like this book, but encyclopedias are supposed to be absolute fact or objective reporting of existing theories in the absence of proof--too academic for this book's content.
Overall, not my kind of read. It's too preachy and touches far too little on any actual natural science despite the title. Indeed, don't judge a book by its cover.
The great irony here is that this book preaches to the choir and, even though I'm a member of the choir, I picked this book to read about the natural world and the interactions within it. There's too little of that. Of what is there has an interesting, unique interpretation compared to the tired descriptions in textbooks. However, it's just too little of the book. I don't like people turning something pure into something with an agenda, and I'm not a fan of being preached to.
I've met people that refuse to read a science book because it's boring compared to the emotional and personal ethic validation of a political book. However, abusing the term "ecology" perpetuates and perhaps even initiated the idea that environmental protection is partisan beliefs instead of something universal. Besides not being seen as universal to the survival of society, it's also often seen as something to serve humans instead of a part of an intrinsically valuable entity in the universe. The anthropocentric mindset.
On some level I understand teaching sciences in terms of human values to retain people's attentions and, so to say, making the sale to people that don't inherently value nature, but you can do that honestly. Misusing "ecology" is unnecessary. There's environmental studies (the social side of environmental sciences), environmental stewardship, natural resources (though can be an objective term, "resources" is broadly regarded as referring to human resources), environmental sociology, environmental economics, environmental ethics, and ecological anthropology (how humans interact with the natural world) would have been better terms to use as a title.
I prefer "environmental stewardship" in this case since the author goes over his ethics and ideology--and writes them as if they are absolute and objective, not a style I'm fond of--and general, objective methods that we can be more responsible to the environment. It seems to fit under stewardship than anything else. I think it also would've been a better read and more bona fide to his purpose if he wrote in an essay style than an encyclopedia one. Essays are supposed to be a mix of opinion and supportive facts, like this book, but encyclopedias are supposed to be absolute fact or objective reporting of existing theories in the absence of proof--too academic for this book's content.
Overall, not my kind of read. It's too preachy and touches far too little on any actual natural science despite the title. Indeed, don't judge a book by its cover.
August 20, 2024
Doesn’t necessarily deal with ecology (i.e. the subject Ecology in a serious sense) as the title leads one to expect and was a very very basic book telling the reader in plain simple language about the natural world and our interconnectedness to Nature. Would make a decent first reading for a beginner.
April 23, 2010
A fantastic little reference book for anyone interested in ecology. Each section offers a few paragraphs to a few pages detailing key ecological topics such biodiversity, carbon, decomposition, energy, evolution, niche, predation, sex, species, urban ecology, viruses, and wilderness. It's a network of information that can be entered into from any point. Callenbach's "Laws of Ecology": All things are interconnected; everything goes somewhere; there's no such thing as a free lunch; and nature bats last.
Currently reading
March 10, 2009I picked up this book on ecology because I felt like it was a subject that we should all be informed about. I knew absolutely nothing about this subject and couldn't have given you a definition of ecology before reading it. Though I haven't finished, I am finding the book easily readable and very interesting. No hard science talk here just easy to understand information, categorized in alphabetical order so it can be read any way you like. So far so good!
July 20, 2007
Concise introduction into the stunning world of ecological patterns and nature. A good one to carry on hikes, camping trips, or for that lazy day in the backyard.
Read
August 5, 2011An excellent, user-friendly reference book on ecology and environmental issues. Would be a worthwhile addition to any library.
December 5, 2012
Good introductory book for anyone interested in Ecology and would like to be in the know when scientists/conservationists speak technical terms.
May 7, 2012
Again, a very hopeful book that I want to re-read...
Displaying 1 - 12 of 12 reviews