Rating: 
Summary: A great introduction to rain forest ecology
Review: This was a great book. You can see the authors' passion for rain forests while you read it. The chapters are short and insightful. They don't cover any subject with a great amount of detil but if they did the book would be 2000 pages long. You don't need to be a specialist to appreciate this book. The concepts that are presented are explained by using stories from the authors' experiences in the rain forests. It is a super intorduction, if your planning trip to Costa Rica, Belize or any other tropical country to see rain forests, you would really enjoy your experience more after reading this book. Like the authors say, rain forests can seem a little dull because all you see is a tangle of green under a dark canopy. After reading this book you'll begin to see things that you normally would look for.
Rating:
Summary: Pulitzer Price material
Review: This was an absolutely wonderful book. It's very dense -- I think every paragraph may introduce a new idea -- but it's so well written that you tend not to notice just how much information is here.The chapters are self-contained, and in fact you can read them in just about any order you want. Just browse and pick what you'd like to read. Plus they're fairly short, which is a good thing since as I mentioned the material is dense. The book really does introduce you to many concepts as well as specifics. We went to the Amazon with a naturalist, and all the concepts as well as many of the specifics were familar to us from the book. Highly recommended!
Rating:
Summary: Tropical Nature--an armchair guide to the rainforests.
Review: Tropical Nature is a delightful discussion of the evolution, ecology and biodiversity of species in the Central and South American rainforests. It is written on a level that biologists can enjoy but is also highly readable for those planning a trip to these areas. The authors' discussion of evolutionary adaptations of species in the rainforests is written in plain language and would not overwhelm those outside the field. With so much emphasis on molecular biology now, it is great to read a book about natural history and the way species interact.
Rating:
Summary: Tropical Nature--an armchair guide to the rainforests.
Review: Tropical Nature is a delightful discussion of the evolution, ecology and biodiversity of species in the Central and South American rainforests. It is written on a level that biologists can enjoy but is also highly readable for those planning a trip to these areas. The authors' discussion of evolutionary adaptations of species in the rainforests is written in plain language and would not overwhelm those outside the field. With so much emphasis on molecular biology now, it is great to read a book about natural history and the way species interact.
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