California Wild Fall 2004

The Magazine of the CALIFORNIA ACADEMY OF SCIENCES

Reviews

Map of the Spheres

Map of the Spheres Firefly Planisphere Latitude 42¼ North, by Storm Dunlop and Wil Tirion. Firefly Books, Richmond Hill, Ontario, Canada, 2004. $19.95 laminated plastic planisphere and instruction booklet.

A planisphere is a simple yet indispensable tool for stargazers. More versatile than a single-sheet star map, it consists of two disks which illustrate the motion of the sky over time for the observer's latitude. When properly aligned, it displays the appearance of the night sky for any given date of the year.

This latest planisphere, from Canadian publisher Firefly, appears to be a North American reissue of the classic Philip's Planisphere. Designed for use in the northern mid-latitudes, which covers most of the United States (models for other latitudes are available), it is made of plastic and so is moisture-proof and weather-resistant. Measuring a generous 111/2" in diameter, it's easy to read in both white light and the red light many skywatchers use to preserve their night-vision. Comprehensive instructions for use are printed on the back, with additional information on how to find the planets and a table that helps locate the four brightest worlds of our solar system through 2011. Unlike most other skywatching aids, which list the constellation in which a planet is found, this device describes position in degrees along the ecliptic. This locates the planets more precisely, though it may catch beginners off guard if they don't read the instructions (hint).

The star map includes stars to 4th magnitude, all of which should be fairly visible to the unaided eye. Larger dots correspond to brighter stars, and constellations and bright stars are labeled for identification. The Milky Way is shown as an irregular gray band that doesn't obscure stars or labels, and selected Messier objects (galaxies, nebulae, etc.), which reveal themselves clearly only to telescopes, are labeled but not represented by symbols. A grid marked off in degrees for declination and hours for right ascension, and a dotted circle representing the ecliptic complete the sky map. Their use is explained in the informative text printed on the wraparound package cover.

All beginning skywatchers should have a star map, and this is a good one to get.

Bing Quock

Sierra Birds: A Hiker's Guide, by John Muir Laws. California Academy of Sciences and Heyday Books, Berkeley, CA, 2004. 64 pp., $9.95 paper.

Don't be deceived by this book's slim build. It's a heavyweight among Sierra Nevada natural history guides and packed with great information. The concept of creating a hiker-friendly field guide stripped to the bare essentials is brilliant and executed to perfection under the aegis of Heyday Books. Here, in a minimum of pages, is the information you need to easily identify 200 birds found in the Sierra Nevada, with nothing more than clear, simple illustrations and helpful tips on what to look for in each species. I was lucky enough to test a draft copy of this guide last summer. I found it provided excellent coverage for all the birds I ran across, making Sierra Birds a very satisfying book to carry.

Depending on your point of view, however, the book's scheme of grouping birds by color could be more bane than bonus. In general it's better to conform to standard taxonomic order so that readers can easily cross reference other field guides. Sierra Birds at least does a decent job of making the color scheme easy to follow. Featuring species with several dominant colors in multiple sections removes the hassle of deciding which color to focus on.

Meticulously researched and illustrated by Academy associate John Laws, and fact checked by bird experts, this book is well worth its weight in any hiker's load. Keep your eyes open, because this remarkable book is the first installment in what promises to be a series of revolutionary new hiking guides from John Laws and Heyday Books.

David Lukas

Feeling the Heat: Dispatches from the Frontlines of Climate Change, edited by Jim Motovalli. Routledge, New York and London, 2004. 194 pp., $17.95 paper.

If you think global warming is not a threat to your own quality of life, read Feeling the Heat and dispense with that last wisp of denial clouding your brain. This primer on climate change offers a diverse collection of first-hand accounts written by seasoned journalists who have contributed to E/The Environmental Magazine.

In the book's first half, readers learn how countries are spending billions to combat increases in flooding, hurricanes, and air pollution. In Europe, cities like Venice and Rotterdam are being walled off from surging tides, and in China and India, residents are choking on vast, persistent clouds of asthma-inducing smog. In the book's second half, journalists report on collapsing fish and plankton populations off the California coast, wildlife communities undergoing dramatic flux in the Arctic and Antarctic, dying reefs in Australia, Fiji, and Florida, and other ecosystems whose food webs are unraveling. The book's midsection features a photo essay by noted photojournalist Gary Braasch. Unfortunately, Braasch's large, color photographs of eroding beaches, thawing tundra, and melting ice caps are reproduced as small black-and-white snapshots to underwhelming effect.

Feeling the Heat powerfully chronicles not only a warming planet, but an increasingly degraded one, where pollution is often caused by poverty as well as by governments turning a blind eye to their citizens' well-being. The book also explains how smaller, poorer countries are being sacrificed to our gas-guzzling habits. Although short on solutions, the book presents a convincing portrait of a planet creeping toward cataclysm. Not a pretty picture, but one every U.S. legislator and voter should be forced to face.

Christine Colasurdo