Customer Reviews:
Other Books.......2007-09-03
There aren't too many otter books around, and this one is pretty serious. The story of a man's love for and relationship with the furry little swimmers.
He looks after and befriends them, and the book is an interesting and occasionally moving account of his life as affected by these entertaining animals.
Ring of Bright Water.......2007-03-17
I absolutely fell in love with Mij the Otter but how in the world can the writer say this is entertainment for children when the loveable otter gets killed by being hit over the head with a shovel!! I have never seen this movie until just recently and I sobbed for hours!! I just did not see any point in having him die.
Why Otters Don't Make Good Pets.......2006-10-26
The reason I don't recommend this book, despite the nice writing and decriptions of the Western Highlands, is for one dark fact: a number of wild otters died for Maxwell's selfish pursuit of having a wild animal as a pet. This is not the story of a man who raises abandoned wild otters cubs in the Western Highlands and releases them but the story of a man who takes otters from the wild in Iraq and Africa and tries to raise them in Scotland. What this story also tells us is that, if you are of a privillaged class, you can have any wild animal you want as your pet. Today this is illegal "pet" trading and it is responsible for pushing certain species to the edge of extinction. I know that at the time this practice was not looked down upon as it is today and certain other nature writers (Durrell, Heinrich) engage in the same practice but with a more educated populus it should be clear: wild animals are not pets and they should stay wild!
Otterly fantastic.......2004-11-02
I read this book when I was a child, and I really enjoyed it. I've seen the movie version several times since, and just recently decided to re-read the book. I was not disappointed. It starts off kind of rocky, but once the otters enter Maxwell's life, it's pure magic. He's an incredibly good writer with the ability to make you "see" everything he describes.
Staci Layne Wilson
A Book that Will Become Part of the Dream of Your Heart.......2004-05-13
Forever after you read A Ring of Bright Water, the beauty, wonder, and humor of this book will gently surface with a ring of bright ripples in the waters of you mind. I am never able to remember this book without simultaneously wanting to laugh and to cry-and always with a sense of awed wonder. This is the true story of Gavin's befriending of otters (or perhaps we should say of the otters' decision to befriend Gavin.) In one scene, on the first night Gavin has one of the otters in his home, the otter carefully watches Gavin get into bed and pull the covers to his chin. The otter then crawls in beside Gavin, lies on its back, and pulls the covers to its own chin. Other scenes describe Gavin's losing efforts to make certain parts of his cottage off limits to otters. Gavin never for the rest of his life produced prose that so translucently coveys the beauty of the waters around his cottage, or the sense of his own evolving life and emotions. Reading this book is giving a gift to yourself. It is one a dozen that I always look for used to give to friends.
Book Description
Discover the world of sea otters. Sea otters may look enchantingly cute and playful, but they are highly specialized marine mammals, superbly adapted to life in the cold, harsh Pacific Ocean. In these beautifully illustrated pages, you'll learn captivating details about a sea otter's life, from birth to adulthood. Through ongoing field studies of wild California sea otters, we're unlocking many of the secrets of sea otter society. Do pups learn what to eat by watching their mothers? What happens to orphaned otters? The author reveals exciting new discoveries about sea otters' highly individual food preferences, use of tools, social bonds, mating habits, parenting styles and legendary playfulness.
Monterey Bay Aquarium's Natural History Series brings you closer to the living marine and coastal communities of the nation's largest marine sanctuary, where you'll come face to face with some of the more interesting residents. Produced by the Monterey Bay Aquarium Press, these books will stimulate your curiosity and understanding of the natural world.
Listed by the California Department of Education in Recommended Reading Science-Related Literature: Grades Kindergarten through Grade 12
Customer Reviews:
GREAT book!.......2001-08-08
This is a great book for anyone who loves sea otters! It's got great pictures and is very informative. The author didn't skip the details on these wonderful, adorable creatures!
This book was very informative and I would recomend it!.......1998-05-22
Marianne Riedman does an excellent job of portraying the playful sea otter in its habitat. She brings us up close and personal with one of the most beloved marine mammals. Through this book, one can discover much about the sea otter's history and behavior. I recomend that all sea otter lovers read it.
Book Description
Lounging atop a kelp bed, cradling a pup, or plucking morsels from a prickly urchin, sea otters are endearing creatures. Sea Otters captures them at their best, tracing their life cycle and behavior, exploring how they spend their days, and describing their brush with extinction. Including where to see them in the wild, Sea Otters is the most charming and complete book on the subject and features wonderful photographs -- as well as an enticing new cover.
Average customer rating:
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The River: A Love Story, a New Life in the Country, and One Idyllic Year Filming Otters
Philippa Forrester
Manufacturer: Orion Books Limited
ProductGroup: Book
Binding: Hardcover
 General
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ASIN: 0752856855 |
Book Description
When Philippa Forrester and her partner, wildlife photographer Charlie Hamilton James, decide to get out of the rat race and set up home in an old mill-worker's cottage on a river in the heart of Worcestershire, they get considerably more than they bargained for. Populated by otters, kingfishers, and water fowl, the river is teeming with life and the young couple soon fall in love with it. But it is the otters that really capture the couple's imagination, and they soon become absorbed in researching and filming this timid and endangered species. The River is the utterly captivating and personal story of their attempts to get a commission for and make a film about the families of otters, while at the same time having a baby, moving house, and pursuing their careers. Written with endless charm and real affection, featuring a cast of memorable characters, The River is packed with hilarious stories spanning floods, chicken-keeping, and wildlife-watching.
Average customer rating:
- Comprehensive study of these amazing water mammals
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The Natural History of Otters (Natural History Series)
Paul Chanin
Manufacturer: Facts on File
ProductGroup: Book
Binding: Hardcover
General
| Animal Care & Pets
| Home & Garden
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General
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Mammals
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ASIN: 0816012881 |
Customer Reviews:
Comprehensive study of these amazing water mammals.......2005-05-13
According to this lucid, well-written natural history, otters are not really inclined to play. This certainly contravenes popular belief and my own (admittedly brief) observations of this fascinating water mammal. Last spring, I watched two young otters romping along the riverbank below the house, in company with their mother. One of the youngsters climbed the steep, 120-foot bank almost all the way to our house, then slid back down into the river. He didn't appear to be looking for food. I think he was just exploring.
This author follows Davis's 1978 classification of otters into three different tribes, based on their vocalizations, the shape of the baculum (p*nis bone) and the appearance of the male external genitalia. The three groups are the Lutrini, with a baculua shaped like a hockey stick, which includes the common Eurasian otter, the American river otter, and the South American sea cat or marine otter; the Aonychini, who have baculum shaped like baseball bats and include the African clawless otters, Asian smooth-coated otters, giant otters, and sea otters; and the Hydrictini which contains only one species, the spotted-necked otter which also has a bacula shaped like a baseball bat.
Most of the observations in this book are concentrated on the Eurasian otter, the American river otter, and the sea otter, because these species are the most common, and the most commonly studied.
The chapters are seven in number: "Introduction;" "What is an otter?;" "Food and feeding behavior" (basically otters eat everything they can catch, usually fish and crustaceans, but also birds and skunks); "Relations with other animals;" "Social organization and communication;" "Life History;" and "Otters and man" (definitely the saddest chapter in this otherwise spritely book).
Some of the most interesting text involves the eating habits of sea otters. The sea otters in Monterey Bay, California have learned how to pry open discarded beer cans which are used as refuges by small octopuses. I also learned that sea otters have underarm pouches where they can store the flat stones that they use to break open crustacean shells.
Who among us has not seen a nature documentary that features a whiskery sea otter, lying on its back and pounding a shellfish open against the rock on its tummy?
"The Natural History of Otters" includes 17 color plates and extensive line-drawings and diagrams, an impressive bibliography, and an index.
If you've read "Ring of Bright Water" and would like to know more about these likeable mammals, Paul Chanin's natural history is a quick, enjoyable read, except for the grim final chapter.
Average customer rating:
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Jane Goodall's Animal World: Sea Otters (Jane Goodall's animal world)
Ruth Ashby
Manufacturer: Atheneum
ProductGroup: Book
Binding: Hardcover
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ASIN: 0689314728 |
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The Life Story of an Otter
J.C., Tregarthen
Manufacturer: Pomona Press
ProductGroup: Book
Binding: Paperback
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ASIN: 1406790370 |
Book Description
Originally published in 1915. This is the detailed life story of an otter born in Cornwall. It was the author's hope that this book would bring about a wider and deeper interest in the animal, and be the means of removing some of the prejudice which was unjustly attached to it. He writes with great feeling of the otters early life, his later exploits, and his desperate clashes with the district's Otter Hunt. Illustrated with photographs and drawings by J.G. Millais.
Average customer rating:
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The Otter
Gordon Woodroffe
Manufacturer: Mammal Society
ProductGroup: Book
Binding: Paperback
General
| Zoology
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ASIN: 0906282497 |
Average customer rating:
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The Otter Among Us
James Williams
Manufacturer: Tiercel Publishing
ProductGroup: Book
Binding: Hardcover
General
| England
| Europe
| History
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Mammals
| Zoology
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ASIN: 0953200221 |
Book Description
“[Will] help the amateur choose and use a router....The photography is excellent.”—Woodshop News. “Reed has created an outstanding guide to the router that will appeal to both beginning and experienced woodworkers. ...This title is among the best on the subject and should be considered by all public libraries.”—Library Journal.
Customer Reviews:
Well done router book........2007-01-05
I like this book alot.... Great graphics and explinations. I have built several of the 'jigs",router table and porjects....
To learn how to use a router is like trying to learn a musical instrument - much to learn but the results will pay off. This book really helped me..
Ken
The most useless book !!!.......2006-09-10
I must say that this is the most useless book on routing that there is. It's not even fit for an amateur.
I guess, all I have to do is take few high-resolution pictures of router bits and tools and write a few crappy lines describing their functions.
There should be a "0" star rating, 1 star is too good for this.
If you want to throw your cash away, then don't take my word for it.
All the basics and details of routing.......2006-03-16
This is a very comprehensive, accurate, and helpful book that is great for beginners, but also has enough for more experienced people.
Best of the Lot.......2004-08-27
I have many books on using routers, but I think this is the best. If you are beginner in regard to routers, this is the book to get. If you are experienced in the use of routers, you will still find much useful information. Many books on routers are usually just compendiums of jigs, and most repeat the same types of jigs as the other books. While this book also presents a number of useful jigs, jigs are not the focus. The emphasis is on actually using the router in many commonly encountered situations. Procedures are described in careful, step-by-step detail. There is a wealth of full color photos, and line drawings are clear and carefully labeled.
One review griped that supplies and materials used in jigs and projects covered by the book were hard to obtain in his local hardware store. That is likely to be the case in regard to the jigs presented in almost any router book. There are many reputable sources for these items on the internet, and it isn't at all realistic to expect them to be available locally except in large cities. There are no hard-to-find items required. It is true that one of the topics covered is the use of a vacuum system to clamp work to a table while routing. This is usually considered the best way to hold down work so that the router is unimpeded by clamps and other contrivances. The vacuum clamp is actually quite simple to make (the drawings and directions for the system are quite clear in this book - far more so than in other books I've seen) and the most exotic part of the system is a vacuum pump, easily purchased used off ebay for a fraction of the cost of a new pump.
There is much useful information about the basics in regard to buying routers, bits, and useful tools helpful in setting up your router and maintaining it. In fact, the book contains a lot of extremely useful basic information not found in other books. However, as mentioned before, there is much information helpful to the experienced router user as well. So many books leave the impression that the authors simply generated jigs and `helpful' fixtures just for their books, and careful study of the material in these books often shows possible flaws and complicated features that serve little purpose. Not so with this book. Ms. Reed has clearly used and refined the various jigs and fixtures in her book. The result cuts out the chaff and leaves us with truly top notch information.
Good Luck.......2004-01-11
As I beginner I was anxious to read and do everything in this book from front to back. She's obviously a skilled craftsperson and her jigs are well built and thought out. I however became discourged quickly with the complexity of them. I found that the materials she suggests for the projects are hard to find, ie, baltic birch plywood, acrylic over 1/4", HDPE plastic,veneer screws, and adhesive backed sandpaper. My local hardware stores and lumber yards did not have these materials. Wait until you see the vacuum clamping system she recommends! If you enjoy scavenger hunts this book is for you.
If you start by building "her" router table the jigs work better, but I already have a nice router table and don't care to make the invasive modifications she recommends when other plans and jigs are available elsewhere that adapt well to what I have.
Of couse if some of the jigs and parts are too difficult for you, you can find them prebuilt and available for a price at her own website!
Book Description
Since 1976 Jim Richey has written the "Methods of Work" column, in which readers share approaches to woodworking problems or ask for help, and he responds with clear, simply illustrated explanations. Sampling literally tens of thousands of reader submissions, this series, edited by Richey, features the best advice from 25 years of Fine Woodworking. "Methods of Work" appeals to both beginning and intermediate woodworkers through its practical, straightforward solutions to woodworking challenges both common and complex. Each answer is a combination of step-by-step guidelines and the author's high-quality line drawings. Since these projects originated in the small workshops of the magazine's readers, woodworkers can be assured of proven results.
Customer Reviews:
Great Tips.......2005-01-12
If you're looking for a book to learn how to use a router, this isn't it.
If you have some experiance using a router this is a great book. This book contains the best ideas that Fine Woodworking readers have come up with in the last 25 years. As future projects come along, I'll be checking this book often.
Boy, was I disappointed!.......2004-01-19
I have to disagree with the reviewers who gave this book high marks. While Jim Richey is very knowledgeable, this book is a set of one-page clippings from various past magazines. The drawings are very basic, and there's not a single photograph to help the beginning to moderate woodworker. These tips are too basic for the advanced woodworker, so I really don't see an audience for this book. It didn't help me at all. There's nothing wrong with the book -- if you want to read about other people's woodworking. However, to help you build your router skills there are wiser ways to spend your money. Several are sold right here on Amazon.
The best router tips from 25 years of Fine Woodworking.......2002-01-02
Router Methods of Work provides hundreds of innovative methods to use the most versatile of all woodworking tools. From dado basics to fixtures for complex circular work, Router Methods of Work has the techniques to expand the capabilities of your router. It's all from Fine woodworking's Methods of Work column, the premier forum for woodworkers to share their best tips.
You'll learn about:
router setup and maintenance
router tables and mounts
router joinery
router dovetails
fluting, reeding, and milling
fixtures for curved and circular work
Best of the Best Router Tips.......2001-12-04
This book is what I have grown to expect from Taunton Publishing, and the Editors at Fine Woodworking.
As a collection of the best tips on router use from Fine Woodworking Magazine, I assumed with out opening the cover that all of the tips would be well thought out and useful, and I wasn't wrong.
I keep my copy in my travel case for my routers, and refer to it frequently. Less so now than I did a year ago when I first bought it, only because I've learned a lot from it, and am starting to memorize it.
If you own a router, this book is a must own / read.
Customer Reviews:
Router Joinery (Fine Homebuilding DVD Workshop) .......2007-09-30
This simply the best DVD on using a router that I have seen. The DVD is a great value at twice the price. Gary makes using the router simple and easy to understand.
Excellent: well thought out, well presented, excellent photography.......2007-05-07
Mr. Rogowski has created an excellent demonstration of router joinery.
As useful as any tool..........2003-02-07
I bought this book 'hot' off of my first project, my Joints needed help, and I loved to use the router - the title just sold the book to me.
I wouldn't clasify this book as a beginer book, nor would I say it's an advanced book. However it does have something for everybody, and it's very easy to follow.
Personally I think that every beginer wanting to do more than plywood boxes should pick up a copy. It starts you out with basics of a router (good to read before you buy one, though not diffinitive in that area).
This book really shines with all the stuff that a beginer doesn't know to worry about - how different boards are sawn from the log, and how that effects the way that they shrink/expand. How to plan your project so that the changing seasons do not cause it to self destruct. While this sounds out of the scope for a beginer - it is very easy to understand and will help anybody (short of a seasoned pro) get the most out of their work. And this is all before the basics of joining wood.
When it comes to the different joints the book is layed out from easiest to most complex. You can work to the back of the book as your skill and knowledge improve.
Everybody should have it, and beginers should not feel intimidated by it!
Much information to be gleaned!.......2001-11-30
I can't think of anything to add that the prior reviewers didn't say already. It's very well written, and easy to read and follow the diagrams. There are plans for versatile but simple to build and use jigs.
This book has inspired my woodworking and also helped me simplify many processes. Highly recommended!
Easy to read and easy to follow...........2001-01-11
I came across this book originally in a bookstore. I thumbed through it, and read bits and pieces. Then I got online, and ordered it...it was cheaper...I've purchased several woodworking and handyman type books in the last 3 or 4 years, and this book ranks up with the best. It is very easy to read, and the author does not assume the reader has volumes of prior knowledge, like some other books do. It starts out describing types of routers, and bits, moves onto what can be done with each type. And, the segway into joinery is seamless. It is well written for both beginner and experienced woodworkers alike.
Customer Reviews:
Not very useful!.......2001-12-04
I am rather disappointed by this book. The information provided is quite rudimentary. Much of the book is dedicated to the building of a router table (a particular design). So if you are looking to buy a commericial table, don't expect to find any help here. In the routers sections, it fails to actually recommend particular routers that are good for router table use - by writing just in general terms instead of citing specific routers manufacturers. The book lacks in going in depth on the various techniques on using the router table.
Customer Reviews:
Skip this book!.......2002-09-14
The book is very difficult to follow and the plans for the jigs are quite poor. The prose is often distracting and it feels like this is either the author's first book or he was in an hurry to finish it. The pictures are all black and white and too close to the subject. You really get the sense that the author is more concerned about showing off his jig making skills rather than helping you make your own. I also dislike his blatant plugs for both Porter Cable routers and his offset subbases that he wants to sell you.
...
Ready for the Next Level?.......2001-05-03
This is one of those rare woodworking books that combines plenty of great technical information and an inspirational, even challenging, message. Regular readers of magazines like Fine Woodworking and Woodwork know Warner as a highly knowledgeable if occasionally doctrinaire (witness the scorn he heaps upon table-mounted plunge routers!) router maven. Oftentimes such a personality wears thin over the course of a long book; not so with Warner. Having bought the book to learn about a specific jig I had heard about, I found myself reading page after page with attention and growing excitement. My routing (a daily activity in my woodworking business) is going to change for the better thanks to Warner. I'll be building several if not all of the jigs in the book within the next few weeks. I am convinced that, 10 years into my life as a router user, Warner's approach is going to make my work faster, more accurate, and even more enjoyable.
Warner's approach is open-eyed and creative. Several of the jigs bring the router to the work in directions (and tool-path-shapes if I may be forgiven a gaucherie) that appear bizarre to someone used to the standard manufactured jigs. Bits in unusual shapes and sizes abound in this book, too. Warner's prose is also occasional eye-openingly unfamiliar, but almost always in a satisfying way. This man has obviously thought long and hard not just about routing, but about how to describe it precisely and without a lot of the hackneyed jargon that often conceals a writer's limited mastery of the subject. I kept coming upon concepts like "handedness" and being reminded of Russian Formalism's "defamiliarization" or "enstrangement."
I must share a few cavils about the book. Two of them are about perspective. Every page of the book is full of close-up photos and clear diagrams. However, there is a frustrating lack of wider-angle views. "Okay," I found myself thinking time and again, "Here is a great shot of how this template, this router bit, and the workpiece come together. But how does the whole assembly get held to the bench? Where does the man stand as he moves through the work? And how tall is his workbench?" Leaving aside even such practical matters, it would be nice to see what Warner's shop looks like. A similar claustrophobic feeling permeates the text. Warner seems in such a rush to get us into cutting the joints that we lack a sense of the whole scenario-we don't know what router (or routers), or bits, or jigs we'll be using until they appear without introduction in the process narration. As a matter of fact construction of the key jigs is discussed after their use is described-as if by afterthought....
For a simple, even low-tech approach to router jointmaking, I recommend Gary Rogowski's Router Joinery. For those ready to make the step to a more sophisticated and involved, but safer and more accurate approach to the router, this book is a great introduction, and I say again, I am sure that my approach to routing will change for the better thanks to this book.
Well written, contains many great router techniques........1999-11-05
Nuances of router operation, router bits, and router use are described which provide important insight that any woodworker needs when using the router. It is the best of several books on routing that I have found. Several jigs for joinery are described that really work well. These jigs and an offset router base have increased my router use and work quality. I recommend this book to everyone, even if you are experienced with the router.
Average customer rating:
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The Router Joinery
Pat Warner
Manufacturer: David & Charles Publishers
ProductGroup: Book
Binding: Hardcover
Woodworking
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ASIN: 071530853X |
Average customer rating:
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Router Methods of Work: The Best Advice from 25 Years of Fine Woodworking
Manufacturer: Taunton Pr
ProductGroup: Book
Binding: Hardcover
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ASIN: 1561583707 |
Books:
- Seal Wars: Twenty-five Years on the Front Lines with the Harp Seals
- Seals, Sea Lions and Sea Otters (Alaska Geographic)
- Sheltie Talk
- Sleep, Black Bear, Sleep
- Squirrel Wars: Backyard Wildlife Battles & How to Win Them
- Staffordshire Terriers: American Staffordshire Terrier and Staffordshire Bull Terrier
- Street Meeting: Multiethnic Neighborhoods in Early Twentieth-Century Los Angeles
- Teaching Your Bird to Talk
- The Animal Boogie (Sing Along With Fred Penner)
- The Chinchilla Handbook (Barron's Pet Handbooks)
Books Index
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Ring of Bright Water
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