Natural History in The Books Store

Part Two is the field guide proper, with brilliant photographs and pithily informative descriptions of over 1,000 of the flora and fauna to be found there, covering lichens and conifers, wildflowers and ferns, spiders and insects, fishes, amphibians, reptiles, birds, and mammals. There are vivid pictures of feral horses and mule deer, an elk cow nuzzling her calf and a male elk strutting with his antlers, and there are photos and write-ups for wolverines and mountain lions, moose, caribou, and bison. There are also wonderful pages full of whirligig beetles and margined burying beetles, hairy rove beetles and spotted tiger beetles, not to mention the jagged ambush bug and meadow spittlebug. The flora section is appealing, as well, with delicate western bog laurel and orange honeysuckle close-ups, cliff fendlerbush flowers and Pacific red elderberry, water smartweed and purple western monkshood. There's also an appendix of parks and preserves, and pages full of the constellations you can see at night with no city lights to mar the view. With a century of nature preservation under its belt, Audubon does justice to the field-guide genre. --Stephanie Gold

The Eternal Frontier certainly leaves you with a solid outline of the how, why, and when of North America's enigmatic ecology, and what the implications of a dwindling frontier have for our future. But don't be surprised when what you remember best are Flannery's countless details--worthy of repeating at any self-respecting pub--from marsupial sperm that swim in pairs to the reason that Native American cultures might owe their very existence to squirrels' taste in nuts. --Paul Hughes

Bernie Krause, a professional field recordist and bioacoustician, shares his expertise in exploring nature's sonic landscapes. Wild Soundscapes comes with a full-length CD, narrated by Krause, sampling a variety of natural sounds: the crashing sea, the singing of ants, the bugling of Yellowstone elk, the plop of falling Costa Rican crabs, and more. With the help of this CD, Krause demonstrates techniques and tricks for field recording success.