GIFT BOOKS 1985 : Nature

“Must there be a cow on every hill, a road in every valley?” A. Starker Leopold wrote those words in 1949 after departing a much-loved and hopelessly doomed chunk of Mexican wilderness. Leopold died in 1983. He was a renowned wildlife biologist, a skilled and effective defender of wild places and wild creatures, not only the philosophical but the literary inheritor of his father, Aldo Leopold. Wild California: Vanishing Lands, Vanishing Wildlife, text by A. Starker Leopold, color photographs by Tupper Ansel Blake (University of California: $29.95 until Dec. 31, $35 thereafter; 144 pp.) is a magnificent final tribute to the man. Of the eight chapters, Leopold had completed five before his death; the remainder were written by Prof. Raymond Dasmann--a former student of Leopold’s and a great conservationist in his own right. Blake’s thrilling 7x10 plates of California wildlife and natural scenes were sponsored by the National Audubon Society and the California Department of Fish and Game, while production of this handsome volume was underwritten by the Nature Conservancy--all organizations with longstanding ties to Leopold. From his academic home at Berkeley and his days afield with rod and rifle, Starker Leopold did more than any other single individual to conserve California’s natural treasures. An evening with this fine book will help explain what inspired him: Our six bioecological regions--California’s diverse treasures--are gracefully portrayed and brilliantly illuminated.

The Sierra Club has a long, honorable tradition of publishing natural history gift books with a conservation message. This holiday season there are three offerings: Island of the West: From Baja to Vancouver, text by Page Stegner, color photographs by Frans Lanting ($35; 152 pp.), Rivergods: Exploring the World’s Great Wild Rivers by Richard Bangs and Christian Kallen ($37.50; 224 pp.) and The Arctic World by Fred Bruemmer (principal author and photographer) and Dr. William E. Taylor Jr., (general editor) ($39.95; 256 pp.). All three are a pace off Sierra Club’s beaten path.

“The Arctic World” is a sort of modern, ecologically sensitive rendition--exhibit format, many black-and-white and color photos--of traditional geography. Synopsized are polar exploration, traditional and modern life throughout a region with many nationalities but several common cultures, the “landform” of this ice world, and of course its spectacular wildlife. Bruemmer’s photography (and the other contributors), and his writing as well as the handful of collaborators--including a Russian, two Canadians and two Norwegians--has a distinct National Geographic flavor, both from the standpoint of technical excellence and from a rather impersonal objectivity. As usual, reading a heavy 10x13 picture book is a bit of a struggle (don’t try it in bed), but it is a worthwhile introduction to the Far North.

If you are a hard-core river rat, then you know Sobek Expeditions. Sobek guides thousands of adventurous (and well-heeled) passengers down the most exotic waterways on Earth: the Zambezi, the Bio-Bio, the Indus, the Euphrates. Rivers that were considered completely unrunnable a decade ago, then rafted by a few brave (or crazed) souls in the 1970s, are now featured in the Sobek catalogue in wild color. “Rivergods” is a kind of glorified Sobek catalogue: big, bold, brash; adrenaline leaking from between the pages. If it was designed to make desk-bound dreamers chuck their paper piles and reach for the airline schedules, then I think it has succeeded. There are 12 major rivers draining every continent photographed in 9x12 color, accompanied by literate, relatively informed, adventure writing. That means that native cultures, local wildlife, the landscape itself are backdrop; the saga itself concerns the falls at Mile 179, the rapids, the holes and the eddies. “Rivergods” raises the word vicarious to new heights.

As there are river runners, so are there island lovers. “Islands of the West” visits those few rocky outliers that grace the Pacific shore from Canada to Mexico. Author Stegner, a professor of American Literature at the University of California, Santa Cruz, and son of Wallace Stegner, is a widely published essayist whose talents are well displayed herein. His personal visions of the islands--Isla Cedros, the Channel Islands, Ano Nuevo and the Farallons, Orcas Island and Vancouver Island--are well illustrated by Frans Lentin’s lovely color work, as well as by the smattering of maps and historic photos. Once again, approach runs more to holistic geography than straight natural history. Stegner’s underlying expertise is often obscured in quixotic whimsy and rambling style. Not for looking things up, no. But a pleasurable sojourn, an informed exploration, . . . a grand gift: Quite.

Within a Rainbowed Sea, written and photographed by Christopher Newbert (Beyond Words, Honolulu: $49.95, Trade ed.; $75, Author’s ed.; $1,850, Collector’s ed.; 208 pp.) is 158 eye-popping color photographs of marine life and a morsel of palatable prose all bound up in a pretentious volume calling itself “The Earthsong Collection (Volume I).” Nonetheless, these pictures of tropical fishes, corals, reef creatures and whales are manna, knock-your-socks-off, fall-down-and-die beautiful. The layout is perfect, on a lovely buff coated stock. A marine alternative is Undersea Life, text by Joseph S. Levine, color photographs by Jeffrey L. Rotman (Stewart, Tabori, & Chang: $24.95; 222 pp.). Ten years ago, Rotman’s underwater work would have been stupendous; today it is merely excellent. But while Newbert’s production is a picture book, Levine’s effort is a marine natural history with pictures. Although it is a sampler rather than a comprehensive treatment, “Undersea Life” covers a substantial amount of material, including ecology, physiology and conservation of marine life. Books like this one are a painless--even entertaining--way to gain access to a subject. Levine’s sections on mankind’s relationship to marine life, and the serious strains we now are imposing upon it, are especially cogent.

The Audubon Society has for a number of years been lending its imprimatur to a variety of works by several different publishers. The Audubon Society Book of Wild Cats by Les Line and Edward R. Ricciuti (Abrams: $50; 240 pp.) is the latest in a half-dozen-large series. This is a big , 9x12 book on very heavy stock. It also contains probably the finest collection (130) of color photographs of wild fields bound in one set of covers. Ricciuti’s writing--in an odd oversized typeface favored by Abrams--is breezy yet informed and informative. Lions and tigers are easy: Jaguarundis, servals, caraculs, wildcats, margays and fishing cats are photographic rarities and biological mysteries. This book is an obvious treat for the cat lover in your life.

Another Audubon label is The Audubon Society Guide to Attracting Birds by Stephen Kress (Scribner’s: $24.95; 377 pp., illustrated). There must be more than a dozen books in print having to do with attracting birds to one’s yard, but until Kress’, they’ve been either simple-minded or targeted to the East Coast. This one, sponsored by Cornell University’s famed Laboratory of Ornithology, goes the whole nine yards. Favored plants, ponds, feeding stations, nest boxes, predators, birdbaths all get extensive treatment here. Long lists of landscape plants and fully explicated diagrams add to the value of this book. Even Roger Tory Peterson has added a foreword, as close as you can get to a warranty in the feather business.

Facts On File has produced a series of six books for “young adults” called “World of Science” priced at only $9.95 each. So far, the titles include Birds, Seas and Oceans, Computers, Great Discoveries and Inventions, Disease and Medicine, and Warm-Blooded Animals. Each is hard-bound, about 65 pages, richly illustrated with color plates, and written or co-authored by an expert in the field. Originally published in Great Britain, these books offer a greater challenge to young readers than might their American counterparts. They are clear, jargon-free and amazingly informative. Quite a deal for 10 bucks.

The same publisher also offers The Encyclopedia of Birds, edited by Christopher M. Perrins and Alex L. A. Middleton ($35; 447 pp., illustrated) and How Animals See, by Sandra Sinclair ($24.95; 146 pp., illustrated). Printed on fancier stock than the young adult editions, Sinclair’s book is a broad-ranging and relatively non-technical treatment of a fascinating subject, heavily graced with color photographs. Perrins’ and Middleton’s encyclopedia offers . . . encyclopedia treatment of 180 families of birds around the world. Plenty of color photographers and other graphics, this one is clearly for the confirmed amateur aviphile. The authors are both expert ornithologists, and this volume offers excellent bang (or beak) for the buck.