TIDEPOOLS OF SOUTHERN CALIFORNIA by Linda...

TIDEPOOLS OF SOUTHERN CALIFORNIA by Linda E. Tway (Capra Press: $15.95, illustrated). This handsome guidebook focuses on the unified community of intertidal animals and plants of San Diego, Los Angeles, Ventura and southern Santa Barbara Counties. (The flora and fauna north of Point Concepcion are quite different, due to the lower water temperature.) Tway wisely stresses the need for amateur naturalists to exercise caution: Tide pools are fragile entities that should not be disturbed or damaged. Nor should nature enthusiasts take unnecessary risks--many interesting sites are dangerous to visit at high tide, and seaweed can be extremely slippery (one variety is commonly known as “shinbuster”). With easy-to-follow maps and color photographs to help identify specimens, “Tidepools” offers parents a painless way to infuse a little science education into a routine trip to the beach.