A Natural History of the Sonoran Desert

Venía maltratado de algunas partes.

This book is very reminiscent of Carstensen and Armstrong's "Natural History of Southeast Alaska," with lots of text, black-and-white illustrations of common or representative species, and interesting "sidebars."However, unlike the SEAK book, instead of a collaboration between 2 eminent biologists and their circle of friends, this one has something like 40 authors. It is immediately obvious that the authors are talking about a place they love and know well, and I found it pleasant to read about everything from the formation of desert pavement to saguaro population dynamics (don't overlook that part - it gave me a new perspective on population age structures, and even though I am a casual naturalist, I find that relevant even at home in Alaska, with low-success species like yellow cedar).The only part that was a little bit of a let-down was the chapter on birds, even though it is written by Ken Kaufman, who is something of a publishing phenomenon in the ornithology world. Honestly, text description of birds and traditional species accounts are not an effective use of space. The more in-depth sidebars, however, were nice even in that chapter, and the line drawings good.I bought the book for a bike trip from San Diego to Phoenix, and now I want to go to Tucson again, just to visit the Arizona-Sonora desert museum. Their mission is great. They did a good job, and so did the University of California Press (If you are reading this, UC Press, thanks also for the last edition of the Light and Smith Manual).

See the title. It says it all!

Very easy read. Short chapters describing Arizona’s weather, geology, animal & plant life and a whole lot more. After reading this book you may know more about Arizona outside than many Arizonans, unless you are one in which case very smart move learning more about the state you live. Arizona really is more than heat and sand.

I can’t say too many good things about this excellent, and comprehensive field guide to an entire region. If you are interested in the American Southwest, and the ecology of deserts generally, this book is exactly what you are looking for. If you have an interest in the Sonoran Desert specifically, this book is a must have for your reference library. It is well written, informative and useful to just about everyone. It covers all the areas of natural history you would expect, but also covers geology, and cultural history of the region as well. The second edition also has the advantage of being quite packable, whereas the original was a very blocky book, more suited to the bookcase than the field, the slimmer profile of the second edition makes easy to put in a backpack to carry with you on day hikes through the desert or to the coffee shop to read about the desert if you are, like me, stuck far away from the wonderful Sonoran Desert.