Seasons on the Pacific Coast: A Naturalist's Notebook

by Susan J. Tweit, James Bain Smith (Illustrator)

A naturalist presents 39 profiles, based on personal and scientific observations, focusing on the wildlife of the Pacific Coast, from the regal Pacific madrone and the endangered marbled murrelet to the slimy moon jellyfish and banana slug. Lovely watercolor illustrations. Annotation c. Book News, Inc., Portland, OR (booknews.com)

Genres: Nature, Nonfiction

Hardcover

First published September 1, 1999

Reviews

[Shawn · Rating 5 out of 5]

who would read a book consisting of chapters that will deal with only a single species? plenty of pages devoted just to a single fern, or one type of seabird, or a sealion?

umm... me.

[Robert · Rating 4 out of 5]

This book is a charming object to hold, with a satisfying heft and compact feel. The water-colored sketches are charming as well, illustrating a collection of essays on various sea and shore life of the Northwest. The thick pages make it seem to be trying too hard to be more than it is, but I liked this book.
It’s not one to read straight through, better to dip into it now and again, reading about the soft spines of a living sand dollar and maybe the two-stage life of the giant bull kelp on one day, and returning to read about tasty salty pickleweed (managing the salty environment by tolerating a lot of salt in its own cells and concentrating the excess salt in one sacrificed branchlet) or a Harford’s Greedy Isopod feeding maniacally on a decaying corpse. The essays are engaging and filled with novel details, although more than a few end as little homilies, reminders that the environment is precious and that these creatures depend on its protection.
My favorite detail to remember: The giant green anemone, green because of the algae that live in the linings of their digestive tracts and speed its growth, are preyed upon despite their stinging tentacles. The surprise comes after they are eaten: predatory nudibranchs, “brightly colored sluglike animals, graze the tips of the tentacles and ingest the nematocysts, which lodge—in perfect working order—at the ends of the nudibranch’s tubercles, soft ‘spines’ protruding from their backs. The nudibranchs use the borrowed nematocysts in their own defense.” !

[TCM · Rating 3 out of 5]

It was difficult for me to finish reading this book. The writing is good, the art is lovely, the vignettes are actually pretty interesting, but something about it dragged on and I finished it through willpower alone. The animals and plants presented are inherently interesting, but the book was not intriguing on its own.

[Ktbird · Rating 4 out of 5]

Beautiful illustrations accompany fascinating life histories of an eclectic mix of species inhabiting our Pacific coast. As recommended by the author - read this like a family album.

[David · Rating 3 out of 5]

A good read from which I learned a lot. However, I was hoping it would read much more like Sue Hubbell's Broadsides from the Other Orders, but it did not. Each vignette was only about four pages long and only gave the briefest of information on the interesting species the author picked out.

[A · Rating 3 out of 5]

A simplified naturalist's version of flora and fauna that live along the Pacific Coast. Beautiful illustrations. Not very comprehensive.