346 Northeastern Naturalist Vol. 17, No.2 346 Noteworthy Books Received by the Northeastern Naturalist, Issue 17/2, 2010 Fruitless Fall: The Collapse of the Honey Bee and the Coming Agricultural Crisis. Rowan Jacobsen. 2008. Bloomsbury USA, New York, NY. 288 pp. $25, hardcover. ISBN 9781596915374. A lively natural history that shows how the foundations of our daily lives—the food we eat, the air we breathe, the gardens and forests we tend—are deeply entwined with bees. One-third of American food crops are pollinated by honey bees: apples, almonds, cherries, peaches, and plums, to name a few. We are very dependent on our partnership with bees, but most people know very little about how they contribute to the larger world of commercial agriculture. Late last year, however, the honey bee made national headlines: nearly one-third of the population, 30 billion bees, mysteriously died from what they're calling “colony collapse disorder”. In Fruitless Fall, Rowan Jacobsen chronicles the developing crisis that began in 2006 as beekeepers, scientists, and government officials discovered they had an emergency on their hands. He explores the mystery of CCD and follows researchers as they race to find a solution before winter when the rest of the northern hemisphere’s honeybees risk dying. Fruitless Fall further examines our dependence on honey bees and how our exploitation of this work force may lead not only to their ruin but may have already irrevocably damaged our relationship with the environment. Tides of History: Ocean Science and Her Majesty’s Navy. Michael S. Reidy. 2008. University of Chicago Press, Chicago, IL. 392 pp. $40, hardcover. ISBN 9780226709321. In the first half of the nineteenth century, the British sought to master the physical properties of the oceans; in the second half, they lorded over large portions of the oceans’ outer rim. The dominance of Her Majesty’s navy was due in no small part to collaboration between the British Admiralty, the maritime community, and the scientific elite. Together, they transformed the vast emptiness of the ocean into an ordered and bounded grid. In the process, the modern scientist emerged. Science itself expanded from a limited and local undertaking receiving parsimonious state support to worldwide and relatively wellfinanced research involving a hierarchy of practitioners. Analyzing the economic, political, social, and scientific changes on which the British sailed to power, Tides of History shows how the British Admiralty collaborated closely not only with scholars, such as William Whewell, but also with the maritime community— sailors, local tide-table makers, dockyard officials, and harbormasters—in order to systematize knowledge of the world’s oceans, coasts, ports, and estuaries. As Michael S. Reidy points out, Britain’s security and prosperity as a maritime nation depended on its ability to maneuver through the oceans and dominate coasts and channels. The practice of science and the rise of the scientist became inextricably linked to the process of European expansion. Chasing Science at Sea: Racing Hurricanes, Stalking Sharks, and Living Undersea with Ocean Experts. Ellen Pager. 2008. University of Chicago Press, Chicago, IL. 178 pp. $22.50, hardcover. ISBN 9780226678702. To the average office-dweller, marine scientists seem to have the good life: cruising at sea for weeks at a time, swimming in warm coastal waters, living in tropical paradises. But ocean scientists who go to sea will tell you that it is no vacation. Creature comforts are few, and the obstacles seemingly insurmountable, yet an abundance of wonder and discovery still awaits those who take to the ocean. Chasing Science at Sea immerses readers in the world of those who regularly 2010 Noteworthy Books 347 go to sea—aquanauts living underwater, marine biologists seeking unseen life in the deep ocean, and the tall-ship captains at the helm, among others—and tells the fascinating tale of what life and science is like at the mercy of Mother Nature. With passion and wit, well-known marine scientist Ellen Prager shares her stories as well as those of her colleagues, revealing that in the field, ingenuity and a good sense of humor are as essential as water, sunblock, and GPS. Serendipity is invaluable, and while collecting data is the goal, sometimes just getting back to shore means success. But despite the physical hardship and emotional duress that come with the work, optimism and adventure prompt a particularly hardy species of scientist to return again and again to the sea. Filled with firsthand accounts of the challenges and triumphs of dealing with the extreme forces of nature and the unpredictable world of the ocean, Chasing Science at Sea is a unique glimpse below the water line at what it is like and why it is important to study, explore, and spend time in one of our planet’s most fascinating and foreign environments. Worlds Before Adam: The Reconstruction of Geohistory in the Age of Reform. Martin J.S. Rudwick. 2008. University of Chicago Press, Chicago, IL. 800 pp. $49, hardcover. ISBN 9780226731285. In the late eighteenth and early nineteenth centuries, scientists reconstructed the immensely long history of the earth—and the relatively recent arrival of human life. The geologists of the period, many of whom were devout believers, agreed about this vast timescale. But despite this apparent harmony between geology and Genesis, these scientists still debated a great many questions: Had the earth cooled from its origin as a fiery ball in space, or had it always been the same kind of place as it is now? Was prehuman life marked by mass extinctions, or had fauna and flora changed slowly over time? The first detailed account of the reconstruction of prehuman geohistory, Martin J.S. Rudwick’s Worlds Before Adam picks up where his celebrated Bursting the Limits of Time leaves off. Here, Rudwick takes readers from the post-Napoleonic Restoration in Europe to the early years of Britain’s Victorian age, chronicling the staggering discoveries geologists made during the period: the unearthing of the first dinosaur fossils, the glacial theory of the last ice age, and the meaning of igneous rocks, among others. Ultimately, Rudwick reveals geology to be the first of the sciences to investigate the historical dimension of nature, a model that Charles Darwin used in developing his evolutionary theory. Featuring an international cast of colorful characters, with Georges Cuvier and Charles Lyell playing major roles and Darwin appearing as a young geologist, Worlds Before Adam is a worthy successor to Rudwick’s magisterial first volume. Completing the highly readable narrative of one of the most momentous changes in human understanding of our place in the natural world, Worlds Before Adam is a capstone to the career of one of the world’s leading historians of science. Natural Groundwater Quality. W. Mike Edmunds and Paul Shand (Eds.). 2008. Blackwell Publishing, Malden, MA. 488 pp. $157.99, hardcover. ISBN 9781405156752. This text presents a series of thematic chapters together with chapters on representative groundwater systems in Europe which illustrate the main processes and evolution of water quality. It brings together the research of a consortium of leading European scientists who have conducted detailed studies of water quality in Europe, and includes a synthesis of findings, highlighting the thematic and regional results, with recommendations regarding aquifer evaluation, indicators, monitoring, and drinking water standards. This text creates a key reference work on natural water quality of aquifers, at a time when the 348 Northeastern Naturalist Vol. 17, No.2 Groundwater Directive (GD) will shortly be brought in to supplement The European Water Framework Directive (WFD) to ensure good status of groundwater. Humans, Nature, and Birds: Science Art from Cave Walls to Computer Screens. Darryl Wheye and Donald Kennedy. 2008. Yale University Press, New Haven, CT. 240 pp. $37.50, hardcover. ISBN 9780300123883. This book invites readers to enter a two-floor virtual “gallery” where 60-plus images of birds reflecting the accomplishments of human pictorial history are on display. These are works in a genre the authors term Science Art—that is, art that says something about the natural world and how it works. Darryl Wheye and Donald Kennedy show how these works of art can advance our understanding of the ways nature has been perceived over time, its current vulnerability, and our responsibility to preserve its wealth. Each room in the gallery is dedicated to a single topic. The rooms on the first floor show birds as icons, birds as resources, birds as teaching tools, and more. On the second floor, the images and their captions clarify what Science Art is and how the intertwining of art and science can change the way we look at each. The authors also provide a timeline linking scientific innovations with the production of images of birds, and they offer a checklist of steps to promote the creation and accessibility of Science Art. Readers who tour this unique and fascinating gallery will never look at art depicting nature in the same way again. 75 color illustrations. The Northeastern Naturalist welcomes submissions of review copies of books that publishers or authors would like to recommend to the journal’s readership and are relevant to the journal’s mission of publishing information about the natural history of the northeastern US. Accompanying short, descriptive summaries of the text are also welcome.