In a Patch of Fireweed: A Biologist's Life in the Field

by Bernd Heinrich

Book Overview

Why would a grown man chase hornets with a thermometer, paint whirligig beetles bright red, or track elephants through the night to fill trash bags with their prodigious droppings? Some might say--to advance science. Bernd Heinrich says--because it's fun.

Heinrich, author of the much acclaimed Bumblebee Economics, has been playing in the wilds of one continent or another all his life. In the process, he has become one of the world's...

• Format: Paperback
• Language: English
• ISBN: 0674445511
• ISBN13: 9780674445512
• Release Date: September 1991
• Publisher: Harvard University Press
• Length: 208 Pages
• Weight: 0.65 lbs.
• Dimensions: 0.6" x 6.0" x 9.4"

Customer Reviews

As always a great read

As with all of Mr. Heinrichs other pieces of work, this book is very reaable, enjoyable and deserves a place on the shelf of any naturalist

Great Read

As with all Bernd Heinrich's books it was a pleasure to read. Any one interested in nature observation should read this. It is not written on a "biology major" level and that is what is great about it. It will help you to look at nature a little different to see why some things are the way they are.

Heinrich turns nature's complexities into exciting reading

I was required to read excerpts from this book for a course I was taking, but found myself reading (even re-reading) the text for pleasure. Though the material may be, at times, a little too technical for the average reader, Heinrich, nonetheless brings the complexities of the natural realm to his readers in such a manner that draws the reader into the excitement of his own research and discoveries. The text is scientific, yet humorous whenever possible, and always insightful. Heinrich is a brilliant biologist with no less skill as a writer.