We publish field guides — lots and lots of field guides–and many of them are for fairly remote places in the world. One side benefit to publishing and reading these books is, as reviewer Brad Sylvester notes in his review of Antarctic Wildlife by James Lowen, they serve both as field guides to aid in identifying critters AND as conservation ambassadors to the world:
“It’s difficult to appreciate far off consequences of things like melting polar ice-caps, rising ocean levels, and other effects that happen far away or too slowly for the eye to see. That’s one reason why I think books like James Lowen’s Antarctic Wildlife, A Visitor’s Guide are so important,” says Sylvester. “They help provide context for and appreciation of the Antarctic as more than an abstract concept.”
Sylvester goes on to say that the Antarctic, “one of the Earth’s most critical and fragile habitats is in a state of flux, impacted by ocean acidification, climate change, ozone depletion and a host of man-made pressures.”
He concludes that books like this remind us “why even the most remote places on Earth are worth defending.”
Read more here at Yahoo! News: http://news.yahoo.com/s/ac/20110520/sc_ac/8508497_lowens_antarctic_wildlife_a_visitors_guide_adds_perspective.
You can also view some sample plates from this book here.