Summer World

Bernd Heinrich has astonishing powers of observation. In great detail, the awakening of summer in the natural world in New England is described--the migrations, mating, budding, metamorphoses from tadpole to frog, and multiple other transformations taking place in our backyards. Mel Foster's deep voice is clear, and his pacing is accurate. But this is the season of bounty and wonder and joy--Foster's reading is too inexpressive for that. Heinrich conducts backyard experiments to figure out whether flower blooms stay open due to light or warmth and tempts fate with hornets, resulting in an unfortunate but predictable outcome. Foster may be able to effectively translate Heinrich's ecological concerns for the future, but he's less successful with Heinrich's almost-boyish enthusiasm. A.B. (c) AudioFile 2009, Portland, Maine

November 3, 2008
In his pursuit of actively observing his camp in the forests of western Maine and the woods, beaver bog and gardens around his Vermont home, Heinrich (The Trees in My Forest
) delights with the surprising activities of local flora and fauna—and his own scientific antics: with a pet grackle named Crackle, he raids wasp nests to see what the red-eyed vireo will do with the paper and builds platforms in trees to find out who visits the sapsucker lick (hummingbirds, hawks and warblers). For entertainment, he recommends, “There is a solution that beats... a television set with 100 channels, by a mile: watching ants and other critters.” The book features such mysteries as the significance of the mating habits of wood frogs and the eating patterns of caterpillars, but Heinrich also takes time to observe Homo sapiens
, remarking that, like birds, we live in a perpetual summer, not by “strenuous biannual migrations but by creating and retreating into 'climate bubbles,' ” reminding readers that they need “clear vision and also a spiritual imperative so that we will focus on the ultimate ecology, not the proximate economy.”