Sea Turtles

Rating:
Summary: Great, quick reference
Review: This book is amazingly detailed for its size. It's an ideal quick reference with fabulous photographs. If you want to learn about sea turtles with plenty of basic facts (quite a few!) and photos but not an excess of science, this is the one for you. Perfect for the layman's library.

Rating:
Summary: Great information in compact form
Review: This book provides good basic information and wonderful photographs about sea turtles. After a general overview of a turtle's life from hatchling to adult, the author describes in detail the currently eight recognized living species of sea turtles: loggerhead, hawksbill, leatherback, Kemp's ridley, olive ridley, green turtle, black turtle, and Australian flatback. He also shows how fishing, pollution, beach armoring, development, raking and beach driving threaten the reptiles' existence, and how various projects aim at increasing the turtle population.

It's a great source of information for anyone: compact, well researched, and thought-provoking.

Rating:
Summary: Comprehensive book, well written text, excellent photos
Review: This is a wonderfully comprehensive book on the characteristics, life and hazards facing sea turtles. The well written text truly gives the reader a feel for what life is like for a sea turtle.

Facts covered include ancestry, feeding, growth, navigation, migration, mating & nesting. Then there are sections on the 8 major species of sea turtles describing the distinctive features of each.

The photos are terrific, with many great underwater shots of these graceful and powerful swimmers. There are also nesting turtles and adorable hatchlings. A number of conservation efforts are shown as well.

A major focus of the book is the threats facing these endangered species, with numbers diminished by decades of hunting, natural predators and environmental decline. Hopeful efforts are underway to reverse this trend.