Summer 2011, Volume 57, Number 3 - San Diego History Center

Book Reviews
Louv as well) to urge the readers to enhance their lives by connecting more with
the therapeutic attributes of nature.
The book is enhanced by two sets of photos, and the pictures in both sets
are well chosen and photographically very instructive. The first set illustrates
types of chaparral, chaparral fires, and post-fire effects. The second, near the end,
depicts some key plants and animals of the chaparral community. The sixty plant
photos would serve quite well as a beginning field guide for identifying the most
common chaparral plants.
The only topic that seemed to be somewhat skirted was an overview of the pros
and cons of the “defend in place” option, where homeowners under very specific
sets of conditions might be allowed to defend their homes instead of evacuating.
This is a controversial topic which many fire professionals quickly dismiss for
liability reasons, but a case can be made for its limited and narrowly defined use.
The book has been well edited, and is virtually free of typographical errors. A
few minor glitches were noticed: the illustrated invertebrate in the second edition
is the ceanothus silk moth, but a different insect is named in the text (page 135).
The common name of Adenostoma sparsifolium is red shank (not pluralized). Also,
his description of the wrentit’s song (“a descending whistle”) seems incorrect;
that’s more the call of another chaparral songbird, the canyon wren. A small
suggestion: on page 25 he might change the starting year of the nineteenthcentury
drought from 1862 to 1863. 1862 is well recorded as possibly the wettest
year in California history. Another suggestion for the third edition (I hope there
will be one) might be to expand the “Animals” section of chapter 1. It overlooks
many key species, and also doesn’t note that almost all of the mammals (except
ground squirrels and rabbits) are nocturnal.
Finally, the epilogue by Anne Fege (pp. 173-174) presents a good introduction to
the many benefits and values of nature, but a future edition could profit the reader
by summarizing the importance of current research in the fields of ethnobotany
and biomimicry. Next to tropical rain forests, chaparral might have the most to
teach us in these emerging research areas, which will be increasingly important
to our common human future.
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