Nature's temples: the complex world of old-growth forests

Due to habitat changes across Earth, a wide variety of information has been written about the loss of biodiversity and the extinction of organisms. In this charmingly written and beautifully illustrated book, Maloof, a forest scientist and writer, uses examples among principal groups of organisms that occupy forests to describe the dependence that a wide range of species have on old-growth forests. Written in a first person, informal style, the author uses personal accounts of her experiences studying and saving old-growth forests, particularly in eastern North America. With a slight hostility toward human actions that have destroyed many of the world's old-growth forests, Maloof provides a somewhat romantic perspective, giving reasons, chapter by chapter, why old-growth forests are essential to birds, amphibians, insects, snails, plants, fungi, and mammals. She also explains how old-growth forests contribute to the production of oxygen, cleaning the air human's breathe, and emphasizes that these forests can renew the human spirit by their beauty alone. This well-written and engaging book is a good introduction to old-growth forests. Although it is a bit elementary, in a separate section at the end of the book the author's ideas and conclusions are scientifically backed by authoritative sources. Summing Up: Recommended. All readers. --Dana L. Richter, Michigan Technological University