Roanoke Times
Copyright (c) 1995, Landmark Communications, Inc.
DATE: SUNDAY, February 14, 1993 TAG: 9302140258
SECTION: HORIZON PAGE: D-4 EDITION: METRO
SOURCE:
DATELINE: LENGTH: Medium
BOOKS IN BRIEF
The Crystal Desert.By David Campbell. Houghton Mifflin. $21.95.
The last book on Antarctica I read was the account of the race to the South Pole by Roald Amundsen and Robert Falcon Scott. That book, "The Last Place on Earth," painted a picture of the continent as a frozen wasteland waiting to kill the unlucky or stupid explorer, witness Robert Falcon Scott.
In "The Crystal Desert," David Campbell describes a different continent - a continent where life has survived during the short three-month summer. Campbell shows us the small, highly specialized plants and insects which have evolved and mutated to be able to survive in such an inhospitable environment. But Campbell's prose really resonates when he describes the teeming life found in the waters around the continent. From krill to limpets, from whales to fur seals, the oceans around Antarctica are full of life forms well known to the continent's northern neighbors.
This is one of those rare books where the reader feels a sadness for having to meet Antarctica only through the written word. In this case, though, the written word is radiant.
- LARRY SHIELD
English Cottage Gardening for American Gardeners.
Text and photographs by Margaret Hensel. Norton. $50.
The newest idea in protecting the environment is to expand gardens with more flowers, ornamental grasses and mulching. Completely cover the yard and you won't have to fire up the mower and pollute the air with fumes and noise. This book would be a perfect first step to accomplishing such a task.
In England almost every spare square of dirt is given tender loving care, and turned into a garden, often mixing vegetables with flowers and flowering trees. Americans' love affair with cut grass will be hard to break, but Margaret Hensel's elegant pictures and detailed text will get even the reluctant gardener off to a good start.
- PEGGY DAVIS
Bones: A Forensic Detective's Casebook.
By Dr. Douglas Ubelaker and Henry Scammell. HarperCollins. $23.
When it comes to bones and the evidence they may or may not contain about a crime or disappearance, the FBI and local and state authorities turn to the "bone men" at the National Museum of Natural History at the Smithsonian Institution, where Dr. Douglas Ubelaker is curator of anthropology. Through various and rigorous analyses of bones of evidence, the "bone men" can determine the sex, age, cause of death, whether the subject was human and more.
"Bones" chronicles some of the more interesting cases that Ubelaker and his staff have undertaken for law enforcement agencies and scientists, including a forensic re-examination of the shooting of Dr. Carl Weiss, the alleged assassin of Huey Long. Each case has its own peculiarities and set of facts, with some of the mysteries remaining unsolved. Some cases are as recent as the identification of the early victims of Jeffrey Dahmer, others are centuries old.
The stories are carefully told, and the language, while sometimes technical, is accessible to most lay readers. A glossary is included. All mystery writers should read "Bones" and keep a copy on hand for reference.
- DAN FREI
Larry Shield writes software.\ Peggy Davis reviews books regularly for this page.\ Dan Frei is managing partner of The Scooter Group, a political and consulting firm.