Still waters

Writer Alexandra Marshall studies a year in the life of a beaver colony in this companion book to the PBS Nova series, which combines traditional research science with the author's natural eloquent prose. While the beavers go about their den maintenance, Marshall casts her sights over the entire ecosystem of a North American pond, not allowing so much as an indiscriminate insect to escape her notice. As a student of the science lab, she seems almost an excited neophyte in the field, marvelling at the stark beauty as if visitng another planet, and allowing a deer crossing her path to reveal an inner child's sudden awe. The book is lavishly photographed in shadowy abstract black and white and color photos.