The Everglades Handbook: Understanding the Ecosystem, Second Edition

Excellent book, readable for both Environmental text or average person wanting to understand a unique ecosystem that is the Everglades. The book starts out with a quote that reads "In the end, we conserve only what we love. We love only what we understand. We understand only what we are taught." Reading this book will fill in the missing pieces of understanding needed to appreciate...and thus love....the Everglades.

Having enjoyed the prior edition of this book, I was delighted to receive the Third Edition which is even better with marvellous photos and graphics. This is essential reading for anybody trying to understand the challenges we face in restoring this unique ecosystem. The text is well writtten and reflects the author's scientific studies as well as his passion for the River of Grass.It is also an excellent source of information about the fauna and flora of the Everglades. it is delightful to browse through prior to a trip to Florida.

I hae been reading several pages in this book so far for my enviromental science class. I have found the pages very helpful in understanding the Everglades enviroment.

As an environmental consultant, I found the first edition of The Everglades Handbook to be very useful, and the second edition even better! There are new chapters and very important new information, such as the new chapters on the Big Cypress Swamp, Lake Okeechobee, and "Synthesis" with its diagrams of succession and food chains, and the updated final chapter with details of human history in South Florida. I especially looked forward to the updated information on the Everglades restoration - it was excellent. The new edition is well worth the price (I heard that CRC Press reduced the price by 10%!). I can't recommend this book more highly for those people wanting to become familiar with how the Everglades works as an ecosystem.

Probably the most useful and interesting single book on the Everglades. If you're on a budget, the older edition contains much of the same information at a fraction of the cost.