Book Review: First Ecology

First Ecology is a great introduction to ecology as a science and the place of species in the natural world. I read the 2004 edition of the book, as this was the one available from the library, it covers a multitude of topics such as: Origins, Species, Populations, Interactions, Communities, Systems, Balances, Scales, and Checks. I think that the book provides a balanced view, sometimes describing how habitats can be restored, but looking at the variety of ways that this could happen. Importantly the book doesn't shy away from the tough topics considering that some species may be more important than others and that extinction is a normal part of life.

The only problems that I have with this book, but that may have been corrected by new editions, is firstly the dumping of text boxes within sections - sometimes breaking the sentence of a paragraph on one page and only taking it back up a few pages later. These boxes, while providing important specific information, may have been better left until the end of the section they are relevant too. Secondly, the book could have done with a good proof reader as there are mistakes littered throughout the book.

All in all though, it's definitely a book that I would recommend and I feel that it has really helped me with my understanding of the natural world and our current state of understanding about how it all works. I can't say that I totally understood it all, but our natural world is a complex place and it's worth revisiting the topics from various sources over a period of time, so it call all sink in. If you're at all interested in ecology, or how our natural world works, then this is a short introduction of around 300 pages and well worth reading.

Own or Loan:         Loan
Read Again:          Yes
Recommend:         Yes
Overall out of Five:3