Discount used books
FIND BOOKS:


0292728387
Stock photo. Cover may not represent actual copy or condition available.

Messages from the Wild

An Almanac of Suburban Natural and Unnatural History

by Frederick R. Gehlbach


ISBN: 0292728387
ISBN-13: 9780292728387
Format: Paperback

Customer Reviews

Review this book!

Bibliographic Details

Publisher: Univ of Texas Pr
Published date: 2002
Edition: 1th edition
Size: 5.75 x 9.25 inches
Weight: 0.9 pounds
Pages: 258

Publisher's Notes

Seeking a closer connection with nature than the manicured lawns of suburbia, naturalist Fred Gehlbach and his family built a house on the edge of a wooded ravine in Central Texas in the mid-1960s. On daily walks over the hills, creek hollows, and fields of the ravine, Gehlbach has observed the cycles of weather and seasons, the annual migrations of birds, and the life cycles of animals and plants that also live in the ravine.
In this book, Gehlbach draws on thirty-five years of journal entries to present a composite, day-by-day almanac of the life cycles of this semiwild natural island in the midst of urban Texas. Recording such events as the hatching of Eastern screech owl chicks, the emergence of June bugs, and the first freeze of November, he reminds us of nature's daily, monthly, and annual cycles, from which humans are becoming ever more detached in our unnatural urban environments. The long span of the almanac also allows Gehlbach to track how local and even global developments have affected the ravine, from scars left by sewer construction to an increase in frost-free days probably linked to global warming.
This long-term record of natural cycles provides one of only two such baseline data sets for North America. At the same time, the book is an eloquent account of one keen observer's daily interactions with his wild and human neighbors and of the lessons in connectedness and the "play of life" that they teach.

Other Editions

Similar books


0316741671
The Rural Life
by Verlyn Klinkenborg

The author of Making Hay and The Last First Time celebrates the rural life, its pleasures and hardships, and the beauty of the American landscape in a series of reflections corresponding to the months of the year.

0871568829
Bay Area Wild
by Galen Rowell

Nestled among the cities and suburbs of the San Francisco Bay Area is the most extensive system of wild greenbelts in the nation. Renowned adventurer and wilderness photographer Galen Rowell has created the ultimate tribute to the place where he was born and raised. His lyrical text, combined with 173 spectacular color photographs, presents a unique view of the Bay Area.

0870333518
Chesapeake Bay
by Christopher P. White

This book has become the definitive field guide to the Chesapeake. Flora and fauna descriptions are arranged according to the Bay's nine major habitats -- from freshwater wetlands to saltwater marshes. Accordingly, readers can easily refer to the habitat in which they might be canoeing, for instance, and find the species that are common there. As a further aid in this process, the most important field marks of more than 500 species are shown in 350 superb pen-and-ink drawings, which make this benchmark work as visually appealing as it is useful.

1582430020
Green Alaska
by Nancy Lord

In 1899 the Harriman Alaska Expedition assembled a company of exceptional characters -- the nature writers John Burroughs and John Muir, photographer Edward Curtis, scientist William Dell, conservationist and ethnographer George Bird Grinnell, bird artist Louis Agassiz Fuertes, geologist Henry Gannett, and others. They cruised glacial fjords, collected specimens, and photographed Alaska's Native people. Nearly a hundred years later, Nancy Lord, an Alaskan well-rooted in coastal life and commercial fishing, revisits many of the same stops made by the earlier expedition from the pilothouse of a modern salmon tender. At salmon canneries and fox farm islands, on mountaintops and in the "big silences", Green Alaska takes us on a contemplative ride across a century of American attitudes toward wild landscapes, resource development, and culture.

0679426590
Zara's Tales
by Peter H. Beard

From adventurer, explorer, photographer, writer, pied piper Peter Beard—eleven irresistible tales, told to his daughter in his tented encampment at Hog Ranch, Kenya, about life, about living, about Africa. He writes of the East African hills he came to know so well over four decades, where time slows to infinity in a great bottomless, bottle green underwater world . . . about Nairobi in the 1950s, still a quaint, eccentric pioneer town, full of characters of all stripes and tribes, where rhinoceros roamed the streets and local residents went to the movies in pajamas. He writes of the camp he built twelve miles outside of Nairobi so that he would never be off safari, a forty-acre patch of bush called Hog Ranch (abutting Karen Blixen’s plantation), named for the families of warthogs who wandered into camp, a camp populated with waterbuck, suni, dik-diks, leopard, giraffe, and occasionally lion and buffalo. In “Big Pig at Hog Ranch,” Beard tells the story of Thaka (translation from the Kikuyu: “handsome stud”), Hog Ranch’s number-one, fearsome, 300-pound warthog, who came into camp and dropped to the ground happy for a vigorous tummy rub, and who one night, “lying in his favorite position, munching on corn and barbeque chicken,” was encroached upon by a bristly haired, wild-looking boar hog. All three hundred pounds of Thaka exploded straight at the hairy intruder, the two brutish, bony heads crashing together thundering through the camp and Peter witnessed the unleashed power—the bullish strength—of the wild pig . . . In “Roping Rhino,” Beard tells of his first job in Africa, rounding up and relocating rhinos for the Kenya Game Department with his cohort and neighbor, a weather-beaten native of Old Kenya who thrived on danger and refused to bathe—and of the enormous silver-backed rhino bull that became their Moby Dick . . . He writes of his quest to photograph overpopulated and habitat-destroying elephants for Life magazine on the eve of Kenya’s independence . . . of his close encounter with the legendary man-eating lions of “Starvo” (descendants of the famed beasts rumored to be immune to bullets, who in the late nineteenth century halted the construction of the Mombasa railroad, devouring railroad workers and snatching sleeping passengers from their Pullman berths in the dead of night to make a meal of them), who charged the author, “coming in slow motion, like a bullet train erupting out of a tunnel, soundless, like an ancient force.” He tells of his round-the-clock adventure tracking and studying crocodiles with a game warden–biologist at Lake Rudolf, a tale that begins with one crewmember being grabbed from behind by a ten-foot crocodile and another doing battle with an almost prehistoric monster fish—a 200-pound Great Nile perch! . . . and he writes of the final wildlife encounter that ended his safari days, an incident that proved Karen Blixen’s motto: “Be bold, be bold . . . be not too bold.” Zara’s Tales confirms to our constant surprise and delight that “nothing out of the ordinary happens. It’s just Africa, after all.”

HACKER SAFE certified sites prevent over 99.9% of hacker crime.

Ready to buy this book?

Below are all of the copies of 9780292728387 we currently have available for purchase, sorted by lowest price first. If you would like to refine your search, use the advanced options in the search box above.
1) Messages from the Wild: An Almanac of Suburban Natural and Unnatural History
Frederick R. Gehlbach

University of Texas Press. Used - Good. Shows some signs of wear, and may have some markings on the inside. 100% Money Back Guarantee. Shipped to over one million happy customers! Your purchase benefits world literacy! (more information)

Offered by Better World Books (United States)
Price: $1.00
Add to cart 
2) Messages from the Wild: An Almanac of Suburban Natural and Unnatural History
Frederick R. Gehlbach

University of Texas Press, 2002-03-15. Paperback. Very Good. Pages like new, razor cut along spine on cover, few marks on side. (more information)

Offered by Oscar's Book Nook (United States)
Price: $2.25
Add to cart 
3) Messages from the Wild: An Almanac of Suburban Natural and Unnatural History
Frederick R. Gehlbach

University of Texas Press, 2002-03-15. Paperback. New. (more information)

Offered by Basement Seller 101 (United States)
Price: $2.77
Add to cart 
4) Messages from the Wild: An Almanac of Suburban Natural and Unnatural History
Frederick R. Gehlbach

University of Texas Press, 2002-03-15. Paperback. Very Good. Almost like new except scuff marks on edge. (more information)

Offered by Oscar's Book Nook (United States)
Price: $3.00
Add to cart 
5) Messages from the Wild: An Almanac of Suburban Natural and Unnatural History
Gehlbach, Frederick R

Austin, Texas, U.S.A.: Univ of Texas Pr, 2002. Book shows minor wear/ spine tight, pages clean/ covers show minor edge wear. 1st Printing. Trade Paperback. Like New/No Dust Jacket as Issued. 8vo - over 7¾" - 9¾" tall. (more information)

Offered by Harvest Moon Farm Book Cellar (United States)
Price: $3.25
Add to cart 
6) Messages from the Wild: An Almanac of Suburban Natural and Unnatural History
Gehlbach, Frederick R

University of Texas Press. PAPERBACK. 0292728387 Fine. As New. Soft Cover . Fine. 2002. (more information)

Offered by Simmons & Simmons Fine Books LLC (United States)
Price: $8.00
Add to cart 
7) Messages From The Wild (Pb) (Qty: 25)
Frederick R. Gehlbach

Univ of Texas Press, 2002. Illustrated 1st Edition. Softcover. Brand New. 9.30 x 5.80 x 0.80. Brand new. Never read or owned. No marks. 14.4 oz. Seeking a closer connection with nature than the manicured lawns of suburbia, naturalist Fred Gehlbach and his family built a house on the edge of a wooded ravine in Central Texas in the mid-1960s. On daily walks over the hills, creek hollows, and fields of the ravine, Gehlbach has observed the cycles of weather and seasons, the annual migrations of birds, and the life cycles of animals and plants that also live in the ravine. -- In this book, Gehlbach draws on thirty-five years of journal entries to present a composite, day-by-day almanac of the life cycles of this semiwild natural island in the midst of urban Texas. Recording such events as the hatching of Eastern screech owl chicks, the emergence of June bugs, and the first freeze of November, he reminds us of nature's daily, monthly, and annual cycles, from which humans are becoming ever more detached in our unnatural urban environments. The long span of the almanac also allows Gehlbach to track how local and even global developments have affected the ravine, from scars left by sewer construction to an increase in frost-free days probably linked to global warming. -- This long-term record of natural cycles provides one of only two such baseline data sets for North America. At the same time, the book is an eloquent account of one keen observer's daily interactions with his wild and human neighbors and of the lessons in connectedness and the play of life that they teach. " . (more information)

Offered by Books and More by the Rowe (United States)
Price: $8.80
Add to cart 
8) MESSAGES FROM THE WILD: An Almanac of Suburban Natural and Unnatural History
Gehlbach, Frederick R

University of Texas Press. New. 2002. Softcover. ISBN: 0292728387. Brand New; unread and pristine. No remainder mark. ; Trade PB. (more information)

Offered by Crazy Horse Books (United States)
Price: $8.90
Add to cart 
9) Messages from the Wild : An Almanac of Suburban Natural and Unnatural History
Gehlbach, Frederick R

Trade paperback, new. First edition. Indexed. 258 pages. (more information)

Offered by M Hofferber Books (United States)
Price: $9.00
Add to cart 
10) Messages from the Wild: An Almanac of Suburban Natural and Unnatural History
Gehlbach, Frederick R

Austin, Texas, U.S.A.: Univ of Texas Pr, 2002. Clean, tight text. Cover shows slight edgewear.. ISBN: 0292728387. Soft Cover. Fine/No Jacket. NATURAL HISTORY UNITED STATES NATURE. (more information)

Offered by Twin Tomes Booksellers (United States)
Price: $9.00
Add to cart 
11) Messages from the Wild (Qty: 2)
Gehlbach, Fred

University of Texas Press, 2002. Paperback. New. Near fine in publisher's decorated wrappers. Available in our UK premises for prompt dispatch worldwide. (more information)

Offered by The Book Annex Limited (United Kingdom)
Price: $12.19
Add to cart 
12) Messages from the Wild: An Almanac of Suburban Natural and Unnatural History (Qty: 5)
Frederick R. Gehlbach

University of Texas Press, 2002-03-15. Paperback. New. Brand New. In Stock. Order Now. Ship from CA, IN, PA, OR, TN and FL. Over 600,000 CD/DVD, Books and bibles. Free tracking with every order.Top Biblio approved seller. International shipping is now available at low rates. (more information)

Offered by www.HarvardBooksellers.com (United States)
Price: $28.42
Add to cart 
13) Messages from the Wild : An Almanac of Suburban Natural and Unnatural History
Frederick R. Gehlbach

Paperback. Brand New, Never Used, Perfect Condition. Orders take 5-7 days to process and ship. (more information)

Offered by PapaMedia.com (United States)
Price: $43.95
Add to cart