The Tapir's Morning Bath: by Royte, Elizabeth - 2001. Mysteries of the Tropical Rain Forest and the Scientists Who Are Trying to Solve Them

New York: Houghton Mifflin , 2001. First Edition, First Printing 1/4 cloth AS NEW in AS NEW DJ 8vo (5-1/2 x 8-1/2), 328 pp including Bibliography. BOOK is NEW -- Book and DJ: AS NEW / AS NEW. An extraodinary story of the 80+ years of research in the Barro Colorado in Panama - -the most-studied rain forest in the world where scientists have been trying to understand Darwin's question: "What explains the riot (of diversity)?" Ms Royte asks another question as she counts seedilings, raido-tracks fruit bats, sorts insects and collects monkey feces: "What is the point of the studies?" The book has a wider focus than others, and the added understanding of context makes it quite important -- that being the fact that she also includes the doubts and concerns disturbing the scientists that come from seeing the continuing loss of such environments in the world. An exceptional book, beautfiully written and destined to continue to be an important work.