Reefs and Rain Forests: The Natural Heritage of Malaysian Borneo - Hardcover

Kaufman, Murray S.

Hardcover

ISBN 10: 0971065500 ISBN 13: 9780971065505

Publisher: Reefs & Rainforest Pubns, 2002

Synopsis

For more than seven years, Murray S. Kaufman has photographed the powerful contrasts and similarities of two unique environments, which he describes as the last living Eden. The book combines Kaufman's images of the beauty and fragility of these important, primal, and endangered ecosystems with texts by leading experts in the field. Together they depict a phenomenal array of flora and fauna, including some newly discovered species.Throughout, the book gives an insight into the effects of rapid development and habitat destruction threatening reefs and rain forests. At the same time it touches our hearts, providing the first step to discover and appreciate nature. Kaufman's book opens the way for a new understanding and a new commitment to conservation of these rain forests and coral reefs.

About this title

Reviews

The reefs and rain forests of Borneo are considered to be the oldest on the planet, with the reefs declared by Jacques Cousteau to be an untouched piece of art, and the rain forests containing more species per square quarter mile than exist in all North American forests combined. Photographer Kaufman, a surgeon by trade, has been traveling to Borneo for more than seven years, and the results of his work are brilliantly displayed in this new coffee-table book. Three sections on reefs, rain forests, and conservation are introduced with essays by Malaysian experts in the field. Kaufman's images follow, and they are stunning. The luminous colors of the reef denizens are beautifully set off by black borders, and groupings of photos in the same color range are an effective touch. Technical notes provide information about cameras, film, and shutter speeds, and photographer's notes impart some of the natural history of the species depicted. Although the price may make this an optional purchase, better images of rare species would be difficult to find anywhere else. Nancy Bent
Copyright © American Library Association. All rights reserved

Turn to any color plate in this book and prepare to have your breath taken away by large, rich, lush images of the underwater life of Borneo's reefs contrasted with the flora and fauna of its rain forests, all photographed by dentist/nature photographer Kaufman. So that the photos could stand out as they do, captions were relegated to a separate section called "Photographer's Notes." Brief text by Bornean officials adequately describes the biodiversity of the two ecosystems, while a final segment titled "Regarding Conservation" considers the threat faced by these same systems. The highlight of this book, however, is the vibrant photography. For larger public library natural history and photography collections. [A portion of the proceeds from the sale of this book will be donated to World Wildlife Fund Malaysia.-Ed.]-Raymond Hamel, Wisconsin Regional Primate Research Ctr. Lib., Madiso.
--Raymond Hamel, Wisconsin Regional Primate Research Ctr. Lib., Madison
Copyright 2002 Reed Business Information, Inc.

Edition details

• Publisher: Reefs & Rainforest Pubns
• Publication date: 2002
• Language: English
• ISBN 10: 0971065500
• ISBN 13: 9780971065505
• Binding: Hardcover
• Number of pages: 276