November/December 1985 RAIN Page. The New York City Wildlife Guide, by Edward R. Ricciuti, 1984, 216 pp., $9.95 from Nick Lyons Books 212 Fifth Avenue New York, NY 10010 After glancing through this guide—really more of an organized jaunt through a naturalist's field notes than a guide—my overwhelming sense was that 1 wanted one for my town! It's pretty amazing that you can live in a city and actually see the live versions of a lot of what gets stuffed into museums and adventure stories. The book describes a wide range of birds, mammals, amphibians, reptiles, and fish by physical characterisHcs, behavior, and where they can be found. It also describes the parks and includes a chart of "best seasons" for observation of each species. My only complaint is that the illustrations are pretty inadequate, a real shortcoming if you've ever tried to identify something that is both alive and moving, a typical condition. Still, I like the spirit of this book. Its sense of discovery is akin to first seeing the rings of Saturn through a telescope or actually verifying that the ocean is salty by tasting it. Buy this book if you're going to check out the parks of New York City. If you are thinking of doing a similar guide for your hometown, you might simply browse through it in a bookstore or library. —Ethan Selzer Ethan Seltzer lives in Portland and believes in Johnson Creek. The Granite Garden: Urban Nature and Human Design, by Anne Whiston Spim, 1984, 334 pp., $25.95 from: Basic Books 10 East Third Street New York, NY 10022 This is a very useful book, starting with the title. The term "granite garden" refers to the image of a lush, green earth dotted with human settlements. Cities emerge ■ as "gardens" of pavement amid a much more compelling sea of green. The image puts things in perspective—human civilization as a powerful force in the biosphere, yet only one of the many forces. The best part about this book is that it systematically reveals the richness and diversity of natural resources to be found among the cracks in the granite, and thus shows that city dwellers are not confined to an "either/or" existence (as in either clean air or jobs, either open space or affordable housing, and so forth). Spim has compiled a very readable and accessible guide to the use and management of natural resources found in cities. Her book offers many well documented examples of how cities past and present have garnered delightful improvements in the quality of urban life by solving city problems in the context of the ecology of the place. Sections discuss how soil, air, water, plants, and wildlife can be integrated into the functioning of a city, complete with rules of thumb for planning and resource management. Anyone who lives in a city but marvels at the diversity of bird species found in urban cemeteries or migrating salmon and coyotes in urban parks, will find this book useful. If I were trying to defend a creek from channelization in the name of stormwater management, or trying to convince a building owner of the value of properly planted trees, this book would be the first place that I'd turn for help. —Ethan Selzer Boston's Riverway: Before and After. Top photo shows the Riverway in Boston, circa 1892, with graded embankments ready for planting. Bottom photo shows same area 30 years later. (FROM: The Granite Garden) Urban Resources, published three times yearly, $12/year (individuals), $18/year (institutions), from: Division of Metropolitan Services University of Cincinnati Mail Location 175 Cincinnati, OH 45221 This is a terrific publicaHon for several reasons. First, it connects universtiy research on cities and urban administration with the practitioners and activists in the community who slog it out on a daily basis. Second, all articles are reviewed by both a specialist in the field and a generalist practitioner. Third, it's cheap. And fourth, it is three-hole punched for your favorite binder. Besides that, each issue has a theme— how cities are run, social infrastructure, neighborhoods, and so on—and the entire issue relates to the theme. In addition to conceptual articles exploring the activities of cities with respect to the theme, there is a section that reviews the specific programs of cities throughout the country. Book reviews are included as well as a bibliography for additional reading. It's attractively designed, although my copies had the holes punched through the text. If you are interested in cities as complex places, and you see university research as one tool for dealing with the complexity, then I think you'll feel as I do that this is a publication worth reading. —Ethan Selzer
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