Promotions - Choice's Outstanding Academic Titles 2014 -

The spatial analysis featured in this book provides a perfect stage for urban ecological function.  Richly and incisively written by Forman (Harvard), the work treats readers to an encyclopedic array of phenomena that make up the interactions among organisms, built structures, and the physical environment where people are concentrated.  With ever more humans around the world living in cities and their urban areas, no scientific inquiry could be more relevant.  This touchstone for the discipline of urban ecology is excellent for sustained reading, an educated browse, and as a reference work.  This reviewer particularly enjoyed mining the text for ideas. He drew inspiration from the concepts/topics detailed to develop a couple of successful mapping labs based on data that students had collected previously or could glean from satellite maps.  Subsequently, he brought this volume forward to colleagues who will be teaching a large urban ecology component next semester, hoping that they will adopt the book for classroom use.Summing Up: Highly recommended. All levels/libraries.