A World in One Cubic Foot: Portraits of Biodiversity

This lovely book is what some would call a coffee table book with David Littschwager's photography of the flora and fauna in the habitats he visited being the major part of the book. The edition I had is a book tall and a foot wide echoing in its form the concept he explored. The author took an

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open cube that was one foot in each dimension, placed it in various locations and then observed the space for 24 hours, recording all of the creatures that visited. His experts at each location helped count and identify the various species and each one was photographed individually. There is a foreword by E. O. Wilson and an essay for each of the six locations which were 1) a salt water bay - San Francisco, 2) coral reef - French Polynesia, 3) cloud forest - Costa Rica, 4)deciduous forest - Hallett Nature Sanctuary - Central Park, NY, 5) freshwater river - Duck River, Tennessee and 6) mountain fynbos - Table Mountain, South Africa.

My favorite was the one on Duck River just a few miles from Columbia, TN. I've visited sites on the river and used to live just yards away from the river, in Columbia, when I was a child. It is one of the most pristine rivers remaining and its watershed is protected now so there is still remarkable diversity there.

Overall, I would recommend this for both the essays and the photography.

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