From: rclark@alcor.concordia.ca (Richard Clark)
Subject: Book review : Zupanc's Fish and Their Behavior
Summary: interesting book, I liked it a lot
Keywords: zupanc, book review, fish, behaviour
Organization: Concordia University, Montreal, Quebec
Date: Wed, 30 Dec 1992 18:20:07 GMT

Hi,
I wrote some book reviews for my local fish club, I'd thought I'd
share them with the internet.  I know I posted a couple of these
before, I don't think I posted the one I wrote on Zupanc's book - if
so I apologize.  Someone brought up Zupanc's book last week and it
brought to mind that I had this review hanging around.

The following is in LaTeX format, but I think it's readily
understandable by non-TeXies.  If someone wants to reprint it for
non-profit use, go ahead - but I ask that you not alter it in any way
without my permission.  If you print a club publication, this article
in LaTeX format very conveniently fits in exactly 1 page.

rick
----------------

\documentstyle[11pt]{article}
\title{Book Review: Fish and Their Behavior, by Gunther K.H. Zupanc}
\author{Richard Clark}

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\addtolength{\textwidth}{1.5in}
\addtolength{\oddsidemargin}{-0.75in}
\addtolength{\evensidemargin}{-0.75in}
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\begin{document}
\thispagestyle{empty}
\maketitle

{\flushleft Fish and Their Behavior}\\
author: Gunther K.H. Zupanc \\
ISBN: 3-923880-19-7\\
publisher: Tetra Press\\
175 pages, 13 x 21 cm.\\
price: around US\$10 mail order\\
year: 1982 in German, 1988 in English.\\

This is not your ordinary tropical fish book.  It's not about breeding
fish, or the water conditions necessary for keeping them.  This book
discusses interesting characteristics of fish, and where appropriate,
experiments which show why fish behave the way they do.  Most of the
fish described in this book are those that are available in the
aquarium hobby.

The book is subdivided into about 15 independent sections, each one
having the appearance of an article.  The first section of the book
discusses the environmental extremes to which fish have adapted, from
the depths of the oceans, to flying fish, and even fish that can live
without water for a time, and everything in between. The rest of the
book covers numerous topics, and at the same time answers many
questions like ``How do salmon return to the same stream in which they
were born'', ``How do some fish form shoals'',  ``How do fish
communicate through sound'', ``Does water chemistry affect the
aggressiveness of fish'', ``Why are there so many fish species from
Lake Malawi'', and many more. Each question is answered thoroughly,
explaining the experiments that were performed to substantiate the
hypothesis.  Don't be mistaken into believing that this book was
written for scientists only though. It is written in an easy to
understand fashion, using non-technical terms, without losing any (in
my opinion) accuracy.  There are lots of pictures and illustrations
that make the concepts clear.  The last section explains how to
observe fish and proposes numerous questions that can be answered
through close observation.  The importance of documentation is
emphasized and demonstrated, and a number of experiments are proposed.

If all you want out of the hobby is BAP certificates and being able to
say you ``did'' a fish, then this isn't the book for you. Although it
describes the spawning behaviour of some fish, it is by no means
complete in this regard. However, I found this book entertaining and
educational.  You can be quite sure that it does {\em not} cover the
same material as all those other books in your aquarium literature
library.  I highly recommend this book.

\end{document}
-- 
rick clark (rclark@alcor.concordia.ca) | My signature graduated  
           (CIS 70272,3270)            | before me.