Montgomery, Sy. Saving the Ghost of the Mountain.

Montgomery, Sy. Saving the Ghost of the Mountain.
Houghton Mifflin/Clarion/Graphia/Kingfisher 2009 74p 18.00
978-0618916450 ms/hs Scientists In the Field series
In this newest addition to the superb series Scientists in the Field, naturalist Sy Montgomery and photographer Nic Bishop take their readers on a trip through the harsh environment of Mongolia’s Altai Mountains and Gobi Desert with Tom McCarthy, conservation director of the Snow Leopard Trust and his team, in search of the elusive snow leopard. In this newest addition to the superb series Scientists in the Field, naturalist Sy Montgomery and photographer Nic Bishop take their reader on a trip through the harsh environment of Mongolia’s Altai Mountains and Gobi Desert in search of the elusive snow leopard with Tom McCarthy, conservation director of the Snow Leopard Trust and his team. Written in an engaging manner and beautifully presented, the author offers a travelogue of her three-week expedition to the wild lands of Asia with all of the attendant dangers found in the harsh climate, mountain climbing, and living in the manner of the local people. It is filled with unique stories about the “ghosts of the mountain” and their natural world and is greatly enhanced by outstanding color photographs that show the environmental and zoological aspects of the region although the big cat photographs are taken in a zoo. Even though the group didn’t sight any snow leopards, the descriptions of the search for them and the discovery and collection of their signs and scat are sure to entrance the reader and add immediacy to the search. The book contains a series of extras: sidebar fact boxes, McCarthy’s advice to young conservationists, how to conserve the snow leopard by supporting the Trust, unique facts and statistics about the region, descriptions of some of the more unusual animals of the area, a small Mongolian dictionary, author and photographer notes and a link to their web sites, and an index. Ogintz, Susan