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A NEOTROPICAL COMPANION: An Introduction to the Animals, Plants, & Ecosystems of the New World Tropics (second edition, revised and expanded) by John Kricher is published by Princeton University Press and copyrighted, (c) 1997, by Princeton University Press. All rights reserved. No part of this book may be reproduced in any form by any electronic or mechanical means (including photocopying, recording, or information storage and retrieval) without permission in writing from the publisher, except for reading and browsing via the World-Wide Web. Users are not permitted to mount this file on any network servers.

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A Neotropical Companion: Foreword by Mark Plotkin

WHEN I first began my work in the Neotropics almost twenty years ago, there was little to read in the way of travel guides. The two books most commonly available were South America on $15 a Day and The South America Handbook, both focusing mainly on where to eat and sleep. Going to the rainforest armed with only these books was like traveling to Paris with a guide to the fast food restaurants.

Interest in Latin America is at an all-time high. While some people travel there for the food, the music, or the textiles, the single greatest draw is the rainforest, an ecosystem that represents Mother Nature at her most exuberant and spectacular. The single major source of foreign exchange in Costa Rica these days is not coffee, timber, or beef--it is ecotourism.

So up until a few years ago, if you were traveling to see these forests, the best way to prepare yourself was to read the classics of Neotropical natural history: Wallace, Bates, Darwin, and so forth. You could then delve into technical journals to find out what researchers were learning in these most complex of ecosystems. That all changed in 1989 with the publication of the first edition of John Kricher's A Neotropical Companion. What Kricher achieved was elegant in design and brilliant in execution: he distilled the best information from all available sources on the natural history of the Neotropics into a highly readable and extremely educational book. How many books are used by kindergarten teachers to write their lesson plans, assigned as required reading in college courses, carried by backpackers from Mexico to Argentina, and devoured by armchair travelers anxious to experience the tropical rainforest at arm's length? Traveling with Kricher's book is a bit like going birdwatching with Ted Parker, investigating ants with E. O. Wilson, collecting plants with Al Gentry, going fishing with Michael Goulding, studying bats with Louise Emmons, measuring trees with Nick Brokaw, and investigating hallucinogenic plants with R. E. Schultes.

The first edition of A Neotropical Companion is already considered a classic, and the new edition is even better. The geographical focus of John Kricher's personal research is Central America, and the earlier book reflected that. The new edition features an expanded focus not only on Amazonia but on topics like freshwater ichthyology, ethnobotany, and conservation of biodiversity, which were covered only briefly the first time around. This edition also contains augmented sections on such nonrainforest systems as mountains, savannas, mangroves, and coral reef, which also are of interest to the tropical traveler.

I can think of no other natural history book that is so useful and informative for Central America, South America, and the Caribbean. If you are heading for the Neotropics, don't leave home without it.

Mark J. Plotkin, Ph.D.
Executive Director, The Ethnobotany and Conservation Team
Author of The Shaman's Apprentice