This book is about the studies and observations of the depleting tiger populations in Asia that was at one time thriving. This book is about Matthiessen's journey to Asia's Far East areas, and her studies of tigers there. Periodically through the book he also explains what people are doing to try and save this precious population of tigers.
This book relates to many of the things on both a biological and ecological level. On one side the things that we are doing to the environment are greatly harming the tiger populations, and even though this issue is beginning to look better, it may be to late. But on the other hand, the things that are done to harm to tigers also toy with the food chains and such. Although this book could be placed in both sections I believe that it would mostly end up under the biological context, because the main topic in this book is the depleting tiger population and how that is affecting other things.
This book jumped around a lot from place to place, and was very hard to follow, but the main points were very clear. Peter traveled to Asia and its tiger reserves to study the Tiger populations; while he was there they developed a new way of recording information about tigers with little trackers that they place on the tigers' neck. This helped them greatly in their study of these wild animals. Their first tiger to be caught and "tagged" was named Lena, this tiger lived throughout most of the book. After this they caught and tagged various tigers, but none were more talked about than Lena. During this book Peter explains the histories of all the tigers he explains, it is unbelievable how much prominence these creatures have in the mythical ring. He also explains the origins and evolution of the tigers that he encounters on his journey. In many spiritual tribes the Tiger was believed to be a God, and was a major sin to kill or harm one, and if one did harm a tiger there was to be a major price to pay. This book was very, very informative about tigers, and it showed not only the hard facts of tigers today, but also where the tiger's population has been and where it is headed.
I believe this work accurately represents the population of tigers and what is happening to them. In class we studied Biomes of the World and the issues of these specific biomes. In this book the issues of the biomes plays a major role in what happens to the tigers in Asia. Many of the problems that are reducing the tiger population of Asia, are also affecting the Biomes the same way. One of the main problems was humans in the late 1800s and early 1900s, they were shooting tigers for a prophet because there was no law against it. They could make lots of money off this, but did not realize the damage it could do to the tiger population as a whole, or how it could affect the same tiger population in the future.
Overall this book has been very influential and a great read. It has changed my views on many issues, and tigers as a whole. This issue of the tiger population going down is a major issue in the whole scheme of things; I believe that if the tiger population is deleted out of the world, many things would start to go bad. Many other populations of animals that are related to the tiger in the food chains would be badly affected. Hopefully, the tiger population will be refreshed within the next decades so that we don't have to find out what happens if the tiger population diminishes.


Book Review For Honors Biology Hour 2   December 17, 2001
 1 out of 9 found this review helpful

I read the book Tigers In The Snow by Peter Matthiessen. The publisher is North Point Press in 2000. There are 174 pages in this book. In this book the author talks about the tigers and their problems in Russia, mainly in Siberia.
First, Peter Matthiessen and Maurice Hornocker go to Russia to study the tigers. When they get there Dale Miquelle greets them and then they all go off in sreach of a tiger. When they find one they collar it. These men collar many tigers and have different frequencys for each one. They can tell if the tiger is hunting or napping. Then the author tells you about reserves that have been set up to help bring the tiger population back up and how countries have tried to stop the poaching. Nearer to the end you learn that not all of their collared tigers survived to have young. Many of them were poached but they still retrived the radio collars.
I pesonally didn't really enjoy the majority of the book, because it really only talks about how the tiger population went up and down for years. It doesn't keep you hooked and isn't very exciting to read. I did enjoy the parts when the author talked about collaring the tigers, though. If you were researching tigers then this would be a great book to read, but not for shear enjoyment.
I have learned the tiger is making a slow comeback because the countries are having a hard time keeping the poaching under control. Also the reason there is so much poaching is because the people believe certain parts of the tiger will help you in different ways.
In conclusion, Tigers In The Snow is very informative and if you want to know in detail what is happening to tigers you should read this book.


Book Review For Honors Biology Hour 2   December 17, 2001
 0 out of 4 found this review helpful

I read the book Tigers In The Snow by Peter Matthiessen. The publisher is North Point Press in 2000. There are 174 pages in this book. This book is about the tigers in Russia, mostly in Siberia.
I didn't like this book as much as I thought I would because it was mainly about which type of tiger was coming back and how the population was doing, but not all about the collaring and tracking of the tiger. If you wanted to read a very informative book about tiger populations throughout the years then you should read this book. I didn't really get hooked when I read this book, so it took a lot longer to read.
First, Peter Matthiessen and Maurice Hornocker go to Siberia where they meet up with Dale Miquelle. Then they all go and start to track down tigers. Next they collar the tigers that they trap then release then again. They can tell when the tiger is hunting or when it is sleeping using these collars. Poachers killed some of their tigers and threw off the radio collars and this really upset Matthiessen, Hornocker, and Miquelle. Then the author talks about how the population of the tiger has been going up and down. Also how the reservations are doing and how the can help bring the population back up. The tiger has lost a lot of habitat too. In many places they are cutting down all of the trees, which leaves the tigers without protection. The countries where the tigers live are having trouble keeping the poaching under control and the poachers are trying to sell the tiger parts illegally.
I have learned in many countries it was thought that different parts of the tiger would help you with different problems. This is one of the reasons that poaching is still going on. People still believe these old customs and will pay high prices for the tiger parts that they want. Also the countries need to be aware of where they are cutting down trees. The tiger needs lots of space, especially if it is a mother with cubs.
In conclusion, I do not recommend this book because it is boring and not very interesting. The first few pages and the last few are the most exciting. This book is for the person who wants to know the details of what is going on in the tiger population.


Book Review For Honors Biology Hour 2   December 17, 2001
 0 out of 4 found this review helpful

I read the book Tigers In The Snow by Peter Matthiessen. The publisher is North Point Press in 2000. There are 174 pages in this book. This book is about the tigers in Russia, mostly in Siberia.
I didn't like this book as much as I thought I would because it was mainly about which type of tiger was coming back and how the population was doing, but not all about the collaring and tracking of the tiger. If you wanted to read a very informative book about tiger populations throughout the years then you should read this book. I didn't really get hooked when I read this book, so it took a lot longer to read.
First, Peter Matthiessen and Maurice Hornocker go to Siberia where they meet up with Dale Miquelle. Then they all go and start to track down tigers. Next they collar the tigers that they trap then release then again. They can tell when the tiger is hunting or when it is sleeping using these collars. Poachers killed some of their tigers and threw off the radio collars and this really upset Matthiessen, Hornocker, and Miquelle. Then the author talks about how the population of the tiger has been going up and down. Also how the reservations are doing and how the can help bring the population back up. The tiger has lost a lot of habitat too. In many places they are cutting down all of the trees, which leaves the tigers without protection. The countries where the tigers live are having trouble keeping the poaching under control and the poachers are trying to sell the tiger parts illegally.
I have learned in many countries it was thought that different parts of the tiger would help you with different problems. This is one of the reasons that poaching is still going on. People still believe these old customs and will pay high prices for the tiger parts that they want. Also the countries need to be aware of where they are cutting down trees. The tiger needs lots of space, especially if it is a mother with cubs.
In conclusion, I do not recommend this book because it is boring and not very interesting. The first few pages and the last few are the most exciting. This book is for the person who wants to know the details of what is going on in the tiger population.


Review For Miss Pawinskis Class(Cory Hour 1)   November 30, 2001
 0 out of 2 found this review helpful

I read the book Tigers in the Snow by Peter Matthiessen. This book is about tigers located in the whole world but it mostly focuses on Asia and a small portion of Europe. Also it talks about how we are trying to preserve tigers and there natural habitat from destruction. Another topic that is discussed is tiger populations and the different species of tigers located throughout the world.
In the beginning of the novel the author is traveling to Russia to try and help them set up a program in which they capture tigers of al ages and genders and they put a collar on these tigers and then they them go. Once the tigers are collared they are monitored by a radio that is tuned in to each tigers pitch and frequency, the frequency varies from while the tiger is resting to when the tiger is on the move. Also located in the collar is a tracking device, which they use to pin point the tigers location while in the wild. Many times the tigers will stay in one general location but on occasion the tigers will wander off with the collar on and they will be lost permanently. Another thing that occasionally happens to tigers is that their collar is removed by poachers and then is ditched somewhere far away after the tiger is dead. Later in the book they discussed the ways that we are trying to help the tigers, which I will go into further on in the paper. Also in the end it talked about public zoos and what the tigers do and feel while in the zoo compared to being out in the wild. An interesting fact that I learned about the tigers being in captivity is that they must be introduced into the enclosed environment before they are six weeks old otherwise they will not adjust fully.
Some of the ideas that they introduced to try and help the tigers is that they have set up many wildlife reserves to try and save the tiger population. This has been very affective so far because it gives the tigers an area where they can hunt and breed with out worrying so much about other predators. Even though this has been very affective there are also many negative points to it. One of the negative points is that we are forced to make native tribes move from a location that the have lived in their whole life. They are forced to move because they are killing animals that tigers would usually eat and because they are destroying the tiger's habitat. Another reason that they are forced to move is because the poachers then must travel farther to be within the actual reserve. Another way that they are trying to help tigers is b having them live in zoos and other enclosed environments. Even as we speak they are coming up with new ways to help tigers because the tiger population is plummeting.
I thought that this was a very interesting book about tigers. I believe that everyone should read this book because it allowed me to learn about tigers but at the same time it informed me of some of the problems that tigers face while in the wild such as poaching and destruction of habitat. Also this book kept a good pace throughout the whole book, within the first three pages I was hooked and it kept my attention throughout the whole entire story. Another reason that this book was good was because it told me about things that I could do to help tigers. I believe that everyone should this book because it is both informative and interesting.