A reread of The Tapir's Morning Bath, after ten years on the shelf and numerous loans to others, has not disappointed me. A field study of Barro Colorado Island, a Smithsonian Research Institute Center in Panama, provides a look at not only the leaf cutter ants, spider monkeys, lianas, and assorted flora and fauna of this tropical rain forest, but is study of the scientists who study them. Elizabeth Royte, a formidable writer and scientist herself, shows them as real people with all of their ideals and idiosyncracies, questions and doubts. She does not presume to answer the questions of what, where and why this research is important but she sets the stage for us to form our own answers by involving us in the life of the Island.

This book may not be for everyone, but for closet naturalists like me and anyone interested in the magic way the world works, it is engaging and even exciting. (I have spent an hour watching an earthworm to see if it knows which way is up. It does.) Having a glimpse into the lives of researchers at Barro Colorado Island shows me I am not alone.