Northeastern Naturalist B1 Noteworthy Books 2017 Vol. 24, No. 2 On the Trail: A History of American Hiking. Silas Chamberlain. 2016. Yale University Press, New Haven, CT. 264 pp. $30, Hardcover. ISBN 9780300219111. In the mid-19th century, urban walking clubs began to emerge. Only a little more than a century later there were tens of millions of hikers on trails blazed in every region of America. Archives of the Appalachian Mountain Club, Sierra Club, Green Mountain Club, and many others provided the author with recounts of the activities of hikers who over the decades built trails and advocated for environmental protection. He discusses the sifting attitudes of the late 1960s and early 1970s when new hikers began to view trail blazing and maintenance as government responsibilities Chamberlain explores the implications for hiking groups, future club leaders, and the millions of others who find happiness, inspiration, and better health on America’s trails. Governing Behavior: How Nerve Cell Dictatorships and Democracies Control Everything We Do. Ari Berkowitz. 2016. Harvard University Press, Cambridge, MA. London, UK. 240 pp. $19.95, Hardcover. ISBN 9780674736900. From simple reflexes to complex choreographies of movement, all animal behavior is governed by a nervous system. But what kind of government is it—a dictatorship or a democracy? Nervous systems consist of circuits of interconnected nerve cells (neurons) that transmit and receive information via electrical signals. Every moment, each neuron adds up stimulating and inhibiting inputs from many other neurons to determine whether to send an electrical signal to its recipients. Some circuits are dominated by a single “dictator” neuron that gathers information from many sources and then issues commands, such as the Mauthner neuron that triggers escape in fish. In other more “democratic” circuits, such as those mediating eye movements in monkeys, the outcome is determined by a tally of “votes” from a large population of neurons. Rhythmic movements like breathing and locomotion are generated by “government programs” within the central nervous system, but modified by a soup of chemicals and by free market–like feedback from sensory neurons. Nervous systems also use sophisticated surveillance of the surrounding environment and keep track of their own decisions in order to avoid internal conflicts. Nervous systems are not restricted to using one set of procedures at a time. They have evolved over long periods to control behaviors in whichever ways are most effective, and they essentially combine multiple forms of government simultaneously. Engaging and accessible, Governing Behavior explains the variety of structures and strategies that control behavior, while providing an overview of thought-provoking debates and cutting-edge research in neurobiology and its implications for animal behavior. An Introduction to Conservation Biology. Richard B. Primack and Anna Sher. 2016. Sinauer Associates, Inc., Sunderland, MA. 476 pp. $89.95, Softcover. ISBN 9781605354736 New coauthor Anna Sher joins longtime Sinauer author Richard Primack in creating a book that combines the readability of Primack’s A Primer of Conservation Biology with the depth and coverage of his larger textbook, Essentials of Conservation Biology. The result is a book well suited for a wide range of undergraduate courses, as both a primary text for conservation biology courses and a supplement for ecological and environmental science courses. The authors have added 3 chapters focused on population biology conservation tools, restoration ecology, and the future of conservation. Sustainable development, ex situ conservation, and other key topics have been expanded and updated with hundreds of new examples, explanations, citations, and figures to enhance learning and excitement for the subject. Throughout, the authors maintain a focus on the active role that scientists, local people, conservation organizations, government, and the general public play in protecting biodiversity, even while providing for human needs. Noteworthy Books Received by the Northeastern Naturalist, Issue 24/2, 2017 The Northeastern Naturalist welcomes submissions of review copies of books that publishers or authors would like to recommend to the journal’s readership and are relevant to the journal’s mission of publishing information about the natural history of the northeastern US. Accompanying short, descriptive summaries of the text are also welcome.