"This comprehensive (and extremely handsome) book analyzes patterns of biological diversity in the U.S.-a vast area that stretches from above the Arctic Circle to below the Tropic of Cancer. The country's 200,000 species (double previous counts) are not faring well. Roughly one third are at risk; 500 are already extinct or missing. Precious Heritage identifies the first ever "hot spots" where conservation efforts would be especially important, and challenges us to consider the scale of habitat conservation that will be needed to protect entire ecological systems. Some of the leading experts on the subject, E. O. Wilson writes in the foreword, "invite us to turn inward, not by abandoning global conservation but by conserving our own fauna and flora in a manner that will set a shining example for the rest of the world."

Editors of Scientific American