THE GRAIL BIRD: HOT ON THE TRAIL OF THE IVORY-BILLED WOODPECKER 
By Tim Gallagher 
Houghton Mifflin Company, $25

Reviewed by CHRISTINE HEINRICHS
The announcement of a confirmed sighting of the ivorybilled woodpecker in April 2005 was greeted like a confirmed extraterrestrial alien sighting. It was astonishing, contrary to accepted general wisdom, breathtaking.

 THE REPUBLICAN WAR ON SCIENCE 
By Chris Mooney 
Basic Books, $24.95

Reviewed by STUART LEAVENWORTH 
Here's a news flash: President George Bush and some of his minions have targeted scientists who don't share their agenda. They have intimidated certain government researchers, reassigned those who cause trouble for key constituencies and discouraged an entire generation of biologists, climatologists and other professionals from ever working on the federal payroll.

 By KATINA GAUDET 

"We have a different fear of hurricanes."

My friend Yasmin was trying to rationalize her fearlessness in the face of an imposing Hurricane Katrina, expected to make landfall near New Orleans the next day, from her first-floor Uptown apartment.

But I was having difficulty, although safe in a hotel room near Memphis. I was frantic, yelling into the phone at Yasmin, "You cannot stay there."