Book Review: The Natural World of Lewis and Clark

It was one of the great adventures of all time -- Meriwether Lewis and William Clarks' two-year exploration of the unknown world west of the Mississippi River.

When the party set out in 1803, author David Dalton points out, Americans knew little about the country they would travel through.

"President Jefferson believed that the West probably still contained many of the great mammals of the Pleistocene epoch, including mammoths, giant ground sloths, and perhaps others," Dalton writes.

The amazing findings of the expedition have frequently been chronicled. Dalton interprets them from a modern perspective to show how advances such as DNA research, understanding of proteins and the latest laboratory methods provided new information about them.

The book is written in nontechnical language and contains numerous surprises, including why the explorers experienced gastric distress from some foods. Still, it is more text book than pleasure reading. Heavily footnoted, with graphs and charts, it would no doubt appeal primarily to those with a science bent.

-- The Associated Press