Best-selling author (A Natural History of the Senses) and naturalist Diane Ackerman takes a beguiling look at the complex world of the bat--one of the most varied and mysterious of animals.  Ackerman describes a visit, with distinguished photographer and bat expert Merlin Tuttle, to the Big Bend national park area of Texas where she observes the nightly emergence of over 20 million bats from Bracken Cave and helps track them for study.  In addition to conveying the experience of observing, handling, and studying bats firsthand, Ackerman relates information on a variety of bat species, as well as feeding and reproduction habits, the remarkable sonar they use to navigate and hunt, their migration and hibernation patterns, and their role in the ecosystems they inhabit.  More than 50 spectacular color photographs enliven this distinctive, informative, and accessible addition to the natural history shelf.