What's the difference between a frog and a toad? Turner explains and points out the western spadefoot toad, despite its common name, is actually a frog. The book focuses on Tyrone Hayes and his works trying to save the frogs from their drastic decline. A graduate of Harvard and Berkeley, he has already discovered that the most commonly used pesticides in the U.S. (atrazine) may play a role, as well as loss of habitat and a devastating fungal disease.