Best of
Ecology

1980

Overshoot: The Ecological Basis of Revolutionary Change


William R. Catton Jr. - 1980
    Even utility and oil companies now promote conservation in the face of demands for dwindling energy reserves. And for years some biologists have warned us of the direct correlation between scarcity and population growth. These scientists see an appalling future riding the tidal wave of a worldwide growth of population and technology.A calm but unflinching realist, Catton suggests that we cannot stop this wave - for we have already overshot the Earth's capacity to support so huge a load. He contradicts those scientists, engineers, and technocrats who continue to write optimistically about energy alternatives. Catton asserts that the technological panaceas proposed by those who would harvest from the seas, harness the winds, and farm the deserts are ignoring the fundamental premise that "the principals of ecology apply to all living things." These principles tell us that, within a finite system, economic expansion is not irreversible and population growth cannot continue indefinitely. If we disregard these facts, our sagging American Dream will soon shatter completely.

Bonsai Techniques I


John Yoshio Naka - 1980
    Instead, bonsai practice focuses on long-term cultivation and shaping of one or more small trees growing in a container.

The Real Work: Interviews and Talks, 1964-79


Gary Snyder - 1980
    Where his earlier Earth House Hold(1969) heralded the tribalism of the "coming revolution," the interviews in The Real Work focus on the living out of that process in a particular place and time––the Sierra Nevada foothills of Northern California in the 1970s. The talks and interviews collected here range over fifteen years (1964-79) and encompass styles as different as those of the Berkeley Barb and The New York Quarterly. A "poetics of process" characterizes these exchanges, but in the words of editor Mclean, their chief attraction is "good, plain talk with a man who has a lively and very subtle mind and a wide range of experience and knowledge."

Behind Japanese Lines: With the OSS in Burma


Richard Dunlop - 1980
    Thus was born OSS Detachment 101, the first clandestine special force formed by Donovan and one that would play a highly dangerous but vital role in the reconquest of Burma by the Allies.Behind Japanese Lines, originally published in 1979, is the exciting story of the men of Detachment 101, who, with their loyal native allies--the Kachin headhunters--fought a guerilla war for almost three years. It was a war not only against a tough and unyielding enemy, but against the jungle itself, one of the most difficult and dangerous patches of terrain in the world. Exposed to blistering heat and threatened by loathsome tropical diseases, the Western-raised OSS men also found themselves beset by unfriendly tribesmen and surrounded by the jungle's unique perils--giant leeches, cobras, and rogue tigers.Not merely a war narrative, Behind Japanese Lines is an adventure story, the story of unconventional men with an almost impossible mission fighting an irregular war in supremely hostile territory. Drawing upon the author's own experiences as a member of Detachment 101, interviews with surviving 101 members, and classified documents, Dunlop's tale unfolds with cinematic intensity, detailing the danger, tension, and drama of secret warfare. Never before have the activities of the OSS been recorded in such authentic firsthand detail. Skyhorse Publishing, as well as our Arcade imprint, are proud to publish a broad range of books for readers interested in history--books about World War II, the Third Reich, Hitler and his henchmen, the JFK assassination, conspiracies, the American Civil War, the American Revolution, gladiators, Vikings, ancient Rome, medieval times, the old West, and much more. While not every title we publish becomes a New York Times bestseller or a national bestseller, we are committed to books on subjects that are sometimes overlooked and to authors whose work might not otherwise find a home.

Idle Weeds: The Life of an Ohio Sandstone Ridge


David Rains Wallace - 1980
    

Beyond Geography: The Western Spirit Against the Wilderness


Frederick W. Turner - 1980
    This new edition, prepared for the Columbus quincentennial, includes a new introduction by T. H. Watkins and a new preface by the author. As the public debates Columbus's legacy, it is important for us to learn of the spiritual background of European domination of the Americas, for the Europeans who conquered the Americas substituted history for myth as a way of understanding life.

Terrestrial Plant Ecology


Michael G. Barbour - 1980
    The book takes an integrated approach to plant ecology and is divided into four parts which include information on the broad apsects of plant ecology. Chapters are written as self-contained units and can be read in any order, and authors new to this edition bring expertise on vegetation sampling and the conservation of endangered species. For this edition there have been revisions to chapters on population biology, species interactions, succession, nutrient cycling, soil, fire, photosynthesis and the vegetation of North America.