Best of
Natural-History

2017

The Wolf: A True Story of Survival and Obsession in the West


Nate Blakeslee - 2017
    Before humans ruled the earth, there were wolves. Once abundant in North America, these majestic creatures were hunted to near extinction in the lower 48 states by the 1920s. But in recent decades, conservationists have brought wolves back to the Rockies, igniting a battle over the very soul of the West.With novelistic detail, Nate Blakeslee tells the gripping story of one of these wolves, O-Six, a charismatic alpha female named for the year of her birth. Uncommonly powerful, with gray fur and faint black ovals around each eye, O-Six is a kind and merciful leader, a fiercely intelligent fighter, and a doting mother. She is beloved by wolf watchers, particularly renowned naturalist Rick McIntyre, and becomes something of a social media star, with followers around the world.But as she raises her pups and protects her pack, O-Six is challenged on all fronts: by hunters, who compete with wolves for the elk they both prize; by cattle ranchers who are losing livestock and have the ear of politicians; and by other Yellowstone wolves who are vying for control of the park’s stunningly beautiful Lamar Valley.These forces collide in American Wolf, a riveting multi-generational saga of hardship and triumph that tells a larger story about the ongoing cultural clash in the West—between those fighting for a vanishing way of life and those committed to restoring one of the country’s most iconic landscapes.

The Death and Life of the Great Lakes


Dan Egan - 2017
    But they are under threat as never before, and their problems are spreading across the continent. The Death and Life of the Great Lakes is prize-winning reporter Dan Egan’s compulsively readable portrait of an ecological catastrophe happening right before our eyes, blending the epic story of the lakes with an examination of the perils they face and the ways we can restore and preserve them for generations to come.

Adventures of a Young Naturalist: The Zoo Quest Expeditions


David Attenborough - 2017
    Now 'the greatest living advocate of the global ecosystem' this is the story of the voyages that started it all. Staying with local tribes while trekking in search of giant anteaters in Guyana, Komodo dragons in Indonesia and armadillos in Paraguay, he and the rest of the team battled with cannibal fish, aggressive tree porcupines and escape-artist wild pigs, as well as treacherous terrain and unpredictable weather, to record the incredible beauty and biodiversity of these regions. The methods may be outdated now, but the fascination and respect for the wildlife, the people and the environment - and the importance of protecting these wild places - is not.Written with his trademark wit and charm, Adventures of a Young Naturalist is not just the story of a remarkable adventure, but of the man who made us fall in love with the natural world, and who is still doing so today.

The Seabird's Cry: The Lives and Loves of the Planet's Great Ocean Voyagers


Adam Nicolson - 2017
    Their numbers are in freefall, dropping by nearly 70 percent in the last sixty years, a billion fewer now than in 1950. Extinction stalks the ocean, and there is a danger that the hundred-million-year-old cries of a seabird colony, rolling around in the bays and headlands of high latitudes, will this century become but a memory.

A Yorkshire Vet Through the Seasons


Julian Norton - 2017
    Julian Norton has been a vet for over twenty years, and in that time he has treated animals of every kind – snakes and lizards, fish and fowl, sheep, goats, alpacas, cows, horses, swans ... you name it, Julian has seen it and, most likely, made it better!In A Yorkshire Vet Through the Seasons, Julian recounts more inspirational tales from his life, the animals he has treated and the people he has met, as well as taking us through the seasons, showing the challenges and surprises that occur at the most unlikely times. His voice, well known from the television series A Yorkshire Vet on Channel 5, comes over loud and clear in his writing, and the compassion and professionalism he is known for on the TV shines brightly through these pages.Whether he’s tending to a domestic pet at his practice in Thirsk or called out to an injured swan in the middle of a cold Yorkshire night, the animals always come first and Julian’s passion and commitment are always to the fore. Full of drama, small triumphs, sadness and happiness, this book is an inspiration for anyone who loves animals as well as those who dream of becoming a vet.

Blue Planet II


James Honeyborne - 2017
    Blue Planet II, which accompanies an epic 7-part series on BBC1, is a ground-breaking new look at the richness and variety of underwater life across our planet.From ambush hunters such as the carnivorous bobbit worm to cuttlefish mesmerising their prey with a pulsating light display, Blue Planet II reveals the never-before-seen secrets of the ocean. With over 200 breath-taking photographs and stills from the BBC Natural History Unit's spectacular footage, each chapter of Blue Planet II brings to life a different habitat of the oceanic world. Voyages of migration show how each of the oceans on our planet are connected; coral reefs and arctic ice communities are revealed as thriving underwater cities; while shorelines throw up continual challenges to those living there or passing through. A final chapter explores the science and technology of the Ocean enterprise – not only how they were able to capture these amazing stories on film, but what the future holds for marine life based on these discoveries.

The Last Hillwalker: A sideways look at forty years in Britain's Mountains


John D. Burns - 2017
    John Burns takes you on a journey of over forty years from the hills of Britain to adventures in the Rocky Mountains of USA and Canada. His love for the Scottish Highlands and his intimate knowledge of its wild glens and distant peaks means that this book will resonate with anyone whose heart lies in Scotland. Join John Burns in his first faltering steps as a schoolboy in the English Lake District through to climbing adventures in the great ranges of the world and finally to his return to his beloved Highlands. This is a book about the people who love mountains and whose journeys amongst them enrich their lives. It is a story told with humour, humility and passion, a tale that displays a deeper understanding of what it is to have a relationship with nature. The Last Hillwalker has become a best seller amongst the outdoor community. With almost 100 FIVE STAR REVIEWS this is book will be enjoyed by everyone from the serious mountaineer to those who simply want to gain a greater insight into our relationship with wild places. Here’s what people say about the book… Chris Townsend Captures the essence of what it means to love mountains and love being in mountains. Trev C gripping like no other NS Eyre captures the essence of the appeal many of us feel for the mountains A Reader perfectly paced and with great humour Yorrell Entertaining, funny and well written. S McGinn Full of fascinating details, observations, characters and humour Paul a brilliant autobiography by a talented writer, full of humour with the occasional dark moment. The best mountaineering book I've read in a long time!

Birding Without Borders: An Obsession, a Quest, and the Biggest Year in the World


Noah Strycker - 2017
    In 2015, Noah Strycker set himself a lofty goal: to become the first person to see half the world’s birds in one year. For 365 days, with a backpack, binoculars, and a series of one-way tickets, he traveled across forty-one countries and all seven continents, eventually spotting 6,042 species—by far the biggest birding year on record.This is no travelogue or glorified checklist. Noah ventures deep into a world of blood-sucking leeches, chronic sleep deprivation, airline snafus, breakdowns, mudslides, floods, war zones, ecologic devastation, conservation triumphs, common and iconic species, and scores of passionate bird lovers around the globe. By pursuing the freest creatures on the planet, Noah gains a unique perspective on the world they share with us—and offers a hopeful message that even as many birds face an uncertain future, more people than ever are working to protect them.

Animals of a Bygone Era: An Illustrated Compendium


Maja Säfström - 2017
    In this beautifully illustrated book, Swedish artist and author of The Illustrated Compendium of Amazing Animal Facts, Maja Safstrom, explores the world of extinct animals. Animals of a Bygone Era features 54 extinct animals from the ancient and modern world--including well-known examples such as wooly mammoths and dodo birds, as well as lesser-known (but no less fascinating) animals like semiaquatic sea minks, marsupial Tasmanian tigers, and tiny Eurasian wild horses.

Bee Quest


Dave Goulson - 2017
    Whether he is tracking great yellow bumblebees in the Hebrides or chasing orchid bees through the Ecuadorian jungle, Dave Goulson’s wit, humour and deep love of nature make him the ideal travelling companion.This utterly charming book will also inspire you to think about the ways in which we are all responsible for the future of our world. Through his scientific expertise and passion for conservation, Goulson shows us nature’s resilience against the odds, and that beauty hides in the most surprising places.

The Naturalist's Notebook: An Observation Guide and 5-Year Calendar-Journal for Tracking Changes in the Natural World around You


Nathaniel T. Wheelwright - 2017
    The unique five-year calendar format of The Naturalist’s Notebook helps you create a long-term record and point of comparison for memorable events, such as the first songbird you hear in spring, your first monarch butterfly sighting of summer, or the appearance of the northern lights. Biologist Nathaniel T. Wheelwright and best-selling author Bernd Heinrich teach nature lovers of all ages what to look for outdoors no matter where you live, using Heinrich’s classic illustrations as inspiration. As you jot down one observation a day, year after year, your collected field notes will serve as a valuable record of your piece of the planet. This deluxe book, with a three-piece case, gilt edges, a burgundy ribbon bookmark, and a belly band with gold foil stamping, is a perfect gift for all nature lovers.

Tides: The Science and Spirit of the Ocean


Jonathan White - 2017
    In the Arctic, White shimmies under the ice with an Inuit elder to hunt for mussels in the dark cavities left behind at low tide; in China, he races the Silver Dragon, a twenty-five-foot tidal bore that crashes eighty miles up the Qiantang River; in France, he interviews the monks that live in the tide-wrapped monastery of Mont Saint-Michel; in Chile and Scotland, he investigates the growth of tidal power generation; and in Panama and Venice, he delves into how the threat of sea level rise is changing human culture—the very old and very new. Tides combines lyrical prose, colorful adventure travel, and provocative scientific inquiry into the elemental, mysterious paradox that keeps our planet’s waters in constant motion. Photographs, scientific figures, line drawings, and sixteen color photos dramatically illustrate this engaging, expert tour of the tides.

Saving Arcadia: A Story of Conservation and Community in the Great Lakes


Heather Shumaker - 2017
    The story spans more than forty years, following the fate of a magnificent sand dune on Lake Michigan and the people who care about it. Author and narrator Heather Shumaker shares the remarkable untold stories behind protecting land and creating new nature preserves. Written in a compelling narrative style, the book is intended in part as a case study for landscape-level conservation and documents the challenges of integrating economic livelihoods into conservation and what it really means to "preserve" land over time.This is the story of a small band of determined townspeople and how far they went to save beloved land and endangered species from the grip of a powerful corporation. Saving Arcadia is a narrative with roots as deep as the trees the community is trying to save, something set in motion before the author was even born. And yet, Shumaker gives a human face to the changing nature of land conservation in the twenty-first century. Throughout this chronicle we meet people like Elaine, a nineteen-year-old farm wife; Dori, a lakeside innkeeper; and Glen, the director of the local land trust. Together with hundreds of others they cross cultural barriers and learn to help one another in an effort to win back the six-thousand-acre landscape taken over by Consumers Power that is now facing grave devastation. The result is a triumph of community that includes working farms, local businesses, summer visitors, year-round residents, and a network of land stewards.A work of creative nonfiction, Saving Arcadia is the adventurous tale of everyday people fighting to reclaim the land that has been in their family for generations. It explores ideas about nature and community, and anyone from scholars of ecology and conservation biology to readers of naturalist writing can gain from Arcadia's story.

The Robin: A Biography


Stephen Moss - 2017
    With more than six million breeding pairs, the robin is second only to the wren as Britain’s most common bird. It seems to live its life alongside us, in every month and season of the year. But how much do we really know about this bird?In The Robin Stephen Moss records a year of observing the robin both close to home and in the field to shed light on the hidden life of this apparently familiar bird. We follow its lifecycle from the time it enters the world as an egg, through its time as a nestling and juvenile, to the adult bird; via courtship, song, breeding, feeding, migration – and ultimately, death. At the same time we trace the robin's relationship with us: how did this particular bird – one of more than 300 species in its huge and diverse family - find its way so deeply and permanently into our nation’s heart and its social and cultural history?It’s a story that tells us as much about ourselves as it does about the robin itself.

Paleoart: Visions of the Prehistoric Past, 1830-1980


Zoe Lescaze - 2017
    Since then, artists the world over have conjured up visions of dinosaurs, woolly mammoths, cavemen, and other creatures, shaping our understanding of the primeval past through their exhilarating images. In this unprecedented new book, writer Zoe Lescaze and artist Walton Ford present the astonishing history of paleoart from 1830 to 1990. These are not cave paintings produced thousands of years ago, but modern visions of the prehistory: stunning paintings, prints, drawings, sculptures, mosaics, and murals that mingle scientific fact with unbridled fantasy. The collection provides an in-depth look at this neglected niche of art history, and shows the artists charged with imagining these extinct creatures projected their own aesthetic whims onto prehistory, rendering the primordial past with dashes of Romanticism, Impressionism, Japonisme, Fauvism, and Art Nouveau, among other influences. With incisive essays from Lescaze, a preface by Ford, five fold-outs, and dozens of details, the book showcases a stunning collection of artworks plucked from major natural history museums, obscure archives, and private collections, and includes new photography of key works, including Charles R. Knight's seminal dinosaur paintings in Chicago and little-known masterpieces such as A. M. Belashova's monumental mosaic in Moscow. From the fearsome to the fantastical, Paleoart: Visions of a Prehistoric Past 1830-1990 is a celebration of prehistoric animals in art, and a novel chance to understand our favorite extinct beasts through a new art historical lens.

Wanderlust: Hiking on Legendary Trails


Gestalten - 2017
    Wanderlust presents legendary walking routes with inviting maps, practical tips, and inspiring landscape photographs. The exciting Canyon Trail in Zion-National Park, the spectacular El Caminito del Rey in Spain, the pilgrim trail on the holy Kumano Kodo in Japan or a mythical hiking path in the land of the giants in Norway - Wanderlust explores legendary hiking trails in enchanting corners of the world and over a variety of terrain: thin ice and desert sands; coastal tracks and forest pathways. Spectacular photography illustrates journeys to sharp summits, astonishing vistas, and phenomenal locales. With maps featuring noteworthy locations alongside background information and practical tips by Cam Honan, an expert who has hiked many of the trails himself, Wanderlust will suit both intrepid beginners and seasoned trekkers. From modern-day transcendentalists or those who simply desire a casual break from concrete scenery, Wanderlust allows readers to live vicariously through vivid portraits or use the trips as impetus for their own hiking journey.Following faded footsteps of migrating animals or paths of ancient trade routes, the trails featured in Wanderlust offer both outdoor exploration and enjoyment.

Natural History of the Pacific Northwest Mountains


Daniel Mathews - 2017
    It includes details about and identification tips for the flora, fauna, and geology of the region. If you are looking for a simple way to discover the great outdoors, this is the perfect overview of the Pacific Northwest.Covers the Coastal and Cascade Mountain Ranges, as well as the Olympic Mountains and Coast Mountains of southern British ColumbiaDescribes more than 950 species of plants, animals, and mushrooms with helpful keys for easy identificationUser-friendly, color coded layout Compelling stories of the region’s plants, animals, and people bring the mountains aliveThe essential trailside reference for naturalists, hikers, and campers

The Story of Life: Evolution


Katie Scott - 2017
    For shorter ones (16 pages), see editions here.This new extended edition of Story of Life is the perfect gift for those with a love of the natural world. Wander the galleries - open 365 days a year - and discover a collection of curated exhibits on every page, accompanied by informative text. Each chapter features key species from a different geological era with fantastic new artwork from Katie Scott.

Birds of Prey: Hawks, Eagles, Falcons, and Vultures of North America


Pete Dunne - 2017
    A visually stunning, comprehensive resource on North America’s birds of prey Always a popular group of birds, raptors symbolize freedom and fierceness, and in Pete Dunne’s definitive guide, these traits are portrayed in hundreds of stunning color photographs showing raptors up close, in flight, and in action—fighting, hunting, and nesting.   These gorgeous photographs enhance the comprehensive, authoritative text, which goes far beyond identification to cover raptor ecology, behavior, conservation, and much more.   In returning to his forte and his first love, Pete Dunne has crafted a benchmark book on raptors: the first place to turn for any question about these highly popular birds, whether it’s what they eat, where they live, or how they behave.

Replacing Darwin: The New Origin of Species


Nathaniel T. Jeanson - 2017
    Since Darwin’s time, however, new fields of science have immerged that simply give us better answers to the question of origins. With a Ph.D. in cell and developmental biology from Harvard University, Dr. Nathaniel Jeanson is uniquely qualified to investigate what genetics reveal about origins. The Origins Puzzle Comes Together If the science surrounding origins were a puzzle, Darwin would have had fewer than 15% of the pieces to work with when he developed his theory of evolution. We now have a much greater percentage of the pieces because of modern scientific research. As Dr. Jeanson puts the new pieces together, a whole new picture emerges, giving us a testable, predictive model to explain the origin of species. A New Scientific Revolution Begins Darwin’s theory of evolution may be one of science’s “sacred cows,” but genetics research is proving it wrong. Changing an entrenched narrative, even if it’s wrong, is no easy task. Replacing Darwin asks you to consider the possibility that, based on genetics research, our origins are more easily understood in the context of . . . In the beginning . . . God, with the timeline found in the biblical narrative of Genesis. There is a better answer to the origins debate than what we have been led to believe. Let the revolution begin! About the Author Dr. Nathaniel Jeanson is a scientist and a scholar, trained in one of the most prestigious universities in the world. He earned his B.S. in Molecular Biology and Bioinformatics from the University of Wisconsin-Parkside and his PhD in Cell and Developmental Biology from Harvard University. As an undergraduate, he researched the molecular control of photosynthesis, and his graduate work involved investigating the molecular and physiological control of adult blood stem cells. His findings have been presented at regional and national conferences and have been published in peer-reviewed journals, such as Blood, Nature, and Cell. Since 2009, he has been actively researching the origin of species, both at the Institute for Creation Research and at Answers in Genesis.

The Art & Science of Ernst Haeckel (XXL)


Ernst Haeckel - 2017
    A vociferous supporter and developer of Darwin s theories of evolution, he denounced religious dogma, abandoned an early career in medicine, authored philosophical treatises, gained a doctorate in zoology, and coined scientific terms which have passed into common usage, including ecology, phylum, and stem cell. Haeckel s colossal legacy has fascinated, confounded, and polarized generations. But what was at the heart of his extraordinary life s work? Rather like his intellectual forebear, Alexander von Humboldt, Haeckel was motivated not only to discover but also to explain. To do this, he created hundreds of detailed drawings, watercolors, and sketches of his findings which he published in successive volumes during the 20th century, including several marine organism collections and the majestic Kunstformen der Natur (Art Forms in Nature), which could serve as the cornerstone of Haeckel s entire life project. Like a meticulous visual encyclopedia of living things, Haeckel s work was as remarkable for its graphic precision and meticulous shading as for its understanding of organic evolution and cellular development. From bats to the box jellyfish, lizards to lichen, and spider legs to sea anemones, he emphasized the essential symmetries and order of nature, and found biological beauty in even the most unlikely of creatures. The prints not only furthered the study of natural history but also influenced generations of 20th-century artists and architects, from the emerging proponents of Art Nouveau to architects such as Hendrik Petrus Berlage, whose Amsterdam Commodities Exchange was inspired by Haeckel s illustrations. In this book, we celebrate the scientific, artistic, and environmental importance of Haeckel s work, with a collection of prints from several of his most important tomes on marine biology, including Die Radiolarien, Monographie der Medusen, Die Kalkschwamme: eine Monographie, and Kunstformen der Natur. At a time when biodiversity is increasingly threatened by human activities, the book is at once a visual masterwork, an underwater exploration, and a vivid reminder of the precious variety of life.Text in English, French, and German.CONTRIBUTORSThe AuthorsRainer Willmann holds a chair in zoology at Göttingen University, is director of its Zoological Museum, and is cofounder of its Centre for Biodiversity and Ecology Research. A specialist in phylogenetics and evolution, he conducts research into biodiversity and its history.Julia Voss studied German literature, art history, and philosophy at the Albert-Ludwigs-Universität in Freiburg, at the Humboldt-Universität in Berlin, and at Goldsmith’s College in London. Her doctoral dissertation on visual representations of Darwinian evolution theory received the Otto Hahn Medal from the Max Planck Society. She is Deputy Editor of the Feuilleton and co-Editor of the Fine Arts section for the Frankfurter Allgemeine Zeitung.PRODUCT DETAILSThe Art and Science of Ernst HaeckelRainer Willmann, Julia VossHardcover, 28.5 x 39.5 cm, 704 pagesISBN 978-3-8365-2646-3Multilingual Edition: English, French, German

Wonderland: A Year of Britain's Wildlife, Day by Day


Brett Westwood - 2017
    Every day of the year, winter or summer, in every corner of the British Isles, there's plenty to see if you know where - and how - to look. From encounters with the curious black redstart, which winters on our rocky coasts, to the tiny green snowdrop shoots that are the first sign that spring might be round the corner. And from the blossom-time and dawn choruses of April and May into the abundant noisiness of summer, where days start with hawker dragonflies and drowsy bumblebees and end with glow-worms and ghost moths; to autumn when in the early morning mist of London's Richmond Park male red deer lock horns in competition for a mate.Nature is always full of surprises - whether it's the strange behaviour of clothes moths or the gruesome larder of the strike. Distilling two lifetimes' knowledge, expert insight and enthusiasm, award-winning authors and passionate naturalists Brett Westwood and Stephen Moss take us through the year, day by day, sharing the unexpected delights that we can experience in our skies, beaches, rivers, fields, forests and back gardens. There are all kinds of adventures waiting on your doorstep, any day of the year, all you need is Wonderland.

Upstream: Searching for Wild Salmon, from River to Table


Langdon Cook - 2017
     For some, a salmon evokes the distant wild--thrashing in the jaws of a hungry grizzly bear on TV, perhaps. For others, it's the catch of the day on a restaurant menu, or a deep red fillet at the market. For others still, it's the jolt of adrenaline on a successful fishing trip. Our fascination with these superlative fish is as old as humanity itself. Long a source of sustenance among native peoples, salmon is now more popular than ever. Fish hatcheries and farms serve modern appetites with a domesticated "product"--while wild runs of salmon dwindle across the globe. How has this once-abundant resource reached this point, and what can we do to safeguard wild populations for future generations? Langdon Cook goes in search of the salmon in Upstream, his timely and in-depth look at how these beloved fish have nourished humankind through the ages and why their destiny is so closely tied to our own. Cook journeys up and down salmon country, from the glacial rivers of Alaska to the rainforests of the Pacific Northwest to California's drought-stricken Central Valley and a wealth of places in between. Reporting from remote coastlines and busy city streets, he follows today's commercial pipeline from fisherman's net to corporate seafood vendor to boutique marketplace. At stake is nothing less than an ancient livelihood. But salmon are more than food. They are game fish, wildlife spectacle, sacred totem, and inspiration--and their fate is largely in our hands. Cook introduces us to tribal fishermen handing down an age-old tradition, sport anglers seeking adventure and a renewed connection to the wild, and scientists and activists working tirelessly to restore salmon runs. In sharing their stories, Cook covers all sides of the debate: the legacy of overfishing and industrial development; the conflicts between fishermen, environmentalists, and Native Americans; the modern proliferation of fish hatcheries and farms; and the longstanding battle lines of science versus politics, wilderness versus civilization. This firsthand account--reminiscent of the work of John McPhee and Mark Kurlansky--is filled with the keen insights and observations of the best narrative writing. Cook offers an absorbing portrait of a remarkable fish and the many obstacles it faces, while taking readers on a fast-paced fishing trip through salmon country. Upstream is an essential look at the intersection of man, food, and nature.

Saving the Snowy Brumbies


Kelly Wilson - 2017
    When the Wilson sisters hear of government plans to cull 90 percent of the Snowy Mountain Brumbies, they eagerly sign up for the Australian Brumby Challenge to learn more about these iconic horses’ desperate plight.Assigned ponies so small that even the slaughterhouses have rejected them, Vicki, Kelly and Amanda realise their Brumbies' future lies with much younger riders. Will these Brumbies embrace the many changes ahead of them, and can the sisters find children they trust to ride recently wild ponies?The sequel to the best-selling books For the Love of Horses, Stallion Challenges and Mustang Ride.

The Australian Bird Guide


Peter Menkhorst - 2017
    Looking at more than 900 species, The Australian Bird Guide is the most comprehensive field guide on Australian birds available, and contains by far the best coverage of southern seabirds. With 249 color plates containing 4,000 stunning images, this book offers a far more in-depth treatment of subspecies, rarities, and overall plumage variation than comparative guides. The artwork meets the highest standards, and the text is rigorously accurate and current in terms of identification details, distribution, and status. The Australian Bird Guide sets a new bar for coverage of Australia's remarkable avifauna and is indispensable to all birders and naturalists interested in this area of the world, including the southern oceans.Brand-new guide with an attractive look and design249 color plates containing 4,000 superb images by some of the most talented illustrators working in Australia todayEvery bird species in Australia is covered (more than 900), including subspecies and raritiesUp-to-date maps reflect the latest information on distributionAccurate and detailed text

Seattle Walks: Discovering History and Nature in the City


David B. Williams - 2017
    With its beautiful scenery, miles of non-motorized trails, and year-round access, Seattle is an ideal place to explore on foot.In Seattle Walks, David B. Williams weaves together the history, natural history, and architecture of Seattle to paint a complex, nuanced, and fascinating story. He shows us Seattle in a new light--and gives us an appreciation of how the city has changed over time, how the past has influenced the present, and how nature is all around us--even in our urban landscape.These walks vary in length and topography and cover both well-known and surprising parts of the city. While most are loops, there are a few one-way adventures with an easy return via public transportation. Ranging along trails and sidewalks, the walks lead to panoramic views, intimate hideaways, architectural gems, and beautiful greenways. With Williams as your knowledgeable and entertaining guide, encounter a new way to experience Seattle whether you are a long-time resident or a newcomer.

Mushrooms of the Northeastern United States and Eastern Canada: Timber Press Field Guide (A Timber Press Field Guide)


Timothy J. Baroni - 2017
    Mushrooms of the Northeastern United States and Eastern Canada is a compact, beautifully illustrated guide packed with descriptions and photographs of more than 400 of the region's most conspicuous, distinctive, and ecologically important mushrooms. The geographic range covered by the book includes Connecticut, Delaware, Illinois, Indiana, Maine, Massachusetts, Minnesota, New Hampshire, New Jersey, New York, Ohio, Pennsylvania, Rhode Island, Vermont, Wisconsin, and the Canadian provinces of New Brunswick, Newfoundland, Ontario, and most of Quebec. In addition to profiles on individual species, Mushrooms of the Northeastern United States and Eastern Canada also includes a general discussion and definition of fungi; information on where to find mushrooms and guidelines on collecting them; an overview of fungus ecology; and a discussion on mushroom poisoning and how to avoid it.

The Almanac: A Seasonal Guide to 2018


Lia Leendertz - 2017
    Award-winning gardener and food writer Lia Leendertz shares the tools and inspiration you need to celebrate, mark and appreciate each moment of the year.

The New Almanac: A guide to reconnecting with the seasons


Lia Leendertz - 2017
    It brings you the tools and inspiration you need to celebrate, mark and appreciate each month of the year.For each of the 12 months, award-winning gardener and food writer Lia Leendertz shares her practical guidance for expeditions, meteor-spotting nights and beach holidays, as well as stories about each month's unique nature and folklore, and charts relevant to eachmonth.Keep track of the phenomena of the universe with tables familiar to almanacs of the past: significant dates; phases of the moon; sunrise and sunset times; king tides; equinoxes, solstices and cross-quarter days; food in season; a forager's guide; meteor showers, visible planets and lunar eclipses; festivities (Samhain, Wassailing, Divali, Midsummer) and more.Lia also shares her favourite recipes using seasonal ingredients and relating to each month's festivity: cider cake for was sailing in January; blood orange tart in February; potato kugel gratin for Passover in April; Beltane wine for May Day; sticky cinnamon figs in September; and soul cakes at Hallowe'en.Filled with wonder, The New Almanac is a highly practical, historical and contemplative book to be enjoyed all year long, and it will have you looking forward to the next edition as the year draws to a close.

The Man Who Climbs Trees


James Aldred - 2017
    But how many of us get to make a living at it, spending days observing nature from the canopies of stunning forests all around the world? As a wildlife cameraman for the BBC and National Geographic, James Aldred spends his working life high up in trees, poised to capture key moments in the lives of wild animals and birds. Aldred’s climbs take him to the most incredible and majestic trees in existence. In Borneo, home to the tallest tropical rain forest on the planet, just getting a rope up into the 250-foot-tall trees is a challenge. In Venezuela, even body armor isn’t guaranteed protection against the razor-sharp talons of a nesting Harpy Eagle. In Australia, the peace of being lulled to sleep in a hammock twenty-five stories above the ground— after a grueling day of climbing and filming—is broken by a midnight storm that threatens to topple the tree.   In this vivid account of memorable trees he has climbed (“Goliath,” “Apollo,” “Roaring Meg”), Aldred blends incredible stories of his adventures in the branches with a fascination for the majesty of trees to show us the joy of rising—literally—above the daily grind, up into the canopy of the forest.

The Dun Cow Rib: A Very Natural Childhood


John Lister-Kaye - 2017
    His memoir The Dun Cow Rib is the story of a boy's awakening to the wonders of the natural world. Lister-Kaye's joyous childhood holidays - spent scrambling through hedges and ditches after birds and small beasts, keeping pigeons in the loft and tracking foxes around the edge of the garden - were the perfect apprenticeship for his two lifelong passions: exploring the wonders of nature, and writing about them. Threaded through his adventures - from moving to the Scottish Highlands to work with Gavin Maxwell, to founding the famous Aigas Field Centre - is an elegy to his remarkable mother, and a wise and affectionate celebration of Britain's natural landscape.

The Orchid Hunter: A young botanist’s search for happiness


Leif Bersweden - 2017
    He has just a few months to complete his quest – no one has ever done it before within one growing season – and it will require ingenuity, stamina and a large dose of luck.As he battles the vagaries of the British climate, feverishly chasing each emerging bloom, Leif Bersweden takes the reader on a remarkable botanical journey.This study of the 52 native species is a fantastic gateway into the compendious world of orchids – one that will open your eyes to the rare hidden delights to be found on our doorstep.Like Two Owls at Eton and My Family and Other Animals, The Orchid Hunter is a charming account of a precocious adolescent’s obsession with the natural world.Leif’s enthusiasm for his quest is infectious, as is the quiet conviction with which he keeps at it, showing how plant hunting can be the ultimate mindful activity.

Tree


Melina Sempill Watts - 2017
    Tree uses magical realism as a key to access the interrelated emotional realities of the many species that share one pristine valley in Topanga, California. Grass, birds, other trees and animals come to life on the pages, while one 19th century Mexican woman and one 20th century school boy, hearts opened by grief and loneliness, come to know one California live oak whose 229 years span the evolution of four human civilizations, Chumash, Spanish/Mexican, Yankee and new money Hollywood, which each leave their mark upon the landscape and upon Tree. The author's obsessive botanical, scientific and historical research give substance to a world that feels both as real as last weekend's dust on hiking boots and as mind altering as a fully fledged mystical experience. Take a journey into the heart of the woods where every plant shines: Tree will change how you see nature.

Way Out There: Adventures of a Wilderness Trekker


J. Robert Harris - 2017
    Robert Harris’s extraordinary exploits while backpacking in some of the world’s most tantalizing places―largely alone and unsupported. And after almost fifty years of wilderness travel, “J. R.,” as he’s known, has plenty of tales to tell! His stories are by turns funny, tragic, and uplifting, and are all told in his down‐to‐earth, friendly style.For J. R., it all began in 1966 when, as a young New Yorker, he impulsively drives his VW Beetle across the country to the very end of the northernmost road in Alaska, searching for an answer to a simple question: What is it like to be way out there? How this happened, whom he met, and what he encountered along the way became the foundation for a lifelong attraction to trekking and adventure travel. Subsequent chapters chronologically explore some of his many journeys, revealing an enduring wanderlust honed by his emerging maturity and outdoor skills. Stories of J. R.’s solo treks point to stark contrasts between his urban upbringing and his wilderness wanderings, while tales of adventure with small but diverse groups of friends are enriched by their collective experiences and varying viewpoints about exploration.Way Out There is a lively yet introspective book by a restless soul that will attract countless readers who love to travel, as well as armchair adventurers and communities looking for outdoor role models. The foreword is by the late Dr. Roscoe C. Brown, Jr., one of the famed Tuskegee Airmen fighter pilots during World War I.

Wind Resistance


Karine Polwart - 2017
    A meditation on sanctuary. A moor walker's journal. A personal memoir of maternity. An archaeology of flight science and football, medieval medicine and compassion. A wonder tale.Karine Polwart's Wind Resistance is co-produced with the Royal Lyceum Theatre Edinburgh and was originally presented in association with Edinburgh International Festival 2016, supported through the Scottish Government's Edinburgh Festivals Expo Fund.Winner of the Best Music and Sound Award at the Critics' Awards for Theatre in Scotland (CATS) 2017.

Lexham Geographic Commentary on the Gospels


Barry Beitzel - 2017
    In a world of dirt roads and dry riverbeds, where shepherds watch their flocks in the hills and fishermen mend their nets by the sea, Jesus taught from hill and plain, using the surrounding landscape as the backdrop for his teaching. Jesus' parables and illustrations are often brimming with geographic clues, but the significance of these distinctive details is often lost on us today. The Lexham Geographic Commentary on the Gospels puts readers in the sandals of the disciples as they travel throughout Israel with Jesus, explaining the significance of geography for mining the riches of the biblical text.

Britain's Spiders: A Field Guide


Lawrence Bee - 2017
    Illustrated with a remarkable collection of photographs, it is designed to be accessible to a wide audience, including those new to spider identification. This book pushes the boundaries of field identification for this challenging group by combining information on features that can be seen with the naked eye or a hand lens with additional evidence from webs, egg-sacs, behaviour, phenology, habitats and distributions. Individual accounts cover 395 of Britain's approximately 670 species, with the limitations to field identification clearly explained.As the first photographic field guide to British spiders to be published since 1989, this book fills a major gap in the resources available to everyone with an interest in this fascinating, diverse and important group of animals.More than 700 stunning photographsIncludes a guide to spider families, based on features recognisable in the field, focussing on body shape and other characteristics, as well as separate guides to webs and egg-sacsDetailed accounts highlight key identification tips for each genus and species, and include information on status, behaviour and habitatsFeatures up-to-date distribution maps, and charts showing adult seasonalityIntroductory chapters explore the biology of spiders, and where, when and how to find them, including equipment needed in the fieldContains a complete list of the spiders recorded in Britain, indicating the ease of identification as well as rarity and conservation statusProvides information on how to record spiders and make your records count, and guidance on how to take your interest further

The Vanishing Stepwells of India


Victoria Lautman - 2017
    Stepwells are unique to India and from around the 3rd century CE were built throughout the country, particularly in the arid western regions. Excavated several stories underground in order to reach the water table, these cavernous spaces not only provided water all year long but also fulfilled other functions; they offered pilgrims and other travelers a respite from the heat, and became places in which villagers could socialize. Stepwell construction evolved so that, by the 11th century, the wells were amazingly complex feats of architecture and engineering.The journalist Victoria Lautman first encountered stepwells three decades ago and now, a seasoned traveller to India, she has devoted several years to documenting these fascinating but largely unknown edifices before they disappear. Of the thousands of stepwells that proliferated across India, most were abandoned as a result of modernization and the depletion of water tables. Often commissioned by royal or wealthy patrons, the wells vary greatly in scale, layout, materials and shape. Those in what is now Gujarat state also served as subterranean Hindu temples that featured columned pavilions and elaborate stone carvings of deities. Islamic wells were generally less flamboyant, but incorporated arched side niches. Today, few stepwells are in use. The majority have been left to silt up, fill with rubbish and crumble into disrepair. Gradually, however, the Indian government and heritage organizations have come to recognize the need to preserve these architectural wonders. In 2014 India’s best-known stepwell, the Rani ki Vav in Patan, northern Gujarat, became a UNESCO World Heritage site.In her introduction, Lautman discusses why and where the stepwells were built. She reflects on the reasons they became derelict and considers how the appreciation of stepwells is changing with the work of organizations and individuals who aim to protect and restore them. The main part of the book is arranged in a broadly chronological order, with up to six pages devoted to each of c. 80 stepwells, every one unique in design and engineering. The name, location (including GPS coordinates) and approximate date of each well accompany color photographs and a concise commentary by Lautman on the history and architecture of the well and her experience of visiting it. While many of the stepwells are rather decrepit, their magnificent engineering and great beauty cannot fail to impress.

RSPB Spotlight Bumblebees


Richard Comont - 2017
    Separate chapters cover all aspects of bumblebees' biology and lifestyles, from spring queens emerging from dark overwintering chambers to establish their nests, to the drone swarms that herald the end of the bumblebee season. Bumblebees around the world are studied, including in the southern hemisphere where Europe's declining species can become harmful invaders. While the influence of bumblebees throughout our history and their place in our culture, from Shakespeare to Transformers, is also examined.

Where Honeybees Thrive: Stories from the Field


Heather Swan - 2017
    In this artfully illustrated book, Heather Swan embarks on a narrative voyage to discover solutions to--and understand the sources of--the plight of honeybees.Through a lyrical combination of creative nonfiction and visual imagery, Where Honeybees Thrive tells the stories of the beekeepers, farmers, artists, entomologists, ecologists, and other advocates working to stem the damage and reverse course for this critical pollinator. Using her own quest for understanding as a starting point, Swan highlights the innovative projects and strategies these groups employ. Her mosaic approach to engaging with the environment not only reveals the incredibly complex political ecology in which bees live--which includes human and nonhuman actors alike--but also suggests ways of comprehending and tackling a host of other conflicts between postindustrial society and the natural world. Each chapter closes with an illustrative full-color gallery of bee-related artwork.A luminous journey from the worlds of honey producers, urban farmers, and mead makers of the United States to those of beekeepers of Sichuan, China, and researchers in southern Africa, Where Honeybees Thrive traces the global web of efforts to secure a sustainable future for honeybees--and ourselves.

The Songs of Trees: Stories from Nature's Great Connectors


David George Haskell - 2017
    Now, Haskell brings his powers of observation to the biological networks that surround all species, including humans. Haskell repeatedly visits a dozen trees around the world, exploring the trees connections with webs of fungi, bacterial communities, cooperative and destructive animals, and other plants. An Amazonian ceibo tree reveals the rich ecological turmoil of the tropical forest, along with threats from expanding oil fields. Thousands of miles away, the roots of a balsam fir in Canada survive in poor soil only with the help of fungal partners. These links are nearly two billion years old: the fir s roots cling to rocks containing fossils of the first networked cells. By unearthing charcoal left by Ice Age humans and petrified redwoods in the Rocky Mountains, Haskell shows how the Earth s climate has emerged from exchanges among trees, soil communities, and the atmosphere. Now humans have transformed these networks, powering our societies with wood, tending some forests, but destroying others. Haskell also attends to trees in places where humans seem to have subdued nature a pear tree on a Manhattan sidewalk, an olive tree in Jerusalem, a Japanese bonsai demonstrating that wildness permeates every location. Every living being is not only sustained by biological connections, but is made from these relationships. Haskell shows that this networked view of life enriches our understanding of biology, human nature, and ethics. When we listen to trees, nature s great connectors, we learn how to inhabit the relationships that give life its source, substance, and beauty."

Woods: A Celebration


Robert Penn - 2017
    The National Trust manages hundreds of woods, covering more than 60,000 acres of England and Wales. They include many of the oldest woodlands in the land and some of the oldest living things of any kind—trees that are thousands of years old. From Dean to Epping, from Hatfield to Sherwood, this book covers the natural history of Britain's forests and how they have changed the face of a landscape. Covering the different species of trees that give these woods their unique characters, the plants and animals that inhabit them, and the way their appearance changes throughout the seasons, Woods is a fascinating and beautifully illustrated celebration of Britain's trees and the ancient stories that surround them.

Botanical Sketchbooks: {Over 500 years of beautiful botanical sketches by 80 artists from around the world, from Leonardo da Vinci to John Muir}


Helen Bynum - 2017
    While there are many histories of botanical art featuring beautiful paintings and finished drawings, the artists' preparatory sketches, first impressions, and scribbled notes on paper are rarely seen. But it is often these early attempts that give us real insight into the firsthand experiences and adventures of the botanists, artists, collectors, and explorers behind them.This exquisite visual compendium of botanical sketches by eighty artists from around the world brings these personal and vividly spontaneous records back into the light. Filled with remarkable images from the fifteenth to the twentieth centuries, sourced from the unparalleled collections of the Royal Botanic Gardens, Kew Library, Art & Archives, and other libraries, museums, and archives, Botanical Sketchbooks also provides fascinating biographical portraits of the intriguing characters featured within, including such renowned artists, scientists, and amateur botanists as Leonardo da Vinci, Georg Dionysius Ehret, Carl Linnaeus, Maria Sibylla Merian, Mark Catesby, and Helen and Margaret Shelley (sisters of the novelist Mary Shelley), among many others.

The Sibley Birder's Life List and Field Diary


David Allen Sibley - 2017
    Included are entries for the 923 species found in the United States and Canada, with space for recording where and when a bird was seen and for notes or memories about the sighting. At the back is a complete checklist of all the birds for building the life list.

Into Africa


Frans Lanting - 2017
     Lanting’s images feature some of the most celebrated landscapes on Earth, from the sweeping vistas of the Serengeti Plains and the water wilderness of the Okavango Delta to the enchanting deserts of Namibia, the bewildering jungles of the Congo, and the otherworldly island of Madagascar. During many journeys over the past three decades, Lanting has documented Africa’s iconic animals—elephants, rhinos, giraffes, lions, leopards, and cheetahs—as well as its endangered primates, including gorillas, chimpanzees, bonobos, and lemurs. His personal stories express the deep understanding and sense of mission that make his work stand out as a unique tribute to the continent’s wildlife and wild places. This book is based on Frans Lanting’s landmark exhibition, Into Africa, which was produced as a partnership with the Smithsonian’s National Museum of Natural History and the National Geographic Society, with support from the World Wildlife Fund.

Painted Blazes: Hiking the Appalachian Trail with Loner


Jeffrey "Loner" Gray - 2017
    Who would have ever guessed that during his journey, “Loner” as he’s known in hiker circles, would be bitten by a dog (and a lobster), happen upon a plane crash, chat with a wanted fugitive, come face to face with a black bear, see a ghost, be in a car accident, run completely out of money (twice), spend the night under a jail, lose 80 pounds, and find the girl of his dreams. All to have the time of his life, feel the kindness of others, and ultimately learn, he’s not a loner after all. Documenting his trip on YouTube for friends and family, thousands more also followed along, vicariously. This story captures the excitement, sometimes sadness, and danger of a thru-hike with many added details, funny characters, and dozens of incidents never revealed before. More than just a memoir, aspiring thru-hikers will find “Hiker Tips” on ultralight backpacking (Loner’s pack weight was just 13 pounds), hammock camping, living on a budget, etc. Readers will also gain rare insight into a subculture with its own ethics, trail names, hostel system, language, and folklore. Happy hiking! And don’t forget… Find some adventure - in your adventure!

The Paper Zoo: 500 Years of Animals in Art


Charlotte Sleigh - 2017
    Instead, we meet these creatures between the pages of a book, on the floor of an obliging library. Down through the centuries, illustrated books have served as our paper zoos, both documenting the world’s extraordinary wildlife in exquisite detail and revealing, in hindsight, how our relationship to and understanding of these animals have evolved over time. In this stunning book, historian of science Charlotte Sleigh draws on the ultimate bibliophile’s menagerie—the collections of the British Library—to present a lavishly illustrated homage to this historical collaboration between art and science. Gathering together a breathtaking range of nature illustrations from manuscripts, prints, drawings, and rare printed books from across the world, Sleigh brings us face to face (or face to tentacle) with images of butterflies, beetles, and spiders, of shells, fish, and coral polyps. Organized into four themed sections—exotic, native, domestic, and paradoxical—the images introduce us to some of the world’s most renowned natural history illustrators, from John James Audubon to Mark Catesby and Ernst Haeckel, as well as to lesser-known artists. In her accompanying text, Sleigh traces the story of the art of natural history from the Renaissance through the great age of exploration and into the nineteenth century, offering insight into the changing connections between the natural and human worlds. But the story does not end there. From caterpillars to crabs, langurs to dugongs, stick insects to Old English pigs; from the sinuous tail feathers of birds of paradise to the lime-green wings of New Zealand’s enormous flightless parrot, the kakapo; from the crenellated plates of a tortoise’s shell to imagined likenesses of unicorns, mermaids, and dinosaurs, the story continues in this book. It is a Paper Zoo for all time.

Sustaining Lake Superior: An Extraordinary Lake in a Changing World


Nancy Langston - 2017
    But in the past fifty years it has experienced a remarkable recovery and rebirth. In this important book, leading environmental historian Nancy Langston offers a rich portrait of the lake’s environmental and social history, asking what lessons we should take from the conservation recovery as this extraordinary lake faces new environmental threats.   In her insightful exploration, Langston reveals hope in ecosystem resilience and the power of community advocacy, noting ways Lake Superior has rebounded from the effects of deforestation and toxic waste wrought by mining and paper manufacturing. Yet, despite the lake’s resilience, threats persist. Langston cautions readers regarding new mining interests and persistent toxic pollutants that are mobilizing with climate change.

The Secret Life of Flies


Erica McAlister - 2017
    It dispels common misconceptions about flies and reveals how truly extraordinary, exotic and important are these misunderstood creatures.There are ten chapters:1. The immature ones - Squirmy wormy larvae can be just a bit unnerving, especially when they're in large numbers.2. The pollinators - Those annoying No See Ums, or midge flies, are the only pollinator of the chocolate-producing cacao tree, a status held by many of the pollinators.3. The detritivores - These garbage eaters are often fluffy and thus water-repellent, good for a life spent in a sewer.4. The vegetarians - Entomological spelunkers, many of these flies prefer plant roots forsaking the leaves to other creatures.5. The fungivores - The mushroom eaters include the dark-winged fungus gnats whose wing patterns are one of the author's favorites.6. The predators - Here are the most devious and imaginative methods of luring, capturing and eating prey.7. The parasites - Their methods of survival are often disgusting but the evolutionary genius is admirable.8. The sanguivores - McAlister responds to the perpetual question, exactly why do we have blood-sucking disease-spreading mosquitos?9. The coprophages - The champions of dung, detritus and other unpleasant things.10. The necrophages - The body eaters without which we would be in a most disagreeable situation.In clear language, McAlister explains Diptera taxonomy and forensic entomology, and describes the potential of flies to transform their relationship with humans from one of disease vector to partner in environmental preservation. She has a wonderful knack for storytelling, deftly transforming what could be dry descriptions of biology, reproduction and morphology into entertainment. She takes readers to piles of poo in Ethiopia by way of underground caves, latrines and backyard gardens, and opens the drawers at the Natural History Museum to rhapsodize over her favorite flies.The Secret Life of Flies is full of stories and tongue-in-check descriptions, but the science is rigorous, authoritative and will be enjoyed by dipterists, lepidopterists, insect enthusiasts, naturalists, and general readers.

My House of Sky: A Life of J A Baker


Hetty Saunders - 2017
    Compelling, strange and at times both startlingly funny and cruel, Baker's prose is at one with his image as a writer, which has, since the publication of his first work, been characterized as an obsessive recluse. Next to nothing was known about Baker, who died in 1987, until an archive of his materials and those related to him was gifted to the University of Essex in 2013. Only now has it been possible to piece together an accurate view of the life and unpublished work of the man whose writing has been described as "the gold standard for all nature writing" (Mark Cocker), and whose work has influenced naturalists such as Richard Mabey and Simon King, as well as film-makers David Cobham and Werner Herzog. This new book showcases the most compelling parts of the Baker Archive, containing previously unknown elements of his life, many photographs and unpublished poems. It provides an invaluable new insight into both his sensitive and passionate character, and late twentieth century Britian, a country experiencing the throes of agricultural and environmental change.

The Otters’ Tale


Simon Cooper - 2017
    They are the most secretive yet also the most popular mammals – they are found in every county but are so rarely seen that they have been raised to mythical status.When Simon Cooper bought an abandoned water mill that straddles a small chalkstream in southern England, little did he know that he would come to share the mill with a family of wild otters. Yet move in they did, allowing him to begin to observe them, soon immersing himself in their daily routines and movements. He developed an extraordinary close relationship with the family, which in turn gave him a unique insight into the life of these fascinating creatures.Cooper interweaves the personal story of the female otter, Kuschta, with the natural history of the otter in the British Isles, only recently brought back from the brink of extinction through tireless conservation efforts. Following in the footsteps of Henry Williamson’s classic 1920s tale Tarka the Otter, readers are taken on a journey through the calendar year, learning the most intimate detail of this most beautiful of British mammals. Cooper brings these beloved animals to life in all their wondrous complexity, revealing the previously hidden secrets of their lives in this beautifully told tale of the otter.

Thoreau's Animals


Henry David Thoreau - 2017
    A keen and thoughtful observer, he wrote frequently about these animals, always sensitive to their mysteries and deeply appreciative of their beauty and individuality. Whether serenading the perch of Walden Pond with his flute, chasing a loon across the water’s surface, observing a battle between black and red ants, or engaging in a battle of wits with his family’s runaway pig, Thoreau penned his journal entries with the accuracy of a scientist and the deep spirituality of a transcendentalist and mystic.   This volume, like its companion Thoreau’s Wildflowers, is arranged by the days of the year, following the progress of the turning seasons. A selection of his original sketchbook drawings is included, along with thirty-five exquisite illustrations by naturalist and artist Debby Cotter Kaspari.

A Field Guide to Tracking Mammals in the Northeast


Linda J. Spielman - 2017
    A Field Guide to Tracking Mammals in the Northeast gives you all the details necessary for following animals large and small—from chipmunks and woodchucks to bobcats and black bears. Meticulously drawn illustrations and informative discussions provide the user with an array of tools for identification unmatched in any other tracking book.This guide also includes thorough discussions of distinguishing features, illustrations of scat, notes on other signs and habitat, measurements for tracks and gaits, and diagrams of characteristic gaits. Lightweight, portable, and comprehensive, this book is an ideal tool for trackers at all levels.

American Museum of Natural History: Pocket Birds of North America, Eastern Region: The Ultimate Photographic Guide


D.K. Publishing - 2017
    Detailed illustrations show typical plumage, comparing juvenile and adult, male and female, and appearance during the winter and summer months. No matter when you want to go birdwatching, American Museum of Natural History: Pocket Birds of North America, Eastern Region can help you locate where a certain species can be seen throughout the entire year, even during migration season.Created in association with the American Museum of Natural History and produced in a compact and easy-to-use format, American Museum of Natural History: Pocket Birds of North America, Eastern Region is the perfect field companion for bird enthusiasts of all ages and levels of experience.

Thoreau and the Language of Trees


Richard Higgins - 2017
    His portraits of them were so perfect, it was as if he could see the sap flowing beneath their bark. When Thoreau wrote that the poet loves the pine tree as his own shadow in the air, he was speaking about himself. In short, he spoke their language. In this original book, Richard Higgins explores Thoreau’s deep connections to trees: his keen perception of them, the joy they gave him, the poetry he saw in them, his philosophical view of them, and how they fed his soul. His lively essays show that trees were a thread connecting all parts of Thoreau’s being—heart, mind, and spirit. Included are one hundred excerpts from Thoreau’s writings about trees, paired with over sixty of the author’s photographs. Thoreau’s words are as vivid now as they were in 1890, when an English naturalist wrote that he was unusually able to “to preserve the flashing forest colors in unfading light.” Thoreau and the Language of Trees shows that Thoreau, with uncanny foresight, believed trees were essential to the preservation of the world.

Animal Kingdom: A Natural History in 100 Objects


Jack Ashby - 2017
    In that time, the evolution and natural selection of species has formed a diversity of life rich in incredible methods of survival, reproduction, and adaption. From penis worms, which existed 508 million years ago, to threatened species such as the white rhino, this beautifully illustrated book takes the reader on a journey through natural history and shows the richness of animal life on our planet like you’ve never seen it before.

Ephemeral by Nature: Exploring the Exceptional with a Tennessee Naturalist


Stephen Lyn Bales - 2017
    

A Wild Life: A Visual Biography of Photographer Michael Nichols


Melissa Harris - 2017
    Nichols' story combines a life of adventure, with a conviction about how we can redeem the human race by protecting our wildlife. The book's two central characters are the photographer--who journeys from the American South, via the photographers' co-operative Magnum, to becoming lead wildlife photographer of National Geographic magazine--and the author, who travels with the photographer on assignment in Africa, to gain intimate and deep insight into her subject. Harris's story also draws on meetings with some of the world's leading eco-scientists--including legendary primatologist, Jane Goodall.

Natural Attraction: A Field Guide to Friends, Frenemies, and Other Symbiotic Animal Relationships


Iris Gottlieb - 2017
    We re accustomed to all types of people and human interactions. But animal relationships can be just as weird and complex. For anyone who s everfelt a bit awkward in their relationships, wait until you hear about how complicated things get in the animal world. This funny and enlightening gift book depicts charming and unusual symbiotic animal relationships in all their awkward glory. Through delightful watercolor illustrations and funny yet scientifically accurate text, Iris Gottlieb explores the symbiotic relationships of 35 odd, cute, and unpredictable animal pairs. Here are stories of vampires, cannibalism, mimicry, parasites, and more. You ll learn a lot about nature--and human nature--as you recognize traits of your own friends, frenemies, and enemies in this insightful, amusing look into the secret lives of animals."

Curious Encounters with the Natural World: From Grumpy Spiders to Hidden Tigers


Michael R. Jeffords - 2017
    Jeffords and Susan L. Post have circled the globe--and explored their neighborhood--collecting images of the natural world. This book opens their personal cabinet of curiosities to tell the stories of the pair's most unusual encounters. From the "necking" battles of mate-hungry giraffes to the breathtaking beauty of millions of monarch butterflies at rest, Jeffords and Post share 200 stunning photographs and their own insightful essays to guide readers on a spectacular journey. Their training as entomologists offers unique perspectives on surprise stag beetle swarms and spider hunting habits. Their photographic eye, honed by decades of observation, finds expression in once-in-a-lifetime images. The result is an eyewitness collection of startling and unusual phenomena that illuminates the diverse life inhabiting our planet.

Resurrecting the Shark: A Scientific Obsession and the Mavericks Who Solved the Mystery of a 270-Million-Year-Old Fossil


Susan Ewing - 2017
    This chance encounter in the basement of the Natural History Museum of Los Angeles County sparked Troll’s obsession with Helicoprion, a mysterious monster from deep time.In 2010, tattooed undergraduate student and returning Iraq War veteran Jesse Pruitt became seriously smitten with a Helicoprion fossil in a museum basement in Idaho. These two bizarre-shark disciples found each other, and an unconventional band of collaborators grew serendipitously around them, determined to solve the puzzle of the mysterious tooth whorl once and for all.Helicoprion was a Paleozoic chondrichthyan about the size of a modern great white shark, with a circular saw of teeth centered in its lower jaw—a feature unseen in the shark world before or since. For some ten million years, long before the Age of Dinosaurs, Helicoprion patrolled the shallow seas around the supercontinent Pangaea as the apex predator of its time.Just a few tumultuous years after Pruitt and Troll met, imagination, passion, scientific process, and state-of-the-art technology merged into an unstoppable force that reanimated the remarkable creature—and made important new discoveries.In this groundbreaking book, Susan Ewing reveals these revolutionary insights into what Helicoprion looked like and how the tooth whorl functioned—pushing this dazzling and awe-inspiring beast into the spotlight of modern science.

Oak and Ash and Thorn: The Ancient Woods and New Forests of Britain


Peter Fiennes - 2017
    Even today, the British people continue to have a deep love for their woods, which have inspired countless myths, stories and poems throughout time. Peter Fiennes celebrates the beauty and mystery of Britain's woods, while also closely examining present issues of ownership, access, power and property. Fiennes visits Norwegian spruces in the Scottish Highlands, wild boars in Sussex, the small collection of trees in his childhood home's garden and everything in between in his exhilarating journey to understand our relationship to the forests and our duty to protect them. Of Oak and Ash and Thorn presents a powerful message for readers everywhere: our woods are important; they are under threat; and they must be saved.

Creature Files: Reptiles: Come Face-to-Face with 20 Dangerous Reptiles


L.J. Tracosas - 2017
    From the deadly gaboon viper—with the longest fangs in the world—to the venomous Gila monster that lurks underground, reptiles have an extraordinary assortment of survival skills. Fangs and venom aren’t these cold-blooded creatures’ only weapons: some are camouflaged to hide in plain sight, and others, like the Komodo dragon, have powerful claws for slashing prey. Still others use their awesome strength to overpower victims, like the green anaconda and its deadly squeeze or the saltwater crocodile and the 3,700 pounds of sheer force it puts into every bite!  Creature Files: Reptiles features twenty of the world’s most extraordinary reptiles, with reptilian profiles brought to life by vivid photographs and a host of intriguing facts. Each slithering or stalking animal comes with a Fang File to give you the lowdown on how it uses its teeth to pierce, crush, poison, or munch its meals. Can you match the three replica teeth included to the reptilian mouths they belong to?

Dinosaur A to Z


Dustin Growick - 2017
    Specially commissioned CGI images of children alongside the dinosaurs illustrate exactly how big--or small--each one was in comparison, and children can learn how to pronounce dinosaur names and discover the meaning behind each, and learn about different dinosaur shapes, sizes, and meals.Dinosaur A to Z is the perfect first visual dictionary for little dinosaur enthusiasts.

The Quotable Darwin


Janet Browne - 2017
    Featuring hundreds of quotations carefully selected by world-renowned Darwin biographer Janet Browne, The Quotable Darwin draws from Darwin's writings, letters to friends and family, autobiographical reminiscences, and private scientific notebooks. It offers a multifaceted portrait that takes readers through his youth, the famous voyage of the Beagle, the development of his thoughts about evolution, his gradual loss of religious faith, and the time spent turning his ideas into a well-articulated theory about the natural origin of all living beings--a theory that dangerously included the origin of humans.The Quotable Darwin also includes many of the key responses to Darwin's ideas from figures across the social spectrum, scientists and nonscientists alike--and criticism too. We see Darwin as an innovative botanist and geologist, an affectionate husband and father, and a lively correspondent who once told his cousin that he liked to play billiards because "it drives the horrid species out of my head." This book gives us an intimate look at Darwin at work, at home, as a public figure, and on his travels.Complete with a chronology of Darwin's life by Browne, The Quotable Darwin provides an engagingly fresh perspective on a remarkable man who was always thinking deeply about the natural world.

The Trees of North America: Michaux and Redouté's American Masterpiece


David Allen Sibley - 2017
    From 1841 to 1849 Thomas Nuttall (1786–1859), an English botanist and one of the greatest plant explorers of North America, prepared supplementary volumes to Michaux’s landmark work, The North American Sylva.Full-color reproductions of all of the more than 270 plates are now included in a single volume for the first time. Mirroring Abbeville’s best-selling National Audubon Society Birds of America, the book includes capsule summaries of every tree species featured, written by New York Botanical Garden staff, along with reference illustrations by David Allen Sibley.Garden President Gregory Long looks at the book in the context of the New York Botanical Garden; NYBG Library Director Susan M. Fraser examines this landmark of American botanical history; award-winning garden writer Marta McDowell recounts the two botanist-explorers uncovering the continent’s arboreal riches; and best-selling ornithologist and natural history artist David Allen Sibley offers an aesthetic appreciation.Beautifully illustrated and extensively researched, The Trees of North America will entice gardeners, art connoisseurs, and nature lovers alike.

Natural Selection: a year in the garden


Dan Pearson - 2017
    It is an oasis for creation, available to anyone with a little space and the compunction to get their hands dirty."In Natural Selection, Dan Pearson draws on ten years of his Observer columns to explore the rhythms and pleasures of a year in the garden. Travelling between his city-bound plot in Peckham and twenty acres of rolling hillside in Somerset, he celebrates the beautiful skeletons of the winter garden, the joyous passage into spring, the heady smell of summer's bud break and the flaring of colour in autumn.Pearson's irresistible enthusiasm and wealth of knowledge overflow in a book teeming with tips to inspire your own space, be it a city window box or country field. Bringing you a newfound appreciation of nature, both wild and tamed, reading Natural Selection is a deeply restorative experience.

Life at the Edge of Sight: A Photographic Exploration of the Microbial World


Scott Chimileski - 2017
    They give cheese funky flavors, wines complex aromas, and bread a nutty crumb. Life at the Edge of Sight is a stunning visual exploration of the inhabitants of an invisible world, from the pioneering findings of a seventeenth-century visionary to magnificent close-ups of the inner workings and cooperative communities of Earth's most prolific organisms.Using cutting-edge imaging technologies, Scott Chimileski and Roberto Kolter lead readers through breakthroughs and unresolved questions scientists hope microbes will answer soon. They explain how microbial studies have clarified the origins of life on Earth, guided thinking about possible life on other planets, unlocked evolutionary mechanisms, and helped explain the functioning of complex ecosystems. Microbes have been harnessed to increase crop yields and promote human health.But equally impressive, Life at the Edge of Sight opens a beautiful new frontier for readers to explore through words and images. We learn that there is more microbial biodiversity on a single frond of duckweed floating in a Delft canal than the diversity of plants and animals that biologists find in tropical rainforests. Colonies with millions of microbes can produce an array of pigments that put an artist's palette to shame. The microbial world is ancient and ever-changing, buried in fossils and driven by cellular reactions operating in quadrillionths of a second. All other organisms have evolved within this universe of microbes, yielding intricate beneficial symbioses. With two experts as guides, the invisible microbial world awaits in plain sight.

Call of Nature: The Secret Life of Dung


Richard Jones - 2017
    The fall of bodily waste onto the ground is the start of a race against the clock as a multitude of dung-feeders and scavengers consume this rich food source. From the enigmatic dung-rolling beetles to bat guano and giant elephant droppings, dung creates a miniature ecosystem to be explored by the aspiring dung watcher. The author completes the book with an identification guide to dung itself, so that you can identify the animal that left it behind. Pellets or pats? Scats, spraints, frass, guano, spoor – learn your way around different species’ droppings. There’s also a dung-feeder’s identification guide that includes the species you’re most likely to encounter on an exploration of the dung heap.

A Sea Monster's Tale: In Search of the Basking Shark


Colin Speedie - 2017
    At up to 11 metres in length and seven tonnes in weight, this colossal, plankton-feeding fish is one of the largest in the world, second only to the whale shark. Historically, Basking Sharks were a familiar sight in the northern hemisphere - off the coasts of Norway, Scotland, Ireland, Canada and the USA, for example.In an 18th Century world without electricity, they became the focus of active hunting for their huge livers containing large amounts of valuable oil, primarily used in lamps.Catch numbers were small enough to leave populations largely intact, but during the 20th Century a new breed of hunter joined the fray, some driven as much by a need for adventure as for financial gain. With improved equipment and experience, they exploited the shark on an industrial scale that drastically reduced numbers, leading to localised near-extinction in some areas.From the 1970's onward a new generation took to the seas, this time with conservation in mind to identify where the shark might still be found in the waters around the British Isles, employing new technologies to solve long-standing mysteries about the behaviour of this elusive creature. Using the best of both old and new research techniques, the case was built to justify the species becoming one of the most protected sharks in the oceans.Today, the Basking Shark is a much-loved cornerstone of our natural heritage. There are positive signs that the population has stabilised and may even be slowly recovering from the damage of the past, proving that timely conservation measures can be effective.Join us on a journey amidst wild seas, places, people and conservation history in the battle to protect this iconic creature - a true sea monster's tale.

Seahorses For Beginners


Mike French - 2017
    This updated edition contains lots of new content:- 1. Comprehensive list of seahorse friendly corals. 2. Information on the use of Natural Seawater. 3. Cultivating your own phytoplankton. 4. Quarantine procedures. 5. Expanded health issues. Plus other general updates and new photographs. As a beginner’s guide it is written in an easy to understand format without the need for technical or complicated jargon wherever possible. The book is aimed primarily at the aquarist who is just starting out with seahorses, although more experienced keepers will still find something of interest. Seahorses are an exceptional and fascinating fish that live in coastal areas round most of the world. Only a few years ago keeping seahorses was not widely encouraged due mainly to the difficulty in feeding wild caught specimens as they would not eat frozen foods. Wild caught seahorses, being more used to hunting in the wild for natural live food, know nothing about eating dead, frozen foods! However more recently, keeping seahorse in an aquarium has been made easier due to widespread captive breeding which has played an enormous role in making it possible to keep seahorses at home. You can now set up a successful seahorse aquarium at home and even breed them in the aquarium environment. All you need is the right equipment and advice to set you on the path to success. Contained within this book is everything you need to know to you get started in this fascinating hobby. From buying your first seahorses, the equipment and setting it up, to feeding, routine maintenance and dealing with any potential health issues. As several of the species will breed readily in the aquarium there is a detailed chapter on breeding and raising seahorses. It is important to understand something about the breeding process in order to be prepared and to fully understand the commitment required. You will also find information related to the near desperate plight of the seahorse in the wild, which could become extinct in the next 20 to 30 years in some parts of the World, unless major changes are brought into effect! Championing their fight for survival are two charitable organisations in the UK and Ireland. I'm sure you will enjoy reading this book and have many happy, problem free years keeping and caring for these fascinating creatures.

Darwin's Backyard: How Small Experiments Led to a Big Theory


James T. Costa - 2017
    Costa takes readers on a journey from Darwin’s childhood through his voyage on the HMS Beagle, where his ideas on evolution began, and on to Down House, his bustling home of forty years. Using his garden and greenhouse, the surrounding meadows and woodlands, and even the cellar and hallways of his home-turned-field-station, Darwin tested ideas of his landmark theory of evolution through an astonishing array of experiments without using specialized equipment. From those results, he plumbed the laws of nature and drew evidence for the revolutionary arguments of On the Origin of Species and other watershed works.This unique perspective introduces us to an enthusiastic correspondent, collaborator, and, especially, an incorrigible observer and experimenter. And it includes eighteen experiments for home, school, or garden.

The Driftless Reader


Curt MeineHamlin Garland - 2017
    Across time, this rugged topography has been home to an astonishing variety of people: Sauk, Dakota, and Ho-Chunk villagers, Norwegian farmers and Mexican mercado owners, Dominican nuns and Buddhist monks, river raftsmen and Shakespearean actors, Cornish miners and African American barn builders, organic entrepreneurs and Hmong truck gardeners.The Driftless Reader gathers writings that highlight the unique natural and cultural history, landscape, and literature of this region that encompasses southwestern Wisconsin and adjacent Minnesota, Iowa, and Illinois. The more than eighty selected texts include writings by Black Hawk, Mark Twain, Laura Ingalls Wilder, Frank Lloyd Wright, Aldo Leopold, David Rhodes, and many other Native people, explorers, scientists, historians, farmers, songwriters, journalists, and poets. Paintings, photographs, maps, and other images complement the texts, providing a deeper appreciation of this region's layered natural and human history.

Flora: The Graphic Book of the Garden


Guy Barter - 2017
    Packed with colourful graphics illustrating the how to’s, facts and trivia of gardening, this gorgeous book is the perfect gift for those who want to keep their garden green and healthy or looking to start their first garden. Packed with expert advice and over 100 original and unique illustrations, this beautiful visual reference book illuminates some of the trickier aspects of gardening as well as providing an introduction to the basics. â??Divided into the main themes of Planning, Planting, Choosing, Vegetables & Herbs, Fruit & Vines, and Practicalities; no matter where you are in your gardening abilities, Flora will ensure that you have all the know-how to start your garden and how to keep it green and healthy.

Big Walls, Swift Water: Epic Stories from Yosemite Search and Rescue


Charles R. "Butch" Farabee - 2017
    It’s not all helicopter heroics and plucking unlucky rock jocks off The Nose of El Capitan. It also means helping the teen with the busted ankle on the Mist Trail, finding the missing child in Tuolumne Meadows, and rescuing the newlywed clinging to a slick rock after her raft implodes.Most of Yosemite’s nearly 4 million annual visitors leave the park without a scratch. For a few, however, a vacation in this world-famous land of cliffs and waterfalls takes a turn for the terrifying. That’s where the YOSAR team comes in.Author and legendary YOSAR team member Butch Farabee relates epic tales of endurance and survival, misadventure and fatal consequences. Also included are:the origins of Search and Rescue in the national parks, including the U.S. Army’s key role;advice for staying safe in the park;profiles of SAR pros who do this dangerous work every day;stories about YODOGS and animal rescues;innovative techniques developed in Yosemite and now used around the world;photos and descriptions of top-tier gear used by this world-class team of medics, climbers, and swift-water experts;stats that any adventure geek will love;and, of course, plenty of helicopters!A must-read for thrill-seekers, armchair travelers, national park novices, and expert explorers alike. Get the inside story on the elite YOSAR team, and get inspired (and informed) for adventure anywhere!

Improbable Destinies: Fate, Chance, and the Future of Evolution


Jonathan B. Losos - 2017
    But evolutionary biologists also point out many examples of contingency, cases where the tiniest change--a random mutation or an ancient butterfly sneeze--caused evolution to take a completely different course. What role does each force really play in the constantly changing natural world? Are the plants and animals that exist today, and we humans ourselves, inevitabilities or evolutionary freaks? And what does that say about life on other planets?Jonathan Losos reveals what the latest breakthroughs in evolutionary biology can tell us about one of the greatest ongoing debates in science. He takes us around the globe to meet the researchers who are solving the deepest mysteries of life on Earth through their work in experimental evolutionary science. Losos himself is one of the leaders in this exciting new field, and he illustrates how experiments with guppies, fruit flies, bacteria, foxes, and field mice, along with his own work with anole lizards on Caribbean islands, are rewinding the tape of life to reveal just how rapid and predictable evolution can be.Improbable Destinies will change the way we think and talk about evolution. Losos's insights into natural selection and evolutionary change have far-reaching applications for protecting ecosystems, securing our food supply, and fighting off harmful viruses and bacteria. This compelling narrative offers a new understanding of ourselves and our role in the natural world and the cosmos.

Best Places to Bird in British Columbia


Russell Cannings - 2017
    birds.In this unique guidebook that will appeal to novice and experienced birders alike, the authors of acclaimed Birdfinding in British Columbia explore their 30 favorite birding sites in the diverse landscape of Canada’s westernmost province. More detailed and more personal than the Cannings’ previous books, and illustrated with more than 30 color photographs of birds and locales, Best Places to Bird in British Columbia introduces some sites that will be familiar favorites for readers, while others may come as a surprise. Readers can choose their destination by species—each chapter has a list of “Specialty Birds,” the ornithological highlights of a trip to the area in question—or by geography—each chapter is named for its region and includes detailed information not only on how to get there but also on how to make the most of being there. Personal anecdotes, historical background, and ornithological information make this an indispensable guide to exploring the best birding sites B.C. has to offer and learning more about its bird population.

Across the Shaman's River: John Muir, the Tlingit Stronghold, and the Opening of the North


Daniel Henry - 2017
                Tucked in the corner of Southeast Alaska, the Tlingits had successfully warded off the Anglo influences that had swept into other corners of the territory. This tribe was viewed by European and American outsiders as the last wild tribe and a frustrating impediment to access. Missionaries and prospectors alike had widely failed to bring the Tlingit into their power. Yet, when John Muir arrived in 1879, accompanied by a fiery preacher, it only took a speech about “brotherhood”—and some encouragement from the revered local shaman Skandoo’o—to finally transform these “hostile heathens.”             Using Muir’s original journal entries, as well as historic writings of explorers juxtaposed with insights from contemporary tribal descendants, Across the Shaman’s River reveals how Muir’s famous canoe journey changed the course of history and had profound consequences on the region’s Native Americans.

Ponds and small lakes: Microorganisms and freshwater ecology (Naturalists' Handbooks Book 32)


Brian Moss - 2017
    Many people have tried pond-dipping and encountered a few unfamiliar creatures, such as dragonfly nymphs and caddisfly larvae. However, there is a far richer world of microscopic organisms, such as diatoms, desmids and rotifers, which is revealed in this book. Anyone with access to a microscope can open up this hidden dimension. Identification keys are provided so that readers can identify, explore and study this microscopic world. There are also many suggestions of ways in which readers can then make original contributions to our knowledge and understanding of pond ecology.The book not only explores the fascinating world of the creatures within ponds and their interactions, but also explains the many ways in which ponds are important in human affairs. Ponds are being lost around the world, but they are a key part of a system that maintains our climate. In the face of climate change, it has never been more important to understand the ecology of ponds.Includes keys to: A – Traditional key to kingdoms of organisms; B – Contemporary key to kingdoms of organisms; C – Pragmatic key to groups of microorganisms; D – Algae visible, at least en masse, to the naked eye; E – Periphyton, both attached to surfaces and free living; F - Protozoa; G- Freshwater invertebrates and; H – Common phytoplankton genera in ponds.