Best of
Nature

1974

Everybody Needs a Rock


Byrd Baylor - 1974
    Everybody needs a rock -- at least that's the way this particular rock hound feels about it in presenting her own highly individualistic rules for finding just the right rock for you.

The Herb Book: The Complete and Authoritative Guide to More Than 500 Herbs


John B. Lust - 1974
    The most complete reference catalog of nature's herbs ever published.

Art Forms in Nature


Ernst Haeckel - 1974
    This volume highlights the research and findings of this natural scientist. Powerful modern microscopes have confirmed the accuracy of Haeckel's prints, which even in their day, became world famous. Haeckel's portfolio, first published between 1899 and 1904 in separate installments, is described in the opening essays. The plates illustrate Haeckel's fundamental monistic notion of the -unity of all living things- and the wide variety of forms are executed with utmost delicacy. Incipient microscopic organisms are juxtaposed with highly developed plants and animals. The pages, ordered according to geometric and -constructive- aspects, document the oness of the world in its most diversified forms. This collection of plates was not only well-received by scientists, but by artists and architects as well. Rene Binet, a pioneer of glass and iron constructions, Emile Galle, a renowned Art Nouveau designer, and the photographer Karl Blossfeld all make explicit reference to Haeckel in their work.

Pilgrim at Tinker Creek


Annie Dillard - 1974
    In the summer, Dillard stalks muskrats in the creek and contemplates wave mechanics; in the fall she watches a monarch butterfly migration and dreams of Arctic caribou. She tries to con a coot; she collects pond water and examines it under a microscope. She unties a snake skin, witnesses a flood, and plays 'King of the Meadow' with a field of grasshoppers.

Turtle Island


Gary Snyder - 1974
    All, however, share a common vision: a rediscovery of this land, and the ways by which we might become natives of the place, ceasing to think and act (after all these centuries) as newcomers and invaders. Of particular interest is the full text of the ever more relevant "Four Changes," Snyder's seminal manifesto for environmental awareness.

Hard Scrabble: Observations on a Patch of Land


John Graves - 1974
    This text takes its title from the author's farm, Hard Scrabble where he lived and worked as a farmer and writer, since the 1950s.

Patterns In Nature


Peter S. Stevens - 1974
    IIn a stunning synthesis of art and science, Peter Stevens explores the universal patterns in which nature expresses herself. He provides a fresh way of viewing and understanding the physical world.“When we see how the branching of trees resembles the branching of arteries and the branching of rivers, how crystal grains look like soap bubbles and the plates of a tortoise’s shell, how the fiddleheads of ferns, stellar galaxies, and water emptying from the bathtub spiral in a similar manner, then we cannot help but wonder why nature uses only a few kindred forms in so many contexts…It turns out that those patterns and forms are peculiarly restricted, that the immense variety that nature creates emerges from the working and reworking of only a few formal themes.”In elegant and lucid prose, illuminated by hundreds of extraordinary photographs and geometrical drawings, Stevens examines those themes – spirals, meanders, branching patterns, explosions – and explains how they evolve according to the laws of stress, flow, turbulence, least effort, surface tension, close packing, and most important, the constraints of three-dimensional space. Steven’s insights about space and its limitations enable us to compare a lightning stroke with the tributaries of a river, and a splash of milk with galaxies in the heavens. He explores the spiral of a seashell, the markings of a giraffe, the spikes of an inkblot. His investigation carries him from the evolution of trees to the drifting of the continents, from the packing of billiard balls to black holes in space, and everywhere he rigorously shows us not only the individual beauty of natural objects, but the underlying harmony that they share.PATTERNS IN NATURE is a pleasure to read and to behold, a vivid and original piece of scholarship whose implications will influence scientists, architects and engineers for years to come – and whose aesthetic truth will enrich our appreciation of the natural world.

Woodstock Handmade Houses


Robert Haney - 1974
    This book shows examples of some of these homes in full-color detail, and is meant to be an inspiration to amateur as well as professional self-home builders.

Trout Magic


Robert Traver - 1974
    Traver recounts the story of a mysterious "dancing fly, " speaks pointedly about "kiss-and-tell" fishermen, debunks fly fishermen as the "world's greatest snobs, " lets us in on the fishing story Life missed, and takes us along on his strangest fishing trip. We meet the unforgettable Danny McGinnis, guide, and other choice characters and events from his anything-but-ordinary fishing trips. Traver even has some new angles on women anglers and does a free piece of tongue-in-cheek literary sleuthing into Ernest Hemingway's story "Big Two-Hearted River."There's enough trout magic here to rub off on every reader -- man, woman, or child -- as Robert Traver weaves his inimitable storytelling spell. Trout Magic is a marvelous catch of wit, wisdom, and anecdote sure to delight everyone who enjoys a master storyteller who just happens to write here about his wonderful world of trout fishing.

Turn Not Pale, Beloved Snail: A Book about Writing and Other Things


Jacqueline Jackson - 1974
    

A Naturalist Buys an Old Farm


Edwin Way Teale - 1974
    Considered by many to be his greatest book, it is as relevant today as when it was first published.

Animal Architecture


Karl von Frisch - 1974
    With an unrivaled grasp of his subject, Professor von Frisch unfolds the marvels of instinct and inventiveness among insects, fish, birds, and mammals. Much earlier than human technicians, termites created systems of air conditioning, dug wells to a depth of 120 feet, and built central cities with satellite suburbs. Wasps may have shown the Chinese how to make paper. Bowerbirds decorate their nests with the aesthetic sense of a painter. Animals have ingeniously used stone, wood, reeds, clay, and wax as building material. They have devised hinged doors, traps, shelters with overhanging roofs, cells with waterproof lining. The precision of their architecture frequently surpasses that of humans.Magnificently illustrated with 150 drawings and 132 photographs (84 in color), Animal Architecture is a book that will fascinate anyone interested in the world of nature.

The Leaping Hare


George Ewart Evans - 1974
    Much of it is drawn from the oral testimony of countrymen (including poachers) still living when the book was written.'Here, from stubble to stewing pot, are all the facts that can be assembled; science, literature, mythology, superstition, semantics, venery, and a rich swathe of countryman's talk . . . This delightful book.' Observer

Insects of the Los Angeles Basin


Charles L. Hogue - 1974
    Insects of the Los Angeles Basin provides an introduction to more than 400 of the most conspicuous or curious of these invertebrate animals and to about 70 spiders, mites and ticks, and related forms. With color photographs or drawings of all but a few species, the text describes the size and most striking physical characteristics of adults and immature stages and gives information on locomotion and behavior, offensive and defensive maneuvers, mating rituals, food preferences, nests and traps, and noises and scents. The specific habitat and general geographic range of each insect are included, as are lore and superstition regarding some notorious species. The author, Dr. Charles L. Hogue, has answered the questions that he was most often asked in his position as Curator of Entomology at the Natural History Museum of Los Angeles County. The result is a highly readable text with an emphasis on the effects that insects have on the people who encounter them.

Grzimek's Animal Life Encyclopedia, 16 Volumes Set


Bernhard Grzimek - 1974
    Others call it the legacy left to us by famed zoologist and animal lover, Bernhard Grzimek. The original set, published in Germany in the late 1960s, is internationally renowned for its scientific reporting, coverage and illustrations, and serves as a major point of reference for researchers and students studying the animal kingdom. Thorough articles familiarize readers with animals found everywhere on the globe, detailing their life cycles, predators, food systems, overall ecology and much more. Thomson Gale proudly presents the first completely revised and updated version of this acclaimed set in 30 years. Staying true to the original scientific pedigree, our new editions of "Grzimek's Animal Life Encyclopedia are sure to serve the needs of students at every academic level.

Toolmaker


Jill Paton Walsh - 1974
    For young Ra to make all the tools needed by his Stone Age tribe is a new idea for all of them, and provides Ra with a skill that saves his life when he is abandoned by his tribe for forgetting how to hunt.

The Curves of Life


Theodore Andrea Cook - 1974
    In The Curves of Life, Sir Theodore A. Cook (1867–1928), English author and editor, finds that the spiral or helix may lie at the core of life's first principle — that of growth. The spiral is fundamental to the structure of plants, shells, and the human body; to the periodicity of atomic elements and to an animal's horns; to microscopic DNA (the double helix) and to the Andromeda nebula.The Curves of Life portrays the significance of the spiral in 426 illustrations, from a Narwhal's tusk to Dürer's plan for a cylindrical helix. From the spiral in nature, science, and art, the author suggests ideas on the essence of beauty and man's response to it. "One of the chief beauties of the spiral as an imaginative conception is that it is always growing, yet never covering the same ground, so that it is not merely an explanation of the past, but is also a prophecy of the future."Martin Gardner, mathematician and author, said of The Curves of Life, "This is the classic reference on how the golden ratio applies to spirals and helices in nature."

The Planet-Girded Suns: The Long History of Belief in Exoplanets


Sylvia Engdahl - 1974
    From the late 17th century until the end of the 19th, almost all educated people believed that the stars are suns surrounded by inhabited planets--a belief that was expressed not in science fiction, but in serious speculation, both scientific and religious, as well as in poetry. Only during the first half of the 20th century was it thought that life-bearing exoplanets planets are rare.This is not a science book--rather, it belongs to the category known as History of Ideas. First published by Atheneum in 1974, it tells the story of the rise, fall, and eventual renewal of widespread conviction that we are not alone in the universe. In this updated edition the chapters dealing with modern views have been revised to reflect the progress science has made during the past 40 years, including the actual detection of planets orbiting other stars.More poetry from past centuries, source notes, and an extensive bibliography have been added to this edition. In addition it contains a new Afterword, "Confronting the Universe in the Twenty-First Century," discussing the relevance of past upheavals in human thought to an understanding of the hiatus in space exploration that has followed the Apollo moon landings.From the published reviews:"Engdahl has marshalled an impressive and fascinating selection of primary sources--including a roster of believers that includes Newton, Ben Franklin, Walt Whitman, and rocket pioneer Robert Goddard; and . . . reminded us that our ancestors entertained a view of the universe that was larger and more imaginative than the history books lead us to believe. Challenging and original." --Kirkus Reviews"In a brisk, engrossing account Engdahl traces the theories and speculations concerning the possibility of extraterrestrial intelligent life throughout history. . . . This [book] is based on original research in primary sources and smoothly incorporates many quotations from scientists, philosophers, poets and theologians." --ALA Booklist"The Planet-Girded Suns is a beautiful example of what the disciplined imagination can do. . . . It is a fine, carefully done history of the ideas about other worlds--nicely balanced in its presentation of the informational and mystical elements of the subject." --Horn Book"The substantial treatment of the history of the idea of other solar systems, based largely on research in primary documents, should make it of use to scholars." --Isis One Hundred Second Critical Bibliography of the History of Science and Its Cultural Implications"Easy to read and on a timely subject approached from an original point of view, this also serves as a model to show how an idea is researched and documented." --School Library Journal"By carefully reconstructing her story from voluminous notes on many writers, both well-known and obscure, Engdahl has given vitality and dimension to the idea of extraterrestrial intelligence." --Cosmic Search"This is an important and interesting book. . . . The author's thought-provoking presentation on the subject should provide some fascinating reading." --National Space Society, 2012"Engdahl has crated a well-crafted, well-researched and unique view on exoplanets, and is a must-read for those who want a different view on space than the usual technical one." --Readers’ Favorites, 2012

Solo: The Story of an African Wild Dog


Hugo van Lawick - 1974
    

In Search of the Red Ape


John MacKinnon - 1974
    

Trees of Britain and Northern Europe (Collins Field Guide)


Alan Mitchell - 1974
    The text complements the paintings, stressing the important identification features of each tree. The keys are easy-to-use, designed to help even the beginner identify any tree they see in any season.

A Cat Affair


Derek Tangye - 1974
    Jeannie was different; she was ready to give a welcome to any stray.When Lama's double appeared on their doorstep, they were faced with a dilemma. But the problem solved itself in a mysterious and magical way...

Owls of North America


Allan W. Eckert - 1974
    

Higher Consciousness and Kundalini


Gopi Krishna - 1974
    

Wild Flowers of Britain & Northern Europe


Richard Fitter - 1974
    nearly 2000 species are described, and 1450 are illustrated in colour.

Life In The Dark: How Animals Survive At Night


Seymour Simon - 1974
    Discusses the activities of various animals at night as they battle their enemies, search for food, mate, and migrate.

All About Weeds


Edwin Rollin Spencer - 1974
    Weeds of lawn and yard, weeds that are sometimes used for food, weeds that are the bane of hayfever sufferers, weeds that can ruin cow's milk, poisonous weeds, and even the real desperadoes that can totally overtake a field in one season are all covered. The author, Edwin R. Spencer, was a farmer and biology professor; his text is both a practical and an authoritative guide to weeds, able to speak to nature lovers, farmers, and scientists alike.Pigweed … Dogbane … Carpet Weed … Crab Grass … Wild Garlic … Spiderwort … Chicory … Ragweed … Poison Ivy … Yellow Dock … each weed is listed under its most common name, but since one man's Moneywort is another man's Creeping Jenny, its scientific and alternative common names are also given. Then follows a delightful description of each weed, full of information and good humor as well. Details for controlling the weed are given in this section. To aid in identification each weed is multiply keyed at the front of the text as to its place and season of growth, the type of soil it prefers, and physical characteristics. Even if you know nothing about botany, you will most likely be able to identify your find through these keys or just by flipping through the 102 first-rate illustrations.To the gardener and farmer weeds are something to be hoed out and plowed under, but weeds are also a fascinating group of plants, as this thoroughly readable book will point out. They are the plants you are most likely to come upon in nature jaunts and the ones you are going to have to come to terms with if you do any gardening of your own."A most fascinating book." — Garden Club of America.