Best of
Nature

2008

Red Bird


Mary Oliver - 2008
    So begins Mary Oliver's twelfth book of poetry, and the image of that fiery bird stays with the reader, appearing in unexpected forms and guises until, in a postscript, he explains himself: "For truly the body needs / a song, a spirit, a soul. And no less, to make this work, / the soul has need of a body, / and I am both of the earth and I am of the inexplicable / beauty of heaven / where I fly so easily, so welcome, yes, / and this is why I have been sent, to teach this to your heart."This collection of sixty-one new poems, the most ever in a single volume of Oliver's work, includes an entirely new direction in the poet's work: a cycle of eleven linked love poems-a dazzling achievement. As in all of Mary Oliver's work, the pages overflow with her keen observation of the natural world and her gratitude for its gifts, for the many people she has loved in her seventy years, as well as for her disobedient dog, Percy. But here, too, the poet's attention turns with ferocity to the degradation of the Earth and the denigration of the peoples of the world by those who love power. Red Bird is unquestionably Mary Oliver's most wide-ranging volume to date.

American Buffalo: In Search of a Lost Icon


Steven Rinella - 2008
    Throughout these adventures, Rinella found himself contemplating his own place among the 14,000 years’ worth of buffalo hunters in North America, as well as the buffalo’s place in the American experience. At the time of the Revolutionary War, North America was home to approximately 40 million buffalo, the largest herd of big mammals on the planet, but by the mid-1890s only a few hundred remained. Now that the buffalo is on the verge of a dramatic ecological recovery across the West, Americans are faced with the challenge of how, and if, we can dare to share our land with a beast that is the embodiment of the American wilderness. American Buffalo is a narrative tale of Rinella’s hunt. But beyond that, it is the story of the many ways in which the buffalo has shaped our national identity. Rinella takes us across the continent in search of the buffalo’s past, present, and future: to the Bering Land Bridge, where scientists search for buffalo bones amid artifacts of the New World’s earliest human inhabitants; to buffalo jumps where Native Americans once ran buffalo over cliffs by the thousands; to the Detroit Carbon works, a “bone charcoal” plant that made fortunes in the late 1800s by turning millions of tons of buffalo bones into bone meal, black dye, and fine china; and even to an abattoir turned fashion mecca in Manhattan’s Meatpacking District, where a depressed buffalo named Black Diamond met his fate after serving as the model for the American nickel. Rinella’s erudition and exuberance, combined with his gift for storytelling, make him the perfect guide for a book that combines outdoor adventure with a quirky blend of facts and observations about history, biology, and the natural world. Both a captivating narrative and a book of environmental and historical significance, American Buffalo tells us as much about ourselves as Americans as it does about the creature who perhaps best of all embodies the American ethos.

The Superorganism: The Beauty, Elegance, and Strangeness of Insect Societies


Bert Hölldobler - 2008
    Coming eighteen years after the publication of The Ants, this new volume expands our knowledge of the social insects (among them, ants, bees, wasps, and termites) and is based on remarkable research conducted mostly within the last two decades. These superorganisms—a tightly knit colony of individuals, formed by altruistic cooperation, complex communication, and division of labor—represent one of the basic stages of biological organization, midway between the organism and the entire species. The study of the superorganism, as the authors demonstrate, has led to important advances in our understanding of how the transitions between such levels have occurred in evolution and how life as a whole has progressed from simple to complex forms. Ultimately, this book provides a deep look into a part of the living world hitherto glimpsed by only a very few.

Where the Wild Things Were: Life, Death, and Ecological Wreckage in a Land of Vanishing Predators


William Stolzenburg - 2008
    Not so anymore. All but exterminated, these predators of the not-too-distant past have been reduced to minor players of the modern era. And what of it? Wildlife journalist William Stolzenburg follows in the wake of nature's topmost carnivores, and finds chaos in their absence.From the brazen mobs of deer and marauding raccoons of backyard America to streamsides of Yellowstone National Park crushed by massive herds of elk; from urchin-scoured reefs in the North Pacific to ant-devoured islands in Venezuela, Stolzenburg leads a startling tour through bizarre, impoverished landscapes of pest and plague. For anyone who has seldom given thought to the meat-eating beasts so recently missing from the web of life, here is a world of reason to think again.

Peterson Field Guide to Birds of North America


Roger Tory Peterson - 2008
    This new book combines the Peterson Field Guide to Eastern Birds and Peterson Field Guide to Western Birds into one volume, filled with accessible, concise information and including almost three hours of video podcasts to make bird watching even easier.• 40 new paintings• Digital updates to Peterson’s original paintings, reflecting the latest knowledge of bird identification• All new maps for the most up-to-date range information available• Text rewritten to cover the U.S. and Canada in one guide• Larger trim size accommodates range maps on every spread• Contributors include: Michael DiGiorgio, Jeff Gordon, Paul Lehman, Michael O’Brien, Larry Rosche, and Bill Thompson III• Includes URL to register for access to video podcasts

Notes From Walnut Tree Farm


Roger Deakin - 2008
    "Notes From Walnut Tree Farm" collects together the jottings, musings and observations with which he filled a series of notebooks for the last six years of his life. In this beautiful illustrated collection, descriptions of walks on Mellis Common and thoughts on the importance of nature sit side by side with memories of the past and musings about literature, while perfectly rendered observations of the tiny, missable visual details of everyday life are skilfully woven with a gentle, wise philosophy. Organized into twelve months of impressions, the notes reveal a passionate but gentle character and his extraordinary, restless curiosity. Capturing Deakin's unique turn of phrase and inspired use of language, and infused throughout with the magically meditative tranquility of Walnut Tree Farm, this is a charming introduction to one of the most important of modern nature writers, or the perfect follow-up to "Wildwood" and "Waterlog".

Fruitless Fall: The Collapse of the Honey Bee and the Coming Agricultural Crisis


Rowan Jacobsen - 2008
    Many people will remember that Rachel Carson predicted a silent spring, but she also warned of a fruitless fall, a time when "there was no pollination and there would be no fruit." The fruitless fall nearly became a reality last year when beekeepers watched one third of the honeybee population—thirty billion bees—mysteriously die. The deaths have continued in 2008. Rowan Jacobsen uses the mystery of Colony Collapse Disorder to tell the bigger story of bees and their' essential connection to our daily lives. With their disappearance, we won't just be losing honey. Industrial agriculture depends on the honeybee to pollinate most fruits, nuts, and vegetables—one third of American crops. Yet this system is falling apart. The number of these professional pollinators has become so inadequate that they are now trucked across the country and flown around the world, pushing them ever closer to collapse. By exploring the causes of CCD and the even more chilling decline of wild pollinators, Fruitless Fall does more than just highlight this growing agricultural crisis. It emphasizes the miracle of flowering plants and their pollination partners, and urges readers not to take for granted the Edenic garden Homo sapiens has played in since birth. Our world could have been utterly different—and may be still.

Frogs


Nic Bishop - 2008
    See tiny poison dart frogs and mammoth bullfrogs, as Nic Bishop's amazing images show the beauty and diversity of frogs from around the globe. And simple, engaging text conveys basic information about frogs -- as well as cool and quirky facts. Nic Bishop Frogs is a fun and informative tour through an exciting amphibian world.

Charles Harper's Birds and Words


Charley Harper - 2008
    Reissue of the collectible Charley Harper classic, which pairs his beautiful paintings with poetic commentary.

The Truro Bear and Other Adventures: Poems and Essays


Mary Oliver - 2008
    Their / infallible sense of what their lives / are meant to be."In The Truro Bear and Other Adventures, Mary Oliver brings together ten new poems, thirty-five of her classic poems, and two essays, all about mammals, insects, and reptiles. The award-winning poet considers beasts of all kinds: bears, snakes, spiders, porcupines, humpback whales, hermit crabs, and, of course, her beloved and disobedient little dog, Percy, who appears and even speaks in thirteen poems, the closing section of this volume.As Renée Loth has observed in the Boston Globe, "Mary Oliver, who won the Pulitzer Prize in poetry in 1983, is my choice for her joyous, accessible, intimate observations of the natural world . . . She teaches us the profound act of paying attention."

The Brother Gardeners: Botany, Empire and the Birth of an Obsession


Andrea Wulf - 2008
    But it was not reels of wool or bales of cotton that awaited him, but plants and seeds…Over the next forty years, Bartram would send hundreds of American species to England, where Collinson was one of a handful of men who would foster a national obsession and change the gardens of Britain forever, introducing lustrous evergreens, fiery autumn foliage and colourful shrubs. They were men of wealth and taste but also of knowledge and experience like Philip Miller, author of the bestselling Gardeners Dictionary, and the Swede Carl Linnaeus, whose standardised botanical nomenclature popularised botany as a genteel pastime for the middle-classes; and the botanist-adventurer Joseph Banks and his colleague Daniel Solander who both explored the strange flora of Tahiti and Australia on the greatest voyage of discovery of modern times, Captain Cook’s Endeavour.This is the story of these men – friends, rivals, enemies, united by a passion for plants – whose correspondence, collaborations and squabbles make for a riveting human tale which is set against the backdrop of the emerging empire, the uncharted world beyond and London as the capital of science. From the scent of the exotic blooms in Tahiti and Botany Bay to the gardens at Chelsea and Kew, and from the sounds and colours of the streets of the City to the staggering vistas of the Appalachian mountains, The Brother Gardeners tells the story of how Britain became a nation of gardeners.

Hannah's Dream


Diane Hammond - 2008
    . . but can she dream? For forty-one years, Samson Brown has been caring for Hannah, the lone elephant at the down-at-the-heels Max L. Biedelman Zoo. Having vowed not to retire until an equally loving and devoted caretaker is found to replace him, Sam rejoices when smart, compassionate Neva Wilson is hired as the new elephant keeper. But Neva quickly discovers what Sam already knows: that despite their loving care, Hannah is isolated from other elephants and her feet are nearly ruined from standing on hard concrete all day. Using her contacts in the zookeeping world, Neva and Sam hatch a plan to send Hannah to an elephant sanctuary--just as the zoo's angry, unhappy director launches an aggressive revitalization campaign that spotlights Hannah as the star attraction, inextricably tying Hannah's future to the fate of the Max L. Biedelman Zoo. A charming, poignant, and captivating novel certain to enthrall readers of Water for Elephants, Diane Hammond's Hannah's Dream is a beautifully told tale rich in heart, humor, and intelligence.

The Backyard Birdsong Guide: Eastern and Central North America, A Guide to Listening


Donald E. Kroodsma - 2008
    Discover seventy-five unique species from Eastern and Central North America as you enjoy their sounds at the touch of a button-reproduced in high quality on the attached digital audio module-while reading vivid descriptions of their songs, calls, and rela

Life in Cold Blood


David Attenborough - 2008
    Join acclaimed naturalist Sir David Attenborough as he travels to the far corners of the Earth to tell the epic story of these animals in this companion to the television series. Discover the secrets of their astounding success--and the profound implications of their uncertain future.Amphibians and reptiles once ruled the planet, and their descendants exhibit some of the most colorful variety and astounding behavior known to the animal kingdom. What are the origins of these creatures? How have they transformed themselves into the beautiful and bizarre forms found today? In this gorgeously illustrated book, Attenborough gets up close and personal with the living descendants of the first vertebrates ever to colonize the land, and through them traces the fascinating history of their pioneering ancestors. He explains the ways amphibians and reptiles have changed little from their prehistoric forebears while also demonstrating how they have adapted and evolved into diverse new forms, some of them beyond our wildest imaginings. And Attenborough raises awareness of the threats global warming and other man-made environmental changes pose to many of these creatures. Life in Cold Blood inspires a genuine sense of wonder about amphibians and reptiles and the marvels of the natural world around us.

American Earth: Environmental Writing Since Thoreau


Bill McKibben - 2008
    Classics of the environmental imagination—the essays of Henry David Thoreau, John Muir, and John Burroughs; Aldo Leopold’s A Sand County Almanac; Rachel Carson’s Silent Spring—are set against the inspiring story of an emerging activist movement, as revealed by newly uncovered reports of pioneering campaigns for conservation, passages from landmark legal opinions and legislation, and searing protest speeches. Here are some of America’s greatest and most impassioned writers, taking a turn toward nature and recognizing the fragility of our situation on earth and the urgency of the search for a sustainable way of life. Thought-provoking essays on overpopulation, consumerism, energy policy, and the nature of “nature” join ecologists’ memoirs and intimate sketches of the habitats of endangered species. The anthology includes a detailed chronology of the environmental movement and American environmental history, as well as an 80-page color portfolio of illustrations.

The Wolves Are Back


Jean Craighead George - 2008
    Gradually reintroduced, they are thriving again in the West, much to the benefit of the ecosystem. This book will teach a new generation to appreciate the grace, dignity, and value of wolves as it promotes awareness of the environment’s delicate balance. Paired with gorgeous paintings by landscape artist Wendell Minor, Jean Craighead George’s engaging text will inspire people of all ages to care about the protection of endangered species.

Ruskin Bond's Book Of Nature


Ruskin Bond - 2008
    no one understands nature like Ruskin Bond and it takes his ability to put this wonder into words'-Deccan Chronicle For over half a century, Ruskin Bond has celebrated the wonder and beauty of nature as few other contemporary writers have, or indeed can. This collection brings together the best of his writing on the natural world, not just in the Himalayan foothills that he has made his home, but also in the cities and small towns that he lived in or travelled through as a young man. In these pages, he writes of leopards padding down the lanes of Mussoorie after dark, the first shower of the monsoon in Meerut that brings with it a tumult of new life, the chorus of insects at twilight outside his window, ancient banyan trees and the short-lived cosmos flower, a bat who strays into his room and makes a night less lonely... This volume proves, yet again, that for the serenity and lyricism of his prose and his sharp yet sympathetic eye, Ruskin Bond has few equals. 'Once again this writer from Mussoorie captivates with his collection of nature pieces -Sunday Midday 'Bond uses his pen as a brush to paint sensuous images of his experiences with nature and beckons his readers into his imagination ... a book that relaxes the eyes, rests the mind, lulls the noise and lets one drift into the idyllic life with nature that most of us are unable to lead'-Dawn

Animal Life: Secrets of the Animal World Revealed


Charlotte Uhlenbroek - 2008
    That thirst will be quenched at least temporarily by the perusal of this 500-plus-page pictorial extravaganza from the folks at DK. Animal Life offers you a visitor's pass into every aspect of animal behavior, from family relationships and hunting strategies to courtship rituals and sex lives. In signature DK style, editor Charlotte Uhlenbroek presides over a rich compilation of texts, side panels, photographs, and other illustrations.

Sustaining Life: How Human Health Depends on Biodiversity


Eric Chivian - 2008
    And while many books have focused on the expected ecological consequences, or on the aesthetic, ethical, sociological, or economic dimensions of this loss, Sustaining Life is the first book to examine the full range of potential threats that diminishing biodiversity poses to human health.Edited and written by Harvard Medical School physicians Eric Chivian and Aaron Bernstein, along with more than 100 leading scientists who contributed to writing and reviewing the book, Sustaining Life presents a comprehensive--and sobering--view of how human medicines, biomedical research, the emergence and spread of infectious diseases, and the production of food, both on land and in the oceans, depend on biodiversity. The book's ten chapters cover everything from what biodiversity is and how human activity threatens it to how we as individuals can help conserve the world's richly varied biota. Seven groups of organisms, some of the most endangered on Earth, provide detailed case studies to illustrate the contributions they have already made to human medicine, and those they are expected to make if we do not drive them to extinction. Drawing on the latest research, but written in language a general reader can easily follow, Sustaining Life argues that we can no longer see ourselves as separate from the natural world, nor assume that we will not be harmed by its alteration. Our health, as the authors so vividly show, depends on the health of other species and on the vitality of natural ecosystems.With a foreword by E.O. Wilson and a prologue by Kofi Annan, and more than 200 poignant color illustrations, Sustaining Life contributes essential perspective to the debate over how humans affect biodiversity and a compelling demonstration of the human health costs. It is the winner of the Gerald L. Young Book Award in Human Ecology Best Sci-Tech Books of 2008 for Biology by Gregg Sapp of Library Journal

The Spiderwick Chronicles Movie : The Movie Storybook


Tracey West - 2008
    Full color.

The Tree Book for Kids and Their Grown Ups


Gina Ingoglia - 2008
    It features 33 different trees that grow in North America, from rural Georgia to the streets of New York City to the California suburbs. Each profile includes a beautiful botanical watercolor illustration by author Gina Ingoglia showing the tree as it appears in a particular season, as well as life-size depictions of its leaf, flower, and seed. Readers of all ages will be in awe over the wonderful world of trees.

Bottomfeeder: How to Eat Ethically in a World of Vanishing Seafood


Taras Grescoe - 2008
    Dividing his sensibilities between Epicureanism and ethics, Taras Grescoe set out on a nine-month, worldwide search for a delicious—and humane—plate of seafood. What he discovered shocked him. From North American Red Lobsters to fish farms and research centers in China, Bottomfeeder takes readers on an illuminating tour through the $55-billion-dollar-a-year seafood industry. Grescoe examines how out-of-control pollution, unregulated fishing practices, and climate change affect what ends up on our plate. More than a screed against a multibillion-dollar industry, however, this is also a balanced and practical guide to eating, as Grescoe explains to readers which fish are best for our environment, our seas, and our bodies. At once entertaining and illuminating, Bottomfeeder is a thoroughly enjoyable look at the world’s cuisines and an examination of the fishing and farming practices we too easily take for granted.

The Wisdom of Birds: An Illustrated History of Ornithology


Tim Birkhead - 2008
    In 2007 bird-watching is one of the most popular pastimes, not just in America, but throughout the world, and the range of interest runs from the specialist to the beginner.In The Wisdom of Birds, Birkhead takes the reader on a journey that not only tells us about the extraordinary lives of birds - from conception and egg, through territory and song, to migration and fully fledged breeder - but also shows how, over centuries, we have overcome superstition and untested 'truths' to know what we know, and how recent some of that knowledge is.Conceived for a general audience, and illustrated throughout with more than 100 exquisitely beautiful illustrations, many of them rarely, if ever, seen before, The Wisdom of Birds is a book full of stories, knowledge and unexpected revelations.

Frog: A Photographic Portrait


Thomas Marent - 2008
    Published to coincide with Amphibian Ark’s “Year of the Frog” and designed to build awareness of environmental change causing many species of amphibians to disappear at an alarming rate. The aim of the year’s campaign is to generate awareness to the greatest species conservation challenge in history.Thomas Marent, author of Rainforest (2006) and Butterfly (2008), started photographing natural history subjects, particularly birds and butterflies, in the mountains of his native Switzerland. He has dedicated nearly half his life to recording butterflies across five continents.

A Grain of Sand: Nature's Secret Wonder


Gary Greenberg - 2008
    To hold infinity in the palm of your hand, And eternity in an hour."William Blake, "Auguries of Innocence" 1805Here is the world viewed within a grain of sand, thanks to the stunning three-dimensional microphotography of Dr. Gary Greenberg. To some, all sand looks alike--countless grains in a vast expanse of beach. Look closer--much closer--and your view of sand will never be the same. Employing the fantastic microphotographic techniques that he developed, Greenberg invites readers to discover the strange and wonderful world that each grain of sand contains. Here are the sands of Hawaii and Tahiti, the Sahara and the Poles, a volcano, each exquisitely different, and each telling a fascinating geological story. Red sand and yellow, white sand and black, singing sand and quicksand: Greenbergs pictures reveal the subtle differences in their colors, textures, sizes, and shapes. And as this infinitesimal world unfolds so does an intriguing explanation of how each grain of sand begins and forms and finds itself in a particular place, one of a billion and one of a kind.

Cold Hands, Warm Heart: Alaskan Adventures of an Iditarod Champion


Jeff King - 2008
    Stunning illustrations by Donna Gates King in beautiful color and black and white. Also colorful photographs at the end of the book. King remains one of the top mushers in the history of sled-dog sports. Since his first race in 1979, King and his well-trained teams of Alaskan huskies have racked up many thousands of training miles and trail hours. The result: win after win after win, crossing the finish line first in more than a dozen major races, including the two giants: the Iditarod and the Yukon Quest.

Collins Complete Guide to British Wildlife: A Photographic Guide to Every Common Species


Paul Sterry - 2008
    Collins Complete Guide to British Wildlife allows everyone to identify any of the wildlife found in Britain and Ireland. By only covering Britain and Ireland, fewer species are included than in many broader European guides, making it quicker and easier for the reader to accurately identify what they have found. The book is illustrated with beautiful photographs throughout, featuring the mammals, birds, fish, reptiles, amphibians, and invertebrates you are most likely to see, as well as all the common plants. Over 1,500 detailed photographs help you identify the plants and animals with ease, and each section is coded with a symbol for quick reference.

Equus


Tim Flach - 2008
    Award-winning photographer Tim Flach’s quest to document the horse has resulted in Equus, an intensely moving look at an animal—as solitary subject and en masse, from the air and from underwater—whose history is so powerfully linked to our own. From exquisite Arabians in the Royal Yards of the United Arab Emirates to purebred Icelandic horses in their glacial habitat; from the soulful gaze of a single horse’s lash-lined eye to the thundering majesty of thousands of Mustangs racing across the plains of Utah, Equus provides an amazing and unique insight into the physical dynamics and spirit of the horse.

Gardening at the Dragon's Gate: At Work in the Wild and Cultivated World


Wendy Johnson - 2008
    It demands your energy and heart, and it gives you back great treasures as well, like a fortified sense of humor, an appreciation for paradox, and a huge harvest of Dinosaur kale and tiny red potatoes.For more than thirty years, Wendy Johnson has been meditating and gardening at the Green Gulch Farm Zen Center in northern California, where the fields curve like an enormous green dragon between the hills and the ocean. Renowned for its pioneering role in California’s food revolution, Green Gulch provides choice produce to farmers’ markets and to San Francisco’s Greens restaurant. Now Johnson has distilled her lifetime of experience into this extraordinary celebration of inner and outer growth, showing how the garden cultivates the gardener even as she digs beds, heaps up compost, plants flowers and fruit trees, and harvests bushels of organic vegetables. Johnson is a hands-on, on-her-knees gardener, and she shares with the reader a wealth of practical knowledge and fascinating garden lore. But she is also a lover of the untamed and weedy, and she evokes through her exquisite prose an abiding appreciation for the earth—both cultivated and forever wild—in a book sure to earn a place in the great tradition of American nature writing.

The Morville Hours


Katherine Swift - 2008
    It recalls the monastic past of the house. It covers from the crunch of grass underfoot at midnight on a frosty New Year's Eve to the drip of trees in a melancholy March dawn.

Plant Spirit Healing: A Guide to Working with Plant Consciousness


Pam Montgomery - 2008
    Now scientific studies are verifying this understanding. Plant Spirit Healing reveals the power of plant spirits to join with human intelligence to bring about profound healing. These spirits take us beyond mere symptomatic treatment to aligning us with the vast web of nature. Plants are more than their chemical constituents. They are intelligent beings that have the capacity to raise consciousness to a level where true healing can take place.In this book, herbalist Pam Montgomery offers an understanding of the origins of disease and the therapeutic use of plant spirits to bring balance and healing. She offers a process engaging heart, soul, and spirit that she calls the triple spiral path. In our modern existence, we are increasingly challenged with broken hearts, souls in exile, and malnourished spirits. By working through the heart, we connect with the soul and gain access to spirit. She explains that the evolution of plants has always preceded their animal counterparts and that plant spirits offer a guide to our spiritual evolution--a stage of growth imperative not only for the healing of humans but also the healing of the earth.

Wild Tracks!: A Guide to Nature's Footprints


Jim Arnosky - 2008
    Acclaimed artist and naturalist Jim Arnosky has created a breathtaking and informative reference on the subject, filled with intricately drawn prints from creatures both wild and domestic, as well as large-scale paintings of the animals in their environment. Some of the art, labeled in Arnosky’s own handwriting, even looks as if it came straight out of his personal notebooks. And best of all, many of the tracks are true to size, so kids can compare the trace left by a big-footed polar bear (whose paws act as snowshoes in its icy home) with that of a small bird. Adding to the eye-catching illustrations are four awesome gatefolds that display paintings of a bobcat, wolf, deer, and a variety of hoofed animals right next to their prints. Every spread has plenty of details on how to interpret the footprint, and the featured menagerie includes bighorn sheep and goats, chipmunks and rabbits, grizzlies and brown bears, horses and burros, domestic cats and dogs, and even slithering reptiles! This is the perfect gift for a budding naturalist, animal lover, or artist.Jim Arnosky has been honored for his overall contribution to literature for children by the Eva L. Gordon Award and the Washington Post/Children’s Book Guild Award for nonfiction. Many of his books have been chosen as ALA Notable Books, including Drawing from Nature, a Christopher Award-winner. Wild Tracks! is Jim’s 100th book for children.

National Geographic Field Guide to the Birds of Western North America


Jon L. Dunn - 2008
    National Geographic has been meeting their need for clear and accurate information for 25 years with our million-selling Field Guide to the Birds of North America. Now, to better serve the expanding market, we've customized our field-guide format to offer unique coverage for birders east or west of the Rocky Mountains. These new volumes deliver in-depth information on every bird officially recorded in the specified area, with illustrated accounts of the different plumages and life stages, along with hundreds of color-coded range maps.Unique features set these guides apart from the competition and promise to win a new generation of readers: A full-color visual index, printed on the inside covers, makes the content accessible visually -a real boon to beginning and intermediate birders. Annotated artwork highlights birds' key physical features, making identification easier. Thumb-tabs help readers find information fast. Durable covers stand up to outdoor use, with integrated quick-reference flaps that double as place-markers.Field Guide to the Birds of Western North America offers 750 regular species, 600 new range maps, 100 casual and accidental birds, and 55 rarities.

Butterfly


Thomas Marent - 2008
    From a butterfly's first struggle to free itself from the chrysalis and take flight, to the life-and-death dramas of courtship, reproduction, protection and defence, Thomas Marent's photography is a celebration of these remarkable creatures and a portrait of some of the 165,000 species spread over almost every region of the world.

Snowflakes


Kenneth Libbrecht - 2008
    Snow—Caltech physicist Kenneth Libbrecht. His photos of snowflakes have appeared in National Geographic, the New York Times, and on Martha Stewart’s TV show, as well as numerous other places. This thick “cube” book is packed with a blizzard’s worth of amazing images as well as literary quotes on the beauty of snow.

National Wildlife Federation Field Guide to Trees of North America


Bruce KershnerCraig Tufts - 2008
    More than 2,000 stunning images show these trees in their natural habitats. Other features include: a unique identification tip for each tree; range maps showing distribution in North America; How to Identify a Tree section; a detailed glossary of tree parts and leaf, fruit, flower, and bark types; essays on ecology, conservation, and North America’s important forest types; plus a complex species and quick-flip indexes. The guide’s unique waterproof cover makes it especially valuable for use in the field.

A Child's Garden


Michael Foreman - 2008
    But the boy sees a tiny speck of green peeping up toward the sunlight, and he quietly begins to coax it with water and care. What sort of promise can a vine’s spreading tendrils bring to a bleak landscape? A beautifully illustrated tale of healing and renewal from a world-acclaimed children’s book creator, A Child’s Garden pays gentle tribute to the human spirit.

The Owl and the Woodpecker: Encounters With North America's Most Iconic Birds (With Audio CD)


Paul Bannick - 2008
    The diversity of these two families of birds, and the ways in which they define and enrich the ecosystems they inhabit, are the subject of this vivid new book by photographer and naturalist Paul Bannick. The Owl and the Woodpecker showcases a sense of these birds' natural rhythms, as well as the integral spirit of our wild places. Based on hundreds of hours in the field photographing these fascinating and wily birds, Bannick evokes all 41 North American species of owls and woodpeckers, across 11 key habitats. And by revealing the impact of two of our most iconic birds, Bannick has created a wholly unique approach to birding and conservation. * Perfect holiday book for all bird-watchers * An in-depth look at two of our most iconic--and important--bird species * Great for photography lovers, conservationists, and backyard enthusiasts alike * Includes a foreword by award-winning artist and writer Tony Angell

Smithsonian Field Guide to the Birds of North America


Ted Floyd - 2008
    It introduces a "whole bird" approach by concisely gathering a collection of information about birds into one portable and well-organized volume.2,000 stunning color photographs of birds in natural habitats show the most important field marks, regional population differences, life stages, and behaviors700-plus detailed and up-to-date color range maps show summer, migration, winter, year-round, and rare but regular occurrences of every major speciesA DVD of birdsongs for 138 major species (587 vocalizations in all for 5½ hours of play); each high-quality MP3 file is embedded with an image of the bird, perfect to view on home computers and portable MP3 playersConcise descriptions of habits and ecology, age-related and seasonal differences, regional forms, vocalization, and informative captions pointing out the most important aspects of the bird46 group essays with information outlining taxonomy, feeding, migration, habitats, behaviors, and conservation statusA thorough and accessible introduction to birds and birding includes sections on parts of a bird, plumage and molt, food and feeding, migration, habitats, conservation, tips on bow to become a better birder, and moreA detailed glossary of terms, species checklist, and quick indexThe Field Guide to the Birds of North America is perfectly designed to give birders the most powerful and user-friendly collection of information to carry into the field or wherever they enjoy learning about birds and nature.

How Shall I Live My Life?: On Liberating the Earth from Civilization


Derrick JensenJesse Wolf Hardin - 2008
    Whether it is Carolyn Raffensperger and her radical approach to public health, or Thomas Berry on perceiving the sacred; be it Kathleen Dean Moore reminding us that our bodies are made of mountains, rivers, and sunlight; or Vine Deloria asserting that our dreams tell us more about the world than science ever can, the activists and philosophers interviewed in How Shall I Live My Life? each bravely present a few of the endless forms that resistance can and must take.

Pheromone: The Insect Artwork of Christopher Marley


Christopher Marley - 2008
    The colors are entirely natural, and to render the reproductions as accurate as possible some have been reproduced with fifth-color metallic inks and highlighted with spot varnish. Accompanying the broad sample of Marley's work is a series of essays by the artist: "Design of Insects," "Insects in Design," "History," "Color," "The Coleoptera Mosaics: An Exercise in Color," "Repetition," "Structure," "Texture," "Variations," "Botanicals," "Size," and "Environmental Effects." Christopher Marley was born in Covina, California, and grew up near Salem, Oregon.

The Backyard Birdsong Guide: Western North America, A Guide to Listening


Donald E. Kroodsma - 2008
    Learn how to pick out the wavering songs of a young Bewick's Wren, or find out why many songbirds have dialects that vary from region to region. Complete with up-to-date range maps and more than 130 sounds provided by the Cornell Lab of Ornithology's world-renowned Macaulay Library, as well as exquisite illustrations of each species, The Backyard Birdsong Guide will resonate with beginners and experts alike. 8.00 inches tall x 0.75 inches long x 5.00 inches wide

Herpetology: An Introductory Biology of Amphibians and Reptiles


Laurie J. Vitt - 2008
    Zug's colleagues, provides herpetology students and amateur reptile and amphibian keepers with the latest taxonomy and species developments from around the world. Herpetology is a rapidly evolving field, which has contributed to new discoveries in many conceptual areas of biology. The authors build on this progress by updating all chapters with new literature, graphics, and discussions--many of which have changed our thinking.With a new emphasis placed on conservation issues, Herpetology continues to broaden the global coverage from earlier editions, recognizing the burgeoning reptile and amphibian research programs and the plight of many species in all countries and all biomes.New information on the remarkable advances in behavioral, physiological, and phylo-geographical data provide students with the current research they need to advance their education and better prepare their future in herpetology.

National Geographic Field Guide to the Birds of Eastern North America


Jon L. Dunn - 2008
    National Geographic has been meeting their need for clear and accurate information for 25 years with our million-selling Field Guide to the Birds of North America. Now, to better serve the expanding market, we’ve customized our field-guide format to offer unique coverage for birders east or west of the Rocky Mountains. These new volumes deliver in-depth information on every bird officially recorded in the specified area, with illustrated accounts of the different plumages and life stages, along with hundreds of color-coded range maps.Unique features set these guides apart from the competition and promise to win a new generation of readers: A full-color visual index, printed on the inside covers, makes the content accessible visually —a real boon to beginning and intermediate birders. Annotated artwork highlights birds’ key physical features, making identification easier. Thumb-tabs help readers find information fast. Durable covers stand up to outdoor use, with integrated quick-reference flaps that double as place-markers.Field Guide to the Birds of Eastern North America details 619 species and contains 560 new range maps, plus illustrated accounts for 85 casual and accidental birds and an appendix listing 70 rarities.

The Donkey Companion: Selecting, Training, Breeding, Enjoying Caring for Donkeys


Sue Weaver - 2008
    Whether you use your animal to pull carts, till fields, or protect livestock, you’ll benefit from this practical and inspirational guide to working with and caring for your donkey. Providing expert advice on selecting the right breed for your needs, daily maintenance, training, and first aid, Sue Weaver also includes plenty of fun facts and charming donkey anecdotes. Raise a happy and healthy donkey!

The Last Flight of the Scarlet Macaw: One Woman's Fight to Save the World's Most Beautiful Bird


Bruce Barcott - 2008
    “What we found just blew me away. Jaguars, pumas, river otters, howler monkeys. The place was like a Noah’s Ark for all the endangered species driven out of the rest of Central America. There was so much life! That expedition was when I first saw the macaws.”As a young woman, Sharon Matola lived many lives. She was a mushroom expert, an Air Force survival specialist, and an Iowa housewife. She hopped freight trains for fun and starred as a tiger tamer in a traveling Mexican circus. Finally she found her one true calling: caring for orphaned animals at her own zoo in the Central American country of Belize.Beloved as “the Zoo Lady” in her adopted land, Matola became one of Central America’s greatest wildlife defenders. And when powerful outside forces conspired with the local government to build a dam that would flood the nesting ground of the last scarlet macaws in Belize, Sharon Matola was drawn into the fight of her life.In The Last Flight of the Scarlet Macaw, award-winning author Bruce Barcott chronicles Sharon Matola’s inspiring crusade to stop a multinational corporation in its tracks. Ferocious in her passion, she and her confederates–a ragtag army of courageous locals and eccentric expatriates–endure slander and reprisals and take the fight to the courtroom and the boardroom, from local village streets to protests around the world.As the dramatic story unfolds, Barcott addresses the realities of economic survival in Third World countries, explores the tension between environmental conservation and human development, and puts a human face on the battle over globalization. In this marvelous and spirited book, Barcott shows us how one unwavering woman risked her life to save the most beautiful bird in the world.

The Norman Maclean Reader


Norman Maclean - 2008
    But it was a role he took up late in life, that of writer, that won him enduring fame and critical acclaim—as well as the devotion of readers worldwide. Though the 1976 collection A River Runs Through It and Other Stories was the only book Maclean published in his lifetime, it was an unexpected success, and the moving family tragedy of the title novella—based largely on Maclean’s memories of his childhood home in Montana—has proved to be one of the most enduring American stories ever written.The Norman Maclean Reader is a wonderful addition to Maclean’s celebrated oeuvre. Bringing together previously unpublished materials with incidental writings and selections from his more famous works, the Reader will serve as the perfect introduction for readers new to Maclean, while offering longtime fans new insight into his life and career. In this evocative collection, Maclean as both a writer and a man becomes evident. Perceptive, intimate essays deal with his career as a teacher and a literary scholar, as well as the wealth of family stories for which Maclean is famous. Complete with a generous selection of letters, as well as excerpts from a 1986 interview, The Norman Maclean Reader provides a fully fleshed-out portrait of this much admired author, showing us a writer fully aware of the nuances of his craft, and a man as at home in the academic environment of the University of Chicago as in the quiet mountains of his beloved Montana.Multifarious and moving, the works collected in The Norman Maclean Reader serve as both a summation and a celebration, giving readers a chance once again to hear one of American literature’s most distinctive voices.

A Passion for Nature: The Life of John Muir


Donald Worster - 2008
    A Passion for Nature is the most complete account of the great conservationist and founder of the Sierra Club ever written. It is the first to be based on Muir's full private correspondence and to meet modern scholarly standards. Yet it is also full of rich detail and personal anecdote, uncovering the complex inner life behind the legend of the solitary mountain man. It traces Muir from his boyhood in Scotland and frontier Wisconsin to his adult life in California right after the Civil War up to his death on the eve of World War I. It explores his marriage and family life, his relationship with his abusive father, his many friendships with the humble and famous (including Theodore Roosevelt and Ralph Waldo Emerson), and his role in founding the modern American conservation movement. Inspired by Muir's passion for the wilderness, Americans created a long and stunning list of national parks and wilderness areas, Yosemite most prominent among them. Yet the book also describes a Muir who was a successful fruit-grower, a talented scientist and world-traveler, a doting father and husband, a self-made man of wealth and political influence. A man for whom mountaineering was "a pathway to revelation and worship."For anyone wishing to more fully understand America's first great environmentalist, and the enormous influence he still exerts today, Donald Worster's biography offers a wealth of insight into the passionate nature of a man whose passion for nature remains unsurpassed.

Remarkable Trees of Virginia


Nancy Ross Hugo - 2008
    Four years later, more than one thousand trees had been officially nominated to the project and many others suggested for possible inclusion. The results, presented in this elegant, four-color volume, are astounding. Hugo and Kirwan, the project coordinators, have selected a sample of trees and "tree places" that illustrate the enormous variety, startling beauty, and fascinating history of Virginia's trees.Here you will see, through Llewellyn's incomparable lens, not only some of Virginia's largest trees, including a newly discovered national champion overcup oak in Isle of Wight County, but also some of the state's oldest, including baldcypress trees over 800 years old in Southampton County and red cedars over 450 years old in Giles. You will find unique trees like a willow oak in which a tricycle is embedded, fine specimens like the massive American beech in front of Sleepy Hollow Methodist Church in Falls Church, and outrageously shaped trees, like the water tupelos in the Cypress Bridge area of Southampton County. You will find trees associated with famous people and events as well as trees associated with ordinary people in extraordinary ways. Perhaps best of all, you will learn about communities that have gone to great lengths to protect their trees and about places where the public can visit some of the best trees and "treescapes" in the state.Remarkable Trees of Virginia is a celebration of trees, but it doesn't dodge hard issues. In a section on urban forests, the authors describe the major problems facing trees in urban areas and point out strategies urban foresters are using to solve them. They describe the ecological services trees provide and issue a call for action both to protect trees in their existing habitats and to find more places where trees can "grow large and long."Hugo, Kirwan, and Llewellyn present a treasury of Virginia's trees that is, indeed, remarkable.

Day Hiking Mount Rainier: National Park Trails


Dan A. Nelson - 2008
    Compact, portable, and beautifully packaged, Day Hiking Mount Rainier provides the most thorough coverage of Mount Rainier National Park to date, including the park's four main entrances-Nisqually, Carbon River, White River/Sunrise, and Stevens Canyon/Ohanapecosh -- as well as Cayuse Pass and Highway 123, the Grove of the Patriarchs, Camp Muir, parts of the Wonderland Trail, Longmire, and Paradise. Nearby camping options are included, plus info on how to extend your hike, a full-color photo insert and overview map, quick-reference icons for kids, dogs, views, and much more. **Mountaineers Books designates 1 percent of the sales of select guidebooks in our Day Hiking series toward volunteer trail maintenance. Since launching this program, we've contributed more than $14,000 toward improving trails. For this book, our 1 percent of sales is going to Washington Trails Association (WTA). WTA hosts more than 750 work parties throughout Washington's Cascades and Olympics each year, with volunteers clearing downed logs after spring snowmelt, cutting away brush, retreading worn stretches of trail, and building bridges and turnpikes. Their efforts are essential to the land managers who maintain thousands of acres on shoestring budgets.

Collins Wild Flower Guide


David Streeter - 2008
    Species are described and illustrated on the same page, with up-to-date authoritative text aiding identification. Plants are arranged by family, with their key features highlighted for quick and easy reference. The text offers a complete account of over 1,900 wild flowers of Britain and Ireland, along with a summary of their European distribution.Collins Wild Flower Guide is an indispensable guide for all those with an interest in the countryside, whether amateur or expert.

Shapes: Nature's Patterns: A Tapestry in Three Parts


Philip Ball - 2008
    Where does this order and regularity come from? It creates itself. The patterns we see come from self-organization. Whether living or non-living, scientists have found that there is a pattern-forming tendency inherent in the basic structure and processes of nature, so that from a few simple themes, and the repetition of simple rules, endless beautiful variations can arise.Part of a trilogy of books exploring the science of patterns in nature, acclaimed science writer Philip Ball here looks at how shapes form. From soap bubbles to honeycombs, delicate shell patterns, and even the developing body parts of a complex animal like ourselves, he uncovers patterns in growth and form in all corners of the natural world, explains how these patterns are self-made, and why similar shapes and structures may be found in very different settings, orchestrated by nothing more than simple physical forces. This book will make you look at the world with fresh eyes, seeing order and form even in the places you'd least expect.

Trees and Shrubs of Minnesota


Welby R. Smith - 2008
    In this new identification resource, the state’s foremost botanist and endangered species expert Welby R. Smith provides authoritative, accessible, and up-to-date information on the state’s native and naturalized woody plant species.This fully illustrated resource features:• Easy identification: more than one thousand color photographs of fruit, flowers, bark, and leaves for every species, as well as more than one hundred illustrations by botanical artist Vera Ming Wong• Distribution maps: more than five hundred maps, including state and North American range maps• Interesting background: descriptions of each species’ habitat, natural history, and ecology, which provide context to the entries• Comprehensive coverage: includes all native and naturalized trees, shrubs, and woody vines in Minnesota from Abies balsamea to Zanthozylum americanum.Written for everyone from scientists and environmentalists to teachers and people interested in horticulture and gardening, Trees and Shrubs of Minnesota will engage and educate anyone with a curiosity about the natural world.Welby R. Smith is a botanist for the Division of Ecological Resources at the Minnesota Department of Natural Resources. He is the author of Orchids of Minnesota (Minnesota, 1993).

Gardens: An Essay on the Human Condition


Robert Pogue Harrison - 2008
    Those gardens may be as far away from everyday reality as Gilgamesh’s garden of the gods or as near as our own backyard, but in their very conception and the marks they bear of human care and cultivation, gardens stand as restorative, nourishing, necessary havens.With Gardens, Robert Pogue Harrison graces readers with a thoughtful, wide-ranging examination of the many ways gardens evoke the human condition. Moving from from the gardens of ancient philosophers to the gardens of homeless people in contemporary New York, he shows how, again and again, the garden has served as a check against the destruction and losses of history. The ancients, explains Harrison, viewed gardens as both a model and a location for the laborious self-cultivation and self-improvement that are essential to serenity and enlightenment, an association that has continued throughout the ages. The Bible and Qur’an; Plato’s Academy and Epicurus’s Garden School; Zen rock and Islamic carpet gardens; Boccaccio, Rihaku, Capek, Cao Xueqin, Italo Calvino, Ariosto, Michel Tournier, and Hannah Arendt—all come into play as this work explores the ways in which the concept and reality of the garden has informed human thinking about mortality, order, and power.Alive with the echoes and arguments of Western thought, Gardens is a fitting continuation of the intellectual journeys of Harrison’s earlier classics, Forests and The Dominion of the Dead. Voltaire famously urged us to cultivate our gardens; with this compelling volume, Robert Pogue Harrison reminds us of the nature of that responsibility—and its enduring importance to humanity.

The Shark Handbook: The Essential Guide for Understanding the Sharks of the World


Gregory Skomal - 2008
    So if you’re dreaming of swimming with sharks, there’s no one better to take you—and that’s exactly what he does in this comprehensive, stunning field guide.  In addition to an awesome gatefold poster of a Great White (with all its distinguishing features shown in detail), plus amazing original images from Skomal and award-winning National Geographic photographer Nick Caloyianis, it contains a complete listing of every known shark in existence as well as some extinct species.  Learn about sharks from their birth to death, their anatomy, how to distinguish one shark from the next, how their teeth are developed, how they hunt and attack, and their importance and purpose within our eco system.

Encyclopedia of Northwest Native Plants for Gardens and Landscapes


Kathleen Robson - 2008
    Featured are some 530 subject species that occur naturally from southwestern Alaska to Oregon's border with California, and from the coast east to Idaho, plants that are not only beautiful ornamentals but important components of habitat diversity.Illustrated throughout with nearly 600 eye-popping color photographs and original pen-and-ink drawings, the book is smartly separated by plant type into five encyclopedic sections. Detailed descriptions include reommendations for cultivation and siting, from streambanks to parking strips, and lists suggesting natives for particular garden situations or themes—arid or sodden; hedgerows and meadows; hummingbird and rock gardens—concludes the book.Gardeners and conservationists alike will find much of value and interest in this impeccably presented and illustrated regional resource, which is sure to become a classic on the subject.

Day Hiking North Cascades: Mount Baker / Mountain Loop Highway / San Juan Islands


Craig Romano - 2008
    He covers a lot of territory that other guidebooks have passed up.-- Seattle Post-Intelligencer Discover the stunning scenery that abounds in the North Cascades region, where hikers indulge in the drama of steep peaks, deep valleys, and everything in between. This new guide covers the Bellingham area, Mount Baker, the Highway 20 corridor, North Cascades National Park, Winthrop and the Pasayten Wilderness area, parts of Glacier Peak Wilderness, and the Mountain Loop Highway. Compact and fresh with a broad range of hiking options, this is the most up-to-date guide for the area, organized along highway and other travel corridors with an emphasis on trails that are 12 miles or less, round-trip. Check out Craig Romano's blog: http: //craigromano.com/ **Mountaineers Books designates 1 percent of the sales of select guidebooks in our Day Hiking series toward volunteer trail maintenance.-- "Klamath Falls Herald and News"

Egg & Nest


Rosamond Wolff Purcell - 2008
    Such instances of wonder find fitting expression in the photographs of Rosamond Purcell, whose work captures the intricacy of nests and the aesthetic perfection of bird eggs. Mining the ornithological treasures of the Western Foundation of Vertebrate Zoology, Purcell produces pictures as lovely and various as the artifacts she photographs. The dusky blue egg of an emu becomes a planet. A woodpecker s nest bears an uncanny resemblance to a wooden shoe. A resourceful rock dove weaves together scrap metal and spent fireworks. A dreamscape of dancing monkeys emerges from the calligraphic markings of a murre egg.Alongside Purcell s photographs, Linnea Hall and Rene Corado offer an engaging history of egg collecting, the provenance of the specimens in the photographs, and the biology, conservation, and ecology of the birds that produced them. They highlight the scientific value that eggs and nest hold for understanding and conserving birds in the wild, as well as the aesthetic charge they carry for us.How has evolution shaped the egg or directed the design of the nest? How do the photographs convey such infinitesimal and yet momentous happenstance? The objects in "Egg & Nest" are specimens of natural history, and in Purcell s renderings, they are also the most natural art.

The Bird: A Natural History of Who Birds Are, Where They Came From & How They Live


Colin Tudge - 2008
    b&w illustrations throughout.

Tree of Rivers: The Story of the Amazon


John Hemming - 2008
    Human beings settled in Amazonia ten thousand years ago and learned to live well on its bounty. Europeans first saw the Amazon around 1500 and started settling there in the seventeenth century. Always in fear or awe of the jungle, they tried in vain to introduce crops and livestock.John Hemming's account of the river and its history is full of larger-than-life personalities this unique environment attracted: explorers, missionaries, and naturalists among them. By the nineteenth century, Amazonian natives had almost been destroyed by alien diseases and slavery, as well as violent class rebellion. Although the rubber industry created huge fortunes, it too was at a fearful cost in human misery.In the last hundred years, the Amazon has seen intrepid explorers, entreprenurial millionaires, and political extremists taking refuge in jungle retreats. Alongside them, natural scientists, anthropologists, and archaeologists have sought to discover the secrets of this mighty habitat.Today, the world's appetite for timber, beef, and soya is destroying this great tropical forest. Hemming explains why the Amazon is environmentally crucial to survival and brilliantly describes the passionate struggles to exploit and protect it.

Bark: An Intimate Look at the World's Trees


Cedric Pollet - 2008
    Each image is a work of art in itself and is accompanied by a photograph of each tree in its natural environment, along with information about its species, origins, uses, habitat, and location. Cédric Pollet, whose background is landscape design, has combined his scientific and botanical background with his passion for plants to create a highly informative text, which compliments the beauty of his photographs. Bark is ideal for any nature lover.

Wesley the Owl: The Remarkable Love Story of an Owl and His Girl


Stacey O'Brien - 2008
    This is the funny, poignant story of their two decades together.On Valentine's Day 1985, biologist Stacey O'Brien first met a four-day-old baby barn owl -- a fateful encounter that would turn into an astonishing 19-year saga. With nerve damage in one wing, the owlet's ability to fly was forever compromised, and he had no hope of surviving on his own in the wild. O'Brien, a young assistant in the owl laboratory at Caltech, was immediately smitten, promising to care for the helpless owlet and give him a permanent home. Wesley the Owl is the funny, poignant story of their dramatic two decades together. With both a tender heart and a scientist's eye, O'Brien studied Wesley's strange habits intensively and first-hand -- and provided a mice-only diet that required her to buy the rodents in bulk (28,000 over the owl's lifetime). As Wesley grew, she snapped photos of him at every stage like any proud parent, recording his life from a helpless ball of fuzz to a playful, clumsy adolescent to a gorgeous, gold-and-white, macho adult owl with a heart-shaped face and an outsize personality that belied his 18-inch stature. Stacey and Wesley's bond deepened as she discovered Wesley's individual personality, subtle emotions, and playful nature that could also turn fiercely loyal and protective -- though she could have done without Wesley's driving away her would-be human suitors! O'Brien also brings us inside the prestigious research community, a kind of scientific Hogwarts where resident owls sometimes flew freely from office to office and eccentric, brilliant scientists were extraordinarily committed to studying and helping animals; all of them were changed by the animal they loved. As O'Brien gets close to Wesley, she makes important discoveries about owl behavior, intelligence, and communication, coining the term "The Way of the Owl" to describe his inclinations: he did not tolerate lies, held her to her promises, and provided unconditional love, though he was not beyond an occasional sulk. When O'Brien develops her own life-threatening illness, the biologist who saved the life of a helpless baby bird is herself rescued from death by the insistent love and courage of this wild animal. Enhanced by wonderful photos, Wesley the Owl is a thoroughly engaging, heartwarming, often funny story of a complex, emotional, non-human being capable of reason, play, and, most important, love and loyalty. It is sure to be cherished by animal lovers everywhere.

Southbound


Lucy Letcher - 2008
    "Highly recommended." --trailsbib.blogspot.comFrom the book: "We stood for a moment before the venerable signpost marking the summit. Scored with graffiti and the constant onslaught of weather, it stands perhaps three feet high, a wooden A-frame painted Forest Service brown with recessed white letters: KATAHDIN 5268 ft.Northern Terminus of the Appalachian TrailBelow this were a few waypoints: Thoreau Spring, 1.0, Katahdin Stream Campground, 5.2. At the bottom of the list: Springer Mountain, Georgia, 2160.2. More than two thousand miles. It was simply a number, too large and incomprehensible to have any bearing on me. The farthest I had ever walked in a day was ten miles and that was with a daypack. Now I was contemplating a journey of months, covering thousands of miles. All of a sudden, there on the summit with the clouds screaming past us, it didn't seem like such a great idea.I turned to my sister, half-expecting to see the same doubt mirrored in her face. But her eyes were shining, and she smiled with an almost feral intensity. It was a look I would come to know all too well over the next year and a half, and it meant, I am going to do this and no one had better try to stop me. 'We're really doing this, ' she shouted over the wind's howl and the lashing rain. 'We're hiking the Appalachian Trail!'"At the ages of twenty-five and twenty-one, Lucy and Susan Letcher set out to accomplish what thousands of people attempt each year: thru-hike the entire 2,175 miles of the Appalachian Trail. The difference between them and the others? They decided to hike the trail barefoot. Quickly earning themselves the moniker of the Barefoot Sisters, the two begin their journey at Mount Katahdin and spend eight months making their way to Springer Mountain in Georgia. As they hike, they write about their adventures through the 100-mile Wilderness, the rocky terrain of Pennsylvania, and snowfall in the Great Smoky Mountains--a story filled with humor and determination. It's as close as one can get to hiking the Appalachian Trail without strapping on a pack.Listen to the Barefoot Sisters read excerpts from their book here: Southbound Podcast - part 1 and here: Southbound Podcast - part 2

The Weather of the Pacific Northwest


Cliff Mass - 2008
    Local weather features dominate the meteorological landscape, from the Puget Sound convergence zone and wind surges along the Washington Coast, to gap winds through the Columbia Gorge and the "Banana Belt" of southern Oregon. This book is the first comprehensive and authoritative guide to Northwest weather that is directed to the general reader; helpful to boaters, hikers, and skiers; and valuable to expert meteorologists.In The Weather of the Pacific Northwest, University of Washington atmospheric scientist and popular radio commentator Cliff Mass unravels the intricacies of Northwest weather, from the mundane to the mystifying. By examining our legendary floods, snowstorms, and windstorms, and a wide variety of local weather features, Mass answers such interesting questions as:o Why does the Northwest have localized rain shadows?o What is the origin of the hurricane force winds that often buffet the region?o Why does the Northwest have so few thunderstorms?o What is the origin of the Pineapple Express?o Why do ferryboats sometimes seem to float above the water's surface?o Why is it so hard to predict Northwest weather?Mass brings together eyewitness accounts, historical records, and meteorological science to explain Pacific Northwest weather. He also considers possible local effects of global warming. The final chapters guide readers in interpreting the Northwest sky and in securing weather information on their own.

Extreme Birds: The World's Most Extraordinary and Bizarre Birds


Dominic Couzens - 2008
    The species showcased in this book are chosen for their extraordinary characteristics and for behaviors far beyond the typical. They are the biggest, the fastest, the meanest, the smartest. They build the most intricate nests, they have the most peculiar mating rituals, and they dive the deepest or fly the highest. These are the overachievers of the avian world.

The Book of Indian Butterflies


Isaac Kehimkar - 2008
    Most descriptions are illustrated with color images of specimens from the Bombay Natural History Society's collection as well as with color photographs of butterflies from across the country in their natural habitats. The book also includes color photographs showing the life history of different butterfly groups and their adaptation techniques.Besides highlighting the rich biodiversity of India's butterfly fauna, this book is a highly enjoyable guide for nature lovers. Isaac Kehimkar discusses the biology and identification of butterflies, as well as butterfly watching, photography, and rearing. Written by an expert in the field, The Book of Indian Butterflies is a comprehensive and updated guide to India's butterflies.

Snakes of India The Field Guide


Romulus Earl Whitaker - 2008
    It concisely describes more than 150 species of snakes, both venomous and nonvenomous. Many of the species covered are also found in Pakistan, Nepal, Bhutan, Bangladesh and Sri Lanka. Snake identification is made easy through stunning photographs and includes many of the color variations found in Indian snakes. Each species account includes description, scalation, natural history, a distribution map and look-alikes. Other sections include snakebite, snake people in India, laws protecting snakes and a complete, up to date checklist. Ashok Captain is an ophidian taxonomist and photographer who is either in the hill forests of India's remote northeast or the specimen rooms at the Bombay Natural History Society. He is particularly fond of the monsoons, umbrellas and leeches. Each book you buy contributes to the printing of “Snakes of India” in 15 Indian languages.

Into The Deep: Exploring The Earth's Oceans


Karsten Schneider - 2008
    Yet despite its proximity and riches, in many ways we know more about the surface of Mars than we know about the deep ocean. "Into the Deep" charts our exploration of Earth's final frontier and its inhabitants as it descends from bright coral reefs to the eternal, cold darkness of the abyss. It is a voyage that will astonish the reader - just as the latest deep sea discoveries regularly confound scientists - as they meet the Giant Squid's bigger brother, the Colossal Squid, and encounter the utterly alien environment that surrounds 'black smokers' - hydrothermal rifts in the Earth's crust.

Modern Marine Weather: From Time-honored Traditional Knowledge to the Latest Technology


David Burch - 2008
    Covers practical applications of GRIB files, ASCAT wind measurements, and other modern resources.

National Geographic Visual Atlas of the World


National Geographic Society - 2008
    Incorporated in the many up-to-the moment regional maps that portray each continent are hundreds of brilliant photographs—each depicting unique natural and cultural treasures that have been designated as UNESCO World Heritage sites. From the vast plains of the Serengeti to the Kasbah of Algiers, from prehistoric rock art to the statue of Liberty, these incomparable locales are under UN protection for future generations to know and enjoy.Thematic maps enhance the global coverage, detailing trends and characteristics of today’s critical issues: natural resources, energy, population, religion, economy and trade, conflict, climate change. The latest political boundaries and country names are incorporated, as well as vital information on the oceans, space, national flags, and more. Engaging layouts, functional design, and a new comprehensive place-name index allow the reader to easily navigate around the globe to discover or confirm more than 50,000 locations. The supreme accuracy and practicality of the maps, charts, and country facts and tables—as well as the inspirational collection of more than 600 photographs, satellite images, and illustrations—make the National Geographic Visual Atlas of the World a must-have reference for families, travelers, students, and scholars.

Gem Trails of Oregon


Garret Romaine - 2008
    One sentence highlighted. Tracking number provided in your account with every order. A portion of the proceeds is donated to local libraries.

William Stout Prehistoric Life Murals


William Stout - 2008
    This lavishly illustrated 144-page volume contains all of Stout s stunning murals for The Houston Museum of Natural Science, Walt Disney World's Animal Kingdom, and the San Diego Natural History Museum. In 1981, award-winning paleoartist Stout s critically acclaimed book The Dinosaurs - A Fantastic New View of a Lost Era launched the ongoing public renaissance in the reexamination and revision of dinosaur appearance, intelligence and lifestyles. Michael Crichton acknowledged this legendary masterwork as an inspiration for Jurassic Park. Now Stout has returned to take us on a new journey, deeper into Earth s primordial past. Following in the tradition of legendary paleoartists Charles R. Knight and Rudolph F. Zallinger, Stout s murals of extinct predators and prey dramatically capture our imaginations. Incorporating the latest paleontological evidence, the artist breathes life into prehistoric creatures that are both scientifically accurate and emotionally stimulating. Beyond the book s inherent scientific content, Stout s detailed commentary guides readers through his creative process. Variations between the different stages in each mural s development are explained in entertaining and easy-to-read text. Included are preliminary drawings, color studies, and one-quarter-scale oil paintings, guiding the reader through Stout s meticulous step-by-step methodology from initial design to finished masterpiece. Influenced by landscape painter Thomas Moran, whose work inspired the formation of America s National Parks, Stout creates vistas of a world that existed millions of years ago. The highlight of the book is Stout s recent twelve mural commission by the San Diego Natural History Museum, which includes oil paintings up to thirty-four feet long. Through Paleozoic fish and reptiles, Cretaceous dinosaurs and sea creatures, then concluding with Ice Age mastodons and saber-toothed cats, vast panoramas of varied prehistoric worlds unfold in this handsome full color collection. Like Knight and Zallinger before him, Stout has created murals that will amaze viewers, inspire future generations of budding artists, and enthrall eager young dinosaur hunters for decades to come."

One Best Hike: Mt. Whitney


Elizabeth Wenk - 2008
    Whitney's summit is the 22-mile round-trip Mt. Whitney Trail. Although the hike is non-technical, would-be hikers need to be prepared for the altitude, long distance, elevation gain, mountain weather, and other potential dangers. Author and seasoned Sierra hiker Elizabeth Wenk provides the authoritative, step-by-step guide to planning and completing this superb hike with safety advice, insider information, detail, and reassurance found nowhere else.

Owls of North America


Frances Backhouse - 2008
    These distinctive birds populate every continent except Antarctica and survive in everything from arid desert, to arctic tundra, to dense rain forest.From ancient mythology to Harry Potter, owls hold an enduring place in the human imagination. In some cultures they are revered; in others, feared. And for every superstition that associates owls with good fortune, a dozen more link them to death, sickness or evil.Frances Backhouse provides an in-depth yet lively study of these fascinating birds. Topics include anatomy and adaptations, mating behaviors, egg laying and chick rearing, feeding habits, communication displays and location.Superbly designed birds of prey, owls are equipped with highly effective tools for killing and dismembering their prey: strong feet with curved, stiletto-like talons and a sturdy hooked bill with razor-sharp cutting edges. What makes owls unique is that most of them hunt in darkness from dusk to dawn using their keen hearing, enhanced low-light vision and sound-muffling structures on their flight feathers.With detailed profiles of and range maps for all 23 species, along with 70 color photographs illustrating key behavioral characteristics, Owls of North America is a solid reference for birders, naturalists and general readers.

A Place for Turtles


Melissa Stewart - 2008
    Describing various examples, the text provides an intriguing look at turtles, at the ecosystems that support their survival, and at the efforts of some people to save them. At the end of the book, the author offers readers a list of things they can do to help protect these special creatures in their own communities.

Kingdoms and Domains: An Illustrated Guide to the Phyla of Life on Earth


Lynn Margulis - 2008
    Developed after consultation with specialists, this modern classification scheme is consistent both with the fossil record and with recent molecular, morphological and metabolic data. Generously illustrated, now in full color, Kingdoms and Domains is remarkably easy to read. It accesses the full range of life forms that still inhabit our planet and logically and explicitly classifies them according to their evolutionary relationships. Definitive characteristics of each phylum are professionally described in ways that, unlike most scientific literature, profoundly respect the needs of educators, students and nature lovers. This work is meant to be of interest to all evolutionists as well as to conservationists, ecologists, genomicists, geographers, microbiologists, museum curators, oceanographers, paleontologists and especially nature lovers whether artists, gardeners or environmental activists. Kingdoms and Domains is a unique and indispensable reference for anyone intrigued by a planetary phenomenon: the spectacular diversity of life, both microscopic and macroscopic, as we know it only on Earth today. OCoNew Foreword by Edward O. WilsonOCoThe latest concepts of molecular systematics, symbiogenesis, and the evolutionary importance of microbesOCoNewly expanded chapter openings that define each kingdom and place its members in context in geological time and ecological spaceOCoDefinitions of terms in the glossary and throughout the bookOCoEcostrips, illustrations that place organisms in their most likely environments such as deep sea vents, tropical forests, deserts or hot sulfur springsOCoA new table that compares features of the most inclusive taxaOCoApplication of a logical, authoritative, inclusive and coherent overall classification scheme based on evolutionary principles"

Edible: An Illustrated Guide to the World's Food Plants


National Geographic Society - 2008
    Illustrated with more than 500 images and written by top international horticultural and culinary experts, the sumptuous Edible explores the origins, history, and contemporary cultural and culinary uses of fruits, vegetables, nuts, grains, beverage plants, herbs, and spices. A rich introduction begins the book, revealing early agriculture and our "green" future. Then an eight-chapter "Food Directory" cameos individual plants, with reader friendly layouts framing each entry’s biography, botanical description, culinary role, and healing powers. In addition to the lively and authoritative narrative, Edible intrigues readers with layers of information: literary quotes, boxes on ancient origins of exotic foods, political underpinnings, nutritional values, longstanding remedies, and more. Tantalizing anecdotes dip into such diverse topics as the Japanese Cherry Festival; cacao, Mayan "food of the gods;" and the 17th-century Nutmeg Wars, which determined New York’s future. A glossary and index complete the book.The National Geographic Desk Reference to Nature’s Medicine has proven itself a steady sales record. With huge appeal for both the health-conscious and the legions of devotees who follow today’s chefs in the media, Edible is a recipe for success.

The New Encyclopedia of Orchids: 1500 Species in Cultivation


Isobyl la Croix - 2008
    Infinitely varied and hugely interesting, these strikingly beautiful plants are sumptuously illustrated with over 1000 photographs in a reference that no orchid lover can afford to be without. Isobyl la Croix is a scientist, plant hunter, and horticulturalist; her deep passion for orchids informs the plant selection and adds depth to the plant descriptions. The cultivation advice includes information about the orchid's native habitat—including elevation, geography, and climate. Recent developments in DNA analysis have led to some surprising findings with regard to the relationships between orchids, and the author has undertaken an extensive effort to bring all orchid names up-to-date to reflect the latest scientific thinking and taxonomy. From Acampe to Zygostates, no other serious reference approaches the depth and authority of this remarkable book.

Backyard Guide to the Night Sky


Howard Schneider - 2008
    We just want to lie down, look up, and understand the heavens above. The National Geographic Backyard Guide to the Night Sky shows us how.Authors Howard Schneider and Patricia Daniels take an expert but easygoing approach that doesn’t overwhelm—it invites. Ten chapters cover everything a beginning stargazer will need to know, from understanding the phases of the moon to picking Mars out of a planetary lineup to identifying the kinds of stars twinkling in the constellations.Throughout the book, star charts and tables present key facts in an easy-to-understand format, sidebars and fact boxes present illuminating anecdotes and fun facts to sweep us swiftly into the stardust, and by the time we realize we’ve been schooled in solid science we’re too engrossed to object.Along with practical advice and hands-on tips to improve observation techniques, the guide includes an appendix full of resources—from books and web sites to lists of astronomy clubs and associations to local planetariums and museums. This indispensable book guides us on a new path into the night sky, truly one of the greatest shows on Earth.

Listening to Stone


Daniel Snow - 2008
    In his highly anticipated second book, Vermonter Dan Snow once again proves that he is not just one of America's premier artisans, but also one of our most articulate voices on the natural world and our relationship to it. Snow's medium is stone: He is the nation's premier drystone wall builder. Schooled in this ancient craft, he painstakingly creates structures as breathtaking as sculpture with nothing but gravity as their glue. In Listening to Stone, Peter Mauss's tactile photographs of Snow's artistry are matched by the artisan's quietly compelling prose. In a voice as expressive as Annie Dillard's and as informed as John McPhee's, Snow demonstrates astonishing range as he touches on such subjects as geology, philosophy, and community. We learn that stone's grace comes from its unique characteristics—its capacity to give, its surprising fluidity, its ability to demand respect, and its role as a steadying force in nature. In these fast-paced times, Snow’s life's work offers an antidote: the luxury of patience, the bounty and quietude of nature, the satisfaction of sweat. "I work with stone," he ultimately tells us, "because stone is so much work."

The Dog: 5000 Years of the Dog in Art


Tamsin Pickeral - 2008
    Features more than 250 beautiful illustrations by major artists.

Visions of Paradise


National Geographic Society - 2008
    Visions of Paradise is the magnificent result of their work. Through breathtaking images from across the globe, and stories as exquisite as the glance of a leopard seal, these men and women share the places they have personally found to be Heaven on Earth. Explore stunning re-naturalized habitats in New Zealand with Brian Skerry, share the thrilling sight of an undiscovered waterfall with Stephen Alvarez, enjoy the refreshing cover of a Congo jungle with Nick Nichols, and spot the most beautiful butterfly in Borneo with Tim Laman—to name just a few. Swim with penguins beneath Antarctic ice, rest on a leaf with a dragonfly, follow the tracks of dinosaurs…and know, that every beautiful sight that meets your eyes is a precious paradise worth preserving a special place that feels like Heaven on Earth.Visions of Paradise is the next bestselling gift photography book in the tradition of National Geographic’s Through the Lens, In Focus, Wide Angle, and Work. Surprising, life-affirming, and visually breathtaking, Visions of Paradise is for everyone who enjoys great photography and values the stunning natural wonder and diversity of our Earth.

How the Ocean Works: An Introduction to Oceanography


Mark W. Denny - 2008
    Any study of this huge habitat requires a solid foundation in the principles that underlie marine biology and physical and chemical oceanography, yet until now undergraduate textbooks have largely presented compilations of facts rather than explanations of principles. How the Ocean Works fills this gap, providing a concise and accessible college-level introduction to marine science that is also ideal for general readers.How are winds and currents driven? What is the dilemma of the two-layered ocean? Mark Denny explains key concepts like these in rich and fascinating detail. He explores early scientific knowledge of oceans, photosynthesis, trophic interactions and energy flow, and the impacts of human activities on marine and atmospheric systems. Focusing each chapter on a major topic and carefully explaining the principles and theory involved, Denny gives readers the conceptual building blocks needed to develop a coherent picture of the living ocean. How the Ocean Works is an indispensable resource that teaches readers how to think about the ocean--its biology, mechanics, and conservation. Provides a concise, up-to-date introduction to marine science Develops the conceptual basis needed to understand how the ocean works Explains fundamental principles and theory Includes color illustrations and informative diagrams Serves as a college textbook and a reference for general readers

Ocean: An Illustrated Atlas


Sylvia A. Earle - 2008
    Deep-sea pioneer and National Geographic Explorer-in-Residence Sylvia A. Earle (known as "Her Deepness") and marine scientist Linda K. Glover guide the adventure, in consultation with experts from NASA and the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration—who welcome the publication of a comprehensive ocean atlas geared to popular readers.The accessible text lays out key concepts, points of interest, and little known facts, opening our eyes to living phenomena from giant squid to tiny microbial bodies. Astonishing full-color photographs and diagrams reveal the beauty and complexity of ocean life. Unprecedented new full spread maps of the ocean floor—hand-drawn by expert cartographers—reveal the five major oceans in astonishing details. An unequaled resource for both education and entertainment, Ocean also explores the progress of fascinating technologies that will help scientists discover uncharted regions and life-forms. In light of recent events—the tsunami of 2004, Katrina and Rita of 2005, the growth of the ozone hole—humankind’s link to the ocean is front and center in our lives today. This rich informative, and timely atlas, encourages understanding of how the ocean correlates with these happenings—and how human maintenance of its waters and creatures will keep the planet going.

Storey's Illustrated Breed Guide to Sheep, Goats, Cattle and Pigs: 163 Breeds from Common to Rare


Carol Ekarius - 2008
    Comprehensive, colorful, and captivating, Storey’s Illustrated Breed Guide to Sheep, Goats, Cattle, and Pigs features full-color profiles of 163 livestock breeds. Whether you’re looking for a gentle domestic backyard animal or are hoping to introduce a rare heritage breed on your farm, you’re sure to find an animal that’s perfect for your needs.

Native Ferns, Moss, and Grasses: From Emerald Carpet to Amber Wave, Serene and Sensuous Plants for the Garden


William Cullina - 2008
    Cullina notes that ferns, moss, and grasses are the green canvas for colorful blooms: they bring a level of refinement and sophistication that no flower can match, and no garden is complete without them. Native Ferns, Moss and Grasses offers a thorough discussion of plant hardiness, and for each species the natural range, type of soil, and habitat in which the plant thrives is indicated. The book concludes with complete information on where to buy featured plants and suggested species for various uses and spaces.

Leaving Resurrection: Chronicles of a Whale Scientist


Eva Saulitis - 2008
    Eva Saulitis writes with great honesty about her vulnerability and fears, about her excitement and discoveries, and about her passionate love for the wild. She inspires us with her boldness, she invites us to eagerly accept challenges, she opens us to the willing embrace of adventure, and she takes us into the hidden glories of Alaska as few other writers have done.These gentle, richly perceptive, beautifully rendered stories take readers straight to the heart of Alaska. And like all fine writing, it leaves you aching for more. Eva Saulitis writes deeply from the spirit of Margaret Murie, and she shows us that the soul of wildness is still very much alive in the north country.The wild country of Alaska has always attracted women of extraordinary strength and character, women with a keen eye for the land's beauty and a heart strong enough for its challenges, women equal to the measure of the Alaskan land itself. Eva Saulitis and Leaving Resurrection are wonderful reminders that the tradition lives on.

Wild Seas


Thomas P. Peschak - 2008
     From gregarious gray whales plying the waters of Baja California to acrobatic manta rays in the Maldives and parading penguins in Antarctica, National Geographic photographer Thomas Peschak has spent a lifetime documenting the beauty and fragility of underwater life and the majesty of wild coastlines. This awe-inspiring book of photography charts his transformation from marine biologist to full-time conservation advocate, armed with little more than a mask, fins and a camera. In these vivid pages, Peschak photographs sharks in a feeding frenzy, tracks sea turtles the size of bears, and dodges marine poachers, to reveal the splendor of pristine seas as well as the dark side of pollution, overfishing, and climate change. Filled with magnificent images from Southern Africa, the Galápagos, Seychelles, and more, this illuminating collection offers an impassioned case for revering—and preserving—the world’s oceans.

Old Farm: A History


Jerry Apps - 2008
    In this quiet but epic tale, Apps describes the Native Americans who lived on the land for hundreds of years, tapping the maple trees and fishing the streams and lakes, as well as the first white settlers who tilled its sandy acres, plowing the native grasses that grew taller than their teams of oxen. For all their work, the farm proved tough to tame. Hardscrabble farming methods and hard luck often brought failure. "From land that provided only a marginal living for its early owners, this place we call Roshara has provided much for my family and me," writes Apps. He and his wife and their children have cared for the farm not so much to make a living as to enhance their lives. Apps chronicles the family's efforts — always earnest, if sometimes ill-advised — to restore an old granary into living space, develop a productive vegetable garden, manage the woodlots, reestablish a prairie, and enjoy nature's sounds and silences. Breathtakingly beautiful color photographs by Apps's son, Steve (a professional photographer), highlight the ever-changing beauty of the land in every season and hint at the spiritual gifts that are the true bounty this family reaps from Roshara. Central to Apps' work is his belief that the land is something to cherish and revere. Like Aldo Leopold before him, Apps sounds an inspirational call to readers to preserve wild and rural places, leaving them in better condition than we found them for future generations.

A Natural History of Conifers


Aljos Farjon - 2008
    Leading expert Aljos Farjon provides a compelling narrative that observes conifers from the standpoint of the curious naturalist. It starts with the basic question of what conifers are and continues to explore their evolution, taxonomy, ecology, distribution, human uses, and issues of conservation. As the story unfolds many popular misconceptions are dispelled, such as the false notion that all conifers have cones. The extraordinary diversity of conifers begins to dawn as Farjon describes the diminutive creeping shrub Microcachrys tetragona, whose strange seed cones resemble raspberries, and the prehistoric-looking Araucaria meulleri. The taxonomic diversity of conifers is huge and Farjon goes on to relate how, over the course of 300 million years, these trees and shrubs have adapted to survive geological upheavals, climatic extremes, and formidable competition from flowering plants. All who seek to learn more about the early history of life on our planet will cherish this book.

Natural Language Processing and Information Retrieval


Tanveer Siddiqui - 2008
    The book attempts to bridge the gap between theory and practice and would also serve as a useful reference for professionals and researchers working on language-related projects.Integrating two rapidly developing and popular research fields of language processing and information retrieval, the book provides an extensive coverage of various concepts and widely used techniques in these areas. The text includes topics such as language modeling, lexical analysis, computational modeling, grammar and parsing, and semantic as well as knowledge-based analysis. The statistical and semantic approaches are explained with examples from Hindi, English, and Urdu. Besides presenting traditional applications of machine translation and natural language generation, the book discusses recent trends and practices of information retrieval, text summarization, and information extraction in sufficient detail.Written in easy-to-understand and student-friendly style, the textbook also provides ample practical applications based on hands-on research experience wherever appropriate.

Planthropology: The Myths, Mysteries, and Miracles of My Garden Favorites


Ken Druse - 2008
    Ripe with facts, punctured myths, serious investigation, and practical gardening wisdom, this is a gloriously illustrated and enlightening celebration of the plants that delight and sustain us. For Ken Druse, the garden provides both a refuge from the world and an irresistible invitation to explore the wonders of nature. In planthropology, Druse celebrates the secret stories of plants and explains their im-portance within daily life, now and since ancient times. A pleasingly random and ever delightful garden stroll of a book, it uncovers scientific facts, dispels myths, exposes controversies, tells some rollicking good anecdotes, and, along the way, casually dispenses an abundance of practical gardening wisdom.Using many of his own favorite plants as examples, Druse reveals little-known facts about both rare and common beauties. For instance, if you like winding down on a terrace or patio after work, Druse suggests planting petunias. Why? Because they are evening fragrant—their pollinators only come out at night. Perhaps you may not have noticed the beautiful spiraling patterns on sunflower heads; Druse explains that all plants feature such spirals, and that they correspond exactly to mathematical principles that have captivated great thinkers (and artists) throughout history.With the authority and assurance of someone who demonstrates both deep passion and uncommon ex-pertise, Druse takes us chapter by chapter through the history, biology, economics, and cultural significance of plants. We meet bumblebees who literally shake pollen free from flowers with sonic vibrations. (Druse can’t recommend petting the fuzzy little apian teddy bears as they sleep in a sheltering blossom, but he has tried it!) Here too are the adventures of the plant explorers who sailed and trekked across the world in search of new and exotic specimens, and whose exploits were far more harrowing than you might imagine. Some plants even factored into the instigation of war. But Druse then gives us a handy primer on the language of flowers (a single gardenia says, “I love you in secret,” and acacia blossoms say, “Let us be friends”). He considers the influence of plants on the history of fine and decorative arts, the way we garden now with stalwart, low-maintenance plants, and the ever more critical need for conservation.Planthropology is a wondrous ac-knowledgment, from one plant lover to his fellow devotees, of the limitless pleasure and deep wisdom to be found in the garden.

Voyages of Discovery: A Visual Celebration of Ten of the Greatest Natural History Expeditions


Tony Rice - 2008
    Superb artwork and photographs spanning three centuries document landmark advances made in the field and bring to life the fascinating stories of the explorers, naturalists, artists and photographers.The book is fully illustrated in color with informative text and captions. Highlights include:Sir Hans Sloane's 1687 voyage to Jamaica, where he collected and recorded plant specimens, including cocoa, which are preserved to this day Maria Sybilla Merian's personal journey to Surinam in 1699, where in brilliant detail she recorded butterflies and exotic insects Charles Darwin's fateful trip to the Galapagos Islands, on which he cataloged finches and fossils William Bartram's fanciful documentation of North American wildlife Matthew Flinders' mapping of Australia, where he was accompanied by Ferdinand Bauer, perhaps the greatest of all natural science artists. The Natural History Museum in London has the world's most comprehensive collection of natural science specimens and artworks. Voyages of Discovery offers readers a privileged opportunity to explore that collection.

Looking for Hickories: The Forgotten Wildness of the Rural Midwest


Tom Springer - 2008
    They mingle a generosity of spirit and the childlike pleasure of discovery with a grown-up sense of a time and a place, if not lost, then in danger of disappearing altogether---things to treasure and preserve for today and tomorrow.

Open Spaces Sacred Places: Stories of How Nature Heals and Unifies


Tom H. Stoner - 2008
    A book that dramatically demonstrates how nature has the power to heal and unify in our increasingly frenetic 21st-century world.

Wild Swim


Kate Rew - 2008
    In this stunning and inspiring guide, Kate Rew, founder of the Outdoor Swimming Society, takes you on a wild journey across Britain, braving the elements to experience first-hand some of the country's most awe-inspiring swim spots, from tidal pools in the Outer Hebrides to the white-sand beaches of the Isles of Scilly.Waterfalls, natural jacuzzis, sea caves, meandering rivers - every swim is described in loving detail, taking in not only the gleeful humour of each mini-adventure and the breathtaking beauty of the surroundings, but also practical information about how to find these remote spots.Featuring evocative photography from Dominick Tyler, this is a must-have book for serious swimmers and seaside paddlers alike, and is perfect for the outdoors enthusiast in your life.

Wildlife of Britain: The Definitive Visual Guide


George C. McGavin - 2008
    Explore its extraordinary beauty, diversity and wonder from the comfort of your front room.

African Air


George Steinmetz - 2008
    In African Air, Steinmetz captures stunning panoramas in more than fourteen countries in Africa, giving readers captivating and intimate views of areas that have rarely, if ever before, been photographed.  From densely packed urban centers to small, remote villages, from migrating herds of wildebeests and elephants to infinite miles of desert, African Air is a compelling testament and celebration of the majesty and splendor of Africa’s most breathtaking landscapes. With extraordinary vision and a unique perspective, Steinmetz portrays sky, land, and water in ways that have never been expressed before.

WWF Vanishing Animals


Edoardo Maria Massimi - 2008
    For each species, it presents the challenges involved in conservation and explores the actions WWF is taking in the field. Above all, it examines the connection between the protection of a certain species and the survival of the local populations. The animal species on which this book focuses are among the rarest in the world—and the best known to many of us for exactly that reason. The authors also examine less familiar species of equally high biological significance. Each chapter focuses on projects dedicated to the conservation of that species in different locations around the world. Among the animals highlighted are the African elephant—with particular attention paid to the extreme environment of Chad—the aye-aye of Madagascar, the short-tailed chinchilla of South America, and the bird of paradise of Papua New Guinea. Accompanying the insightful text of this meaningful book are hundreds of magnificent photographs that convey the unique qualities of each of the species featured. A wake-up call we can’t ignore, this volume demonstrates the severity of the plight of our endangered species and is a testimony to the good work being done to salvage this very serious situation.

Insects and Flowers: The Art of Maria Sibylla Merian


Maria Sibylla Merian - 2008
    With her meticulous depictions of insect metamorphosis, she raised the standards of natural history illustration and helped give birth to the field of entomology. At the age of fifty-two, Merian traveled with her younger daughter to Suriname, a Dutch territory in South America, to paint its exotic flora and fauna. Many of the drawings produced by Merian in the South American jungle were later published as hand-colored engravings in her book Metamorphosis of the Insects of Suriname (1705), which brought her widespread fame. A copy of the second edition is held in the collections of the Research Library at the Getty Research Institute. Insects and Flowers, a delightful gift book that reproduces vivid color details of sixteen plates from the Getty's copy, is a vibrant encapsulation of Merian's book and features an engaging essay on Merian's life and work as well as an insect and plant identification guide. An exhibition of Merian's work will be on view at the J. Paul Getty Museum from June 10 through August 31, 2008.