The 762 full-color identification photographs show the mushrooms as they appear in natural habitats. Organized visually, the book groups all mushrooms by color and shape to make identification simple and accurate in the field, while the text account for each species includes a detailed physical description, information on edibility, season, habitat, range, look-alikes, alternative names, and facts on edible and poisonous species, uses, and folklore. A supplementary section on cooking and eating wild mushrooms, and illustrations identifying the parts of a mushroom, round out this essential guide.

    10,000 first printing.

    Descriptive text includes measurements, diagnostic details, and information on habitat, range, feeding habits, sounds or songs, flight period, web construction, life cycle, behaviors, folklore, and environmental impact. An illustrated key to the insect orders and detailed drawings of the parts of insects, spiders, and butterflies supplement this extensive coverage.

    The Panda's Thumb will introduce a new generation of readers to this unique writer, who has taken the art of the scientific essay to new heights.Were dinosaurs really dumber than lizards? Why, after all, are roughly the same number of men and women born into the world? What led the famous Dr. Down to his theory of mongolism, and its racist residue? What do the panda's magical "thumb" and the sea turtle's perilous migration tell us about imperfections that prove the evolutionary rule? The wonders and mysteries of evolutionary biology are elegantly explored in these and other essays by the celebrated natural history writer Stephen Jay Gould.

    Readers also learn about clothing, gear, and useful plants. This book also is an account of life in the 1800s, when survival in the wild depended on one's skill and ingenuity.

    Part of Muir's attractiveness to modern readers is the fact that he was an activist. He not only explored the West and wrote about its beauties-- he fought for their preservation. His successes dot the landscape in all the natural features that bear his name: forests, lakes, trails, glaciers. Here collected are some of his finest wilderness essays, ranging from Alaska to Yellowstone, from Oregon to the Range of Light-- the High Sierra. This series celebrates the tradition of literary naturalists-- writers who embrace the natural world as the setting for some of our most euphoric and serious experiences. Their literary terrain maps the intimate connections between the human and natural worlds, a subject defined by Mary Austin in 1920 as "a third thing... the sum of what passed between me and the Land." Literary naturalists transcend political boundaries, social concerns, and historical milieus; they speak for what Henry Beston called the "other nations" of the planet. Their message acquires more weight and urgency as wild places become increasingly scarce. This series, then, celebrates both a wonderful body of work and a fundamental truth: that nature counts as a model, a guide to how we can live in the world.

    The contours of this paradigm emerge from the synthesis of a number of important, recently developed concepts, and provide a scientific foundation to a new world-view which emphasizes process over structure, nonequilibrium over equilibrium, evolution over permanency, and individual creativity over collective stabilization. The book, with its emphasis on the interaction of microstructures with the entire biosphere, ecosystems etc., and on how micro- and macrocosmos mutually create the conditions for their further evolution, provides a comprehensive framework for a deeper understanding of human creativity in a time of transition.

    Beginning with the passive solar designs of fifth-century Greece, through the solar-powered steam engines of 19th century America, and on to the new revolution in solar-inspired architecture, [the authors]provide the reader with an amazing story. A Golden Thread is must reading for anyone serious about the real potential for the sun's energy & its place in our history & future." (Wilson Clark, from the back cover)

    This book captures the ethereal - even haunting - quality of these islands, in words and pictures, like none other before it. For author Tui De Roy it is the culmination of a life's work: thirty-five years of exploring and recording the secrets of Galapagos.As well as visiting the coastlines, with their cold seas and burning rocks, sea lions and marine iguanas, the reader is taken into active volcanic calderas, where life hangs in the balance each time the volcano remakes itself; follows the seasons of the giant tortoise; dives into the twilight world of sperm whales and hammerhead sharks; and treads on still-steaming volcanic ground so new it has never felt a human footfall. Ten photo essays showcase the special birds and animals that make the Galapagos their home.The text flows from an intimate knowledge of, and deep love for, the Galapagos and the quality of the imagery reflects the author's recently awarded place as one of the world's top twenty wildlife photographers.As the 21st century looms, the Galapagos Islands are reaching a critical crossroads from which they will emerge with difficulty. This book celebrates their vibrant essence.About the Author:Tui De Roy moved with her family to the Galapagos when she was two years old. Her early photographic ambitions turned into a career, quite by chance, at the age of 19. That year she met the editor of Audubon magazine who was visiting the Galapagos and took an interest in her images resulting in the publication of her photo essay, including the magazine cover. This event redefined the focus of her life. She and her partner of several years have recently moved their home base to New Zealand. She is on the editorial masthead of "International Wildlife" and "Ocean Realm" magazines.