High school & older.

    But as this groundbreaking book demonstrates, what Muir was really seeing when he admired the grand vistas of Yosemite and the gold and purple flowers carpeting the Central Valley were the fertile gardens of the Sierra Miwok and Valley Yokuts Indians, modified and made productive by centuries of harvesting, tilling, sowing, pruning, and burning. Marvelously detailed and beautifully written, Tending the Wild is an unparalleled examination of Native American knowledge and uses of California's natural resources that reshapes our understanding of native cultures and shows how we might begin to use their knowledge in our own conservation efforts.M. Kat Anderson presents a wealth of information on native land management practices gleaned in part from interviews and correspondence with Native Americans who recall what their grandparents told them about how and when areas were burned, which plants were eaten and which were used for basketry, and how plants were tended. The complex picture that emerges from this and other historical source material dispels the hunter-gatherer stereotype long perpetuated in anthropological and historical literature. We come to see California's indigenous people as active agents of environmental change and stewardship. Tending the Wild persuasively argues that this traditional ecological knowledge is essential if we are to successfully meet the challenge of living sustainably.

    Although original editions of this book are extremely rare, it is now available for the first time in a paperback edition, beautifully reproducing his drawings and watercolours. While the variety and detail of Haeckel's drawings display an impressive understanding of biological structure, the skill with which Haeckel drew these tiny, aquatic protozoa renders them genuine works of art. This volume features commentary and descriptions of each of the radiolarians from Haeckel's work.

    Finalist for the 2006 Pen Center USA Western award in creative nonfiction.

    Upon His Word, enormous whales sprung into being. At His command, billions of plankton leapt to life. On that day, millions of creatures like the strapping sea turtles, the skulking sharks, the delightful dolphins, and the soaring squid gladly joined their fellow sea animals. How joyously crammed with excitement was the fifth day of earth's existence. Apologia's newest elementary science book will take you and your family on an exploration into the wonders of the swimming creatures made on the fifth day of Creation. You'll begin with a big splash from the whales and dolphins, then spy on seals and meet manatees before swimming with the sea turtles, snakes, and salamanders. You'll even peek in on the primeval plesiosaraus and its pals. Following your frolic with fish and sharks, you'll uncover the world of crabby crustaceans, sea snails, clams, and their soft bodied friends like the octopus, squid, and nautilus. You'll consort with corals, find flowers that devour plankton, see stars and feathers that walk, leap and roll, and discover dollars that disappear in the sand and sponges that clean more than you might think. From the microscopic to massive, no stone is left unturned in your student's passage through the waters of the world. The creatures your student studies will come to life as your student creates replicas of them and adds them to his Ocean box - a miniature hand-crafted aquarium. As always, each lesson ends with an experiment or project reinforcing the scientific method and the concepts studied. Among other experiments and projects, your student will try on blubber, investigate a shark's ability to sense electrical currents, explore how whales can hear sounds that come from far away, and learn through experimentation which creatures make the best fossils. No matter how near or far you live from the ocean, you and your students will wonder at God's design in the amazing aquatic animals He formed and fashioned on the fifth day. Slip on your scuba gear, and come explore with us!

    Then, get ready for the exciting adventure of learning about birds. Your children will learn how to attract various bird species to your yard and identify them by looking at their special physical characteristics, diverse nests, and interesting domestic practices. They will also learn the anatomy and the glorious design that enables birds to do remarkable things. The text contains actual experiments on the preferences and habits of the birds your children see. These experiments further enrich the learning experience. After becoming amateur ornithologists, your children will explore the world of chiropterology, which is the study of bats. They will be able to intelligently share with others the value of bats in our world while exposing the misconceptions that most people have regarding these docile creatures of the night. Your children will then investigate entomology, the study of insects. They will learn to scientifically classify insects they find in their yard by a simple glance at their wings and other important characteristics. In addition to designing experiments with flies, crickets, darkling moths, and caterpillars, they will also learn how to attract and catch insects for scientific study. When your children complete this study of zoology, they will never view nature in the same way again. Their eyes will be open to the different species that live in their midst, enjoying and understanding nature to the fullest. Vacations will become educational experiences as they notice birds and insects inhabiting the areas they visit. By learning to keep a field journal, they will be able to notice unusual circumstances or sudden increases in bird or insect populations. They will become true scientists as they come to know nature and the fascinating world that God created. Grades K-6.

    Drawing on new collections of intimate personal and family papers, diaries and patient records, Michael Bliss captures Cushing's professional and his personal life in remarkable detail. Bliss paints an engaging portrait of a man of ambition, boundless, driving energy, a fanatical work ethic, apenchant for self-promotion and ruthlessness, more than a touch of egotism and meanness, and an enormous appetite for life. Equally important, Bliss traces the rise of American surgery as seen through the eyes of one of its pioneers. The book describes how Cushing, working in the early years of the20th century, developed remarkable new techniques that let surgeons open the skull, expose the brain, and attack tumors--all with a much higher rate of success than previously known. Indeed, Cushing made the miraculous in surgery an everyday event, as he and his team compiled an astonishing recordof treating more than two thousand tumors. This is the definite Cushing biography, an epic narrative of high surgical adventure, capturing the highs and lows of an extraordinary life.

    Naturalist Ellen Meloy tracks a band of these majestic creatures through backcountry hikes, downriver floats, and travels across the Southwest. Alone in the wilderness, Meloy chronicles her communion with the bighorns and laments the growing severance of man from nature, a severance that she feels has left us spiritually hungry. Wry, quirky and perceptive, Eating Stone is a brillant and wholly original tribute to the natural world.

    Leopold, expert in horticulture, botany, forestry, and ecology No other single volume on native plants has such comprehensive horticultural coverage as Native Plants of the Northeast: A Guide for Gardening and Conservation. Nearly seven hundred species of native trees, shrubs, vines, ferns, grasses, and wildflowers from the northeastern quarter of the United States and all of eastern Canada are included. Each plant description includes information about cultivation and propagation, ranges, and hardiness. An appendix recommends particular plants for difficult situations, as well as attracting butterflies, hummingbirds, and other wildlife.

    There are simply too many birds in them. This book introduces the reader to Britain's most obvious birds. But it does more than that: it also explains them. It explains the way that different birds do different things, eat different food, sing different songs and live different lives, and it explains why they are different. If you are a would-be birdwatcher but don't know where to start, A Bad Field Guide is for you. It will help you understand birdwatching: but far more important, it will help you begin to understand birds. Robin...But have you ever wondered what a red breast means to a robin? A red breast is not just the way a human can recognise a robin when it comes a-calling, when it sits on a spade or a Christmas card. The red breast is not just a bit of chance colouration. No: the red breast is the core of the robin's being. The red breast is the love, the honour and the glory of a robin. Have you noticed that a robin positively flaunts it? It is as if he is telling the world: for God's sake, I'm a robin!

    In Fields of Plenty, respected farmer, teacher, and ecology advocate Michael Ableman seeks out these innovative and committed farmers to reveal how the fruits of those who till the soil go beyond taste. From Knolls farm in California, famous for succulent figs tree-ripened to perfection, to an urban farm in Chicago that sustains an entire community, his odyssey takes him to farmers who are trying to answer questions of sustenance philosophically and, most importantly, in practice. Illustrated with evocative color photographs of the land and the people who work it, and accompanied by a bountiful selection of recipes, this beautifully written memoir reveals the power of food as a personal and cultural force.

    The photos, taken by the newest space explorers—highly sophisticated telescopes, probes, and satellites—are arranged in an A to Z format with thorough text blocks that elucidate the phenomena in a refreshingly concise and accessible manner. From asteroids to pulsars to white dwarfs, each entry consists of bold photos and descriptive text. A data box accompanying each picture provides fascinating details about how, where, and when each shot was taken. In the back of this awe-inspiring volume are the stories behind the space probes and telescopes, along with an essay on color imagery in space and a glossary.

    Across North America, tens of thousands of people gather every spring and fall at more than one thousand known hawk migration sites--from New Jersey's Cape May to California's Golden Gate. Yet, as many discover, a standard field guide, with its emphasis on plumage, is often of little help in identifying those raptors soaring, gliding, or flapping far, far away.Hawks from Every Angle takes hawk identification to new heights. It offers a fresh approach that literally looks at the birds from every angle, compares and contrasts deceptively similar species, and provides the pictures (and words) needed for identification in the field. Jerry Liguori pinpoints innovative, field-tested identification traits for each species from the various angles that they are seen.Featuring 339 striking color photos on 68 color plates and 32 black & white photos, Hawks from Every Angle is unique in presenting a host of meticulously crafted pictures for each of the 19 species it covers in detail--the species most common to migration sites throughout the United States and Canada. All aspects of raptor identification are discussed, including plumage, shape, and flight style traits.For all birders who follow hawk migration and have found themselves wondering if the raptor in the sky matches the one in the guide, Hawks from Every Angle--distilling an expert's years of experience for the first time into a comprehensive array of truly useful photos and other pointers for each species--is quite simply a must.Key Features? The essential new approach to identifying hawks in flight Innovative, accurate, and field-tested identification traits for each species 339 color photos on 68 color plates, 32 black & white photos Compares and contrasts species easily confused with one another, and provides the pictures (and words) needed for identification in the field Covers in detail 19 species common to migration sites throughout the North America Discusses light conditions, how molt can alter the shape of a bird, aberrant plumages, and migration seasons and sites User-friendly format

    This is a thought-provoking look at Native American stories, cultural institutions, and ways of knowing, and what they can teach us about living sustainably.

    The text summarises key identification points and characteristics.

    Home to nearly seventy percent of our nation's coral reefs, known as the "rainforests of the sea," the Northwestern Hawaiian Islands is a remarkable ecosystem that supports a vast array of interdependent native plants and animals that have evolved in this habitat over millions of years, many existing nowhere else on the planet.The result is Archipelago. With its more than 300 stunning images, the book illustrates the spectacular diversity of these ocean and island creatures, as well as profiles many of the people dedicated to the preservation of this habitat. The inaccessibility of these islands and the need to protect them means that few people will ever be able to visit them in person, though now, for the first time, the area's inhabitants are available for all the world to see through this important body of work. In conjunction with the publication of Archipelago, exhibitions of these photographs will be mounted in Honolulu and Washington, and will then travel to venues around the country throughout 2006.

    This book contains student-friendly Study Tips, Clinical View boxes, and progressive question sets to motivate students to internalize and apply what they've learned.

    lifelike detail... this easily readable book should appeal to dinosaur enthusiasts of all ages." -Science NewsThe Complete Guide to Prehistoric Life. The book's concise, jargon-free text and full color illustrations bring the primordial world to vivid photo-realistic life. In-depth profiles of 112 kinds of beasts cover physical characteristics, lifestyle, habitat and behavior. Throughout, "fascinating fact" sidebars offer additional bits of "dinotrivia." But there is more than dinosaurs here. Readers will find creatures from triobites to early human beings. At the heart of the book are 350 richly detailed and lifelike color illustrations -- accompanied by comprehensive text -- which are the result of pioneering work by the Emmy award-winning creative team at Framestore CFC. Using animation, graphic effects and filmmaking, they recreated awe-inspiring prehistoric creatures and the world they lived in. These images are now reproduced to thrill readers.The Complete Guide to Prehistoric Life was published to accompany two BBC TV prime-time programs, Life Before Dinosaurs and Walking with Life, both part of the Discovery Channel's award-winning Walking with Dinosaurs series.

    With their shell-less unprotected, bodies how do they survive in seas filled with hungry mouths? How do these sightless creatures navigate the reefs to find food and mates? This book provides answers to these and other questions.

    Helens and its dramatic after-effects on the mountain and life around it for a quarter-century.Frank Parchman tells an epic story of eight people whose lives careen into dramatic new directions and who ultimately become bonded to one another and to the mountain in the aftermath of the volcanic fury in the southwest Washington state.Echoes of Fury is about nature's awesome dispay of raw-throated power; the heartbreak and anger of survivors whose lost loved ones were largely unaware of the danger, the thrill of scientific discovery, and ultimately the renewal of both nature and the human spirit.

    Disclaiming the conventional belief that living matter reacts passively in the face of threats to its existence, Lovelock argues that the earth's living matter - air, ocean, and land surfaces - forms a complex system which has the capacity to keep our planet a fit place for life. Now reissued with an updated preface which discusses how Lovelock's predictions have already begun to hold true, Gaia has dramatically altered the way scientists view evolution and the environment.

    That's what it's like to stand in the eye of a hurricane. In Divine Wind, Kerry Emanuel, one of the world's leading authorities on hurricanes, gives us an engaging account of these awe-inspiring meteorological events, revealing how hurricanes and typhoons have literally altered human history, thwarting military incursions and changing the course of explorations. Offering an account of the physics of the tropical atmosphere, the author explains how such benign climates give rise to the most powerful storms in the world and tells what modern science has learned about them. Interwoven with this scientific account are descriptions of some of the most important hurricanes in history and relevant works of art and literature. For instance, he describes the 17th-century hurricane that likely inspired Shakespeare's The Tempest and that led to the British colonization of Bermuda. We also read about the Galveston Hurricane of 1900, by far the worst natural calamity in U.S. history, with a death toll between 8,000 and 12,000 that exceeded the San Francisco earthquake, the Johnstown Flood, and the Okeechobee Hurricane co Boasting more than one hundred color illustrations, frommbined. Boasting more than one hundred color illustrations, from ultra-modern Doppler imagery to classic paintings by Winslow Homer, Divine Wind captures the profound effects that hurricanes have had on humanity. Its fascinating blend of history, science, and art will appeal to weather junkies, science buffs, and everyone who read Isaac's Storm.

    This work is a collection of 50 of Monty's best columns, that will provide a practical guide and a poetic record of the garden's changing seasons.

    They are also one of the most endangered species in the world. For many years, mountain gorillas have faced the threat of t death at the hands of poachers. Funds raised by “gorilla tourism”––bringing people into the forest to see these majestic animals––have helped protect gorillas. This tourism is vital, but close contact between gorillas and people has brought a new threat to the mountain gorillas: human disease.The Mountain Gorilla Veterinary Project is a group of courageous and talented scientists working to save the mountain gorilla population in Rwanda and Uganda. The "Gorilla Doctors" study the effects of human exposure, document the daily lives of the gorillas, provide emergency care to injured animals, and even act as foster parents to an orphaned gorilla baby named Fearless. Through engaging text and stunning photographs, Pamela Turner takes readers on an exploration like no other in this gripping tale of science, nature, and conservation.

    Through Maloof’s engaging, conversational style, each essay offers a lesson in stewardship as it explores the interwoven connections between a tree species and the animals and insects whose lives depend on it--and who, in turn, work to ensure the tree’s survival.Never really at home in a laboratory, Maloof took to the woods early in her career. Her enthusiasm for firsthand observation in the wild spills over into her writing, whether the subject is the composition of forest air, the eagle’s preference for nesting in loblolly pines, the growth rings of the bald cypress, or the gray squirrel’s fondness for weevil-infested acorns. With a storyteller’s instinct for intriguing particulars, Maloof expands our notions about what a tree “is” through her many asides--about the six species of leafhoppers who eat only sycamore leaves or the midges who live inside holly berries and somehow prevent them from turning red.As a scientist, Maloof accepts that trees have a spiritual dimension that cannot be quantified. As an unrepentant tree hugger, she finds support in the scientific case for biodiversity. As an activist, she can’t help but wonder how much time is left for our forests.

    This experience has given him unique insight into the richness but also the fragility of our environment. 365 Ways to Save the Earth takes the reader on a daily journey through our planet, revealing its hidden face. For every day it proposes a photograph and a simple everyday action that allows the reader to take part in the protection of planet Earth.

    Groups of organisms are no longer defined by their general appearance, but by their different individual characteristics. Phylogeny, therefore, by showing common ancestry, outlines a tree of evolutionary relationships from which one can retrace the history of life.This book diagrams the tree of life according to the most recent methods of classification. By showing how life forms arose and developed and how they are related, The Tree of Life presents a key to the living world in all its dazzling variety.,

    With fascinating examples of how colour has affected flora and fauna in different environments across the globe.

    Using the tools of science and technology studies, he explores the formation of Silicon Valley as an industrial district, from its beginnings as the home of a few radio enterprises that operated in the shadow of RCA and other East Coast firms through its establishment as a center of the electronics industry and a leading producer of power grid tubes, microwave tubes, and semiconductors. He traces the emergence of the innovative practices that made this growth possible by following key groups of engineers and entrepreneurs. He examines the forces outside Silicon Valley that shaped the industry -- in particular the effect of military patronage and procurement on the growth of the industry and on the development of technologies -- and considers the influence of Stanford University and other local institutions of higher learning.L'cuyer argues that Silicon Valley's emergence and its growth were made possible by the development of unique competencies in manufacturing, in product engineering, and in management. Entrepreneurs learned to integrate invention, design, manufacturing, and sales logistics, and they developed incentives to attract and retain a skilled and motivated workforce. The largest Silicon Valley firms -- including Eitel-McCullough (Eimac), Litton Industries, Varian Associates, Fairchild Semiconductor, and Intel -- dominated the American markets for advanced tubes and semiconductors and, because of their innovations in manufacturing, design, and management, served as models and incubators for other electronics ventures in the area.

    The book is both theoretical and practical, combining pedagogical background on why field work enhances educational experiences with the nuts and bolts details of how one gets started.

    These volumes, according to Choice, are"a superbly produced . . . source of hard-to-find information on biodiversity, biogreography, and conservation."Hotspots Revisited continues this rich tradition, drawing on the organization's continuing work to identify, research, and document biologically diverse yet dangerously threatened regions. The first Hotspots volume identified twenty-five endangered regions; Hotspots Revisited reveals an astonishing nine additional areas, from Melanesia to northern Mexico, that now meet the same criteria.Hotspots Revisited presents the most up-to-date analyses of the ecology of these endangered areas—including new information on freshwater fish and other animal populations. But the heart of the volume is in the hundreds of vibrant color photographs of the animals and plants under threat. Magnificent in conception and flawless in execution, Hotspots Revisited is equally at home on a scientist's shelf or an ecotourist's coffee table.

    He asks what play might mean in our understanding of evolution, the brain, behavioral organization, and psychology. Is play essential to development? Is it the driving force behind human and animal behavior? What is the proper place for the study of play in the cognitive, behavioral, and biological sciences?The engaging nature of play--who does not enjoy watching a kitten attack a ball of yarn?--has made it difficult to study. Some scholars have called play undefinable, nonexistent, or a mystery outside the realm of scientific analysis. Using the comparative perspectives of ethology and psychology, The Genesis of Animal Play goes further than other studies in reviewing the evidence of play throughout the animal kingdom, from human babies to animals not usually considered playful. Burghardt finds that although playfulness may have been essential to the origin of much that we consider distinctive in human (and mammalian) behavior, it only develops through a specific set of interactions among developmental, evolutionary, ecological, and physiological processes. Furthermore, play is not always beneficial or adaptive.Part I offers a detailed discussion of play in placental mammals (including children) and develops an integrative framework called surplus resource theory. The most fascinating and most controversial sections of the book, perhaps, are in the seven chapters in part II in which Burghardt presents evidence of playfulness in such unexpected groups of animals as kangaroos, birds, lizards, and Fish That Leap, Juggle, and Tease. Burghardt concludes by considering the implications of the diversity of play for future research, and suggests that understanding the origin and development of play can shape our view of society and its accomplishments through history.

    Each situation is presented with a variation, for a total of 46 designs. In addition, the book explains how to install and care for the plants, ponds, walls, and fences involved in the landscape designs. Plants that are proven performers in the Midwest are used in the designs and described in full detail. Step-by-step instructions provide the essential knowledge to tackle each project.United States: IA, IL, IN, MI, MN, MO, OH, WICanada: Ontario (southern)

    

    A must-have for all active kids.This handbook to fishing, boating, and water wildlife brings together Jim Arnosky's knowledge, skills, and talents in one wonderful package. Illustrated with his trademark watercolors, pen-and-ink drawings, and photographs, it is packed with information. Both the text and the art give directions and advice.Fishing chapter includes how to choose and use fishing tackle; how to fish in lakes, streams, and the ocean; and how to catch and release fish. Color plates spotlight fish kids are most likely to see in each environment.

    Here in Illinois, the numbers are equally awesome: seventeen thousand species call the state home, among them four thousand types of flies; fifteen hundred types of grasshoppers, cicadas, and aphids; five thousand types of beetles; two hundred types of ants, wasps, and bees; and two thousand types of butterflies and moths. With so much entomological diversity here in the Midwest, Illinois residents needn't look further than their own backyards to discover the rich and secret world of insects and spiders. Marrying art and entomology, Illinois Insects and Spiders is a unique introduction to local biodiversity. Artist Peggy Macnamara celebrates the state's burgeoning insect and spider populations with twenty-seven color plates of beautiful renderings of numerous species, organized both taxonomically and thematically. The insects on each plate are depicted true to scale in relation to one another and are displayed approximately ten times larger than life size. Accompanying each plate are lively captions-written by Field Museum curators and collection managers-that identify the species and reveal their interesting behaviors and unique habitats.Illinois Insects and Spiders encourages readers to explore the biodiversity at their feet-in the shiny beetles on the ground-and in the air-in the glint of a lightning bug in summer. More than a traditional field guide, Illinois Insects and Spiders is the rare book that combines lush artwork with the science of natural history, bringing both closer to the general reader.

    Throughout history, wolves have fascinated, inspired and terrified people around the world. Fierce, loyal, tribal and intelligent, these animals are the subject of this intimate portrait. Drawing on a wide variety of sources, the author weaves together ancient legends, up-to-date science, historical writings and personal observations. With penetrating photography by Daniel J. Cox, the result is a magnificent, passionate and powerful story of an animal worth understanding and preserving. Chapters include:* Early Myths and Legends -- stories that record the earliest human-wolf encounters* Part of the Pack -- how wolves work together to hunt, for protection and to take care of the young * Legendary Predator -- how wolves organize the hunt and select their prey* Warriors and Wolves -- how, from ancient times, wolves have been role models for warriors* Shamans and Shape shifters -- how wolves have been seen as a great source of power and healing* Predator Becomes Prey -- how humans have hunted wolves beyond all reason or need* At the Edge Again -- what the future holds for this magnificent animal.Wolf blends natural science, history and folklore to explore the fascination with one of the most complex creatures in the world. The book reveals how humans have interacted with wolves, from the earliest creation myths to current attempts to restore near-extinct populations.

    

    This exciting three-dimensional book-and-model kit exposes all of the hooded snake’s slithering secrets, from its fatal fangs to the tip of its deadly tail. Uncover a Cobra allows budding herpetologists to deconstruct and rebuild one of these terrifying creatures layer by layer, simply by turning each page. Each colorful peel-away layer reveals a different element of the snake’s anatomy, allowing a thorough understanding of each bodily component. A bevy of fascinating facts, awesome illustrations, and eye-popping diagrams sheds additional light on these highly intelligent creatures.

    But there's much more to LA's story than this shallow stereotype. History shows that Los Angeles was intensely, ubiquitously planned. The consequences of that planning-the environmental history of urbanism-is one place to turn for the more complex lessons LA has to offer. Working forward from ancient times and ancient ecologies to the very recent past, Land of Sunshine is a fascinating exploration of the environmental history of greater Los Angeles. Rather than rehearsing a litany of errors or insults against nature, rather than decrying the lost opportunities of roads not taken, these essays, by nineteen leading geologists, ecologists, and historians, instead consider the changing dynamics both of the city and of nature. In the nineteenth century, for example, density was considered an evil, and reformers struggled mightily to move the working poor out to areas where better sanitation and flowers and parks made life seem worth the living. middle-class people back into the core of American cities. There's nothing natural, or inevitable, about such turns of events. It's only by paying very close attention to the ways metropolitan nature has been constructed and construed that meaningful lessons can be drawn. History matters. So here are the plants and animals of the Los Angeles basin, its rivers and watersheds. Here are the landscapes of fact and fantasy, the historical actors, events, and circumstances that have proved transformative over and over again. The result is a nuanced and rich portrait of Los Angeles that will serve planners, communities, and environmentalists as they look to the past for clues, if not blueprints, for enhancing the quality and viability of cities.

    The universe is not a world of separate things and events but is a cosmos that is connected, coherent, and bears a profound resemblance to the visions held in the earliest spiritual traditions in which the physical world and spiritual experience were both aspects of the same reality and man and the universe were one. The findings that justify this new vision of the underlying logic of the universe come from almost all of the empirical sciences: physics, cosmology, the life sciences, and consciousness research. They explain how interactions lead to interconnections that produce instantaneous and multifaceted coherence--what happens to one part also happens to the other parts, and hence to the system as a whole. The sense of sacred oneness experienced by our ancestors that was displaced by the unyielding material presumptions of modern science can be restored, and humanity can once again feel at home in the universe.

    This heartwarming story of the importance of friendship tells how, no matter how far away, true friends will always the there for you.