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

    Now in its 4th Edition, revisions include 250 updated range maps, and new classification information National Geographic is reissuing the Field Guide to the Birds of North America in the 4th edition, focusing on its accuracy and easy use in the field. This is the ultimate birders field guide - sturdy, easy to carry and use, and featuring the most complete information among bird guides. It features all species known to breed in North America, including those that are regular visitors to our continent or that drop in occasionally - more than 800 in all. The edition is lavishly illustrated with specially commissioned full-colour illustrations, plus newly updated range maps and detailed descriptions. A superb new index allows birders in the field to quickly identify a species.

    In The Botany of Desire, Michael Pollan ingeniously demonstrates how people and domesticated plants have formed a similarly reciprocal relationship. He masterfully links four fundamental human desires—sweetness, beauty, intoxication, and control—with the plants that satisfy them: the apple, the tulip, marijuana, and the potato. In telling the stories of four familiar species, Pollan illustrates how the plants have evolved to satisfy humankind’s most basic yearnings. And just as we’ve benefited from these plants, we have also done well by them. So who is really domesticating whom?

    . . . This is an exciting book. Although Schaller feels that this is 'not an adventure book,' few readers will be able to agree."—Irven DeVore, Science

    One of the most important achievements of the past millennium, it did for biology what Galileo did for astronomy: made it into a single science rather than a collection of unrelated facts. Important though Origin remains, its examples and intricate Victorian prose are now a century and a half old. They are ripe for renewal and reaffirmation. Writing as "Darwin's ghost," eminent geneticist Steve Jones updates this seminal work—and restates evolution's case for the 21st century.Jones is a writer of engaging wit and dazzling erudition and has been called "the British Carl Sagan." Using modern examples—the AIDS virus, the puzzles of sexual selection, the physiology and psychology of pets, and the unparalleled genetic success of our own species—he shows the power and immediacy of Darwin's great argument and makes us appreciate how it makes life make sense. Eye-opening and entertaining, filled with astonishing facts, amusing anecdotes, and the very latest research, Darwin's Ghost is contemporary science writing at its very best.

    Sherwin Nuland, “a gifted and deeply intelligent writer” (San Francisco Chronicle), combines knowledge, compassion, and elegance of expression to shed light on the workings of our bodies from the perspective of a surgeon. Dr. Nuland recounts age-old legends about the functions and "personalities" of the body's organs and, in riveting vignettes of the surgery he has performed, he describes the connections between myth and reality. A brilliant blend of science and folklore, The Mysteries Within reveals the enigmas not only of the body but also of the human imagination.

    

    Unlike many Hollywood stars who do their best to avoid the press, her openness about her complicated and often outlandish life has endeared her to fans worldwide. Her most famous screen roles are covered in this biography, from Gia to Lara Croft, which established her as one of the highest paid actresses in Hollywood. Also explored is her reputation for living on the edge, and Angelina's refreshing honesty around tempestuous romantic relationships, bisexuality, wild partying, and breakdowns and thoughts of suicide. Finally, her recent roles as philanthropist, mother, and half of a Hollywood golden couple with Brad Pitt, are also discussed in this inspiring must-read book for fans of this continually fascinating global superstar.

    

    Birds of North America By Chandler S Robbins, Bertel Bruun, and Herbert S Zim, Illustrated By Arthur Singer - Golden Press New York Western Publishing Company Inc - Copyright 1966 By Western Publishing Company Inc - Library of Congress Catalog Card Number 66-16454 - 340 Pages - ISBN 0307136566 - 13656 - Robbins, Bruun, Zim, Singer - Golden A Guide to Field Identification - Quick Guide to Major Families - Loons, Grebes, Albatrosses and Petrels, Geese, Surface Ducks, Bay and Sea Ducks, Hawks and Eagles, Grouse, Quail, Herons, Rails and Coots, Plovers, Sandpipers, Gulls and Terns, Alcids, Pigeons and Doves, Cuckoos, Owls, Swifts, Hummingbirds, Woodpeckers, Flycatchers, Swallows, Jays and Crows, Chickadees and Titmice, Nuthatches and Creepers, Wrens, Thrashers, Thrushes and Bluebirds, Kinglets, Vireos, Warblers, Blackbirds and Orioles, Finches, Sparrows - Table of Contents - How to Use This Book - Loons, Grebes, Tubenoses, Pelicans and Allies, Waterfowl, Vultures Hawks and Falcons, Gallinaceous Birds, Herons and Allies, Canes and Allies, Shorebirds Gulls and Alcids, Pigeons and Doves, Cuckoos Anis and Roadrunners, Owls, Goatsuckers, Swifts and Hummingbirds, Parrots, Trogons, Kingfishers, Woodpeckers, Perching Birds, Bibliography, Index

    Featuring more than 500 full-color illustrations and photographs, along with detailed annotations, Smithsonian Handbooks make identification easy and accurate.

    We assumed we could control the biological productivity of salmon and 'improve' upon natural processes that we didn't even try to understand. We assumed we could have salmon without rivers." --from the introductionFrom a mountain top where an eagle carries a salmon carcass to feed its young to the distant oceanic waters of the California current and the Alaskan Gyre, salmon have penetrated the Northwest to an extent unmatched by any other animal. Since the turn of the twentieth century, the natural productivity of salmon in Oregon, Washington, California, and Idaho has declined by eighty percent. The decline of Pacific salmon to the brink of extinction is a clear sign of serious problems in the region.In Salmon Without Rivers, fisheries biologist Jim Lichatowich offers an eye-opening look at the roots and evolution of the salmon crisis in the Pacific Northwest. He describes the multitude of factors over the past century and a half that have led to the salmon's decline, and examines in depth the abject failure of restoration efforts that have focused almost exclusively on hatcheries to return salmon stocks to healthy levels without addressing the underlying causes of the decline. The book:describes the evolutionary history of the salmon along with the geologic history of the Pacific Northwest over the past 40 million yearsconsiders the indigenous cultures of the region, and the emergence of salmon-based economies that survived for thousands of yearsexamines the rapid transformation of the region following the arrival of Europeanspresents the history of efforts to protect and restore the salmonoffers a critical assessment of why restoration efforts have failedThroughout, Lichatowich argues that the dominant worldview of our society -- a worldview that denies connections between humans and the natural world -- has created the conflict and controversy that characterize the recent history of salmon; unless that worldview is challenged and changed, there is little hope for recovery. Salmon Without Rivers exposes the myths that have guided recent human-salmon interactions. It clearly explains the difficult choices facing the citizens of the region, and provides unique insight into one of the most tragic chapters in our nation's environmental history.

    * From the award-winning writer, following her memoirs, Skating to Antarctica, Stranger on a Train, On Trying to Keep Still - a unique book about animal watching

    Morell probes the moral and ethical dilemmas of recognizing that even “lesser animals” have cognitive abilities such as memory, feelings, personality, and self-awareness--traits that many in the twentieth century felt were unique to human beings.By standing behaviorism on its head, Morell brings the world of nature brilliantly alive in a nuanced, deeply felt appreciation of the human-animal bond, and she shares her admiration for the men and women who have simultaneously chipped away at what we think makes us distinctive while offering a glimpse of where our own abilities come from.

    Visiting it almost daily for one year to trace nature’s path through the seasons, he brings the forest and its inhabitants to vivid life.Each of this book’s short chapters begins with a simple observation: a salamander scuttling across the leaf litter; the first blossom of spring wildflowers. From these, Haskell spins a brilliant web of biology and ecology, explaining the science that binds together the tiniest microbes and the largest mammals and describing the ecosystems that have cycled for thousands—sometimes millions—of years. Each visit to the forest presents a nature story in miniature as Haskell elegantly teases out the intricate relationships that order the creatures and plants that call it home.Written with remarkable grace and empathy, The Forest Unseen is a grand tour of nature in all its profundity. Haskell is a perfect guide into the world that exists beneath our feet and beyond our backyards.