Book picks similar to
Birds of Ireland: Facts, Folklore & History by Glynn Anderson
ireland
gift
science-nature-earth
nature-nonfiction
Women of the Celts
Jean Markale - 1986
The author explores the rich heritage of Celtic women in history, myth, and ritual, showing how these traditions compare to modern attitudes toward women.
Wicked Bugs: The Louse That Conquered Napoleon's Army and Other Diabolical Insects
Amy Stewart - 2011
From the world’s most painful hornet, to the flies that transmit deadly diseases, to millipedes that stop traffic, to the “bookworms” that devour libraries, to the Japanese beetles munching on your roses, Wicked Bugs delves into the extraordinary powers of many-legged creatures. With wit, style, and exacting research, Stewart has uncovered the most terrifying and titillating stories of bugs gone wild. It’s an A to Z of insect enemies, interspersed with sections that explore bugs with kinky sex lives (“She’s Just Not That Into You”), creatures lurking in the cupboard (“Fear No Weevil”), insects eating your tomatoes (“Gardener’s Dirty Dozen”), and phobias that feed our (sometimes) irrational responses to bugs (“Have No Fear”). Intricate and strangely beautiful etchings and drawings by Briony Morrow-Cribbs capture diabolical bugs of all shapes and sizes in this mixture of history, science, murder, and intrigue that begins—but doesn’t end—in your own backyard.
The Book of Deadly Animals
Gordon Grice - 2010
While most are perfectly harmless, it's the magnificent exceptions that populate The Book of Deadly Animals. Award-winning writer Gordon Grice takes readers on a tour of the animal kingdom--from grizzly bears to great white sharks, big cats to crocodiles. Every page overflows with astonishing facts about Earth's great predators and unforgettable stories of their encounters with humans, all delivered in Grice's signature dark comic style. Illustrated with awe-inspiring photographs of beasts and bugs, this wondrous work will horrify, delight, and amaze.
Biblical Proof Animals Do Go To Heaven
Steven H. Woodward - 2012
Do animals have spirits? Find out God's true relationship with animals, and how He really feels about them. The author shares his divine visions along with scriptural proof, which Jesus reveals and explains to him, concerning God's entire creation. Whether you are a pet lover or not, you will gain a greater understanding of the immense love of Jesus, for all of His creation. After reading this testimony, you will look at love and forgiveness in a whole new light.
Clicking with Your Dog: Step-By-Step in Pictures
Peggy Tillman - 2000
This well presented book guides the reader through the ins and outs of clicker training with graphic step by step illustrations that are ideal for beginners and intermediate clicker trainers. These books will show you the clicker way to train your dog to: Sit to greet people instead of jumping up Walk on the lead without pulling Come when called - everytime Stay home alone quietly Find the right place to "go" Play hide and seek and other fun games and tricks
Unbranded
Ben Masters - 2014
For their trail horses, they adopted wild mustangs from the US Bureau of Land Management that were perfectly adapted to the rocky terrain and harsh conditions of desert and mountain travel. A meticulously planned but sometimes unpredictable route brought them face to face with snowpack, downpours, and wildfire; unrelenting heat, raging rivers, and sheer cliffs; jumping cactus, rattlesnakes, and charging bull moose; sickness, injury, and death. But they also experienced a special camaraderie with each other and with the mustangs. Through it all, they had a constant traveling companion—a cameraman, shooting for the documentary film Unbranded. The trip’s inspiration and architect, Ben Masters, is joined here by the three other riders, Ben Thamer, Thomas Glover, and Jonny Fitzsimons; two memorable teachers and horse trainers; and the film’s producers and intrepid cameramen in the telling of this improbable story of adventure and self-discovery.
Spineless: Portraits of Marine Invertebrates, the Backbone of Life
Susan Middleton - 2014
They are also astonishingly diverse in their shapes, patterns, textures, and colors—in nature’s fashion show, they are the haute couture of marine life.This collection of more than 250 remarkable images is the result of seven years of painstaking fieldwork across the Pacific Ocean, using photographic techniques that Middleton developed to capture these extremely fragile creatures on camera. She also provides short essays that examine the place these invertebrates occupy on the tree of life, their vast array of forms, and their lives in the ocean. Scientist Bernadette Holthuis contributes profiles describing each species, many of them for the first time. Middleton’s book is a stunning new view of nature that harmoniously combines art and science.
Yellowstone Bigfoot Campfire Stories
Rusty Wilson - 2019
Or better yet, read them at night by headlamp while camped in one of the park’s beautiful campgrounds, listening to wolves howling in the distance—and are you sure it’s really wolves? Fly-fishing guide Rusty Wilson, known as the World's Greatest Bigfoot Story Teller, has spent years collecting these tales from his clients around the campfire, stories guaranteed to make sure you won‘t want to go out after dark. Come read about a most unusual occupation in Yellowstone’s harsh winters—join an ambitious couple who decide to start a bed and breakfast in the park only to discover they’re not particularly wanted—go along on a fantastic vision quest deep in the heart of Yellowstone’s highest mountains—come soak in the eerie Boiling River at night—ride along with a snowplow driver for a most unique experience on Yellowstone’s wintry roads—witness a Bigfoot tragedy in the making near Old Faithful—experience strange inexplicable events while hiking in the backcountry—help a wildlife biologist with a most unusual and hair-raising task—then read about the strange Yellowstone Fog and the secrets it holds. But be sure you’re not alone in the woods while reading these stories, and whatever you do, don’t go hiking by yourself! Another great book from Rusty Wilson, Bigfoot expert and storyteller—tales for both the Bigfoot believer and those who just enjoy a good story.
Bailey's Great Escape (A Cute Dog Story)
Bapps Media - 2013
Bailey is determined to free his friends and family from the horrible puppy mill that they've been forced to live in. This touching tale of a neglected dog shares his experiences in his own voice, taking readers from his days of neglect, to the shelter, to a home filled with love. Follow him on this extraordinary journey and fall in love with a new hero. Bailey shows that it's not the size of the dog in the fight, but it's about the size of the fight in the dog! Enjoy!
Beguiled by the Wild: The Art of Charley Harper
Charley Harper - 1994
Charley Harper (1922 2007), with his masterly use of simple geometric shapes, patterns, and vivid colors, distilled the essence of each bird, bug, otter, raccoon, or elephant he painted to its most important details. He called his style of painting "minimal realism. . . . Instead of trying to put everything in when I paint, I try to leave everything out. . . . I reduce the subject to the simplest possible visual terms without losing identity, thereby enhancing identity." Harper's approach to depicting the natural world is both sophisticated and fun. This edition of Beguiled by the Wild comprises all of Harper's serigraphs produced from 1968 to 2007. The original text by Roger Caras and Charley Harper is joined by a new commentary from the artist's son, Brett Harper.
The Dinosaur Artist: Obsession, Betrayal, and the Quest for Earth's Ultimate Trophy
Paige Williams - 2018
bataar bones he was impressed. The enormous skull and teeth betrayed the apex predators close relation to the storied Tyrannosaurus rex, the most famous animal that ever lived. Prokopi's obsession with fossils had begun decades earlier, when he was a Florida boy scouring for shark teeth and Ice Age remnants, and it had continued as he built a thriving business hunting, preparing, and selling specimens to avid collectors and private museums around the world. To scientists' fury and dismay, there was big money to be made in certain corners of the fossil trade. Prokopi didn't consider himself merely a businessman, though. He also thought of himself as a vital part of paleontology--as one of the lesser-known artistic links in bringing prehistoric creatures back to life--and saw nothing wrong with turning a profit in the process. Bone hunting was expensive, risky, controversial work, and he increasingly needed bigger "scores." By the time he acquired a largely complete skeleton of T. bataar and restored it in his workshop, he was highly leveraged and drawing quiet scorn from peers who worried that by bringing such a big, beautiful Mongolian dinosaur to market he would tarnish the entire trade. Presenting the skeleton for sale at a major auction house in New York City, he was relieved to see the bidding start at nearly $1 million---only to fall apart when the president of Mongolia unexpectedly stepped in to question the specimen's origins and demand its return. An international custody battle ensued, shining new light on the black market for dinosaur fossils, the angst of scientists who fear for their field, and the precarious political tensions in post-Communist Mongolia. The Prokopi case, unprecedented in American jurisprudence, continues to reverberate throughout the intersecting worlds of paleontology, museums, art, and geopolitics.
National Geographic Dinosaurs
Paul M. Barrett - 1998
Through dramatic graphics and age-appropriate text, this authoritative volume charts the discovery of all the main types of dinosaurs and reveals the latest details on how these creatures most likely looked, behaved, defended themselves, found food, cared for their young, and interacted. Stunning murals, based on scientific evidence, depict various dinosaurs in their habitats--beautifully complementing the color photographs, paintings, charts, and maps. Some 53 major types of dinosaurs are described, representing a wide range of physical structures, sizes, and lifestyles.The book presents recent discoveries and current scientific thought--including the dinosaur-bird connection, profiles of feathered dinosaurs, and theories on dinosaur extinction. Readers also see how today' s paleontologists obtain evidence, piece together clues, and continue to reconstruct life in prehistoric times.
A Life on Our Planet: My Witness Statement and a Vision for the Future
David Attenborough - 2020
Then make it better.I am 94. I've had an extraordinary life. It's only now that I appreciate how extraordinary.As a young man, I felt I was out there in the wild, experiencing the untouched natural world - but it was an illusion. The tragedy of our time has been happening all around us, barely noticeable from day to day - the loss of our planet's wild places, its biodiversity.I have been witness to this decline. A Life on Our Planet is my witness statement, and my vision for the future. It is the story of how we came to make this, our greatest mistake - and how, if we act now, we can yet put it right.We have one final chance to create the perfect home for ourselves and restore the wonderful world we inherited.All we need is the will to do so.
Grayson
Lynne Cox - 2006
In it she tells the story of a miraculous ocean encounter that happened to her when she was seventeen and in training for a big swim (she had already swum the English Channel, twice, and the Catalina Channel).It was the dark of early morning; Lynne was in 55-degree water as smooth as black ice, two hundred yards offshore, outside the wave break. She was swimming her last half-mile back to the pier before heading home for breakfast when she became aware that something was swimming with her. The ocean was charged with energy as if a squall was moving in; thousands of baby anchovy darted through the water like lit sparklers, trying to evade something larger. Whatever it was, it felt large enough to be a white shark coursing beneath her body.It wasn't a shark. It became clear that it was a baby gray whale—following alongside Lynne for a mile or so. Lynne had been swimming for more than an hour; she needed to get out of the water to rest, but she realized that if she did, the young calf would follow her onto shore and die from collapsed lungs.The baby whale—eighteen feet long!—was migrating on a three-month trek to its feeding grounds in the Bering Sea, an eight-thousand-mile journey. It would have to be carried on its mother's back for much of that distance, and was dependent on its mother's milk for food—baby whales drink up to fifty gallons of milk a day. If Lynne didn't find the mother whale, the baby would suffer from dehydration and starve to death.Something so enormous—the mother whale was fifty feet long—suddenly seemed very small in the vast Pacific Ocean. How could Lynne possibly find her?This is the story—part mystery, part magical tale—of what happened . . .