Written by an international team of specialists, spectacularly adorned with a gallery of more than 2,000 color illustrations, and supplemented with distribution maps, detailed and beautifully rendered diagrams, and some of the world's finest wildlife photographs, this volume will become the standard by which all others are measured. Each page is expertly laid out to enhance either browsing or in-depth study. Readers will find detailed coverage of all sorts of animals, including mammals, birds, reptiles, amphibians, fishes, and invertebrates. The Encyclopedia includes an introductory overview of animal evolution, biology, behavior, classification, habitats, and current conservation issues. An extensive encyclopedic survey of the animals follows, with special attention given to endangered and vulnerable species. All information is completely up-to-date, with the most recent scientific and conservation data. Elegant graphics put a broad selection of information at readers' fingertips, including classification information, scientific and common names, distribution maps for all animal groups, conservation panels that focus on threatened species, accurate and detailed anatomical drawings, and illustrations of multiple species. Each section is color coded for easy identification of animal groups. Feature pages explore topics of particular interest and provide insights into animal behavior. With its expansive scope, richly detailed information, and inviting design, this will be the ideal reference for a broad range of uses.* Completely up-to-date, with the most recent scientific information and conservation data * A gallery of more than 2,000 illustrations * Authoritative text contributed by a team of international specialists * Lavish color photographs from leading wildlife photographers * Distribution maps for all animal groups * Detailed explanatory scientific diagrams * Feature pages exploring topics of particular interest and providing insights into animal behavior

    HELP, I'M FALLING APART!!This quick read is informative and entertaining, with personal stories and documented research.

    The most current information on the mechanisms, manifestations, and treatments of disease are clearly and concisely presented. Accessible writing, numerous illustrations in full-color, and complete and separate treatment of pediatric pathophysiology are the hallmarks of this popular and respected text. The new third edition features extensively revised and updated content and an enhanced art program.The book is divided into two parts. Part One presents the general principles of pathophysiology, including cell injury and repair; genetics; fluids and electrolytes, acids and bases; immunity, inflammation, and infection; stress; and cancer. Part Two is organized by body system, and for each system it covers normal anatomy and physiology, alterations of function in adults, and alterations of function in children.• Complete but concise coverage provides a thorough discussion of general pathophysiology and specific disease processes. • Outstanding full-color art program illustrates normal anatomy and physiology, disease processes, and clinical manifestations of disease. • Pediatric content is presented in 9 separate chapters to provide thorough coverage of how disease processes specifically affect children. • Health Alert boxes present brief discussions of new research, diagnostic studies, preventative care, treatments, or other developments related to health or specific diseases. • Quick Check questions appear at the end of major sections of text and are designed to promote critical thinking. Suggested answers to the questions are found on the CD companion included with the text. • Risk Factor boxes illustrate how certain risk factors are associated with specific diseases. • Did You Understand? chapter summaries provide students with a comprehensive review of the major concepts presented in each chapter. • Aging content is identified with a special icon within the adult chapters. • Algorithms are used throughout the text to illustrate normal and compensatory physiology and pathophysiology. • Key terms are boldface in text and listed with page numbers at the end of each chapter for easy reference and chapter review.• Approximately 250 new full-color drawings have been added. • An Introduction to Pathophysiology included in the front matter defines pathophysiology — and related terms such as etiology and epidemiology — and explains why it is important. • Extensive updates, based on the most current research, have been made throughout the book. • To reflect the latest developments, the Biology of Cancer chapter has been completely rewritten. • Several chapters, including Fluids and Electrolytes, Acids and Bases and Alterations of the Reproductive Systems have been extensively edited.

    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.

    Bats Sing, Mice Giggle presents the latest findings on the intimate lives of animals with great elegance. I recommend it wholeheartedly."—Larry King"Did you know that spiders taste with their feet, that a decapitated cockroach can live for two weeks, that a certain type of parrotfish wraps itself in a sort of foul-smelling snot before taking a nap, and that ants play? I didn't until I read Bats Sing, Mice Giggle." —New Scientist“Full of interesting facts . . . presented in a friendly, readable way that will appeal to most young adult and adult readers with an interest in the world around them. The authors discuss a remarkably wide range of topics [in] an easy general-reading text that introduces readers to interesting avenues of scientific research and observation.”—SB&F"In the delightful process of discovering the secret skills of our living cousins, so crisply and clearly described in this book, each filled with their quirky spectacular capacities (which we can envy but not duplicate) that sense of our place in the scheme of things has been infused with . . . joyful awe."—Stuart L. Brown MD, Founder and President, The National Institute for PlayBats Sing, Mice Giggle is the culmination of many years of cutting-edge scientific research that reveals how animals have secret, inner lives of which until recently—although animal lovers will have instinctively believed it—we have had little proof.The authors show how animals communicate; how they warn and help each other in times of danger; how some problem-solve even more effectively than humans; and how they build, create, and entertain themselves and others.

    Adam Leith Gollner weaves business, science, and travel into a riveting narrative about one of earth’s most desired foods.Readers will discover why even though countless exotic fruits exist in nature, only several dozen varieties are vailable in supermarkets. Gollner explores the political machinations of multinational fruit corporations, exposing the hidden alliances between agribusiness and government and what that means for public health. He traces the life of mass-produced fruits – how they are created, grown, and marketed, and he explores the underworld of fruits that are inaccessible, ignored, and even forbidden in the Western world.Gollner draws readers into a Willy Wonka-like world with mangoes that taste like piña coladas, orange cloudberries, peanut butter fruits, and the miracle fruit that turns everything sour sweet, making lemons taste like lemonade. Peopled with a varied and bizarre cast of characters – from smugglers to explorers to inventors – this extraordinary book unveils the hidden universe of fruit.

    But what should we change and how do we do it? Annabel Streets and Susan Saunders spent their 30s climbing the career ladder, having children and caring for elderly parents - all at the same time. By their 40s, they were exhausted, stressed, sleeping too little and rushing too much. They began to ask whether the prolonged ill health and dementia suffered by their parents was their inevitable future too - could they do anything to avoid requiring their own children to care for them in old age? Thus began THE AGE-WELL PROJECT. With incredible tenacity, Annabel and Susan read 50,000 scientific research papers on all aspects of ageing to find what advice cutting-edge research can offer us on how to ensure the longer lives we're living are healthy and happy. Putting their findings into practice, they found that the lifestyle changes they made were having incredible benefits on their health and wellbeing now - as well as for the future. Told with empathy and humour, in THE AGE-WELL PROJECT Annabel and Susan share the 50 key lessons they learned, the meals they cooked and the experts' tips they uncovered to make the second half of your life the best half of your life - happy, healthy and disease-free. Author BiographyAnnabel was a founder member of an award-winning marketing company, advising the chief executives of companies such as Sony, Reuters and the Financial Times. After four children, and at breaking point, she sold her company. Following a stint studying photography and producing a community cook book, she changed tack and wrote an award-winning novel The Joyce Girl which sold in 14 countries and was selected for the 2017 Berlin Film Festival. Since then she has written regularly for a range of titles including the Daily Telegraph, Psychologies, The Author, the Guardian, The Irish Times, Elle, Australian

    Yet this is the first book to tell the story of rain. Cynthia Barnett's  Rain begins four billion years ago with the torrents that filled the oceans, and builds to the storms of climate change. It weaves together science—the true shape of a raindrop, the mysteries of frog and fish rains—with the human story of our ambition to control rain, from ancient rain dances to the 2,203 miles of levees that attempt to straitjacket the Mississippi River. It offers a glimpse of our "founding forecaster," Thomas Jefferson, who measured every drizzle long before modern meteorology. Two centuries later, rainy skies would help inspire Morrissey’s mopes and Kurt Cobain’s grunge. Rain is also a travelogue, taking readers to Scotland to tell the surprising story of the mackintosh raincoat, and to India, where villagers extract the scent of rain from the monsoon-drenched earth and turn it into perfume. Now, after thousands of years spent praying for rain or worshiping it; burning witches at the stake to stop rain or sacrificing small children to bring it; mocking rain with irrigated agriculture and cities built in floodplains; even trying to blast rain out of the sky with mortars meant for war, humanity has finally managed to change the rain. Only not in ways we intended. As climate change upends rainfall patterns and unleashes increasingly severe storms and drought, Barnett shows rain to be a unifying force in a fractured world. Too much and not nearly enough, rain is a conversation we share, and this is a book for everyone who has ever experienced it.

    They evolved from land-roaming, dog-like creatures into animals that move like fish, breathe like us, can grow to 300,000 pounds, live 200 years and roam entire ocean basins. Whales fill us with terror, awe, and affection--yet we know hardly anything about them, and they only enter our awareness when they die, struck by a ship or stranded in the surf. Why did it take whales over 50 million years to evolve to such big sizes, and how do they eat enough to stay that big? How did their ancestors return from land to the sea? Why do they beach themselves? What do their lives tell us about our oceans, and evolution as a whole? Importantly, in the sweepstakes of human-driven habitat and climate change, will whales survive?Nick Pyenson's research has given us the answers to some of our biggest questions about whales. Nick's rich storytelling takes us to the cool halls deep inside the Smithsonian's priceless fossil collection, to the frigid fishing decks on Antarctic whaling stations, and to the blazing hot desert of Chile where scientists race against time to document the largest fossil whalebone site on earth. Spying on Whales is science writing at its best: an author who is an incredible, passionate writer, at the forefront of his field, on a topic that invokes deep fascination.

    I also hope that it will serve as a useful reference too for the many workers engaged in one type of solid state research activity or another, who may be without formal training in the subject.

    But do you always recognize what you see and hear? With this book, you'll get started. Birding for the Curious is a beginner course in birding for every nature and animal lover out there. With it, you'll learn what birding is all about, what birders do and how you can become one. You'll also learn how to:- Find more birds- Identify the birds you see- Attract more birds to your yard and feedersBirding for the Curious is the perfect gift for the nature-lover in your life, or an excellent introduction to birding for you. It won't be long before you can easily recognize and name the common birds in your area. With this book, you will enjoy nature at a whole new level.

    Where did the unicorn come from, and how was it accepted as a part of the animal kingdom for so long? The author follows the beast's trail to the plateaus of India and into the jungles of Africa to unearth the flesh and blood ancestors of our iconic unicorn, finding traces of it in a hotchpotch of existing species.

    Thomas, and readers’ expectations. This edition is packed with wit, wisdom, tips, advice, facts, fun, and recipes, including: • traditionally 80 percent–accurate weather forecasts • how to make sausages at home • “creatures from hell” • grow your own beer (ingredients) • time- and money-saving tips • unmasked mysteries of plant seed dispersal • bale, key, and concrete block gardens • quirky origins of American horse breeds • history, lore, and more about birthstones Plus, Moon phases and other celestial sightings, tides, gardening tables, best days to do things, and more.   Added value this year: • 96 full-color pages • full-color winter and summer weather maps • updated Reference section Often imitated, but never equaled. Accept no substitutes!

    Lakes are changing rapidly, not because we are separate from nature but because we are so much a part of it. While many of our effects on the natural world today are new, from climate change to nuclear fallout, our connections to it are ancient, as core samples from lake beds reveal. In Still Waters, Curt Stager introduces us to the secret worlds hidden beneath the surfaces of our most remarkable lakes, leading us on a journey from the pristine waters of the Adirondack Mountains to the wilds of Siberia, from Thoreau’s cherished pond to the Sea of Galilee.Through decades of firsthand investigations, Stager examines the significance of our impacts on some of the world’s most iconic inland waters. Along the way he discovers the stories these lakes contain about us, including our loftiest philosophical ambitions and our deepest myths. For him, lakes are not only mirrors reflecting our place in the natural world but also windows into our history, culture, and the primal connections we share with all life.Beautifully observed and eloquently written, Stager’s narrative is filled with strange and enchanting details about these submerged worlds—diving insects chirping underwater like crickets, African crater lakes that explode, and the growing threats to some of our most precious bodies of water. Modern science has demonstrated that humanity is an integral part of nature on this planet, so intertwined with it that we have also become an increasingly powerful force of nature in our own right. Still Waters reminds us how beautiful, complex, and vulnerable our lakes are, and how, more than ever, it is essential to protect them.

    There are Douglas firs as tall as skyscrapers, and a banyan tree in Calcutta as big as a football field.From the tallest to the smallest, trees inspire wonder in all of us, and in The Tree, Colin Tudge travels around the world—throughout the United States, the Costa Rican rain forest, Panama and Brazil, India, New Zealand, China, and most of Europe—bringing to life stories and facts about the trees around us: how they grow old, how they eat and reproduce, how they talk to one another (and they do), and why they came to exist in the first place. He considers the pitfalls of being tall; the things that trees produce, from nuts and rubber to wood; and even the complicated debt that we as humans owe them.Tudge takes us to the Amazon in flood, when the water is deep enough to submerge the forest entirely and fish feed on fruit while river dolphins race through the canopy. He explains the “memory” of a tree: how those that have been shaken by wind grow thicker and sturdier, while those attacked by pests grow smaller leaves the following year; and reveals how it is that the same trees found in the United States are also native to China (but not Europe).From tiny saplings to centuries-old redwoods and desert palms, from the backyards of the American heartland to the rain forests of the Amazon and the bamboo forests, Colin Tudge takes the reader on a journey through history and illuminates our ever-present but often ignored companions. A blend of history, science, philosophy, and environmentalism, The Tree is an engaging and elegant look at the life of the tree and what modern research tells us about their future.