The book's title derives from an analogy de Waal draws between the way behavior is transmitted in ape society and the way sushi-making skills are passed down from sushi master to apprentice. Like the apprentice, young apes watch their group mates at close range, absorbing the methods and lessons of each of their elders' actions. Responses long thought to be instinctive are actually learned behavior, de Waal argues, and constitute ape culture. A delightful mix of intriguing anecdote, rigorous clinical study, adventurous field work, and fascinating speculation, The Ape and the Sushi Master shows that apes are not human caricatures but members of our extended family with their own resourcefulness and dignity.

    From stories about cattlemen, fellow critics, his beloved desert, cities, and technocrats to thoughts on sin and redemption, this is one of our most treasured writers at the height of his powers.

    But his blog GuerrillaGardening.org attracted other guerrillas from around the world to share their experiences of the horticultural front line with him and become a focal point for guerrilla gardeners everywhere. On Guerrilla Gardening is a lively colourful treatise about why people illicitly cultivate land and how to do it. From discretely beautifying corners of Montreal to striving for green communal space in Berlin and sustainable food production in San Francisco, from small gestures of fun in Zurich to bold political statements in Brazil, cultivating land beyond your boundary is a battle many different people are fighting. Unearthed along the way are the movement’s notable historic advances by seventeenth century English radicals, a nineteenth century American entrepreneur and artists in 1970s New York. Reynolds has researched the subject with guerrilla gardeners from thirty different countries and compiles their advice on what to grow, how to cope with adverse environmental conditions, how to seed bomb effectively and to use propaganda to win support. On Guerrilla Gardening gives entertaining inspiration, practical reference and no excuses for not getting out there and gardening.

    Many species have exerted enormous influence on the biosphere's character and productivity, but none has transformed the Earth in so many ways and on such a scale as Homo sapiens. In Harvesting the Biosphere, Vaclav Smil offers an interdisciplinary and quantitative account of human claims on the biosphere's stores of living matter, from prehistory to the present day. Smil examines all harvests--from prehistoric man's hunting of megafauna to modern crop production--and all uses of harvested biomass, including energy, food, and raw materials. Without harvesting of the biomass, Smil points out, there would be no story of human evolution and advancing civilization; but at the same time, the increasing extent and intensity of present-day biomass harvests are changing the very foundations of civilization's well-being.In his detailed and comprehensive account, Smil presents the best possible quantifications of past and current global losses in order to assess the evolution and extent of biomass harvests. Drawing on the latest work in disciplines ranging from anthropology to environmental science, Smil offers a valuable long-term, planet-wide perspective on human-caused environmental change.

    International security expert Michael T. Klare argues that in the early decades of the new millennium, wars will be fought not over ideology but over access to dwindling supplies of precious natural commodities. The political divisions of the Cold War, Klare asserts, have given way to a global scramble for oil, natural gas, minerals, and water. And as armies throughout the world define resource security as a primary objective, widespread instability is bound to follow, especially in those areas where competition for essential materials overlaps with long-standing territorial and religious disputes. In this clarifying view, the recent explosive conflict between the United States and Islamic extremism stands revealed as the predictable consequence of consumer nations seeking to protect the vital resources they depend on.A much-needed assessment of a changed world, Resource Wars is a compelling look at warfare in an era of rampant globalization and intense economic competition.

     Childhood fantasy meets grown-up savoir faire   The idea of climbing a tree for shelter, or just to see the earth from another perspective, is surely as old as humanity. Tree houses are chronicled in ancient civilizations and their lore crosses through the history of every part of the world where trees grow. This stunningly-illustrated study offers a tour of the best tree houses in the world, some designed by architects, others the work of unknown craftsmen. A teahouse, a restaurant, a hotel, a playhouse for children, or a perch from which to contemplate life—the tree house can take as many forms as the imagination can offer. In times of concern for sustainability and ecological responsibility, the tree house may also be the ultimate symbol of life in symbiosis with nature. Whether rustic or contemporary in style, tree houses make the most of space. Climb into this trove of tree houses and enjoy a new perspective on the world.   50 tree houses from around the world Covers all different styles, from romantic to modern Every house is depicted in several photos as well as one illustration byartist Patrick Hruby from Los Angeles (who also created the book’s cover artwork) Helpful short biographies of all architects

    His knee lifted to drive into Donnan's crotch. As the man bent over in pain, Colum struck him a savage blow across the back of the neck with a closed fist. Donnan dropped like a felled ox and lay still.But colum wasn't done with him yet. Still cursing, he grabbed a fistful of red hair and raised Donnan's head, meaning to pound it into the ground.Suddenly, it was Fergus he saw lying under him. This was no contest of champions. It was a blood-feud between the Ard-righ and himself - which could only end with the spilling of blood.'Stop.'The word lashed Colum, piercing the red-mists that bound his mind. He lifted his head and saw a tall manshape from whose brow twelve-tined antlers sprung. The eyes that fixed their gaze on Colum were ageless, deep and knowing. Silently they spoke to him.'Would you break Fair-truce, Colum, Donal's son, and so be outlawed in truth?'The mist cleared from Colum's gaze - quickly and sudden, like the long grass of Kerry's plains parting before a storm wind. The Fair in Emain Mancha originally appeared in Space and Time #68 in 1985. It was later released in 1990 as part of an omnibus: Ill Met in Lankhmar/The Fair in Emain Macha

    A classic of phenomenology and existentialism and arguably Jonas's greatest work, The Phenomenon of Life sets forth a systematic and comprehensive philosophy -- an existential interpretation of biological facts laid out in support of Jonas's claim that mind is prefigured throughout organic existence.At the center of this philosophy is an attack on the fundamental assumptions underlying modern philosophy since Descartes, primarily dualism. Dissenting from the dualistic view of value as a human projection onto nature, Jonas's critique affirms the classical view that being harbors the good. In a brilliant synthesis of the ancient and modern, Jonas draws upon existential philosophy to justify core insights of the classical tradition. This critique transcends the historical limits of its phenomenological methodology and existential ethical stance to take its place among the most scientifically nuanced contemporary accounts of moral nature. It lays the foundation for an ethic of responsibility grounded in an assignment by Being to protect the natural environment that has allowed us to spring from it.

    “In this era of tightening world food supplies, the ability to grow food is fast becoming a new form of geopolitical leverage. Food is the new oil,” Lester R. Brown writes.What will the geopolitics of food look like in a new era dominated by scarcity and food nationalism? Brown outlines the political implications of land acquisitions by grain-importing countries in Africa and elsewhere as well as the world’s shrinking buffers against poor harvests. With wisdom accumulated over decades of tracking agricultural issues, Brown exposes the increasingly volatile food situation the world is facing.

    It provides illuminating answers to questions that have confronted generations of students, such as: * why did Aeschylus introduce the second actor?* why did Sophocles develop character drawing?* why are some of Euripides' plots so bad and others so good?Greek Tragedy is neither a history nor a handbook, but a penetrating work of criticism which all students of literature will find suggestive and stimulating

    But very few connections are made for kids between the present and the future. This book shows kids a pathway from their current interests and talents to a future career or interest. And in so doing, it also encourages adventure, exploration, and discovery, three core principles of National Geographic's mission. It's a celebration of possibility--so simple and so profound.Jumping in puddles can inspire scuba diving. Dirty hands can lead to dinosaur bones! Backyard star-gazing inspires future astronauts. Perfectly selected photos make the connections compelling and the future real for kids, then rich back matter brings the message home with inspirational quotes from the real-life adventurers pictured in the images. Grown-ups won't be able to resist sharing this inspirational message with kids, and kids won't be able to resist the invitation to let their imaginations run wild.

    1903: The Arctic's fabled Northwest Passage is navigated for the first time. 2012: An eminent climatologist is found dead in his London apartment. For Robert Spire, an environmental lawyer, what seems like a standard executor's appointment in his client's will, turns out to be anything but, as he is thrust into an international conspiracy involving a terrorist plan to push the Arctic to its tipping point, and the world to disaster...TIPPING POINT is a fast-paced disaster-fiction action-thriller with a perfect blend of suspense, action, adventure and thrills to keep you turning the pages until the very end.TWO DEAD CLIMATOLOGISTS...AN INTERNATIONAL CONSPIRACY...A LOOMING ECOLOGICAL DISASTER...When eminent climatologist Dr Dale Stanton - in the process of studying the Atlantic Ocean's Thermohaline Circulation - is found dead in his London apartment, environmental lawyer, Robert Spire, is given the task to administer a large legacy left by him to global warming organisations. The job should have been straightforward, until a second climatologist, Dr Jack Bannister drops dead on the other side of the Atlantic.AN INTERNATIONAL CONSPIRACYSpire's client - suspicious of her son's death - asks him to travel to San Francisco to investigate Dr Jack Bannister's death. Whilst there, Spire learns of a plan to seed the Arctic Ocean with an experimental substance - the aim, to prevent, or at least slow the Arctic's melting ice. A Russian female assassin is tracking Spire's every move however, suggesting that someone clearly has other plans for the region, and wants the climatologists dead at all costs.A LOOMING ECOLOGICAL DISASTERAs evidence of increased glacial melt in Greenland and reduction in the Arctic ice mounts, Spire becomes determined to join the joint US/French expedition to seed the Arctic. He soon finds however, that the lives of all on board are in peril as he discovers a plan that threatens to push the Arctic to its tipping point and the Earth to disaster...

    Scott places the critical problem of the peasant household—subsistence—at the center of this study. The fear of food shortages, he argues persuasively, explains many otherwise puzzling technical, social, and moral arrangements in peasant society, such as resistance to innovation, the desire to own land even at some cost in terms of income, relationships with other people, and relationships with institutions, including the state.Once the centrality of the subsistence problem is recognized, its effects on notions of economic and political justice can also be seen. Scott draws from the history of agrarian society in lower Burma and Vietnam to show how the transformations of the colonial era systematically violated the peasants’ “moral economy” and created a situation of potential rebellion and revolution.Demonstrating keen insights into the behavior of people in other cultures and a rare ability to generalize soundly from case studies, Scott offers a different perspective on peasant behavior that will be of interest particularly to political scientists, anthropologists, sociologists, and Southeast Asianists.“The book is extraordinarily original and valuable and will have a very broad appeal. I think the central thesis is correct and compelling.”—Clifford Geertz “In this major work, … Scott views peasants as political and moral actors defending their values as well as their individual security, making his book vital to an understanding of peasant politics.”—Library Journal

    Designed to allow even the absolute beginner to find their way anywhere in the world, it also develops a unique confidence in navigation – with or without technical aids.With a preface by Sir Ranulph Fiennes, contents will also include:Environmental clues – Using the natural environment to navigateMaps – An introduction to the different types of mapsThe Compass and North – How compasses work, how to use them and how to choose the right oneMap and Compass Navigation – twenty-five easy-to-learn skills are describedRelocation Procedures – What to do when lost, dealing with well-known relocation procedures and some ground-breaking new onesStellar Navigation – Simple methods that are easy to learnGNSS (GPS) Navigation – Why Global Satellite Navigation Systems are the most significant advance in navigation since the invention of the magnetic compass; details all of the systems now available, including the American GPSSpecialist environments and equipment – Which techniques are best, where and how to use them in environments such as the Arctic, coastal areas, desert regions, jungles or forests, mountains and urban areasWritten by one of the world's leading search and rescue consultants and highly illustrated with specially commissioned photographs designed to emphasise navigation problems – this is the ultimate guide to not losing your way.

    But our canine companions are in many ways our captives. No matter how cushy their captivity, we decide what and when they eat; where they sleep, poop, and play; when they can walk and when they must sit or stay. As the demand for dog trainers and veterinary behaviorists attests, dogs are not naturally adapted to living with and among modern humans. They give up a lot of freedom and instinctual pleasure, as well as their innate strategies for coping with stress and anxiety, in exchange for the comfort and care they get from humans. Bekoff and Pierce show that it is possible to let dogs be dogs without wreaking havoc on our own lives. They begin by illuminating the true nature of dogs and helping us "walk in their paws." They reveal what smell, taste, touch, sight, and hearing mean to dogs and then guide readers through everyday ways of enhancing a dog's freedom and minimizing deprivations in safe, mutually happy ways. The rewards, they show, are great -- for dog and human alike.