Finding the Mother Tree: Discovering the Wisdom of the Forest


Suzanne Simard - 2021
    Her work has influenced filmmakers (the Tree of Souls of James Cameron's Avatar) and her TED talks have been viewed by more than 10 million people worldwide.Now, in her first book, Simard brings us into her world, the intimate world of the trees, in which she brilliantly illuminates the fascinating and vital truths--that trees are not simply the source of timber or pulp, but are a complex, interdependent circle of life; that forests are social, cooperative creatures connected through underground networks by which trees communicate their vitality and vulnerabilities with communal lives not that different from our own.Simard writes--in inspiring, illuminating, and accessible ways--how trees, living side by side for hundreds of years, have evolved, how they perceive one another, learn and adapt their behaviors, recognize neighbors, and remember the past; how they have agency about the future; elicit warnings and mount defenses, compete and cooperate with one another with sophistication, characteristics ascribed to human intelligence, traits that are the essence of civil societies--and at the center of it all, the Mother Trees: the mysterious, powerful forces that connect and sustain the others that surround them.Simard writes of her own life, born and raised into a logging world in the rainforests of British Columbia, of her days as a child spent cataloging the trees from the forest and how she came to love and respect them--embarking on a journey of discovery, and struggle. And as she writes of her scientific quest, she writes of her own journey--of love and loss, of observation and change, of risk and reward, making us understand how deeply human scientific inquiry exists beyond data and technology, that it is about understanding who we are and our place in the world, and, in writing of her own life, we come to see the true connectedness of the Mother Tree that nurtures the forest in the profound ways that families and human societies do, and how these inseparable bonds enable all our survival.

Objects First with Java: A Practical Introduction Using BlueJ


David J. Barnes - 2002
    It takes a truly objects first approach to teaching problem solving using Java. These are complicated concepts so the book uses the development environment BlueJ to help the student's understanding. BlueJ has a strong emphasis on visualization and interaction techniques, and allows the students to manipulate objects and call methods as a first exercise. BlueJ is free and freely available, and has been developed specifically for teaching. The book is loaded with projects so that the student can really get a grip on actually solving problems; and it takes a spiral approach , introducing a topic in a simple context early on, then revisiting it later in the book to deepen understanding. It also comes with a CD containing JDK, BlueJ, a BlueJ tutorial and code for all the projects. The website contains style guide for all examples, PowerPoints for lecturers and also a Solutions Manual.

The Landscape of History: How Historians Map the Past


John Lewis Gaddis - 2002
    The Landscape of History provides a searching look at the historian's craft, as well as a strong argument for why a historical consciousness should matter to us today.Gaddis points out that while the historical method is more sophisticated than most historians realize, it doesn't require unintelligible prose to explain. Like cartographers mapping landscapes, historians represent what they can never replicate. In doing so, they combine the techniques of artists, geologists, paleontologists, and evolutionary biologists. Their approaches parallel, in intriguing ways, the new sciences of chaos, complexity, and criticality. They don't much resemble what happens in the social sciences, where the pursuit of independent variables functioning with static systems seems increasingly divorced from the world as we know it. So who's really being scientific and who isn't? This question too is one Gaddis explores, in ways that are certain to spark interdisciplinary controversy.Written in the tradition of Marc Bloch and E.H. Carr, The Landscape of History is at once an engaging introduction to the historical method for beginners, a powerful reaffirmation of it for practitioners, a startling challenge to social scientists, and an effective skewering of post-modernist claims that we can't know anything at all about the past. It will be essential reading for anyone who reads, writes, teaches, or cares about history.

Environmental Science: Toward a Sustainable Future


Richard T. Wright - 2001
    As the field of environmental science continues to evolve, this highly readable guide presents a full spectrum of views and information for students to evaluate issues and make informed decisions. An extensive resource package integrates text and digital media in an easy-to-use format designed to assist instructors in classroom preparation.

Timefulness: How Thinking Like a Geologist Can Help Save the World


Marcia Bjornerud - 2018
    The passage of nine days, which is how long a drop of water typically stays in Earth's atmosphere, is something we can easily grasp. But spans of hundreds of years--the time a molecule of carbon dioxide resides in the atmosphere--approach the limits of our comprehension. Our everyday lives are shaped by processes that vastly predate us, and our habits will in turn have consequences that will outlast us by generations. Timefulness reveals how knowing the rhythms of Earth's deep past and conceiving of time as a geologist does can give us the perspective we need for a more sustainable future.Marcia Bjornerud shows how geologists chart the planet's past, explaining how we can determine the pace of solid Earth processes such as mountain building and erosion and comparing them with the more unstable rhythms of the oceans and atmosphere. These overlapping rates of change in the Earth system--some fast, some slow--demand a poly-temporal worldview, one that Bjornerud calls "timefulness." She explains why timefulness is vital in the Anthropocene, this human epoch of accelerating planetary change, and proposes sensible solutions for building a more time-literate society.This compelling book presents a new way of thinking about our place in time, enabling us to make decisions on multigenerational timescales. The lifespan of Earth may seem unfathomable compared to the brevity of human existence, but this view of time denies our deep roots in Earth's history--and the magnitude of our effects on the planet.

The Elements of Moral Philosophy


James Rachels - 2003
    To illustrate the various theories, and to reveal their implications, important current issues such as abortion, euthanasia, the treatment of nonhuman animals, racial discrimination, and nuclear weapons are discussed in depth.

Principles of Geology


Charles Lyell - 1830
    Written with clarity and a dazzling intellectual passion, it is both a seminal work of modern geology and a compelling precursor to Darwinism, exploring the evidence for radical changes in climate and geography across the ages and speculating on the progressive development of life. A profound influence on Darwin, Principles of Geology also captured the imagination of contemporaries such as Melville, Emerson, Tennyson and George Eliot, transforming science with its depiction of the powerful forces that shape the natural world.

Field Notes from a Catastrophe: Man, Nature, and Climate Change


Elizabeth Kolbert - 2006
    In what began as groundbreaking three-part series in the New Yorker, for which she won a National Magazine Award in 2006, Kolbert cuts through the competing rhetoric and political agendas to elucidate for Americans what is really going on with the global environment and asks what, if anything, can be done to save our planet. Now updated and with a new afterword, Field Notes from a Catastrophe is the book to read on the defining issue and greatest challenge of our times.

Genome: the Autobiography of a Species in 23 Chapters


Matt Ridley - 1999
    

An Inconvenient Truth: The Planetary Emergency of Global Warming and What We Can Do About It


Al Gore - 2006
    Both the book and film were inspired by a series of multimedia presentations on global warming that Gore created and delivers to groups around the world. With this book, Gore, who is one of our environmental heroes—and a leading expert—brings together leading-edge research from top scientists around the world; photographs, charts, and other illustrations; and personal anecdotes and observations to document the fast pace and wide scope of global warming. He presents, with alarming clarity and conclusiveness—and with humor, too—that the fact of global warming is not in question and that its consequences for the world we live in will be disastrous if left unchecked. This riveting new book—written in an accessible, entertaining style—will open the eyes of even the most skeptical.

The Lives of a Cell: Notes of a Biology Watcher


Lewis Thomas - 1978
    

The Immune System


Peter Parham - 2004
    This class-tested and successful textbook synthesizes the established facts of immunology into a comprehensible, coherent, and up-to-date account of how the immune system works, rather than presenting immunology as a chronology of experiments and discoveries. Emphasizing the human immune system the text has been designed to break down the barriers which often divide basic and clinical immunology. The reader-friendly text, section and chapter summaries, and full-color illustrations make the book accessible and easily understandable to students. The Immune System is adapted from Immunobiology by Janeway, Travers & Walport.

Cell and Molecular Biology: Concepts and Experiments


Gerald Karp - 1979
    The sixth edition explores core concepts in considerable depth and presents experimental detail when it helps to explain and reinforce the concepts. The majority of discussions have been modified to reflect the latest changes in the field. The book also builds on its strong illustration program by opening each chapter with “VIP” art that serves as a visual summary for the chapter. Over 60 new micrographs and computer-derived images have been added to enhance the material. Biologists benefit from these changes as they build their skills in making the connection. Doody Review Services Reviewer: Bruce A. Fenderson, PhD(Thomas Jefferson University) Description: The author expertly organizes, explains, and illustrates the chemical and cellular basis of life on Earth in this comprehensive and exciting introduction to cell and molecular biology. The 18 fascinating chapters cover topics ranging from control of gene expression to mechanisms of immune response. There is even a chapter on laboratory techniques. The focus of the book is on biological chemistry, with an emphasis on core concepts and experimental approaches. Purpose: The purpose is to provide a textbook for an introductory course in cell and molecular biology. The author hopes that students will visualize a world filled with "giant molecules and minuscule structures" that constitute the chemistry of life. He encourages students to consider the evidence that is presented to support a biological model, think of alternate explanations, and plan experiments that may lead to new hypotheses. One of the author's goals is to help students develop their independent, critical-thinking skills. Audience: This is an excellent companion textbook for undergraduate and graduate-level courses in cell and molecular biology. It is written for students across a wide range of life science disciplines

Manual of Mineralogy


Cornelis Klein - 1899
    Known for its complete coverage of concepts and principles along with a more systematic and descriptive treatment of mineralogy, the revised edition now includes a CD-ROM to let readers see the minerals and crystals, while also viewing chemical composition, symmetry, and morphological crystallography.

CK-12 Basic Physics


CK-12 Foundation - 2012
    Objects in harmonic motion have the ability to transfer some of their energy over large distances. Light Nature: This chapter covers the nature of light, polarization, and color.