Magpies, he soon discovers, are as clever and mischievous as monkeys. They are also notorious thieves, and this one quickly steals his heart. By the time the creature develops shiny black feathers that inspire the name Benzene, Charlie and the bird have forged an unbreakable bond. While caring for Benzene, Charlie learns his biological father, an eccentric British poet named Heathcote Williams who vanished when Charlie was six months old, is ill. As he grapples with Heathcote’s abandonment, Charlie comes across one of his poems, in which Heathcote describes how an impish young jackdaw fell from its nest and captured his affection. Over time, Benzene helps Charlie unravel his fears about repeating the past—and embrace the role of father himself. A bird falls, a father dies, a child is born. Featherhood is the unforgettable story of a love affair between a man and a bird. It is also a beautiful and affecting memoir about childhood and parenthood, captivity and freedom, grief and love.

    The stories include tales of strippers, of their husbands and lovers and the helpless, ill-placed desire that is shot out of their customers, of a rape by a man of another man at a peep show in Times Square, the victim wordlessly accepting what happens to him while watching a woman dance behind glass, of fucking a woman wearing a fur coat and feeling unexplainable rage at her disregard of animal life. The story ends with the character running away into the night with the coat, "as if an animal rescued." In "Invisible Fish," a night clerk in a mall pet store tortures the animals at night until the whole place stinks of fear and rage. Dumbfounded, the store owners blugeon to death a chimpanzee, the only animal in the store that can imagine capable of such atrocities.

    Enthralled at first by these strangers, he begins to discover their dark and dangerous side, touching off a decades-long struggle against determined explorers, aggressive traders, land-hungry settlers, and ruthless officials. If his own people are to survive, the boy-turned-man must use his wits, build alliances, and draw on unique skills to block the rising tide of the white "salt people."Ambition and fear, love and loathing, mutual respect and open contempt bring Europeans and "savages" together in the untold story of the founding of New York City and the fabled island at its heart: Manhattan.If you have a passion for the historical fiction of Ken Follett, James Michener, or Edward Rutherfurd, you'll savor this rich and meticulously researched novel.A novel based on true events.(This Omnibus Edition includes updated and revised versions of the four short ebooks in The Manhattan Series plus new added content.)

    In the great halls of science, dogma holds that Darwin's theory of natural selection explains every branch on the tree of life: which species thrive, which wither away to extinction, and what features each evolves. But can adaptation by natural selection really account for everything we see in nature? Yale University ornithologist Richard Prum--reviving Darwin's own views--thinks not. Deep in tropical jungles around the world are birds with a dizzying array of appearances and mating displays: Club-winged Manakins who sing with their wings, Great Argus Pheasants who dazzle prospective mates with a four-foot-wide cone of feathers covered in golden 3D spheres, Red-capped Manakins who moonwalk. In thirty years of fieldwork, Prum has seen numerous display traits that seem disconnected from, if not outright contrary to, selection for individual survival. To explain this, he dusts off Darwin's long-neglected theory of sexual selection in which the act of choosing a mate for purely aesthetic reasons--for the mere pleasure of it--is an independent engine of evolutionary change. Mate choice can drive ornamental traits from the constraints of adaptive evolution, allowing them to grow ever more elaborate. It also sets the stakes for sexual conflict, in which the sexual autonomy of the female evolves in response to male sexual control. Most crucially, this framework provides important insights into the evolution of human sexuality, particularly the ways in which female preferences have changed male bodies, and even maleness itself, through evolutionary time. The Evolution of Beauty presents a unique scientific vision for how nature's splendor contributes to a more complete understanding of evolution and of ourselves.

    Barbaro was a favorite to be the twelfth until May 20, 2006, at the Preakness Stakes, when his jockey, Edgar Prado pulled him up a couple of hundred yards from the starting gate. Subsequent examination revealed that he had virtually exploded bones in his right rear leg so badly that under normal conditions he would have been euthanized right on the track. But his owners, Roy and Gretchen Jackson, chose another path, one filled with anxiety and tears—but also courageous determination to save his life.This touching, soaring book—filled with insights from Barbaro's trainers, breeders, caretakers, and owners—follows Barbaro from foal to colt to champion to perfect patient. But In the end it is not just a story of a down-but-not-out champion, but of human beings at their very best.

    Here, in brief essays, she traces a tender and honest portrait of her complicated parents--her exuberant, creative mother; her steady, supportive father--and of the bittersweet moments that accompany a child's transition to caregiver.And here, braided into the overall narrative, Renkl offers observations on the world surrounding her suburban Nashville home. Ringing with rapture and heartache, these essays convey the dignity of bluebirds and rat snakes, monarch butterflies and native bees. As these two threads haunt and harmonize with each other, Renkl suggests that there is astonishment to be found in common things: in what seems ordinary, in what we all share. For in both worlds--the natural one and our own--"the shadow side of love is always loss, and grief is only love's own twin."Illustrated by the author's brother, Billy Renkl, Late Migrations is an assured and memorable debut.

    An experienced falconer—Helen had been captivated by hawks since childhood—she'd never before been tempted to train one of the most vicious predators, the goshawk. But in her grief, she saw that the goshawk's fierce and feral temperament mirrored her own. Resolving to purchase and raise the deadly creature as a means to cope with her loss, she adopted Mabel, and turned to the guidance of The Once and Future King author T.H. White's chronicle The Goshawk to begin her challenging endeavor. Projecting herself "in the hawk's wild mind to tame her" tested the limits of Macdonald's humanity and changed her life. Heart-wrenching and humorous, this book is an unflinching account of bereavement and a unique look at the magnetism of an extraordinary beast, with a parallel examination of a legendary writer's eccentric falconry. Obsession, madness, memory, myth, and history combine to achieve a distinctive blend of nature writing and memoir from an outstanding literary innovator.

    On the one hand wrens are ubiquitous. They are Britain's most common bird, with 8.5 million breeding pairs and have by far the loudest song in proportion to their size. They also thrive up and down Britain and Ireland: from the smallest city garden to remote offshore islands, blustery moors to chilly mountains. Yet many people, particularly a younger generation, are not sure if they have ever seen a wren. Perhaps because the wren is so tiny, weighing just as much as two A4 sheets of paper, and so busy, always on the move, more mouse than bird. However if we cast our eyes back to recent history wrens were a mainstay of literary, cultural and popular history. The wren was on postage stamps and the farthing, it featured in nursery rhymes and greetings cards, poems and rural `wren hunts', still a recent memory in Ireland particularly. With beautiful illustrations throughout, this captivating year-in-the-life biography reveals the hidden secrets of this fascinating bird that lives right on our doorstep.

    Dedicating his life to bringing criminals to justice, he's on the trail of Tyler Boone, an escaped outlaw and killer.Jake and Maddie lock horns when Jake shows up at Maddie's homestead and announces he's staying until he captures Tyler. But living in close quarters exposes emotions and feelings they had both thought long dead, and brings danger, sorrow and love, forcing them both to question the past, and eventually, to trust in the future.

    Includes: Book 1: Ellis and Alexi Book 2: Beckett and Amanda Book 3: Finch and Jessica Book 4: Matteo and Lani Book 5: Keene and Chloe [cliffhanger]Note: Smokejumpers: Werebear 6 & 7 are available as individual titles.Bear shifter romances, full of comedy, action, suspense and lots of hot sex! (HEA and almost no cliffhangers.)Smokejumpers: Werebear 1Rich BBW, Alexi, has run away from her abusive fiancée the day before her wedding. She ends up miserable, living in the Flathead National Forest in the middle of Montana working in a roadside diner and living in a rundown garage. But when she meets the local fireman, a group of big, sexy, muscular, witty, dirty talking, smokejumpers, she may just find the paradise she is searching for.Ellis is a hot, adventurous, risk taking, smoke-jumping bear shifter. His inner bear has been desperate to find a mate and its tearing him apart. When he starts losing control of his animal, his big brother, and alpha, is ready to kick him out of the crew. Until he meets the new waitress at the diner who changes everything.Passion heats up between them, but when Alexi's violent past catches up with her, she may put the whole clan of bear shifters in danger, and the two lovers may be torn apart forever.Smokejumpers: Werebear 2Flirty and sexy BBW, Amanda Pike, has taken a new job as a pilot in Montana for the Hudson Crew. She is shocked to find that not only are these big, burly, sexy smokejumpers a crew of werebears but that the hot alpha of the crew has seemed to have bonded strongly to her.Alpha of the Hudson Crew, Beckett Jacoby, is torn. Every shifter knows that an alpha can't take on a mate. It makes a bear soft, weak and careless and can tear even the most cohesive crew apart. But when his bear bonds with the new pilot living in his camp he can't seem to follow even his own rules.Tensions rise around camp as the alpha begins neglecting his duties, choosing passion over responsibility. But when Beckett goes too far he not only risks losing his alpha position but his whole crew all together.Smokejumpers: Werebear 3BBW and werebear, Jessica White's, life is a mess. She's the little sister of the sociopathic alpha of the Flint Crew named Kai. She has bonded to the mortal enemy of her brother, a man she has only seen once. Now Kai has her locked in the basement and her bear is driving her crazy, yearning for this man she knows so little about, not even his name.Loyal member of the Hudson Crew, Finch Bender, is on a suicide mission. He knows that he can't win in a fight against the cruel alpha of the Flint Crew, Kai, but that doesn't stop him from sneaking around his camp looking for Kai's gorgeous sister, a werebear who he has bonded strongly with.The two bonded werebears will risk anything to be together, including their lives. But when Kai discovers their forbidden relationship their lives may be the very thing they will be forced to give.Smokejumpers: Werebear 4BBW, Lani Jacoby, has been gone for ten years. She is reckless, selfish, bitchy and the sister of the Hudson Crew alpha, Beckett, and the number two of the Crew, Ellis. She has returned to the life and home that she escaped from all of those years ago and is causing chaos wherever she goes. Werebear, Matteo Brown, has finally gotten his bear under control when Lani, the crazy woman that he bonded to a decade ago, returns to his camp. His emotions, and whole way of life, is thrown upside down as he has to deal with the heartache and desires that he successfully buried so long ago. It turns out that Lani isn't just back to create trouble. She wants something from the man that bonded to her. Will Matteo stand strong and kick her to the curb where she belongs? Or will he let his bear have his way and give her everything?Smokejumpers: Werebear 5BBW and journalist, Chloe Sparks, is about to break the biggest story of her life. She has found a source that has the ultimate scoop on shifters. Now if only she can get him to talk. Joker and giant polar bear shifter, Keene Watts, is a little, shall we say…f#cked! It is against the Hudson Crew’s, and not too mention the vicious, SEA (Shifter Enforcement Agency), rules to reveal shifter secrets to reporters. And now he has brought one into his Crew’s camp with promises to reveal all of their secrets. He is torn between his loyalty to his Crew and to the new bond with his bear’s new mate. But the turmoil that Chloe brings into the Crew of werebears will be nothing compared to what the SEA will bring when they discover that the Hudson Crew is housing a reporter… [This bear shifter romance has a cliffhanger.] (I don’t normally do cliffhangers but I figured that if you’ve gotten this far - chances are you’re willing to read the last two!)Note: The books, Smokejumpers: Werebear 6 & 7, are available as individual titles.

    The first avocado pears are appearing at the greengrocer's, people are thinking about carpeting their lavatories and boxing in their banisters, and Ronnie Glover, housepainter, husband and father, is feeling the first vague stirrings of discontent with his life. Then, out of the blue, the fabulous, sophisticated (and married) Jacqueline bursts into his life and teaches him to tango. She seems to offer everything he ever dreamt of. But is it all too good to he true?

    What to do when your husband runs off and leaves you single—when being single is not your thing? Lizzie has decided that single life does not suit her. From castles in Scotland to barns in Kent, via apartments in London, she embarks on a journey of self-discovery as a single woman with all the humorous pitfalls along the way.Naked artists, extreme earth lovers, taxidermy, and blow up dolls, are just some of the encounters Lizzie has to endure in her effort to get her life back on track.With the dashing Scot, Ronan, by her side, will she ever be able to do that?Or will his mountain of baggage just pile alongside hers creating an impenetrable wall between them?Limp Dicks & Saggy Tits is a Romantic Comedy and suitable for readers over the age of 18.

    These winged creaturesfrom exotic parrots to everyday sparrows, and endangered penguins to woody owlsare captured with Zuckerman's painstaking perspective against a stark white background to reveal the vivid colors, textures, and personalities of each subject in extraordinary and exquisite detail. The ultimate art book for ornithologists and nature enthusiasts alike, Bird is a volume of sublime beauty.

    John's affection, wisdom and lyricism sings off every page, bringing the natural world around him to life: from the rookery filled with twenty-nine nests and distinct bird calls to descriptions of the winter morning light, from the wood mice and the squirrels preparing for winter to tracking a fox's path through the snow. In particular it brings John's lifelong love of birds—his gods of the morning—to the fore.In the Highland glens, bird numbers plummet as their food supplies—natural fruits and every kind of creeping, crawling, slithering or flying bug—begin to disappear. Not just the swallows and house martins have vanished from round the houses. Gone are the insect snatching wheatears, whinchats and stonechats from the hills, and redstarts and flycatchers have fled the woods. Pied wagtails no longer flicker across the lawns and sandpipers and grey wagtails have deserted the river banks. Farmland and hedgerow species have vanished in the night: the linnets, yellowhammers, and all the warblers have decamped from the thickets.By the first frosts the hills will have emptied down to a few hardy stalwarts such as the golden eagles, the raven and the irrepressible hooded crows. Silence settles across the land. The few species that are left frequent a changed world. Soon only the buzzards and wood pigeons will hang on in the woods and the coniferous forests will be host to flocks of chaffinches, tits, siskins, and crossbills passing through.

    Things no man has seen before haunt the woods. Strange animal species creep behind pine trees, some of them with flashing red tags that blink faster and faster. Giant birds mimic the sound of humans and lord over the sky. Leaf-shaped creatures attack anything that moves and flash vivid colors across their glistening backs. As Bishop and his companions scramble across the Montana wilderness, they find human remains and animal carcasses littering the woods. The small town of Elmore is empty, the windows broken and streaked with blood. Trout Bridge-their only way out-is blocked by abandoned cars, none that were inbound. With the strange animals species closing in, Bishop realizes his group must take a stand. He's got a plan, and maybe they've got one last shot before the invasive species spread to the rest of the U.S.