Natural History
Few books have had a greater impact than A Sand County Almanac, which many credit with launching a revolution in land management. Written as a series of sketches based principally upon the flora and fauna in a rural part of Wisconsin, the book, originally published by Oxford in 1949, gathers informal pieces written by Leopold over a forty-year period as he traveled through the woodlands of Wisconsin, Iowa, Arizona, Sonora, Oregon, Manitoba, and elsewhere; a final section addresses the philosophical issues involved in wildlife conservation. Beloved for its description and evocation of the natural world, Leopold's book, which has sold well over 2 million copies, remains a foundational text in environmental science and a national treasure.
COMPLETELY REVISED AND UPDATED: Perfect for the field! The most authoritative on-the-go guide to the birds of the East - From renowned birder, illustrator, and New York Times best-selling author David Sibley
Compact and comprehensive, this guide features 650 bird species, plus regional populations, found east of the Rocky Mountains. Entries include stunningly accurate illustrations--more than 4,600 in total--with descriptive captions pointing out the most important field marks. Each entry has been updated to include the most current information concerning frequency, nesting, behavior, food and feeding, voice description, and key identification features. Here too are more than 600 updated maps drawn from information contributed by 110 regional experts across the continent, and showing winter, summer, year-round, migration, and rare ranges. This revised edition includes:
- Updated habitat, description, behavior, and conservation text for each species account and all family pages.
- New and revised illustrations of species and regional forms.
- New design featuring species accounts in columns, allowing for better comparison and more illustrations and text.
- Current taxonomic order and up-to-date common names.
- All maps revised to reflect the most current range information.
- More species and rarities included
Compact and comprehensive, this guide features 650 bird species, plus regional populations, found east of the Rocky Mountains. Entries include stunningly accurate illustrations--more than 4,600 in total--with descriptive captions pointing out the most important field marks. Each entry has been updated to include the most current information concerning frequency, nesting, behavior, food and feeding, voice description, and key identification features. Here too are more than 600 updated maps drawn from information contributed by 110 regional experts across the continent, and showing winter, summer, year-round, migration, and rare ranges. This revised edition includes:
- Updated habitat, description, behavior, and conservation text for each species account and all family pages.
- New and revised illustrations of species and regional forms.
- New design featuring species accounts in columns, allowing for better comparison and more illustrations and text.
- Current taxonomic order and up-to-date common names.
- All maps revised to reflect the most current range information.
- More species and rarities included
The entire birding world, from expert ornithologists to backyard enthusiasts, has been waiting for Sibley's work to be made available in a field-usable form. Containing the renowned artist's superbly lucid and comprehensive text, this guide features more than 6,500 of his detailed paintings. Full color.
A groundbreaking, witty, and eloquent exploration of slime that will leave you appreciating the nebulous and neglected sticky stuff that covers our world, inside and out. Slime. The very word seems to ooze oily menace, conjuring up a variety of unpleasant associations: mucous, toxins, reptiles, pollutants, and other unsavory viscous semi-liquid substances. Yet without slime, the natural world would be completely unrecognizable; in fact, life itself as we know it would be impossible In this deft and fascinating book, journalist Susanne Wedlich takes us on a tour of all things slimy, from the most unctuous of science fiction monsters to the biochemical compounds that are the very building blocks of life. Along the way she shows us what slime really means, and why slime is not something to fear, but rather something to ... embrace.
What if Nature is more cooperative, and less competitive, than we think?
A follow-up to Kristin Ohlson's previous book, The Soil Will Save Us (Rodale 2014), Sweet in Tooth and Claw extends the concept of cooperation in nature to the life-affirming connections among microbes, plants, fungi, insects, birds, and animals - including humans--in ecosystems around the globe. For centuries, people have debated whether nature is mostly competitive -- as Darwin theorized and the poet Tennyson described as "red in tooth and claw"--or innately cooperative, as many ancient and indigenous peoples believed. In the last 100 or so years, a growing gang of scientists have studied the mutually beneficial interactions that are believed to benefit every species on earth. This book is full of stories of generosity - not competition -- in nature. It is a testament to the importance of a healthy biodiversity, and dispels the widely accepted premise of survival of the fittest. Ohlson tells stories of trees and mushrooms, beavers and bees. There are chapters on a wide variety of ecosystems and portraits of the people who learn from them: forests (the work of Suzanne Simard); scientists who study the interaction of bees and flowers in the Rocky Mountains; the discovery of bacteria and protozoa in the mid-1600s by Dutch scientist Antoni von Leeuwenhoek; ranchers, government agency personnel, and scientists working together to restore wetlands from deserts in northeastern Nevada; and more. It is a rich and fascinating book full of amazing stories, sure to change your perspective on the natural world.
A follow-up to Kristin Ohlson's previous book, The Soil Will Save Us (Rodale 2014), Sweet in Tooth and Claw extends the concept of cooperation in nature to the life-affirming connections among microbes, plants, fungi, insects, birds, and animals - including humans--in ecosystems around the globe. For centuries, people have debated whether nature is mostly competitive -- as Darwin theorized and the poet Tennyson described as "red in tooth and claw"--or innately cooperative, as many ancient and indigenous peoples believed. In the last 100 or so years, a growing gang of scientists have studied the mutually beneficial interactions that are believed to benefit every species on earth. This book is full of stories of generosity - not competition -- in nature. It is a testament to the importance of a healthy biodiversity, and dispels the widely accepted premise of survival of the fittest. Ohlson tells stories of trees and mushrooms, beavers and bees. There are chapters on a wide variety of ecosystems and portraits of the people who learn from them: forests (the work of Suzanne Simard); scientists who study the interaction of bees and flowers in the Rocky Mountains; the discovery of bacteria and protozoa in the mid-1600s by Dutch scientist Antoni von Leeuwenhoek; ranchers, government agency personnel, and scientists working together to restore wetlands from deserts in northeastern Nevada; and more. It is a rich and fascinating book full of amazing stories, sure to change your perspective on the natural world.
From "a captivating storyteller" (Wall Street Journal), the natural history of humankind told through our long relationship with birds For the whole of human history, we have lived alongside birds. We have hunted and domesticated them for food; venerated them in our mythologies, religions, and rituals; exploited them for their natural resources; and been inspired by them for our music, art, and poetry.
In Ten Birds That Changed the World, naturalist and author Stephen Moss tells the gripping story of this long and intimate relationship through key species from all seven of the world's continents. From Odin's faithful raven companions to Darwin's finches, and from the wild turkey of the Americas to the emperor penguin as potent symbol of the climate crisis, this is a fascinating, eye-opening, and endlessly engaging work of natural history.
In Ten Birds That Changed the World, naturalist and author Stephen Moss tells the gripping story of this long and intimate relationship through key species from all seven of the world's continents. From Odin's faithful raven companions to Darwin's finches, and from the wild turkey of the Americas to the emperor penguin as potent symbol of the climate crisis, this is a fascinating, eye-opening, and endlessly engaging work of natural history.
1st edition, published by the Bird Research Foundation, Cleveland, Ohio, 1940. Illustrated with field sketches and line drawings by George Miksch Sutton, photographs by author. Dust jacket in protective mylar cover; two tiny tears on bottom of front cover; one 1/4" tear to top edge of rear cover; slight chipping to bottom edge of rear cover; front cover crease has 3/4" tear; blue prismatic cloth with gilt lettering on spine; binding tight; text clean and bright. VG/VG-
Little Brown, Boston, 1963. 1st edition, 2nd printing. Author's first book, a fictional account of the demise of great auk, the only flightless bird in the North Atlantic, often referred to as the "Atlantic penguin." Dust jacket in protective cover; head of spine chipped; corners chipped; spine toned; blue cloth; head of spine faded; illustrated endpapers; binding good; text clean. G+/G