Seashells, stretching from the deep past into the present day, are touchstones leading into fascinating realms of the natural world and cutting-edge science. Members of the phylum Mollusca are among the most ancient animals on the planet. Their shells provide homes for other animals, and across the ages, people have used shells not only as trinkets but also as a form of money, and as powerful symbols of sex and death, prestige and war. The science and natural history of shells are woven into a compelling narrative, revealing their cultural importance and the ways they have been used by humans over the millennia. (Seashells have even been tapped as a source of mind-bending drugs.) Marine biologist Helen Scales shows how seashells have been sculpted by the fundamental rules of mathematics and evolution; how they gave us color, gems, food, and new medicines.After surviving multiple mass extinctions millions of years ago, molluscs and their shells still face an onslaught of anthropogenic challenges, including climate change and corrosive oceans. But rather than dwelling on all that is lost, Scales emphasizes that seashells offer an accessible way to reconnect people with nature, helping to bridge the gap between ourselves and the living world. Spirals in Time: The Secret Life and Curious Afterlife of Seashells shows why nature matters, and reveals the hidden wonders that you can hold in the palm of your hand.
Bloomsbury USA
|
9781472911360
|
Print book
Trying Not to Try
By Slingerland, Edward
A deeply original exploration of the power of spontaneity - an ancient Chinese ideal that cognitive scientists are only now beginning to understand - and why it is so essential to our well-being Why is it always hard to fall asleep the night before an important meeting? Or be charming and relaxed on a first date? What is it about a politician who seems wooden or a comedian whose jokes fall flat or an athlete who chokes? In all of these cases, striving seems to backfire. In Trying Not To Try, Edward Slingerland explains why we find spontaneity so elusive, and shows how early Chinese thought points the way to happier, more authentic lives. We've long been told that the way to achieve our goals is through careful reasoning and conscious effort. But recent research suggests that many aspects of a satisfying life, like happiness and spontaneity, are best pursued indirectly.
Crown Publishing Group
|
9780770437619
|
Hardcover
The Human Age
By Ackerman, Diane
As Diane Ackerman writes in her brilliant new book, The Human Age, "our relationship with nature has changed ... radically, irreversibly, but by no means all for the bad. Our new epoch is laced with invention. Our mistakes are legion, but our talent is immeasurable." Ackerman is justly celebrated for her unique insight into the natural world and our place in it. In this landmark book, she confronts the unprecedented reality that one prodigiously intelligent and meddlesome creature, Homo sapiens, is now the dominant force shaping the future of planet Earth. Humans have "subdued 75 percent of the land surface, concocted a wizardry of industrial and medical marvels, strung lights all across the darkness." We tinker with nature at every opportunity; we garden the planet with our preferred species of plants and animals, many of them invasive; and we have even altered the climate, threatening our own extinction.
W. W. Norton & Company; 1st edition
|
9780393240740
|
Hardcover
The Mercy of the Sky
By Bailey, Hollace S
"A gripping, heartbreaking and heartwarming account of the monster tornado that ravaged Moore, Oklahoma in 2013. It will leave you emotionally drained but glad you journeyed into the heart of this extraordinary storm with Bailey as your guide." --Daniel James Brown, #1 NY Times bestselling author of The Boys in the Boat Winner of the Oklahoma Book Award// Winner of the American Meteorological Societys Louis J. Battan Award An acclaimed reporter returns to her hometown after the worst twister on record and emerges with a suspenseful story of human courage in the face of natural disaster. On May 20, 2013, the worst tornado on record landed a direct hit on the town of Moore, on the outskirts of Oklahoma City, levelling neighborhoods, sending farm animals flying, and destroying a school while the children cowered inside. Holly Bailey went back both as a journalist and a hometown girl, speaking to the teachers who put their lives at risk as they struggled to comfort their students; to the mayor and first responders who waded through the debris while the storm still raged; to the scientists and meteorologists who have dedicated their lives to understanding tornadoes but still cant determine when one will land with any degree of certainty and are haunted by every death they might have prevented; to the storm chasers who pursue level 5 twisters with a combination of gadgetry, courage and adrenaline; and to the shell shocked residents of Moore, who rose to the occasion that day with countless acts of selfless courage. An intense and inspiring account of what happened on that fateful day, The Mercy of the Sky Bailey does for the Oklahoma flatlands what Sebastian Junger did for Gloucester, Massachusetts, in The Perfect Storm, telling the dramatic story of a town that must survive the elements - or die. "The book is excellent - well researched, well told, with a strong narrative that reads like a disaster novel ... Its difficult to imagine that anyone other than an Okie could tell the story so confidently and so well." - The Oklahoman "This gripping book tells the story of one resilient Oklahoma town and the immense killer tornado that ripped through it. Holly Bailey brings together riveting science, human drama, courage, tragedy, and redemption to create a quintessential American story. Powerful and moving." - Douglas Presenton, #1 New York Times bestselling co-author of The Monster of Florence "Bailey is a brilliant storyteller. She brings you to the center of the storm - and its terrifying. She makes you feel a communitys loss - and its devastating. And she brings you inside peoples lives as they heal - and its inspiring." - David Greene, host of NPRs Morning Edition
Viking
|
9780525427490
|
Hardcover
Hidden Valley Road
By Kolker, Robert
The heartrending story of a midcentury American family with twelve children, six of them diagnosed with schizophrenia, that became science's great hope in the quest to understand the disease.Don and Mimi Galvin seemed to be living the American dream. After World War II, Don's work with the Air Force brought them to Colorado, where their twelve children perfectly spanned the baby boom: the oldest born in 1945, the youngest in 1965. In those years, there was an established script for a family like the Galvins--aspiration, hard work, upward mobility, domestic harmony--and they worked hard to play their parts. But behind the scenes was a different story: psychological breakdown, sudden shocking violence, hidden abuse. By the mid-1970s, six of the ten Galvin boys, one after another, were diagnosed as schizophrenic. How could all this happen to one family? What took place inside the house on Hidden Valley Road was so extraordinary that the Galvins became one of the first families to be studied by the National Institute of Mental Health. Their story offers a shadow history of the science of schizophrenia, from the era of institutionalization, lobotomy, and the schizophrenogenic mother to the search for genetic markers for the disease, always amid profound disagreements about the nature of the illness itself. And unbeknownst to the Galvins, samples of their DNA informed decades of genetic research that continues today, offering paths to treatment, prediction, and even eradication of the disease for future generations. With clarity and compassion, bestselling and award-winning author Robert Kolker uncovers one family's unforgettable legacy of suffering, love, and hope.
Doubleday
|
9780385543767
|
Hardcover
Peterson Field Guide to Finding Mammals in North America
By Dinets, Vladimir
Peterson The best-selling field guides of all time To see a fog shrew, should you go to Muir Woods National Monument? If you're planning to visit Yellowstone National Park, what animals can you expect to see? When should a photographer visit to get a shot of a gray fox? A mammal finder's guide (rather than an identification guide), this book tells you how to look, where to go, and what you are likely to find there. Two main sections provide a choice of looking up information by place or by species: The first includes regions of North America, highlighting the best places to look for mammals. The species-finding guide has accounts of more than four hundred species of mammals, including detailed directions to specific parks, refuges, and other locations; the best times of day (or night) to look; and much more information specific to each mammal.
Houghton Mifflin Harcourt
|
9780544373273
|
Print book
Tech-Savvy Parenting
By Goldstuck, Arthur
Are you a parent looking to make sense of a daunting digital world, with new technical challenges appearing daily? Feel youre not keeping up with the demands of technology? Feel youre not keeping up with your childrens use of social media? Worried its getting harder to keep your children safe in the digital world? Tech-Savvy Parenting brings together the experience, research, observations and advice of respected parenting expert Nikki Bush, and leading technology commentator Arthur Goldstuck. This insightful duo will help you get a handle on whats happening in the digital space to ensure your children are safe and savvy in this fast-changing world. Theyll guide you through the terminology, dangers and opportunities of technology, while placing childrens use of all things digital firmly in the context of the relationship between parents and their children.
Bookstorm
|
9781920434908
|
Print book
The Wind in the Reeds
By Pierce, Wendell
From acclaimed actor and producer Wendell Pierce, an insightful and poignant portrait of family, New Orleans and the transforming power of art. On the morning of August 29, 2005, Hurricane Katrina barreled into New Orleans, devastating many of the city's neighborhoods, including Pontchartrain Park, the home of Wendell Pierce's family and the first African American middle-class subdivision in New Orleans. The hurricane breached many of the city's levees, and the resulting flooding submerged Pontchartrain Park under as much as 20 feet of water. Katrina left New Orleans later that day, but for the next three days the water kept relentlessly gushing into the city, plunging eighty percent of New Orleans under water. Nearly 1,500 people were killed. Half the houses in the city had four feet of water in them - or more.
Riverhead Books
|
9781594633232
|
Hardcover
A Garden of Marvels
By Kassinger, Ruth
In the tradition of The Botany of Desire and Wicked Plants, a witty and engaging history of the first botanists interwoven with stories of today's extraordinary plants found in the garden and the lab.In Paradise Under Glass, Ruth Kassinger recounted with grace and humor her journey from brown thumb to green, sharing lessons she learned from building a home conservatory in the wake of a devastating personal crisis.In A Garden of Marvels, she extends the story. Frustrated by plants that fail to thrive, she sets out to understand the basics of botany in order to become a better gardener. She retraces the progress of the first botanists who banished myths and misunderstandings and discovered that flowers have sex, leaves eat air, roots choose their food, and hormones make morning glories climb fence posts. She also visits modern gardens, farms, and labs to discover the science behind extraordinary plants like one-ton pumpkins, a truly black petunia, a biofuel grass that grows twelve feet tall, and the world's only photosynthesizing animal. Transferring her insights to her own garden, she nurtures a "cocktail" tree that bears five kinds of fruit, cures a Buddha's Hand plant with beneficial fungi, and gets a tree to text her when it's thirsty.Intertwining personal anecdote, accessible science, and untold history, the ever-engaging author takes us on an eye-opening journey into her garden - and yours.
Spirals in Time
By Scales, Helen
Seashells, stretching from the deep past into the present day, are touchstones leading into fascinating realms of the natural world and cutting-edge science. Members of the phylum Mollusca are among the most ancient animals on the planet. Their shells provide homes for other animals, and across the ages, people have used shells not only as trinkets but also as a form of money, and as powerful symbols of sex and death, prestige and war. The science and natural history of shells are woven into a compelling narrative, revealing their cultural importance and the ways they have been used by humans over the millennia. (Seashells have even been tapped as a source of mind-bending drugs.) Marine biologist Helen Scales shows how seashells have been sculpted by the fundamental rules of mathematics and evolution; how they gave us color, gems, food, and new medicines.After surviving multiple mass extinctions millions of years ago, molluscs and their shells still face an onslaught of anthropogenic challenges, including climate change and corrosive oceans. But rather than dwelling on all that is lost, Scales emphasizes that seashells offer an accessible way to reconnect people with nature, helping to bridge the gap between ourselves and the living world. Spirals in Time: The Secret Life and Curious Afterlife of Seashells shows why nature matters, and reveals the hidden wonders that you can hold in the palm of your hand.
Trying Not to Try
By Slingerland, Edward
A deeply original exploration of the power of spontaneity - an ancient Chinese ideal that cognitive scientists are only now beginning to understand - and why it is so essential to our well-being Why is it always hard to fall asleep the night before an important meeting? Or be charming and relaxed on a first date? What is it about a politician who seems wooden or a comedian whose jokes fall flat or an athlete who chokes? In all of these cases, striving seems to backfire. In Trying Not To Try, Edward Slingerland explains why we find spontaneity so elusive, and shows how early Chinese thought points the way to happier, more authentic lives. We've long been told that the way to achieve our goals is through careful reasoning and conscious effort. But recent research suggests that many aspects of a satisfying life, like happiness and spontaneity, are best pursued indirectly.
The Human Age
By Ackerman, Diane
As Diane Ackerman writes in her brilliant new book, The Human Age, "our relationship with nature has changed ... radically, irreversibly, but by no means all for the bad. Our new epoch is laced with invention. Our mistakes are legion, but our talent is immeasurable." Ackerman is justly celebrated for her unique insight into the natural world and our place in it. In this landmark book, she confronts the unprecedented reality that one prodigiously intelligent and meddlesome creature, Homo sapiens, is now the dominant force shaping the future of planet Earth. Humans have "subdued 75 percent of the land surface, concocted a wizardry of industrial and medical marvels, strung lights all across the darkness." We tinker with nature at every opportunity; we garden the planet with our preferred species of plants and animals, many of them invasive; and we have even altered the climate, threatening our own extinction.
The Mercy of the Sky
By Bailey, Hollace S
"A gripping, heartbreaking and heartwarming account of the monster tornado that ravaged Moore, Oklahoma in 2013. It will leave you emotionally drained but glad you journeyed into the heart of this extraordinary storm with Bailey as your guide." --Daniel James Brown, #1 NY Times bestselling author of The Boys in the Boat Winner of the Oklahoma Book Award// Winner of the American Meteorological Societys Louis J. Battan Award An acclaimed reporter returns to her hometown after the worst twister on record and emerges with a suspenseful story of human courage in the face of natural disaster. On May 20, 2013, the worst tornado on record landed a direct hit on the town of Moore, on the outskirts of Oklahoma City, levelling neighborhoods, sending farm animals flying, and destroying a school while the children cowered inside. Holly Bailey went back both as a journalist and a hometown girl, speaking to the teachers who put their lives at risk as they struggled to comfort their students; to the mayor and first responders who waded through the debris while the storm still raged; to the scientists and meteorologists who have dedicated their lives to understanding tornadoes but still cant determine when one will land with any degree of certainty and are haunted by every death they might have prevented; to the storm chasers who pursue level 5 twisters with a combination of gadgetry, courage and adrenaline; and to the shell shocked residents of Moore, who rose to the occasion that day with countless acts of selfless courage. An intense and inspiring account of what happened on that fateful day, The Mercy of the Sky Bailey does for the Oklahoma flatlands what Sebastian Junger did for Gloucester, Massachusetts, in The Perfect Storm, telling the dramatic story of a town that must survive the elements - or die. "The book is excellent - well researched, well told, with a strong narrative that reads like a disaster novel ... Its difficult to imagine that anyone other than an Okie could tell the story so confidently and so well." - The Oklahoman "This gripping book tells the story of one resilient Oklahoma town and the immense killer tornado that ripped through it. Holly Bailey brings together riveting science, human drama, courage, tragedy, and redemption to create a quintessential American story. Powerful and moving." - Douglas Presenton, #1 New York Times bestselling co-author of The Monster of Florence "Bailey is a brilliant storyteller. She brings you to the center of the storm - and its terrifying. She makes you feel a communitys loss - and its devastating. And she brings you inside peoples lives as they heal - and its inspiring." - David Greene, host of NPRs Morning Edition
Hidden Valley Road
By Kolker, Robert
The heartrending story of a midcentury American family with twelve children, six of them diagnosed with schizophrenia, that became science's great hope in the quest to understand the disease.Don and Mimi Galvin seemed to be living the American dream. After World War II, Don's work with the Air Force brought them to Colorado, where their twelve children perfectly spanned the baby boom: the oldest born in 1945, the youngest in 1965. In those years, there was an established script for a family like the Galvins--aspiration, hard work, upward mobility, domestic harmony--and they worked hard to play their parts. But behind the scenes was a different story: psychological breakdown, sudden shocking violence, hidden abuse. By the mid-1970s, six of the ten Galvin boys, one after another, were diagnosed as schizophrenic. How could all this happen to one family? What took place inside the house on Hidden Valley Road was so extraordinary that the Galvins became one of the first families to be studied by the National Institute of Mental Health. Their story offers a shadow history of the science of schizophrenia, from the era of institutionalization, lobotomy, and the schizophrenogenic mother to the search for genetic markers for the disease, always amid profound disagreements about the nature of the illness itself. And unbeknownst to the Galvins, samples of their DNA informed decades of genetic research that continues today, offering paths to treatment, prediction, and even eradication of the disease for future generations. With clarity and compassion, bestselling and award-winning author Robert Kolker uncovers one family's unforgettable legacy of suffering, love, and hope.
Peterson Field Guide to Finding Mammals in North America
By Dinets, Vladimir
Peterson The best-selling field guides of all time To see a fog shrew, should you go to Muir Woods National Monument? If you're planning to visit Yellowstone National Park, what animals can you expect to see? When should a photographer visit to get a shot of a gray fox? A mammal finder's guide (rather than an identification guide), this book tells you how to look, where to go, and what you are likely to find there. Two main sections provide a choice of looking up information by place or by species: The first includes regions of North America, highlighting the best places to look for mammals. The species-finding guide has accounts of more than four hundred species of mammals, including detailed directions to specific parks, refuges, and other locations; the best times of day (or night) to look; and much more information specific to each mammal.
Tech-Savvy Parenting
By Goldstuck, Arthur
Are you a parent looking to make sense of a daunting digital world, with new technical challenges appearing daily? Feel youre not keeping up with the demands of technology? Feel youre not keeping up with your childrens use of social media? Worried its getting harder to keep your children safe in the digital world? Tech-Savvy Parenting brings together the experience, research, observations and advice of respected parenting expert Nikki Bush, and leading technology commentator Arthur Goldstuck. This insightful duo will help you get a handle on whats happening in the digital space to ensure your children are safe and savvy in this fast-changing world. Theyll guide you through the terminology, dangers and opportunities of technology, while placing childrens use of all things digital firmly in the context of the relationship between parents and their children.
The Wind in the Reeds
By Pierce, Wendell
From acclaimed actor and producer Wendell Pierce, an insightful and poignant portrait of family, New Orleans and the transforming power of art. On the morning of August 29, 2005, Hurricane Katrina barreled into New Orleans, devastating many of the city's neighborhoods, including Pontchartrain Park, the home of Wendell Pierce's family and the first African American middle-class subdivision in New Orleans. The hurricane breached many of the city's levees, and the resulting flooding submerged Pontchartrain Park under as much as 20 feet of water. Katrina left New Orleans later that day, but for the next three days the water kept relentlessly gushing into the city, plunging eighty percent of New Orleans under water. Nearly 1,500 people were killed. Half the houses in the city had four feet of water in them - or more.
A Garden of Marvels
By Kassinger, Ruth
In the tradition of The Botany of Desire and Wicked Plants, a witty and engaging history of the first botanists interwoven with stories of today's extraordinary plants found in the garden and the lab.In Paradise Under Glass, Ruth Kassinger recounted with grace and humor her journey from brown thumb to green, sharing lessons she learned from building a home conservatory in the wake of a devastating personal crisis.In A Garden of Marvels, she extends the story. Frustrated by plants that fail to thrive, she sets out to understand the basics of botany in order to become a better gardener. She retraces the progress of the first botanists who banished myths and misunderstandings and discovered that flowers have sex, leaves eat air, roots choose their food, and hormones make morning glories climb fence posts. She also visits modern gardens, farms, and labs to discover the science behind extraordinary plants like one-ton pumpkins, a truly black petunia, a biofuel grass that grows twelve feet tall, and the world's only photosynthesizing animal. Transferring her insights to her own garden, she nurtures a "cocktail" tree that bears five kinds of fruit, cures a Buddha's Hand plant with beneficial fungi, and gets a tree to text her when it's thirsty.Intertwining personal anecdote, accessible science, and untold history, the ever-engaging author takes us on an eye-opening journey into her garden - and yours.