Swell

Swell
Author: LIZ. CLARK
Publisher: Patagonia
Total Pages: 0
Release: 2024-05-14
Genre: Biography & Autobiography
ISBN: 9781952338229

Superdove

Superdove
Author: Courtney Humphries
Publisher: Harper Collins
Total Pages: 214
Release: 2008-08-12
Genre: Nature
ISBN: 0061259160

Why do we see pigeons as lowly urban pests and how did they become such common city dwellers? Courtney Humphries traces the natural history of the pigeon, recounting how these shy birds that once made their homes on the sparse cliffs of sea coasts came to dominate our urban public spaces. While detailing this evolution, Humphries introduces us to synanthropy: The concept that animals can become dependent on humans without ceasing to be wild; they can adapt to the cityscape as if it were a field or a forest. Superdove simultaneously explores the pigeon's cultural transformation, from its life in the dovecotes of ancient Egypt to its service in the trenches of World War I, to its feats within the pigeon-racing societies of today. While the dove is traditionally recognized as a symbol of peace, the pigeon has long inspired a different sort of fetishistic devotion from breeders, eaters, and artists—and from those who recognized and exploited the pigeon's astounding abilities. Because of their fecundity, pigeons were symbols of fertility associated with Aphrodite, while their keen ability to find their way home made them ideal messengers and even pilots. Their usefulness largely forgotten, today's pigeons have become as ubiquitous and reviled as rats. But Superdove reveals something more surprising: By using pigeons for our own purposes, we humans have changed their evolution. And in doing so, we have helped make pigeons the ideal city dwellers they are today. In the tradition of Rats, the book that made its namesake rodents famous, Superdove is the fascinating story of the pigeon's journey from the wild to the city—the home they'll never leave.

Sea Change

Sea Change
Author: Sylvia Earle
Publisher: Texas A&M University Press
Total Pages: 524
Release: 2021-08-16
Genre: Science
ISBN: 1623499054

In 1952, at age sixteen, Sylvia Earle—then a budding marine biologist—borrowed a friend’s copper diving helmet, compressor, and pump and slipped below the waters of a Florida river. It was her first underwater dive. Since then, Earle has descended to more than 3,000 feet in a submersible and, despite beginning at a time when few women were taken seriously as marine scientists, has led or participated in expeditions totaling more than 7,000 hours underwater, and counting. Equal parts memoir, adventure tale, and call to action, Sea Change: A Message of the Oceans has become a classic of environmental literature, at once the gripping adventure story of Earle’s three decades of undersea exploration, an insider’s introduction to the dynamic field of marine biology, and an urgent plea for the preservation of the world’s fragile and rapidly deteriorating ocean ecosystems. Featuring a gallery of color photographs and a new preface by Earle, this new edition of Sea Change arrives at a uniquely pivotal time when its message is needed more than ever before. She writes, “I want to share the exhilaration of discovery, and convey a sense of urgency about the need for all of us to use whatever talents and resources we have to continue to explore and understand the nature of this extraordinary ocean planet.” Her message is clear: how we treat the oceans now will determine the future health of the planet—and our species.

The Soul of an Octopus

The Soul of an Octopus
Author: Sy Montgomery
Publisher: Simon and Schuster
Total Pages: 272
Release: 2016-07-12
Genre: Nature
ISBN: 1501161148

Finalist for the National Book Award for Nonfiction * New York Times Bestseller * A Huffington Post Notable Nonfiction Book of the Year * One of the Best Books of the Month on Goodreads * Library Journal Best Sci-Tech Book of the Year * An American Library Association Notable Book of the Year “Sy Montgomery’s The Soul of an Octopus does for the creature what Helen Macdonald’s H Is for Hawk did for raptors.” —New Statesman, UK “One of the best science books of the year.” —Science Friday, NPR Another New York Times bestseller from the author of The Good Good Pig, this “fascinating…touching…informative…entertaining” (The Daily Beast) book explores the emotional and physical world of the octopus—a surprisingly complex, intelligent, and spirited creature—and the remarkable connections it makes with humans. In pursuit of the wild, solitary, predatory octopus, popular naturalist Sy Montgomery has practiced true immersion journalism. From New England aquarium tanks to the reefs of French Polynesia and the Gulf of Mexico, she has befriended octopuses with strikingly different personalities—gentle Athena, assertive Octavia, curious Kali, and joyful Karma. Each creature shows her cleverness in myriad ways: escaping enclosures like an orangutan; jetting water to bounce balls; and endlessly tricking companions with multiple “sleights of hand” to get food. Scientists have only recently accepted the intelligence of dogs, birds, and chimpanzees but now are watching octopuses solve problems and are trying to decipher the meaning of the animal’s color-changing techniques. With her “joyful passion for these intelligent and fascinating creatures” (Library Journal Editors’ Spring Pick), Montgomery chronicles the growing appreciation of this mollusk as she tells a unique love story. By turns funny, entertaining, touching, and profound, The Soul of an Octopus reveals what octopuses can teach us about the meeting of two very different minds.

Encyclopedia of World Scientists, Updated Edition

Encyclopedia of World Scientists, Updated Edition
Author: Elizabeth Oakes
Publisher: Infobase Holdings, Inc
Total Pages: 1126
Release: 2020-07-01
Genre: Science
ISBN: 1438195451

Encyclopedia of World Scientists, Updated Edition is a comprehensive reference tool for learning about scientists and their work. It includes 500 cross-referenced profiles of well-known scientific "greats" of history and contemporary scientists whose work is verging on prominence. More than 100 entries are devoted to women and minority scientists. Each entry includes the subject's full name, dates of birth/death, nationality, and field(s) of specialization. A biographical essay focuses primarily on the subject's scientific work and achievements; it also highlights additional information, such as place of birth, parents' names and occupations, name(s) of spouse(s) and children, educational background, jobs held, and awards earned. Profiles include: Archimedes (c. 287–212 BCE): Mathematician Nicolaus Copernicus (1473–1543): Astronomer Galileo Galilei (1564–1642): Astronomer Daniel Bernoulli (1700–1782): Mathematician John James Audubon (1785–1851): Biologist Elizabeth Blackwell (1821–1910): Medical scientist Alfred Bernhard Nobel (1833–1896): Chemist Albert Einstein (1879–1955): Physicist Niels Bohr (1885–1962): Physicist George Washington Carver (c. 1861–1943): Chemist Marie Curie (1867–1934): Physicist and chemist Robert Hutchings Goddard (1882–1945): Aerospace engineer Edwin Powell Hubble (1889–1953): Astronomer Grace Murray Hooper (1906–1992): Computer scientist Dorothy Crowfoot Hodgkin (1910–1994): Chemist Jacques-Yves Cousteau (1910–1997): Earth scientist Alan Turing (1912–1954): Computer scientist Jonas Edward Salk (1914–1995): Medical scientist Rosalind Franklin (1920–1958): Chemist Jewel Plummer Cobb (1924–2017): Biologist Stephen Hawking (1942–2018): Astronomer.

The Sense of an Ending

The Sense of an Ending
Author: Julian Barnes
Publisher: Vintage
Total Pages: 158
Release: 2011-10-05
Genre: Fiction
ISBN: 0307957330

BOOKER PRIZE WINNER • NATIONAL BESTSELLER • A novel that follows a middle-aged man as he contends with a past he never much thought about—until his closest childhood friends return with a vengeance: one of them from the grave, another maddeningly present. A novel so compelling that it begs to be read in a single setting, The Sense of an Ending has the psychological and emotional depth and sophistication of Henry James at his best, and is a stunning achievement in Julian Barnes's oeuvre. Tony Webster thought he left his past behind as he built a life for himself, and his career has provided him with a secure retirement and an amicable relationship with his ex-wife and daughter, who now has a family of her own. But when he is presented with a mysterious legacy, he is forced to revise his estimation of his own nature and place in the world.

Utopia Parkway

Utopia Parkway
Author: Deborah Solomon
Publisher: Other Press, LLC
Total Pages: 593
Release: 2015-10-13
Genre: Biography & Autobiography
ISBN: 1590517156

Deborah Solomon’s definitive biography of Joseph Cornell, one of America’s most moving and unusual twentieth-century artists, now reissued twenty years later with updated and extensively revised text Few artists ever led a stranger life than Joseph Cornell, the self-taught American genius prized for his enigmatic shadow boxes, who stands at the intersection of Surrealism, Abstract Expressionism, and Pop Art. Legends about Cornell abound—the shy hermit, the devoted family caretaker, the artistic innocent—but never before has he been presented for what he was: a brilliant, relentlessly serious artist whose stature has now reached monumental proportions.

Emily Windsnap and the Pirate Prince

Emily Windsnap and the Pirate Prince
Author: Liz Kessler
Publisher: Candlewick Press
Total Pages: 286
Release: 2019-03-12
Genre: Juvenile Fiction
ISBN: 1536206458

Emily Windsnap ends up surrounded by pirates — and on a life-changing adventure — in the eighth installment of the New York Times best-selling series. Traveling home by cruise ship should be a relaxing break after Emily’s latest adventure, but things take a turn when the ship is overtaken by a pirate king and his crew. After the pirates collect everyone’s riches, they steal something even more valuable: Aaron. The pirate king’s eldest son takes Aaron captive, forcing him to help guide the pirates to the mythical Trident’s Treasure. So Emily dives into action and joins the younger son’s crew in hopes of saving Aaron. But while experiencing life on the waves, Emily is surprised to find herself not only enjoying the pirate life, but actually bonding with the crew — especially Sam, the pirate king’s son. Between helping Sam unravel riddles to beat his brother to the treasure and making sure that her friends are safe, Emily realizes that she needs to be true to herself. Will she cast aside her mermaid life to join her new friends, or will she find a way to follow her own path?