Nature

A stunning collection of 200 bird species painted by the world-renowned wildlife painter.

"Robert Bateman's paintings and drawings... reveal a vision of the beautiful and stark possibilities of the natural world. They are compelling and haunting."
-- The Washington Post

At a time when bird species are disappearing rapidly, the poignant beauty of Robert Bateman's paintings is more urgent than ever. It reminds us why Bateman was compelled to study and paint his subjects and why we must work to secure their futures.

Bateman has sketched and painted bird life in every corner of the globe. His special relationship with some of the planet's most beautiful and fascinating creatures is captured here in an elegant volume that will appeal to bird lovers and art lovers alike.

The paintings are organized variously into 20 groups: At Home on Salt Spring Island; In the Pribilofs; Treeline and Tundra; Above Larch Valley; A Wenatchee Field Trip; Canyons and Deserts of Arizona; The Great Plains; Spring on the Great Lakes; Immigrants; Eastern Fields and Forests; On Inland Waters; The Atlantic Coast; In the Everglades; The Tropical Americas; The Galápagos; Old Worlds; At the Taj Mahal; A Visit to Bharatpur; The African Savannah and To the Antarctic.

Bateman's magnificent works celebrate the breathtaking range of bird life on Earth -- from the spectacular plumage of the fiery rainforest quetzel to the threatening glare of the golden eagle. And through his notes, informative diary entries and detailed sketches and studies, he shares with the reader a wealth of observations about the birds' behavior and his keen appreciation of their beauty. As the great Roger Tory Peterson said, "If I could paint like another wildlife artist, it would be Robert Bateman."

Robert Bateman began his lifelong education as an artist, naturalist and birder in the tree-filled ravine behind his boyhood home in Toronto. There he would study and sketch the birds he saw, adding them to the life list he keeps to this day. Robert has an enormous following, and his original artwork and limited edition prints are sought by collectors the world over. In 2003, the Robert Bateman Centre museum opened in Victoria, B.C. Today he lives with his wife, Birgit, and his family on one of the Gulf Islands off Canada's western coast.

From a leading expert, Birdsong for the Curious Naturalist is a basic, how-to guide that teaches anyone--from beginner to advanced birder--how to listen. In understandable and appealing language, Kroodsma explains why and how birds sing, what various calls mean, and what to listen for from the birds around us. The descriptions are accompanied by color photos of the birds, as well as QR codes that link to an online collection of more than 700 recordings. With these resources, readers are prepared to recognize bird sounds and the birds that make them. Kroodsma encourages readers to find the joy of birdsong and curiosity--to observe, listen intently, be curious, ask questions, and realize that many unanswered questions about birdsong don't have to rely on scientists for answers but can be answered by any curious naturalist.

Insects might make us shudder in disgust, but they are also responsible for many of the things we take for granted in our daily lives. When we bite into a shiny apple, listen to the resonant notes of a violin, get dressed, receive a dental implant, or get a manicure, we are the beneficiaries of a vast army of insects. Try as we might to replicate their raw material (silk, shellac, and cochineal, for instance), our artificial substitutes have proven subpar at best, and at worst toxic, ensuring our interdependence with the insect world for the foreseeable future.
Drawing on research in laboratory science, agriculture, fashion, and international cuisine, Edward D. Melillo weaves a vibrant world history that illustrates the inextricable and fascinating bonds between humans and insects. Across time, we have not only coexisted with these creatures but have relied on them for, among other things, the key discoveries of modern medical science and the future of the world's food supply. Without insects, entire sectors of global industry would grind to a halt and essential features of modern life would disappear. Here is a beguiling appreciation of the ways in which these creatures have altered--and continue to shape--the very framework of our existence.

Houseplants and indoor gardening have been undergoing a renaissance in the last few years, particularly among people keen to introduce greenery into rented apartments and houses. As well as being affordable, nothing helps more to instantly create a lively and inviting interior than houseplants.

It is possible to start small and build a plant collection as confidence develops, and they can be transported easily when moving to a new home.With this newfound popularity, every plant's individual needs must be taken into consideration, particularly if they have been chosen on impulse for their beauty or sculptural shape. While some plants are easy to care for - particularly cacti, succulents and Snake Plants (Sansevieria trifasciata) - some of the most spectacular may need a little extra love.

42 of the most popular houseplants are represented in the pages that follow, with all the information you need to help them thrive, including advice on pests and diseases, illustrations to help identify problems and an easy care guide, as well as the plant's common names and the varieties available.If you are not experienced in caring for plants, the easiest method is to watch the plants and listen to what they say, otherwise the rules are straightforward - in time you will learn to trust your intuition and common sense.

Doctor Houseplant provides all you need to know about the maintenance and care of your favorite houseplants, from watering, feeding, and temperature to treating diseases, choosing healthy plants, and getting rid of harmful pests and insects.

Keep your plants in optimum condition all year round with:

Illustrated with photography showing the life and beauty that plants bring to a home, this guide is your key to thriving houseplants. COvering the most popular 50 houseplants including Aechmea, Aglaonema, Anthurium, Aspidistra eliator, Azalea indica, Begonia, Bulbs and corms Cacti and succulents, Calathea makoyana, Chlorophytum comosum, Cissus, Codiaeum, Cyclamen persicum, Cyperus, Dieffenbachia, Dracaena, Euphorbia pulcherrima, Ferns, Ficus, Fittonia, Hedera, Heptapleurum, Herbs, Hoya, Jasminum, Monstera deliciosa, Musa, Orchid, Palms, Pelargonium, Peperomia, Philodendron, Pilea peperomioides, Sansevieria trifasciata, Schlumbergera x Buckleyi, Scindapsus, Sparmannia Africana, Spathiphyllum, Stephanoti, floribunda, Syngonium podophyllum, Tradescantia, Yucca elephantipes,

"Earth Keeper is a prayer for continuity in these days of uncertainty. I cannot tell you why I loved this book, I can only tell you I wept my way through it. Each page brought me closer to myself, a self I had lost in the pandemic. We need Scott Momaday's calm, clear prose and stories. Words are medicine. There is wisdom in sharing what one knows, especially at a time when we know so little. 'Let me say my heart, ' he says. And he does." -- Terry Tempest Williams, author of Erosion: Essays of Undoing

A beautifully written and poignant tribute to the Earth, from Pulitzer Prize-winning novelist and poet N. Scott Momaday.

One of the most distinguished voices in American letters, N. Scott Momaday has devoted much of his life to celebrating and preserving Native American culture, especially its oral tradition. A member of the Kiowa tribe who was born and grew up on Indian reservations throughout the Southwest, Momaday has an intimate connection to the land he knows well and loves deeply.

In Earth Keeper: Reflections on the American Land, he reflects on his native ground and its influence on his people. "When I think about my life and the lives of my ancestors, I am inevitably led to the conviction that I, and they, belong to the American land. This is a declaration of belonging. And it is an offering to the earth." he writes.

Momaday recalls stories of his childhood, stories that have been passed down through generations, stories that reveal a profound and sacred connection to the American landscape and a reverence for the natural world.

In this moving and lyrical work, he offers an homage and a warning. Momaday reminds us that the Earth is a sacred place of wonder and beauty; a source of strength and healing that must be protected before it's too late. As he so eloquently yet simply expresses, we must all be keepers of the Earth.

Thirty years ago Bill McKibben offered one of the earliest warnings about climate change. Now he broadens the warning: the entire human game, he suggests, has begun to play itself out.

Bill McKibben's groundbreaking book The End of Nature -- issued in dozens of languages and long regarded as a classic -- was the first book to alert us to global warming. But the danger is broader than that: even as climate change shrinks the space where our civilization can exist, new technologies like artificial intelligence and robotics threaten to bleach away the variety of human experience.

Falter tells the story of these converging trends and of the ideological fervor that keeps us from bringing them under control. And then, drawing on McKibben's experience in building 350.org, the first truly global citizens movement to combat climate change, it offers some possible ways out of the trap. We're at a bleak moment in human history -- and we'll either confront that bleakness or watch the civilization our forebears built slip away.

Falter is a powerful and sobering call to arms, to save not only our planet but also our humanity.

There is no precedent in postwar American history for the destruction of the town of Paradise, California. On November 8, 2018, the community of 27,000 people was swallowed by the ferocious Camp Fire, which razed virtually every home and killed at least 85 people. The catastrophe seared the American imagination, taking the front page of every major national newspaper and top billing on the news networks. It displaced tens of thousands of people, yielding a refugee crisis that continues to unfold.

Fire in Paradise is a dramatic and moving narrative of the disaster based on hundreds of in-depth interviews with residents, firefighters and police, and scientific experts. Alastair Gee and Dani Anguiano are California-based journalists who have reported on Paradise since the day the fire began. Together they reveal the heroics of the first responders, the miraculous escapes of those who got out of Paradise, and the horrors experienced by those who were trapped. Their accounts are intimate and unforgettable, including the local who left her home on foot as fire approached while her 82-year-old father stayed to battle it; the firefighter who drove into the heart of the inferno in his bulldozer; the police officer who switched on his body camera to record what he thought would be his final moments as the flames closed in; and the mother who, less than 12 hours after giving birth in the local hospital, thought she would die in the chaotic evacuation with her baby in her lap. Gee and Anguiano also explain the science of wildfires, write powerfully about the role of the power company PG&E in the blaze, and describe the poignant efforts to raise Paradise from the ruins.

This is the story of a town at the forefront of a devastating global shift--of a remarkable landscape sucked ever drier of moisture and becoming inhospitable even to trees, now dying in their tens of millions and turning to kindling. It is also the story of a lost community, one that epitomized a provincial, affordable kind of Californian existence that is increasingly unattainable. It is, finally, a story of a new kind of fire behavior that firefighters have never witnessed before and barely know how to handle. What happened in Paradise was unprecedented in America. Yet according to climate scientists and fire experts, it will surely happen again.

The first hopeful book about climate change, The Future Earth shows readers how to reverse the short- and long-term effects of climate change over the next three decades.

The basics of climate science are easy. We know it is entirely human-caused. Which means its solutions will be similarly human-led. In The Future Earth, leading climate change advocate and weather-related journalist Eric Holthaus ("the Rebel Nerd of Meteorology"--Rolling Stone) offers a radical vision of our future, specifically how to reverse the short- and long-term effects of climate change over the next three decades. Anchored by world-class reporting, interviews with futurists, climatologists, biologists, economists, and climate change activists, it shows what the world could look like if we implemented radical solutions on the scale of the crises we face.

This is the book for anyone who feels overwhelmed by the current state of our environment. Hopeful and prophetic, The Future Earth invites us to imagine how we can reverse the effects of climate change in our own lifetime and encourages us to enter a deeper relationship with the earth as conscientious stewards and to re-affirm our commitment to one another in our shared humanity.

In Holloway, "a perfect miniature prose-poem" (William Dalrymple), Macfarlane, artist Stanley Donwood, and writer Dan Richards travel to Dorset, near the south coast of England, to explore a famed "hollowed way"--a path used by walkers and riders for so many centuries that it has become worn far down into the soft golden bedrock of the region.

In Ness, "a triumphant libretto of mythic modernism for our poisoned age" (Max Porter), Macfarlane and Donwood create a modern myth about Orford Ness, the ten-mile-long shingle spit that lies off the coast of East Anglia, which the British government used for decades to conduct secret weapons tests.

How one scientist unlocked the secrets behind some of nature's most astounding animals

From star-nosed moles that have super-sensing snouts to electric eels that paralyze their prey, animals possess unique and extraordinary abilities. In Great Adaptations, Kenneth Catania presents an entertaining and engaging look at some of nature's most remarkable creatures. Telling the story of his biological detective work, Catania sheds light on the mysteries behind the behaviors of tentacled snakes, tiny shrews, zombie-making wasps, and more. He shows not only how studying these animals can provide deep insights into how life evolved, but also how scientific discovery can be filled with adventure and fun.

Beginning with the star-nosed mole, Catania reveals what the creature's nasal star is actually for, and what this tells us about how brains work. He explores how the deceptive hunting strategy of tentacled snakes leads prey straight to their mouths, how eels use electricity to control other animals, and why emerald jewel wasps make zombies out of cockroaches. He also solves the enigma of worm grunting--a traditional technique in which earthworms are enticed out of the ground--by teaming up with professional worm grunters. Catania demonstrates the merits of approaching science with an open mind, considers the role played by citizen scientists, and illustrates that most animals have incredible, hidden abilities that defy our imagination.

Examining some strange and spectacular creatures, Great Adaptations offers a wondrous journey into nature's grand designs.