Outdoors & Nature
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Green Equilibrium: The vital balance of humans and nature
Author/Actors/Director/etc.: Christopher Wills
Format: Hardcover
Publisher: Oxford University Press, USA (2013, May 1st).
Pages: 320
In Green Equilibrium, award-winning field biologist Christopher Wills explains the rules by which ecosystems thrive, shining light on a set of ecological balancing acts that he calls "green equilibria," rules which keep our world vibrant, verdant, and ecologically intact. To explain the idea of "green equilibrium," Wills draws on a fascinating range of examples, including coral reefs off the densely populated Philippines, the isolated and thickly forested valleys of Papua New Guinea, the changing Himalayan kingdom of Bhutan, and a Californian ranch being allowed to return to a wild state. Wills travels to Guyana's rainforests and savannahs, for instance, to provide startling vignettes of ecological processes in action. Among other topics, he highlights the astonishing snake-head mimicry that swallowtail caterpillars use to scare off predators, the symbiotic relationship between the exceedingly rare Golden Poison-Dart Frog and the tank bromeliad plant, and the invisible world of pathogens and parasites that helps to drive diversity. more
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Yoo-Hoo, Ladybug!
Author/Actors/Director/etc.: Laura Ljungkvist
Format: Hardcover
Publisher: Beach Lane Books (2013, May 7th).
Pages: 32
Can you locate Ladybug? A charming, playful seek-and-find adventure from beloved author Mem Fox.Yoo-hoo, Ladybug! Where are you?There you are…afloat in the bath, with Duck and Giraffe! Ladybug loves to hide. Come along on a treasure hunt to find this sneaky little bug, wherever she may be! Children will delight in this picture book game of hide-and-seek and will eagerly read along, pointing out Ladybug’s newest and cleverest hiding spot time and again. more
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What's a Dog For?: The Surprising History, Science, Philosophy, and Politics of Man's Best Friend
Author/Actors/Director/etc.: John Homans
Format: Hardcover
Publisher: Penguin Press HC, The; First Edition edition (2012, Nov 8th).
Pages: 272
John Homans adopted his dog, Stella, from a shelter for all the usual reasons: fond memories of dogs from his past, a companion for his son, an excuse for long walks around the neighborhood. Soon enough, she is happily ensconced in the daily workings of his family. And not only that: Stella is treated like a family member—in ways that dogs of his youth were not. Spending humanlike sums on vet bills, questioning her diet and exercise regimens, contemplating her happiness—how had this all come to pass, when the dogs from Homans’s childhood seemed quite content living mostly out in the yard?In What’s a Dog For?, Homans explores the dog’s complex and prominent place in our world and how it came to be. Evolving from wild animals to working animals to nearly human members of our social fabric, dogs are now the subject of serious scientific studies concerning pet ownership, evolutionary theory, and even cognitive science. more
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Duck & Goose, Goose Needs a Hug
Author/Actors/Director/etc.: Tad Hills
Format: Board book
Publisher: Schwartz & Wade; Brdbk edition (2012, Dec 26th).
Pages: 22
Duck & Goose are back in this sturdy board book, perfect for preschoolers! And this time, New York Times bestselling author and illustrator Tad Hills brings our favorite feathered friends out to celebrate Valentine's Day. What does Goose need more than anything this Valentine's Day? A hug from a good friend. more
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My Backyard Jungle: The Adventures of an Urban Wildlife Lover Who Turned His Yard into Habitat and Learned to Live with It
Author/Actors/Director/etc.: James Barilla
Format: Hardcover
Publisher: Yale University Press (2013, Apr 1st).
Pages: 376
For James Barilla and his family, the dream of transforming their Columbia, South Carolina, backyard into a haven for wildlife evoked images of kids catching grasshoppers by day and fireflies at night, of digging up potatoes and picking strawberries. When they signed up with the National Wildlife Federation to certify their yard as a wildlife habitat, it felt like pushing back, in however small a way, against the tide of bad news about vanishing species, changing climate, dying coral reefs. Then the animals started to arrive, and Barilla soon discovered the complexities (and possible mayhem) of merging human with animal habitats. What are the limits of coexistence, he wondered? To find out, Barilla set out across continents to explore cities where populations of bears, monkeys, marmosets, and honeybees live alongside human residents. more
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The Genius of Earth Day: How a 1970 Teach-In Unexpectedly Made the First Green Generation
Author/Actors/Director/etc.: Adam Rome
Format: Hardcover
Publisher: Hill and Wang; First Edition edition (2013, Apr 16th).
Pages: 368
The first Earth Day is the most famous little-known event in modern American history. Because we still pay ritual homage to the planet every April 22, everyone knows something about Earth Day. Some people may also know that Earth Day 1970 made the environmental movement a major force in American political life. But no one has told the whole story before. The story of the first Earth Day is inspiring: it had a power, a freshness, and a seriousness of purpose that are difficult to imagine today. Earth Day 1970 created an entire green generation. Thousands of Earth Day organizers and participants decided to devote their lives to the environmental cause. Earth Day 1970 helped to build a lasting eco-infrastructure—lobbying organizations, environmental beats at newspapers, environmental-studies programs, ecology sections in bookstores, community ecology centers. more
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My Beloved Brontosaurus: On the Road with Old Bones, New Science, and Our Favorite Dinosaurs
Author/Actors/Director/etc.: Brian Switek
Format: Hardcover
Publisher: Scientific American / Farrar, Straus and Giroux (2013, Apr 16th).
Pages: 272
One of Publishers Weekly’s Top Ten Spring Science BooksSelected by Apple’s iBookstore as one of the best books of AprilDinosaurs, with their awe-inspiring size, terrifying claws and teeth, and otherworldly abilities, occupy a sacred place in our childhoods. They loom over museum halls, thunder through movies, and are a fundamental part of our collective imagination. In My Beloved Brontosaurus, the dinosaur fanatic Brian Switek enriches the childlike sense of wonder these amazing creatures instill in us. Investigating the latest discoveries in paleontology, he breathes new life into old bones.Switek reunites us with these mysterious creatures as he visits desolate excavation sites and hallowed museum vaults, exploring everything from the sex life of Apatosaurus and T. more
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Narwhals: Arctic Whales in a Melting World (A Samuel and Althea Stroum Book)
Author/Actors/Director/etc.: Todd McLeish
Format: Hardcover
Publisher: University of Washington Press; 1st Edition, 1st Printing edition (2013, Mar 1st).
Pages: 216
Among all the large whales on Earth, the most unusual and least studied is the narwhal, the northernmost whale on the planet and the one most threatened by global warming. Narwhals thrive in the fjords and inlets of northern Canada and Greenland. These elusive whales, whose long tusks were the stuff of medieval European myths and Inuit legends, are uniquely adapted to the Arctic ecosystem and are able to dive below thick sheets of ice to depths of up to 1,500 meters in search of their prey-halibut, cod, and squid.Join Todd McLeish as he travels high above the Arctic circle to meet:Teams of scientific researchers studying the narwhal's life cycle and the mysteries of its tuskInuit storytellers and huntersAnimals that share the narwhals' habitat: walruses, polar bears, bowhead and beluga whales, ivory gulls, and two kinds of sealsMcLeish consults logbooks kept by whalers and explorers and interviews folklorists and historians to tease out the relationship between the real narwhal and the mythical unicorn. more
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Traveling the Power Line: From the Mojave Desert to the Bay of Fundy (Our Sustainable Future)
Author/Actors/Director/etc.: Julianne Couch
Format: Paperback
Publisher: University of Nebraska Press; 0th edition edition (2013, Mar 1st).
Pages: 240
In our power-hungry world, all the talk about energy—what’s safe and what’s risky, what’s clean and what’s dirty, what’s cheap and what’s easy—tends to generate more heat than light. What, Julianne Couch wanted to know, is the real story on power production in this country? Approaching the question as a curious consumer, Couch takes us along as she visits nine sites where electrical power is developed from different fuel sources. From a geothermal plant in the Mojave Desert to a nuclear plant in Nebraska, from a Wyoming coal-fired power plant to a Maine tidal-power project, Couch gives us an insider’s look at how power is generated, how it affects neighboring landscapes and the people who live and work there, and how each source comes with its own unique complications. more
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Ninja: 1,000 Years of the Shadow Warrior
Author/Actors/Director/etc.: John Man
Format: Deckle Edge]
Publisher: William Morrow (2013, Feb 5th).
Pages: 304
The first major pop history of the Japanese stealth assassins, John Man's Ninja is a meticulously researched, entertaining blend of mythology, anthropology, travelogue, and history of the legendary shadow warriors.Spies, assassins, saboteurs, and secret agents, Ninja have become the subject of countless legends that continue to enthrall us in modern movies, video games, and comics—and their arts are still practiced in our time by dedicated acolytes who study the ancient techniques.Ninja: 1,000 Years of the Shadow Warrior, by British historian John Man, is as colorful and intriguing as the warriors it so vividly brings to life. more
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