Why is the Hawk's Tail Red? is a book of faith. Not faith in the conventional sense, however. In fact, it wasn't until I divested myself of my Christian shackles that I discovered my true spirituality, one rooted in the natural world. The book deals with some of the reasons Western Man has found it difficult to feel harmony with life, a key factor being his inability to reconcile the natural and the divine. It offers proof that there is room for the inexplicable in scientific theory, and points out that a formal acceptance of God would lead to more beneficial advances. This would transpire independent of the creationism viewpoint. The conformist will find little solace in the text. Who am I kidding? He'll never find the book period. For it takes a swan dive, or better yet, performs a cannonball, into the waters of some of our most cherished institutions. Its content will entice the discontented, those who do not feel quite right when all seems right with the world, and perceive amid all the present hoopla, a slight disturbance within the essence of the collective soul.

Water stress is set to become Asia's defining crisis of the twenty-first century, creating obstacles to continued rapid economic growth, stoking interstate tensions over shared resources, exacerbating long-time territorial disputes, and imposing further hardships on the poor. Asia is home to many of the world's great rivers and lakes, but its huge population and exploding economic and agricultural demand for water make it the most water-scarce continent on a per capita basis. Many of Asia's water sources cross national boundaries, and as less and less water is available, international tensions will rise. The Potential for conflict is further underscored by China's unrivaled global status as the source of transboundary river flows to the largest number of countries, ranging from India and Vietnam to Russia and Kazakhstan; Yet a fast-rising China has declined to enter into water-sharing or cooperative treaties with these states, even as it taps the resources of international rivers. Water: Asia's New Battleground is a pioneering study of Asia's murky water polities and the relationships between freshwater, peace, and security. In this unique and highly readable book, Brahma Chellaney expertly paints a larger picture of water across Asia, highlights the security implications of resource-linked territorial disputes, and proposes real strategies to avoid conflict and to more equitably share Asia's water resources.

The German Pointer - A Complete Anthology of the Dog gathers together all the best early writing on the breed from our library of scarce, out-of-print antiquarian books and documents and reprints it in a quality, modern edition. This anthology includes chapters taken from a comprehensive range of books, many of them now rare and much sought-after works, all of them written by renowned breed experts of their day. These books are treasure troves of information about the breed - The physical points, temperaments, and special abilities are given; celebrated dogs are discussed and pictured; and the history of the breed and pedigrees of famous champions are also provided. The contents were well illustrated with numerous photographs of leading and famous dogs of that era and these are all reproduced to the highest quality. Books used include: The Kennel Encyclopaedia by J. Sidney Turner (1908), Hutchinson's Dog Encyclopaedia by Walter Hutchinson (1935), and Hunting Dogs - Their Training And Care by Hubert Hutton (1938) and many others.

This book began life as a review article. That article spawned a symposium which was, in turn, greatly expanded to form the present volume. As the project moved through these developmental stages (hopefully, towards attainment of its full maturity), a number of people have provided invaluable assistance to us, and we would like to take this opportunity to thank them. Gordon Orians must certainly take a high place in that list. He has been both a friend and mentor to W.E.K., and many of the topics explored in this book have emerged from the resultant dialogue. His thought processes, ideas and perhaps even some of his turns of phrase emerge throughout much ofthe book. Gordon also played a pivotal role in inviting in motion, and so he has served as a catalyst the article that set this project to the book as well as one of its reagents. While he has not served as an editor of this book, he is one of its authors in more than just the literal sense.

In this sequel to the acclaimed "Threads from the Web of Life," Stephen Daubert presents twenty-six new stories that pull the reader into the mystery and immediacy of ecological processes ranging from the microscopic to the tectonic. Many show surprising intersections of creatures from different realms or the hidden interplay of evolving organisms. These gripping stories contain a level of intimacy and detail not usually encountered in other styles of natural history writing.

Praise for the first collection of stories:

Stephen Daubert's "Threads from the Web of Life" is written in the tradition of Aldo Leopold and Bernd Heinrich. It teaches by drawing you into the drama, excitement, and beauty of nature.
--Don Glass, host of the NPR-syndicated program "A Moment of Science"

"Threads from the Web of Life" is a uniquely wide-ranging combination of scientific research and literary imagination that takes the reader on journeys through time and space that even the most elaborate television programs still can't provide. Stephen Daubert's grasp of a variety of botanical, zoological, geological, and climatological disciplines is impressive, and he presents them and their interactions with grace and authority.
--David Rains Wallace, author of "The Klamath Knot, The Monkey's Bridge, " and "Beasts of Eden"

Each of these happenings is a thread in the intricate web of life, and Daubert, a molecular scientist at the University of California, Davis, demonstrates that these threads are easily broken by humans. ... Instructive and entertaining.
--"Publishers Weekly"

"Threads from the Web of Life" takes readers on a journey around the globe as the author describes unique and unusual ecological processes. It is ideal for casual reading as well as a source of selections to read aloud ( ) or to link literature with the study of natural history.
--"NSTA Recommends," National Science Teachers Association

Highly recommended. ... The stories are as much enjoyable as they are informative.
--"Science Books& Films"
In these sixteen stories of the interplay of organisms, weather, and geophysics, many a being succumbs to predation, and many another endures. Evolution happens as species learn the hard way. There is often a tragic element in these fascinating tales. . . . These vivid, poetic tales . . . afford good teaching. "Threads from the Web of Life" will appeal to any reader whose heart is in the living world.
-- "ForeWord"

In Medicinal Plants of the Borderlands: A Bilingual Resource Guide, anthropologist Dr. Antonio "Tony" Zavaleta shares medicinal plant information from his lifetime of experiences with Mexican folk healers known as curandero/a(s). Consulting with their patients, healers issue recetas, handwritten prescribed orders for medicinal plants to be filled at hierberias, herb stores. While many of the more popular plants are well known to patient and healer, many hundreds are less known. Additionally, patients and shop attendants know little or nothing about the wide variety of plants they sell. Zavaleta searched for specific English translations of plant names in order to better understand their respective characteristics as they correspond with various ailments with limited success. Bilingual material on medicinal plants is simply not readily available. Over the years he compiled an impressive list of medicinal plants including English and Spanish names. That list forms the basis for this book. In a semi-bilingual format, five primary cross-referenced categories of medicinal plant information are provided: 1) English Name; 2) Spanish Name; 3) Botanical Name; 4) Properties (of pharmacognosy) which lists their uses; and finally, 5) Used to Treat, which lists a variety of conditions they are believed to or used to treat. Uniquely informative, this resource guide catalogues more than 600 medicinal plants which are either native to the border or traditionally used by curandero/a(s) and draws from the highly informative formularies and pharmacopoeias of the United States and Mexico and other primary sources. Previously not-readily-available data are compiled here to supplement the work of practitioners and researchers as well as serving as an invaluable tool for students of complementary and alternative medicine, botanists, home gardeners and native-plant enthusiasts. In addition, it's a publishing-first for an ethno-botanical book offering detailed English-to-Spanish translations and vice versa.

French Dogs - A Complete Anthology of the Dog gathers together all the best early writing on the breeds from our library of scarce, out-of-print antiquarian books and documents and reprints it in a quality, modern edition. This anthology includes chapters taken from a comprehensive range of books, many of them now rare and much sought-after works, all of them written by renowned breed experts of their day. These books are treasure troves of information about the breeds - The physical points, temperaments, and special abilities are given; celebrated dogs are discussed and pictured; and the history of each breed and pedigrees of famous champions are also provided. The contents were well illustrated with numerous photographs of leading and famous dogs of that era and these are all reproduced to the highest quality. Books used include: My Dog And I by H. W. Huntington (1897), The Kennel Encyclopaedia by J. Sidney Turner (1907), The Practical Dog Book by Edward C. Ash (1930) and many others. This Volume contains information on the French Bulldog, the French Spaniel, the French Poodle and Various other French breeds.