|
Books > Sport & Leisure > Natural history, country life & pets > General
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.
From Maine's Acadia National Park to Kentucky's Natural Bridge
State Park Nature Preserve, this volume provides a snapshot of the
most spectacular and important natural places in the East and
Northeast. America's Natural Places: East and Northeast examines
over 50 of the most spectacular and important areas of this region,
with each entry describing the importance of the area, the flora
and fauna that it supports, threats to the survival of the region,
and what is being done to protect it. Organized by state within the
volume, this work informs readers about the wide variety of natural
areas across the east and northeast and identifies places that may
be near them that demonstrate the importance of preserving such
regions.
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.
Human beings have always moved for what they need until recently.
We know how a lack of movement impacts our bodies but how does
culture-wide sedentarism impact the world? Movement Matters is a
Foreword Indies GOLD-winning collection of essays, in which
biomechanist Katy Bowman continues her groundbreaking presentation
on the interconnectedness of nature, human movement, and the
environment. Here Bowman widens the "there is more to movement than
exercise" message she presented in Move Your DNA and invites us to
consider this idea: human movement is a part of the ecosystem.
Movement Matters explores how we make ourselves, our communities,
and our planet healthier all at the same time by moving our bodies
more as well as: how did we become so sedentary? Where did all the
movement go? (Hint: convenience often saves us movement, not time.)
the missing "movement nutrients" in our food how to include more
nature in education why ecosystem models need to include human
movement the human need for "Vitamin Community" and group movement.
Unapologetically direct, often hilarious, and always compassionate,
Movement Matters demonstrates that human movement is powerful and
important, and that going beyond exercise and living a
movement-filled life is perhaps the most joyful and efficient way
to transform your body, community, and world. A must read for
exercise teachers, environmentalists, and those wanting simple,
accessible ways to take action for a better world.
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.
"Surprising. Impressive. Cannibalism restores my faith in
humanity." --Sy Montgomery, The New York Times Book Review For
centuries scientists have written off cannibalism as a bizarre
phenomenon with little biological significance. Its presence in
nature was dismissed as a desperate response to starvation or other
life-threatening circumstances, and few spent time studying it. A
taboo subject in our culture, the behavior was portrayed mostly
through horror movies or tabloids sensationalizing the crimes of
real-life flesh-eaters. But the true nature of cannibalism--the
role it plays in evolution as well as human history--is even more
intriguing (and more normal) than the misconceptions we've come to
accept as fact. In Cannibalism: A Perfectly Natural History,
zoologist Bill Schutt sets the record straight, debunking common
myths and investigating our new understanding of cannibalism's role
in biology, anthropology, and history in the most fascinating
account yet written on this complex topic. Schutt takes readers
from Arizona's Chiricahua Mountains, where he wades through ponds
full of tadpoles devouring their siblings, to the Sierra Nevadas,
where he joins researchers who are shedding new light on what
happened to the Donner Party--the most infamous episode of
cannibalism in American history. He even meets with an expert on
the preparation and consumption of human placenta (and, yes, it
goes well with Chianti). Bringing together the latest cutting-edge
science, Schutt answers questions such as why some amphibians
consume their mother's skin; why certain insects bite the heads off
their partners after sex; why, up until the end of the twentieth
century, Europeans regularly ate human body parts as medical
curatives; and how cannibalism might be linked to the extinction of
the Neanderthals. He takes us into the future as well,
investigating whether, as climate change causes famine, disease,
and overcrowding, we may see more outbreaks of cannibalism in many
more species--including our own. Cannibalism places a perfectly
natural occurrence into a vital new context and invites us to
explore why it both enthralls and repels us.
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.
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.
Published in 1850 this is the forth edition of the Bee Keepers
Manual, this early works is both expensive and hard to find in its
first edition. This is a fascinating and well illustrated read for
any Bee Keeping enthusiast or Historian and contains much
informatiion that is still useful and practical today. Many of the
earliest books, particularly those dating back to the 1900s and
before, are now extremely scarce and increasingly expensive. We are
republishing these classic works in affordable, high quality,
modern editions, using the original text and artwork.
This is a fascinating read for any guard dog enthusiast or
historian of the breed, but also contains much information that is
still useful and practical today. Ten photographic illustrations
accompany an absorbing and informative text. Contents Include: The
Obedient Dog; The First Step; Elementary Lessons; Further Progress;
The Intermediate Stages; Advanced Work; Tracking; How Dog Training
Has Developed; Rules for Working Trials; and Obedience Tests and
Trials. Many of the earliest books, particularly those dating back
to the 1900s and before, are now extremely scarce and increasingly
expensive. We are republishing these classic works in affordable,
high quality, modern editions, using the original text and artwork.
|
|