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It's often imagined that rarity is special. We seek out uncommon
plants or birds to tick them off our lists, but most of us overlook
the extraordinary splendour of the species we encounter daily in
the natural world. It's these species - the most successful plants
- that are truly interesting. In this new book, Ken Thompson sets
out to chart Britain's fifty-two most common wild plants and to
explain the secrets of their success. What are their key
characteristics? How do they thrive in different habitats? Where
did they come from? What do their popular names - speedwell,
buttercup, dog rose - mean? Common or Garden - stunningly
illustrated by the artist Sarah Abbott - will open our eyes afresh
to the everyday natural world.
Most of us think of Darwin at work on The Beagle, taking inspiration for his theory of evolution from his travels in the Galapagos. But Darwin published his Origin of Species nearly thirty years after his voyages and most of his labours in that time were focused on experimenting with and observing plants at his house in Kent. He was particularly interested in carnivorous and climbing plants, and in pollination and the evolution of flowers.
Ken Thompson sees Darwin as a brilliant and revolutionary botanist, whose observations and theories were far ahead of his time - and are often only now being confirmed and extended by high-tech modern research. Like Darwin, he is fascinated and amazed by the powers of plants - particularly their Triffid-like aspects of movement, hunting and 'plant intelligence'.
This is a much needed book that re-establishes Darwin as a pioneering botanist, whose close observations of plants were crucial to his theories of evolution.
Where do camels belong? In the Arab world may seem the obvious
answer, but they are relative newcomers there. They evolved in
North America, retain their greatest diversity in South America,
and the only remaining wild dromedaries are in Australia. This is a
classic example of the contradictions of 'native' and 'invasive'
species, a hot issue right now, as the flip-side of biodiversity.
We have all heard the horror stories of invasives, from Japanese
knotweed that puts fear into the heart of gardeners to brown tree
snakes that have taken over the island of Guam. But do we need to
fear invaders? And indeed, can we control them, and do we choose
the right targets? Ken Thompson puts forward a fascinating array of
narratives to explore what he sees as the crucial question - why
only a minority of introduced species succeed, and why so few of
them go on to cause trouble. He discusses, too, whether our fears
could be getting in the way of conserving biodiversity, and
responding to the threat of climate change.
What determines the number and size of the seeds produced by a
plant? How often should it reproduce them? How often should a plant
produce them? Why and how are seeds dispersed, and what are the
implications for the diversity and composition of vegetation? These
are just some of the questions tackled in this wide-ranging review
of the role of seeds in the ecology of plants. The authors bring
together information on the ecological aspects of seed biology,
starting with a consideration of reproductive strategies in seed
plants and progressing through the life cycle, covering seed
maturation, dispersal, storage in the soil, dormancy, germination,
seedling establishment, and regeneration in the field. The text
encompasses a wide range of concepts of general relevance to plant
ecology, reflecting the central role that the study of seed ecology
has played in elucidating many fundamental aspects of plant
community function.
In 2003 a MORI poll for the Royal Horticultural Society revealed
that an extraordinary number of us are interested in attracting
wildlife into our gardens. It also indicated, however, that many of
us have no idea how to go about it. Information is sparse, and
public opinion seems to suggest that gardens that are plentiful in
wildlife are unattractive, expensive to upkeep and hard work to
maintain. But this couldn't be further from the truth. In this
illuminating book, Ken Thompson explains that encouraging wildlife
is actually entirely compatible with ordinary gardening, costs next
to nothing and is almost completely effortless. Packed with helpful
hints and tips, the book shows us how easy it is to fill our
gardens with everything from foxes, frogs and mice to butterflies,
ladybirds and literally thousands of fascinating creepy-crawlies.
Why should we? Because we'll be promoting the biodiversity of the
UK, we'll be reconnecting with nature, getting more from our
gardens, and we'll be doing our plants a favour.
How much do we really know about the species that make up the
natural world? In this fascinating book Ken Thompson explains what
we do and don't understand about biodiversity. We know that most
species remain undiscovered, and that biodiversity is gravely
threatened - by overfishing, habitat loss, pollution and climate
change. Life on Earth has previously experienced five episodes of
mass extinction, and we are now in the middle of a sixth. Do We
Need Pandas? surveys the Earth's biodiversity, its origins and some
of the threats it currently faces. It then asks how biodiversity
loss will affect the human race. Will we even notice, and if we do,
what will we notice? It asks what we should be doing to secure the
survival not only of the species with which we share the planet,
but of ourselves - and whether we need to be more concerned about
ecosystems as a whole than about iconic species.
What is the best way to kill weeds in paving? How scared should we really be of Japanese knotweed? And what is a weed anyway?
Biologist Ken Thompson set out to write a different kind of gardening column, one that tackles what he calls ‘the grit in the gardening oyster’. In this new collection he takes a look at some of the questions faced by gardeners everywhere in a bid to sort the truth from the wishful thinking.
Why are the beaks of British great tits getting longer? Which common garden insect owns a set of metal-tipped running spikes? Why might growing orange petunias land you in hot water? Are foxes getting bigger? How do you stop the needles falling off your Christmas tree?
This expert’s miscellany of (mostly) scientifically-tested garden lore will make you look at your garden through fresh eyes.
Computers, Chess, and Cognition presents an excellent up-to-date
description of developments in computer chess, a rapidly advancing
area in artificial intelligence research. This book is intended for
an upper undergraduate and above level audience in the computer
science (artificial intelligence) community. The chapters have been
edited to present a uniform terminology and balanced writing style,
to make the material understandable to a wider, less specialized
audience. The book's primary strengths are the description of the
workings of some major chess programs, an excellent review of tree
searching methods, discussion of exciting new research ideas, a
philosophical discussion of the relationship of computer game
playing to artificial intelligence, and the treatment of computer
Go as an important new research area. A complete index and
extensive bibliography makes the book a valuable reference work.
The book includes a special foreword by Ken Thompson, author of the
UNIX operating system.
This book is a recounting of some of the experiences I had while
serving in the Army and Army Air Corps during WWII. The events are
as accurate as I could recall without embellishment. I took the
pictures of Don Lawless and Gene Van Houten in Don Woerpel's book,
The 79th Fighter Group. This is an expanded version of my original
book, "Memoirs of Ken Thompson, A WWII Fighter Pilot." I have also
added my views on some of the issues facing our society.
Where do camels belong? In the Arab world is the obvious answer.
But they are relative newcomers there. They evolved and lived for
tens of millions of years in North America, while today they retain
their greatest diversity in South America and have their only wild
populations in Australia. This is a classic example of the problems
that underlie the issues of natural and invasive species, a hot
issue right now, as the flip side of biodiversity. But do we need
to fear invaders? And indeed, can we control them, and do we choose
the right targets? In "Where Do Camels Belong?" Ken Thompson puts
forward a fascinating array of narratives on invasive and natural
plants and animals to explore what he sees as the crucial question
-- why only a minority of introduced species succeed, and why so
few of them go on to cause trouble. He discusses, too, whether fear
of invasive species could be getting in the way of conserving
biodiversity, and especially of responding to the threat of climate
change. This is a timely, instructive and controversial book that
delivers unexpected answers.
For many people, the story of Charles Darwin goes like this: he
ventured to the Galapagos Islands on the Beagle, was inspired by
the biodiversity of the birds he saw there, and immediately
returned home to write his theory of evolution. But this simplified
narrative is inaccurate and lacking: it leaves out a major part of
Darwin's legacy. He published On the Origin of Species nearly
thirty years after his voyages. And much of his life was spent
experimenting with and observing plants. Darwin was a brilliant and
revolutionary botanist whose observations and theories were far
ahead of his time. With Darwin's Most Wonderful Plants, biologist
and gardening expert Ken Thompson restores this important aspect of
Darwin's biography while also delighting in the botanical world
that captivated the famous scientist. Thompson traces how well
Darwin's discoveries have held up, revealing that many are
remarkably long-lasting. Some findings are only now being confirmed
and extended by high-tech modern research, while some have been
corrected through recent analysis. We learn from Thompson how
Darwin used plants to shape his most famous theory and then later
how he used that theory to further push the boundaries of botanical
knowledge. We also get to look over Darwin's shoulder as he labors,
learning more about his approach to research and his astonishing
capacity for hard work. Darwin's genius was to see the wonder and
the significance in the ordinary and mundane, in the things that
most people wouldn't look at twice. Both Thompson and Darwin share
a love for our most wonderful plants and the remarkable secrets
they can unlock. This book will instill that same joy in casual
gardeners and botany aficionados alike.
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Paperback
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R398
R330
Discovery Miles 3 300
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