Soldiering is a serious, frequently bloody business. That aspect has been documented endlessly. But behind the blood, thunder and de-humanising aspects of conflict are people - people in uniform and people supporting them. All of them have personal feelings and aspirations and they experience the humdrum assortment of daily occurrences that closely match those of their counterparts in civil society. Those aspects of their lives are not widely reported, or appreciated, and it is on those that this book has its focus. 'Life Wasn't Boring' relates the life, times, successes, failures and, most importantly, the personal inter-actions and loves of a professional infantry officer and his family, over more than a third of the century that was his service. Some parts are as serious as can be expected of a military account. Other parts might surprise, entertain and even amuse the reader. Together they hold up a mirror to reveal the human side of being a soldier.

The book outlines principal milestones in the evolution of the atmosphere, oceans and biosphere during the last 4 million years in relation with the evolution from primates to the genus Homo - which uniquely mastered the ignition and transfer of fire. The advent of land plants since about 420 million years ago ensued in flammable carbon-rich biosphere interfaced with an oxygen-rich atmosphere. Born on a flammable Earth surface, under increasingly unstable climates descending from the warmer Pliocene into the deepest ice ages of the Pleistocene, human survival depended on both-biological adaptations and cultural evolution, mastering fire as a necessity. This allowed the genus to increase entropy in nature by orders of magnitude. Gathered around camp fires during long nights for hundreds of thousandth of years, captivated by the flickering life-like dance of the flames, humans developed imagination, insights, cravings, fears, premonitions of death and thereby aspiration for immortality, omniscience, omnipotence and the concept of god. Inherent in pantheism was the reverence of the Earth, its rocks and its living creatures, contrasted by the subsequent rise of monotheistic sky-god creeds which regard Earth as but a corridor to heaven. Once the climate stabilized in the early Holocene, since about ~7000 years-ago production of excess food by Neolithic civilization along the Great River Valleys has allowed human imagination and dreams to express themselves through the construction of monuments to immortality. Further to burning large part of the forests, the discovery of combustion and exhumation of carbon from the Earth's hundreds of millions of years-old fossil biospheres set the stage for an anthropogenic oxidation event, affecting an abrupt shift in state of the atmosphere-ocean-cryosphere system. The consequent ongoing extinction equals the past five great mass extinctions of species-constituting a geological event horizon in the history of planet Earth.

Bovids are a diverse group of ruminant mammals that have hooves and unbranched hollow horns. Bovids of the World is the first comprehensive field guide to cover all 279 bovid species, including antelopes, gazelles, cattle, buffaloes, sheep, and goats. From the hartebeest of Africa and the takin of Asia to the muskox of North America, bovids are among the world's most spectacular animals and this stunningly illustrated and easy-to-use field guide is an ideal way to learn more about them. The guide covers all species and subspecies of bovids described to date. It features more than 300 superb full-color plates depicting every kind of bovid, as well as detailed facing-page species accounts that describe key identification features, horn morphology, distribution, subspeciation, habitat, and conservation status in the wild. This book also shows where to observe each species and includes helpful distribution maps. Suitable for anyone with an interest in natural history, Bovids of the World is a remarkable and attractive reference, showcasing the range and beauty of these important mammals. * The first comprehensive field guide to all 279 bovid species*337 full-color plates, with more than 1,500 photographs * Detailed species accounts describe key identification features, distribution, subspeciation, habitat, behavior, reproduction, and conservation status* Fully updated and revised taxonomy, with common and scientific names* Easy-to-read distribution maps

Not reprinted since the 1820s, this book is essentially two stories, one set in highland Scotland after the Battle of Culloden; the second in Hogg's Edinburgh. The book takes as its themes the nature of fiction, and the fictional view of life portrayed in the work of Walter Scott and John Wilson, and the realities of 19th century Scotland. The three perils are allegedly love, leasing (lying) and jealousy highlighting women's place in 19th century society.