In their rapid colonization of soil exposed by fires, floods, and grazing animals, weeds resemble the human specialists we label Emergency Medical Technicians (EMTs). Weeds are the first responders when disasters occur in nature. They occupy bare soil and prevent erosion by wind and water. In extreme cases such as a landslide, weeds are essential to the healing processes that replace the lost soil. Like a Band-Aid on a skinned knee, weeds protect the land while it recovers. Besides protecting the soil after disaster, weeds provide food for wildlife, and some of them provide food and medicine for people. Able to withstand harsh conditions, weeds will proliferate as global warming and other human impacts intensify. Thus, nature's EMTs will increase while all other plants decline. The book provides a succinct definition of weeds according to their form and function in ecosystem processes. The narrative uses a representative set of weed species from a desert location to illustrate the full range of weed characteristics.

In their rapid colonization of soil exposed by fires, floods, and grazing animals, weeds resemble the human specialists we label Emergency Medical Technicians (EMTs). Weeds are the first responders when disasters occur in nature. They occupy bare soil and prevent erosion by wind and water. In extreme cases such as a landslide, weeds are essential to the healing processes that replace the lost soil. Like a Band-Aid on a skinned knee, weeds protect the land while it recovers. Besides protecting the soil after disaster, weeds provide food for wildlife, and some of them provide food and medicine for people. Able to withstand harsh conditions, weeds will proliferate as global warming and other human impacts intensify. Thus, nature's EMTs will increase while all other plants decline. The book provides a succinct definition of weeds according to their form and function in ecosystem processes. The narrative uses a representative set of weed species from a desert location to illustrate the full range of weed characteristics.

Garry Rogers played a key role in one of the UK's most successful undercover policing operations, targeting the football hooliganism which blighted the domestic and international game. From Old Trafford to Turkey and Sweden to Sardinia, this working class lad turned undercover cop infiltrated some of the most notorious hooligan gangs at club and England level as part of Greater Manchester Police's ground-breaking Omega Unit. When the force extended its undercover policing operations to target serious and violent crime, it was Garry who gained the trust of armed robbers, drug dealers and a murderer securing the evidence to take them off the streets, often for many years. But after five years at the cutting edge of covert operations, and with a new, inexperienced and ultimately corrupt officer in charge of the unit, Garry found himself dangerously exposed to violent criminals living just minutes from his family home. And when he turned to the force for support he was met with a wall of silence, accusations, and what one chief constable later described as a Masonic conspiracy that eventually pushed him out of the job after 28 years. Now he's determined to tell his story - the truth, the whole truth and nothing but the truth.