The Life of the Spider

2007-01
 |  Nature
The Life of the Spider

Author: Jean-Henri Fabre

Publisher:

ISBN: 1406516538

Category: Nature

Page: 184

View: 830

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Modern Entomologic book of the early twentieth century by the physicist and botanist Jean-Henri Fabre. He is considered by many to be the father of modern entomology.

The Song of the Dodo

2011-03-15
 |  Nature
The Song of the Dodo

Author: David Quammen

Publisher: Simon and Schuster

ISBN: 9781439124963

Category: Nature

Page: 704

View: 617

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David Quammen's book, The Song of the Dodo, is a brilliant, stirring work, breathtaking in its scope, far-reaching in its message -- a crucial book in precarious times, which radically alters the way in which we understand the natural world and our place in that world. It's also a book full of entertainment and wonders. In The Song of the Dodo, we follow Quammen's keen intellect through the ideas, theories, and experiments of prominent naturalists of the last two centuries. We trail after him as he travels the world, tracking the subject of island biogeography, which encompasses nothing less than the study of the origin and extinction of all species. Why is this island idea so important? Because islands are where species most commonly go extinct -- and because, as Quammen points out, we live in an age when all of Earth's landscapes are being chopped into island-like fragments by human activity. Through his eyes, we glimpse the nature of evolution and extinction, and in so doing come to understand the monumental diversity of our planet, and the importance of preserving its wild landscapes, animals, and plants. We also meet some fascinating human characters. By the book's end we are wiser, and more deeply concerned, but Quammen leaves us with a message of excitement and hope.

Library of the World's Best Literature, Ancient and Modern - Volume II (Illustrated Edition) (Dodo Press)

2008-03-01
 |  Literary Collections
Library of the World's Best Literature, Ancient and Modern - Volume II (Illustrated Edition) (Dodo Press)

Author: Charles Dudley Warner

Publisher:

ISBN: 160303336X

Category: Literary Collections

Page: 612

View: 930

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Charles Dudley Warner (1829-1900) was an American essayist and novelist. He worked with a surveying party in Missouri; studied law at the University of Pennsylvania; practiced in Chicago; was assistant editor (1860) and editor (1861-1867) of The Hartford Press, and after The Press was merged into The Hartford Courant, was co-editor with Joseph R Hawley; in 1884 he joined the editorial staff of Harper's Magazine, for which he conducted The Editors Drawer until 1892, when he took charge of The Editor's Study. He travelled widely, lectured frequently, and was actively interested in prison reform, city park supervision, and other movements for the public good. He was the first president of the National Institute of Arts and Letters. He first attracted attention by the reflective sketches entitled My Summer in a Garden (1870). Amongst his other works are Saunterings (1872), Backlog Studies (1873), Being a Boy (1878), In the Wilderness (1878), Captain John Smith (1881), Washington Irving (1881), A Little Journey in the World (1889), As We Were Saying (1891) and That Fortune (1899).

Dodo

 | 
Dodo

Author: Jeremy JC Mallinson

Publisher: Durrell Wildlife Conservation Trust

ISBN:

Category:

Page: 150

View: 334

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Dodo

 | 
Dodo

Author:

Publisher: Durrell Wildlife Conservation Trust

ISBN:

Category:

Page: 136

View: 840

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Dodo

2007
 |  Mouse lemurs
Dodo

Author: Anna TC Feistner

Publisher: Durrell Wildlife Conservation Trust

ISBN: 9780951558195

Category: Mouse lemurs

Page: 170

View: 763

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Bitika (which means "tiny" in Malagasy) is a mouse lemur, the earth's smallest primate. This story is about baby Bitika growing up and her first forays into the forest where she encounters other lemurs and a potentially tragic situation. Bitika saves the day and in spite of her small size, feels like a powerful creature of the forest.

Lost Land of the Dodo

2010-06-30
 |  History
Lost Land of the Dodo

Author: Anthony Cheke

Publisher: Bloomsbury Publishing

ISBN: 9781408133057

Category: History

Page: 480

View: 546

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The Mascarene islands in the southern Indian Ocean - Mauritius, Réunion and Rodrigues - were once home to an extraordinary range of birds and reptiles. Evolving on these isolated volcanic islands in the absence of mammalian predators or competitors, the land was dominated by giant tortoises, parrots, skinks and geckos, burrowing boas, flightless rails & herons, and of course (in Mauritius) the Dodo. Uninhabited and only discovered in the 1500s, colonisation by European settlers in the 1600s led to dramatic changes in the ecology of the islands; the birds and tortoises were slaughtered indiscriminately while introduced rats, cats, pigs and monkeys destroyed their eggs, the once-extensive forests logged, and invasive introduced plants from all over the tropics devastated the ecosystem. The now-familiar icon of extinction, the Dodo, was gone from Mauritius within 50 years of human settlement, and over the next 150 years many of the Mascarenes' other native vertebrates followed suit. The product of over 30 years research by Anthony Cheke, Lost Land of the Dodo provides a comprehensive yet hugely enjoyable account of the story of the islands' changing ecology, interspersed with human stories, the islands' biogeographical anomalies, and much else. Many French publications, old and new, especially for Réunion, are discussed and referenced in English for the first time. The book is richly illustrated with maps and contemporary illustrations of the animals and their environment, many of which have rarely been reprinted before. Illustrated box texts look in detail at each extinct vertebrate species, while Julian Hume's superb colour plates bring many of the extinct birds to life. Lost Land of the Dodo provides the definitive account of this tragic yet remarkable fauna, and is a must-read for anyone interested in islands, their ecology and the history of our relationship with the world around us.

The Spider Weeps

2016-03-04
 |  Fiction
The Spider Weeps

Author: Dolly Coley

Publisher: AuthorHouse

ISBN: 9781524628239

Category: Fiction

Page: 392

View: 615

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Kidnapped and transported to an unknown destination, Kate is used as a powerful mans secret toy. When he tires of her, she is drugged and taken back to her home. Neither the police nor her only family, her brother, Bryn, believed she was kidnapped and brought back to her flat. It just didnt make sense as Bryn had received photographs of her and her new husband honeymooning in Europe. Confused but determined to find her kidnappers and bring them to justice, she hires a private detective, Red, but he comes with baggage of his own, which he has to work through before he can help her. Kate advertises and finds another victim, Fiona, who was turned into a drug addict by the Boss, as hes known. Both girls had been tattooed with a weeping spider on the base of their spine. When an international assassin comes after them, Red sends them to a place of safety, where Kate must learn to defend herself. To make matters worse for Kate, she discovers Bryn is gay and a male prostitute to the rich, employed by her ex-fianc, who organizes these orgies. Tormented by the spider that runs up and down her back, Kate must find her inner strength and, together with Fiona and Red, go down a terrifying path of drugs, sex, and murder, before coming out in a peaceful white tent.

Menagerie

2016-01-28
 |  History
Menagerie

Author: Caroline Grigson

Publisher: Oxford University Press

ISBN: 9780191024115

Category: History

Page: 400

View: 579

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Menagerie is the story of the panoply of exotic animals that were brought into Britain from time immemorial until the foundation of the London Zoo — a tale replete with the extravagant, the eccentric, and — on occasion — the downright bizarre. From Henry III's elephant at the Tower, to George IV's love affair with Britain's first giraffe and Lady Castlereagh's recalcitrant ostriches, Caroline Grigson's tour through the centuries amounts to the first detailed history of exotic animals in Britain. On the way we encounter a host of fascinating and outlandish creatures, including the first peacocks and popinjays, Thomas More's monkey, James I's cassowaries in St James's Park, and Lord Clive's zebra — which refused to mate with a donkey, until the donkey was painted with stripes. But this is not just the story of the animals themselves. It also the story of all those who came into contact with them: the people who owned them, the merchants who bought and sold them, the seamen who carried them to our shores, the naturalists who wrote about them, the artists who painted them, the itinerant showmen who worked with them, the collectors who collected them. And last but not least, it is about all those who simply came to see and wonder at them, from kings, queens, and nobles to ordinary men, women, and children, often impelled by no more than simple curiosity and a craving for novelty.