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A Flower Garden for Pollinators: Learn how to sustain and support nature with this practical planting guide
by Rachel de ThameThe perfect guide for any gardener looking for inspiration on how to create a pollinator-friendly garden all year round.Pollinators are essential to life on Earth. Yet bees, butterflies and other beneficial insects are struggling due to climate change and habit loss. Fortunately, what we choose to plant in our gardens can help them to thrive. In this heartfelt guide, horticulturalist and Gardener's World presenter Rachel de Thame highlights plants we can grow that are rich in nectar and pollen, ensuring the garden is filled with beautiful flowers for us all to enjoy year-round.Arranged by season and illustrated with exquisite hand-painted watercolours and glorious photography showcasing many of Rachel's favourite plants, this book provides a captivating look at how best to support nature. Whether you have a small urban courtyard or a large country garden, A Flower Garden for Pollinators will guide your choice of plants, attracting a host of pollinators to your own patch of paradise.'A wonderful journey through the magical world of plants.' - Frances Tophill
Wild: Tales from Early Medieval Britain
by Amy JeffsBy the bestselling author of Storyland.Sheer cliffs, salt spray, explosive sea spume, thunderous clouds, icy waves, whales with mountains on their backs, sleet, bitter winds, bleak, impenetrable marshes, howling wolves, forests, the unceasing cries of birds and the death grip of subterranean vaults that have never seen the sun: these are wild landscapes of a world almost familiar.In Wild, Amy Jeffs journeys - on foot and through medieval texts - from landscapes of desolation to hope, offering the reader an insight into a world at once distant and profoundly close to home. The seven chapters, entitled Earth, Ocean, Forest, Beast, Fen, Catastrophe, Paradise, open with fiction and close with reflection. They blend reflections of travels through fen, forest and cave, with retelling of medieval texts that offer rich depictions of the natural world. From the Old English elegies to the englynion and immrama of the Celtic world - stories that largely represent figures whose voices are not generally heard in the corpus of medieval literature: women, outcasts, animals.Illustrated with original wood engravings, evoking an atmospheric world of whales, wolves, caves, cuckoos and reeds, Wild: Tales From Early Medieval Britain will leave readers feeling 'westendream': delight in the wilderness.
Once Upon a Raven's Nest: a life on Exmoor in an epoch of change
by Catrina Davies'This is a rich, beautiful and deeply moving book' GEORGE MONBIOT'I loved this book' CLOVER STROUDOnce Upon a Raven's Nest is the story of a working class man, one Thomas Hedley of Exmoor, and of the planet during the period of its great acceleration towards the current climate emergency.Born in 1955 to a poor family in Devon Thomas refused to conform. His fierce independence, recklessness and contrariness led not only to scrapes and self-inflicted dangers but to a life enriched by the love of women. Catrina Davies came to know him in his last years and has given his life and times in his own words, creating a rich, pungent language in a knowing, poetic and poignant voice.We learn of his accumulation of engines, tools and guns, the complexity of his connection to nature, the animals he loved and his desire to hunt them. He recounts the terrible consequences of his fatal attraction to risk and machinery which led to his being paralysed for the last years of his life, confined to a wheelchair, hopelessly dependent but still watching, noticing, recording, loving the world.The narrative is interwoven with a sequence of factual entries that chart the impending climate catastrophe and the consequences of our collective choices to ignore the warning of an environment on the verge of collapse.Once Upon A Raven's Nest is an unforgettable history of a life that is almost lost and an account of the destruction man has wrought on the earth in the time that Hedley worked the land.'Stunning. Urgent. Unforgettable' TANYA SHADRICK'This has the unmistakable smell of a classic' CHARLES FOSTER
The Ethnobotanical: A world tour of Indigenous plant knowledge
by Dr Sarah EdwardsSince the beginning of humanity's existence, plants have provided us with everything we need for our survival - they sustain us with air to breathe, food to eat, materials to make clothes and shelter with, and medicine to treat and prevent disease. Their beauty can also enhance our mood and provide spiritual and emotional nourishment.Western science has 'discovered' and named innumerable plant species over the course of its colonial history. To many Indigenous peoples, however, plants have been recognised for centuries as sentient beings, imbued with spirit and agency to help humanity. Publishing in partnership with the Royal Botanic Gardens at Kew, The Ethnobotanical offers a unique and beautiful perspective on plants and their roles in the lives of peoples from across the planet.
A Winter Grave: From the worldwide bestselling author of THE BLACKHOUSE
by Peter MayFrom the twelve-million copy bestselling author of the Lewis trilogy comes a chilling new mystery set in the isolated Scottish Highlands.A TOMB OF ICEA young meteorologist checking a mountain top weather station in Kinlochleven discovers the body of a missing man entombed in ice.A DYING DETECTIVECameron Brodie, a Glasgow detective, sets out on a hazardous journey to the isolated and ice-bound village. He has his own reasons for wanting to investigate a murder case so far from his beat.AN AGONIZING RECKONINGBrodie must face up to the ghosts of his past and to a killer determined to bury forever the chilling secret that his investigation threatens to expose.Set against a backdrop of a frighteningly plausible near-future, A WINTER GRAVE is Peter May at his page-turning, passionate and provocative best.*PRE-ORDER THIS EXPLOSIVE NEW NOVEL NOW*
My Family and Other Seedlings: A Year on a Dorset Allotment
by Lalage SnowA few years ago Lally Snow moved to a Dorset village with her husband and three small children, having spent over a decade as a war photographer, foreign correspondent and film maker living in Kabul. She covered the conflict there as well as other wars from Gaza to Eastern Ukraine, and Iraq.In the late winter of 2021-22, Lally decided to rent an allotment, despite having only a rudimentary knowledge of gardening. She was starting from scratch and setting herself the dual challenge of growing an allotment at the same time as growing a family.This is a heart-warming, wry and at times tearful account of Lally's travails as a mother and novice allotment holder, counterpointing horticultural progress with the perils of parenting. Along the way she reflects on the drudgery of English rural domesticity after a professional life chasing war and adventure, the history of the allotment since Saxon times, and the wonderful moment when gardening becomes fun rather than just feeding a family.
How the Rose Got Its Thorns: And Other Botanical Stories
by Dr Andrew OrmerodHave you ever wondered why the rose has thorns and other flowers don't; why the daffodil is the colour it is; or why some plants have shiny leaves and others matt?How The Rose Got its Thorns reveals the inner workings of our favourite flowers and trees. Designed to help gardeners, both novice and experienced, better understand how plants grow, the book is easy to navigate - it is divided into 50 chapters, each one a story.Accompanied by specially commissioned colour illustrations, each chapter explains the science behind how plants work and the extraordinary processes they have evolved: such as protecting themselves from predators using chemicals; attracting pollinators using scent, shape and colour; growing in low or high temperatures; their relationship with the wind; the size and pattern of their leaves; the distribution of their seeds and survival strategies; their relationship with insects; how they allocate their resources; and how they retain water efficiently.This delightful and intriguing book offers readers an accessible way to better understand how our plants evolved into the species of today.
Everything, Beautiful: A Visual Guide to Finding Calm and Beauty in the Everyday
by Ella Frances SandersFrom the New York Times bestselling author of Lost in Translation comes an illustrated manifesto and an interactive guide to reclaiming the wonder of the everyday through mindful activities, creative exercises and heart-warming stories.In a world that sometimes moves too fast, Ella Frances Sanders is on a mission to remind us all to slow down and find beauty in the ordinary as a balm for the soul. Part meditation, part self-help guide and part interactive journal, Everything, Beautiful invites us to rethink what 'beauty' can be, why it matters and how we can find it all around us if we just stop to look. It is a reminder that each day all of us are surrounded by beauty that can't be bought: spiderwebs only seen in the sunlight, the greenish glow of a fox's eyes watching in the dark, or the comforting screech of the train that takes you to your many futures.Filled with thoughtful, intimate and brilliant insights, inspirational quotes, breathtaking illustrations and space for readers of all ages to write, draw and reflect on their own ideas of beauty, Everything, Beautiful is the perfect book for everyone who wants to reclaim a sense of wonder in their everyday lives.
Cry of the Wild: Life through the eyes of eight animals
by Charles Foster'Evocative and beautifully written, it's a deeply immersive read' Observer'Charles Foster is the most original voice in nature writing today - funny, urgent, poetic, philosophical and deeply moving' Patrick Barkham'Utterly exhilarating... This book demands we change our ways' Lee Schofield'There aren't many writers like Charles around... a deeply thought-provoking book' James Aldred'Reading this book feels like being made suddenly omniscient. In other words, you really have to' Tom Moorhouse'Astonishingly playful, humorous, immensely varied and outrageously intelligent... The most inventive British writer presently at work on the theme of nature' Mark CockerWhat is it like to live in a world built by humans? These eight genre-blending stories reveal the complexity, beauty and fragility of wild lives - a brilliantly modern twist on classics like Watership Down and Tarka the Otter.A fox, grown strong on pepperoni pizza from the dustbins of the East End, dances along a railway track towards Essex, the territory of wild foxes and wilder huntsmen.An orca, mourning the loss of her mother in a valley west of Skye, knows that she must now lead the pod as matriarch. She swims again through her childhood, thinking about the old ways, the old roads, laid down thousands of years ago. But the old roads aren't so easy now.At moonrise in a West Country river, an otter floats slowly downstream. The tide, though it pushes him landwards when it exhales, seems to pull him out when it inhales. He turns on his back. He can see the stars clearly for the first time and wonders if he can swim to them.The wild has never stopped waiting. It has only ever been in exile, right under our noses, waiting to confound, outrage and re-enchant.
The Owl: A Biography (The Bird Biography Series #5)
by Stephen MossFrom the renowned naturalist Stephen Moss, bestselling author of The Robin, The Wren and The Swan comes a new instalment in his beloved bird biography series. Uncover the secret life of owls through this beautiful guide to these secretive and charismatic birds. Owls are among the most mysterious birds in the world. Their hauntingly beautiful calls and mostly nocturnal habits have long captured our collective imagination, inspiring more superstitions, folktales and myths than any other group of birds. Seven species of owl - the tawny, little, barn, long-eared, short-eared, snowy and eagle owl - can be found in the British Isles (out of sixteen different kinds across Europe). They have lived alongside people for thousands of years, yet we still know so little about their day-to-day lives.Discover their fascinating lives, from the moment they first hatch, to the way they hunt their prey and how they raise the next generation. Explore the rich folklore they've inspired around the world and learn how, with a bit of luck, you can catch a glimpse of them yourself.With beautiful illustrations throughout, and expert birdwatching tips, this eye-opening biography reveals the hidden secrets of one of the world's most famous and beloved birds.
The Queen's Green Canopy: Ancient Woodlands and Trees
by Adrian Houston Charles Sainsbury-PlaiceStunning photographs of the United Kingdom's most spectacular trees - with a foreword by His Majesty the King.The Queen's Green Canopy is a beautiful photography book showcasing 70 ancient trees and 70 ancient woodlands dedicated by the QGC initiative in honour of Her Majesty's Platinum Jubilee.The book features extraordinary photographs of the United Kingdom's best-loved trees, many of which inspired historic figures, artists and writers through the centuries.Alongside these photographs are short written pieces from contributors including Dame Judi Dench, Alan Titchmarsh, Dame Joanna Lumley, Adam Henson, Archbishop Justin Welby and Danny Clarke, as well as conservation experts from the Woodland Trust and the Duchy of Cornwall. In these pieces they reflect on the trees that have made a mark on their lives and the importance of protecting Britain's woodlands for future generations.Selected trees include yews at a Cotswold's church which inspired JRR Tolkien; the apple tree believed to have inspired Sir Isaac Newton's theory of gravity; the Five Hundred Acre Wood in East Sussex immortalised in AA Milne's Winnie the Pooh books; and the 2,500-year-old tree where Henry VIII may have proposed to Anne Boleyn.So far 3 million trees have been planted by communities, schools and businesses across the country as part of the QGC initiative. Through incredible imagery and joyful pieces of writing, The Queen's Green Canopy celebrates Her Majesty's extraordinary life and the amazing legacy she leaves behind.
Animal Liberation Now
by Peter SingerThe definitive case for radically rethinking humanity's relationship with other animals - for the good of us all. 'The book that had the most impact on me' JANE GOODALL'Probably the single most influential document in the history of ... animal welfare' GUARDIANIn 1975, Animal Liberation started a global movement when it uncovered the abuse of animals in factory farms and laboratories and showed these horrific practices to be morally indefensible. In the decades since, science has vindicated Peter Singer’s arguments about animal sentience, plant-based diets have become mainstream and his landmark book has changed millions of minds. And yet, for animals, the situation has grown worse.Fully rewritten for the twenty-first century, Animal Liberation Now reveals these new developments and refines its arguments to address the pressing problems of today, including the impact of meat consumption on the climate emergency and the spread of lethal new viruses. A book of galvanising power and importance, it shows that the need to radically rethink our relationship with animals is more pressing than ever.'Will motivate a new generation of readers who are resolutely committed to creating a just society for all' JOAQUIN PHOENIX'The indispensable foundational text for the movement, new and updated' J. M. COETZEE'One the most important books of the last 100 years' ECOLOGIST
Not the End of the World: How We Can Be the First Generation to Build a Sustainable Planet
by Hannah Ritchie‘A book for anyone who finds it difficult to believe in a better future’ THE TIMESFeeling anxious, powerless, or confused about the future of our planet? This book will transform how you see our biggest environmental problems -- and how we can solve them.A STYLIST BEST NON-FICTION 2024 * A GUARDIAN BIGGEST FICTION AND NON-FICTION FOR 2024 * A WATERSTONES ‘BOOK YOU NEED TO READ IN 2024’ * A GUARDIAN ‘FIVE GREAT READS’ We are bombarded by doomsday headlines that tell us the soil won't be able to support crops, fish will vanish from our oceans, that we should reconsider having children.But in this bold, radically hopeful book, data scientist Hannah Ritchie argues that if we zoom out, a very different picture emerges. The data shows we've made so much progress on these problems, and so fast, that we could be on track to achieve true sustainability for the first time in history.Packed with the latest research, practical guidance and enlightening graphics, this book will make you rethink almost everything you've been told about the environment, from the virtues of eating locally and living in the countryside, to the evils of overpopulation, plastic straws and palm oil. It will give you the tools to understand what works, what doesn't and what we urgently need to focus on so we can leave a sustainable planet for future generations.These problems are big. But they are solvable. We are not doomed. We can build a better future for everyone. Let's turn that opportunity into reality.‘I find it hard to express how much I love this book’ RUTGER BREGMAN * 'An unmissable myth-busting book to save our planet – read it' TIM SPECTOR
Rapture's Road: From the author of All Down Darkness Wide
by Seán HewittIn this remarkable second collection, Seán Hewitt describes a journey haunted by love, loss and estrangement - from one of the Sunday Times 30 under 30 in Ireland'An exquisitely calm and insightful lyric poet'MAX PORTER, author of ShyAs the mind wanders and becomes spectral, these poems forge their own unique path through the landscape. The road Hewitt takes us on is a sleepwalk into the nightwoods, a dream-state where nature is by turns regenerated and broken, and where the split self of the speaker is interrupted by a series of ghosts, memories and encounters.Following the reciprocal relationship between queer sexuality and the natural world that he explored in Tongues of Fire, the poet conjures us here into a trance: a deep delirium of hypnotic, hectic rapture where everything is called into question, until a union is finally achieved – a union in nature, with nature.A threnody for what is lost, a dance of apocalypse and rebirth, Rapture’s Road draws us through what is hidden, secret, often forbidden, to a state of ecstasy. It leads into the humid night, through lethal love and grief, and glimpses, at the end of the journey, a place of tenderness and reawakening.
Ruin, Blossom
by John BurnsideA remarkable new collection exploring ageing, mortality and environmental destruction - from our finest Scottish lyric poet**WINNER OF THE DAVID COHEN PRIZE FOR LITERATURE 2023**'By far the best British poet alive' SPECTATOR'A master of language' HILARY MANTELIn this powerful, moving new book, John Burnside takes his cue from Schiller, who recognised that, as one thing fades, so another flourishes: everywhere and always, in matters great and small, new life blossoms amongst the ruins.Here, in poems that explore ageing, mortality, environmental destruction and mental illness, Burnside not only mourns what is lost in passing, but also celebrates the new, and sometimes unexpected, forms that emerge from such losses. An elegy for a dead lover ends with a quiet recognition of everyday beauty – first sun streaming through the trees … a skylark in the near field, flush with song – as the speaker emerges from lockdown after a long illness.Throughout, the poet attends to the quality of grace – numinous, exquisite, fleeting as an angel’s wing – and the broken tryst between humankind and its spiritual and animal elements, even with itself: the gaunt deer on the roads/like refugees. He acknowledges the inevitability of the fading towards death, but still finds chimes of light in the darkness – insisting that, here and now, even in decline, the world, when given its due attention, is all Annunciation.
Camp Bestival at Home: Have a Family Festival Every Day
by Josie da Bank Rob da BankGet wild. Get messy. 'Dad dance' like no one’s watching. Nourish your body and mind. Let go of the reins and the routines. Make memories and have some serious fun.From the co-founders of the award-winning family festival, Camp Bestival at Home is the perfect handbook for parents who want to bring the magical ethos of the festival home.Packed with activities, recipes and ideas to keep the whole family inspired all year round, why not get back to nature and stargaze. For kids with endless energy, you could organise a kitchen disco or put on a show. Go foraging, learn circus skills and face painting, or make festive decorations. And relax after all the activity with a family feast, plus some yoga for the grown-ups.Written and illustrated by Camp Bestival co-founders Josie and Rob da Bank, with contributions from celebrity friends and festival regulars Fatboy Slim, Sara Cox, Sophie Ellis-Bextor, Fearne Cotton and Jo Whiley.
Entangled Life (The Illustrated Edition): A beautiful new gift edition featuring 100 illustrations for Christmas 2023
by Merlin SheldrakeThe smash-hit Sunday Times bestseller now illustrated with over 100 spectacular full-colour images, showcasing this wondrous and wildly various lifeform as never before'Astonishing ... it seems somehow to tip the natural world upside down' Observer'Completely mind-blowing ... reads like an adventure story' Sunday Times*WINNER OF THE ROYAL SOCIETY BOOK PRIZE 2021**WINNER OF THE WAINWRIGHT PRIZE FOR CONSERVATION WRITING 2021*The more we learn about fungi, the less makes sense without them. They can change our minds, heal our bodies and even help us avoid environmental disaster; they are metabolic masters, earth-makers and key players in most of nature's processes. In Entangled Life, Merlin Sheldrake takes us on a mind-altering journey into their spectacular world, and reveals how these extraordinary organisms transform our understanding of our planet and life itself.'Dazzling, vibrant, vision-changing' Robert Macfarlane'Urgent, astounding and necessary' Helen Macdonald'Gorgeous!' Margaret Atwood (on Twitter)'Wonderful' Nigella Lawson'This book is like one surprise after another' David Byrne'Uplifting' Jeanette Winterson*SHORTLISTED FOR THE RATHBONES FOLIO PRIZE 2021**SHORTLISTED FOR THE BRITISH BOOK AWARDS BOOK OF THE YEAR 2021** A Sunday Times, Daily Telegraph, New Statesman, The Times, Evening Standard, Mail on Sunday, BBC Science Focus and Time Book of the Year *
Happily Ever Esther: Two Men, a Wonder Pig, and Their Life-Changing Mission to Give Animals a Home
by Steve Jenkins Derek WalterFrom the New York Times bestselling authors and loving owners of Esther the Wonder Pig, comes a memoir about their new life on the Happily Ever Esther Farm Sanctuary, which is anything but boring. Steve Jenkins and Derek Walter, had their lives turned upside down when they adopted their pig-daughter Esther--the so-called micro pig who turned out to be a full-sized commercial pig growing to a whopping 600 pounds--as they describe in their bestselling memoir Esther the Wonder Pig. The book ends with them moving to a new farm, and starting a new wonderful life where they will live on the Happily Ever Esther Farm Sanctuary to care for other animals and just live happily ever after... Or so they thought. People often think about giving it all up and just moving to a farm. In theory it sure does sound great. But as Derek and Steve quickly realized, the realities of being a farmer--especially when you have never lived on a farm let alone outside of the city--can be frantic, crazy, and even insane. Not only are they adjusting to farm life and dutifully taking care of their pig-daughter Esther (who by the way lives in the master bedroom of their house), but before they knew it their sanctuary grew to as many as 42 animals, including: pigs, sheep, goats, rabbits, chickens, cows, roosters, a peacock, a duck, a horse, a donkey, and a barn cat named Willma Ferrell. Written with joy and humor, and filled with delicious Esther-approved recipes dispersed throughout the book, this charming memoir captures an emotional journey of one little family advocating for animals everywhere.
Camp Girls: Fireside Lessons on Friendship, Courage, and Loyalty
by Iris KrasnowNew York Times bestselling author Iris Krasnow reflects with humor and heart on her summer camp experiences and the lessons she and her fellow campers learned there that have stayed with them throughout their lives. Iris Krasnow was 8 years old when she first attended sleep-away camp, building lasting friendships and essential life skills amid the towering pine trees and open skies of Wisconsin. Decades later, she returned to Camp Agawak as a staff member to help resurrect Agalog, the camp's defunct magazine that she wrote for as a child. There, she revisits the activities she loved as a young girl: singing songs around a campfire, swimming in a pristine lake, sleeping under the stars-experiences that continue to fill her with wisdom and perspective. A nostalgic, inspiring memoir with a universal message on the importance of long-term friendship for campers and non-campers alike, Camp Girls weaves between past and present, filling the page in delicious detail with cabin pranks, canoe trips in rainstorms, and the joy of finding both your independence and your interdependence in nature alongside your peers. Through rich storytelling, Iris shares her own and other campers' adventures and the lessons from childhood that can shape fulfilling and successful adulthoods. Ultimately, Iris powerfully demonstrates that camp is more than a place or a collection of activities: it's where we learn what it means to be human and what it feels like to truly belong to a family-not of blood, but of history, loyalty, and tradition.
One Hundred Daffodils: Finding Beauty, Grace, and Meaning When Things Fall Apart
by Rebecca Winn"When women share the truth about life and loss . . . hope is restored" in this enlightening and comforting memoir about purpose, personal growth, and nature's ability to heal (Sarah Ban Breathnach)."There is so much life in the garden. That is why I come. Life that is gentle, self-supporting, and beautiful. Continuous in its cycles, grounded, pure." When her husband asked for a divorce after twenty-five years of marriage, Rebecca Winn felt untethered physically, spiritually, and emotionally. The security she'd had in her marriage was suddenly replaced by an overwhelming sense of fear, hopelessness, and dread. She felt invisible and alone and was horrified to consider that her deepest longing -- to know and be known by another person -- might never be realized. But from this fear emerged a powerful desire to answer one of life's most profound questions: How can we ever know another person if we do not truly know ourselves? Facilitated in measures by a love affair with a younger man, dedicated study of Jungian psychology, and a deep dive into global spiritual practices, Winn transformed heartbreak into wholeness through communion with the divine in nature. By turning to her garden for guidance, sanctuary, and inspiration, and dialing closely into the flora and fauna around her, she ultimately discovered what is possible when we are willing look at our unvarnished selves with an open mind -- and see others with an open heart.
One Hundred Daffodils: Finding Beauty, Grace, and Meaning When Things Fall Apart
by Rebecca Winn"When women share the truth about life and loss . . . hope is restored" in this enlightening and comforting memoir about purpose, personal growth, and nature's ability to heal (Sarah Ban Breathnach)."There is so much life in the garden. That is why I come. Life that is gentle, self-supporting, and beautiful. Continuous in its cycles, grounded, pure." When her husband asked for a divorce after twenty-five years of marriage, Rebecca Winn felt untethered physically, spiritually, and emotionally. The security she'd had in her marriage was suddenly replaced by an overwhelming sense of fear, hopelessness, and dread. She felt invisible and alone and was horrified to consider that her deepest longing -- to know and be known by another person -- might never be realized. But from this fear emerged a powerful desire to answer one of life's most profound questions: How can we ever know another person if we do not truly know ourselves? Facilitated in measures by a love affair with a younger man, dedicated study of Jungian psychology, and a deep dive into global spiritual practices, Winn transformed heartbreak into wholeness through communion with the divine in nature. By turning to her garden for guidance, sanctuary, and inspiration, and dialing closely into the flora and fauna around her, she ultimately discovered what is possible when we are willing look at our unvarnished selves with an open mind -- and see others with an open heart.Includes a ReadingGroup Guide
Inconspicuous Consumption: The Environmental Impact You Don't Know You Have
by Tatiana Schlossberg*First Place Winner of the Society of Environmental Journalists' Rachel Carson Environment Book Award*"If you're looking for something to cling to in what often feels like a hopeless conversation, Schlossberg's darkly humorous, knowledge-is-power, eyes-wide-open approach may be just the thing."--VogueFrom a former New York Times science writer, this urgent call to action will empower you to stand up to climate change and environmental pollution by making simple but impactful everyday choices.With urgency and wit, Tatiana Schlossberg explains that far from being only a distant problem of the natural world created by the fossil fuel industry, climate change is all around us, all the time, lurking everywhere in our convenience-driven society, all without our realizing it. By examining the unseen and unconscious environmental impacts in four areas-the Internet and technology, food, fashion, and fuel - Schlossberg helps readers better understand why climate change is such a complicated issue, and how it connects all of us: How streaming a movie on Netflix in New York burns coal in Virginia; how eating a hamburger in California might contribute to pollution in the Gulf of Mexico; how buying an inexpensive cashmere sweater in Chicago expands the Mongolian desert; how destroying forests from North Carolina is necessary to generate electricity in England. Cataloging the complexities and frustrations of our carbon-intensive society with a dry sense of humor, Schlossberg makes the climate crisis and its solutions interesting and relevant to everyone who cares, even a little, about the planet. She empowers readers to think about their stuff and the environment in a new way, helping them make more informed choices when it comes to the future of our world. Most importantly, this is a book about the power we have as voters and consumers to make sure that the fight against climate change includes all of us and all of our stuff, not just industry groups and politicians. If we have any hope of solving the problem, we all have to do it together."A compelling-and illuminating-look at how our daily habits impact the environment."--Vanity Fair"Shows how even the smallest decisions can have profound environmental consequences."--The New York Times
The Cold Vanish: Seeking the Missing in North America's Wildlands
by Jon BillmanFor readers of Jon Krakauer and Douglas Preston, the critically acclaimed author and journalist Jon Billman's fascinating, in-depth look at people who vanish in the wilderness without a trace and those eccentric, determined characters who try to find them.These are the stories that defy conventional logic. The proverbial vanished without a trace incidences, which happen a lot more (and a lot closer to your backyard) than almost anyone thinks. These are the missing whose situations are the hardest on loved ones left behind. The cases that are an embarrassment for park superintendents, rangers and law enforcement charged with Search & Rescue. The ones that baffle the volunteers who comb the mountains, woods and badlands. The stories that should give you pause every time you venture outdoors.Through Jacob Gray's disappearance in Olympic National Park, and his father Randy Gray who left his life to search for him, we will learn about what happens when someone goes missing. Braided around the core will be the stories of the characters who fill the vacuum created by a vanished human being. We'll meet eccentric bloodhound-handler Duff and R.C., his flagship purebred, who began trailing with the family dog after his brother vanished in the San Gabriel Mountains. And there's Michael Neiger North America's foremost backcountry Search & Rescue expert and self-described "bushman" obsessed with missing persons. And top researcher of persons missing on public wildlands Ex-San Jose, California detective David Paulides who is also one of the world's foremost Bigfoot researchers. It's a tricky thing to write about missing persons because the story is the absence of someone. A void. The person at the heart of the story is thinner than a smoke ring, invisible as someone else's memory. The bones you dig up are most often metaphorical. While much of the book will embrace memory and faulty memory -- history -- The Cold Vanish is at its core a story of now and tomorrow. Someone will vanish in the wild tomorrow. These are the people who will go looking.
The Cold Vanish: Seeking the Missing in North America's Wildlands
by Jon BillmanPerfect for readers of Jon Krakauer and Douglas Preston, this "authentic and encyclopedic" book examines real-life cases of those who vanish in the wilderness without a trace (Roman Dial)—and those eccentric, determined characters who try to find them.These are the stories that defy conventional logic. The proverbial vanished without a trace incidences, which happen a lot more (and a lot closer to your backyard) than almost anyone thinks. These are the missing whose situations are the hardest on loved ones left behind. The cases that are an embarrassment for park superintendents, rangers and law enforcement charged with Search & Rescue. The ones that baffle the volunteers who comb the mountains, woods and badlands. The stories that should give you pause every time you venture outdoors.Through Jacob Gray's disappearance in Olympic National Park, and his father Randy Gray who left his life to search for him, we will learn about what happens when someone goes missing. Braided around the core will be the stories of the characters who fill the vacuum created by a vanished human being. We'll meet eccentric bloodhound-handler Duff and R.C., his flagship purebred, who began trailing with the family dog after his brother vanished in the San Gabriel Mountains. And there's Michael Neiger North America's foremost backcountry Search & Rescue expert and self-described "bushman" obsessed with missing persons. And top researcher of persons missing on public wildlands Ex-San Jose, California detective David Paulides who is also one of the world's foremost Bigfoot researchers.It's a tricky thing to write about missing persons because the story is the absence of someone. A void. The person at the heart of the story is thinner than a smoke ring, invisible as someone else's memory. The bones you dig up are most often metaphorical. While much of the book will embrace memory and faulty memory—history—The Cold Vanish is at its core a story of now and tomorrow. Someone will vanish in the wild tomorrow. These are the people who will go looking.
Beaverland: How One Weird Rodent Made America
by Leila PhilipAn intimate and revelatory dive into the world of the beaver—the wonderfully weird rodent that has surprisingly shaped American history and may save its ecological future. From award-winning writer Leila Philip, Beaverland is a masterful work of narrative science writing, a book that highlights, though history and contemporary storytelling, how this weird rodent plays an oversized role in American history and its future. She follows fur trappers who lead her through waist high water, fur traders and fur auctioneers, as well as wildlife managers, PETA activists, Native American environmental vigilantes, scientists, engineers, and the colorful group of activists known as beaver believers. Beginning with the early trans-Atlantic trade in North America, Leila Philip traces the beaver&’s profound influence on our nation&’s early economy and feverish western expansion, its first corporations and multi-millionaires. In her pursuit of this weird and wonderful animal, she introduces us to people whose lives are devoted to the beaver, including a Harvard scientist from the Blackfeet Reservation in Montana, who uses drones to create 3-dimensional images of beaver dams; and an environmental restoration consultant in the Chesapeake whose nickname is the &“beaver whisperer&”. What emerges is a poignant personal narrative, a startling portrait of the secretive world of the contemporary fur trade, and an engrossing ecological and historical investigation of these heroic animals who, once trapped to the point of extinction, have returned to the landscape as one of the greatest conservation stories of the 20th century. Beautifully written and impeccably researched, Beaverland reveals the profound ways in which one odd creature and the trade surrounding it has shaped history, culture, and our environment. The New York Times Editors' Choice NPR Science Friday Book Club Selection