The Big, Bad Book of Botany

Author: Michael Largo
Publisher: Harper Collins
ISBN: 006228276X
Category : Science
Languages : en
Pages : 371

Book Description
David Attenborough meets Lemony Snicket in The Big Bad Book of Botany, Michael Largo’s entertaining and enlightening one-of-a-kind compendium of the world’s most amazing and bizarre plants, their history, and their lore. The Big, Bad Book of Botany introduces a world of wild, wonderful, and weird plants. Some are so rare, they were once more valuable than gold. Some found in ancient mythology hold magical abilities, including the power to turn a person to stone. Others have been used by assassins to kill kings, and sorcerers to revive the dead. Here, too, is vegetation with astonishing properties to cure and heal, many of which have long since been lost with the advent of modern medicine. Organized alphabetically, The Big, Bad Book of Botany combines the latest in biological information with bizarre facts about the plant kingdom’s oddest members, including a species that is more poisonous than a cobra and a prehistoric plant that actually “walked.” Largo takes you through the history of vegetables and fruits and their astonishing agricultural evolution. Throughout, he reveals astonishing facts, from where the world’s first tree grew to whether plants are telepathic. Featuring more than 150 photographs and illustrations, The Big, Bad Book of Botany is a fascinating, fun A-to-Z encyclopedia for all ages that will transform the way we look at the natural world.

The Paper Road

Author: Erik Mueggler
Publisher: Univ of California Press
ISBN: 0520269039
Category : Biography & Autobiography
Languages : en
Pages : 376

Book Description
“An absolutely breathtaking book -- in its thoughtfulness and imaginativeness, in the breadth and depth of the research which it entailed, in its geographical, cultural, and historical situatedness, and in its profound critical empathy for all of the key players. Beautifully and skillfully written.” – Sydney White, Associate Professor of Anthropology, Asian Studies, and Women's Studies at Temple University "The Paper Road is an eloquent, even haunting narrative of the relationships between colonial explorers/scientists and their native collaborators that makes vivid the theme of 'colonial intimacy.' It speaks to scholars working on Chinese minorities and frontier relations, to historians of comparative colonialism, to experts on Tibet and Buddhism, and probably also simply to lovers of tales of mountains and exploration." –Charlotte Furth, Professor Emerita of Chinese History , University of Southern California.

The Fair Botanists

Author: Sara Sheridan
Publisher: Hodder & Stoughton
ISBN: 1529336236
Category : Fiction
Languages : en
Pages : 517

Book Description
*SELECTED AS THE WATERSTONES SCOTTISH BOOK OF THE YEAR 2022* 'Compelling, fascinating . . . A cracking good read' Val McDermid 'An evocative, enjoyable portrait of 1820s Edinburgh' Sunday Times 'Lush, seductive' Daily Mail 'Completely enchanting' Scotsman 'A beautiful tale of scandal and intrigue' Susan Stokes-Chapman, author of Pandora *** Could one rare plant hold the key to a thousand riches? It's the summer of 1822 and Edinburgh is abuzz with rumours of King George IV's impending visit. In botanical circles, however, a different kind of excitement has gripped the city. In the newly-installed Botanic Garden, the Agave Americana plant looks set to flower - an event that only occurs once every few decades. When newly widowed Elizabeth arrives in Edinburgh to live with her late husband's aunt Clementina, she's determined to put her unhappy past in London behind her. As she settles into her new home, she becomes fascinated by the beautiful Botanic Garden which borders the grand house and offers her services as an artist to record the rare plant's impending bloom. In this pursuit, she meets Belle Brodie, a vivacious young woman with a passion for botany and the lucrative, dark art of perfume creation. Belle is determined to keep both her real identity and the reason for her interest the Garden secret from her new friend. But as Elizabeth and Belle are about to discover, secrets don't last long in this Enlightenment city . . . And when they are revealed, they can carry the greatest of consequences . . . *** 'Dazzling, original, full of wonderful characters' Katie Fforde 'An absolute treat for fans of historical fiction and rich storytelling' Red Magzine 'Lively and generous-hearted, with an array of utterly engaging characters, this enchanting novel reads like a warm tonic for the soul' Mary Paulson-Ellis 'As rare and lush as the Agave flower itself, The Fair Botanists is a richly realised, transportive delight' Rachel Rhys 'Beautiful . . . Every sentence is a gift. If you love The Doll Factory or The Binding, you'll love this' Miranda Dickinson 'Delightfully original, sensuous historical fiction, led by a charge of female characters as captivating and complex as the brightest of botanical flowers' Cari Thomas

Contemporary Botanical Artists

Author: Shirley Sherwood
Publisher: George Weidenfeld & Nicholson
ISBN: 9780297822707
Category : Art
Languages : en
Pages : 240

Book Description
Presents a collection of botanical paintings along with descriptions of the artists' techniques and backgrounds.

The Fair Botanists

Author: Sara Sheridan
Publisher:
ISBN: 9781529336207
Category :
Languages : en
Pages : 384

Book Description

The Fair Botanists

Author: Sara Sheridan
Publisher:
ISBN: 9781529336214
Category :
Languages : en
Pages : 384

Book Description
It's the summer of 1822 and Edinburgh is abuzz with rumours of King George IV's impending visit. In botanical circles, however, a different kind of excitement has gripped the city. In the newly-installed Botanic Garden, the Agave Americana plant looks set to flower - an event which only occurs once in several decades.When newly widowed Elizabeth arrives in Edinburgh to live with her late husband's aunt Clementina, she's determined to put her unhappy past in London behind her. As she settles into her new home, she becomes fascinated by the beautiful Botanic Garden which border the grand house and offers her services as an artist to record the rare plant's impending bloom. In this pursuit, she meets Belle Brodie, a vivacious young woman with a passion for botany and the lucrative, dark art of perfume creation.Belle is determined to keep both her real identity and the reason for her interest the Garden secret from her new friend. But as Elizabeth and Belle are about to discover, secrets don't last long in this Enlightenment city. And when they are revealed, they can carry the greatest of consequences . . .

America's Curious Botanist

Author: Nancy Everill Hoffmann
Publisher: American Philosophical Society
ISBN: 9780871692498
Category : Biography & Autobiography
Languages : en
Pages : 284

Book Description
The Academy of Natural Sciences, the American Philosophical Society, the John Bartram Association, the Library Company of Philadelphia, the Pennsylvania Horticultural Society, & the Philadelphia Botanical Club sponsored a three-day symposium in May 1999 to commemorate the 300th anniversary of John Bartram's birth. This collection of essays arises from that symposium. All of the essays contribute to the telling of the story of the multifaceted John Bartram, whose life spanned most of the 18th-century and who was called "the greatest natural botanist in the world." The work is published in cooperation with the Library Company of Philadelphia & John Bartram Association. Color & black & white illustrations.

Jefferson's Botanists

Author: Richard M. McCourt
Publisher: Academy of Natural Sciences
ISBN: 9780910006590
Category : Biography & Autobiography
Languages : en
Pages : 36

Book Description
Account of the botanical discoveries of Meriwether Lewis and William Clark, together with illustrations of plant specimens from the Lewis and Clark Herbarium.

The Botanist

Author: Benjamin Waterhouse
Publisher:
ISBN:
Category : Botany
Languages : en
Pages : 272

Book Description

The Botanizers

Author: Elizabeth Keeney
Publisher: Univ of North Carolina Press
ISBN: 9780807820469
Category : Nature
Languages : en
Pages : 250

Book Description
Keeney examines the role of botany in the lives of nineteenth-century 'botanizers,' amateur scientists who collected, identified, and preserved plant specimens as a pastime. Using popular magazines, fiction, and autobiographies of the day, she explores the popular culture of this avocation, which attracted both men and women by the thousands.