The Arbornaut

Author: Meg Lowman
Publisher: Farrar, Straus and Giroux
ISBN: 0374721025
Category : Biography & Autobiography
Languages : en
Pages : 368

Book Description
“An eye-opening and enchanting book by one of our major scientist-explorers.” —Diane Ackerman, author of The Zookeeper’s Wife Nicknamed the “Real-Life Lorax” by National Geographic, the biologist, botanist, and conservationist Meg Lowman—aka “CanopyMeg”—takes us on an adventure into the “eighth continent” of the world's treetops, along her journey as a tree scientist, and into climate action Welcome to the eighth continent! As a graduate student exploring the rain forests of Australia, Meg Lowman realized that she couldn’t monitor her beloved leaves using any of the usual methods. So she put together a climbing kit: she sewed a harness from an old seat belt, gathered hundreds of feet of rope, and found a tool belt for her pencils and rulers. Up she went, into the trees. Forty years later, Lowman remains one of the world’s foremost arbornauts, known as the “real-life Lorax.” She planned one of the first treetop walkways and helps create more of these bridges through the eighth continent all over the world. With a voice as infectious in its enthusiasm as it is practical in its optimism, The Arbornaut chronicles Lowman’s irresistible story. From climbing solo hundreds of feet into the air in Australia’s rainforests to measuring tree growth in the northeastern United States, from searching the redwoods of the Pacific coast for new life to studying leaf eaters in Scotland’s Highlands, from conducting a BioBlitz in Malaysia to conservation planning in India and collaborating with priests to save Ethiopia’s last forests, Lowman launches us into the life and work of a field scientist, ecologist, and conservationist. She offers hope, specific plans, and recommendations for action; despite devastation across the world, through trees, we can still make an immediate and lasting impact against climate change. A blend of memoir and fieldwork account, The Arbornaut gives us the chance to live among scientists and travel the world—even in a hot-air balloon! It is the engrossing, uplifting story of a nerdy tree climber—the only girl at the science fair—who becomes a giant inspiration, a groundbreaking, ground-defying field biologist, and a hero for trees everywhere. Includes black-and-white illustrations

Smithsonian Trees of North America

Author: W John Kress
Publisher: Yale University Press
ISBN: 0300185219
Category : Nature
Languages : en
Pages : 801

Book Description
An indispensable illustrated source of information for hundreds of species of North American trees This authoritative reference on native and non-native trees of North America, by Smithsonian veteran W. John Kress, provides an unprecedented appraisal of more than 325 common species. More than a field guide, it includes ● over 300 range maps and 3,000 photographs of leaves, flowers, fruits, seeds, and bark; ● an in-depth introduction to the biology of trees, their value, structure, evolution, classification, ecology, and conservation; ● descriptions of each species, organized by genus and family; ● a reflection on the consequences of environmental change on the health of trees, now and in the future; ● a presentation, based on the latest technologies, of North American trees in a planetary and evolutionary perspective. Smithsonian Trees of North America, ten years in the making, marries science and art to provide an insightful and compassionate exploration of the diversity, structure, form, and beauty of trees.

A Good Spy Leaves No Trace

Author: Anne E. Tazewell
Publisher: BQB Publishing
ISBN: 1608082644
Category : Biography & Autobiography
Languages : en
Pages : 290

Book Description
Spies, lies and family ties Her father was a man cloaked in mystery, a man of contradiction. James M. Eichelberger was a writer, philosopher, decorated WWII intelligence officer, CIA Agent, and oil industry consultant who died a penniless alcoholic. After he left her family in Beirut, Lebanon when she was six years old, Anne E. Tazewell only saw her father seven times before his death in 1989. A back-packing nature-loving world traveler, Anne discovered her professional passion after parenting three children and going to college in her mid-forties. Her calling to reduce the use of oil to mitigate the worst of what is to come with climate change is what brought her father back into her life decades after his death. A chance radio interview began a quest to understand his life and in turn better understand her own. A Good Spy Leaves No Trace is part ghost story, part secret political history, part call to action and part family memoir. It is an investigation of loss, love, oil, and the alternatives, a story both personal and political. At its heart, A Good Spy is a multigenerational account about family. It is about using the alchemical power of family and acceptance to heal.

Bioblitz!

Author: Susan Edwards Richmond
Publisher: Holiday House
ISBN: 168263311X
Category : Juvenile Fiction
Languages : en
Pages : 43

Book Description
A young boy and his cousin compete to identify the most different species on a biodiversity count day at a local park You might be amazed at the large number of insects, birds, and small mammals that inhabit even a very small plot of land. In this story Gabriel's dad, a ranger for the local municipal park, is helping with a Biodiversity Day (or Bioblitz), and he invites Gabriel and his cousin Ava to participate. With Gabriel's expertise in bugs and Ava's eye for birds, the two cousins are eager to start the hunt in the park. They are placed on different teams, competing to see which group finds the most species of animal life in the time allotted. Readers follow the two teams through a variety of habitats, where they spot dozens of different species over the course of the day. Kids will enjoy finding all the species (some are hidden in the illustration) that appear on the lists compiled in each habitat. Several different techniques for viewing species—rolling logs to discover critters living underneath and shining lights on white sheets at night to attract moths, for example—are highlighted. Plot action in this community science adventure revolves around the competition between the cousins, who check in with each other at intervals to compare lists. In the end, Ava's team spots one more species than Gabriel's, but Gabriel earns a special award for discovering a species of special concern in their area, a blue-spotted salamander. Because of all they have learned from the Bioblitz, the cousins realize that the real winner is the park and all its visitors. After reading Bioblitz!, students—as well as their parents and teachers—will be eager to participate in a biodiversity day in their own community!

Unrooted

Author: Erin Zimmerman
Publisher: Melville House
ISBN: 1685890709
Category : Biography & Autobiography
Languages : en
Pages : 273

Book Description
"Evolutionary botanist Zimmerman discusses her passion for plants and inveighs against sexism in the sciences in her marvelous debut memoir...Throughout, Zimmerman’s enthusiasm and expertise make the science accessible even to those without a background in the subject. The results are as edifying as they are galvanizing." - Publishers Weekly STARRED Review "Erin Zimmerman has exposed a rooted gender failure in science. Her book is important not for this alone. Her work is essential for understanding the future resilience of all flora on this planet." -Diana Beresford-Kroeger, author of To Speak for the Trees An exploration of science, motherhood, and academia, and a stirring account of a woman at a personal and professional crossroads . . . Growing up in rural Ontario, Erin Zimmerman became fascinated with plants—an obsession that led to a life in academia as a professional botanist. But as her career choices narrowed in the face of failing institutions and subtle, but ubiquitous, sexism, Zimmerman began to doubt herself. Unrooted: Botany, Motherhood, and the Fight to Save an Old Science is a scientist’s memoir, a glimpse into the ordinary life of someone in a fascinating field. This is a memoir about plants, about looking at the world with wonder, and about what it means to be a woman in academia—an environment that pushes out mothers and those with any outside responsibilities. Zimmerman delves into her experiences as a new mom, her decision to leave her position in post-graduate research, and how she found a new way to stay in the field she loves. She also explores botany as a “dying science” worth fighting for. While still an undergrad, Zimmerman’s university started the process of closing the Botany Department, a sign of waning funding for her beloved science. Still, she argues for its continuation, not only because we have at least 100,000 plant species yet to be discovered, but because an understanding of botany is crucial in the fight against climate change and biodiversity loss. Zimmerman is also a botanical illustrator and will provide 8 original illustrations for the book.

Teaching and Reading New Adult Literature in High School and College

Author: Sharon Kane
Publisher: Taylor & Francis
ISBN: 100068895X
Category : Language Arts & Disciplines
Languages : en
Pages : 221

Book Description
An introduction to the rapidly growing category of New Adult (NA) literature, this text provides a roadmap to understanding and introducing NA books to young people in high school, college, libraries, and other settings. As a window into the experiences and unique challenges that young and new adults encounter, New Adult literature intersects with but is distinct from Young Adult literature. This rich resource provides a framework, methods, and plentiful reading recommendations by genre, theme, and discipline on New Adult literature. Starting with a definition of New Adult literature, Kane demonstrates how the inclusion of NA literature helps support and encourage a love of reading. Chapters address important topics that are relevant to young people, including post-high school life, early careers, relationships, activism, and social change. Each chapter features text sets, instructional strategies, writing prompts, and activities to invite and encourage young people to be reflective and engaged in responding to thought-provoking texts. A welcome text for professors of literacy and literature instruction, first-year college instructors, researchers, librarians, and educators, this book provides new ways to assist students as they embark upon the next stage of their lives and is essential reading for courses on teaching literature.

Of Books and Beasts

Author: Matt Bille
Publisher: Hangar 1 Publishing
ISBN:
Category : Body, Mind & Spirit
Languages : en
Pages : 357

Book Description
In the controversial field of cryptozoology, plagued by long-lost accounts and internet fantasies, the essential core of usable information is largely maintained in books. Science writer and cryptozoology researcher Matt Bille offers 400 reviews of significant books in cryptozoology, supporting sciences like biology, and cryptozoological fiction. Matt’s selections, based on 45 years of reading and writing on zoology and cryptozoology, favor reliable science and history, providing an essential foundation for enthusiasts and skeptics alike. The search for unknown animals starts here. "Looking for a concise but reliable survey of the most noteworthy cryptozoological books past and present? Look no further - here it is!" - Dr. Karl P. N. Shuker, Zoologist

At Home on an Unruly Planet

Author: Madeline Ostrander
Publisher: Henry Holt and Company
ISBN: 125062052X
Category : Science
Languages : en
Pages : 271

Book Description
One of Kirkus Reviews' 100 Best Nonfiction Books of 2022 A gold Nautilus Book Award winner, Ecology & Environment From rural Alaska to coastal Florida, a vivid account of Americans working to protect the places they call home in an era of climate crisis How do we find a sense of home and rootedness in a time of unprecedented upheaval? What happens when the seasons and rhythms in which we have built our lives go off-kilter? Once a distant forecast, climate change is now reaching into the familiar, threatening our basic safety and forcing us to reexamine who we are and how we live. In At Home on an Unruly Planet, science journalist Madeline Ostrander reflects on this crisis not as an abstract scientific or political problem but as a palpable force that is now affecting all of us at home. She offers vivid accounts of people fighting to protect places they love from increasingly dangerous circumstances. A firefighter works to rebuild her town after catastrophic western wildfires. A Florida preservationist strives to protect one of North America's most historic cities from rising seas. An urban farmer struggles to transform a California city plagued by fossil fuel disasters. An Alaskan community heads for higher ground as its land erodes. Ostrander pairs deeply reported stories of hard-won optimism with lyrical essays on the strengths we need in an era of crisis. The book is required reading for anyone who wants to make a home in the twenty-first century.

Design for Biocities

Author: Laia Pifarre
Publisher: Actar D, Inc.
ISBN: 1638400989
Category : Architecture
Languages : en
Pages : 520

Book Description
The Institute for Advanced Architecture of Catalonia (IAAC) calls its 9th Advanced Architecture Contest as a global reflection to rethink human settlements at a time when our natural environments and the human habitats are more clearly intertwined. We look to the model of Biocities, cities that follow the principles of ecological principles in order to promote life and biodiversity, to provide us with potential design solutions. How can we reimagine our cities as Biocities, capable of creating an ecologically attuned and reciprocal relationship with nature? This year’s competition challenges students and professionals from all over the world to propose how to design urban spaces, cities, buildings, objects, or solutions of any scale, directed towards the transition to Biocities. The contest encourages participants to propose a design at any scale, anywhere in the world, that reflects different cultural, environmental, economic, or social conditions.

Take Two Aspirin and Call Me at 20,000 Feet

Author: Michael J. Manyak, MD
Publisher: Morgan James Publishing
ISBN: 1636984126
Category : Biography & Autobiography
Languages : en
Pages : 295

Book Description
In his own words, modern-day explorer Dr. Michael Manyak transports thrill seekers to the farthest reaches of the earth, from the dense forests of the Congo Basin to the icy expanses of Antarctica. While many may crave adventures around the globe, they are unlikely to experience anywhere near the many escapades that Dr. Michael Manyak has had during his prolific career. From his tropical medical training in the Philippines to his stints as the expedition doctor on hikes deep in the Andes and in a submersible to the Titanic wreck site, the author has made the combination of medicine and adventure the dominant theme throughout his life. His travels have taken him to nearly every continent, where he has encountered endangered and rare species, including camels, snakes, elephants, and more. He has operated on rhinos, rare big cats, gorillas, and even a huge boar hog. Some of his encounters were dangerous to himself and others. He orchestrated evacuations from battle zones in Iraq and was caught in a coup in a dangerous third-world country. He helped rescue nearly 100 victims from a sinking ship. On occasion, Manyak has been afforded a ringside seat for historical events, and other times, he has been thrust into unusual circumstances by chance. He witnessed the Pentagon attack on 9/11. He managed the healthcare of high-ranking government officials in the United States and other countries. Along the way, he encounters quite a cast of characters, some of them household names and others better left in the dusty corners of history. Take Two Aspirin and Call Me at 20,000 Feet encapsulates the incredible quests the author experienced on the road to becoming an academic cancer surgeon and explorer in the lab and the field.