books tagged “ecology”

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Changes in the Land: Indians, Colonists, and the Ecology of New England
by William Cronon

ISBN 0809001586 (0-8090-0158-6)
Softcover, Farrar, Straus & Giroux

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Book summary:
The book that launched environmental history now updated.

Winner of the Francis Parkman Prize

In this landmark work of environmental history, William Cronon offers an original and profound explanation of the effects European colonists' sense of property and their pursuit of capitalism had upon the ecosystems of New England. Reissued here with an updated afterword by the author and a new preface by the distinguished colonialist John Demos, Changes in the Land, provides a brilliant inter-disciplinary interpretation of how land and people influence one another. With its chilling closing line, "The people of plenty were a people of waste," Cronon's enduring and thought-provoking book is ethno-ecological history at its best.
[via]
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Collapse: How Societies Choose To Fail Or Succeed
by Jared Diamond

ISBN 0143036556 (0-14-303655-6)
Softcover, Penguin Group USA

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Book summary:
Jared Diamond's Collapse: How Societies Choose to Fail or Succeed is the glass-half-empty follow-up to his Pulitzer Prize-winning Guns, Germs, and Steel. While Guns, Germs, and Steel explained the geographic and environmental reasons why some human populations have flourished, Collapse uses the same factors to examine why ancient societies, including the Anasazi of the American Southwest and the Viking colonies of Greenland, as well as modern ones such as Rwanda, have fallen apart. Not every collapse has an environmental origin, but an eco-meltdown is often the main catalyst, he argues, particularly when combined with society's response to (or disregard for) the coming disaster. Still, right from the outset of Collapse, the author makes clear that this is not a mere environmentalist's diatribe. He begins by setting the book's main question in the small communities of present-day Montana as they face a decline in living standards and a depletion of natural resources. Once-vital mines now leak toxins into the soil, while prion diseases infect some deer and elk and older hydroelectric dams have become decrepit. On all these issues, and particularly with the hot-button topic of logging and wildfires, Diamond writes with equanimity.
Because he's addressing such significant issues within a vast span of time, Diamond can occasionally speak too briefly and assume too much, and at times his shorthand remarks may cause careful readers to raise an eyebrow. But in general, Diamond provides fine and well-reasoned historical examples, making the case that many times, economic and environmental concerns are one and the same. With Collapse, Diamond hopes to jog our collective memory to keep us from falling for false analogies or forgetting prior experiences, and thereby save us from potential devastations to come. While it might seem a stretch to use medieval Greenland and the Maya to convince a skeptic about the seriousness of global warming, it's exactly this type of cross-referencing that makes Collapse so compelling. --Jennifer Buckendorff [via]
More editions of Collapse: How Societies Choose To Fail Or Succeed:
- Collapse: How Societies Choose To Fail Or Succeed: ISBN 0670033375 (0-670-03337-5)
  Hardcover, Penguin Group USA
- Collapse: How Societies Choose to Fail or Succeed: ISBN 0143036556 (0-14-303655-6)
  Softcover, Penguin Group USA
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Desert Solitaire
by Edward Abbey

ISBN 0345326490 (0-345-32649-0)
Softcover, Ballantine Books

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Book summary:
With language as colorful as a Canyonlands sunset and a perspective as pointed as a prickly pear, Cactus Ed captures the heat, mystery, and surprising bounty of desert life. Desert Solitaire is a meditation on the stark landscapes of the red-rock West, a passionate vote for wilderness, and a howling lament for the commercialization of the American outback. [via]
More editions of Desert Solitaire:
- Desert Solitaire: ISBN 0816510571 (0-8165-1057-1)
  Hardcover, Univ of Arizona Pr
- Desert Solitaire: ISBN 0345326490 (0-345-32649-0)
  Softcover, Ballantine Books
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Desert Solitaire: A Season in the Wilderness
by Edward Abbey

ISBN 0671695886 (0-671-69588-6)
Softcover, Simon & Schuster

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Book summary:
With language as colorful as a Canyonlands sunset and a perspective as pointed as a prickly pear, Cactus Ed captures the heat, mystery, and surprising bounty of desert life. Desert Solitaire is a meditation on the stark landscapes of the red-rock West, a passionate vote for wilderness, and a howling lament for the commercialization of the American outback. [via]
More editions of Desert Solitaire: A Season in the Wilderness:
- Desert Solitaire: A Season in the Wilderness: ISBN 0879050705 (0-87905-070-5)
  Hardcover, Peregrine Smith
- Desert Solitaire: A Season in the Wilderness: ISBN 0671695886 (0-671-69588-6)
  Softcover, Simon & Schuster
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The Diversity of Life
by Edward O. Wilson

ISBN 0393319407 (0-393-31940-7)
Softcover, W W Norton & Co Inc

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Book summary:
Humans, the Harvard University entomologist Edward O. Wilson has observed, have an innate--or at least extremely ancient--connection to the natural world, and our continued divorce from it has led to the loss of not only "a vast intellectual legacy born of intimacy" with nature, but also our very sanity. In The Diversity of Life, Wilson takes a sweeping view of our planet's natural richness, remarking on what on the surface seems a paradox: "almost all the species that ever lived are extinct, and yet more are alive today than at any time in the past." (Wilson's elegant explanation is a scientific education in itself.) This great variety of species is, of course, threatened by habitat destruction, global climate change, and a host of other forces, and Wilson revisits his oft-stated call for the protection of wilderness and undeveloped land, noting that "wilderness has virtue unto itself and needs no extraneous justification." We should, he continues, regard every species, "every scrap of biodiversity," as precious and irreplaceable, without attempting to quantify that regard with utilitarian measures such as "bio-economics." In short, Wilson offers with this book a simple, workable environmental ethic that extends the work of Aldo Leopold and other conservationists. A remarkably productive and influential scientist, Wilson is also a fine writer, and his survey of biodiversity makes for welcome and instructive reading. --Gregory McNamee [via]
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Dune
by Frank Herbert

ISBN 0399128964 (0-399-12896-4)
Hardcover, Penguin Group (USA) Incorporated

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This Hugo and Nebula Award winner tells the sweeping tale of a desert planet called Arrakis, the focus of an intricate power struggle in a byzantine interstellar empire. Arrakis is the sole source of Melange, the "spice of spices." Melange is necessary for interstellar travel and grants psychic powers and longevity, so whoever controls it wields great influence.
The troubles begin when stewardship of Arrakis is transferred by the Emperor from the Harkonnen Noble House to House Atreides. The Harkonnens don't want to give up their privilege, though, and through sabotage and treachery they cast young Duke Paul Atreides out into the planet's harsh environment to die. There he falls in with the Fremen, a tribe of desert dwellers who become the basis of the army with which he will reclaim what's rightfully his. Paul Atreides, though, is far more than just a usurped duke. He might be the end product of a very long-term genetic experiment designed to breed a super human; he might be a messiah. His struggle is at the center of a nexus of powerful people and events, and the repercussions will be felt throughout the Imperium.
Dune is one of the most famous science fiction novels ever written, and deservedly so. The setting is elaborate and ornate, the plot labyrinthine, the adventures exciting. Five sequels follow. --Brooks Peck [via]
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- Dune: ISBN 0399128964 (0-399-12896-4)
  Hardcover, Penguin Group (USA) Incorporated
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Dune: La Batalla De Corrin
by Frank Herbert

ISBN 0441013597 (0-441-01359-7)
Softcover, Ace Books

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Book summary:
This Hugo and Nebula Award winner tells the sweeping tale of a desert planet called Arrakis, the focus of an intricate power struggle in a byzantine interstellar empire. Arrakis is the sole source of Melange, the "spice of spices." Melange is necessary for interstellar travel and grants psychic powers and longevity, so whoever controls it wields great influence.
The troubles begin when stewardship of Arrakis is transferred by the Emperor from the Harkonnen Noble House to House Atreides. The Harkonnens don't want to give up their privilege, though, and through sabotage and treachery they cast young Duke Paul Atreides out into the planet's harsh environment to die. There he falls in with the Fremen, a tribe of desert dwellers who become the basis of the army with which he will reclaim what's rightfully his. Paul Atreides, though, is far more than just a usurped duke. He might be the end product of a very long-term genetic experiment designed to breed a super human; he might be a messiah. His struggle is at the center of a nexus of powerful people and events, and the repercussions will be felt throughout the Imperium.
Dune is one of the most famous science fiction novels ever written, and deservedly so. The setting is elaborate and ornate, the plot labyrinthine, the adventures exciting. Five sequels follow. --Brooks Peck [via]
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Dune:La Yihad Butleriana / Dune:the Butlerian Yihad: La Yihad Butleriana/ the Butlerian Yihad
by Brian Herbert, Random House Mondadori, Domingo Santos

ISBN 849759682X (84-9759-682-X)
Softcover, Debolsillo

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- Dune:La Yihad Butleriana / Dune:the Butlerian Yihad: La Yihad Butleriana/ the Butlerian Yihad: ISBN 849759682X (84-9759-682-X)
  Softcover, Debolsillo
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Earth in the Balance: Ecology and the Human Spirit
by Al Gore

ISBN 1594866376 (1-59486-637-6)
Softcover, Rodale Pr

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Book summary:
What's most inspiring about Earth in the Balance is who wrote it. It's a big deal, after all, that a sitting senator was willing to write, "We must make the rescue of the environment the central organizing principle for civilization." And that's not all. In his 1992 book, Al Gore also wrote:
I have become very impatient with my own tendency to put a finger to the political winds and proceed cautiously.... [E]very time I pause to consider whether I have gone too far out on a limb, I look at the new facts [on the environment crisis] that continue to pour in from around the world and conclude that I have not gone far enough.... [T]he time has long since come to take more political risks--and endure more political criticism--by proposing tougher, more effective solutions and fighting hard for their enactments.
And the buzz on the street is that Gore actually wrote those words himself.
When Earth in the Balance first came out, it caused quite a stir--and for good reason. It convincingly makes the case that a crisis of epidemic proportions is nearly upon us and that if the world doesn't get its act together soon and agree to some kind of "Global Marshall Plan" to protect the environment, we're all up a polluted creek without a paddle. Myriad plagues are upon us, but the worst include the loss of biodiversity, the depletion of the ozone layer, the slash-and-burn destruction of rainforests, and the onset of global warming. None of this is new, of course, nor was it new in 1992. But most environmentalists will still get a giddy feeling reading such a call to action as written by a prominent politician.
The book is arranged into three sections: the first describes the plagues; the second looks at how we got ourselves into this mess; and the final chapters present ways out. Gore gets his points across in a serviceable way, though he could have benefited from a firmer editor's hand; at times the analogies are arcane and the pacing is odd--kind of like a Gore speech that climaxes at weird points and then sinks just as the audience is about to clap. Still, at the end you understand what's been said. Gore believes that if we apply some American ingenuity, the twin engines of democracy and capitalism can be rigged to help us stabilize world population growth, spread social justice, boost education levels, create environmentally appropriate technologies, and negotiate international agreements to bring us back from the brink. For example, a worldwide shift to clean, renewable energy sources would create huge economic opportunities for companies large and small to design, build, and maintain solar panels, wind turbines, fuel cells, and other ecofriendly innovations.
Gore doesn't mince words when describing just how hard it will be to get out of this jam. Real hope is contingent on a swelling up of concern among the public--and fast. A year into the vice presidency, in an interview with writer Bill McKibben, Gore paraphrased a key passage in his book, "The minimum that is scientifically necessary far exceeds the maximum that is politically feasible." Ah, a political out. Some readers will ask of Gore: what has he done since publishing his book to advance the political feasibility of decisive environmental action? --Chip Giller [via]
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Ecological Imperialism: The Biological Expansion of Europe, 900v1900
by Alfred W. Crosby

ISBN 0521546184 (0-521-54618-4)
Softcover, Cambridge Univ Pr

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Book summary:
People of European descent form the bulk of the population in most of the temperate zones of the world--North America, Australia and New Zealand. The military successes of European imperialism are easy to explain because in many cases they were achieved by using firearms against spears. Alfred Crosby, however, explains that the Europeans' displacement and replacement of the native peoples in the temperate zones was more a matter of biology than of military conquest. Now in a new edition with a new preface, Crosby revisits his classic work and again evaluates the ecological reasons for European expansion. Alfred W. Crosby is the author of the widely popular and ground-breaking books,The Measure of Reality (Cambridge, 1996), and America's Forgotten Pandemic (Cambridge, 1990). His books have received the Ralph Waldo Emerson Prize, the Medical Writers Association Prize and been named by the Los Angeles Times as among the best books of the year. He taught at the University of Texas, Austin for over 20 years. First Edition Hb (1986): 0-521-32009-7 First Edition Pb (1987): 0-521-33613-9 [via]
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The Eternal Frontier: An Ecological History of North America and Its Peoples
by Tim Flannery

ISBN 1876485728 (1-876485-72-8)
Hardcover, Text Pub

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Book summary:
Reading The Eternal Frontier might be the closest you'll get to taking a class from Tim Flannery--and that alone makes it an opportunity just too good to pass up. This ambitious retelling of North America's dramatic ecological history grew out of a course that Flannery taught at Harvard surveying the continent's ancient past up to its tumultuous near-present: from the extraterrestrial "death-dealing visitor" that struck 65 million years ago all the way through to the tidal invasions, adaptations, and extinctions that have washed over North America since, each idiosyncratically influenced by an ever-changing geology, geography, and climate.
Flannery admirably balances his twin roles as scientist and storyteller. As a thoughtful teacher, he employs memorable and effective examples to illustrate broader topics, but he's also willing to commit to theoretical explanations (with fair warning) when necessary to thread together the narrative. But Flannery's greatest strength might simply be the empathy he inspires as a fellow human being trying to sort out an intricate, often richly beautiful puzzle. It's hard not to identify with his curiosity and enthusiasm, whether he's recalling memories of late nights spent as a child reading the How and Why Book of Prehistoric Mammals (and the uintathere nightmares that followed) or just marveling over the vast American West from his window seat on a plane.
The Eternal Frontier certainly leaves you with a solid outline of the how, why, and when of North America's enigmatic ecology, and what the implications of a dwindling frontier have for our future. But don't be surprised when what you remember best are Flannery's countless details--worthy of repeating at any self-respecting pub--from marsupial sperm that swim in pairs to the reason that Native American cultures might owe their very existence to squirrels' taste in nuts. --Paul Hughes [via]
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Guns, Germs & Steel: The Fates of Human Societies
by Jared Diamond

ISBN 0393317552 (0-393-31755-2)
Softcover, W W Norton & Co Inc

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Book summary:
With a new chapter. The phenomenal bestseller; over 1.5 million copies sold; is now a major PBS special.Winner of the Pulitzer Prize, Guns, Germs, and Steel is a brilliant work answering the question of why the peoples of certain continents succeeded in invading other continents and conquering or displacing their peoples. This edition includes a new chapter on Japan and all-new illustrations drawn from the television series. Until around 11,000 BC, all peoples were still Stone Age hunter/gatherers. At that point, a great divide occurred in the rates that human societies evolved. In Eurasia, parts of the Americas, and Africa, farming became the prevailing mode of existence when indigenous wild plants and animals were domesticated by prehistoric planters and herders. As Jared Diamond vividly reveals, the very people who gained a head start in producing food would collide with preliterate cultures, shaping the modern world through conquest, displacement, and genocide.The paths that lead from scattered centers of food to broad bands of settlement had a great deal to do with climate and geography. But how did differences in societies arise? Why weren't native Australians, Americans, or Africans the ones to colonize Europe? Diamond dismantles pernicious racial theories tracing societal differences to biological differences. He assembles convincing evidence linking germs to domestication of animals, germs that Eurasians then spread in epidemic proportions in their voyages of discovery. In its sweep, Guns, Germs and Steel encompasses the rise of agriculture, technology, writing, government, and religion, providing a unifying theory of human history as intriguing as the histories of dinosaurs and glaciers. 32 illustrations [via]
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Guns, Germs, and Steel Reader's Companion
by Jared Diamond

ISBN 1586638637 (1-58663-863-7)
Softcover, Sterling Pub Co Inc

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Book summary:
Scholar and professor Jared Diamond made a huge splash with this fascinating but controversial book, which argues that geography and environment have almost singlehandedly determined the course of human history. Dig deeper into his contentions with the information inside this invaluable reader's handbook:
- Why did Europe colonize Africa and Asia rather than the other way around?
- Why is geography the most important factor in human history?
- How has the rest of the scientific community received Diamond's theory?
[via]
More editions of Guns, Germs, and Steel Reader's Companion:
- Guns, Germs, and Steel Reader's Companion: ISBN 1586638637 (1-58663-863-7)
  Softcover, Sterling Pub Co Inc
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Henry David Thoreau
by Henry David Thoreau

ISBN 0940450275 (0-940450-27-5)
Hardcover, Library of America

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Henry David Thoreau wrote four full-length works, collected here for the first time in a single volume. Subtly interweaving natural observation, personal experience, and historical lore, they reveal his brilliance not only as a writer, but as a naturalist, scholar, historian, poet, and philosopher. "A Week on the Concord and Merrimack Rivers" is based on a boat trip taken with his brother from Concord, Massachusetts to Concord, New Hampshire. "Walden," one of America's great books, is at once a personal declaration of independence, social experiment, voyage of spiritual discovery, manual of self-reliance, and masterpiece of style. "The Maine Woods" and "Cape Cod" portray landscapes changing irreversibly even as he wrote. The first combines close observation of the unexplored Maine wilderness with a far-sighted plea for conservation; the second is a brilliant and unsentimental account of survival on a barren peninsula in the face of hostile elements, historical change, and natural decay. [via]
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- Henry David Thoreau: ISBN 0940450275 (0-940450-27-5)
  Hardcover, Library of America
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Illustrated Dune
by Frank Herbert

ISBN 0425038912 (0-425-03891-2)
Softcover, Berkley Pub Group

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Book summary:
New, unused, never read condition+ [via]
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- Illustrated Dune: ISBN 0425038912 (0-425-03891-2)
  Softcover, Berkley Pub Group
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Inconvenient Truth: The Crisis of Global Warming
by Al Gore

ISBN 0670062715 (0-670-06271-5)
Hardcover, Viking Childrens Books

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Book summary:
Former Vice President Al Gore's New York Times #1 bestselling book is a daring call to action, exposing the shocking reality of how humankind has aided in the destruction of our planet and the future we face if we do not take action to stop global warming. Now, Viking has adapted this book for the most important audience of all: today's youth, who have no choice but to confront this climate crisis head-on.
Dramatic full-color photos, illustrations, and graphs combine with Gore's effective and clear writing to explain global warming in very real terms: what it is, what causes it, and what will happen if we continue to ignore it. An Inconvenient Truth will change the way young people understand global warming and hopefully inspire them to help change the course of history.
[via]
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- Inconvenient Truth: The Crisis of Global Warming: ISBN 0670062715 (0-670-06271-5)
  Hardcover, Viking Childrens Books
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An Inconvenient Truth: The Planetary Emergency of Global Warming and What We Can Do About It
by Al Gore

ISBN 1594865671 (1-59486-567-1)
Softcover, Rodale Pr

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Book summary:
An Inconvenient Truth--Gore's groundbreaking, battle cry of a follow-up to the bestselling Earth in the Balance--is being published to tie in with a documentary film of the same name. Both the book and film were inspired by a series of multimedia presentations on global warming that Gore created and delivers to groups around the world. With this book, Gore, who is one of our environmental heroes--and a leading expert--brings together leading-edge research from top scientists around the world; photographs, charts, and other illustrations; and personal anecdotes and observations to document the fast pace and wide scope of global warming. He presents, with alarming clarity and conclusiveness--and with humor, too--that the fact of global warming is not in question and that its consequences for the world we live in will be disastrous if left unchecked. This riveting new book--written in an accessible, entertaining style--will open the eyes of even the most skeptical.
[via]
More editions of An Inconvenient Truth: The Planetary Emergency of Global Warming and What We Can Do About It:
- An Inconvenient Truth: The Planetary Emergency of Global Warming and What We Can Do About It: ISBN 1594865671 (1-59486-567-1)
  Softcover, Rodale Pr
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Ishmael
by Daniel Quinn

ISBN 0553375407 (0-553-37540-7)
Softcover, Bantam Dell Pub Group

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Book summary:
FOR USE IN SCHOOLS AND LIBRARIES ONLY. Ishmael follows what happens when a man answers an ad in a local newspaper placed by a telepathic gorilla. [via]
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Last Chance to See
by Douglas Adams, Mark Carwardine

ISBN 0345371984 (0-345-37198-4)
Softcover, Ballantine Books

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The best-selling science fiction humorist Douglas Adams accompanies a world-class zoologist on an around-the-world trip in search of exotic, endangered creatures. By turns hilarious and poignant, this is a treat for Adams fans and anyone who cares about Earth's wildlife. [via]
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The Omnivore's Dilemma: A Natural History of Four Meals
by Michael Pollan

ISBN 1594200823 (1-59420-082-3)
Hardcover, Penguin Group USA

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Book summary:
One of the New York Times Book Review's Ten Best Books of the Year

Winner of the James Beard Award

Author of #1 New York Times Bestsellers In Defense of Food and Food Rules

Today, buffeted by one food fad after another, America is suffering from what can only be described as a national eating disorder. Will it be fast food tonight, or something organic? Or perhaps something we grew ourselves? The question of what to have for dinner has confronted us since man discovered fire. But as Michael Pollan explains in this revolutionary book, how we answer it now, as the dawn of the twenty-first century, may determine our survival as a species. Packed with profound surprises, The Omnivore's Dilemma is changing the way Americans thing about the politics, perils, and pleasures of eating.

Coming from The Penguin Press in 2013, Michael Pollans newest book Cooked: A Natural History of Transformation--the story of our most trusted food experts culinary education

"Thoughtful, engrossing ... You're not likely to get a better explanation of exactly where your food comes from."
-The New York Times Book Review

"An eater's manifesto ... [Pollan's] cause is just, his thinking is clear, and his writing is compelling. Be careful of your dinner!"
-The Washington Post

"Outstanding... a wide-ranging invitation to think through the moral ramifications of our eating habits."
--The New Yorker

"If you ever thought 'what's for dinner' was a simple question, you'll change your mind after reading Pollan's searing indictment of today's food industry-and his glimpse of some inspiring alternatives.... I just loved this book so much I didn't want it to end."
-The Seattle Times

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More editions of The Omnivore's Dilemma: A Natural History of Four Meals:
- The Omnivore's Dilemma: A Natural History of Four Meals: ISBN 078628952X (0-7862-8952-X)
  Hardcover, Thorndike Pr
- The Omnivore's Dilemma: A Natural History of Four Meals: ISBN 1594200823 (1-59420-082-3)
  Hardcover, Penguin Group USA
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Prodigal Summer
by Barbara Kingsolver

ISBN 0060199660 (0-06-019966-0)
Softcover, Harpercollins

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Book summary:
There is no one in contemporary literature quite like Barbara Kingsolver. Her dialogue sparkles with sassy wit and earthy poetry; her descriptions are rooted in daily life but are also on familiar terms with the eternal. With Prodigal Summer, she returns from the Congo to a "wrinkle on the map that lies between farms and wildness." And there, in an isolated pocket of southern Appalachia, she recounts not one but three intricate stories.
Exuberant, lush, riotous--the summer of the novel is "the season of extravagant procreation" in which bullfrogs carelessly lay their jellied masses of eggs in the grass, "apparently confident that their tadpoles would be able to swim through the lawn like little sperms," and in which a woman may learn to "tell time with her skin." It is also the summer in which a family of coyotes moves into the mountains above Zebulon Valley:
The ghost of a creature long extinct was coming in on silent footprints, returning to the place it had once held in the complex anatomy of this forest like a beating heart returned to its body. This is what she believed she would see, if she watched, at this magical juncture: a restoration.
The "she" is Deanna Wolfe, a wildlife biologist observing the coyotes from her isolated aerie--isolated, that is, until the arrival of a young hunter who makes her even more aware of the truth that humans are only an infinitesimal portion in the ecological balance. This truth forms the axis around which the other two narratives revolve: the story of a city girl, entomologist, and new widow and her efforts to find a place for herself; and the story of Garnett Walker and Nannie Rawley, who seem bent on thrashing out the countless intimate lessons of biology as only an irascible traditional farmer and a devotee of organic agriculture can. As Nannie lectures Garnett, "Everything alive is connected to every other by fine, invisible threads. Things you don't see can help you plenty, and things you try to control will often rear back and bite you, and that's the moral of the story."
Structurally, that gossamer web is the story: images, phrases, and events link the narratives, and these echoes are rarely obvious, always serendipitous. Kingsolver is one of those authors for whom the terrifying elegance of nature is both aesthetic wonder and source of a fierce and abiding moral vision. She may have inherited Thoreau's mantle, but she piles up riches of her own making, blending her extravagant narrative gift with benevolent concise humor. She treads the line between the sentimental and the glorious like nobody else in American literature. --Kelly Flynn [via]
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A Sand County Almanac
by Aldo Leopold, Charles W. Schwartz

ISBN 0345345053 (0-345-34505-3)
Softcover, Ballantine Books

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Book summary:
Published in 1949, shortly after the author's death, A Sand County Almanac is a classic of nature writing, widely cited as one of the most influential nature books ever published. Writing from the vantage of his summer shack along the banks of the Wisconsin River, Leopold mixes essay, polemic, and memoir in his book's pages. In one famous episode, he writes of killing a female wolf early in his career as a forest ranger, coming upon his victim just as she was dying, "in time to watch a fierce green fire dying in her eyes.... I was young then, and full of trigger-itch; I thought that because fewer wolves meant more deer, no wolves would mean hunters' paradise. But after seeing the green fire die, I sensed that neither the wolf nor the mountain agreed with such a view." Leopold's road-to-Damascus change of view would find its fruit some years later in his so-called land ethic, in which he held that nothing that disturbs the balance of nature is right. Much of Almanac elaborates on this basic premise, as well as on Leopold's view that it is something of a human duty to preserve as much wild land as possible, as a kind of bank for the biological future of all species. Beautifully written, quiet, and elegant, Leopold's book deserves continued study and discussion today. --Gregory McNamee [via]
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A Sand County Almanac and Sketches Here and There
by Aldo Leopold, Charles W. Schwartz

ISBN 019505928X (0-19-505928-X)
Softcover, Oxford Univ Pr

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Book summary:
Published in 1949, shortly after the author's death, A Sand County Almanac is a classic of nature writing, widely cited as one of the most influential nature books ever published. Writing from the vantage of his summer shack along the banks of the Wisconsin River, Leopold mixes essay, polemic, and memoir in his book's pages. In one famous episode, he writes of killing a female wolf early in his career as a forest ranger, coming upon his victim just as she was dying, "in time to watch a fierce green fire dying in her eyes.... I was young then, and full of trigger-itch; I thought that because fewer wolves meant more deer, no wolves would mean hunters' paradise. But after seeing the green fire die, I sensed that neither the wolf nor the mountain agreed with such a view." Leopold's road-to-Damascus change of view would find its fruit some years later in his so-called land ethic, in which he held that nothing that disturbs the balance of nature is right. Much of Almanac elaborates on this basic premise, as well as on Leopold's view that it is something of a human duty to preserve as much wild land as possible, as a kind of bank for the biological future of all species. Beautifully written, quiet, and elegant, Leopold's book deserves continued study and discussion today. --Gregory McNamee [via]
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A Sand County Almanac and Sketches Here and There: With Other Essays on Conservation from Round River
by Aldo Leopold

ISBN 0195007778 (0-19-500777-8)
Softcover, Oxford Univ Pr

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Book summary:
Published in 1949, shortly after the author's death, A Sand County Almanac is a classic of nature writing, widely cited as one of the most influential nature books ever published. Writing from the vantage of his summer shack along the banks of the Wisconsin River, Leopold mixes essay, polemic, and memoir in his book's pages. In one famous episode, he writes of killing a female wolf early in his career as a forest ranger, coming upon his victim just as she was dying, "in time to watch a fierce green fire dying in her eyes.... I was young then, and full of trigger-itch; I thought that because fewer wolves meant more deer, no wolves would mean hunters' paradise. But after seeing the green fire die, I sensed that neither the wolf nor the mountain agreed with such a view." Leopold's road-to-Damascus change of view would find its fruit some years later in his so-called land ethic, in which he held that nothing that disturbs the balance of nature is right. Much of Almanac elaborates on this basic premise, as well as on Leopold's view that it is something of a human duty to preserve as much wild land as possible, as a kind of bank for the biological future of all species. Beautifully written, quiet, and elegant, Leopold's book deserves continued study and discussion today. --Gregory McNamee [via]
More editions of A Sand County Almanac and Sketches Here and There: With Other Essays on Conservation from Round River:
- A Sand County Almanac and Sketches Here and There: With Other Essays on Conservation from Round River: ISBN 0195007778 (0-19-500777-8)
  Softcover, Oxford Univ Pr
A Sand County Almanac: With Other Essays on Conservation from Round River
by Aldo Leopold

ISBN 0195006194 (0-19-500619-4)
Hardcover, Oxford Univ Pr

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More editions of A Sand County Almanac: With Other Essays on Conservation from Round River:
- A Sand County Almanac: With Other Essays on Conservation from Round River: ISBN 0195006194 (0-19-500619-4)
  Hardcover, Oxford Univ Pr
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Silent Spring
by Rachel Carson, Wilson, Edward O. (AFT), Linda Lear

ISBN 0618249060 (0-618-24906-0)
Softcover, Houghton Mifflin

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Book summary:
Silent Spring, released in 1962, offered the first shattering look at widespread ecological degradation and touched off an environmental awareness that still exists. Rachel Carson's book focused on the poisons from insecticides, weed killers, and other common products as well as the use of sprays in agriculture, a practice that led to dangerous chemicals to the food source. Carson argued that those chemicals were more dangerous than radiation and that for the first time in history, humans were exposed to chemicals that stayed in their systems from birth to death. Presented with thorough documentation, the book opened more than a few eyes about the dangers of the modern world and stands today as a landmark work. [via]
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Silent Spring
by Rachel Louise Carson

ISBN 0449209385 (0-449-20938-5)
Softcover, Random House Publishing Group

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- Silent Spring: ISBN 0449209385 (0-449-20938-5)
  Softcover, Random House Publishing Group
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The Song of the Dodo: Island Biogeography in an Age of Extinctions
by David Quammen

ISBN 0684827123 (0-684-82712-3)
Softcover, Simon & Schuster

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Book summary:
In a wonderful weave of science, metaphor, and prose, David Quammen, author of The Flight of the Iguana, applies the lessons of island biogeography - the study of the distribution of species on islands and islandlike patches of landscape - to modern ecosystem decay, offering us insight into the origin and extinction of species, our relationship to nature, and the future of our world. [via]
More editions of The Song of the Dodo: Island Biogeography in an Age of Extinctions:
- The Song of the Dodo: Island Biogeography in an Age of Extinctions: ISBN 0684800837 (0-684-80083-7)
  Hardcover, Simon & Schuster
- The Song of the Dodo: Island Biogeography in an Age of Extinctions: ISBN 0684827123 (0-684-82712-3)
  Softcover, Simon & Schuster
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Sparknotes Dune
by Frank Herbert

ISBN 1586635107 (1-58663-510-7)
Softcover, Sterling Pub Co Inc

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Book summary:
Get your "A" in gear!

They're today's most popular study guides-with everything you need to succeed in school. Written by Harvard students for students, since its inception SparkNotes" has developed a loyal community of dedicated users and become a major education brand. Consumer demand has been so strong that the guides have expanded to over 150 titles. SparkNotes'" motto is Smarter, Better, Faster because:

· They feature the most current ideas and themes, written by experts.
· They're easier to understand, because the same people who use them have also written them.
· The clear writing style and edited content enables students to read through the material quickly, saving valuable time.

And with everything covered--context; plot overview; character lists; themes, motifs, and symbols; summary and analysis, key facts; study questions and essay topics; and reviews and resources--you don't have to go anywhere else!

[via]
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- Sparknotes Dune: ISBN 1586635107 (1-58663-510-7)
  Softcover, Sterling Pub Co Inc
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Walden
by Henry David Thoreau

ISBN 1420922610 (1-4209-2261-0)
Softcover, Digireads.Com

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Book summary:
Originally published in 1854, Walden, or Life in the Woods, is a vivid account of the time that Henry D. Thoreau lived alone in a secluded cabin at Walden Pond. It is one of the most influential and compelling books in American literature.
This new paperback edition--introduced by noted American writer John Updike--celebrates the 150th anniversary of this classic work. Much of Walden's material is derived from Thoreau's journals and contains such engaging pieces as "Reading" and "The Pond in the Winter." Other famous sections involve Thoreau's visits with a Canadian woodcutter and with an Irish family, a trip to Concord, and a description of his bean field. This is the complete and authoritative text of Walden--as close to Thoreau's original intention as all available evidence allows.
For the student and for the general reader, this is the ideal presentation of Thoreau's great document of social criticism and dissent.
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Walden, or Life in the Woods : Selections from the American Classic
by Henry David Thoreau

ISBN 0877736855 (0-87773-685-5)
Softcover, Shambhala Publications, Incorporated

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A beautifully distilled version of Thoreau's most important work, Walden, that became one of the most influential and compelling books in American literature. The royalties from each sale will be donated to the Walden Woods Project, a public land trust working to preserve the land around Walden Pond. Two-color interior. [via]
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- Walden, or Life in the Woods : Selections from the American Classic: ISBN 0877736855 (0-87773-685-5)
  Softcover, Shambhala Publications, Incorporated
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Walden; Or, Life in the Woods
by Henry David Thoreau, Terry Tempest Williams

ISBN 1590300882 (1-59030-088-2)
Hardcover, Shambhala Pubns

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Book summary:
In July 1845, Henry David Thoreau built a small cottage in the woods near Walden Pond in Concord, Massachusetts. During the two years and two months he spent there, he began to write Walden, his most important work, a chronicle of his communion with nature that became one of the most influential and compelling books in American literature. Since its first publication on August 9, 1854, by Ticknor and Fields, the work has become a classic, beloved for its message of living simply and in harmony with nature.

This special 150th anniversary edition of Walden features exquisite wood engravings by Michael McCurdy, one of America's leading engravers and woodblock artists. McCurdy's engravings bring the text to lifeand illuminate the spirit of Thoreau's prose. Also included is a foreword by noted author, environmentalist, and naturalist Terry Tempest Williams, who reflects upon Thoreau's message that as we explore our world and ourselves, we draw ever closer to the truth of our connectedness. [via]
More editions of Walden; Or, Life in the Woods:
- Walden; Or, Life in the Woods: ISBN 1590300882 (1-59030-088-2)
  Hardcover, Shambhala Pubns
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The Web of Life: A New Understanding of Living Systems
by Fritjof Capra

ISBN 0385476760 (0-385-47676-0)
Softcover, Random House Inc

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Book summary:
The vitality and accessibility of Fritjof Capra's ideas have made him perhaps the most eloquent spokesperson of the latest findings emerging at the frontiers of scientific, social, and philosophical thought. In his international bestsellers The Tao of Physics and The Turning Point, he juxtaposed physics and mysticism to define a new vision of reality. In The Web of Life, Capra takes yet another giant step, setting forth a new scientific language to describe interrelationships and interdependence of psychological, biological, physical, social, and cultural phenomena--the "web of life."

During the past twenty-five years, scientists have challenged conventional views of evolution and the organization of living systems and have developed new theories with revolutionary philosophical and social implications. Fritjof Capra has been at the forefront of this revolution. In The Web of Life, Capra offers a brilliant synthesis of such recent scientific breakthroughs as the theory of complexity, Gaia theory, chaos theory, and other explanations of the properties of organisms, social systems, and ecosystems. Capra's surprising findings stand in stark contrast to accepted paradigms of mechanism and Darwinism and provide an extraordinary new foundation for ecological policies that will allow us to build and sustain communities without diminishing the opportunities for future generations.

Now available in paperback for the first time, The Web of Life is cutting-edge science writing in the tradition of James Gleick's Chaos, Gregory Bateson's Mind and Matter, and Ilya Prigogine's Order Out of Chaos.

From the Trade Paperback edition. [via]
More editions of The Web of Life: A New Understanding of Living Systems:
- The Web of Life : A New Scientific Understanding of Living Systems: ISBN 0385476752 (0-385-47675-2)
  Hardcover, Doubleday Publishing
- The Web of Life: A New Understanding of Living Systems: ISBN 0385476760 (0-385-47676-0)
  Softcover, Random House Inc
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The World's Great Classics

ISBN 0717200019 (0-7172-0001-9)
Hardcover, Xs Books

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Book summary:
Odyssey, The: The World's Great Classics, by Homer; tr. by S.H. Butcher and Andrew Lang [via]
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- The World's Great Classics: ISBN 0717200019 (0-7172-0001-9)
  Hardcover, Xs Books
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Zodiac
by Neal Stephenson

ISBN 0553573861 (0-553-57386-1)
Softcover, Bantam Books

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Book summary:
Believe it or not, some readers find Zodiac even more fun than Neal Stephenson's defining 1990s cyberpunk novel, Snow Crash. Zodiac is set in Boston, and hero Sangamon Taylor (S. T.) ironically describes his hilarious exploits in the first person. S. T. is a modern superhero, a self-proclaimed Toxic Spiderman. With stealth, spunk, and the backing of GEE (a non-profit environmental group) as his weapons, S. T. chases down the bad guys with James Bond-like Zen.
Cruising Boston Harbor with lab tests and scuba gear, S. T. rides in with the ecosystem cavalry on his 40-horsepower Zodiac raft. His job of tracking down poisonous runoff and embarrassing the powerful corporations who caused them becomes more sticky than usual; run-ins with a gang of satanic rock fans, a deranged geneticist, and a mysterious PCB contamination that may or may not be man-made--plus a falling-out with his competent ("I adore stress") girlfriend--all complicate his mission.
Stephenson/S. T.'s irreverent, facetious, esprit-filled voice make this near-future tale a joy to read. [via]
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