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The description of the world
By Johanna Skibsrud. 2016
In this collection of poems, the author asks: is our world really what it appears to be? How do we…
shape it through language? And if language can create our world, can it also transform or destroy it? She brings us to the edges of dreams and waking. With lines that are searching, but spacious, she deftly turns over ideas of perception and reality, inviting us to join her as she releases the abstract figure from its painting, or brings the poet in from the wilderness. 2016.The elusive Mr. Pond: the soldier, fur trader and explorer who opened the Northwest
By Barry M Gough. 2014
Born in Connecticut in 1739, Peter Pond volunteered for the colonial Connecticut and New York regiments that fought against the…
French for control of North America. Soon after, drawn by the promise of wealth and adventure, Pond paddled into the wild territory of the Indians to the west with only a canoe, some trade goods and a few French Canadians to aid him. What he returned with is the stuff of legend. 2014.The end of the line: how overfishing is changing the world and what we eat
By Charles Clover. 2006
Clover describes how fishing with modern technology has nearly destroyed entire ocean ecosystems: New England's fisheries have collapsed, the fish…
stocks of West Africa's continental shelf are overexploited, and few cod are left in Newfoundland's Grand Banks. He blames trawlers with huge nets that destroy everything in their wake, celebrity chefs with endangered species on their menus, the European Union, the U.N. Food and Agricultural Organization, and countries like Japan and Spain that persist in illegal fishing. 2006.The energy of slaves: oil and the new servitude
By Andrew Nikiforuk. 2012
A radical analysis of our master-and-slave relationship to energy and a call for change. Nikiforuk makes a comparison between slavery…
and fossil fuels. Like slaveholders, we feel entitled to surplus energy and rationalize inequality, even barbarity, to get it. But endless growth is an illusion, and now that half of the world's oil has been burned, our energy slaves are becoming more expensive by the day. What we need, the author argues, is a radical new emancipation movement. c2012.The end of the river: dams, drought and déjà vu on the Rio São Francisco
By Brian J Harvey. 2008
A biologist searches for a solution that will save many fish species from life-threatening dams. His adventures take him from…
a fisheries patrol boat on the Fraser River to the great Tsukiji fish market in Japan, with stops in the Philippines, Thailand, and assorted South American countries. Portrays fishermen, fish farmers, and even fish cops in a new light, as well as scientists, shysters, and some very drunk, hairy Brazilian men in thongs. Some strong language, some descriptions of sex, and some descriptions of violence. c2008.Our world has ended five times: it has been broiled, frozen, poison-gassed, smothered, and pelted by asteroids. In this book,…
Peter Brannen dives into deep time, exploring Earth's past dead ends, and in the process, offers us a glimpse of our possible future. Part road trip, part history, and part cautionary tale, "The Ends of the World" takes us on a tour of the ways that our planet has clawed itself back from the grave and casts our future in a completely new light. 2017.The end of ownership: personal property in the digital economy (The Information Society Series)
By Aaron Perzanowski, Jason Schultz. 2016
Explores how notions of ownership have shifted in the digital marketplace, and makes an argument for the benefits of personal…
property. E-books, cloud storage, streaming, and other digital goods offer users convenience and flexibility. But consumers should be aware of the trade-offs involving user constraints, permanence, and privacy. The rights of private property are clear, but few people manage to read their end user agreements. The authors argue that introducing aspects of private property and ownership into the digital marketplace would offer both legal and economic benefits. But more importantly, it would affirm our sense of self-direction and autonomy. If we own our purchases, we are free to make whatever lawful use of them we please. Technology need not constrain our freedom; it can also empower us. 2016.The end of absence: reclaiming what we've lost in a world of constant connection
By Michael Harris. 2014
Only one generation in history (ours) will experience life both with and without the internet. For everyone who follows us,…
online life will simply be the air they breathe. Today, we revel in ubiquitous information and constant connection, rarely stopping to consider the implications for our logged-on lives. The author chronicles this massive shift, exploring what we've gained and lost in the bargain. He argues that our greatest loss has been that of absence itself -- of silence, wonder and solitude. Winner of the 2014 Governor General’s Award for Non-fiction. 2014.The fabric of the cosmos: space, time, and the texture of reality
By B Greene. 2004
String theory is a recent development in physics that, by positing that all which exists is composed of infinitesimally small…
vibrating loops of energy, seeks to unify Einstein's theories and those of quantum mechanics into a so-called "theory of everything." Greene offers a view of human understanding of space and time, beginning with Newton, moving through Einstein and quantum physics, and on to string theory and its hypotheses. c2004.The ethical canary: science, society and the human spirit
By Margaret A Somerville. 2000
As science and technology continue to advance, many moral and ethical questions begin to arise. The author, a leading authority…
on medicine, ethics and law, presents an examination of the various ethical concerns human society is currently facing. Addressing everything from cloning to genetically modified foods, this volume illuminates some of the most controversial and pressing issues of our time.The end of time: the next revolution in our understanding of the universe
By Julian B Barbour. 1999
This text describes the coming revolution in our understanding of the cosmos: a quantum theory of the universe that brings…
together Einstein's general theory of relativity - which denies the existence of a unique time - and quantum mechanics - which demands one. The author contends that only the most radical of ideas can resolve the profound conflict between these two foundational pillars of modern physics, and in this book he proposes it: there is, quite literally, no time at all. 1999.The essential Darwin
By Charles Darwin, Mark Ridley. 1987
Charles Darwin was unusual in that he was a scientist who wrote for the general reader and this selection contains…
passages from his nine most important books. From the "Origin", his explanation of natural selection and his summary of the case for evolution; from "The Descent of Man", human intelligence and morality, and his theory of sex differences; and from "Coral Reefs", the wholly original and still accepted theory of the origin of coral atolls. 1987.Before Owen Wister's publication of "The Virginian" in 1902, the image of the cowboy was essentially that of the dime…
novel. This book details the evidence that Everett Johnson, a cowboy from Virginia who had been a friend of Wister's in Wyoming in the 1880s, was the initial and prime inspiration for Wister's cowboy. 2015.The devil and the disappearing sea: a true story about the Aral Sea catastrophe
By Robert W Ferguson. 2003
The Aral Sea, once the fourth-largest inland body of water, has lost over half its surface area and 80 percent…
of its volume since 1960, due to poorly planned irrigation systems. In January 2000, Canadian Rob Ferguson went to Uzbekistan to work on an environmental project to save the Aral Sea. After a year of dealing with corrupt officials, not only had the project gone nowhere, but Ferguson was under suspicion of murder. Some strong language. 2003.The earth (Starting With Space Ser.)
By Cynthia Pratt Nicolson, Bill Slavin. 1996
Presents stories and myths about Earth's origins. Explains where the planet fits in the solar system; why there is night…
and day; and how plants, animals, and people have affected its environment. Includes experiments and a glossary of terms. Grades 3-6. 1997, c1996.The clouded leopard: travels to landscapes of spirit and desire
By Wade Davis. 1998
Davis examines the link between the diversity of our biological landscape and cultural diversity. He argues that the more we…
destroy the biological landscapes of the Earth, the more we cause diverse cultures to assimilate with the more mainstream cultures. Davis uses his travels around the world to illustrate his argument and shares stories of his time spent with a variety of peoples throughout the world. c1998.The periodic table is a crowning scientific achievement, but it's also a treasure trove of adventure, greed, betrayal, and obsession.…
The fascinating tales in this book follow elements on the table as they play out their parts in human history, finance, mythology, conflict, the arts, medicine, and the lives of the (frequently) mad scientists who discovered them. Grades 5-8. 2018.The corpses of the future
By Lynn Crosbie. 2017
A sustained, confessional new collection of poems that tells the story of Crosbie's father’s battle with frontotemporal dementia and blindness,…
following a stroke. The poems chronologically recount the poet’s conversations and time with her father, and capture his still-astonishing means of communicating. The book’s title is his sardonic remark. Crosbie considers dementia to be a symbolic language and as such, similar to poetry. The author’s attempts to understand her father’s distress, pain, fear, and brave love are assisted by her understanding of the “negative capability” required of readers of poetry. 2017.The elephants in my backyard: A Memoir
By Rajiv Surendra. 2016
Actor Rajiv Surendra read "Life of Pi", discovered it was being adapted into a major motion picture, and embarked on…
a ten-year journey to land the role of a lifetime. But this is not a journey of goals and victories, this is a story of obsessively pursuing a dream, overcoming failure, and finding meaning in life. 2016.How the amazing theories of relativity and quantum mechanics transformed our understanding of nature in the last century, and how…
new ideas, developed in seeking to unify the laws of nature, probably hold the seeds of a major upheaval in physics. 1999.