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The Fossil Detectives: Discovering Prehistoric Britain
By Douglas Palmer, Hermione Cockburn. 2008
Fossils provide us with a tantalizing glimpse of Britain's prehistoric past and hold the key to unlocking the secrets of…
life's history and evolution. Since the appearance of primitive organisms in Britain more than a billion years ago, oceans, deserts, swamps and vast mountains have come and gone in our corner of western Europe; forests of long-extinct trees, flowers and grasses have covered the land, and dinosaurs and other strange creatures have roamed across it. How do we know? The evidence is all around us - in the rocks and fossils that lie beneath the landscape.In this highly informative and practical book, which accompanies the BBC series, presenter Hermione Cockburn and renowned palaeontologist Douglas Palmer take an in-depth look at the most exciting fossil stories from around the country. When and why were dinosaur fossils first discovered in Britain? How was the biggest fish ever to have swum in the sea unearthed near Peterborough? What do modern medical techniques have to offer fossil hunters?Packed with colour photographs and illustrations, Fossils Detectives is full of surprising facts and features. And for those who want to try their hand at some fossil detecting of their own, the book includes an extensive regional gazetteer of fossil-hunting sites and places to visit, and guidance on identifying your fossil finds.Get ready for some time travel around Britain, with the Fossil Detectives!Fencing Paradise: The Uses and Abuses of Plants
By Richard Mabey. 2006
In this remarkable journal of visits to Eden, Mabey transports his reader from Cornwall to the Mediterranean to the Tropics,…
from Old World to New, from present to personal memory, to new perspectives on our collective artistic and emotional past. Sensuous and evocative, exquisitely written, his new book challenges the reader to look differently at the world, and our place in the landscape. At the same time, Mabey is controversial in his views about what we mean by buzz words like 'renewable', or 'sustainable', and he is highly provocative in his final response to the Eden Project itself.A Down to Earth Guide to the Cosmos
By Mark Thompson. 2013
To the beginner, the star-filled night sky can seem mysterious and unfathomable. But with this book as a guide the…
awesome nature of the Cosmos is brought down to Earth. Over the course of twelve chapters Mark Thompson, one of the presenters on BBC One’s Stargazing Live and the resident astronomer on ITV’s The Alan Titchmarsh Show, will take you on a journey through space, tackling the key concepts of astronomy and unlocking the secrets of the sky. From the origins of our Universe to the ever evolving techniques used to explore deep space, A Down to Earth Guide to the Cosmos traces the journey of galactic discovery that has obsessed mankind for thousands of years.Accompanying the narrative, a series of monthly sky guides focus on the astronomical highlights visible at each given time of year, with handy charts to show you exactly what to look for and how to navigate around the sky at night. As fascinating as it is accessible, A Down to Earth Guide to the Cosmos is a must for anyone who gazes up and wishes they knew more about the final frontier...Experiments on Reality
By Tim Robinson. 2019
Long recognized as perhaps the greatest non-fiction writer at work in Ireland, for his vast, polymathic accounts of nature and…
culture in the Aran Islands and Connemara, Tim Robinson is also an essayist of genius whose fascinations range across the globe. In Experiments on Reality, he shines the light of his intelligence on his own life, and on some of the most fascinating questions in science and culture. Robinson brings us to his boyhood in Yorkshire, National Service in Malaya in the 1950s, and his years as a visual artist in Istanbul, Vienna and London. He revisits some of the scenes of his researches for the maps he made of Aran and Connemara, places that continue to throw up remarkable stories and puzzles. And he performs astonishing literary thought-experiments, playing with the boundaries of the essay form, scientific inquiry, and storytelling. Experiments on Reality is a masterpiece from one of the great minds of our time.'One of the greatest of all landscape writers ... When the material world is brought forth for us so beautifully, with such rapt attention and illuminating insight, we are reminded of how lucky we are to be part of it' Fintan O'Toole, Irish TimesPRAISE FOR THE CONNEMARA TRILOGY:'One of the most remarkable non-fiction projects undertaken in English' Robert MacFarlane, Spectator'Robinson is a marvel ... the supreme practitioner of geo-graphy, the writing of places' Fintan O'Toole, Observer Books of the Year'One of contemporary Ireland's finest literary stylists ... This is a book that does justice, in every sense of that phrase, to the frequently betrayed people whose stories it incarnates, and to their strange and beautiful corner of the world' Joseph O'Connor, Guardian'A masterpiece of travel and topographical writing and a miraculous, vivid and engrossing meditation on landscape and history and the sacred mood of places' Colm Tóibín, Irish Times Books of the Year'One of the finest of contemporary prose stylists' John Burnside, Irish Times'He is that rarest of phenomena, a scientist and an artist, and his method is to combine scientific rigour with artistic reverie in a seamless blend that both informs and delights.' John Banville, Guardian'Breathtaking ... the West of Ireland has found its ultimate laureate' Patricia Craig, TLS'Dazzling ... an indubitable classic' Giles Foden, Condé Nast TravellerDestination Space: Making Science Fiction a Reality
By Kenny Kemp. 2007
Award-winning writer and journalist Kenny Kemp goes in search of the paying passengers who will make history on the first…
commercial flight into space. They will be able to experience weightlessness, witness the curvature of the Earth and have a unique view of the Universe seen only by astronauts. Detailing their arduous training and how their bodies will be affected in space, to the science, business and politics behind this incredible breakthrough, Destination Space describes just the beginning of an amazing adventure . . .Desert Survival (Air Ministry Survival Guide #3)
By A.M. Pamphlet 225. 2017
THE ULTIMATE SURVIVAL GUIDE for anyone who thinks they'd survive the world's most hostile environments - or at least imagine…
they could do.-----------------------------First issued to airmen in the 1950s, the Air Ministry's Sea Survival guide includes original and authentic emergency advice to crew operating over the ocean. With original illustrations and text, these survival guides provide an insight to military survival techniques from a by-gone era.Packed with original line drawings and instruction in:- How to find water in a dry stream course- How to make a hat out of seat cushions- What to do in the event of meeting 'hostile parties'Focussing on one of the most unforgiving environments on Earth, Desert Survival is one of four reprints of The Air Ministry's emergency survival pamphlets. Others include:· Jungle Survival· Sea Survival· Arctic SurvivalCry of the Wild: Life through the eyes of eight animals
By Charles Foster. 2023
'Evocative and beautifully written, it's a deeply immersive read' Observer'Enchanting and emotional...personifies its characters as they navigate the new wild…
and its trials.' Chris Packham'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.Countryfile: My Life on the Land
By Adam Henson. 2011
In 2001, Adam Henson was chosen from 3,500 applicants to become a presenter on Countryfile. Adam's agricultural knowledge and open…
manner soon made him a popular figure and when the programme moved to its current Sunday evening slot in 2009, he began to present a weekly report from his own farm in the Cotswolds.There, the ups and downs of the farming calendar, as told in Adam's straight-talking fashion, soon became one of the most popular parts of the programme as viewers watched him endure the stress of TB testing and his sadness at losing valuable cattle as well as the highs of spring lambing. This is the first book by Adam Henson, and it is an enthralling, first-person account of the drama, emotion and sheer hard work that is life on Adam's Farm.Chasing the Ghost: My Search for all the Wild Flowers of Britain
By Peter Marren. 2018
**ONE OF THE GUARDIAN’S BEST BOOKS OF 2018**Join renowned naturalist Peter Marren on an exciting quest to see every species…
of wild plant native to Britain.The mysterious Ghost Orchid blooms in near darkness among rotting leaves on the forest floor. It blends into the background to the point of invisibility, yet glows, pale and ghostly. The ultimate grail of flower hunters, it has been spotted only once in the past twenty-five years. Its few flowers have a deathly pallor and are said to smell of over-ripe bananas. Peter Marren has been a devoted flower finder all his life. While the Ghost Orchid offers the toughest challenge of any wild plant, there were fifty more British species Peter had yet to see, having ticked off the first 1,400 rummaging in hedges, slipping down gullies and peering in peat bogs. But he set himself the goal of finding the remaining fifty in a single summer. As it turned out, the wettest summer in years. This expert and emotional journey takes Peter the length and the breadth of the British Isles, from the dripping ancient woods of the New Forest to the storm-lashed cliffs of Sutherland. He paddles in lakes, clambers up cliffs in mist and rain, and walks several hundred miles, but does he manage to find them all? Partly about plants, partly autobiography, Chasing the Ghost is also a reminder that to engage with wild flowers, all we need to do is look around us and enjoy what we see. Praise for Chasing the Ghost:‘Peter Marren is the unsung hero of Britain’s nature writers’ Stephen Moss, author of Dynasties‘Jolly, quixotic and ends with real poignancy’ Guardian ‘A poignant reminder to us all to engage with the wild flowers that grow around us’ i NewspaperBritish Woodland: How to explore the secret world of our forests
By Ray Mears. 2023
Nobody sees and understands woodland better than Ray Mears.With deep natural history knowledge and practical woodcraft skills, gained over a…
lifetime of learning from the world's last remaining indigenous peoples, Ray offers a different way to experience our wooded landscapes. He challenges the old concepts. He looks to our ancestors and shows how man's hand in shaping woodland is critical. We are not separate from nature, we just need to ensure that our interactions have a positive impact.With the emphasis on interaction, British Woodland is structured by usage. We learn that sycamore and clematis are among the best woods for burning, pine and oak help us navigate, and hawthorn and beech have edible leaves. Rope can be made from willow, utensils and tools from hazel, and historically, weapons were made from yew and wych elm.With Ray as our guide, encouraging this sense of connection to individual trees, our appreciation of wooded landscapes will change. We can learn how to live inclusively in nature, for our own wellbeing and enjoyment, and also for the future of our planet.British Isles: A Natural History
By Alan Titchmarsh. 2004
Accompanying a major new BBC1 series presented by Alan Titchmarsh, British Isles: A Natural History is a fascinating journey through…
the natural history of Britain from its birth to the present day. Written in Alans uniquely readable style, the book chronicles the different periods in Britain's evolution, exploring everything from the geology and geography to the flora and fauna that make up the diverse landscapes of the British Isles. It also includes a gazetteer section detailing where you can explore for yourself Britain's natural treasures. Beautifully illustrated with 180 colour photographs, it will appeal to natural history enthusiasts and everyone who cares about the country they live in. The book contains the latest research gathered in the making of this new landmark series from the BBC's NHU in Bristol. Alan Titchmarsh is a bestselling BBC author and has sold over a million copies of his books which include How To Be A Gardener 1 and 2 and Royal Gardeners._____________"Everything you need to know about keeping plants in your house... lovely pictures, tips, tricks... I love it." (Zoe Sugg…
a.k.a Zoella)Love plants, but short on outdoor space? Keen to fill your home with greenery but don't know where to start? Or perhaps you've been labelled a house-plant serial killer? Then this is the book for you.With stunning photography and expert step-by-step tips, Bring The Outside In reveals everything you need to know to help your plants thrive, from dramatic statement foliage and miniature citrus trees to table-top terrariums and hanging planters. With chapters on orchids, cacti, herb gardens and chilli plants, your home will be flourishing in no time.A Boy's Own Dale: A 1950s childhood in the Yorkshire Dales
By Terry Wilson. 2011
Growing up in rural Yorkshire in the 1940s and 50s, Terry Wilson spent his school days hunting down Just William…
books, cutting up apples to help with fractions and staring out the window dreaming up new schemes. But it was on the Dales themselves that Terry came into his own. Whether he was 'out-fishing' the adults with his homemade rod, grouse-beating for the lady of the manor, helping to bring in the farmers' hay in exchange for rabbit shooting rights, or growing his own prize caulis, his idiosyncratic and inventive mind is only matched by his love of nature. Told with affection, dry humour and a respect for the landscape and its people, through Terry's eyes we meet farmers, mill owners and 'gentlemen of the road'. Beautifully illustrated with newly-commissioned line-drawn illustrations by Don Grant, A Boy's Own Dale is a magical memoir of a long-lost world.The Book Of The Eclipse
By David Ovason. 2013
As David Ovason shows, eclipse have always marked turning points in history and in the lives of individuals: the foundation…
of Rome, the crucifixion, the saving of the live of Christopher Columbus, the foundation of Washington DC, the death of Diana, Princess of Wales and even the future fall from grace of President Clinton are among Ovason's many examples. Ovason also shows how stone circles were linked to eclipses and how these events have always been supposed by initiates to create shadow-tunnels into the spiritual world, allowing special possibilities of communication with the spiritual world.This book examines how extractivism transforms territories and affects the well-being of rural people, drawing on in-depth fieldwork conducted on…
tree plantations in Chile.The book argues that pine and eucalyptus monoculture plantations in southern Chile are a form of extractivism representing a mode of nature appropriation that captures large amounts of natural resources to produce wooden-based raw materials with little processing and an export-oriented focus. The book discusses the nexus of extractivism, territorial transformations, well-being, and emerging resistances using a participatory action research methodological approach in the Region of Los Ríos, southern Chile. The findings show how the configuration of an extractivist logging enclave generated a substantial and irrevocable reordering of human-nature relations, resulting in the territorial and ontological occupation of rural places that disrupted the fundamental human needs of peasants and indigenous people. The book maintains that Chile's green growth development approach does not challenge the consolidated tree plantation enclave controlled by large multinationals. Instead, green growth legitimises the extractivist logic. The book draws parallels with other countries and regions to contribute to wider debates surrounding these topics.This book will be of great interest to students and scholars of the extractive industries, development studies, political ecology, and natural resource governance.Your Passport to China (World Passport)
By Douglas Hustad. 2021
Elephant Cows: Heads of the Herd (Queens of the Animal Universe)
By Maivboon Sang. 2023
A lion sneaks slowly toward a herd of elephants. The herd’s female leader sees the big cat. Her loud trumpet…
sound rings out. She charges the lion and it runs away. Females are the leaders of an elephant herd. They protect the herd, lead it to food sources, and care for young. Take a look at elephants and the important roles cows play to ensure the herd’s survival.Get Your Animals in Order: Classifying the Animal World
By Michael Bright. 2024
Animals are so familiar but what makes an animal an animal? Produced in partnership with the Natural History Museum (NHM),…
this clever and clear explanation of animal classification puts your animals in order and explains why classifying animals is important.From whales to worms and snakes to stinkbugs, every creature ever discovered has been identified and added to a group within the animal kingdom. Scientists use this classification system to help them research, discover and save species. This children's book showcases the amazingly diverse range of animals found around the world and the different features that help determine their place in the animal kingdom. We see the similarities, differences and connections between animal groups, and discover how classification helps scientists conserve animals and their habitats.'Odd-one-out' examples tell of peculiar animals that don't quite fit the natural order, such as egg-laying mammals and fish that climb trees.Includes a zoology timeline of the people and places that have influenced the study of animalsHello Bugs (Little Guides to Nature #3)
By Nina Chakrabarti. 2024
Did you know that crickets have ears on their knees and that butterflies taste with their feet? And can you…
tell a bee from a wasp? Beautiful gallery-style pages showcase the fascinating world of insects, including ladybirds, beetles and bugs that glow in the dark. Fun off-the-page activity spreads include how to make a bug hotel and what to look for on a bug hunt.With colourful illustrations and amazing facts, bug-based outdoor activities to enjoy and features on camouflage, mimicry, life in a beehive and metamorphosis, this little book will provide hours of pleasure, both indoors and out. Be inspired to go outdoors and get up close with nature with this brand-new series from internationally bestselling illustrator Nina Chakrabarti. Also in the series: Hello Fungi, Hello Trees and Hello Fossils and Shells.Big Pig, Little Pig: A Year on a Smallholding in South-West France
By Jacqueline Yallop. 2017
As heard on BBC Radio 4's Book of the Week'A delightful and entertaining memoir' Woman and HomeWhen Jacqueline moves to…
south-west France with her husband, she embraces rural village life and buys two pigs to rear for slaughter. But as she gets to know the animals better, her English sentimentality threatens to get in the way and she begins to wonder if she can actually bring herself to kill them. This is a memoir about that fateful decision, but it's also about the ethics of meat eating in the modern age, and whether we should know, respect and even love the animals we eat. At its heart, this book is a love story, exploring the increasing attachment of the author for her particular pigs, and celebrating the enduring closeness of humans and pigs over the centuries.