In a series of essays that progress from the tiniest earth dwellers to the most far flung celestial bodies-- considering the similarity of gods to donkeys, the inexorability of love and vines, and the relations of exploding stars to exploding sea cucumbers-- Amy Leach rekindles a vital communion with the wild world, dormant for far too long.

Loaded with full color photographs and evocative descriptions, Exploring Nature in Illinois provides a panorama of the state's overlooked natural diversity. Naturalists Michael Jeffords and Susan Post explore fifty preserves, forests, restoration areas, and parks, bringing an expert view to wildlife and landscapes and looking beyond the obvious to uncover the unexpected beauty of Illinois's wild places. From the colorful variety of birds at War...

Homework Helpers: Biology is a user friendly review book that will make any student -- or those trying to help them -- feel like he or she has a private Biology tutor. Homework Helpers: Biology covers all of the topics included in a typical one-year Biology curriculum, including: -An approach to the study of biology using the scientific method and the skills and equipment used by most biologists.-The concept of the cell as the unit of structure and...

Naturalist is a wise and personal account of Wilson's growth as a scientist and the evolution of the fields he helped define. At once practical and lyric, Naturalist provides fascinating insights into the making of a scientist, and a valuable look at some of the most thought-provoking ideas of our time. As relevant today as when it was first published twenty-five years ago, Naturalist is a poignant reminder of the human side of science and an inspiring...

The fourth edition of a classic work on cold climate ecosystems, with a new chapter on climate change and its effects on plants and animals wintering in the North. "Peter J. Marchand's Life in the Cold, remains the one book that offers a comprehensive picture of the interactions of plants and animals--including humans--with their cold-weather environment. Focusing on the problems of 'winter-active' organisms, Marchand illuminates the many challenges...

A gall midge hatches, breeds, and dies in a 3-hour period. A bowhead whale can live for 200 years, a quahog clam 400. And box huckleberries growing today sprouted some 13,000 years ago. This fact-filled science book explains how and why some 99 animals and plants-including dragonflies, horses, dogs, snakes, humans, tortoises, sequoias, and jellyfish-live as long, or as briefly, as they do.

Michael R. Jeffords and Susan L. Post have circled the globe--and explored their neighborhood--collecting images of the natural world. This book opens their personal cabinet of curiosities to tell the stories of the pair's most unusual encounters. From the "necking" battles of mate-hungry giraffes to the breathtaking beauty of millions of monarch butterflies at rest, Jeffords and Post share 200 stunning photographs and their own insightful essays...

Birds were "the objects of my greatest delight," wrote John James Audubon (1785-1851), founder of modern ornithology and one of the world's greatest bird painters. His masterpiece, The Birds of America, depicts almost five hundred North American bird species, each life-size image rendered in vibrant color. Audubon was also an explorer, a woodsman, a hunter, an entertaining and prolific writer, and an energetic self-promoter. Through talent and dogged...

Based on three seasons of field research in the Canadian Arctic, Christopher Norment's exquisitely crafted meditation on science and nature, wildness and civilization, is marked by bottomless prose, reflection on timeless questions, and keen observations of the world and our place in it. In an era increasingly marked by cutting-edge research at the cellular and molecular level, what is the role for scientists of sympathetic observation? What can patient...