Having discovered a monstrous conspiracy to overthrow the pharaoh, Ramses the Great, Judge Pazair has been deported for a crime he did not commit and sentenced to die in a prison camp. But the conspirators have reckoned without the love of Neferet, the young woman doctor Pazair has just married, and the courage of Suti, his friend with the hot head and the generous heart. Together, Neferet and Suti attempt to rescue Pazair so that he can resume his investigation. For there are many questions yet to be answered. Who murdered the veteran guards of the Great Sphinx? Who violated the Great Pyramid and stole the Testament of the Gods, which guarantees Pharaoh's legitimacy? Who killed Pazair's spiritual master?
This action packed drama is set in the harsh desert of ancient Egypt. Her brother Jonas is missing! The unexpected news sends Egyptologist Anina Shapiro on a journey into the desert and to historical sites. Connor O’Hearn, Jonas’s best friend accompanies her. He is in love with her and hopes that this trip will bring her closer to him. Anina is unaware of this. To her, he is just her brother’s friend. By coincidence Anina meets the mysterious Bedouin, Shekhar Fahir. He takes over the search when Connor is unable to continue. During their troublesome journey, a deep bond between Shekhar and Anina develops. But when the search ends, Shekhar realises that his tradition and culture would not allow a future for them. Will Connor make Anina his bride or is fate going to play another hand?
Desertwalk is an odyssey into that unusual world of cactus and creosote, of intense heat and vast space. It is stories of exploring desert trails, experiencing elusive wildlife and learning to appreciate the spirit and temper of that stark, mysterious and hauntingly beautiful land where rains are seldom and winds sweep the sands. Over 100 delicate and realistic watercolor paintings by the author illustrate the chapters and contribute to the inspirational tone of desert understanding.
In pre-1990s Las Vegas, casino marketing executives were all cut from the same cloth; sharply-dressed and smooth-talking with street-savvy. They rose through the ranks of operations -- dealer, floor-man, pit boss, shift boss and casino manager. When it was time to leave the trenches, they went "upstairs" into the executive offices, where they hosted a handful of established players according to the unwritten rules of old-school Vegas. Then Steve Cyr showed up.
Naturalist Craig Childs's "utterly memorable and fantastic" study of the desert's dangerous beauty is based on years of adventures in the deserts of the American West (Washington Post). Like the highest mountain peaks, deserts are environments that can be inhospitable even to the most seasoned explorers. Craig Childs, who has spent years in the deserts of the American West as an adventurer, a river guide, and a field instructor in natural history, has developed a keen appreciation for these forbidding landscapes: their beauty, their wonder, and especially their paradoxes. His extraordinary treks through arid lands in search of water are an astonishing revelation of the natural world at its most extreme. "Utterly memorable and fantastic...Certainly no reader will ever see the desert in the same way again." —Suzannah Lessard, Washington Post
In the darkness of the star-studded desert, bats and moths feed on the nectar of night-blooming cactus flowers. By day, birds and bees do the same, taking to blooms for their sweet sustenance. In return these special creatures pollinate the equally intriguing plants in an ecological circle of sustainability. The Sonoran Desert is the most biologically diverse desert in the world. Four species of columnar cacti, including the iconic saguaro and organ pipe, are among its most conspicuous plants. No Species Is an Island describes Theodore H. Fleming’s eleven-year study of the pollination biology of these species at a site he named Tortilla Flats in Sonora, Mexico, near Kino Bay. Now Fleming shares the surprising results of his intriguing work. Among the novel findings are one of the world’s rarest plant-breeding systems in a giant cactus; the ability of the organ pipe cactus to produce fruit with another species’ pollen; the highly specialized moth-cactus pollination system of the senita cactus; and the amazing lifestyle of the lesser long-nosed bat, the major nocturnal pollinator of three of these species. These discoveries serve as a primer on how to conduct ecological research, and they offer important conservation lessons for us all. Fleming highlights the preciousness of the ecological web of our planet—Tortilla Flats is a place where cacti and migratory bats and birds connect such far-flung habitats as Mexico’s tropical dry forest, the Sonoran Desert, and the temperate rain forests of southeastern Alaska. Fleming offers an insightful look at how field ecologists work and at the often big surprises that come from looking carefully at a natural world where no species stands alone.
"The book tells the story of how an upstart planetary laboratory in Tucson, the Lunar and Planetary Laboratory (LPL), would help create the field of planetary science, breaking free from traditional astronomical techniques to embrace a wide range of disciplines necessary to study planets"--Provided by publisher.
When a Chinese monk broke into a hidden cave in 1900, he uncovered one of the world’s great literary secrets: a time capsule from the ancient Silk Road. Inside, scrolls were piled from floor to ceiling, undisturbed for a thousand years. The gem within was the Diamond Sutra of AD 868. This key Buddhist teaching, made 500 years before Gutenberg inked his press, is the world’s oldest printed book. The Silk Road once linked China with the Mediterranean. It conveyed merchants, pilgrims and ideas. But its cultures and oases were swallowed by shifting sands. Central to the Silk Road’s rediscovery was a man named Aurel Stein, a Hungarian-born scholar and archaeologist employed by the British service. Undaunted by the vast Gobi Desert, Stein crossed thousands of desolate miles with his fox terrier Dash. Stein met the Chinese monk and secured the Diamond Sutra and much more. The scroll’s journey—by camel through arid desert, by boat to London’s curious scholars, by train to evade the bombs of World War II—merges an explorer’s adventures, political intrigue, and continued controversy. The Diamond Sutra has inspired Jack Kerouac and the Dalai Lama. Its journey has coincided with the growing appeal of Buddhism in the West. As the Gutenberg Age cedes to the Google Age, the survival of the Silk Road’s greatest treasure is testament to the endurance of the written word.
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