'As rich, satisfying and revelatory as a long walk in the woods.' Peter Wohlleben, author of The Hidden Life of Trees What connects Robin Hood, the history of ink, fungi, Shakespeare and sorcery? In Oaklore, Jules Acton, an ambassador for The Woodland Trust, explores the incredibly diverse history of the ‘king of the woods’: from a source of food and shelter to its use in literature as a plot device and muse, its role as an essential ingredient in ink, and in mythology from across the British Isles as a sacred plant and precious resource. Acton’s infectious enthusiasm shines through in chapters that open with excerpts from oak-y poems, as well as tips for connecting with nature – like how to recognize bird songs and help moths and butterflies thrive. Meeting fellow oak-lovers along the way, and trees like Sherwood Forest’s Medusa Oak or the gargantuan Marton Oak in Cheshire, Acton plots an unforgettable journey through the tangled roots of the oak’s story, and that of Britain itself.
Collects all 6 issues, an epilogue and bonus content! In the Winter of 1152, the Guard face a food and supply shortage threatening the lives of many through a cold and icy season. Saxon, Kenzie, Lieam, and Sadie, led by Celanawe, traverse the snow-blanketed territories acting as diplomats to improve relations between the mouse cities and the Guard. This is a winter that not every Guard may survive! Collects the second Eisner-Award winnning series with an all-new epilogue and bonus content.
Collects all 6 Issues! The fearless Mouse Guard are dispatched to find a missing merchant. Their search reveals much more than they expect, as they stumble across a traitor in the Guard's own ranks. The volume collects the first Mouse Guard series. Features an Epilogue and special bonus material!
"A profound meditation on the human need for connection with nature, as one man seeks solace beneath the bows of an ancient oak tree."—Peter Wohlleben, author of The Hidden Life of Trees "James Canton knows so much, writes so well and understands so deeply about the true forest magic and the important place these trees have in it. Knowledge and joy."— Sara Maitland, author of How to Be Alone Joining the ranks of The Hidden Life of Trees and H is for Hawk, an evocative memoir and ode to one of the most majestic living things on earth—the oak tree—probing the mysteries of nature and the healing role it plays in our lives. Thrown into turmoil by the end of his long-term relationship, Professor James Canton spent two years meditating [PA1]beneath the welcoming shelter of the massive 800-year-old Honywood Oak tree in North Essex, England. While considering the direction of his own life, he began to contemplate the existence of this colossus tree. Standing in England for centuries, the oak would have been a sapling when the Magna Carta was signed in 1215. In this beautiful, transportive book, Canton tells the story of this tree in its ecological, spiritual, literary, and historical contexts, using it as a prism to see his own life and human history. The Oak Papers is a reflection on change and transformation, and the role nature has played in sustaining and redeeming us. Canton examines our long-standing dependency on the oak, and how that has developed and morphed into myth and legend. We no longer need these sturdy trees to build our houses and boats, to fuel our fires, or to grind their acorns into flour in times of famine. What purpose, then, do they serve in our world today? Are these miracles of nature no longer necessary to our lives? What can they offer us? Taking inspiration from the literary world—Henry David Thoreau, Leo Tolstoy, Katherine Basford’s Green Man, Thomas Hardy, William Shakespeare, and others—Canton ponders the wondrous magic of nature and the threats its faces, from human development to climate change, implores us to act as responsible stewards to conserve what is precious, and reminds us of the lessons we can learn from the world around us, if only we slow down enough to listen.
A single rose suggests the sublime interdependence of all life. A sudden storm points to the world’s unpredictability. A marble conjures the birth of the cosmos. How to Love the Universe shows us how everyday objects and events can reveal some of the deepest mysteries in all of science. In ten eye-opening chapters of lyrical prose, Stefan Klein contemplates time, space, dark matter, and more, encouraging us to fall in love with the universe the same way scientists do: The more we know about twenty-first-century physics, the more enchanting our world becomes. You won’t look at a rose the same way again.
