The art of experimental natural history
The art of experimental natural history

Author: Dana Jalobeanu

Publisher: Zeta Books

Published: 2015

Total Pages: 346

ISBN-13: 6068266923

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Francis Bacon introduced his contemporaries to a new way of investigating nature. He called it "natural and experimental history." Despite its rather traditional name, Bacon's natural and experimental history was a new discipline: it comprised new ideas, new practices and new models of collaborative research. This new discipline was, in many ways, a surprisingly successful project. It provided early modern naturalists with tools, methods and models for both investigating nature and writing about their subject. It also offered a set of norms and values for guiding research. And yet, this new discipline was not a science of nature -- it was more like an art. This book aims to trace the emergence, evolution and reception of Francis Bacon's art of experimental natural history.

The Art of Science
The Art of Science

Author: Richard Hamblyn

Publisher: Picador

Published: 2011-12-01

Total Pages: 644

ISBN-13: 174262975X

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What these extracts are, first and foremost, are stories of discovery. The Art of Science is not necessarily a book about great scientific theories, complicated equations, or grand old men (or women) in their laboratories; instead, it's about the places we draw our inspiration from; it's about daily routines and sudden flashes of insight; about dedication, and - sometimes - desperation; and the small moments, questions, quests, clashes, doubts and delights that make us human. From Galileo to Lewis Carroll, from Humphry Davy to Charles Darwin, from Marie Curie to Stephen Jay Gould, from rust to snowflakes, from the first use of the word "scientist" to the first computer, from why the sea is salty to Newtonian physics for women, The Art of Science is a book about people, rather than scientists per se, and as such, it's a book about politics, passion and poetry. Above all, it's a book about the good that science can - and does - do.

Natural History Illustration in Pen and Ink
Natural History Illustration in Pen and Ink

Author: Sarah Morrish

Publisher: The Crowood Press

Published: 2021-08-23

Total Pages: 554

ISBN-13: 1785009230

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This beautiful book combines the author's extensive ecological knowledge with art, and her passion for drawing with ink. It is packed with clear instruction and inspirational illustrations, and will be treasured by artists, illustrators, scientists and ecologists alike. Practical advice is given on using a range of materials and equipment for illustrating in pen and ink, as well as the collection and preservation of subject matter and reference material. Detailed instruction is given on how to create essential mark-making techniques that will enhance your illustrations through accurate depiction of shape, form, texture and pattern, and in the principles and elements of design. Subject-themed chapters include plants, strandline and marine specimens, fossils, invertebrates, and mammals. There are step-by-step exercises suitable for all skill levels, and case studies describing working practice as a professional illustrator.

Amazing Rare Things
Amazing Rare Things

Author: David Attenborough

Publisher: Kales Press

Published: 2009

Total Pages: 228

ISBN-13: 9780979845628

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Filmmaker Attenborough provides an introductory survey of the artistic representation of plants and animals through human history, beginning with Leonardo da Vinci's drawings and continuing on through the mid-1700s.

The Science of Describing
The Science of Describing

Author: Brian W. Ogilvie

Publisher: University of Chicago Press

Published: 2008-09-15

Total Pages: 402

ISBN-13: 0226620867

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Out of the diverse traditions of medical humanism, classical philology, and natural philosophy, Renaissance naturalists created a new science devoted to discovering and describing plants and animals. Drawing on published natural histories, manuscript correspondence, garden plans, travelogues, watercolors, and drawings, The Science of Describing reconstructs the evolution of this discipline of description through four generations of naturalists. In the late fifteenth and early sixteenth centuries, naturalists focused on understanding ancient and medieval descriptions of the natural world, but by the mid-sixteenth century naturalists turned toward distinguishing and cataloguing new plant and animal species. To do so, they developed new techniques of observing and recording, created botanical gardens and herbaria, and exchanged correspondence and specimens within an international community. By the early seventeenth century, naturalists began the daunting task of sorting through the wealth of information they had accumulated, putting a new emphasis on taxonomy and classification. Illustrated with woodcuts, engravings, and photographs, The Science of Describing is the first broad interpretation of Renaissance natural history in more than a generation and will appeal widely to an interdisciplinary audience.

A Natural History of Dragons
A Natural History of Dragons

Author: Marie Brennan

Publisher: Macmillan

Published: 2013-02-05

Total Pages: 336

ISBN-13: 1429956313

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Marie Brennan begins a thrilling new fantasy series in A Natural History of Dragons, combining adventure with the inquisitive spirit of the Victorian Age. You, dear reader, continue at your own risk. It is not for the faint of heart—no more so than the study of dragons itself. But such study offers rewards beyond compare: to stand in a dragon's presence, even for the briefest of moments—even at the risk of one's life—is a delight that, once experienced, can never be forgotten. . . . All the world, from Scirland to the farthest reaches of Eriga, know Isabella, Lady Trent, to be the world's preeminent dragon naturalist. She is the remarkable woman who brought the study of dragons out of the misty shadows of myth and misunderstanding into the clear light of modern science. But before she became the illustrious figure we know today, there was a bookish young woman whose passion for learning, natural history, and, yes, dragons defied the stifling conventions of her day. Here at last, in her own words, is the true story of a pioneering spirit who risked her reputation, her prospects, and her fragile flesh and bone to satisfy her scientific curiosity; of how she sought true love and happiness despite her lamentable eccentricities; and of her thrilling expedition to the perilous mountains of Vystrana, where she made the first of many historic discoveries that would change the world forever. "Saturated with the joy and urgency of discovery and scientific curiosity."—Publishers Weekly (starred review) on A Natural History of Dragons An NPR Best Book of 2013 The Lady Trent Memoirs 1. A Natural History of Dragons 2. The Tropic of Serpents 3. Voyage of the Basilisk 4. In the Labyrinth of Drakes 5. Within the Sanctuary of Wings At the Publisher's request, this title is being sold without Digital Rights Management Software (DRM) applied.

William D. Berry
William D. Berry

Author: William D. Berry

Publisher:

Published: 1989

Total Pages: 230

ISBN-13: 9780912006345

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This book offers a unique glimpse of Alaska and its creatures, rendered on paper by a man who loved and respected them. William D. Berry was nationally known as a wildlife artist, but to many Alaskans, he was also a kind of state treasure and certainly a natural resource. Berry's clear vision, conveyed with his disciplined skills, captured Alaska's creatures and their habitats in works that are both scientifically accurate and artistically compelling. From his childhood in the southwestern desert to the closing days of his life in the taiga forest of Alaska, Berry was absorbed by the diversity of living creatures with which he shared the world. Years of observation gave him a singular capability to perceive animals; years of study gave him an equally singular ability to convey them to observers through an array of artists' media. Fox cubs or caribou, his animals are what you might see--if you had his patience or powers of observation. Each fully rendered creature has its own character, presented with respect for its individuality as well as accuracy for its individuality as well as accuracy for its species characteristics. It is a privilege for the University of Alaska to bring this sampler of Bill Berry's private efforts from the 1950s before a wider audience. The book is grouped into four sections: Denali Park, color sketches, Point Hope, and around and about Alaska. Within each, the animals are in taxonomic order, the way Berry arranged and filed them. Berry's friend, zoologist William O Pruitt, once observed that this artist's field sketches were the equivalent of the scientist's field notes. Perhaps it is that honesty that makes his work a challenge to other artists who wish to capture the essence of animals and captivate viewers. It is surely one of the reasons that his sketches continue to please all who cherish wilderness.