Bamboo’s amazing versatility, strength, and beauty have given it a larger role in human culture than any other plant. Both sustainable and plentiful, it has been used for millennia to make objects ranging from clothing and housing to more exotic luxuries like phonograph needles and children’s toys, to name but a few. This acclaimed sourcebook--part history, part illustrated catalog, part cultivation guide--details the myriad uses of bamboo, along with an immense bounty of information and lore on how to grow, maintain, and harvest this extraordinary plant; how to use it in craft and construction projects, including floors, fences, papers, and play equipment; and bamboo’s place in the literary, visual, and musical arts. An encyclopedic roster of more than 1,200 bamboo species is a book in itself, as is author David Farrelly’s A-to-Z catalog of artifacts made from bamboo: acupuncture needles, blowguns, bridges, kites, ships, violins, windmills, and a thousand other things. Strong, flexible, and beautiful in both its natural and finished states, bamboo is an abundant resource that could beneficially replace many less sustainable materials currently in use, and continue to transform our culture in the process.
Two Burmese boys, one a Karenni refugee and the other the son of an imprisoned Burmese doctor, meet in the jungle and in order to survive they must learn to trust each other.
Whatever your climate, there is a suitable species of bamboo for your garden. More than 300 bamboos are described, from tropical and subtropical species to hardy species with information on size, native range, and landscape use.
Winner of the International Prize for Arabic Fiction Josephine escapes poverty by coming to Kuwait from the Philippines to work as a maid, where she meets Rashid, an idealistic only son with literary aspirations. Josephine, with all the wide-eyed naivety of youth, believes she has found true love. But when she becomes pregnant, and with the rumble of war growing ever louder, Rashid bows to family and social pressure, and sends her back home with her baby son, José. Brought up struggling with his dual identity, José clings to the hope of returning to his father's country when he is eighteen. He is ill-prepared to plunge headfirst into a world where the fear of tyrants and dictators is nothing compared to the fear of 'what will people say'. And with a Filipino face, a Kuwaiti passport, an Arab surname and a Christian first name, will his father's country welcome him? The Bamboo Stalk takes an unflinching look at the lives of foreign workers in Arab countries and confronts the universal problems of identity, race and religion.
One kingdom. Three worlds. An all-new series packed with high-stakes adventures from bestselling Warriors author Erin Hunter, perfect for fans of Wings of Fire and Endling. The pandas of the Bamboo Kingdom have never forgotten the great flood that ended the peaceful life they’d always known. But for three young creatures born that day, the flood marks not an end, but a beginning—the beginning of their struggles to find a place in very different worlds. Leaf, raised in the sparse Northern Forest, works tirelessly to help her family find bamboo to eat; Rain, hot-tempered, refuses to accept a suspicious new leader in her Southern Forest community; and Ghost, clumsy and uncoordinated, worries he’ll never fit in with his hunter family in the mountains. None of them know that the others are out there, but thanks to a mysterious tiger that’s been threatening the Kingdom, they will soon find each other—and fulfill a prophecy that had been made long before they were born. This first book of a thrilling new animal adventure series from Erin Hunter is sure to enthrall readers of her other bestselling series. Fans will love having a new universe to immerse themselves in!
A hilarious crime thriller by Anthony Bourdain, the New York Times bestselling author of Kitchen Confidential and host of Parts Unknown on CNN. CIA-trained assassin Henry Denard is looking for the good life when he retires with his wife, Frances, to the Caribbean. He may have botched his last job a little--allowed Donnie Wicks, the guy Jimmy Pazz hired him to kill, to escape with his life--but Henry and Frances are determined to take it easy. That is until Donnie agrees to testify against Jimmy Pazz, and gets relocated by the Federal Witness Protection Program to Saint Martin as well. Now Jimmy Pazz is after both men--the mobster, and the man who was supposed to kill him--and things in Henry's paradise are about to get a lot more complicated. Written in Anthony Bourdain's signature style-raucous, funny, a bit vicious, and always fun-Gone Bamboo is a feast of murder, hitmen, and the hitwomen they love.
Bamboo is an ordinary plant with extraordinary properties. With its high growth rate and self-renewing ability, bamboo’s sustainability is unparalleled. Bamboo is an important resource for a healthy planet, and its shoots hold manifold nutritional benefits. Based on 18 years of research, Bamboo Shoot: Superfood for Nutrition, Health and Medicine details health-promoting bioactive compounds found in bamboo and offers practical guidance on how this vegetable, bamboo shoot, is used for food fortification. Already a delicacy in many Asian countries, bamboo shoots aid in the prevention of cardiovascular disease, cancer, diabetes, hypertension and obesity. Exploring the tradition and culture of bamboo in Asian countries, this book also provides information on the science behind the nutritional value of bamboo shoots. Written by individuals with expertise in bamboo shoot nutrition and fully illustrated in colour, this book reveals the antioxidant activity of bamboo shoots and discusses the potential for bamboo to be used as an ingredient in functional foods and nutraceuticals. This highly practical book discusses processing and packaging of shoots for long term storage and using bamboo in the development of novel food products. Features: Elucidates the nutrients and phytochemicals in over 30 bamboo species and includes a glossary of scientific names Highlights the nutraceutical and antioxidant properties of bamboo Describes novel healthy food products fortified with bamboo shoots and provides food recipes using bamboo Explains how bamboo can help countries achieve their sustainable development goals, from poverty reduction, food security, improved nutrition and prevention of diseases to climate change mitigation and inclusive green economic development Aimed at professionals in the nutrition and food processing industry, this book appeals to those with an interest in incorporating bamboo into a healthier lifestyle. Endorsements This is a unique book interestingly crafted to highlight the important nutritional, health and medicinal aspects of Bamboo, an area that is greatly underexplored. It will bring awareness that bamboo shoots are a low calorie, high fibre nutritious vegetable packed with vitamins and minerals. - Prof. Cherla Sastry, Founding Director General INBAR and Adjunct Professor, University of Toronto, Canada This book brings a series of answers to all questions related to bamboo as a superfood [and will] enlighten readers how to transform bamboo shoots using either traditional or modern techniques, how to package them and how to use them as a functional and nutraceutical food. It also provides a series of cooking recipes for healthy eating while we enjoy our food. - Ximena Londoño, Founder, A Bamboo and Guadua Paradise, Colombia
"'Each year during the shoot season, we stand spellbound in our beautiful botanical garden, gazing in awe at the newly emerging shoots of tropical giant bamboos. They thrust the earth aside in great clods as they heave their mighty bulk from beneath the earth.'" The object of this book is to communicate a wealth of knowledge, both scientific and practical, to those with little knowledge of the fabulous clumping bamboos of the world. Few people seem to be aware of the existence of these clumping bamboos. Their experience and attitudes have been soured by the invasive running bamboos. The Western world is not yet taking clumping bamboos seriously. Most Asian countries treat this fastest growing, annually renewable resource with great reverence. Bamboo feeds them, houses them, graces and shades their environment. It is used to make their musical instruments, cooking and eating utensils, furniture, hunting weapons, and ceremonial artifacts. It even provides the reinforcement for their concrete. Bamboo provides their carrying and storage baskets, lamps and lampshades, ropes and strings, roof tiles and hats, and has hundreds of other practical and spiritual uses. "Bamboo World" distils simple practical advice on using bamboo for a wealth of applications. It draws on both traditional village technology and modern scientific research, accumulated over the author's many years of travel, practice, research, growing, and association with village communities and scientists from many countries.
A natural and cultural history of this important and useful plant. We may think of bamboo only as a snack for cuddly panda bears, but we use the plant as food, clothing, paper, fabric, and shelter. Drawing on a vast array of sources, this book builds a complete picture of bamboo in both history and our modern world. Susanne Lucas shows how bamboo has always met the physical and spiritual requirements of humanity while at the same time being exploited by people everywhere. Lucas describes how bamboo’s special characteristics, such as its ability to grow quickly and thus be an easily replaced resource, offers potential solutions to modern ecological dilemmas. She explores the vital role bamboo plays in the survival of many animals and ecosystems, as well as its use for some of the earliest books ever written, as the framework for houses, and for musical instruments. As modern research and technologies advance, she explains, bamboo use has increased dramatically—it can now be found in the filaments of light bulbs, airplanes, the reinforcements of concrete, and even bicycles. Filled with illustrations, Bamboo is an interesting new take on a plant that is both very old and very new.
