The Natural History of Raleigh
Author: John Dancy-Jones
Publisher:
Published: 2018-11-15
Total Pages: 80
ISBN-13: 9780929170176
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A Natural History of the Future
Author: Rob Dunn
Publisher: Hachette UK
Published: 2022-01-20
Total Pages: 298
ISBN-13: 1399800159
DOWNLOAD EBOOKOver the past century, our species has made unprecedented technological innovations with which we have sought to control nature. In A Natural History of the Future, biologist Rob Dunn argues that such efforts are futile. We may see ourselves as life's overlords, but we are instead at its mercy. In the evolution of antibiotic resistance, the power of natural selection to create biodiversity, and even the surprising life of the London Underground, Dunn finds laws of life that no human activity can annul. When we create artificial islands of crops, dump toxic waste, or build communities, we provide new materials for old laws to shape. Life's future flourishing is not in question. Ours is. A Natural History of the Future sets a new standard for understanding the diversity and destiny of life itself.
The Bee
Author: Noah Wilson-Rich
Publisher: Princeton University Press
Published: 2018-07-24
Total Pages: 224
ISBN-13: 0691182477
DOWNLOAD EBOOKAn incomparable illustrated look at the critical role bees play in the life of our planet Bees pollinate more than 130 fruit, vegetable, and seed crops that we rely on to survive. Bees are also crucial to the reproduction and diversity of flowering plants, and the economic contributions of these irreplaceable insects measure in the tens of billions of dollars each year. Yet bees are dying at an alarming rate, threatening food supplies and ecosystems around the world. In this richly illustrated natural history of the bee, which includes more than 250 color photographs and illustrations, Noah Wilson-Rich and his team of bee experts provide a window into the vitally important role that bees play in the life of our planet. Earth is home to more than 20,000 bee species, from fluorescent-colored orchid bees and sweat bees to flower-nesting squash bees and leaf-cutter bees. This book provides an unmatched account of this astounding diversity, blending an engaging narrative with practical, hands-on discussions of such topics as beekeeping and bee health. It explores our relationship with the bee over evolutionary time, examining how it originated and where it stands today—and what the future holds for humanity and bees alike. Provides an accessible, richly illustrated look at the human–bee relationship over time Features a section on beekeeping and handy guides to identifying, treating, and preventing honey bee diseases Covers bee evolution, ecology, genetics, and physiology Includes a directory of notable bee s Presents a holistic approach to bee health, including organic and integrated pest management techniques Shows how you can help bee populations
Durham County
Author: Jean Bradley Anderson
Publisher: Duke University Press
Published: 2011-05-09
Total Pages: 664
ISBN-13: 0822349833
DOWNLOAD EBOOKThis sweeping history of Durham County, North Carolina, extends from the seventeenth century to the end of the twentieth.
The Nature of North Carolina's Southern Coast
Author: Dirk Frankenberg
Publisher: UNC Press Books
Published: 1997
Total Pages: 280
ISBN-13: 9780807846551
DOWNLOAD EBOOKWith The Nature of North Carolina's Southern Coast, Dirk Frankenberg's effort to provide a comprehensive field guide to the state's dynamic shoreline is complete. Picking up where his 1995 book The Nature of the Outer Banks left off, this bo
The Natural Gardens of North Carolina
Author: B. W. Wells
Publisher: UNC Press Books
Published: 2015-12-01
Total Pages: 1307
ISBN-13: 146962592X
DOWNLOAD EBOOKFor seventy years, The Natural Gardens of North Carolina has been a must-read volume for anyone interested in wildflowers, native plants, ecology, or conservation in the state. This handsome revised edition features new line drawings and color photographs, an appendix that updates the botanical nomenclature, an introduction that focuses on B. W. Wells and his passion for the state's landscape, and an afterword that discusses the continuing relevance of Wells's ideas. One of the first scientists to write and lecture about ecology, Wells introduced North Carolinians to the extraordinary tapestry of "natural gardens," or plant communities, within the state's borders back in 1932. His purpose was to help readers understand a plant within its community--a pioneering concept at the time--and to promote conservation. Moving from the Atlantic coast westward, Wells identifies eleven major natural gardens: the sand dune community, salt marsh, freshwater marsh, swamp forest, aquatic vegetation, evergreen shrub bog (or pocosin), grass-sedge bog (or savanna), sandhill, old-field community, upland forest, and high mountain spruce-fir forest. He devotes the first part of his book to a general account of the vegetation and habitats of each community and then identifies and describes the wildflowers found there.
A Delicious Country
Author: Scott Huler
Publisher: UNC Press Books
Published: 2019-02-05
Total Pages: 262
ISBN-13: 1469648296
DOWNLOAD EBOOKIn 1700, a young man named John Lawson left London and landed in Charleston, South Carolina, hoping to make a name for himself. For reasons unknown, he soon undertook a two-month journey through the still-mysterious Carolina backcountry. His travels yielded A New Voyage to Carolina in 1709, one of the most significant early American travel narratives, rich with observations about the region's environment and Indigenous people. Lawson later helped found North Carolina's first two cities, Bath and New Bern; became the colonial surveyor general; contributed specimens to what is now the British Museum; and was killed as the first casualty of the Tuscarora War. Yet despite his great contributions and remarkable history, Lawson is little remembered, even in the Carolinas he documented. In 2014, Scott Huler made a surprising decision: to leave home and family for his own journey by foot and canoe, faithfully retracing Lawson's route through the Carolinas. This is the chronicle of that unlikely voyage, revealing what it's like to rediscover your own home. Combining a traveler's curiosity, a naturalist's keen observation, and a writer's wit, Huler draws our attention to people and places we might pass regularly but never really see. What he finds are surprising parallels between Lawson's time and our own, with the locals and their world poised along a knife-edge of change between a past they can't forget and a future they can't quite envision.
Rescuing the Planet
Author: Tony Hiss
Publisher: Knopf
Published: 2021-03-30
Total Pages: 322
ISBN-13: 0525654828
DOWNLOAD EBOOKAn urgent, resounding call to protect 50 percent of the earth's land by 2050—thereby saving millions of its species—and a candid assessment of the health of our planet and our role in conserving it, from the award-winning author of The Experience of Place and veteran New Yorker staff writer. "An upbeat and engaging account of the remarkable progress being made to preserve vast wild spaces for animals to roam." —The Wall Street Journal Beginning in the vast North American Boreal Forest that stretches through Canada, and roving across the continent, from the Northern Sierra to Alabama's Paint Rock Forest, from the Appalachian Trail to a ranch in Mexico, Tony Hiss sets out on a journey to take stock of the "superorganism" that is the earth: its land, its elements, its plants and animals, its greatest threats--and what we can do to keep it, and ourselves, alive. Hiss not only invites us to understand the scope and gravity of the problems we face, but also makes the case for why protecting half the land is the way to fix those problems. He highlights the important work of the many groups already involved in this fight, such as the Indigenous Leadership Initiative, the Yellowstone to Yukon Conservation Initiative, and the global animal tracking project ICARUS. And he introduces us to the engineers, geologists, biologists, botanists, oceanographers, ecologists, and other "Half Earthers" like Hiss himself who are allied in their dedication to the unifying, essential cause of saving our own planet from ourselves. Tender, impassioned, curious, and above all else inspiring, Rescuing the Planet is a work that promises to make all of us better citizens of the earth.
Bess
Author: Anna R. Beer
Publisher:
Published: 2004
Total Pages: 322
ISBN-13:
DOWNLOAD EBOOKFrom the start of her liaison with Sir Walter Ralegh, Beth Throckmorton, maid of honour to Queen Elizabeth I, was thrown into the dangerous and violent political world of Elizabethan England. Overlooked by the court and high society, dismissed with no rights as a woman in a fiercely male establishment, she was yet forced to play for high stakes. Her acute intelligence and commercial acumen ensured her survival. Indeed, so great was her success that two monarchs, Elizabeth I and her successor James I, felt threatened by her and sought to destroy her. But her success in her pursuit of power and wealth, in her struggle for justice and to create a future for herself and her children did not come without its price: her own imprisonment and interrogation, banishment and destitution; the loss of her husband and two of her three children. Her ultimate triumph over adversity is an extraordinarily dramatic and compelling story, till now untold. As the wife of Sir Walter Ralegh, the Elizabethan adventurer and scholar, Bess Ralegh was to become the driving force behind his spectacular public achievements and the focus of stability in his otherwise turbulent private life. Later, as his widow, she shrewdly ensured his heroic reputation. But Bess Ralegh was more than a foil for her husband. Her independence of spirit had led her to resist marriage at 17 and eight years later to embark upon the passionate and illicit affair with Ralegh. Her remarkable emotional strength and resilience sustained her throughout successive personal tragedies and political disasters that could and did break others, her husband among them. Each time misfortune struck, she rallied. Twice from scratch, she rebuilt her fortune, taking on her enemies with a courage and resilience that make her a woman as remarkable today as she was in her own time. She is here brought brilliantly to life by Anna Beer in a perceptive and immensely enjoyable biography.
A Different Mirror
Author: Ronald Takaki
Publisher: eBookIt.com
Published: 2012-06-05
Total Pages: 787
ISBN-13: 1456611062
DOWNLOAD EBOOKTakaki traces the economic and political history of Indians, African Americans, Mexicans, Japanese, Chinese, Irish, and Jewish people in America, with considerable attention given to instances and consequences of racism. The narrative is laced with short quotations, cameos of personal experiences, and excerpts from folk music and literature. Well-known occurrences, such as the Triangle Shirtwaist Factory Fire, the Trail of Tears, the Harlem Renaissance, and the Japanese internment are included. Students may be surprised by some of the revelations, but will recognize a constant thread of rampant racism. The author concludes with a summary of today's changing economic climate and offers Rodney King's challenge to all of us to try to get along. Readers will find this overview to be an accessible, cogent jumping-off place for American history and political science plus a guide to the myriad other sources identified in the notes.
