Tells the complete natural history of the gray whale that is illustrated with over 80 colour photographs, including a number of underwater shots. Along with the details of the life history of the whale, this book covers man's exploitations of the whale, its comeback from the brink of extinction, and its current and future management issues.
In the first comprehensive history of Himalayan mountaineering in 50 years, the authors offer detailed, original accounts of the most significant climbs since the 1890s, and they compellingly evoke the social and cultural worlds that gave rise to those expeditions.
From Polyphemus to Papageno, a single figure demonstrates continuity in Greek, Celtic and European literature. The Wandering Giant illustrates a fundamental literary (and pre-literary) process whereby fictional material is passed down and adapted over the centuries. It offers original insights into major authors and works (including Chretien de Troyes, the Roman de la Rose, Fergus, Aucassin et Nicolette and Voltaire in French and Sir Gawain and the Green Knight in English, not to mention The Magic Flute) as well as adding a footnote to French history; and in doing so it demonstrates some of the links between Classical, Celtic and later European literatures.
As Solte and her companions venture deeper into the fiend realm, they discover wonders beyond comprehension, as well as horrors beyond imagination. As their encounters with magical beasts increase, Filo rises to the challenge of protecting the others, banking on his curse of immortality. But is it possible that in the fiend realm, the conditions for Filo to die may finally be met?
Ken Follett’s magnificent historical epic begins as five interrelated families move through the momentous dramas of the First World War, the Russian Revolution, and the struggle for women’s suffrage. A thirteen-year-old Welsh boy enters a man’s world in the mining pits. . . . An American law student rejected in love finds a surprising new career in Woodrow Wilson’s White House. . . . A housekeeper for the aristocratic Fitzherberts takes a fateful step above her station, while Lady Maud Fitzherbert herself crosses deep into forbidden territory when she falls in love with a German spy. . . . And two orphaned Russian brothers embark on radically different paths when their plan to emigrate to America falls afoul of war, conscription, and revolution. From the dirt and danger of a coal mine to the glittering chandeliers of a palace, from the corridors of power to the bedrooms of the mighty, Fall of Giants takes us into the inextricably entangled fates of five families—and into a century that we thought we knew, but that now will never seem the same again. . . .
A narrative of pioneer hardship and heroism on the boundless Dakota prairie, as a Norwegian-American immigrant family passed through Ellis Island and worked to eke out a living in America's midwest.
“A trilogy of remarkable scope and sophistication.”—Los Angeles Times Twice before Thomas Covenant had been summoned to the strange otherworld where magic worked. Twice before he had been forced to join with the Lords of Revelstone in their war against Lord Foul, the ancient enemy of the Land. Now he was back—to a Land ravaged by the armies of Lord Foul. The Lords were besieged and helpless. No place was safe, and Foul's victory seemed certain. Only Covenant could avert it. Desperately and without hope, he set out to confront the might of the Enemy. Along with him traveled a Giant, a Bloodguard, and the madwoman he had wronged. And in Foul's Creche, Lord Foul grew in power with each new defeat for the Land. . . .
Are we alone? Or is the universe teeming with intelligent life? Can we expect extraterrestrial civilizations to be common? Occasional? Rare? In this wide-ranging Assessment, historian/writer W. H. Collier explores the probabilities of the existence of extraterrestrial, technological life based on the latest scientific findings. Not content with the well-worn assertion that life must be common because there are so many stars and planets, Collier undertakes a thorough analysis of just what it would take for technological societies to arise on other planets. From quantifying the number of habitable planets, to examining the genesis and development of life on this planet, to grappling with the emergence of intelligence in our own species, Collier leaves no stone unturned. The number of scientific topics addressed may appear daunting, but the author’s non-technical style makes this work imminently readable. Though written for the lay reader, the findings in this Assessment may well open the eyes of many in the scientific community.