Take a look at the world's weirdest nature stories--from fire rainbows to ghost trees. These stories are too strange to be made up! Written with a high interest level to appeal to a more mature audience and a lower level of complexity with clear visuals to help struggling readers along. Considerate text includes tons of fascinating information and wild facts that will hold the readers' interest, allowing for successful mastery and comprehension. A table of contents, glossary with simplified pronunciations, and index all enhance comprehension.
The companion book to the six-part Discovery Channel series, Weird Nature is an astonishing exploration of nature's strangest behavior. The ingenuity of all kinds of animals is celebrated including the flying dragon or draco whose membrane wings resemble early designs for aircraft wings, spiny lobsters in Florida who form a "mass conga line" when moving to deeper waters and the Wallace tree frog whose large webbed hands and feet allow it to glide as far forward as it drops vertically. These animals and many more are featured in this revealing and often amusing look at nature. Chapters include: Fantastic feeding -- the many different ways nature finds food for fuel including worms that eat themselves. Devious defenses -- to avoid being eaten, animals have developed an array of defenses including porcupine fish that inflate into spiny balls and mantis shrimps with a punch that can knock a hole in glass. Marvelous motion -- ingenious ways of moving around including flattened snakes and flying fish. Extraordinary equipment -- tools for enhancing animal lives like the Mallee fowl that has a thermometer in its bill. Strange structures -- the bizarre assortment of animal created buildings like the palm leaf tents made by fruit bats and the Namib spider that builds a Stonehenge circle around its burrow. Weird and weirder -- social interactions including courtship and mating.
A New York Times Notable Book of 2020 A Bloomberg Best Non-Fiction Book of 2020 A Behavioral Scientist Notable Book of 2020 A Human Behavior & Evolution Society Must-Read Popular Evolution Book of 2020 A bold, epic account of how the co-evolution of psychology and culture created the peculiar Western mind that has profoundly shaped the modern world. Perhaps you are WEIRD: raised in a society that is Western, Educated, Industrialized, Rich, and Democratic. If so, you’re rather psychologically peculiar. Unlike much of the world today, and most people who have ever lived, WEIRD people are highly individualistic, self-obsessed, control-oriented, nonconformist, and analytical. They focus on themselves—their attributes, accomplishments, and aspirations—over their relationships and social roles. How did WEIRD populations become so psychologically distinct? What role did these psychological differences play in the industrial revolution and the global expansion of Europe during the last few centuries? In The WEIRDest People in the World, Joseph Henrich draws on cutting-edge research in anthropology, psychology, economics, and evolutionary biology to explore these questions and more. He illuminates the origins and evolution of family structures, marriage, and religion, and the profound impact these cultural transformations had on human psychology. Mapping these shifts through ancient history and late antiquity, Henrich reveals that the most fundamental institutions of kinship and marriage changed dramatically under pressure from the Roman Catholic Church. It was these changes that gave rise to the WEIRD psychology that would coevolve with impersonal markets, occupational specialization, and free competition—laying the foundation for the modern world. Provocative and engaging in both its broad scope and its surprising details, The WEIRDest People in the World explores how culture, institutions, and psychology shape one another, and explains what this means for both our most personal sense of who we are as individuals and also the large-scale social, political, and economic forces that drive human history. Includes black-and-white illustrations.
“Anyone who is not shocked by quantum theory has not understood it.” Since Niels Bohr said this many years ago, quantum mechanics has only been getting more shocking. We now realize that it’s not really telling us that “weird” things happen out of sight, on the tiniest level, in the atomic world: rather, everything is quantum. But if quantum mechanics is correct, what seems obvious and right in our everyday world is built on foundations that don’t seem obvious or right at all—or even possible. An exhilarating tour of the contemporary quantum landscape, Beyond Weird is a book about what quantum physics really means—and what it doesn’t. Science writer Philip Ball offers an up-to-date, accessible account of the quest to come to grips with the most fundamental theory of physical reality, and to explain how its counterintuitive principles underpin the world we experience. Over the past decade it has become clear that quantum physics is less a theory about particles and waves, uncertainty and fuzziness, than a theory about information and knowledge—about what can be known, and how we can know it. Discoveries and experiments over the past few decades have called into question the meanings and limits of space and time, cause and effect, and, ultimately, of knowledge itself. The quantum world Ball shows us isn’t a different world. It is our world, and if anything deserves to be called “weird,” it’s us.
Enjoy more than 100 extraordinary stories of unusual species, behaviors, and objects all told by author Ben Hoare. Why do Mexican jumping beans jump? How do sea cucumbers defend themselves? What causes the northern lights? This book is filled with facts about the most surprising and curious plants, animals, rocks, and phenomena in nature. Children aged 7-9 can read stories of more than one hundred unique animals, plants and phenomena and learn about the weird and wonderful side of the natural world. Weird and Wonderful Nature is the third installment of the DK Treasure’s series, exploring the many bizarre animals and plants that are uniquely adapted to their way of life. This fascinating nature book for kids offers: - Facts from a range of topics, from animals to plants and rocks to natural phenomena, that are guaranteed to wow adults and children alike. - Large photographs that show each species or item in incredible detail, with diagrams help to support understanding. - A gold foil cover and beautiful illustrations, making this book an ideal gift for young nature lovers. In Weird and Wonderful Nature, Ben Hoare’s friendly, informative explanations are paired with photographs and charming illustrations to make sure every page captivates the imagination, while a glossary and index help to navigate the chapters. The third title by best selling author Ben Hoare, after Nature’s Treasures and The Secret World of Plants, this is the ideal gift book series that will be treasured for years to come. More in the Series Weird and Wonderful Nature is part of DK’s Treasure’s series. Complete the series and inspire your child's curiosity in natural world with Nature’s Treasures, or bring out their inner botanist with The Secret World of Plants.
Explore the exotic plant life featured in the grow-it-yourself kits manufactured by DuneCraft. Full-page images to color and fascinating captions profile the moonflower, fly trap, money plant, and many others.
What could a male Jacksons chameleon need three horns for besides fighting? Actually, this odd-looking animal has horns to scare predators and attract females more than defense! Some animals bodies can lead readers to question the purpose of their weird features. This book has the answers theyre looking for! From how the echidna uses its spines to keep predators away to how the hornbill uses its large beak, the main content features some of natures most interesting bodies. Colorful, up-close photographs and concise fact boxes introduce readers to many kinds of animal habitats, behaviors, and life cycles.
From the very strange To The outright bizarre, The creatures featured in Weird Creatures will have readers squirming in their seats! Beware of the lizard that squirts blood from its eyeballs. How about a fly that attacks an ant's body and turns into a zombie? Watch out For The attack of the mighty slime mould... on the Edge is a brand new series of high-interest non-fiction books that will appeal to struggling or reluctant readers. With stunning pictures and clear, simple text, The narrative focuses on extraordinary real life stories to engage readers and keep them on the edge of their seats! Each book features a fun quiz to see if the reader could take the same challenges.
