A Bedside Nature

A Bedside Nature

Author: Walter Bruno Gratzer

Publisher: St. Martin's Press

Published: 1999

Total Pages: 266

ISBN-13: 9780716736509

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This volume offers a chronologically arranged smorgasbord of brief, annotated excerpts from "Nature" magazine's Victorian-era beginnings to the revolutionary publication of a study on DNA in 1953.


Never Home Alone

Never Home Alone

Author: Rob Dunn

Publisher: Basic Books

Published: 2018-11-06

Total Pages: 343

ISBN-13: 154164574X

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A natural history of the wilderness in our homes, from the microbes in our showers to the crickets in our basements Even when the floors are sparkling clean and the house seems silent, our domestic domain is wild beyond imagination. In Never Home Alone, biologist Rob Dunn introduces us to the nearly 200,000 species living with us in our own homes, from the Egyptian meal moths in our cupboards and camel crickets in our basements to the lactobacillus lounging on our kitchen counters. You are not alone. Yet, as we obsess over sterilizing our homes and separating our spaces from nature, we are unwittingly cultivating an entirely new playground for evolution. These changes are reshaping the organisms that live with us -- prompting some to become more dangerous, while undermining those species that benefit our bodies or help us keep more threatening organisms at bay. No one who reads this engrossing, revelatory book will look at their homes in the same way again.


The Natural Sleeper

The Natural Sleeper

Author: Julie Wright

Publisher: Simon and Schuster

Published: 2021-03-09

Total Pages: 192

ISBN-13: 1982160691

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A comprehensive guide to natural and easy-to-access remedies for insomnia and poor sleep hygiene that will help you finally achieve a good night’s rest. In our restless, modern world, where many of us feel overtired and under pressure, having a routine sleeping schedule is more important now than ever. A restful night is crucial to mental and physical health and general wellbeing, yet so often sleep seems to be left out of our self-care routines, leaving us groggy and tired. Fortunately, The Natural Sleeper is here to get you and your body back in sync. Combining self-help approaches and relaxation methods, The Natural Sleeper offers a comprehensive collection of therapeutic solutions to help you sleep better using natural remedies. This practical guide takes you through everything from the impacts that sleep deprivation has on the mind and body, to various techniques and practices, both traditional and contemporary, for a better night’s sleep, including; - Herbal Remedies - Acupressure - Sound Therapy - Essential Oils - Breath Work - Moon Milk - and more! Take charge, commit to change, and embark on an explorative journey to sleeping through the night with these soothing solutions designed to keep you healthy and improve your sleep rituals. The Natural Sleeper is your one-stop guide to feeling well-rested and rejuvenated so you can make the most out of each day.


A Tree a Day

A Tree a Day

Author: Amy-Jane Beer

Publisher: Chronicle Books

Published: 2022-04-05

Total Pages: 369

ISBN-13: 1797217259

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Immerse yourself in the beauty and power of nature with a different tree for every day of the year. Spend every day of the year with one of the world's most fascinating trees. In A Tree a Day seasoned nature writer and journalist Amy-Jane Beer shares 365 majestic and memorable trees from around the world. From the strength of Alder trees to the biology behind the autumn colors of New England; from folkloric medicines in tree sap to Shakespeare's Birnam Wood; from the giant sequoias of California to Klimt's Birch trees—A Tree a Day explores the botany, poetry, folklore, rich history, and natural beauty of trees. Dip in and out or spend each day exploring a new natural wonder. With award-winning photography, works of art, and detailed illustrations on every page, A Tree a Day illuminates the timeless splendor and power of the world's trees. GORGEOUS ILLUSTRATIONS: Each tree is illustrated with a unique work of art—from classical painting to breathtaking photographs. MEDITATIVE START TO EACH DAY: A Tree a Day is a beautiful reminder to pause each day and appreciate the natural world—no matter where you are. Each of the 365 entries offers a seasonal quote, fact, or story about trees to inspire gratitude and wonder. EVERGREEN: Nature lovers will return to this book day after day, year after year—it makes for the perfect bite-sized, bedside reading. AUTHOR EXPERTISE: In addition to being a nature writer for The Guardian, Amy Jane-Beer has written more than 30 books about science and natural history. Perfect for: Tree and Nature Enthusiasts; Gardeners; Hikers, Backpackers, and Campers; Environmentalist; Fans of A Cloud a Day


A Philosophy of Technology

A Philosophy of Technology

Author: Pieter E. Vermaas

Publisher: Morgan & Claypool Publishers

Published: 2011

Total Pages: 135

ISBN-13: 160845598X

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In A Philosophy of Technology: From Technical Artefacts to Sociotechnical Systems, technology is analysed from a series of different perspectives. The analysis starts by focussing on the most tangible products of technology, called technical artefacts, and then builds step-wise towards considering those artefacts within their context of use, and ultimately as embedded in encompassing sociotechnical systems that also include humans as operators and social rules like legislation. Philosophical characterisations are given of technical artefacts, their context of use and of sociotechnical systems. Analyses are presented of how technical artefacts are designed in engineering and what types of technological knowledge is involved in engineering. And the issue is considered how engineers and others can or cannot influence the development of technology. These characterisations are complemented by ethical analyses of the moral status of technical artefacts and the possibilities and impossibilities for engineers to influence this status when designing artefacts and the sociotechnical systems in which artefacts are embedded. The running example in the book is aviation, where aeroplanes are examples of technical artefacts and the world aviation system is an example of a sociotechnical system. Issues related to the design of quiet aeroplane engines and the causes of aviation accidents are analysed for illustrating the moral status of designing, and the role of engineers therein. Table of Contents: Technical Artefacts / Technical Designing / Ethics and Designing / Technological Knowledge / Sociotechnical Systems / The Role of Social Factors in Technological Development / Ethics and Unintended Consequences of Technology


Aristotle's Physics and Its Medieval Varieties

Aristotle's Physics and Its Medieval Varieties

Author: Helen S. Lang

Publisher: SUNY Press

Published: 1992-01-01

Total Pages: 336

ISBN-13: 9780791410837

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This book considers the concepts that lay at the heart of natural philosophy and physics from the time of Aristotle until the fourteenth century. The first part presents Aristotelian ideas and the second part presents the interpretation of these ideas by Philoponus, Albertus Magnus, Thomas Aquinas, John Buridan, and Duns Scotus. Across the eight chapters, the problems and texts from Aristotle that set the stage for European natural philosophy as it was practiced from the thirteenth to the seventeenth centuries are considered first as they appear in Aristotle and then as they are reconsidered in the context of later interests. The study concludes with an anticipation of Newton and the sense in which Aristotle's physics had been transformed.


Nature Speaks

Nature Speaks

Author: Kellie Robertson

Publisher: University of Pennsylvania Press

Published: 2017-01-25

Total Pages: 454

ISBN-13: 0812293673

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What does it mean to speak for nature? Contemporary environmental critics warn that giving a voice to nonhuman nature reduces it to a mere echo of our own needs and desires; they caution that it is a perverse form of anthropocentrism. And yet nature's voice proved a powerful and durable ethical tool for premodern writers, many of whom used it to explore what it meant to be an embodied creature or to ask whether human experience is independent of the natural world in which it is forged. The history of the late medieval period can be retold as the story of how nature gained an authoritative voice only to lose it again at the onset of modernity. This distinctive voice, Kellie Robertson argues, emerged from a novel historical confluence of physics and fiction-writing. Natural philosophers and poets shared a language for talking about physical inclination, the inherent desire to pursue the good that was found in all things living and nonliving. Moreover, both natural philosophers and poets believed that representing the visible world was a problem of morality rather than mere description. Based on readings of academic commentaries and scientific treatises as well as popular allegorical poetry, Nature Speaks contends that controversy over Aristotle's natural philosophy gave birth to a philosophical poetics that sought to understand the extent to which the human will was necessarily determined by the same forces that shaped the rest of the material world. Modern disciplinary divisions have largely discouraged shared imaginative responses to this problem among the contemporary sciences and humanities. Robertson demonstrates that this earlier worldview can offer an alternative model of human-nonhuman complementarity, one premised neither on compulsory human exceptionalism nor on the simple reduction of one category to the other. Most important, Nature Speaks assesses what is gained and what is lost when nature's voice goes silent.


The Modern Library Collection of Greek and Roman Philosophy 3-Book Bundle

The Modern Library Collection of Greek and Roman Philosophy 3-Book Bundle

Author: Marcus Aurelius

Publisher: Modern Library

Published: 2012-08-06

Total Pages: 1709

ISBN-13: 0679645705

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In the long history of philosophy and literature, few have been so widely read and admired as the great thinkers of Greece and Rome. For modern audiences, this eBook bundle—which collects the Modern Library editions of three classics: Marcus Aurelius’ Meditations, Selected Dialogues of Plato, and The Basic Works of Aristotle—is the perfect introduction to the foundation of modern knowledge. Accompanied by insightful, accessible commentary from some of today’s top scholars, including Gregory Hays, Hayden Pelliccia, and C.D.C. Reeve, this is a collection of ideas that changed the world—and have truly stood the test of time. MEDITATIONS Marcus Aurelius succeeded his adoptive father as emperor of Rome in A.D. 161—and Meditations remains one of the greatest works of spiritual and ethical reflection ever written. The Meditations have become required reading for statesmen and philosophers alike, while generations of readers have responded to the straightforward intimacy of the leader’s style. In Gregory Hays’s seminal translation, Marcus’s thoughts speak with a new immediacy: Never before have they been so directly and powerfully presented. SELECTED DIALOGUES OF PLATO In this volume, Hayden Pelliccia has revised five of Benjamin Jowett’s translations of Plato—classics in their own right—to produce a fresh, modern take that Library Journal calls “a needed and welcome addition to the translations of the Dialogues.” Here are Ion, Protagoras, Phaedrus, and the famous Symposium, which discuss poetry, the Socratic method, rhetoric, psychology, and love. Most dramatically, Apology puts Socrates’ art of persuasion to the ultimate test—defending his own life. THE BASIC WORKS OF ARISTOTLE Preserved by Arabic mathematicians and canonized by Christian scholars, Aristotle’s works have shaped Western thought, science, and religion for nearly two thousand years—and Richard McKeon’s edition has long been considered the best available one-volume Aristotle. Here are selections from the Organon, On the Heavens, The Short Physical Treatises, Rhetoric, among others, and On the Soul, On Generation and Corruption, Physics, Metaphysics, Nicomachean Ethics, Politics, and Poetics in their entirety.