Space Tortoise
Space Tortoise

Author: Ross Montgomery

Publisher: Faber & Faber

Published: 2018-05-01

Total Pages: 36

ISBN-13: 0571331041

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A beautiful, moving and heartwarming tale about bravery, kindness and welcoming strangers, from the team behind The Building Boy. Once, in an old rusty bin in an old rusty playground in an old empty park . . . . . . there lived a little tortoise. But Tortoise is lonely. He's never seen any other tortoises, and wonders where they could all be hiding. Then, one day, he looks up and the night sky, and sees a million blinking lights winking at him. "That must be where the other tortoises are - at the top of the sky! I wish I could join them." But how can a little tortoise get to the top of the sky? And so begins a magical journey . . . 'A heartwarming story.' Guardian '*****' Books for Keeps 'Will make your spirits soar into the stratosphere.' Daily Mail 'So popular that it is permanently scanned out of our school library - to the extent that I am not entirely sure of its current whereabouts.' Times Educational Supplement 'We love this book!' Joel, age 1, Toppsta 'Love love this funny and quirky book.' Sophie, age 2, Toppsta 'Perfect for sharing at bedtime.' Brobee, age 5 & Toodee age 3, Toppsta

Tortoise
Tortoise

Author: Peter Young

Publisher: Reaktion Books

Published: 2004-04-04

Total Pages: 212

ISBN-13: 1861895046

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Tortoise is the first cultural history of these long-lived and intriguing creatures, which have existed for more than 200 million years. The book covers tortoises worldwide, in evolution, myth and reality, ranging across paleontology, natural history, myth, folklore, art forms, literature, veterinary medicine and trade regulations. The tortoise has been seen as an Atlas-like creature supporting the world, as the origin of music and as a philosophical paradox. Peter Young examines the tortoise in all these guises, as well as a military tactical formation, its exploitation by mariners and others for food, as ornament (in tortoiseshell), as a motif in art, and in space research. He looks at the movement away from exploitation to conservation and even the uses of the tortoise in advertising. As well as examples of species, illustrations from around the world include monuments, sculptures, coins, stamps, objets d’art, drawings, cartoons, advertisements and X-rays. The book will appeal not only to tortoise lovers but also to readers of cultural histories around the world. "Peter Young’s Tortoise, on the other claw, can be warmly recommended."—Jonathan Bate, The Times

Chili, the Grumpy Tortoise
Chili, the Grumpy Tortoise

Author: Jamie Sheffield

Publisher:

Published: 2021-07-26

Total Pages: 28

ISBN-13:

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Chili is the most well-traveled tortoise in history, is loved and provided for by the people he lives with, and is respected and liked by the other tortoises that he lives with... sounds great, but he just can't find a way to be happy, just can't shake his grumpiness.

Hare and Tortoise Race to the Moon
Hare and Tortoise Race to the Moon

Author: Oliver J. Corwin

Publisher: Harry N. Abrams

Published: 2002-09-01

Total Pages: 0

ISBN-13: 9780810905665

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Best friends Tortoise and Hare compete to see who will be first to reach the moon.

Timothy; or, Notes of an Abject Reptile
Timothy; or, Notes of an Abject Reptile

Author: Verlyn Klinkenborg

Publisher: Vintage

Published: 2007-01-09

Total Pages: 194

ISBN-13: 0679737537

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Few writers have attempted to explore the natural history of a particular animal by adopting the animal’s own sensibility. But Verlyn Klinkenborg has done just that in Timothy: an insightful and utterly engaging story of the world’s most famous tortoise, whose real life was observed by the eighteenth-century English curate and naturalist Gilbert White. For thirteen years, Timothy lived in White’s garden. Here Klinkenborg gives the tortoise an unforgettable voice and keen powers of observation on both human and natural affairs. Wry and wise, unexpectedly moving and enchanting at every–careful–turn, Timothy surprises and delights.

On the Backs of Tortoises
On the Backs of Tortoises

Author: Elizabeth Hennessy

Publisher: Yale University Press

Published: 2019-10-29

Total Pages: 384

ISBN-13: 0300249152

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An insightful exploration of the iconic Galápagos tortoises, and how their fate is inextricably linked to our own in a rapidly changing world. Finalist for the 2020 E.O. Wilson Literary Science Writing Award, sponsored by PEN America Literary Awards The Galápagos archipelago is often viewed as a last foothold of pristine nature. For sixty years, conservationists have worked to restore this evolutionary Eden after centuries of exploitation at the hands of pirates, whalers, and island settlers. This book tells the story of the islands’ namesakes—the giant tortoises—as coveted food sources, objects of natural history, and famous icons of conservation and tourism. By doing so, it brings into stark relief the paradoxical, and impossible, goal of conserving species by trying to restore a past state of prehistoric evolution. The tortoises, Elizabeth Hennessy demonstrates, are not prehistoric, but rather microcosms whose stories show how deeply human and nonhuman life are entangled. In a world where evolution is thoroughly shaped by global history, Hennessy puts forward a vision for conservation based on reckoning with the past, rather than trying to erase it. “Fresh, insightful . . . Hennessy’s melding of human and natural history makes for thought-provoking reading.” —Booklist (starred review) “Gripping . . . well-researched and thought-provoking . . . whether you’re well-versed in the intricacies of conservation or have only just begun to long for a look at the tortoises yourself. On the Backs of Tortoises is a natural history that asks important questions, and challenges us to think about how best to answer them.” —Genevieve Valentine, NPR “Wonderfully interesting, informative, and engaging, as well as scholarly.” —Janet Browne, author of Charles Darwin: Voyaging and Charles Darwin: The Power of Place

The Building Boy
The Building Boy

Author: Ross Montgomery

Publisher: Faber & Faber

Published: 2016-08-30

Total Pages: 36

ISBN-13: 0571314112

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All at once, it was as if the stars leapt closer.Grandma grabbed the boy, raising him high above the rooftiles on her head.She was alive!The boy's grandma was a famous architect. Her garden is still full of old building materials. Unwilling to accept she has gone, the boy builds a giant structure from the bricks and girders he finds. And then ... Grandma comes to life! The boy is whisked away on an epic adventure across fields, through oceans and atop roofs. But where is Grandma taking him?Beautiful, thrilling and extremely moving: the extraordinary debut picture book from much-loved author, Ross Montgomery.

Zeno and the Tortoise
Zeno and the Tortoise

Author: Nicholas Fearn

Publisher: Open Road + Grove/Atlantic

Published: 2007-12-01

Total Pages: 229

ISBN-13: 0802199089

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From the author of The Latest Answers to the Oldest Questions, a philosophical guide that’s “great for sounding cleverer than you really are” (Men’s Health). For those who don’t know the difference between Lucretius’s spear and Hume’s fork, Zeno and the Tortoise explains not just who each philosopher was and what he thought, but exactly how he came to think in the way he did. In a witty and engaging style that incorporates everything from Sting to cell phones to Bill Gates, Fearn demystifies the ways of thought that have shaped and inspired humanity—among many others, the Socratic method, Descartes’s use of doubt, Bentham’s theory of utilitarianism, Rousseau’s social contract, and, of course, the concept of common sense. Along the way, there are fascinating biographical snippets about the philosophers themselves: the story of Thales falling down a well while studying the stars, and of Socrates being told by a face-reader that his was the face of a monster who was capable of any crime. Written in twenty-five short chapters, each readable during the journey to work, Zeno and the Tortoise is the ideal course in intellectual self-defense. Acute, often irreverent, but always authoritative, this is a unique introduction to the ideas that have shaped us all. “A large, crafty bag of brilliant tools . . . an academic arsenal of philosophical weapons that are keen for slicing and stabbing through the slippery profoundities of day-to-day decision-making and right into the middle of dinner-party conversations of which you would have otherwise been left out.” —Philosophy Now

Galapagos Giant Tortoises
Galapagos Giant Tortoises

Author:

Publisher: Academic Press

Published: 2020-11-25

Total Pages: 536

ISBN-13: 0128175540

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Galapagos Giant Tortoises brings together researchers and conservationists to share the most up-to-date knowledge of Galapagos giant tortoises. Despite being icons of the world-famous Galapagos Archipelago and the target of more than 50 years of conservation research and management, Galapagos giant tortoise evolution and much of their ecology remained unknown until recently. This book documents the history, the pressing conservation issues, and success stories recovering several of the 15 different species of Galapagos tortoises from near extinction. The book begins with an overview of the history of the relationship between humans and Galapagos giant tortoises, starting from initial heavy exploitation of tortoises by pirates and whalers, and extending to the start of the modern conservation era in the 1960s. The book then shifts to biology, describing Galapagos tortoise evolution, taxonomy, ecology, habitats, reproduction, and behavior. Next the decades of conservation efforts and their results are reviewed, including issues of captive breeding, invasive species, introduced diseases, and de-extinction, as well as the current status and distribution of every species. The final portion of the book turns to four case studies of restoration, and then looks ahead to the future of all tortoise populations.The latest volume in the Biodiversity of the World: Conservation from Genes to Landscape series, Galapagos Giant Tortoises is a valuable resource for researchers and conservationists, as well as students of biology, wildlife conservation, and herpetology. Provides a comprehensive overview of the Galapagos giant tortoise species as written and edited by the world's leading experts Presents examples of restoration of tortoise populations following the near extinction of many of them Describes conservation strategies to ensure the full recovery of all extant species Explores recent efforts using replacement tortoises for extinct species to restore island ecosystems

What the Tortoise Taught Us
What the Tortoise Taught Us

Author: Burton Porter

Publisher: Rowman & Littlefield Publishers

Published: 2010-11-16

Total Pages: 220

ISBN-13: 1442205539

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What the Tortoise Taught Us offers a lively, concise journey through western philosophy that explores the lives of major philosophers, their ideas, and how their thinking continues to influence our lives today.