This is a book about heroism - of sorts. Roy Hobbs has an immense natural gift for playing baseball. He could become one of the great ones of the game, a player unmatched in his time - a hero. But his first hard-won big chance ends violently, at the hands of a crazy girl, and then it is years before he gets another shot. At last, in a few short seasons, or never, he must achieve the towering reputation that he feels is his right.
During the late 1960s and 1970s, massive herds of poisonous crown-of-thorns starfish suddenly began to infest coral reef communities around the world, leaving in their wake devastation comparable to a burnt-out rainforest. In What is Natural?, Jan Sapp both examines this ecological catastrophe and captures the intense debate among scientists about what caused the crisis, and how it should be handled. The crown-of-thorns story takes readers on tropical expeditions around the world, and into both marine laboratories and government committees, where scientists rigorously search for answers to the many profound questions surrounding this event. Were these fierce starfish outbreaks the kind of manmade disaster heralded by such environmentalists as Rachel Carson in Silent Spring? Indeed, discussions of the cause of the starfish plagues have involved virtually every environmental issue of our timeover-fishing, pesticide use, atomic testing, rain forest depletion, and over-population, but many marine biologists maintain that the epidemic is a natural feature of coral-reef life, an ecological "balance of nature" that should not to be tampered with until we know the scientific truth of the crisis. But should we search for the scientific truth before taking action? And what if an environmental emergency cannot wait for a rigorous scientific search for "the truth?" The starfish plagues are arguably one of most mysterious ecological phenomena of this century. Through the window of this singular event, What is Natural lucidly illustrates the complexity of environmental issues while probing the most fundamental questions about the relationship between man and nature.
In this user-friendly book, parents learn revolutionary common sense techniques for raising successful children with disabilities. When we recognize that disability is a natural part of the human experience, new attitudes lead to new actions for successful lives at home, in school and in communities. When parents replace today's conventional wisdom with the common sense values and creative thinking detailed in this book, all children with disabilities (regardless of age or type of disability) can live the life of their dreams. Readers will learn how to define a child by his or her assets - instead of a disability-related "problem," and how to create new and improved partnerships with educators, health care professionals, family and friends
Comprehensive Natural Products III, Third Edition, Seven Volume Set updates and complements the previous two editions, including recent advances in cofactor chemistry, structural diversity of natural products and secondary metabolites, enzymes and enzyme mechanisms and new bioinformatics tools. Natural products research is a dynamic discipline at the intersection of chemistry and biology concerned with isolation, identification, structure elucidation, and chemical characteristics of naturally occurring compounds such as pheromones, carbohydrates, nucleic acids and enzymes. This book reviews the accumulated efforts of chemical and biological research to understand living organisms and their distinctive effects on health and medicine and to stimulate new ideas among the established natural products community. Provides readers with an in-depth review of current natural products research and a critical insight into the future direction of the field Bridges the gap in knowledge by covering developments in the field since the second edition published in 2010 Split into 7 sections on key topics to allow students, researchers and professionals to find relevant information quickly and easily Ensures that the knowledge within is easily understood by and applicable to a large audience
This book is a fiction tale of the impact that nature would have, when unwarranted changes are done at an extraordinary pace for obsessive reasons. There are clear boundaries which man and the government wish to cross as a showdown of power and ambition; however nature in a subtle way is proving them wrong. In a bigger picture we all experience it by Global warming. This story is at a personal level of a Billionaire Sir Louis, his passionate dream of changing his natural self and the implications he faces due to this action. Is there any remedies, should he live with the curse he bestowed himself with, will all the billions help, can the action be undone.
Explore the fascinating world of natural selection with 'What is Natural Selection? Understanding How Natural Selection Works and Phenotype Changes.' Perfect for middle school educators, homeschooling parents, and school librarians, this book delves into Charles Darwin's groundbreaking theory and its significance in the STEM curriculum. Discover the mechanics behind survival traits, adaptation, and the evolution of species through engaging examples and essential scientific principles.
Michael Pollan, the bestselling author of The Omnivore's Dilemma, Food Rules, How to Change Your Mind, and This is Your Mind on Plants explores the previously uncharted territory of his own kitchen in Cooked. "Having described what's wrong with American food in his best-selling The Omnivore's Dilemma (2006), New York Times contributor Pollan delivers a more optimistic but equally fascinating account of how to do it right. . . . A delightful chronicle of the education of a cook who steps back frequently to extol the scientific and philosophical basis of this deeply satisfying human activity." —Kirkus (starred review) Cooked is now a Netflix docuseries based on the book that focuses on the four kinds of "transformations" that occur in cooking. Directed by Oscar-winning filmmaker Alex Gibney and starring Michael Pollan, Cooked teases out the links between science, culture and the flavors we love. In Cooked, Pollan discovers the enduring power of the four classical elements—fire, water, air, and earth—to transform the stuff of nature into delicious things to eat and drink. Apprenticing himself to a succession of culinary masters, Pollan learns how to grill with fire, cook with liquid, bake bread, and ferment everything from cheese to beer. Each section of Cooked tracks Pollan’s effort to master a single classic recipe using one of the four elements. A North Carolina barbecue pit master tutors him in the primal magic of fire; a Chez Panisse–trained cook schools him in the art of braising; a celebrated baker teaches him how air transforms grain and water into a fragrant loaf of bread; and finally, several mad-genius “fermentos” (a tribe that includes brewers, cheese makers, and all kinds of picklers) reveal how fungi and bacteria can perform the most amazing alchemies of all. The reader learns alongside Pollan, but the lessons move beyond the practical to become an investigation of how cooking involves us in a web of social and ecological relationships. Cooking, above all, connects us. The effects of not cooking are similarly far reaching. Relying upon corporations to process our food means we consume large quantities of fat, sugar, and salt; disrupt an essential link to the natural world; and weaken our relationships with family and friends. In fact, Cooked argues, taking back control of cooking may be the single most important step anyone can take to help make the American food system healthier and more sustainable. Reclaiming cooking as an act of enjoyment and self-reliance, learning to perform the magic of these everyday transformations, opens the door to a more nourishing life.
Natural right—the idea that there is a collection of laws and rights based not on custom or belief but that are “natural” in origin—is typically associated with liberal politics and freedom. In The Terror of Natural Right, Dan Edelstein argues that the revolutionaries used the natural right concept of the “enemy of the human race”—an individual who has transgressed the laws of nature and must be executed without judicial formalities—to authorize three-quarters of the deaths during the Terror. Edelstein further contends that the Jacobins shared a political philosophy that he calls “natural republicanism,” which assumed that the natural state of society was a republic and that natural right provided its only acceptable laws. Ultimately, he proves that what we call the Terror was in fact only one facet of the republican theory that prevailed from Louis’s trial until the fall of Robespierre. A highly original work of historical analysis, political theory, literary criticism, and intellectual history, The Terror of Natural Right challenges prevailing assumptions of the Terror to offer a new perspective on the Revolutionary period.
Discover Earth's most beautiful and fascinating natural landmarks. From the spectacular granite domes of Yosemite to the reefs of the Bahama Banks and the ice sheets of the Antarctic, this is an unparalleled survey of the world's natural treasures. From the Rocky Mountains to the Great barrier Reef and everything in between, Natural Wonders of the World combines breathtaking landscape photography and illustrations with 3-D terrain models and other explanatory artworks to reveal what lies beneath the surface and explain the geological processes to show how the features were formed. Plants and animals that inhabit each environment are also included, making Natural Wonders of the World a complete celebration of our world. Produced in association with the Smithsonian Institution.
