Late Migrations

Late Migrations
Author :
Publisher : Milkweed Editions
Total Pages : 187
Release :
ISBN-10 : 9781571319876
ISBN-13 : 1571319875
Rating : 4/5 (76 Downloads)

Synopsis Late Migrations by : Margaret Renkl

From the New York Times columnist, a portrait of a family and the cycles of joy and grief that mark the natural world: “Has the makings of an American classic.” —Ann Patchett Growing up in Alabama, Margaret Renkl was a devoted reader, an explorer of riverbeds and red-dirt roads, and a fiercely loved daughter. Here, in brief essays, she traces a tender and honest portrait of her complicated parents—her exuberant, creative mother; her steady, supportive father—and of the bittersweet moments that accompany a child’s transition to caregiver. And here, braided into the overall narrative, Renkl offers observations on the world surrounding her suburban Nashville home. Ringing with rapture and heartache, these essays convey the dignity of bluebirds and rat snakes, monarch butterflies and native bees. As these two threads haunt and harmonize with each other, Renkl suggests that there is astonishment to be found in common things: in what seems ordinary, in what we all share. For in both worlds—the natural one and our own—“the shadow side of love is always loss, and grief is only love’s own twin.” Gorgeously illustrated by the author’s brother, Billy Renkl, Late Migrations is an assured and memorable debut. “Magnificent . . . Readers will savor each page and the many gems of wisdom they contain.” —Publishers Weekly (starred review)

A Natural History of Families

A Natural History of Families
Author :
Publisher : Princeton University Press
Total Pages : 249
Release :
ISBN-10 : 9781400837236
ISBN-13 : 1400837235
Rating : 4/5 (36 Downloads)

Synopsis A Natural History of Families by : Scott Forbes

Why do baby sharks, hyenas, and pelicans kill their siblings? Why do beetles and mice commit infanticide? Why are twins and birth defects more common in older human mothers? A Natural History of Families concisely examines what behavioral ecologists have discovered about family dynamics and what these insights might tell us about human biology and behavior. Scott Forbes's engaging account describes an uneasy union among family members in which rivalry for resources often has dramatic and even fatal consequences. In nature, parents invest resources and control the allocation of resources among their offspring to perpetuate their genetic lineage. Those families sometimes function as cooperative units, the nepotistic and loving havens we choose to identify with. In the natural world, however, dysfunctional familial behavior is disarmingly commonplace. While explaining why infanticide, fratricide, and other seemingly antisocial behaviors are necessary, Forbes also uncovers several surprising applications to humans. Here the conflict begins in the moments following conception as embryos struggle to wrest control of pregnancy from the mother, and to wring more nourishment from her than she can spare, thus triggering morning sickness, diabetes, and high blood pressure. Mothers, in return, often spontaneously abort embryos with severe genetic defects, allowing for prenatal quality control of offspring. Using a broad sweep of entertaining examples culled from the world of animals and humans, A Natural History of Families is a lively introduction to the behavioral ecology of the family.

Spiders of the World

Spiders of the World
Author :
Publisher :
Total Pages : 259
Release :
ISBN-10 : 9781782407508
ISBN-13 : 1782407502
Rating : 4/5 (08 Downloads)

Synopsis Spiders of the World by : Norman I. Platnick

Spiders of the World explores the huge diversity of spider species and their fascinating traits, with profiles of 117 families accompanied by expert commentary and beautiful photographs.

Refuge

Refuge
Author :
Publisher : Vintage
Total Pages : 337
Release :
ISBN-10 : 9780679740247
ISBN-13 : 0679740244
Rating : 4/5 (47 Downloads)

Synopsis Refuge by : Terry Tempest Williams

In the spring of 1983 Terry Tempest Williams learned that her mother was dying of cancer. That same season, The Great Salt Lake began to rise to record heights, threatening the Bear River Migratory Bird Refuge and the herons, owls, and snowy egrets that Williams, a poet and naturalist, had come to gauge her life by. One event was nature at its most random, the other a by-product of rogue technology: Terry's mother, and Terry herself, had been exposed to the fallout of atomic bomb tests in the 1950s. As it interweaves these narratives of dying and accommodation, Refuge transforms tragedy into a document of renewal and spiritual grace, resulting in a work that has become a classic.

A Natural History of Homosexuality

A Natural History of Homosexuality
Author :
Publisher : JHU Press
Total Pages : 386
Release :
ISBN-10 : 9780801853494
ISBN-13 : 0801853494
Rating : 4/5 (94 Downloads)

Synopsis A Natural History of Homosexuality by : Francis Mark Mondimore

And he focuses on the process by which individuals come to identify themselves as homosexual, the sensitivity of children to their own sexual identities, and the psychological effects of the stigmatization of homosexuality on adolescents.

A Natural History of North American Trees

A Natural History of North American Trees
Author :
Publisher : Trinity University Press
Total Pages : 407
Release :
ISBN-10 : 9781595341679
ISBN-13 : 1595341676
Rating : 4/5 (79 Downloads)

Synopsis A Natural History of North American Trees by : Donald Culross Peattie

"A volume for a lifetime" is how The New Yorker described the first of Donald Culross Peatie's two books about American trees published in the 1950s. In this one-volume edition, modern readers are introduced to one of the best nature writers of the last century. As we read Peattie's eloquent and entertaining accounts of American trees, we catch glimpses of our country's history and past daily life that no textbook could ever illuminate so vividly. Here you'll learn about everything from how a species was discovered to the part it played in our country’s history. Pioneers often stabled an animal in the hollow heart of an old sycamore, and the whole family might live there until they could build a log cabin. The tuliptree, the tallest native hardwood, is easier to work than most softwood trees; Daniel Boone carved a sixty-foot canoe from one tree to carry his family from Kentucky into Spanish territory. In the days before the Revolution, the British and the colonists waged an undeclared war over New England's white pines, which made the best tall masts for fighting ships. It's fascinating to learn about the commercial uses of various woods -- for paper, fine furniture, fence posts, matchsticks, house framing, airplane wings, and dozens of other preplastic uses. But we cannot read this book without the occasional lump in our throats. The American elm was still alive when Peattie wrote, but as we read his account today we can see what caused its demise. Audubon's portrait of a pair of loving passenger pigeons in an American beech is considered by many to be his greatest painting. It certainly touched the poet in Donald Culross Peattie as he depicted the extinction of the passenger pigeon when the beech forest was destroyed. A Natural History of North American Trees gives us a picture of life in America from its earliest days to the middle of the last century. The information is always interesting, though often heartbreaking. While Peattie looks for the better side of man's nature, he reports sorrowfully on the greed and waste that have doomed so much of America's virgin forest.

The Kiwi

The Kiwi
Author :
Publisher : Raupo
Total Pages : 24
Release :
ISBN-10 : 1869488555
ISBN-13 : 9781869488550
Rating : 4/5 (55 Downloads)

Synopsis The Kiwi by : John Lockyer

Describes the attributes, habitat, and life cycle of the kiwi and reasons why it is endangered.

Approaches to the History of the Western Family 1500-1914

Approaches to the History of the Western Family 1500-1914
Author :
Publisher : Cambridge University Press
Total Pages : 104
Release :
ISBN-10 : 0521557933
ISBN-13 : 9780521557931
Rating : 4/5 (33 Downloads)

Synopsis Approaches to the History of the Western Family 1500-1914 by : Michael Anderson

Over the past thirty years family history has been one of the most important and controversial growth areas in the development of social history. In this guide to the burgeoning literature on the Western family Professor Anderson reviews the main findings of historians and considers them in the light of the problems inherent in the interpretation of family history. He focuses particularly on the strengths and limitations of the different approaches that have been adopted, showing that although this variety of method has complicated matters, it has also produced a more rounded understanding of the history of the family. Updated to include work published between 1980 and 1994, this book will be invaluable to students of family history, and to scholars who are non-specialist in the field.

Individual and Family Stress and Crises

Individual and Family Stress and Crises
Author :
Publisher : SAGE
Total Pages : 273
Release :
ISBN-10 : 9781452237275
ISBN-13 : 1452237271
Rating : 4/5 (75 Downloads)

Synopsis Individual and Family Stress and Crises by : Janice Gauthier Weber

The first comprehensive text on stress and crisis management specifically tailored to courses focusing on the family Organized by stress model, this book helps readers understand the relationships among models, research, crisis prevention, and crisis management with individuals and families. Providing a balance of theory, research, hands-on applications, and intervention strategies, this innovative text presents a comprehensive overview of the field. Intended Audience Individual and Family Stress and Crises is ideal as a core text for upper division undergraduate and graduate students in courses such as Family Crisis, Family Stress & Coping, and Dysfunctions in Marriage & Family.

A Natural History of Human Thinking

A Natural History of Human Thinking
Author :
Publisher : Harvard University Press
Total Pages : 193
Release :
ISBN-10 : 9780674986831
ISBN-13 : 0674986830
Rating : 4/5 (31 Downloads)

Synopsis A Natural History of Human Thinking by : Michael Tomasello

A Wall Street Journal Favorite Read of the Year A Guardian Top Science Book of the Year Tool-making or culture, language or religious belief: ever since Darwin, thinkers have struggled to identify what fundamentally differentiates human beings from other animals. In this much-anticipated book, Michael Tomasello weaves his twenty years of comparative studies of humans and great apes into a compelling argument that cooperative social interaction is the key to our cognitive uniqueness. Once our ancestors learned to put their heads together with others to pursue shared goals, humankind was on an evolutionary path all its own. “Michael Tomasello is one of the few psychologists to have conducted intensive research on both human children and chimpanzees, and A Natural History of Human Thinking reflects not only the insights enabled by such cross-species comparisons but also the wisdom of a researcher who appreciates the need for asking questions whose answers generate biological insight. His book helps us to understand the differences, as well as the similarities, between human brains and other brains.” —David P. Barash, Wall Street Journal