Starting from the botanical crazes inspired by Linnaeus in the eighteenth century, and exploring the variations it spawned--natural history, landscape architecture, polemical battles over botany's prurience--this study offers a fresh, detailed reading of the courtship novel from Jane Austen to George Eliot and Henry James. By reanimating a cultural understanding of botany and sexuality that we have lost, it provides an entirely new and powerful account of the novel's role in scripting sexualized courtship, and illuminates how the novel and popular science together created a cultural figure, the blooming girl, that stood at the center of both fictional and scientific worlds.

"Enticing ... with a sharp eye for 18th-century mores, this is an engrossing exploration of the growth of the British Empire." Good Book Guide

From Afghanistan to Zimbabwe: everything you never knew you never knew about every country on Earth.A scientist by training and an explorer by passion, Dr. John Oldale has logged half a million miles visiting more than ninety nations. Now, he celebrates our weird and wonderful world in a cornucopia of fascinating facts brought vividly to life through the unexpected stories behind them. Touching on history, travel, politics, natural history and more, he paints a unique portrait of each country from the mightiest to the most miniscule. You won't find the following in your average travel guide: · Why is kissing on trains banned in France? · In what country are litigants expected to present their case at court in the form of a poem? · Which war did women win in 1929 just by sitting down? · If Panama hats aren’t from Panama, where are they from? · Who eat fresh camel dung as a cure for dysentery (and why does it work)? · Why were US disk jockeys once told they could play birthday requests on any day except the one requested? · Which modern dictator banned old age, libraries and gold teeth, and was later replaced by his dentist? · And 2,000 more funny, trivial, poignant, and telling facts A must for active and armchair globe-trotters alike, A World of Curiosities will engross anyone who is at all curious about the world beyond their door. Explore and enjoy.

Richly illustrated 1996 collection on how Pacific plants and peoples were depicted by European explorers.

Discover the Thrill of Adventures Right from Your Living Room Imagine transforming your living space into the launchpad for an extraordinary journey of discovery, creativity, and wellness. Escape the Boring: A Sofa Explorer's Guide to Active Living is your indispensable guide to breaking free from the mundane and injecting excitement, adventure, and joy into every day--without stepping outside your front door. Embark on a transformative quest to redefine what it means to live actively, starting from the comfort and familiarity of your own sofa. This guide unveils how a shift in mindset, coupled with simple adjustments to your surroundings, can open up a world of intrigue and new hobbies. Discover the secrets to finding joy in the small things, setting the stage for perpetual adventure, and creating personal spaces that inspire and energise. Dive into the art of indoor gardening, mastering the care of succulents and nurturing an enchanting herb garden, ready to elevate your culinary creations. Speaking of which, explore the rich tapestry of global cuisines from your kitchen, with theme nights that take you on a gustatory journey around the world. But why stop there? Boost your physical and mental well-being by designing a customised no-equipment workout routine, delving into the calming practices of yoga and mindfulness, or unleashing your creativity through art, writing, and music. Escape the Boring doesn't just offer activities; it offers a new way of seeing and interacting with your world, encouraging growth, learning, and happiness in every chapter. From mastering new languages to hosting virtual gatherings, from board games and puzzles to digital voyages and home-based volunteering, this guide offers a plethora of options to keep your days filled with wonder and discovery. And for those looking to contribute positively to our planet, tips on sustainable living from the comfort of your couch will inspire you to make changes that benefit both your home and the wider world. Don't settle for a passive existence. Turn the ordinary into the extraordinary and embark on a thrilling adventure of self-discovery and boundless creativity. Whether you're looking to enhance your personal wellbeing, explore new hobbies, or simply inject some fun into your routine, Escape the Boring: A Sofa Explorer's Guide to Active Living is your ticket to a brighter, more engaged life. Are you ready to redefine what it means to live actively?

"Botanic Bliss: A Detailed and Intricate Coloring Book Celebrating Nature's Beauty" is a must-have for any nature lover who wants to appreciate the intricacy and beauty of the world around us. This high-quality coloring book features realistic illustrations of various plants and flowers, each one showcasing the exquisite details of each leaf, petal, and stem. The clean and fine line art, set against a white background, makes it easy to color and bring your own unique vision to each page. The intricate designs allow for a meditative and soothing experience, inviting you to take your time and savor each moment. This coloring book is the perfect gift for anyone looking to unwind and find peace in the beauty of nature.

In The Cabaret of Plants, Mabey explores the plant species which have challenged our imaginations, awoken our wonder, and upturned our ideas about history, science, beauty and belief. Picked from every walk of life, they encompass crops, weeds, medicines, religious gathering-places and a water lily named after a queen. Beginning with pagan cults and creation myths, the cultural significance of plants has burst upwards, sprouting into forms as diverse as the panacea (the cure-all plant ginseng, a single root of which can cost up to $10,000), Newton's apple, the African 'vegetable elephant' or boabab - and the mystical, night-flowering Amazonian cactus, the moonflower. Ranging widely across science, art and cultural history, poetry and personal experience, Mabey puts plants centre stage, and reveals a true botanical cabaret, a world of tricksters, shape-shifters and inspired problem-solvers, as well as an enthralled audience of romantics, eccentric amateur scientists and transgressive artists. The Cabaret of Plants celebrates the idea that plants are not simply 'the furniture of the planet', but vital, inventive, individual beings worthy of respect - and that to understand this may be the best way of preserving life together on Earth.

To this day, women face barriers in entering scientific professions, and in earlier eras the challenges were greater still. But in Botanical Entanglements, Anna Sagal reveals how women’s active participation in scientific discourses of the eighteenth century was enabled by the manipulation of social and cultural conventions that have typically been understood as limiting factors. By taking advantage of the intersections between domesticity, femininity, and nature, the writers and artists studied here laid claim to a specific authority on naturalist subjects, ranging from botany to entomology to natural history more broadly. Botanical Entanglements pairs studies of well-known authors—Eliza Haywood, Charlotte Lennox, Maria Edgeworth, and Charlotte Smith—with authors and artists who receive less attention in this context—Priscilla Wakefield, Maria Jacson, Elizabeth Blackwell, Henrietta Maria Moriarty, and Mary Delany—to offer a nuanced portrait of the diverse strategies women employed to engage in scientific labor. Using socially acceptable forms of textual production, including popular periodicals, didactic texts, novels, illustrated works, craftwork, and poetry, these women advocated for more substantive and meaningful engagement with the natural world. In parallel, the book also illuminates the emotional and physical intimacies between women, plants, and insects to reveal an early precursor to twenty-first-century theorizing of plant intelligence and human-plant relationships. Recognizing such literary and artistic "entanglement" facilitates a more profound understanding of the multifaceted relationship between women and the natural world in eighteenth-century England.