From Mount Washington to the salt marshes of Cape Cod, a chorus of insects chirrups and peeps and rustles away the golden hours of summer and fall. In Crickets and Katydids, Vincent G. Dethier invites us to share in the pleasure offered by these tiny musicians in our midst. A companion volume to G. W. Pierce's 1948 classic Songs of Insects this book introduces amateur naturalism and lovers of nature to some of the more common singing crickets, locusts, and grasshoppers of the northeastern United States. Dethier emphasizes the "world" of these insects and their place in it. He presents us with a captivating glimpse of the ecology of the singing Orthoptera, the conditions under which they are studied, and the people who have studied them. For those who wish to delve more deeply into the classification, structure, and habits of particular species, Dethier includes keys for identification of insects and their songs, as well as a table of seasonal distribution. His graceful text is adorned with fine drawings of insects by Abigail Rorer. Though always softly with us, the insect's timeless song is only vaguely known and little understood. Bringing a natural historian's appreciation to this mysterious facet of nature, Crickets and Katydids, Concerts and Solos will be a source of instruction and delight, an enhancement of the pleasure and fascination afforded by the natural world in miniature.

This exercise routine hosted by professional dancer and fitness expert Barbi Powers leads viewers through a complete ballet and classical dance inspired workout, designed to increase core strength, balance, and grace, all while teaching viewers the most popular poses and moves in modern dance and ballet. ~ Cammila Albertson, Rovi

"Body is our first environment," writes Andrea Olsen. "It is the medium through which we know the earth." In a remarkable integration of environmental science, biology, meditation, and creative expression, Olsen, a dancer who teaches in the environmental studies program at Middlebury College, offers a guide to a holistic understanding of person and place. Part workbook, part exploration, Body and Earth considers the question of how we can best, most responsibly inhabit both our bodies and our planet. Olsen displays an easy command of fields as diverse as geology, biochemistry, ecology, and anatomy as she explores the ways in which our bodies are derived from and connected to the natural world. But Body and Earth is not just a lesson, it is also an investigation. Arranged as a 31-day program, the book offers not only a wealth of scientific information, but also exercises for both exploring the body and connecting with place; illustrations and works of art that illuminate each chapter's themes; and Olsen's own meditations and reflections, connecting the topics to her personal history and experience. Olsen insists that neither body nor landscape are separate from our fundamental selves, but in a culture which views the body as a mechanism to be trained and the landscape as a resource to be exploited, we need to learn to see again their fundamental wholeness and interconnection. Through hard data, reflection, exercises, and inspiration, Body and Earth offers a guide to responsible stewardship of both our planet and our persons.

"This fascinating book examines the rich social history between insects and humans in myth, art, literature, and science in East Asian society."

Black-and-white drawings highlight distinguishing characteristics of some of the more difficult-to-identify species. Sonograms provide a graphic representation of the insects' distinctive sounds."

Tonino is a young, curious cricket boy, living with his family in Boston. Life is good for young Tonino, but he suspects theres more to the world than his own backyard. He wants to learn about foreign cultures, but mostly he wants to learn about his own family roots. He heads to Italy, where he is surprised to meet the famous Blue Fairy, who was friends with Toninos ancestorthe cricket guide to Pinocchio. Whereas Toninos ancestor was put in charge of young Pinocchios conscience, Tonino is given a much more universal conscience. He is charged with the conscience of the world and the well-being of its environment, a big change to his personal journey. No longer is he looking after the story of his family; now he looks after the story of Mother Earth! Suddenly, he is transported on a worldwide adventure He heads to Puerto Rico and meets the Ta?no people. He visits a monarch in Mexico and cricket warriors in China. In the American Southwest, he learns about the spirit of the cricket katsina; in Hawaii, he encounters Peles rage. Its a lot to take in for the young cricket boy, but ultimately he discovers that seeking his roots is only the beginning in the wide world of biodiversity, cultural diversity, and conservation of both. The boy/cricket is baptized Anthony at Our Lady of Mount Carmel Church. His parents live in the North End where his mother kept hearing the television advertisement Anthony, Anthony, Its Prince Spaghetti Day so they named him Anthony. Naming him Anthony was straight forward, but naming him Tonino was at the brilliant suggestion of Dr. William Cooley, retired Northampton Ophthalmologist and avid italophile. Dr. Cooley sent Dr. Stoffolano a short novel by an Italian author named Rodari about a young boy, Tonino, who tries to become invisible so that he could avoid problems with his teacher. Rodari (19201980) was one of Italys best-known writers of childrens books and the recipient of the Hans Christian Andersen Medal for childrens literature. Thus, the name and his ability to become invisible are incorporated into the story. In addition to this reference to his nickname, Tonino is a small cricket because he always ate Italian food in the North End and not cricket food. Thus, he also got the name Tonino, which means little Anthony in Italian from Joe Pace who owns and started Joe Pace & Sons Italian Specialities in Bostons North End. In his novel, Stoffolano establishes the first lineage for this famous cricket family. Toninos great, great, great grandfather was Grillo parlante, the talking cricket in the original story Pinocchio. Grillo was also the conscience of Pinocchio and Grillos great grandson was the famous Jiminy Cricket in Walt Disneys classic movie Pinocchio. In this wonderful story about Tonino, the reader sees many different regions of the world through the eyes of this boy/cricket where, through the experiences of Tonino, the reader will learn more about how crickets played various and important roles in different indigenous cultures. Toninos charge by the Blue Fairy was to become the conscience of the world when it comes to environmental issues: A heavy responsibility or a small boy/cricket. The importance of cultural diversity, just as important as biodiversity, is stressed and Tonino takes on Dr. E. O. Wilson, one of the greatest thinkers/writers of our generation, as his mentor.

Throughout history, hearing and sound perception have been typically framed in the context of how sound conveys information and how that information influences the listener. "Hear Where We Are" inverts this premise and examines how humans and other hearing animals use sound to establish acoustical relationships with their surroundings. This simple inversion reveals a panoply of possibilities by which we can re-evaluate how hearing animals use, produce, and perceive sound. Nuance in vocalizations become signals of enticement or boundary setting; silence becomes a field ripe in auditory possibilities; predator/prey relationships are infused with acoustic deception, and sounds that have been considered territorial cues become the fabric of cooperative acoustical communities. This inversion also expands the context of sound perception into a larger perspective that centers on biological adaptation within acoustic habitats. Here, the rapid synchronized flight patterns of flocking birds and the tight maneuvering of schooling fish becomes an acoustic engagement. Likewise, when stridulating crickets synchronize their summer evening chirrups, it has more to do with the ‘cricket community’ monitoring their collective boundaries rather than individual crickets establishing ‘personal’ territory or breeding fitness. In "Hear Where We Are" the author continuously challenges many of the bio-acoustic orthodoxies, reframing the entire inquiry into sound perception and communication. By moving beyond our common assumptions, many of the mysteries of acoustical behavior become revealed, exposing a fresh and fertile panorama of acoustical experience and adaptation.

Joseph A. Amato proposes a bold and innovative approach to writing local history in this imaginative, wide-ranging, and deeply engaging exploration of the meaning of place and home. Arguing that people of every place and time deserve a history, Amato draws on his background as a European cultural historian and a prolific writer of local history to explore such topics as the history of cleanliness, sound, anger, madness, the clandestine, and the environment in southwestern Minnesota. While dedicated to the unique experiences of a place, his lively work demonstrates that contemporary local history provides a vital link for understanding the relation between immediate experience and the metamorphosis of the world at large. In an era of encompassing forces and global sensibilities, Rethinking Home advocates the power of local history to revivify the individual, the concrete, and the particular. This singular book offers fresh perspectives, themes, and approaches for energizing local history at a time when the very notion of place is in jeopardy. Amato explains how local historians shape their work around objects we can touch and institutions we have directly experienced. For them, theory always gives way to facts. His vivid portraits of individual people, places, situations, and cases (which include murders, crop scams, and taking custody of the law) are joined to local illustrations of the use of environmental and ecological history. This book also puts local history in the service of contemporary history with the examination of recent demographic, social, and cultural transformations. Critical concluding chapters on politics and literature--especially Sinclair Lewis's Main Street and Longfellow's Hiawatha--show how metaphor and myth invent, distort, and hold captive local towns, peoples, and places.

As we follow the path of a giant water bug or peer over the wing of a gypsy moth, we glimpse our world anew, at once shrunk and magnified. Owing to their size alone, insects’ experience of the world is radically different from ours. Air to them is as viscous as water to us. The predicament of size, along with the dizzying diversity of insects and their status as arguably the most successful organisms on earth, have inspired passion and eloquence in some of the world’s most innovative scientists. A World of Insects showcases classic works on insect behavior, physiology, and ecology published over half a century by Harvard University Press. James Costa, Vincent Dethier, Thomas Eisner, Lee Goff, Bernd Heinrich, Bert Hölldobler, Kenneth Roeder, Andrew Ross, Thomas Seeley, Karl von Frisch, Gilbert Waldbauer, E. O. Wilson, and Mark Winston—each writer, in his unique voice, paints a close-up portrait of the ways insects explore their environment, outmaneuver their enemies, mate, and care for kin. Selected by two world-class entomologists, these essays offer compelling descriptions of insect cooperation and warfare, the search for ancient insect DNA in amber, and the energy economics of hot-blooded insects. They also discuss the impact—for good and ill—of insects on our food supply, their role in crime scene investigation, and the popular fascination with pheromones, killer bees, and fire ants. Each entry begins with commentary on the authors, their topics, and the latest research in the field.