Shortlisted for the Tratman Award 2015 To enter caves is to venture beyond the realm of the everyday. From huge vaulted caverns to impassable, water-filled passages; from the karst topography of Guilin in China to the lava tubes of Hawaii; from tiny remote pilgrimage sites to massive tourism enterprises, caves are places of mystery. Dark spaces that remain largely unexplored, caves are astonishing wonders of nature and habitats for exotic flora and fauna. This book investigates the natural and cultural history of caves and considers the roles caves have played in the human imagination and experience of the natural world. It explores the long history of the human fascination with caves, across countries and continents, examining their dual role as spaces of both wonder and fear. It tells the tales of the adventurers who pioneered the science of caves and those of the explorers and cave-divers still searching for new, unmapped routes deep into the earth. This book explores the lure of the subterranean world by examining caving and cave tourism and by looking to the mythology, literature, and art of caves. This lavishly illustrated book will appeal to general readers and experts alike interested in the ecology and use of caves, or the extraordinary artistic responses earth’s dark recesses have evoked over the centuries.

Encyclopedia of Caves, Third Edition, provides detailed background information to anyone with a serious interest in caves. This includes students, both undergraduate and graduate, in the earth, biological and environmental sciences, and consultants, environmental scientists, land managers and government agency staff whose work requires them to know something about caves and the biota that inhabit them. Caves touch on many scientific interests in geology, climate science, biology, hydrology, archaeology, and paleontology, as well as more popular interests in sport caving and cave exploration. Case studies and descriptions of specific caves selected for their special features and public interest are also included. This book will appeal to these audiences by providing in-depth essays written by expert authors chosen for their expertise in their assigned subject. - Features 14 new chapters and 13 completely rewritten chapters - Contains beautifully illustrated content, with more than 500 color images of cave life and features - Provides extensive bibliographies that allow readers to access their subject of interest in greater depth

Stories are all around us. From our digital newsfeeds, interactions with one another, to watching a movie or listening to a curated playlist, we see and hear different tales told to us in various ways.In her book, Story: Still the Heart of Literacy Learning, author and teacher Katie Egan Cunningham reminds us that when we bridge reading strategies with the power of story, we can deepen literacy learning and foster authentic engagement with students. Cunningham shows how to create classrooms of caring and inquisitive readers, writers, and storytellers. Inside you'll find: How to build a diverse, multicultural classroom library that reflects all voices through rich, purposeful, and varied texts Numerous examples of multi-genre and multi-modal stories from children's and young adult literature A practical toolkit at the end of each chapter to demonstrate how to make stories come alive in any classroom Throughout the book, Cunningham shares her experiences as a teacher, literacy specialist, and staff developer and how building and talking about stories brings them to life. She honors the importance of teaching strategies to read different kinds of text, to write across genres, and to speak and listen with purpose while reminding us about the importance of story.

The son of Zeus, Perseus belongs in the first rank of Greek heroes. Indeed to some he was a greater hero even than Heracles. With the help of Hermes and Athena he slew the Gorgon Medusa, conquered a mighty sea monster and won the hand of the beautiful princess Andromeda. This volume tells of his enduring myth, it's rendering in art and literature, and its reception through the Roman period and up to the modern day. This is the first scholarly book in English devoted to Perseus' myth in its entirety for over a century. With information drawn from a diverse range of sources as well as varied illustrations, the volume illuminates the importance of the Perseus myth throughout the ages.

A young shepherd, Corydon, is driven out of his village because of his unusual appearance and then captured and put on display as a monster. Alongside him in the traveling freak show are Medusa, the Minotaur, the Sphinx, and other classical beasts. When Corydon helps these monsters to escape their cages, they scatter to seek peace and solitude away from prying eyes. But then an army of “heroes” arrives hoping to win glory by killing the monsters, and Corydon must unite these unloved and unlikely allies to fight for their survival and for their island home.

Alitza scrambled backward until she hit a barrel then pulled herself up on it, trying to keep her feet on the wet and thrashing deck. The serpent caught her movement and turned its head toward her, baring its teeth. Its neck was narrow and writhing, its claws lashing at the ship."Alitza!" someone yelled. She couldn't have responded if she'd wanted to, and didn't try...Will Alitza survive? Will she earn one of the coveted Apprenticeships? Find out in this new original fantasy story by Barbara E. Walton, author of Quantum Leap: Odyssey.

In the Greek mythological pantheon, the Gorgon Medusa stands a head above all others in her power to terrify. This book gives readers a close-up look at this snake-haired horror. Starting with details about Medusa's history, physical features, and supernatural powers, the text continues with a retelling of the classic myth of Perseus. It then takes a look at some of Medusa's other manifestations in classic art and literature as well as her role in modern pop culture. From fable to film, sculpture to song, the Gorgon continues to work her ancient magic on modern audiences.

A retelling of Greek mythology and ancient history as recommended for Steiner-Waldorf curriculum Class 5-6 (age 10-12). This engaging collection of Charles Kovacs' work contains legendary stories of mythical heroes and historic figures from the dawn of western civilization. Through the fearless deeds of Heracles, Theseus and Odysseus to the Golden Age of Athens and the conquests of Alexander the Great, the narrative vividly portrays the journey from the mysteries of antiquity to the birth of modern medicine, science and philosophy.

In this second book in the Corydon trilogy, trouble has invaded the Island of Monsters once again. The peace-loving Minotaur has been kidnapped! Signs suggest he's been taken to the city of Atlantis, and so Corydon and his fellow monsters set sail to rescue their friend. Their travels across Poseidon's treacherous waters involve one narrow escape after another—from the volcanic forge of Hephaistos, and the seductive song of the Sirens, from the licentious lair of Dionysos, and the grasping tentacles of the Kraken—until at last they reach Atlantis. And Atlantis turns out to be more seductive, monstrous, and volatile than anything they've encountered yet.

ART CAPITAL, TOURIST DESTINATION, MODERN ADOBE CITY-SANTA FE, NEW MEXICO, NOW MAY ALSO BE ONE OF AMERICA'S MOST IMPORTANT SACRED SITES. Santa Fe, the City Different, has deeply excited visitors for over a hundred years with its crystal blue skies, Blood of Christ mountains, pure dry air, old adobe charm, and beautiful light. But this high-desert State capital and artists' haven may also be a Land of Light-a premier landscape of multiple sacred sites and heightened spiritual charge. People love this place, they say, for its uplifting, spiritually leavening effect, for how it starts a process of transformation, healing, deep change, and self-reinvention. People revere this place as an axis of creativity, a hotbed of innovation, and a paramount center for recreating culture and spirituality capable of inspiring the world. Santa Fe Light explains why. An able travel guide, it takes you to 111 different locations and their Light temples in and around Santa Fe, numinous places usually only encountered in myths or dreams. And it proposes that the observed social qualities of Santa Fe, its livability, might be due to this fabulous visionary geography alluringly just beyond the veil of our ordinary perception. Richard Leviton, an investigator of visionary terrains for over 25 years, provides firsthand accounts of what it's like inside all these Light temples, what it's possible to see and experience, and how they co-create Santa Fe reality. The total impact of these on awareness and the feeling for life here he calls Santa Fe Light. Touch one Light temple and you open a door into the universe, and you suddenly find immediately practical ways to help the campaign with Gaia to restore the Earth.