| Zapped: From infrared to x-Rays, the curious history of invisible light by Bob BermanAlthough light is all around us, most of it can't be seen. Confused? Don't worry: science writer Bob Berman will explain. After giving an overview of the physics of light (including historical attempts to explain the phenomenon), Berman delves into the different types of invisible light -- including infrared and ultraviolet, microwaves, X-rays, gamma rays, and radio waves -- and describes how 19th-century scientists discovered and developed applications for them. For more illuminating books on electromagnetic radiation in all its forms, try Bruce Watson's Light: A Radiant History from Creation to the Quantum Age. |
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| Darwin's backyard: How small experiments led to a big theory by James T. CostaWe tend to think of Charles Darwin as a theorist, yet this book reveals that he was also a keen observer of the natural world (who frequently enlisted friends and acquaintances to collect specimens) and an experimenter who collaborated with his children (on projects ranging from serenading worms to raising carnivorous plants). Interweaving biographical information and descriptions of Darwin's home-based research, this engaging book also includes instructions for 18 DIY experiments aimed at readers who may find themselves inspired to follow in Darwin's footsteps. |
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Seabirds beyond the mountain crest : The history, natural history and conservation of Hutton's shearwater
by Richard Cuthbert
Tells the fascinating story of New Zealand’s endemic Hutton’s shearwater, a species that breeds only at two remote locations, high in the Kaikoura Mountains. Amateur ornithologist Geoff Harrow discovered the two remaining nesting sites in the 1960s. For five decades he visited the mountains whenever he could to observe and record the birds, and to encourage the Department of Conservation and its predecessors to take steps to conserve this endangered species. As a result, scientist Richard Cuthbert was to spend three years living with 200,000 Hutton’s shearwaters and their neighbours, studying their behaviour, observing their interactions, measuring and recording facts and figures to build a detailed picture of why and how these birds had survived. Richard’s beautifully written, witty account – of the challenge and exasperation, the heartbreak and hardship, and the sheer joy of conservation fieldwork in a remote environment – is beautifully interwoven with other fascinating stories – of the ‘discovery’ of the species by nineteenth-century scientists and collectors, and Geoff Harrow’s discovery of the nesting grounds and subsequent long involvement with this species. Seabirds Beyond the Mountain Crest is a delightful and highly entertaining read.
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Mozart's starling
by Lynn Haupt, Lyanda
A naturalist describes how Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart was enchanted by the intelligence and playful spirit of a starling in a Viennese shop and took it home for a family pet, and discusses a natural history of the frequently reviled bird.
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| Megafire: The race to extinguish a deadly epidemic of flame by Michael KodasAnyone who follows the news can't help but be aware of the wildfires that periodically ravage the western United States, claiming lives and causing widespread destruction. In this sobering book, journalist and firefighter Michael Kodas draws on interviews and on-site reporting to investigate why such "megafires" occur -- and how our response to them may be doing more harm than good. |
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Reading the rocks: How Victorian geologists discovered the secret of life
by Brenda Maddox
A rich and exuberant group biography of the first geologists, the people who were first to excavate from the layers of the world its buried history. These first geologists were made up primarily, and inevitably, of gentlemen with the necessary wealth to support their interests, yet boosting their numbers, expanding their learning and increasing their findings were clergymen, academics and women. The individual stories of these first geologists, their hope and fears, triumphs and disappointments, the theological, philosophical and scientific debates their findings provoked, and the way that as a group, they were to change irrevocably and dramatically our understanding of the world is told by Brenda Maddox with a storyteller's skill and a fellow scientist's understanding. The effect is absorbing, revelatory and strikingly original.
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| Quakeland: On the road to America's next devastating earthquake by Kathryn Miles"Earthquakes are everywhere," explains science journalist Kathryn Miles, who knows her natural disasters (she's also the author of Superstorm: Nine Days Inside Hurricane Sandy). Although geological maps of the United States reveal some 2,100 known faults, the nation is ill-prepared should any of them slip. Poor infrastructure and a lack of early warning systems are causes for concern, as is the increasing number of earthquakes in unexpected places such as Oklahoma and North Dakota, where hydraulic fracturing has transformed the landscape. Given that 75 million Americans currently live in "areas of significant seismic risk," this eye-opening book is essential reading. |
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Farewell to the horse: The final century of our relationship
by Ulrich, Raulff
The relationship between horses and humans is an ancient, profound and complex one. For millennia horses provided the strength and speed that humans lacked. How we travelled, farmed and fought was dictated by the needs of this extraordinary animal. And then, suddenly, in the 20th century the links were broken and the millions of horses that shared our existence almost vanished, eking out a marginal existence on race-tracks and pony clubs. Farewell to the Horse is an engaging, brilliantly written and moving discussion of what horses once meant to us. Ulrich Raulff's book, a bestseller in Germany, is a superb monument to the endlessly various creature who has so often shared and shaped our fate.
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Raised by animals : the surprising new science of animal family dynamics
by Jennifer L Verdolin
An animal behaviour researcher explores the world of parenting across the animal kingdom and discusses what that might mean for human families, including whether attachment parenting has evolutionary roots and if more attractive offspring benefit from favouritism.
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Contact your librarian for more great books!
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