Altri libri che potrebbero interessarti

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  Earth Almanac - A Year of...

  Ted Williams, Verlyn Klinkenborg

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  Noted nature writer Ted Williams invites readers along on a year-long immersion in the wild and fleeting moments of the natural world, from winter candy and spring quackers to summer’s scarlet farewell and autumn reveilles. This beautifully crafted collection of short, seasonal essays combines in-depth information with evocative descriptions of nature’s marvels and mysteries. Williams explains the weather conditions that bring out the brightest reds in autumn leaves, how hungry wolf spiders catch their prey, and why American goldfinches wait until late July or August to build their nests. In the tradition of Thoreau, Carson, and Leopold, Ted Williams’s writing stands as a testament to the delicate balance of nature’s resilience and fragility, and inspires readers to experience the natural world for themselves and to become advocates for protecting and preserving the amazing diversity and activity found there.

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  In the Watches of the Night -...

  Peter C. Baldwin

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  Before skyscrapers and streetlights glowed at all hours, American cities fell into inky blackness with each setting of the sun. But over the course of the nineteenth and early twentieth century, new technologies began to light up streets, sidewalks, buildings, and public spaces. Peter C. Baldwin’s evocative book depicts the changing experience of the urban night over this period, visiting a host of actors—scavengers, newsboys, and mashers alike—in the nocturnal city.Baldwin examines work, crime, transportation, and leisure as he moves through the gaslight era, exploring the spread of modern police forces and the emergence of late-night entertainment, to the era of electricity, when social campaigns sought to remove women and children from public areas at night. While many people celebrated the transition from darkness to light as the arrival of twenty-four hours of daytime, Baldwin shows that certain social patterns remained, including the danger of street crime and the skewed gender profile of night work. Sweeping us from concert halls and brothels to streetcars and industrial forges, In the Watches of the Night is an illuminating study of a vital era in American urban history.

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  Storm World - Hurricanes...

  Chris Mooney

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  Chris Mooney, author of The Republican War on Science and one of the leading young environmental journalists and bloggers working today, immerses readers in the world of those who study hurricanes. What was once an arcane branch of meteorology (itself an arcane science) has become embroiled in one of the most politicized and hotly contested debates in American science: whether or not the recent hurricane disasters—culminating in Katrina—are connected to global warming.Mooney follows the lives and careers of the two leading scientists who stand, bitterly opposed, on either side of the issue. One believes that global warming has nothing to do with hurricane ferocity or frequency; the other believes as fervently that it does; both have staked their reputations on their respective positions. Mooney shows these two men in action as they debate the issue across the country and are followed by the media. He also uses them as a way of showing how hurricane studies have evolved and how government, the media, Big Business, and politics have affected the ways we study and interpret weather patterns. Hurricanes are natural disasters, capable of inflicting almost unimaginable destruction. The culture that has grown up around predicting, charting, and even defining them is very much man-made.Combining lively portraits of the leading figures, vivid science journalism, and the very latest reportage from the weather front (the last section of the book will cover the 2006 hurricane season), Mooney—a native of New Orleans—has written what will surely be one of the most talked-about books of the year.

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  The Tinkerer's Accomplice - How...

  J. Scott Turner

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  A physiologist presents a provocative and scientifically rigorous new perspective on Darwinism, design, and why the living world works so well. When they contemplate nature, they see evidence of design at work. So it is jarring when biologists insist that this perception is all wrong. What most people see as design, they say—purposeful, directed, even intelligent—is only an illusion. But in these days of increasingly assertive challenges to Darwinism, the question becomes acute: is our perception of design simply a mental figment, or is there something deeper at work? Physiologist Scott Turner argues that the apparent design of the living world can be accounted for scientifically. But to do it, we must consider a dimension that modern molecular biology often ignores: the dynamic interaction between living organisms and their environment. By combining environmental physiology and natural selection, we begin to understand the beautiful fit between the form life takes and how life works. In The Tinkerer's Accomplice, Scott Turner takes up the question of design as a very real problem in biology; his solution poses challenges to all sides in this critical debate.

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  Pregnant While Black - Advancing...

  Monique Rainford MD

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  A tragedy is unfolding all around us and is receiving well overdue attention. Black women are three times more likely to die from pregnancy than their white peers. But Dr. Monique Rainford is working to better understand these disparities and do something about them.Pregnant While Black is a hopeful exploration of the issues pregnant Black women face in America. In this book, Dr. Rainford draws on over twenty years of experience working in obstetrics and gynecology to offer a primer on Black pregnancies and how to better care for them. She shares the successes and testimonies of Black women who have struggled during pregnancy and childbirth, anchoring the stories of these women with carefully researched facts. Despite medical advances over the last twenty years, for Black women, the overwhelming dangers of carrying and delivering children remain and it only seems to be getting worse.In Pregnant While Black, Rainford begins the work of "repairing the damage of the past" with an examination of the conditions that plague Black pregnancies. This important book carries the hopes and dreams of a generation looking to effect change, here and now.

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  The E-Myth Optometrist - Why...

  Michael E. Gerber, OD Riley F....

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  A successful optometry practice is a juggling act. You need to know your field of optometry, as well as how to run a small business. Your education has prepared you for the technical ins and outs of optometry practice. But what has prepared you to run a business? The E-Myth Optometrist fills this knowledge gap, giving you a complete toolkit for starting a successful practice from scratch or maximizing an existing practice’s performance. Loaded with practical, powerful advice you can easily use, this one-stop guide helps you realize all the benefits that come with a thriving optometry practice. The E-Myth Optometrist offers you a road map for an optometry business that’s self-sufficient, growing and highly profitable. Take your practice to levels you didn’t think possible with this insightful guide!

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