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  Gunpowder and the Printing...

  Charles River Editors

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  In addition to the wheelbarrow, the seismograph, the waterwheel, deep drilling, suspension bridges, and ship rudders, among countless other life-changing contraptions, the Chinese developed what were later dubbed the “Four Great Inventions of China.” Two of those were gunpowder and printing, which both spread through South Asia and the Middle East before making it to Europe.  
  For a time, gunpowder was a mere curiosity, but its destructive power and military potential would be realized quickly. The first record of a cannon in Europe comes from a manuscript written in 1326, which has an illustration showing an armored man with what looks like a slow match lighting a vase-shaped object. This crude cannon was called a pot de fer in French and vasi in Italian. While medieval engineers developed new types of cannons and explosives capable of destroying walls and castles, others were making the first handguns possible. European sources first mentioned the widespread use of handgonnes, as they were often called, in the late 14th century, precisely the time when gunpowder became cheaper.  
  	The history of printing was for ancient Asia an advancement in culture and communication, but for Europe in the 15th century, it was much more, plunging the continent into a new paradigm and aligning it for the modern world. Its importance is often overlooked, but the timeliness of the printing machine was equivalent to the invention of alphabets in antiquity and ranks up there with the digital revolution and the introduction of the internet. Put simply, it made the Renaissance possible and led to the modernization of Europe. Based on earlier Asian principles, Johannes Gutenberg’s movable type printing press propelled an industry that led to the education of the West and ultimately removed the tight grip of the Vatican from daily European life. 

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  The Exquisite Butterfly...

  History American Museum of...

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  An informative and gorgeously illustrated field guide for butterfly enthusiasts everywhere! 
   
  Butterflies and moths have fascinated people for centuries. Their bright colors, varied wing shapes, and endless patterns capture the imagination, making them the stuff of myth and folklore. Today, butterfly watching—or “butterflying”—has become a popular hobby with numerous clubs and festivals devoted to it. 
   
  In The Exquisite Butterfly Companion, Hazel Davis of the American Museum of Natural History presents an engaging introduction to these fascinating insects. An opening chapter discusses butterfly and moth basics, such as their taxonomy, life cycle, migration, and more. Then follows a lushly illustrated catalogue of butterfly and moth species, offering detailed information on their unique colorings and habitats.

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  Forerunners of Mammals -...

  Anusuya Chinsamy-Turan

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  An in-depth look at the origin and evolutionary radiation of the synapsids. 
   
  About 320 million years ago a group of reptiles known as the synapsids emerged and forever changed Earth’s ecological landscapes. This book discusses the origin and radiation of the synapsids from their sail-backed pelycosaur ancestor to their diverse descendants, the therapsids or mammal-like reptiles, that eventually gave rise to mammals. It further showcases the remarkable evolutionary history of the synapsids in the Karoo Basin of South Africa and the environments that existed at the time. By highlighting studies of synapsid bone microstructure, it offers a unique perspective of how such studies are utilized to reconstruct various aspects of biology, such as growth dynamics, biomechanical function, and the attainment of sexual and skeletal maturity. A series of chapters outline the radiation and phylogenetic relationships of major synapsid lineages and provide direct insight into how bone histological analyses have led to an appreciation of these enigmatic animals as once-living creatures. The penultimate chapter examines the early radiation of mammals from their nonmammalian cynodont ancestors, and the book concludes by engaging the intriguing question of when and where endothermy evolved among the therapsids. 
   
  “Ever since Nick Hotton’s book from the 1980s we have needed an update on the biology of therapsids, and it has been Anusuya Chinsamy-Turan and her students and associates who through their bone histological work have made the greatest progress in this field.” —Martin Sander, Steinmann Institute, University of Bonn 
   
  “Forerunners of Mammals is full of meticulous detail . . . [I]t also contains a number of excellently rendered illustrations of some of the animals covered in the book, and the final chapter is a discussion of the evolution of endothermy that anyone with a background in biology might find of interest. . . . Recommended.” —Choice 
   
  “Forerunners of Mammals will take interested readers beyond the classic jaw-to-ear appreciation of therapsids, towards a deeper appreciation of the ancestry of mammals.” —Journal of Mammalian Evolution 
   
  “This volume represents a state-of-the-art contribution to our understanding of the paleobiology of how mammals arose, and what factors contributed to their evolutionary radiation and eventual success. It is highly recommended for anyone interested in these topics, and will be accessible to readers with minimal background in bone histology and synapsid paleontology.” —Quarterly Review of Biology

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  Views of Nature

  Alexander von Humboldt

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  The German naturalist and explorer chronicles his 1799 expedition to Central and South America in this classic work of natural history. 
   
  While the influence of Alexander von Humboldt (1769–1859) looms large over the natural sciences, his legacy reaches far beyond the field notebooks of naturalists. Humboldt’s 1799–1804 research expedition to Central and South America with botanist Aimé Bonpland not only set the course for the great scientific surveys of the nineteenth century, but also served as the raw material for his many volumes—works of both scientific rigor and aesthetic beauty that inspired such essayists and artists as Emerson, Goethe, Thoreau, Poe, and Frederic Edwin Church. 
   
  Views of Nature, or Ansichten der Natur, was Humboldt’s best-known and most influential work—and his personal favorite. While the essays that comprise it are themselves remarkable as innovative, early pieces of nature writing—they were cited by Thoreau as a model for his own work—the book’s extensive endnotes incorporate some of Humboldt’s most beautiful prose and mature thinking on vegetation structure, its origins in climate patterns, and its implications for the arts. Written for both a literary and a scientific audience, Views of Nature was translated into English (twice), Spanish, and French in the nineteenth century, and it was read widely in Europe and the Americas. But in contrast to many of Humboldt’s more technical works, Views of Nature has been unavailable in English for more than one hundred years. Largely neglected in the United States during the twentieth century, Humboldt’s contributions to the humanities and the sciences are now undergoing a revival to which this new translation will be a critical contribution. 
   
  Praise for Views of Nature 
   
  “Alexander von Humboldt’s wide-ranging Views of Nature is a masterpiece of nineteenth-century natural history, at once science and art. Mark W. Person’s stunning new translation makes the wonders of this classic accessible to the English-language world of the present.” —Daniel Walker Howe, author of the Pulitzer Prize–winning What Hath God Wrought 
   
  “From the plains of Venezuela to volcanoes and waterfalls, von Humboldt combines observations with travel narratives and philosophical musings. Annotations really help provide a context to the essays; this work also includes an index, conversions for von Humboldt’s various measurement units, an introduction, and preface. This excellent translation of one of von Humboldt’s most important works should introduce this great naturalist to an entirely new audience.” —Edward J. Valauskas, curator of Rare Books, Library, Chicago Botanic Garden, Current Books on Gardening and Botany

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  Frozen - My Journey Into the...

  Scott Baldyga, Larry Johnson

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  At first, the job as clinical director at Alcor Life Extension Foundation was an exciting change for veteran paramedic Larry Johnson: a well-funded research facility pushing the limits of modern biotech. But as he gained the trust of his eccentric coworkers and was promoted to acting COO, Larry was thrust into a nightmare world of scandalous controversy, gruesome practices, and deadly secrets.One secret Larry unearthed was the full, tragic, never-before-heard story of what truly happened to the body of baseball icon and American hero Ted Williams.Compelled by this and other horrific discoveries, Larry began copying documents, taking secret pictures, and ultimately wearing a wire every day at Alcor. He started living two lives-"Alcorian" by day, whistleblower by night.Beyond the senseless animal experiments, beyond the dumping of toxic chemicals and AIDS-contaminated blood into the public sewage system, these people saw themselves as the elite, the immortal saviors of mankind who would lead us into the future. Inside this cultlike mentality, anything seemed justified. Maybe even murder.Then Alcor found out. The death threats began.Fleeing from state to state, Larry was stalked and threatened again and again. They chased him through the streets. They left death threats under his windshield wipers. They terrorized his family. Larry Johnson never wanted to be a whistleblower. But he knows this story must be told.Written in Larry's own memorable voice and verified by actual transcripts of his "secret recordings," Frozen reads like a medical thriller-but every word is shockingly true.

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  COPOUT - How governments have...

  Nick Breeze

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  ‘Wry and passionate first-hand observations from the global climate negotiations – essential for capturing the spirit of this endlessly frustrating struggle’ – Bill McKibben 
  Most people tend to turn away, perhaps understandably, from the key existential issue of the day: climate change or, some would say more accurately, climate collapse. Nick Breeze tells the engaging, very human story of successive COP conferences over the past decade: it is a tale of imperfection, failure even, but not yet defeat. 
  So far, the UN process has achieved almost the exact opposite of what it first set out to achieve at the Rio Earth Summit in 1992. Nick shows clearly that it is not Extinction Rebellion, Just Stop Oil nor any other climate protesters who are the extremists; the true extremists are the policymakers who consistently undermine faltering efforts to reduce emissions. Repeatedly claiming to be saving us whilst allowing carbon emissions to continue rising, governments have failed their people on climate. Nick shows us how, why and what we can do about it. 
  The public remains largely uninformed about climate change and, for the most part, those who seek to draw attention to the issue are seen as ‘crazy’. There remains a terrifying gap between scientific reality and political action. 
  Packed with his own experiences and insights from expert interviewees, Nick’s page-turning account is less about the intricacies of the science and more about the mainstream perception of how we are understanding and responding to the problem.

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