Other books that might interest you

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  Chasing Kangaroos - A Continent...

  Tim Flannery

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  The internationally acclaimed author of The Weather Makers crafts a love letter to his native land and one of its most unique inhabitants: the kangaroo.   Drawing on three decades of travel, research, and field work, Tim Flannery shows us how the destiny of the extraordinary kangaroo is inseparable from the environment that created it. Along the way he uses encounters with ancient aboriginal cultures, eccentric fossil hunters, farmers, scientists, kangaroo advocates, and kangaroo hunters, to explore how Australia’s deserts and rain forests have shaped human responses to the continent—and how kangaroos have evolved to handle the resulting challenges. Ultimately, Chasing Kangaroos is a captivating blend of memoir, travel, natural history, and evolutionary science—and further proof of Flannery’s “offhand interdisciplinary brilliance” (Entertainment Weekly).   “Absorbing, funny, and wonderfully learned.” —Bill Bryson, New York Times–bestselling author of A Walk in the Woods

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  Battles and Battlefields of...

  C. Jacob Butera, Matthew A. Sears

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  “This useful work will appeal to a wide audience, from military buffs to historically minded tourists (and their guides), to students and scholars.” —Choice   Greece was the scene of some of the most evocative and decisive battles in the ancient world. This volume brings together the ancient evidence and modern scholarship on twenty battlefields throughout Greece. It is a handy resource for visitors of every level of experience, from the member of a guided tour to the veteran military historian.   The introductory chapter outlines some of the most pressing and interesting issues in the study of Ancient Greek battles and battlefields and offers a crash course on ancient warfare. Twenty lively chapters explore battlefields selected for both their historical importance and their inspiring sites. In addition to accessible overviews of each battle, this book provides all the information needed for an intellectually and aesthetically rewarding visit, including transport and travel details, museum overviews, and further reading.

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  Enlightened Adventures The Art...

  Niina Niskanen

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  Slow travel is a mindset and approach to travel that focuses on immersing oneself in the local culture and environment, rather than just ticking off tourist attractions. It involves taking time to explore a destination at a leisurely pace, savoring the moments and experiences along the way. Slow travel often involves traveling by train, bike, or on foot, and staying in local accommodations or homes instead of hotels. This allows travelers to connect with the place and its people on a deeper level, fostering a more authentic and meaningful travel experience. It promotes sustainability, mindfulness, and a greater appreciation for the world around us. In this book, I will be sharing some of my own experiences with slow travel and the mind-shift changes that come with it.

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  All the Art That's Fit to Print...

  Jerelle Kraus

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  From the New York Times’s former Op-Ed art director, the true story of the world’s first Op-Ed page, a public platform that prefigured the blogosphere.    Jerelle Kraus, whose thirteen-year tenure as Op-Ed art director far exceeds that of any other art director or editor, unveils a riveting account of working at the Times. Her insider anecdotes include the reasons why artist Saul Steinberg hated the Times, why editor Howell Raines stopped the presses to kill a feature by Doonesbury’s Garry Trudeau, and why reporter Syd Schanburg—whose story was told in the movie The Killing Fields—stated that he would travel anywhere to see Kissinger hanged, as well as Kraus’s tale of surviving two and a half hours alone with the dethroned outlaw, Richard Nixon.  All the Art features a satiric portrayal of John McCain, a classic cartoon of Barack Obama by Jules Feiffer, and a drawing of Hillary Clinton and Obama by Barry Blitt. But when Frank Rich wrote a column discussing Hillary Clinton exclusively, the Times refused to allow Blitt to portray her. Nearly any notion is palatable in prose, yet editors perceive pictures as a far greater threat. Confucius underestimated the number of words an image is worth; the thousand-fold power of a picture is also its curse . . .  Features 142 artists from thirty nations and five continents, and 324 pictures—gleaned from a total of 30,000—that stir our cultural-political pot.  “To discover what really goes on inside the belly of the media beast, read this book.” —Bill Maher  “In this overflowing treasure chest of ideas, politics and cultural critiques, Kraus proves that “art is dangerous” and sometimes necessarily so.” —Publishers Weekly

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  Railroads in the Old South -...

  Aaron W. Marrs

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  An original history of the railroad in the Old South that challenges the accepted understanding of economic and industrial growth in antebellum America. 
   
  Drawing from both familiar and overlooked sources, such as the personal diaries of Southern travelers, papers and letters from civil engineers, corporate records, and contemporary newspaper accounts, Aaron W. Marrs skillfully expands on the conventional business histories that have characterized scholarship in this field. He situates railroads in the fullness of antebellum life, examining how slavery, technology, labor, social convention, and the environment shaped their evolution. 
   
  Far from seeing the Old South as backward and premodern, Marrs finds evidence of urban life, industry, and entrepreneurship throughout the region. But these signs of progress existed alongside efforts to preserve traditional ways of life. Railroads exemplified Southerners’ pursuit of progress on their own terms: developing modern transportation while retaining a conservative social order. 
   
  Railroads in the Old South demonstrates that a simple approach to the Old South fails to do justice to its complexity and contradictions. 
   
  “The time is right to bring the South into the story of the economic transformation of antebellum America. Aaron Marrs does this with force and grace in Railroads in the Old South.” —John L. Larson, Purdue University 
   
  “I am hard pressed to think of another volume that better catches the overall effect railroads had on the Old South.” —Kenneth W. Noe, Auburn University 
   
  “Interesting regional history . . . It is a thoughtful and instructive study that examines not only the pervasiveness of transportation but also some of the social, political, and economic consequences associated with the evolution of southern railroads.” —Choice

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  The Long and the Short of It -...

  Jonathan Silvertown

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  “[A] whimsical book on aging . . . the author mixes art, science, and humor to brew a highly readable concoction, presenting one aging theory after another.” —Publishers Weekly 
   
  Everything that lives will die. That’s the fundamental fact of life. But not everyone dies at the same age: people vary wildly in their patterns of aging and their life spans—and that variation is nothing compared to what’s found in other animal and plant species. 
   
  With The Long and the Short of It, biologist and writer Jonathan Silvertown offers readers a witty and fascinating tour through the scientific study of longevity and aging. Dividing his daunting subject by theme—death, life span, aging, heredity, evolution, and more—Silvertown draws on the latest scientific developments to paint a picture of what we know about how life span, senescence, and death vary within and across species. At every turn, he addresses fascinating questions that have far-reaching implications: What causes aging, and what determines the length of an individual life? What changes have caused the average human life span to increase so dramatically—fifteen minutes per hour—in the past two centuries? If evolution favors those who leave the most descendants, why haven’t we evolved to be immortal? 
   
  The answers to these puzzles and more emerge from close examination of the whole natural history of life span and aging, from fruit flies, nematodes, redwoods, and much more. The Long and the Short of It pairs a perpetually fascinating topic with a wholly engaging writer, and the result is a supremely accessible book that will reward curious readers of all ages. 
   
  “Captivating and enlightening.” —The New York Times Well Blog

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