Natur

The authors explain why Mao launched the Cultural Revolution, and show his Machiavellian role in masterminding it (which Chinese publications conceal). In its critical analysis of Chairman Mao and its portrait of a culture in turmoil, this book offers the most authoritative and compelling account to date of this seminal event in Chinese history.

'To write a book that makes the reader sit in a trance, lost in his passionate desire to pack a suitcase and go to the fabulous place - that, in the end, is something one would give a sack of nutmeg for' Philip Hensher, The SpectatorIn 1616, an English adventurer, Nathaniel Courthope, stepped ashore on a remote island in the East Indies on a secret mission - to persuade the islanders of Run to grant a monopoly to England over their nutmeg, a fabulously valuable spice in Europe. This infuriated the Dutch, who were determined to control the world's nutmeg supply. For five years Courthope and his band of thirty men were besieged by a force one hundred times greater - and his heroism set in motion the events that led to the founding of the greatest city on earth.A beautifully told adventure story and a fascinating depiction of exploration in the seventeenth century, NATHANIEL'S NUTMEG sheds a remarkable light on history

This book argues that we need to establish a relationship with the planet as a living entity in which we are indissolubly embedded - and to which we are all accountable.

Behind the great polar explorers of the early twentieth century - Amundsen, Shackleton, Scott in the South and Peary in the North - looms the spirit of Fridtjof Nansen (1861-1930), the mentor of them all. He was the father of modern polar exploration, the last act of territorial discovery before the leap into space began.Nansen was a prime illustration of Carlyle's dictum that 'the history of the world is but the biography of great men'. He was not merely a pioneer in the wildly diverse fields of oceanography and skiing, but one of the founders of neurology. A restless, unquiet Faustian spirit, Nansen was a Renaissance Man born out of his time into the new Norway of Ibsen and Grieg. He was an artist and historian, a diplomat who had dealings with Lenin, Trotsky and Stalin, and played a part in the Versailles Peace Conference, where he helped the Americans in their efforts to contain the Bolsheviks. He also undertook famine relief in Russia. Finally, working for the League of Nations as both High Commissioner for Refugees and High Commissioner for the Repatriation of Prisoners of War, he became the first of the modern media-conscious international civil servants.

'Everyone interested in the natural world will enjoy The Secret Life of Trees. I found myself reading out whole chunks to friends' The Times, Books of the YearWhat is a tree? As this celebration of the trees shows, they are our countryside; our ancestors descended from them; they gave us air to breathe. Yet while the stories of trees are as plentiful as leaves in a forest, they are rarely told. Here, Colin Tudge travels from his own back garden round the world to explore the beauty, variety and ingenuity of trees everywhere: from how they live so long to how they talk to each other and why they came to exist in the first place. Lyrical and evocative, this book will make everyone fall in love with the trees around them.

In 1999, Conrad Anker found the body of George Mallory on Mount Everest, casting an entirely new light on the mystery of the lost explorer.On 8 June 1924, George Leigh Mallory and Andrew 'Sandy' Irvine were last seen climbing towards the summit of Everest. The clouds closed around them and they were lost to history, leaving the world to wonder whether or not they actually reached the summit - some 29 years before Edmund Hillary and Tensing Norgay.On 1 May 1999, Conrad Anker, one of the world's foremost mountaineers, made the momentous discovery - Mallory's body, lying frozen into the scree at 27,000 feet on Everest's north face. Recounting this day, the authors go on to assess the clues provided by the body, its position, and the possibility that Mallory had successfully climbed the Second Step, a 90-foot sheer cliff that is the single hardest obstacle on the north face. A remarkable story of a charming and immensely able man, told by an equally talented modern climber.

This final volume in the Eco-technology series deals with generation of energy using Nature's enormous potential.

A fascinating account of how promoters of multi-billion dollar megaprojects systematically and self-servingly misinform parliaments, the public and the media in order to get projects approved and built. The authors not only explore problems but also suggest practical solutions drawing on theory and evidence from the hundreds of projects studied.

At the beginning of the twentieth century, the South Pole was the most coveted prize in the fiercely nationalistic modern age of exploration. In the brilliant dual biography, the award-winning writer Roland Huntford re-examines every detail of the great race to the South Pole between Britain's Robert Scott and Norway's Roald Amundsen. Scott, who dies along with four of his men only eleven miles from his next cache of supplies, became Britain's beloved failure, while Amundsen, who not only beat Scott to the Pole but returned alive, was largely forgotten. This account of their race is a gripping, highly readable history that captures the driving ambitions of the era and the complex, often deeply flawed men who were charged with carrying them out.THE LAST PLACE ON EARTH is the first of Huntford's masterly trilogy of polar biographies. It is also the only work on the subject in the English language based on the original Norwegian sources, to which Huntford returned to revise and update this edition.

In this book Stephen Jay Gould explores what the Burgess Shale might tell us about evolution and the nature of history. The Darwinian theory of evolution is a well-known, well-explored area.

Austrian naturalist Viktor Schauberger (1885-1958) was far ahead of his time. From his unusually detailed observations of the natural world, he pioneered a completely new understanding of how nature works. He also foresaw, and tried to warn against, the global waste and ecological destruction of our age. This book describes and explains Schauberger's insights in contemporary, accessible language. His remarkable discoveries -- which address issues such as sick water, ailing forests, climate change and, above all, renewable energy -- have dramatic implications for how we should work with nature and its resources.

In 1940 Steinbeck sailed in a sardine boat with his great friend the marine biologist, Ed Ricketts, to collect marine invertebrates from the beaches of the Gulf of California. The expedition was described by the two men in SEA OF CORTEZ, published in 1941. The day-to-day story of the trip is told here in the Log, which combines science, philosophy and high-spirited adventure. An exhilarating and highly entertaining read.

In this classic of American literature, Thoreau gives an account of his two years' experience of the 'simple life' in the woods, telling how he sought and found material and spiritual sustenance in the solitude of the cabin which he built for himself on the shore of Walden Pond, near Concord, Massachusetts.

CLICK HERE TO DOWNLOAD ARTWORK This concise introductory text provides a complete overview of biodiversity - what it is, how it arose, its distribution, why it is important, human impact upon it, and what should be done to maintain it.

It is easy to feel helpless in the face of the torrent of information about environmental catastrophes taking place all over the world. In this powerful and provocative book, Scottish writer and campaigner Alastair McIntosh shows how it is still possible for individuals and communities to take on the might of corporate power and emerge victorious. As a founder of the Isle of Eigg Trust, McIntosh helped the beleaguered residents of Eigg to become the first Scottish community ever to clear their laird from his own estate. And plans to turn a majestic Hebridean mountain into a superquarry were overturned after McIntosh persuaded a Native American warrior chief to visit the Isle of Harris and testify at the government inquiry. This extraordinary book weaves together theology, mythology, economics, ecology, history, poetics and politics as the author journeys towards a radical new philosophy of community, spirit and place. His daring and imaginative responses to the destruction of the natural world make Soil and Soul an uplifting, inspirational and often richly humorous read.

This edition does not include illustrations.The authorised biography of the great naturalist and conservationist Gerald Durrell, who died aged seventy in January 1995 in Jersey, where he founded the zoo he'd dreamed of as a small boy and pioneered the captive breeding of animals for conservation.Gerald Durrell was a world-famous naturalist and popular author who wrote, in all, some thirty-seven immensely readable yarns, including the bestselling 'My Family and Other Animals'. His other books include 'Birds, Beasts and Relatives', 'The Bafut Beagles' and 'A Zoo in My Luggage'.Above all, he paved the way in print for the popular presentation of the natural world on television and presented twelve series himself - the early ones, of his own expeditions. Sir David Attenborough has said: 'He was responsible for changing people's attitudes to zoology and changing their agenda. He showed them small animals could be as interesting as apes and elephants...He was a pioneer with a marvellous sense of humour.'His brother was the famous writer Lawrence Durrell.

In 1524, Italian explorer Giovanni da Verrazano was sent by the King Francis I of France on an expedition to find a shorter route to China. However, his true mission may have been to contact a Templar colony that might have been established in Newport, Rhode Island, at the end of the 14th century.

'Man and the Natural World, an encyclopaedic study of man's relationship to animals and plants, is completely engrossing ... It explains everything - why we eat what we do, why we plant this and not that, why we keep pets, why we like some animals and not others, why we kill the things we kill and love the things we love ... It is often a funny book and one to read again and again' Paul Theroux, Sunday Times 'The English historian Keith Thomas has revealed modes of thought and ways of life deeply strange to us' Hilary Mantel, New York Review of Books'A treasury of unusual historical anecdote ... a delight to read and a pleasure to own' Auberon Waugh, Sunday Telegraph'A dense and rich work ... the return to the grass roots of our own environmental convictions is made by the most enchantingly minor paths' Ronald Blythe, Guardian

Floras Blomsterbog er tiltænkt "Blomsten af Danmarks ungdom". Den kan læses af store børn og gerne sammen med blomsterinteresserede bedstemødre og forklarende forældre.

En rovfugl på ruden sikrer, at havens småfugle ikke flyver mod vinduesglasset og bliver dræbt. Silhuetten er af vejrbestandig, selvklæbende plastfolie med mange års holdbarhed. Den monteres på ydersiden af ruden:Brug røde silhouetter hvis problemet er, at havens træer og buske spejler sig i vinduesglasset.Brug sorte silhouetter hvis der er vinduer på begge sider af en bygning, så fuglene tror, at de kan flyve lige igennem.Rovfuglen baserer sig på den velafprøvede Pinus-model, der gennem årtier har solgt over 70.000 stk. gennem boghandlerbutikker i Danmark.

Ferns are plants of discreet appearance and modest requirements; they have no showy flowers and generally lead an unobtrusive existence. However, to the attentive observer they have a special appeal, each species having its own personality, be it graceful, delicate, rugged, or bizarre. Their individual character is usually due to subtly transformed repetition, gradual elaboration or simplification of a characteristic basic form, leading to patterns of great elegance.Ferns are different from flowering plants in their dispersal and reproductive biology and this affects their role and possibilities in nature. Scandinavia offers a great variety of fern habitats and its Flora counts 72 species of ferns and fern-allies in addition several varieties and hybrids, many of them with remarkable life histories and adaptations to unusual environments. Most of the species are not restricted to Scandinavia, but several are particular to Scandinavia in a European context.This book is the first to be dedicated to the Scandinavian ferns and the so-called fern-allies. It aims to tell their natural history as well as asking some of the questions the ferns may give us. It includes numerous colour plates, virtually all painted from living plants in the natural habitats. Decides descriptions of the species and keys to identify them, the text also deals with the variability of the species, their reproduction, geographic distribution, ecology, practical and ritual uses, and the origin and meaning of names, often reflecting old superstition and folklore. The book aims to convey the enjoyable and interesting experiences one may have with these fascinating plants, to give insight in their life histories, and, hopefully, to inspire the reader to go out and discover.Table of contents: Introduction - Descriptions of the families and species - Lycopodiaceae – Selaginellaceae - Isoëtaceae - Equisetaceae – Ophioglossaceae – Osmundaceae - Adiantaceae – Polypodiaceae – Hymenophyllaceae – Dennstaedtiaceae – Thelypteridaceae – Aspleniaceae – Woodsiaceae – Dryopteridaceae – Blechnaceae – Marsileaceae – Azollaceae – Glossary – Literature references – Index.Soft cover, 318 pages including an index. Large format, approx. 25,5 x 34 cm. (1993)The author, Benjamin Ølgaard, mag.scient. (born 1949), was associate professor at the Institute of Biological Sciences, Aarhus University, Denmark (today: Emeritus, department of Bioscience). He has taught university courses on taxonomic and general botany, on plant geography and trophical botany. His research deals mainly with the biology, geography, and taxonomy of the ferns and fern allies, particularly the family Lycopodiaceae, and with the composition and structure of tropical forests, particularly the montane forests of Ecuador. He has undertaken extensive fieldwork in Ecuador as well as in Scandinavia, and carried out research at several botanical institutions in Europe and the United States.The artist, Kirsten Tind, born in Copenhagen 1943, has studied botanical illustration at the Hunt Library for Botanical Documentation, Pittsburgh, USA.Over the years she has made numerous botanical illustrations in scientific journals and books, and in “Den store Danske Encyclopædi” (22 volumes). She has illustrated tropical plants for the journals “Flora of Ecuador” and “Flora of Thailand”. Additionally, she has contributed with some of the line drawings in the Danish flora book, “Dansk Feltflora” and numerous other publications.

This book spells out a new framework for humanitarian aid in the long emergency of climate change. Looking ahead to the massive needs of the late 2020s and the 2030s, Hugo Slim shows how current ethics and action in the sector are necessary, but not sufficient, for the new moral and operational challenges of our planetary crisis. Humanitarianism 2.0 offers a series of practical ethical pathways for aid workers and organisations to reimagine and redesign their purpose in the increasing number of climate-related disasters around the world. Slim expands the fundamental principle of humanity to include the protection of nature in humanitarian ethics, and also faces up to the hard challenge of impartiality and prioritisation in a universal emergency. He then recognises anticipation, adaptation, mitigation and locally led aid as humanitarian obligations in climate-related disasters. Like everything else in the climate and nature crisis, humanitarian ethics need adaptation. Slim's bold, smart and much-needed proposals show the way.

A sublime bedside poetry companion for every autumn evening.

'A beautiful book' - Tristan GooleyThe United Kingdom is home to no fewer than 15 national parks. These astonishingly diverse locations range from the sub-arctic mountains of the Cairngorms in Scotland to the ancient woodlands and vineyards of England's South Downs; from the dramatic Pembrokeshire coast in Wales to the UNESCO World Heritage Site of the Lake District. Home to some of our most precious wildlife, the national parks of the UK were created to protect our cultural heritage and strengthen our connection with nature. This inspirational journey through the parks captures the spirit of the British landscape and contains almost 200 stunning photographs. Sales of this publication support the work of National Parks UK to improve, protect or enhance the National Parks together with programmes that connect people and communities with these special landscapes.

Within these pages you will find line drawings based on watercolor and oil-on-paper paintings by Christina Allen.