Natural Science

Among scientists who write, no one illuminates as well as Stephen Jay Gould does the wonderful workings of the natural world. Now in a new volume of collected essays—his sixth since Ever Since Darwin—Gould speaks of the importance of unbroken connections within our own lives and to our ancestral generations. Along with way, he opens to us the mysteries of fish tails, frog calls, and other matters, and shows once and for all why we must take notice when a seemingly insignificant creature is threatened, like the land snail Partula from Moorea, whose extinction he movingly relates.

At 5:12 a.m. on the morning of April 18, 1906, San Francisco was struck by one of the worst earthquakes in history, instantly killing hundreds. This watershed event in American history has never before been told with the richness of historical detail and insight that our foremost historian of fire, Dennis Smith, brings to it in San Francisco Is Burning. Smith cinematically recounts this terrible tragedy through the stories of the people who lived through those terrible days...

Rivers, more than any road, technology, or political leader, have shaped the course of human civilization. They have opened frontiers, founded cities, settled borders, and fed billions. They promote life, forge peace, grant power, and can capriciously destroy everything in their path. Even today, rivers remain a powerful global force - one that is more critical than ever to our future. In Rivers of Power, geographer Laurence C. Smith explores the timeless yet underappreciated relationship between rivers and civilization as we know it.

Bees are small, yet their impact on the world is enormous. They may weigh less than a paperclip and live only a matter of weeks, but they hold the power to shape ecosystems, economies, and even the food on our plates. Without them, fields would fall silent, harvests would collapse, and the dazzling diversity of life we so often take for granted would fade into memory. This book is a journey into the remarkable world of bees, exploring their hidden importance and why our future is so closely tied to theirs.

For weeks, something’s been...off. I can’t explain it, but it’s as if I’m being watched. Suddenly, I’m a statistic - snatched off the street and thrown in a trunk by a terrifying man who turns into a wolf. His wolf wants me dead, yet something draws me to this broken man. We share an indescribable attraction, and my touch may be enough to heal his beast’s psychotic mind. But the Supernatural Forces doesn’t believe in second chances, and the SF always catches the rogue werewolves. And when they do, if I can’t prove Collin’s worth saving...they’ll kill him.

Fibromyalgia is characterised by fatigue, muscle aches, wandering chronic pains, depression, and anxiety. It often develops slowly, usually over several years. This book will help you to understand the symptoms of fibromyalgia and provides tools you can use to feel better.

A desperate scientist's radical attempt to cure his dying daughter unleashes an ancient, predatory potential within humanity, forcing him to confront a shadowy conspiracy and the monstrous consequences of playing God before his creation reshapes the world. Dr. Marcel Johnston, a brilliant scientist driven by the imminent loss of his terminally ill daughter, Calista, stakes everything on Project Fledge—a revolutionary serum designed to unlock humanity's ultimate potential and conquer disease.

In the future, the world is at peace with the first African American woman president, Amelia Mirari, as acting world leader. A comet has hit the rings of Saturn, allowing three moons to be released into space on a collision course with our planet. At about the same time, a new paranormal mystery affects two percent of the world population, bringing the world back into chaos. Two abandoned sisters, Eliza and Lolita, through courage and embracing their vulnerability, use their powerful connection and loyalty for each other to survive.

Bioethics and the Human Goods offers students and general listeners a brief introduction to bioethics from a "natural law" philosophical perspective. This perspective, which traces its origins to classical antiquity, has profoundly shaped Western ethics and law and is enjoying an exciting renaissance. While compatible with much in the ethical thought of the great religions, it is grounded in reason, not religion.

They shed their skin at midnight and ride the sleeping... In the shadowy corners of Louisiana's bayous, an ancient terror still prowls. The Boo Hag—a shapeshifting spirit that slips from its skin to torment the innocent—represents one of America's most enduring supernatural traditions, rooted in the profound spiritual heritage of enslaved Africans. Anthropologist David G. Stone takes listeners on a haunting journey through centuries of hidden folklore, revealing how these malevolent spirits evolved from West African cosmology into distinctly American entities.

Moral Ground brings together the testimony of over eighty visionaries, theologians and religious leaders, scientists, elected officials, business leaders, naturalists, activists, and writers to present a diverse and compelling call to honor our individual and collective moral responsibility to our planet. In the face of environmental degradation and global climate change, scientific knowledge alone does not tell us what we ought to do.

David Hume (1711-1776) remains one of the most stimulating and entertaining writers in the English essay tradition. Though primarily known for long-form writings, he was adept at taking one subject and looking at it in a more concise but accessible manner.

Nate Temple and his pal, Alucard, just want a little peace and quiet after the events of Tiny Gods, but it just isn't in the cards for them. Tory leaves town and asks them to watch over the rebellious Reds. But they have other plans. When love is in the air, there is nothing a teenager wouldn't do. And there is nothing a dad wouldn't do to keep them safe. Even if it involves a Johnson Beaver concert, a magical djinn, and a herd of centaurs.

For more than twenty-five years, paleontologist Stephen Jay Gould wrote a column called "The View of Life" for Natural History magazine. More than thirty entries from that column comprise this collection, which covers topics from dinosaurs to baseball and nearly everything in between related to natural history and evolution.

How deep do sharks swim? Have more people been into space than the deep ocean? And what effect are we having on the health of our seas? In Ask an Ocean Explorer, marine biologist of over 20 years and advisor for the BBC's Blue Planet II, Dr Jon Copley, explains the science and wonder of the deep ocean.

Humans depend on soil for 95 percent of global food production, yet let it erode at unsustainable rates. In the United States, China, and India, vast tracts of farmland will be barren of topsoil within this century. The combination of intensifying erosion caused by climate change and the increasing food needs of a growing world population is creating a desperate need for solutions to this crisis.

Bedbugs. Few words strike such fear in the minds of travelers. In cities around the world, lurking beneath the plush blankets of otherwise pristine-looking hotel beds, are tiny, bloodthirsty beasts just waiting for weary wanderers to surrender to vulnerable slumber. Though bedbugs today have infested the globe, the common bedbug is not a new pest at all. Indeed, as Brooke Borel reveals in this unusual history, this most-reviled species may date back over 250,000 years.

Enjoy this fun, spicy urban-fantasy cozy-mystery series! From the authors of the Mythverse and Powers of the Zodiac paranormal series. This boxset includes the prequel novella and books 1-3 in the Down & Dirty Supernatural Cleaning Services, an all-new paranormal mystery series filled with laughs and romance!

In October 2014, a group of mathematicians, physicists, ecologists, philosophers, and theologians gathered at a special conference in Berkeley, California, to present the results of a two-year research program dubbed “Project SATURN”. This program explored many of the rich avenues of thought found at the intersection of modern science and Christian theology. Chief among them is the possibility that certain processes in nature might be so complex that they do not have sufficient physical causes.

A demon attack leads us to Glinda. The dark witch with more blood on her hands than anyone on the Council wants to admit. While I’m trying to track her down, and find Brutus before someone else does, the Council betrays me. They hire a bounty hunter to take out my dragon. But this hunter is not what anyone expected. Least of all me. Now I’m being hunted by demons, witches, and one man with a reputation for killing the unkillable. Can I outsmart them all or am I about to lose my five-ton scaled baby?