The Desert

The Desert PDF Author: Michael Welland
Publisher: Reaktion Books
ISBN: 1780233892
Category : Nature
Languages : en
Pages : 400

Get Book Here

Book Description
From endless sand dunes and prickly cacti to shimmering mirages and green oases, deserts evoke contradictory images in us. They are lands of desolation, but also of romance, of blistering Mojave heat and biting Gobi cold. Covering a quarter of the earth’s land mass and providing a home to half a billion people, they are both a physical reality and landscapes of the mind. The idea of the desert has long captured Western imagination, put on display in films and literature, but these portrayals often fail to capture the true scope and diversity of the people living there. Bridging the scientific and cultural gaps between perception and reality, The Desert celebrates our fascination with these arid lands and their inhabitants, as well as their importance both throughout history and in the world today. Covering an immense geographical range, Michael Welland wanders from the Sahara to the Atacama, depicting the often bizarre adaptations of plants and animals to these hostile environments. He also looks at these seemingly infertile landscapes in the context of their place in history—as the birthplaces not only of critical evolutionary adaptations, civilizations, and social progress, but also of ideologies. Telling the stories of the diverse peoples who call the desert home, he describes how people have survived there, their contributions to agricultural development, and their emphasis on water and its scarcity. He also delves into the allure of deserts and how they have been used in literature and film and their influence on fashion, art, and architecture. As Welland reveals, deserts may be difficult to define, but they play an active role in the evolution of our global climate and society at large, and their future is of the utmost importance. Entertaining, informative, and surprising, The Desert is an intriguing new look at these seemingly harsh and inhospitable landscapes.

The Desert

The Desert PDF Author: Michael Welland
Publisher: Reaktion Books
ISBN: 1780233892
Category : Nature
Languages : en
Pages : 400

Get Book Here

Book Description
From endless sand dunes and prickly cacti to shimmering mirages and green oases, deserts evoke contradictory images in us. They are lands of desolation, but also of romance, of blistering Mojave heat and biting Gobi cold. Covering a quarter of the earth’s land mass and providing a home to half a billion people, they are both a physical reality and landscapes of the mind. The idea of the desert has long captured Western imagination, put on display in films and literature, but these portrayals often fail to capture the true scope and diversity of the people living there. Bridging the scientific and cultural gaps between perception and reality, The Desert celebrates our fascination with these arid lands and their inhabitants, as well as their importance both throughout history and in the world today. Covering an immense geographical range, Michael Welland wanders from the Sahara to the Atacama, depicting the often bizarre adaptations of plants and animals to these hostile environments. He also looks at these seemingly infertile landscapes in the context of their place in history—as the birthplaces not only of critical evolutionary adaptations, civilizations, and social progress, but also of ideologies. Telling the stories of the diverse peoples who call the desert home, he describes how people have survived there, their contributions to agricultural development, and their emphasis on water and its scarcity. He also delves into the allure of deserts and how they have been used in literature and film and their influence on fashion, art, and architecture. As Welland reveals, deserts may be difficult to define, but they play an active role in the evolution of our global climate and society at large, and their future is of the utmost importance. Entertaining, informative, and surprising, The Desert is an intriguing new look at these seemingly harsh and inhospitable landscapes.

The World Atlas of Deserts and Drylands

The World Atlas of Deserts and Drylands PDF Author: David Thomas
Publisher: Princeton University Press
ISBN: 0691251975
Category : Nature
Languages : en
Pages : 400

Get Book Here

Book Description
A richly illustrated atlas of the world’s deserts and drylands, their ecosystems, and their environments Deserts and drylands account for more than 40 percent of land on our planet. Characterized by a lack of water and extreme temperatures, they are the result of atmospheric stability, large landmass characteristics, rain shadows, and cold ocean currents. They appear harsh and hostile, but deserts and drylands are also exceptionally beautiful environments. Desert ecosystems often teem with diverse forms of life that exhibit astonishing ingenuity in the face of such forbidding conditions. The World Atlas of Deserts and Drylands takes readers on a guided tour of some of the most awe-inspiring desert environments on Earth, explaining their environmental and ecological dynamics and describing the techniques used to categorize and map them. From the ever-expanding Gobi of Mongolia and China to the ancient Namib of coastal Africa, this is the ultimate reference book for deserts. Features a wealth of color photos, maps, and infographics Describes the resilient and complex biodiversity of the world’s desert and dryland terrains Covers subtropical deserts, continental deserts, rain shadow deserts, and ocean margin deserts Addresses the challenges posed by global warming and human activity, and discusses solutions and opportunities Written by a team of leading experts

The Ladies' Repository

The Ladies' Repository PDF Author:
Publisher:
ISBN:
Category :
Languages : en
Pages : 1070

Get Book Here

Book Description


The First Blade of Sweetgrass

The First Blade of Sweetgrass PDF Author: Suzanne Greenlaw
Publisher: Tilbury House Publishers and Cadent Publishing
ISBN: 0884487628
Category : Juvenile Fiction
Languages : en
Pages : 18

Get Book Here

Book Description
Selected for the Notable Social Studies 2022 List Named to ALA Notable Children's Books 2022 In this Own Voices Native American picture book story, a modern Wabanaki girl is excited to accompany her grandmother for the first time to harvest sweetgrass for basket making. Musquon must overcome her impatience while learning to distinguish sweetgrass from other salt marsh grasses, but slowly the spirit and peace of her surroundings speak to her, and she gathers sweetgrass as her ancestors have done for centuries, leaving the first blade she sees to grow for future generations. This sweet, authentic story from a Maliseet mother and her Passamaquoddy husband includes backmatter about traditional basket making and a Wabanaki glossary.

Desert Journal

Desert Journal PDF Author: Raymond B. Cowles
Publisher: Univ of California Press
ISBN: 0520324625
Category : Science
Languages : en
Pages : 286

Get Book Here

Book Description
This title is part of UC Press's Voices Revived program, which commemorates University of California Press’s mission to seek out and cultivate the brightest minds and give them voice, reach, and impact. Drawing on a backlist dating to 1893, Voices Revived makes high-quality, peer-reviewed scholarship accessible once again using print-on-demand technology. This title was originally published in 1977.

The Highway Magazine

The Highway Magazine PDF Author:
Publisher:
ISBN:
Category : Roads
Languages : en
Pages : 1170

Get Book Here

Book Description


Scientific American

Scientific American PDF Author:
Publisher:
ISBN:
Category : Science
Languages : en
Pages : 428

Get Book Here

Book Description


Etymological Dictionary of Grasses

Etymological Dictionary of Grasses PDF Author: Harold T. Clifford
Publisher: Springer Science & Business Media
ISBN: 3540384340
Category : Science
Languages : en
Pages : 329

Get Book Here

Book Description
The dictionary provides explanations of the meaning and origins of generic and specific names of grasses, one of the largest and economically most important plant families. There are about 15,000 entries which far exceeds in number those of any other dictionary in print. Most of the names published during the past 250 years are included. This work should be of value to a wide audience including ecologists, agronomists, and anthropologists.

Cassell's Book of Birds

Cassell's Book of Birds PDF Author: Thomas Rymer Jones
Publisher: BoD – Books on Demand
ISBN: 3385212960
Category :
Languages : en
Pages : 326

Get Book Here

Book Description


Cassell's Book of Birds

Cassell's Book of Birds PDF Author: Alfred Edmund Brehm
Publisher: BoD – Books on Demand
ISBN: 3385365813
Category : Fiction
Languages : en
Pages : 318

Get Book Here

Book Description
Reprint of the original, first published in 1875.