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Natural History

Large 9780008469658

What If We Stopped Pretending? by Jonathan Franzen

$12.99 AUD

Available Stock:
16

Category: Climate

The climate crisis is here. Our chance to stop it has come and gone, but this doesn't have to mean the world is ending. 'Today, the scientific evidence verges on irrefutable. If you're younger than sixty, you have a good chance of witnessing the radical destabilization of life on earth--massive crop fa ilures, apocalyptic fires, imploding economies, epic flooding, hundreds of millions of refugees fleeing regions made uninhabitable by extreme heat or permanent drought. If you're under thirty, you're all but guaranteed to witness it. If you care about the planet, and about the people and animals who live on it, there are two ways to think about this. You can keep on hoping that catastrophe is preventable, and feel ever more frustrated or enraged by the world's inaction. Or you can accept that disaster is coming, and begin to rethink what it means to have hope.' This is Jonathan Franzen's controversial New Yorker essay, published as a single volume that discusses a planet on the cusp of and what and how individuals can respond to that. ...Show more

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Large 9781760878450

Dead in the Water: A Very Angry Book about Our Greatest Environmental Catastrophe... the Death of the Murray-Darling Basin by Richard Beasley

$29.99 AUD

Available Stock:
6

Category: Climate

Full-throated and provocative, this is a very personal battle cry to save our most precious natural resource.   'I LOVE IT.' Peter FitzSimons'With a deft mixture of outrage, humour and in-depth knowledge, only Beasley could make water policy a page turner.' Craig Reucassel'It's great to shed some more light on the policy creep and mismanagement that is driving environmental degradation of many of the Murray-Darling Basin rivers.' Professor Richard Kingsford, Wentworth Group of Concerned Scientists'We want to reset these bio-diversities and the ecologies in our country. We want to see our fish spawning as they once were, our animals coming back down to drink. Fresh quality water out of the Coorong, not this super saline stuff that we're living in today's environment. It's slowly dying. You can smell the impact of what's happening . . .' Grant Rigney, Ngarrindjeri Nation, from his sworn evidence at the Royal Commission into the Murray-Darling Basin.Richard Beasley is fed up. He's fed up with vested interests killing off Australia's most precious water resource. He's fed up with the cowardice and negligence that have allowed Big Agriculture and irrigators to destroy a river system that can sustain both the environment and the communities that depend on it. He's fed up that a noble plan to save Murray-Darling Basin based on the 'best scientific knowledge' has instead been corroded by lies, the denial of climate change, pseudoscience and political expediency.He pulls no punches. He's provocative, he's outrageous, he points the finger without shame. And he will leave you very, very angry. Dead in the Water would be political satire of the highest order . . . if it weren't so tragically true ...Show more

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Large 9781472943262

The Edge of Memory - Ancient Stories, Oral Tradition and the Post-Glacial World by Patrick Nunn

$29.99 AUD

Available Stock:
2

Category: Natural History

We all know those stories that have been told in our families for generations. The ones that start 'Have I ever told you about your great-great-uncle...?'  In some cultures these stories have been passed down for thousands of years and often reveal significant information about how the surrounding envi ronment has changed and the effect it has had on societies - from stories referring to coastal drowning to the devastation caused by meteorite falls. Among the most extensive and best analysed of these stories are from native Australian cultures.  People arrived in Australia more than 60,000 years ago, and the need to survive led to the development of knowledge that was captured orally in stories passed down through the generations. These stories conveyed both practical information and recorded history, and they frequently made reference to a coastline that was very different to the one we recognise today. In at least 21 different communities along the fringe of Australia, flood stories were recorded by European anthropologists, missionaries and others.  It's only relatively recently that these stories have been recognised as more or less the same. They described a lost landscape that is now under as much as 100 feet of ocean. And these folk traditions are backed up by hard science. Geologists are now starting to corroborate the tales through study of climatic data, sediments and land forms; the evidence was there in the stories, but until recently, nobody was listening.  Using Australia as a springboard, this book explores the science in folk history. It looks at other ancient tales and traditions that may in all probability be rooted in scientifically verifiable fact and can be explored via geological evidence, such as the biblical flood. Nowadays the majority of our historical knowledge comes from the written word, but in The Edge of Memory, Patrick Nunn explores the largely untapped resource of the collective human memory that is held in stories. This important book explores the wider implications for our knowledge of how human society has developed through the millennia. ...Show more

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Large 9780008216214

Peregrine, The by J. A. Baker

$27.99 AUD

Available Stock:
3

Category: Natural History | Reading Level: very good

Reissue of J. A. Baker's extraordinary classic of British nature writing, with an exclusive new afterword by Robert Macfarlane. Despite the association of peregrines with the wild, outer reaches of the British Isles, The Peregrine is set on the flat marshes of the Essex coast, where J A Baker spent a lo ng winter looking and writing about the visitors from the uplands - peregrines that spend the winter hunting the huge flocks of pigeons and waders that share the desolate landscape with them. Such luminaries as Ted Hughes and Andrew Motion have cited this as one of the most important books in 20th Century nature writing, and the bestselling nature writer Mark Cocker has provided an introduction on the importance of Baker and his work. Among fragments of letters to Baker was one from a reader who praised a piece that Baker had written in RSPB Birds magazine in 1971. Apart from a paper on peregrines which Baker wrote for the Essex Bird Report, this article - entitled On the Essex Coast - appears to be his only other published piece of writing, and, with the agreement of the RSPB, it has been included in this updated new paperback edition of Baker's astounding work. ...Show more

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Large 9781760525361

How to Talk about Climate Change in a Way That Makes a Difference by Rebecca Huntley

$32.99 AUD

Available Stock:
1

Category: Climate

A toolkit for understanding our emotional responses to climate change and how we can have meaningful conversations across dividing lines. 'The antidote to climate anxiety is action. Make your first action reading this book.' OSHER GUNSBERG'Rebecca Huntley has given us a great gift: an essential guide to understanding ourselves and each other as we face the climate crisis. Let's take down the walls that divide us. Collectively, with compassion and courage, we can make real change happen.' KYLIE KWONG'Explains whether and how we will choose to solve the climate problem. Immensely important analysis in a great read.' PROFESSOR ROSS GARNAUT Why is it so hard to talk about climate change?While scientists double down on the shocking figures, we still find ourselves unable to discuss climate change meaningfully among friends and neighbours - or even to grapple with it ourselves. The key to progress on climate change is in the psychology of human attitudes and our ability to change. Whether you're already alarmed and engaged with the issue, concerned but disengaged, a passive skeptic or an active denier, understanding our emotional reactions to climate change - why it makes us anxious, fearful, angry or detached - is critical to coping on an individual level and convincing each other to act.This book is about understanding why people who aren't like you feel the way they do and learning to talk to them effectively. What we need are thousands - millions - of everyday conversations about the climate to enlarge the ranks of the concerned, engage the disengaged and persuade the cautious of the need for action. ...Show more

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Large 9781782117735

The Abundance by Annie Dillard

$22.99 AUD

Available Stock:
1

Category: Natural History | Series: Canons

Annie Dillard has spent a lifetime examining the world around her with eyes wide open, drinking in all things intensely and relentlessly. Whether observing a sublime lunar eclipse or a moth consumed in a candle flame, the trembling of lily pads on a pond or hundreds of red-winged blackbirds taking fligh t, Dillard's awe at the fragility of the natural world rejuvenates and inspires pleasure and heartache. Precise in language and deeply meditative in spirit, this is a landmark collection from one of America's masters. ...Show more

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Large 9781789544183

The Human Swarm - How Our Societies Arise, Thrive, and Fall by Mark W. Moffett

$24.99 AUD

Available Stock:
3

Category: Natural History

The epic story and ultimate big history of how human society evolved from intimate chimp communities into the sprawling civilizations of a world-dominating species   If a chimpanzee ventures into the territory of a different group, it will almost certainly be killed. But a New Yorker can fly to Los An geles--or Borneo--with very little fear. Psychologists have done little to explain this: for years, they have held that our biology puts a hard upper limit--about 150 people--on the size of our social groups. But human societies are in fact vastly larger. How do we manage--by and large--to get along with each other?   In this paradigm-shattering book, biologist Mark W. Moffett draws on findings in psychology, sociology and anthropology to explain the social adaptations that bind societies. He explores how the tension between identity and anonymity defines how societies develop, function, and fail. Surpassing Guns, Germs, and Steel and Sapiens, The Human Swarm reveals how mankind created sprawling civilizations of unrivaled complexity--and what it will take to sustain them. ...Show more

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Large 9780008100735

The Well Gardened Mind by Sue Stuart-Smith

$24.99 AUD

Available Stock:
3

Category: Natural History

'The wisest book I've read for many years ... Much more than a gardening book, much more than a guide to mental health ... Hugely recommended' Stephen Fry THE SUNDAY TIMES BESTSELLER How can getting outdoors help us to look after our mental health? In a powerful combination of contemporary neuroscien ce, psychoanalysis and brilliant storytelling, The Well Gardened Mind investigates the magic that many gardeners have known for years - working with nature can radically transform our health, wellbeing and confidence. Prisoners given the chance to grow plants are less likely to reoffend. At-risk young people who get their hands in the soil are more likely to stay in education. Elderly people who garden live longer and have a better quality of life. Sue Stuart-Smith tells brilliant, illuminating stories of people struggling with stress, depression, trauma and addiction, from asylum seekers to veterans, inner-city young people to the retired. This is a glorious book of science, insight and anecdote that shows how our understanding of nature and its restorative powers is only just beginning to flower. 'An important and timely book ... Beautifully written, drawing on a lifetime's experience as both a clinician and a gardener, and I urge everyone to read it' MONTY DON 'Riveting, inspiring and often very moving ... A lively, compassionate exhortation for us all to get our hands back in the soil' ISABELLA TREE 'A compelling and deeply moving account of how profoundly our wellbeing can be affected through contact with gardening and the natural world ... Read it' EDMUND DE WAAL ...Show more

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Large 9780008226299

Other Minds: The Octopus and the Evolution of Intelligent Life by Peter Godfrey-Smith

$19.99 AUD

Available Stock:
2

Category: Natural History | Reading Level: very good

'Brilliant' GuardianWaterstones Non-Fiction Book of the Month (March) SHORTLISTED FOR THE 2017 ROYAL SOCIETY SCIENCE BOOK PRIZE What if intelligent life on Earth evolved not once, but twice? The octopus is the closest we will come to meeting an intelligent alien. What can we learn from the encounter? In Other Minds, Peter Godfrey-Smith, a distinguished philosopher of science and a skilled scuba diver, tells a bold new story of how nature became aware of itself - a story that largely occurs in the ocean, where animals first appeared. Tracking the mind's fitful development from unruly clumps of seaborne cells to the first evolved nervous systems in ancient relatives of jellyfish, he explores the incredible evolutionary journey of the cephalopods, which began as inconspicuous molluscs who would later abandon their shells to rise above the ocean floor, searching for prey and acquiring the greater intelligence needed to do so - a journey completely independent from the route that mammals and birds would later take. But what kind of intelligence do cephalopods possess? How did the octopus, a solitary creature with little social life, become so smart? What is it like to have eight tentacles that are so packed with neurons that they virtually 'think for themselves'? By tracing the question of inner life back to its roots and comparing human beings with our most remarkable animal relatives, Godfrey-Smith casts crucial new light on the octopus mind - and on our own. ...Show more

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Large 9781472983923

Our Only Home by Dalai Lama XIV

$29.99 AUD

Available Stock:
3

Category: Climate

Saving the environment is our collective duty. With each passing day, climate change is causing Pacific islands to disappear into the sea, accelerating the extinction of species at alarming proportions and aggravating a water shortage that has affected the entire European continent. In short, climate ch ange can no longer be denied - it threatens our existence on earth.In this inspiring new book, the Dalai Lama, one of the most influential figures of our time, calls on political decision-makers to finally fight against deadlock and ignorance on this issue. He argues that we all need to stand up for a different and more climate-friendly world, and to allow the younger generation to assert their right to regain their future.From the voice of the beloved world religious leader comes this eye-opening manifesto that empowers the generation of today to step up, take action and protect our world. ...Show more

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Large 9781486308163

Tawny Frogmouth by Gisela Kaplan

$39.99 AUD

Available Stock:
1

Category: Natural History

The tawny frogmouth is one of Australia's most intriguing and endearing birds. Written by award-winning author Gisela Kaplan, one of Australia's leading authorities on animal behaviour and native birds, this second edition of Tawny Frogmouth presents an easy-to-read account of these unique nocturnal bir ds, which can be found across almost the entire continent. Fully revised and updated throughout, this book combines 20 years of systematic observation with published research and information from regional surveys, and represents the most comprehensive single study ever conducted on tawny frogmouths.We learn that tawny frogmouths are very affectionate, have close bonds with lifelong partners, scream like prowling tomcats when distressed, fight with lightning speed and defend nest sites from reptilian predators by mobbing and spraying pungent faeces at them. Uncompromising male fights are contrasted with the touching gentleness of males as fathers. We also learn how resilient and unusual tawny frogmouths are in the way they cope with heat and cold and scarcity of water, sit out danger, and use a large variety of food items.This fascinating book has a wide appeal to bird lovers, amateur ornithologists and naturalists, as well as those with a scientific or professional interest in native birds, their communication, emotions and skills. ...Show more

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Large 9780241448304

How to Avoid a Climate Disaster: The Solutions We Have and the Breakthroughs We Need by Bill Gates

$39.99 AUD

Available Stock:
3

Category: Climate

Bill Gates shares what he's learned in more than a decade of studying climate change and investing in innovations to address the problems, and sets out a vision for how the world can build the tools it needs to get to zero greenhouse gas emissions.   Bill Gates explains why he cares so deeply about cli mate change and what makes him optimistic that the world can prevent the worst impacts of the climate crisis. Gates says, "we can work on a local, national, and global level to build the technologies, businesses, and industries to avoid the worst impacts of climate change." His interest in climate change is a natural outgrowth of the efforts by his foundation to reduce poverty and disease. Climate change, according to Gates, will have the biggest impact on the people who have done the least to cause it. As a technologist, he has seen first-hand how innovation can change the world. By investing in research, inventing new technologies, and by deploying them quickly at large scale, Gates believes climate change can be addressed in meaningful ways. According to Gates, "to prevent the worst effects of climate change, we have to get to net-zero emissions of greenhouse gases. This problem is urgent, and the debate is complex, but I believe we can come together to invent new carbon-zero technologies, deploy the ones we have, and ultimately avoid a climate catastrophe." ...Show more

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