Download or read book Atlas of Poetic Botany written by Francis Halle and published by National Geographic Books. This book was released on 2018-11-27 with total page 0 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: Botanical encounters in the rainforest: trees that walk, a leaf as big as an awning, a plant that dances. This Atlas invites the reader to tour the farthest reaches of the rainforest in search of exotic—poetic—plant life. Guided in these botanical encounters by Francis Hallé, who has spent forty years in pursuit of the strange and beautiful plant specimens of the rainforest, the reader discovers a plant with just one solitary, monumental leaf; an invasive hyacinth; a tree that walks; a parasitic laurel; and a dancing vine. Further explorations reveal the Rafflesia arnoldii, the biggest flower in the world, with a crown of stamens and pistils the color of rotten meat that exude the stench of garbage in the summer sun; underground trees with leaves that form a carpet on the ground above them; and the biggest tree in Africa, which can reach seventy meters (more tha 200 feet) in height, with a four-meter (about 13 feet) diameter. Hallé's drawings, many in color, provide a witty accompaniment. Like any good tour guide, Hallé tells stories to illustrate his facts. Readers learn about, among other things, Queen Victoria's rubber tree; legends of the moabi tree (for example, that powder from the bark confers invisibility); a flower that absorbs energy from a tree; plants that imitate other plants; a tree that rains; and a fern that clones itself. Hallé's drawings represent an investment in time that returns a dividend of wonder more satisfying than the ephemeral thrill afforded by the photograph. The Atlas of Poetic Botany allows us to be amazed by forms of life that seem as strange as visitors from another planet.
Download or read book Atlas of Perfumed Botany written by Jean-Claude Ellena and published by MIT Press. This book was released on 2022-04-05 with total page 167 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: A cartography of fragrance that charts the botany and geography of perfume composition. For perfume makers, each smell carries with it a multitude of associations and impressions that must be carefully analyzed and understood before the sum of all its parts emerges. All perfumers have their own idiosyncratic methods, drawn from their individual olfactory experiences, for classifying fragrances. In Atlas of Perfumed Botany, virtuoso perfumer Jean-Claude Ellena leads readers on a poetic, geographic, and botanical journey of perfume discovery. Ellena offers a varied and fascinating cartography of fragrances, tracing historical connections and cultural exchanges. Full-page entries on plants ranging from bergamot to lavender are accompanied by detailed and vivid full-color botanical illustrations.
Download or read book Atlas of Poetic Botany written by Francis Halle and published by National Geographic Books. This book was released on 2018-11-27 with total page 0 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: Botanical encounters in the rainforest: trees that walk, a leaf as big as an awning, a plant that dances. This Atlas invites the reader to tour the farthest reaches of the rainforest in search of exotic—poetic—plant life. Guided in these botanical encounters by Francis Hallé, who has spent forty years in pursuit of the strange and beautiful plant specimens of the rainforest, the reader discovers a plant with just one solitary, monumental leaf; an invasive hyacinth; a tree that walks; a parasitic laurel; and a dancing vine. Further explorations reveal the Rafflesia arnoldii, the biggest flower in the world, with a crown of stamens and pistils the color of rotten meat that exude the stench of garbage in the summer sun; underground trees with leaves that form a carpet on the ground above them; and the biggest tree in Africa, which can reach seventy meters (more tha 200 feet) in height, with a four-meter (about 13 feet) diameter. Hallé's drawings, many in color, provide a witty accompaniment. Like any good tour guide, Hallé tells stories to illustrate his facts. Readers learn about, among other things, Queen Victoria's rubber tree; legends of the moabi tree (for example, that powder from the bark confers invisibility); a flower that absorbs energy from a tree; plants that imitate other plants; a tree that rains; and a fern that clones itself. Hallé's drawings represent an investment in time that returns a dividend of wonder more satisfying than the ephemeral thrill afforded by the photograph. The Atlas of Poetic Botany allows us to be amazed by forms of life that seem as strange as visitors from another planet.
Download or read book Atlas of Poetic Zoology written by Emmanuelle Pouydebat and published by National Geographic Books. This book was released on 2019-05-07 with total page 0 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: A catalog of wonders, from walking fish to self-medicating chimpanzees. This Atlas of Poetic Zoology leads readers into a world of wonders where turtles fly under the sea, lizards walk on water, insects impersonate flowers, birds don't fly, frogs come back from the dead, and virgin sharks give birth. Animals, writes Emmanuelle Pouydebat, are lyric poets; they discover and shape the world when they sing, dance, explore, and reproduce. The animal kingdom has been evolving for millions of years, weathering many crises of extinction; this book allows us to draw inspiration from animals' enduring vitality. Pouydebat's text, accompanied by striking color illustrations by artist Julie Terrazzoni, offers a catalog of wondrous beings. Pouydebat describes the African bush elephant—the biggest land mammal of them all, but the evolutionary descendant of a tiny animal that stood less than fifty centimeters (nineteen inches) high sixty million years ago; the scaly, toothless pangolin, the world's most endangered mammal—and perhaps its most atypical; the red-lipped batfish, which walks, rather than swims, across the ocean floor; and the great black cockatoo, a gifted percussionist. Chimpanzees, she tells us, self-medicate with medicinal plants; the jellyfish, under stress, reverts to juvenile polyp-hood; and the sweetly named honey badger feeds on reptiles, termites, scorpions, and earthworms. Pouydebat, a researcher at the French Museum of Natural History, and Terrazzoni capture the astonishment promised by any excursion into nature—the happiness that comes from watching a dragonfly, spider, frog, lizard, elephant, parrot, mouse, orangutan, or ladybug. It's the joy of witnessing life itself. We need only open our eyes to see.
Download or read book Botanicum Medicinale written by Catherine Whitlock and published by MIT Press. This book was released on 2020-10-20 with total page 225 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: A beautifully illustrated, informative, and engaging guide to 100 plants used for medicinal purposes. Remedies derived from plants are the world's oldest medicines. Used extensively in China, India, and many African countries, herbal medicine has become increasingly popular in the West along with other holistic and alternative therapies. Botanicum Medicinale offers a modern guide to 100 medicinal plants, featuring beautiful, full-color botanical illustrations and informative, engaging text. Each entry describes the plant's classification and habitat, traditional and current medicinal uses, and an interesting fact or two. Readers will learn, for example, that absinthe, the highly alcoholic, vividly green potable, was traditionally flavored with bitter wormwood (Artemesia absinthium); that cannabis may have been used by Queen Victoria for menstrual pain; and that willow bark contains a chemical similar to aspirin. Detailed and striking artwork depicts each plant. The entries are arranged alphabetically—from Adonis vernalis (a perennial in the buttercup family) to Vinca minor (also known as the common periwinkle). The 100 plants featured in the book all have a long history of medicinal use or are the subject of new medical research. Many treat a range of conditions, from insomnia to indigestion. Some plants are lovely enough to be in a bridal bouquet; others are considered weeds. Cross-reference features at the end of the book connect specific medical conditions and the plants used to treat them.
Download or read book The Story of Life in 10 1 2 Species written by Marianne Taylor and published by MIT Press. This book was released on 2020-10-20 with total page 257 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: Souvenirs of the planet: Ten (and a half) life forms, each of which explains a key aspect of life on Earth. If an alien visitor were to collect ten souvenir life forms to represent life on earth, which would they be? This is the thought-provoking premise of Marianne Taylor's The Story of Life in 10 and a Half Species. Each life forms explains a key aspect about life on Earth. From the sponge that seems to be a plant but is really an animal to the almost extinct soft-shelled turtle deemed extremely unique and therefore extremely precious, these examples reveal how life itself is arranged across time and space, and how humanity increasingly dominates that vision. Taylor, a prolific science writer, considers the chemistry of a green plant and ponders the possibility of life beyond our world; investigates the virus in an attempt to determine what a life form is; and wonders if the human—“a distinct and very dominant species with an inevitably biased view of life”— could evolve in a new direction. She tells us that the giraffe was one species, but is now four; that the dusky seaside sparrow may be revived through “re-evolution,” or cloning; explains the significance of Darwin's finch to evolution; and much more. The “half” species is artificial intelligence. Itself an experiment to understand and model life, AI is central to our future—although from the alien visitor's standpoint, unlikely to inherit the earth in the long run.
Download or read book Passion Flowers written by John Vanderplank and published by Mit Press. This book was released on 2000 with total page 224 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: Thorough documentation and glorious illustrations of an exotic flower.
Download or read book Edible Plants written by Jimmy Fike and published by Indiana University Press. This book was released on 2022-03 with total page 247 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: For over a decade, artist Jimmy Fike traveled across the continental United States in an epic effort to photograph wild edible flora. Edible Plants is the culmination of that journey, featuring over 100 photographs that Fike has selectively colorized to highlight the comestible part of the plant. While the images initially appear to be scientific illustrations or photograms from the dawn of photography when plants were placed directly on sensitized paper and exposed under the sun, a closer look reveals, according to Liesl Bradner of the Los Angeles Times, "haunting [and] eerily beautiful" photographs. Beyond instilling wonder, Fike's contemporary, place-based approach to landscape photography emphasizes our relationship to the natural world, reveals food sources, and encourages environmental stewardship. His clever and beautiful method makes it easy to identify both the specimen and its edible parts and includes detailed descriptions about the plant's wider purposes as food and medicine. Sumptuously illustrated and delightfully informative, Edible Plants is the perfect gift for anyone curious about unlocking the secrets of native North American plants.
Download or read book The Art of Naming written by Michael Ohl and published by MIT Press. This book was released on 2019-02-26 with total page 312 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: From Tyrannosaurus rex to Heteropoda davidbowie: scientific naming as a joyful and creative act. Tyrannosaurus rex. Homo sapiens. Heteropoda davidbowie. Behind each act of scientific naming is a story. In this entertaining and illuminating book, Michael Ohl considers scientific naming as a joyful and creative act. There are about 1.8 million discovered and named plant and animal species, and millions more still to be discovered. Naming is the necessary next step after discovery; it is through the naming of species that we perceive and understand nature. Ohl explains the process, with examples, anecdotes, and a wildly varied cast of characters. He describes the rules for scientific naming; the vernacular isn't adequate. These rules—in standard binomial nomenclature, the generic name followed by specific name—go back to Linnaeus; but they are open to idiosyncrasy and individual expression. A lizard is designated Barbaturex morrisoni (in honor of the Doors' Jim Morrison, the Lizard King); a member of the horsefly family Scaptia beyonceae. Ohl, a specialist in “winged things that sting,” confesses that among the many wasp species he has named is Ampulex dementor, after the dementors in the Harry Potter novels. Scientific names have also been deployed by scientists to insult other scientists, to make political statements, and as expressions of romantic love: “I shall name this beetle after my beloved wife.” The Art of Naming takes us on a surprising and fascinating journey, in the footsteps of the discoverers of species and the authors of names, into the nooks and crannies and drawers and cabinets of museums, and through the natural world of named and not-yet-named species.
Download or read book Penguins in the Wild written by David Tipling and published by National Geographic Books. This book was released on 2013-08-09 with total page 0 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: Penguins in their natural habitat, photographed in glorious full color. The extraordinary and adorable antics of penguins attract thousands of tourists every year to remote and icy locations. Penguins never fail to make people smile; wild penguins waddle up and inspect us as if we were just another kind of flightless creature walking on two legs. In this book, the vibrant world of penguins is shown in all its glory by David Tipling, who has trekked to beautiful and faraway locations to capture these birds in their natural habitats. Tipling's gorgeous full-color images catch moments rarely witnessed by humans. He shows us an Adélie penguin speeding through water at 25 mph; a line of King penguins in a snow squall; doting Emperor penguin parents with their fluffy chick; a young penguin nuzzling a camera's telescopic lens; a Rockhopper penguin hopping from rock to rock; a large social gathering of Chinstrap penguins; the striking plumage and courtship display of a male Macaroni penguin; and much more. The book features 139 striking photographs of these unique birds taken in the wild. In the accompanying text, Tipling profiles all of the world's seventeen penguin species, and chapters cover every aspect of their lives and behavior, including migration, defending against predators, and life in extreme climates. This stunning book is a celebration of penguins that is sure to captivate any bird lover, wildlife enthusiast, or photography buff.
Download or read book Romanticism and Illustration written by Ian Haywood and published by Cambridge University Press. This book was released on 2019-05-16 with total page 343 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: Explores a vital aspect of British Romanticism, the role of illustration in Romantic-era literary texts and visual culture.
Download or read book In Praise of Plants written by and published by Timber Press. This book was released on 2002 with total page 334 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: Looks at such topics in botany as plant manipulation of animals, ecological genocide, and biologists' bias against plants.
Download or read book The Botanical Atlas written by Daniel McAlpine and published by . This book was released on 1883 with total page 0 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt:
Download or read book The Storm of Creativity written by Kyna Leski and published by MIT Press. This book was released on 2015-11-13 with total page 211 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: The stages of the creative process—from “unlearning” to beginning again—seen through examples from the practice of artists, architects, poets, and others. Although each instance of creativity is singular and specific, Kyna Leski tells us, the creative process is universal. Artists, architects, poets, inventors, scientists, and others all navigate the same stages of the process in order to discover something that does not yet exist. All of us must work our way through the empty page, the blank screen, writer's block, confusion, chaos, and doubt. In this book, Leski draws from her observations and experiences as a teacher, student, maker, writer, and architect to describe the workings of the creative process. Leski sees the creative process as being like a storm; it slowly begins to gather and take form until it overtakes us—if we are willing to let it. It is dynamic, continually in motion; it starts, stops, rages and abates, ebbs and flows. In illustrations that accompany each chapter, she maps the arc of the creative process by tracing the path of water droplets traveling the stages of a storm. Leski describes unlearning, ridding ourselves of preconceptions; only when we realize what we don't know can we pose the problem that we need to solve. We gather evidence—with notebook jottings, research, the collection of objects—propelling the process. We perceive and conceive; we look ahead without knowing where we are going; we make connections. We pause, retreat, and stop, only to start again. To illustrate these stages of the process, Leski draws on examples of creative practice that range from Paul Klee to Steve Jobs, from the discovery of continental drift to the design of Antoni Gaudí's Sagrada Familia. Creativity, Leski tells us, is a path with no beginning or end; it is ongoing. This revelatory view of the creative process will be an essential guide for anyone engaged in creative discovery. The Creative Process Unlearning Problem Making Gathering and Tracking Propelling Perceiving and Conceiving Seeing Ahead Connecting Pausing Continuing
Download or read book Anatomies written by J T Merry and published by Abrasax Books. This book was released on 2012-09-28 with total page 68 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: A collection of twenty one poems and illustrations exploring an imaginary place where anatomy and botany become one. Each poem is accompanied by its own drawing of this meeting point between plant and human: a hyacinth unfurls from a pair of lungs; a brain thinks spring flowers solid; two bones turn to mushroom.
Download or read book The Mating Lives of Birds written by James Parry and published by Bloomsbury Wildlife. This book was released on 2012 with total page 0 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: Bird courtship and display can be one of the most captivating events in the natural world. This book looks at natural selection and why birds have evolved different reproduction strategies, examining territories, birdsong, displays and dealing with rivals.
Download or read book Emily Dickinson s Herbarium written by Emily Dickinson and published by Belknap Press. This book was released on 2006 with total page 0 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: Facsimile of a dried plant album assembled by the young Emily Dickinson, with interpretive essays and catalog and index of plant specimens.
