Download or read book Life Between the Tides written by Adam Nicolson and published by Farrar, Straus and Giroux. This book was released on 2022-02-22 with total page 298 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: Adam Nicolson explores the marine life inhabiting seashore rockpools with a scientist’s curiosity and a poet’s wonder in this beautifully illustrated book. The sea is not made of water. Creatures are its genes. Look down as you crouch over the shallows and you will find a periwinkle or a prawn, a claw-displaying crab or a cluster of anemones ready to meet you. No need for binoculars or special stalking skills: go to the rocks and the living will say hello. Inside each rock pool tucked into one of the infinite crevices of the tidal coastline lies a rippling, silent, unknowable universe. Below the stillness of the surface course different currents of endless motion—the ebb and flow of the tide, the steady forward propulsion of the passage of time, and the tiny lifetimes of the rock pool’s creatures, all of which coalesce into the grand narrative of evolution. In Life Between the Tides, Adam Nicolson investigates one of the most revelatory habitats on earth. Under his microscope, we see a prawn’s head become a medieval helmet and a group of “winkles” transform into a Dickensian social scene, with mollusks munching on Stilton and glancing at their pocket watches. Or, rather, is a winkle more like Achilles, an ancient hero, throwing himself toward death for the sake of glory? For Nicolson, who writes “with scientific rigor and a poet’s sense of wonder” (The American Scholar), the world of the rock pools is infinite and as intricate as our own. As Nicolson journeys between the tides, both in the pools he builds along the coast of Scotland and through the timeline of scientific discovery, he is accompanied by great thinkers—no one can escape the pull of the sea. We meet Virginia Woolf and her Waves; a young T. S. Eliot peering into his own rock pool in Massachusetts; even Nicolson’s father-in-law, a classical scholar who would hunt for amethysts along the shoreline, his mind on Heraclitus and the other philosophers of ancient Greece. And, of course, scientists populate the pages; not only their discoveries, but also their doubts and errors, their moments of quiet observation and their thrilling realizations. Everything is within the rock pools, where you can look beyond your own reflection and find the miraculous an inch beneath your nose. “The soul wants to be wet,” Heraclitus said in Ephesus twenty-five hundred years ago. This marvelous book demonstrates why it is so. Includes Color and Black-and-White Photographs

Download or read book The Sea Is Not Made of Water written by Adam Nicolson and published by William Collins. This book was released on 2022-06-23 with total page 384 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt:

Download or read book Sea Room written by Adam Nicolson and published by Harper Collins. This book was released on 2007-08-14 with total page 418 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: In 1937, Adam Nicolson's father answered a newspaper ad—"Uninhabited islands for sale. Outer Hebrides, 600 acres. . . . Puffins and seals. Apply."—and thus found the Shiants. With a name meaning "holy or enchanted islands," the Shiants for millennia were a haven for those seeking solitude, but their rich, sometimes violent history of human habitation includes much more. When he was twenty-one, Nicolson inherited this almost indescribably beautiful property: a landscape, soaked in centuries-old tales of restless ghosts and Bronze Age gold, that cradles the heritage of a once-vibrant world of farmers and fishermen. In Sea Room, Nicolson describes and relives his love affair with the three tiny islands and their strange and colorful history in passionate, keenly precise prose—sharing with us the greatest gift an island bestows on its inhabitants: a deep engagement with the natural world.

Download or read book The Seabird s Cry written by Adam Nicolson and published by Henry Holt and Company. This book was released on 2018-02-06 with total page 416 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: Life itself could never have been sustainable without seabirds. As Adam Nicolson writes: "They are bringers of fertility, the deliverers of life from ocean to land." A global tragedy is unfolding. Even as we are coming to understand them, the number of seabirds on our planet is in freefall, dropping by nearly 70% in the last sixty years, a billion fewer now than there were in 1950. Of the ten birds in this book, seven are in decline, at least in part of their range. Extinction stalks the ocean and there is a danger that the grand cry of the seabird colony, rolling around the bays and headlands of high latitudes, will this century become little but a memory. Seabirds have always entranced the human imagination and NYT best-selling author Adam Nicolson has been in love with them all his life: for their mastery of wind and ocean, their aerial beauty and the unmatched wildness of the coasts and islands where every summer they return to breed. The seabird’s cry comes from an elemental layer in the story of the world. Over the last couple of decades, modern science has begun to understand their epic voyages, their astonishing abilities to navigate for tens of thousands of miles on featureless seas, their ability to smell their way towards fish and home. Only the poets in the past would have thought of seabirds as creatures riding the ripples and currents of the entire planet, but that is what the scientists are seeing now today.

Download or read book Slime written by Susanne Wedlich and published by Melville House. This book was released on 2023-02-28 with total page 337 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: A groundbreaking, witty, and eloquent exploration of slime that will leave you appreciating the nebulous and neglected sticky stuff that covers our world, inside and out. Slime. The very word seems to ooze oily menace, conjuring up a variety of unpleasant associations: mucous, toxins, reptiles, pollutants, and other unsavory viscous semi-liquid substances. Yet without slime, the natural world would be completely unrecognizable; in fact, life itself as we know it would be impossible In this deft and fascinating book, journalist Susanne Wedlich takes us on a tour of all things slimy, from the most unctuous of science fiction monsters to the biochemical compounds that are the very building blocks of life. Along the way she shows us what slime really means, and why slime is not something to fear, but rather something to ... embrace.

Download or read book Why Homer Matters written by Adam Nicolson and published by Henry Holt and Company. This book was released on 2014-11-18 with total page 318 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: "Adam Nicolson writes popular books as popular books used to be, a breeze rather than a scholarly sweat, but humanely erudite, elegantly written, passionately felt...and his excitement is contagious."—James Wood, The New Yorker Adam Nicolson sees the Iliad and the Odyssey as the foundation myths of Greek—and our—consciousness, collapsing the passage of 4,000 years and making the distant past of the Mediterranean world as immediate to us as the events of our own time. Why Homer Matters is a magical journey of discovery across wide stretches of the past, sewn together by the poems themselves and their metaphors of life and trouble. Homer's poems occupy, as Adam Nicolson writes "a third space" in the way we relate to the past: not as memory, which lasts no more than three generations, nor as the objective accounts of history, but as epic, invented after memory but before history, poetry which aims "to bind the wounds that time inflicts." The Homeric poems are among the oldest stories we have, drawing on deep roots in the Eurasian steppes beyond the Black Sea, but emerging at a time around 2000 B.C. when the people who would become the Greeks came south and both clashed and fused with the more sophisticated inhabitants of the Eastern Mediterranean. The poems, which ask the eternal questions about the individual and the community, honor and service, love and war, tell us how we became who we are.

Download or read book The Making of Poetry written by Adam Nicolson and published by Farrar, Straus and Giroux. This book was released on 2020-01-21 with total page 448 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: Brimming with poetry, art, and nature writing—Wordsworth and Coleridge as you've never seen them before June 1797 to September 1798 is the most famous year in English poetry. Out of it came Samuel Taylor Coleridge's The Rime of the Ancient Mariner and “Kubla Khan,” as well as his unmatched hymns to friendship and fatherhood, and William Wordsworth’s revolutionary songs in Lyrical Ballads along with “Tintern Abbey,” Wordsworth's paean to the unity of soul and cosmos, love and understanding. In The Making of Poetry, Adam Nicolson embeds himself in the reality of this unique moment, exploring the idea that these poems came from this particular place and time, and that only by experiencing the physical circumstances of the year, in all weathers and all seasons, at night and at dawn, in sunlit reverie and moonlit walks, can the genesis of the poetry start to be understood. The poetry Wordsworth and Coleridge made was not from settled conclusions but from the adventure on which they embarked, thinking of poetry as a challenge to all received ideas, stripping away the dead matter, looking to shed consciousness and so change the world. What emerges is a portrait of these great figures seen not as literary monuments but as young men, troubled, ambitious, dreaming of a vision of wholeness, knowing they had greatness in them but still in urgent search of the paths toward it. The artist Tom Hammick accompanied Nicolson for much of the year, making woodcuts from the fallen timber in the park at Alfoxden where the Wordsworths lived. Interspersed throughout the book, his images bridge the centuries, depicting lives at the source of our modern sensibility: a psychic landscape of doubt and possibility, full of beauty and thick with desire for a kind of connectedness that seems permanently at hand and yet always out of reach.

Download or read book Rock Pool written by Heather Buttivant and published by September Publishing. This book was released on 2019-05-02 with total page 275 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: 'I recommend Heather's book to everyone. It's brilliant!' Dara McAnulty, author of Diary of a Young Naturalist An entrancing book of exploration, marine life and natural wonders. 'Wherever I go, I seek out beaches. They are woven through my life; a changing constant in a constantly changing world. Every walk through the rock pools, from the tideline to the low water mark, takes me on a journey into the sea and challenges my understanding of my world and of myself.' The British beach is full of creatures that we think we know - from crabs to clams, starfish to anemones. But, in fact, we barely understand how many survive or thrive. In Rock Pool the delights of childhood paddling are elevated to oceanic discoveries, as the fragile beauty and drama of intertidal existence is illustrated through the incredible lives of twenty-four individual creatures. The eye-opening account of a life-long passion by a talented writer and naturalist. 'Here are three simple steps to help you feel better about the world: read Heather Buttivant's marvellous book, grab a pair of wellies and get yourself to a rocky shore ... [a] thoughtful, enlightening and entertaining read.' BBC Wildlife Magazine

Download or read book Metazoa written by Peter Godfrey-Smith and published by Farrar, Straus and Giroux. This book was released on 2020-11-10 with total page 352 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: "Enthralling . . . breathtaking . . . Metazoa brings an extraordinary and astute look at our own mind’s essential link to the animal world." —The New York Times Book Review (Editors' Choice) "A great book . . . [Godfrey-Smith is] brilliant at describing just what he sees, the patterns of behaviour of the animals he observes." —Nigel Warburton, Five Books The scuba-diving philosopher who wrote Other Minds explores the origins of animal consciousness Dip below the ocean’s surface and you are soon confronted by forms of life that could not seem more foreign to our own: sea sponges, soft corals, and serpulid worms, whose rooted bodies, intricate geometry, and flower-like appendages are more reminiscent of plant life or even architecture than anything recognizably animal. Yet these creatures are our cousins. As fellow members of the animal kingdom—the Metazoa—they can teach us much about the evolutionary origins of not only our bodies, but also our minds. In his acclaimed 2016 book, Other Minds, the philosopher and scuba diver Peter Godfrey-Smith explored the mind of the octopus—the closest thing to an intelligent alien on Earth. In Metazoa, Godfrey-Smith expands his inquiry to animals at large, investigating the evolution of subjective experience with the assistance of far-flung species. As he delves into what it feels like to perceive and interact with the world as other life-forms do, Godfrey-Smith shows that the appearance of the animal body well over half a billion years ago was a profound innovation that set life upon a new path. In accessible, riveting prose, he charts the ways that subsequent evolutionary developments—eyes that track, for example, and bodies that move through and manipulate the environment—shaped the subjective lives of animals. Following the evolutionary paths of a glass sponge, soft coral, banded shrimp, octopus, and fish, then moving onto land and the world of insects, birds, and primates like ourselves, Metazoa gathers their stories together in a way that bridges the gap between mind and matter, addressing one of the most vexing philosophical problems: that of consciousness. Combining vivid animal encounters with philosophical reflections and the latest news from biology, Metazoa reveals that even in our high-tech, AI-driven times, there is no understanding our minds without understanding nerves, muscles, and active bodies. The story that results is as rich and vibrant as life itself.

Download or read book The Essential Guide to Beachcombing and the Strandline written by Steve Trewhella and published by Princeton University Press. This book was released on 2021-06-08 with total page 304 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: Immerse yourself in the beachcombing experience; the wind in your face, the smell of salt spray, the roar of the ocean; it’s an assault on the senses, the perfect tonic. From time immemorial people have been drawn to the beach to collect practical resources as well as mysterious objects that have fuelled myth and folklore – it is our inherent hunter-gatherer instinct. The beach strandline is also a wildlife habitat, home to a unique community of plants and animals, many found nowhere else. They create a rich and ever-changing oasis of life in the otherwise harsh environment of the beach. Whether you are a seasoned beachcomber, a casual visitor or an enthusiastic naturalist, this book is for you. It will satisfy your curiosity about each treasure found cast up on the beach, be it a pretty seashell or an exotic ocean voyager. ​​​​​​​• Descriptions of common and rare beach finds, both natural and man-made • Clear photographs showing objects and species as found on the strandline and in their natural habitat • Suggestions for family activities related to beachcombing • A comprehensive account of the living flora and fauna of the beach strandline • Information on threats and conservation measures for the marine and coastal environment

Download or read book Westward Ho written by Charles Kingsley and published by Atheneum Books for Young Readers. This book was released on 1920 with total page 466 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: Kingsley's historical romance of the Spanish Main, first published in 1855. From the coral reefs of the Barbados to the jungles and fabled cities of the Orinoco and on to the great sea battle with the Spanish Armada, this vibrant novel captures the daring spirit of Elizabethan adventurers who sailed with Sir Francis Drake. Contains a table of contents and listing of illustrations.

Download or read book Wet Magic written by Edith Nesbit and published by . This book was released on 2018-05 with total page 148 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: When four siblings journey to the seashore for a holiday, one of them unwittingly summons the sister of a mermaid who is captured by a circus, and the children set out to save the imprisoned being. After a daring midnight rescue, the children's reward is an incredible journey beneath the waves and into the hidden kingdom of the mermaids. But they soon find themselves in a race against time as they struggle to prevent a war and save their new underwater companions! Here is a triumphant tale by one of the finest storytellers to ever write for children, and a pioneer of fantasy literature for this age group.

Download or read book Leviathan Or The Whale written by Philip Hoare and published by HarperCollins Australia. This book was released on 2009 with total page 472 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: All his life, Philip Hoare has been obsessed by whales, from the gigantic skeletons in London's Natural History Museum to adult encounters with the wild animals themselves. Whales have a mythical quality - they seem to elide with dark fantasies of sea-serpents and antediluvian monsters that swim in our collective unconscious. This book is an investigation into what we know little about -- dark, shadowy creatures who swim below the depths, only to surface in a spray of spume. More than the story of the whale, it is also the story of our own obsessions.

Download or read book The Sea Is Not Made of Water written by Adam Nicolson and published by Collins. This book was released on 2021-06 with total page 384 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: 'A remarkable and powerful book, the rarest of things ... Nicolson is unique as a writer ... I loved it' EDMUND DE WAAL 'Miraculous ... An utterly fascinating glimpse of a watery world we only thought we knew' PHILIP HOARE Few places are as familiar as the shore - and few as full of mystery and surprise.

Download or read book Smell of Summer Grass Pursuing Happiness at Perch Hill written by Adam Nicolson and published by William Collins. This book was released on 2015-02-26 with total page 0 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: The Smell of Summer Grass is based partly on the long out of print 'Perch Hill'. It is the story of the years spent in finding and building a personal Arcadia, sometimes a dream, sometimes a nightmare, by writer Adam Nicolson and his wife, cook and gardener, Sarah Raven.

Download or read book Vesper Flights written by Helen Macdonald and published by Grove Press. This book was released on 2020-08-25 with total page 282 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: The New York Times–bestselling author of H is for Hawk explores the human relationship to the natural world in this “dazzling” essay collection (Wall Street Journal). In Vesper Flights, Helen Macdonald brings together a collection of her best loved essays, along with new pieces on topics ranging from nostalgia for a vanishing countryside to the tribulations of farming ostriches to her own private vespers while trying to fall asleep. Meditating on notions of captivity and freedom, immigration and flight, Helen invites us into her most intimate experiences: observing the massive migration of songbirds from the top of the Empire State Building, watching tens of thousands of cranes in Hungary, seeking the last golden orioles in Suffolk’s poplar forests. She writes with heart-tugging clarity about wild boar, swifts, mushroom hunting, migraines, the strangeness of birds’ nests, and the unexpected guidance and comfort we find when watching wildlife.

Download or read book The Frayed Atlantic Edge written by David Gange and published by William Collins. This book was released on 2020-07-23 with total page 400 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: In one brilliant adventure over the course of a year, leading historian and nature writer David Gange kayaked the coasts of Atlantic Britain and Ireland from north to south: every cove, sound, inlet, island. Paddling alone in sun and storms, among whales and seabirds, Gange travelled slowly and close to the water as millions did when coasts were the main arteries of trade and communication. He was in search of island archives and the vast poetic literatures of coastal towns, of neglected social histories that unlock our understanding of this archipelago's past and future. In captivating prose and loving detail, this is a history of Britain and Ireland like not other.