Download or read book Rivers A Very Short Introduction written by Nick Middleton and published by OUP Oxford. This book was released on 2012-04-26 with total page 153 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: Rivers have played an extraordinarily important role in creating the world in which we live. They create landscapes and provide water to people, plants and animals, nourishing both town and country. The flow of rivers has enthused poets and painters, explorers and pilgrims. Rivers have acted as cradles for civilization and agents of disaster; a river may be a barrier or a highway, it can bear trade and sediment, culture and conflict. A river may inspire or it may terrify. This Very Short Introduction is a celebration of rivers in all their diversity. Nick Middleton covers a wide and eclectic range of river-based themes, from physical geography to mythology, to industrial history and literary criticism. Worshipped and revered, respected and feared, rivers reflect both the natural and social history of our planet. ABOUT THE SERIES: The Very Short Introductions series from Oxford University Press contains hundreds of titles in almost every subject area. These pocket-sized books are the perfect way to get ahead in a new subject quickly. Our expert authors combine facts, analysis, perspective, new ideas, and enthusiasm to make interesting and challenging topics highly readable.
Download or read book Deserts A Very Short Introduction written by Nick Middleton and published by Oxford University Press. This book was released on 2009-11-26 with total page 153 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: Preface; 1 Desert Climates; 2 Desert Landscapes; 3 The Nature of Deserts; 4 People and Deserts; 5 Deserts Connections.
Download or read book Landscapes and Geomorphology A Very Short Introduction written by Andrew Goudie and published by Oxford University Press. This book was released on 2010-08-26 with total page 153 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: Examining what landscape is, and how we use a range of ideas and techniques to study it, Andrew Goudie and Heather Viles demonstrate how geomorphologists have built on classic methods pioneered by some great 19th century scientists to examine our Earth.
Download or read book Prehistory written by Chris Gosden and published by Oxford University Press. This book was released on 2018 with total page 153 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: Recent archaeological discoveries from China and central Asia have changed our understanding of how human civilization developed in the period of some 4 million years before the start of written history. In this new edition of his Very Short Introduction, Chris Gosden explores the current theories on the ebb and flow of human cultural variety.
Download or read book Water written by John L. Finney and published by Oxford University Press, USA. This book was released on 2015 with total page 161 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: Around 71% of the Earth's surface is covered in water. In this Very Short Introduction John Finney explores the science of water, its structure and remarkable properties, and its vital role for life on Earth.
Download or read book Mountains written by Martin F. Price and published by Oxford University Press, USA. This book was released on 2015 with total page 153 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: In this Very Short Introduction, Martin Price addresses the role of mountains in global ecosystems and within human culture. Considering the global effects of melting glaciers, and the conservation of mountain regions and peoples, he discusses the future of mountainous regions and the implications for all of us.
Download or read book Lakes written by Warwick F. Vincent and published by Oxford University Press. This book was released on 2018 with total page 169 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: Ranging from vast inland seas to hydro-reservoirs, lakes are unique, complex, ecosystems. Warwick Vincent introduces lake science, or limnology, and the importance of protecting and sustaining these vitally important living resources. He explains the impact of factors such as climate, seasons, salinity, and sedimentation on lake biodiversity.
Download or read book Climate A Very Short Introduction written by Mark Maslin and published by OUP Oxford. This book was released on 2013-06-27 with total page 177 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: In this Very Short Introduction, Mark Maslin looks at all aspects of climate, from the physical and chemical factors that drive it and how climate differs from weather, to how climate has affected human settlements and the cyclic features of it. He ends with a look at climate change and our current approaches to solving it.
Download or read book Rivers of Empire written by Donald Worster and published by Oxford University Press, USA. This book was released on 1992 with total page 624 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: The American West, blessed with an abundance of earth and sky but cursed with a scarcity of life's most fundamental need, has long dreamed of harnessing all its rivers to produce unlimited wealth and power. In Rivers of Empire, award-winning historian Donald Worster tells the story of this dream and its outcome. He shows how, beginning in the mid-nineteenth century, Mormons were the first attempting to make that dream a reality, damming and diverting rivers to irrigate their land. He follows this intriguing history through the 1930s, when the federal government built hundreds of dams on every major western river, thereby laying the foundation for the cities and farms, money and power of today's West. Yet while these cities have become paradigms of modern American urban centers, and the farms successful high-tech enterprises, Worster reminds us that the costs have been extremely high. Along with the wealth has come massive ecological damage, a redistribution of power to bureaucratic and economic elites, and a class conflict still on the upswing. As a result, the future of this "hydraulic West" is increasingly uncertain, as water continues to be a scarce resource, inadequate to the demand, and declining in quality.
Download or read book Rivers A Very Short Introduction written by Nick Middleton and published by Oxford University Press. This book was released on 2012-04-26 with total page 153 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: Rivers have played an extraordinarily important role in creating the world in which we live. They create landscapes and provide water to people, plants and animals, nourishing both town and country. The flow of rivers has enthused poets and painters, explorers and pilgrims. Rivers have acted as cradles for civilization and agents of disaster; a river may be a barrier or a highway, it can bear trade and sediment, culture and conflict. A river may inspire or it may terrify. This Very Short Introduction is a celebration of rivers in all their diversity. Nick Middleton covers a wide and eclectic range of river-based themes, from physical geography to mythology, to industrial history and literary criticism. Worshipped and revered, respected and feared, rivers reflect both the natural and social history of our planet. ABOUT THE SERIES: The Very Short Introductions series from Oxford University Press contains hundreds of titles in almost every subject area. These pocket-sized books are the perfect way to get ahead in a new subject quickly. Our expert authors combine facts, analysis, perspective, new ideas, and enthusiasm to make interesting and challenging topics highly readable.
Download or read book Forests written by Jaboury Ghazoul and published by Oxford University Press, USA. This book was released on 2015 with total page 169 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: Forests have been entwined with human development and cultural history for centuries. In this Very Short Introduction Jaboury Ghazoul explores their origins, dynamics, and the range of goods and services they provide to human society, as well as looking at issues of deforestation, reforestation, and the effects of climate change.
Download or read book Borders A Very Short Introduction written by Alexander C. Diener and published by Oxford University Press. This book was released on 2012-08-06 with total page 152 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: Compelling and accessible, this Very Short Introduction challenges the perception of borders as passive lines on a map, revealing them instead to be integral forces in the economic, social, political, and environmental processes that shape our lives. Highlighting the historical development and continued relevance of borders, Alexander Diener and Joshua Hagen offer a powerful counterpoint to the idea of an imminent borderless world, underscoring the impact borders have on a range of issues, such as economic development, inter- and intra-state conflict, global terrorism, migration, nationalism, international law, environmental sustainability, and natural resource management. Diener and Hagen demonstrate how and why borders have been, are currently, and will undoubtedly remain hot topics across the social sciences and in the global headlines for years to come. This compact volume will appeal to a broad, interdisciplinary audience of scholars and students, including geographers, political scientists, anthropologists, sociologists, historians, international relations and law experts, as well as lay readers interested in understanding current events.
Download or read book Rivers and Sustainable Development written by S. Nazrul Islam and published by Oxford University Press, USA. This book was released on 2020 with total page 489 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: "This book presents a new conceptualization of river related policy issues, using concepts such as the Commercial and Cordon approaches to rivers and their opposite, the Ecological and Open approaches. It draws upon river related experience from across the world to substantiate and illustrate these concepts. This new conceptualization will help to connect the river policy related discussion of the experts and specialists with that of river activists and the public. This shared discussion will allow better river policy formulation. The book argues for replacing the currently dominant Commercial and Cordon approaches to rivers by the Ecological and Open approaches rivers. It shows how such a policy change can be more conducive to achieving sustainable development. Rivers are a vital component of the ecology. The earth's hydrological cycle depends on them. As the world population grows and the demand for freshwater increases, rivers are coming under more stress. Many rivers already get completely exhausted before reaching the seas. Climate change is destabilizing the rivers further. River related conflicts are spreading. The necessity for adoption of right river policies is more urgent than ever. Yet the current disconnection between the river related discussions by experts and specialists, on the one hand, and activists and policymakers, on the other, makes correct river policy formulation difficult. By helping to move the river policy discussion from the confines of experts to the public arena this book will allow formulation of more pro-people and pro-environment river policies. "--
Download or read book Newton written by Rob Iliffe and published by Oxford University Press. This book was released on 2007-01-25 with total page 161 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: Newton's contributions to an understanding of the heavens and the earth are considered to be unparalleled. This very short introduction explains his scientific theories, and uses Newton's unpublished writings to paint a picture of an extremely complex man whose beliefs had a huge impact on Europe's political, intellectual, and religious landscape.
Download or read book Oceans written by Dorrik A. V. Stow and published by Oxford University Press. This book was released on 2017 with total page 217 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: Our oceans are hugely important, as a source of food and mineral wealth, as an environment for a vast variety of wildlife, for the role they play in climate regulation, and as part of the biogeochemical cycles of carbon, nitrogen, and other elements critical to life. Dorrik Stow explores what we know about how oceans originate and are maintained.
Download or read book Rivers of the Sultan written by Faisal H. Husain and published by Oxford University Press. This book was released on 2021-03-05 with total page 264 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: The Tigris and Euphrates rivers run through the heart of the Middle East and merge in the area of Mesopotamia known as the "cradle of civilization." In their long and volatile political history, the sixteenth century ushered in a rare era of stability and integration. A series of military campaigns between the Mediterranean Sea and the Persian Gulf brought the entirety of their flow under the institutional control of the Ottoman Empire, then at the peak of its power and wealth. Rivers of the Sultan tells the history of the Tigris and Euphrates during the early modern period. Under the leadership of Sultan Süleyman I, the rivers became Ottoman from mountain to ocean, managed by a political elite that pledged allegiance to a single household, professed a common religion, spoke a lingua franca, and received orders from a central administration based in Istanbul. Faisal Husain details how Ottoman unification institutionalized cooperation among the rivers' dominant users and improved the exploitation of their waters for navigation and food production. Istanbul harnessed the energy and resources of the rivers for its security and economic needs through a complex network of forts, canals, bridges, and shipyards. Above all, the imperial approach to river management rebalanced the natural resource disparity within the Tigris-Euphrates basin. Istanbul regularly organized shipments of grain, metal, and timber from upstream areas of surplus in Anatolia to downstream areas of need in Iraq. Through this policy of natural resource redistribution, the Ottoman Empire strengthened its presence in the eastern borderland region with the Safavid Empire and fended off challenges to its authority. Placing these world historic bodies of water at its center, Rivers of the Sultan reveals intimate bonds between state and society, metropole and periphery, and nature and culture in the early modern world.
Download or read book Teeth A Very Short Introduction written by Peter S. Ungar and published by Oxford University Press. This book was released on 2014-03 with total page 153 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: Teeth are a vital component of vertebrate anatomy and a fundamental part of the fossil record. It was the evolution of teeth, associated with predation, that drove the evolution of the wide array of fish, amphibians, reptiles, and then mammals. Peter S. Ungar looks at how, without teeth, none of these developments could have occurred.
