Download or read book The Cabaret of Plants Forty Thousand Years of Plant Life and the Human Imagination written by Richard Mabey and published by W. W. Norton & Company. This book was released on 2016-01-11 with total page 400 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: "Highly entertaining…Mabey gets us to look at life from the plants’ point of view." —Constance Casey, New York Times The Cabaret of Plants is a masterful, globe-trotting exploration of the relationship between humans and the kingdom of plants by the renowned naturalist Richard Mabey. A rich, sweeping, and wonderfully readable work of botanical history, The Cabaret of Plants explores dozens of plant species that for millennia have challenged our imaginations, awoken our wonder, and upturned our ideas about history, science, beauty, and belief. Going back to the beginnings of human history, Mabey shows how flowers, trees, and plants have been central to human experience not just as sources of food and medicine but as objects of worship, actors in creation myths, and symbols of war and peace, life and death. Writing in a celebrated style that the Economist calls “delightful and casually learned,” Mabey takes readers from the Himalayas to Madagascar to the Amazon to our own backyards. He ranges through the work of writers, artists, and scientists such as da Vinci, Keats, Darwin, and van Gogh and across nearly 40,000 years of human history: Ice Age images of plant life in ancient cave art and the earliest representations of the Garden of Eden; Newton’s apple and gravity, Priestley’s sprig of mint and photosynthesis, and Wordsworth’s daffodils; the history of cultivated plants such as maize, ginseng, and cotton; and the ways the sturdy oak became the symbol of British nationhood and the giant sequoia came to epitomize the spirit of America. Complemented by dozens of full-color illustrations, The Cabaret of Plants is the magnum opus of a great naturalist and an extraordinary exploration of the deeply interwined history of humans and the natural world.
Download or read book Weeds written by Richard Mabey and published by Profile Books. This book was released on 2010-10-14 with total page 285 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: Weeds survive, entombed in the soil, for centuries. They are as persistent and pervasive as myths. They ride out ice ages, agricultural revolutions, global wars. They mark the tracks of human movements across continents as indelibly as languages. Yet to humans they are the scourge of our gardens, saboteurs of our best-laid plans. They rob crops of nourishment, ruin the exquisite visions of garden designers, and make unpleasant and impenetrable hiding places for urban ne'er-do-wells. Weeds can be destructive and troubling, but they can also be beautiful, and they are the prototypes of most of the plants that keep us alive. Humans have grappled with their paradox for thousands of years, and with characteristic verve and lyricism, Richard Mabey uncovers some of the deeper cultural reasons behind the attitudes we have to such a huge section of the plant world.
Download or read book Botanicum written by Kathy Willis and published by Candlewick Press. This book was released on 2017-03-14 with total page 106 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: Published in association with the Royal Botanic Gardens, Kew.
Download or read book Marrakech Flair written by Marisa Berenson and published by Assouline Publishing. This book was released on 2020-10-01 with total page 6 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: It has been said that Marrakech awakens all of the senses. Whether it is seeing the intricate zellige tilework; smelling the various spices sold at the souks; hearing the call to prayer emanate from the nearby mosques; touching the supple leather used to make a pair of babouches (leather sandals); tasting a flavorful tagine, Marrakech never fails to excite. Located just west of the Atlas Mountains, the city has been inhabited by Berber farmers for centuries. It has been dubbed the “Ochre City” because of the proliferation of red sandstone buildings and the red city walls, which now enclose the Medina, home to Jemaa el-Fnaa, one of the busiest squares in Africa.
Download or read book Food For Free Collins Gem written by Richard Mabey and published by HarperCollins UK. This book was released on 2012-04-12 with total page 217 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: The ideal portable companion, the world-renowned Collins Gem series returns with a fresh new look and updated material.
Download or read book The Songs of Trees written by David George Haskell and published by Penguin. This book was released on 2018-04-03 with total page 306 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: WINNER OF THE 2018 JOHN BURROUGHS MEDAL FOR OUTSTANDING NATURAL HISTORY WRITING “Both a love song to trees, an exploration of their biology, and a wonderfully philosophical analysis of their role they play in human history and in modern culture.” —Science Friday The author of Sounds Wild and Broken and the Pulitzer Prize finalist The Forest Unseen visits with nature’s most magnificent networkers — trees David Haskell has won acclaim for eloquent writing and deep engagement with the natural world. Now, he brings his powers of observation to the biological networks that surround all species, including humans. Haskell repeatedly visits a dozen trees, exploring connections with people, microbes, fungi, and other plants and animals. He takes us to trees in cities (from Manhattan to Jerusalem), forests (Amazonian, North American, and boreal) and areas on the front lines of environmental change (eroding coastlines, burned mountainsides, and war zones.) In each place he shows how human history, ecology, and well-being are intimately intertwined with the lives of trees. Scientific, lyrical, and contemplative, Haskell reveals the biological connections that underpin all life. In a world beset by barriers, he reminds us that life’s substance and beauty emerge from relationship and interdependence.
Download or read book Plant Behaviour and Intelligence written by A. J. Trewavas and published by . This book was released on 2014 with total page 305 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: This book provides a convincing argument for the view that whole cells and whole plants growing in competitive wild conditions show aspects of plant behaviour that can be accurately described as 'intelligent'. Trewavas argues that behaviour, like intelligence, must be assessed within the constraints of the anatomical and physiological framework of the organism in question. The fact that plants do not have centralized nervous systems for example, does not exclude intelligent behaviour. Outside the human dimension, culture is thought largely absent and fitness is the biological property of value. Thus, solving environmental problems that threaten to reduce fitness is another way of viewing intelligent behaviour and has a similar meaning to adaptively variable behaviour. The capacity to solve these problems might be considered to vary in different organisms, but variation does not mean absence. By extending these ideas into a book that allows a critical and amplified discussion, the author hopes to raise an awareness of the concept of purposive behaviour in plants.
Download or read book Nature Cure written by Richard Mabey and published by University of Virginia Press. This book was released on 2007 with total page 260 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: Richard Mabey is the author of numerous books on Britain's ecology, including the best-selling Flora Britannica and the Whitbread Prize-winning Gilbert White (Virginia).
Download or read book Thresholes written by Lara Mimosa Montes and published by Coffee House Press. This book was released on 2020-05-12 with total page 89 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: Thresholes is both a doorway and an absence, a roadmap and a remembering. In this almanac of place and memory, Lara Mimosa Montes writes of her family’s past, returning to the Bronx of the 70s and 80s and the artistry that flourished there. What is the threshold between now and then, and how can the poet be the bridge between the two?
Download or read book Picciola written by Xavier-Boniface Saintine and published by . This book was released on 1872 with total page 280 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt:
Download or read book The Earth in Her Hands written by Jennifer Jewell and published by Timber Press. This book was released on 2020-03-03 with total page 325 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: “An empowering and expertly curated look at the horticultural world.” —Gardens Illustrated In this beautiful and empowering book, Jennifer Jewell introduces 75 inspiring women. Working in wide-reaching fields that include botany, floral design, landscape architecture, farming, herbalism, and food justice, these influencers are creating change from the ground up. Profiled women include flower farmer Erin Benzakein; codirector of Soul Fire Farm Leah Penniman; plantswoman Flora Grubb; edible and cultural landscape designer Leslie Bennett; Caribbean-American writer and gardener Jamaica Kincaid; soil scientist Elaine Ingham; landscape designer Ariella Chezar; floral designer Amy Merrick, and many more. Rich with personal stories and insights, Jewell’s portraits reveal a devotion that transcends age, locale, and background, reminding us of the profound role of green growing things in our world—and our lives.
Download or read book The Flower Whisperer written by Joel Grey and published by powerHouse Books. This book was released on 2019-06-11 with total page 0 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: Academy Award, Tony Award, and Golden Globe Award winning performer, Joel Grey's early passion for flowers and plants helped form a life-long love for nature's beauty. From the tender age of just 10 years old, Grey recalls a childhood spent poring over seed catalogs searching for the perfect flower he hoped to someday nurture with love. Growing up adjoining an undeveloped parcel of land just outside of Cleveland, Ohio, Grey enjoyed the magic and splendor of flora while exploring this dark and somehow inviting mini-forest. Searching through weeds and tall grasses, his prize was occasionally his all-time-favorite, a lily of the valley in full bloom. Today, Grey is a favorite of his local New York City's flower market where he can be found regularly indulging his passion to refresh his vases with the finest petals he can locate. Appreciating the splendor of his latest bounty, Grey celebrates the fascinating and unique sexuality of these beauties with intimate views of their petals, pistils and stamens. My Secret Garden is Grey's personal testament to the sensual and mysterious sexual universe of flowers. With a deep rooted love for painterly abstraction, Grey's observations of lilies, tulips, roses, poppies, calla lilies, ranunculuses, daffodils, sunflowers, narcissuses, hydrangeas, daisies, and of course Grey's revered lily of the valley among many others, echo the feeling of the watercolors he has always yearned to create.
Download or read book Around the World in 80 Plants written by Jonathan Drori and published by Laurence King. This book was released on 2023-08-03 with total page 0 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: An inspirational and beautifully illustrated book that tells the stories of 80 plants from around the globe'Informs and charms in equal measure' Monty Don[Bokinfo].
Download or read book Urban Sanctuaries written by Stephen Anderton and published by . This book was released on 2001 with total page 144 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt:
Download or read book Plants and Their Application to Ornament written by Eugène Grasset and published by Chronicle Books. This book was released on 2007-12-20 with total page 0 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: Elegant botanical illustrations from the classic 1897 design book Plants and Their Application to Ornament arereproduced in this lavish collection. Sure to delight artists, designers, and fans of the Arts and Crafts and Art Nouveau styles, this gorgeous volume features flowering plants depicted as realistic natural history-style illustrations and stylized images demonstrating plant-based design motifs used on textiles, wallpapers, and more. Published in association with the Museum of Fine Arts, Boston, this deluxe edition presents an important art history artifact, a useful design reference, and a lovely and ornamental objet d'art.
Download or read book The Cabaret of Plants written by Richard Mabey and published by Profile Books. This book was released on 2015-10-22 with total page 485 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: In The Cabaret of Plants, Mabey explores the plant species which have challenged our imaginations, awoken our wonder, and upturned our ideas about history, science, beauty and belief. Picked from every walk of life, they encompass crops, weeds, medicines, religious gathering-places and a water lily named after a queen. Beginning with pagan cults and creation myths, the cultural significance of plants has burst upwards, sprouting into forms as diverse as the panacea (the cure-all plant ginseng, a single root of which can cost up to $10,000), Newton's apple, the African 'vegetable elephant' or boabab - and the mystical, night-flowering Amazonian cactus, the moonflower. Ranging widely across science, art and cultural history, poetry and personal experience, Mabey puts plants centre stage, and reveals a true botanical cabaret, a world of tricksters, shape-shifters and inspired problem-solvers, as well as an enthralled audience of romantics, eccentric amateur scientists and transgressive artists. The Cabaret of Plants celebrates the idea that plants are not simply 'the furniture of the planet', but vital, inventive, individual beings worthy of respect - and that to understand this may be the best way of preserving life together on Earth.
Download or read book Plant Ethics written by Angela Kallhoff and published by Routledge. This book was released on 2018-05-30 with total page 422 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: Large parts of our world are filled with plants, and human life depends on, interacts with, affects and is affected by plant life in various ways. Yet plants have not received nearly as much attention from philosophers and ethicists as they deserve. In environmental philosophy, plants are often swiftly subsumed under the categories of "all living things" and rarely considered thematically. There is a need for developing a more sophisticated theoretical understanding of plants and their practical role in human experience. Plant Ethics: Concepts and Applications aims at opening a philosophical discussion that may begin to fill that gap. The book investigates issues in plants ontology, ethics and the role of plants and their cultivation in various fields of application. It explores and develops important concepts to shape and frame plants-related philosophical questions accurately, including new ideas of how to address moral questions when confronted with plants in concrete scenarios. This edited volume brings together for the first time, and in an interdisciplinary spirit, contemporary approaches to plant ethics by international scholars of established reputation. It will be of great interest to students and scholars of Philosophy and Ethics.
