Download or read book The Doomsday Vault written by Steven Harper and published by Penguin. This book was released on 2011-11-01 with total page 400 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: In a clockwork Brittania, Alice's prospects are slim. At 21, her age and her unladylike interest in automatons have sealed her fate as an undesirable marriage prospect. But a devastating plague sends Alice off in a direction beyond the pale-towards a clandestine organization, mad inventors, life-altering secrets, and into the arms of an intrepid fiddle-playing airship pilot.

Download or read book Shattering written by Cary Fowler and published by University of Arizona Press. This book was released on 1990 with total page 300 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: It was through control of the shattering of wild seeds that humans first domesticated plants. Now control over those very plants threatens to shatter the world's food supply, as loss of genetic diversity sets the stage for widespread hunger. Large-scale agriculture has come to favor uniformity in food crops. More than 7,000 U.S. apple varieties once grew in American orchards; 6,000 of them are no longer available. Every broccoli variety offered through seed catalogs in 1900 has now disappeared. As the international genetics supply industry absorbs seed companies—with nearly one thousand takeovers since 1970—this trend toward uniformity seems likely to continue; and as third world agriculture is brought in line with international business interests, the gene pools of humanity's most basic foods are threatened. The consequences are more than culinary. Without the genetic diversity from which farmers traditionally breed for resistance to diseases, crops are more susceptible to the spread of pestilence. Tragedies like the Irish Potato Famine may be thought of today as ancient history; yet the U.S. corn blight of 1970 shows that technologically based agribusiness is a breeding ground for disaster. Shattering reviews the development of genetic diversity over 10,000 years of human agriculture, then exposes its loss in our lifetime at the hands of political and economic forces. The possibility of crisis is real; this book shows that it may not be too late to avert it.

Download or read book The Doomsday Key written by James Rollins and published by Harper Collins. This book was released on 2009-06-23 with total page 560 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: “James Rollins knows adventure.” —Chicago Sun Times With The Doomsday Key—the latest Sigma Force blockbuster from New York Times bestselling author James Rollins—the critically acclaimed thrill-master continues to dazzle with an electrifying combination of history, religion, science, and adventure. The hero of Map of Bones, The Black Order, and other exceptional Rollins roller-coaster rides, Commander Pierce returns to solve a centuries-old secret, one coded in prophecies of doom—in a story that fans of Michael Crichton, Douglas Preston, and Indiana Jones will not be able to put down!

Download or read book The International Treaty on Plant Genetic Resources for Food and Agriculture written by Cary Fowler and published by Bioversity International. This book was released on 2003 with total page 38 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt:

Download or read book Uncertain Peril written by Claire Hope Cummings and published by Beacon Press. This book was released on 2009-03-01 with total page 189 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: Life on earth is facing unprecedented challenges from global warming, war, and mass extinctions. The plight of seeds is a less visible but no less fundamental threat to our survival. Seeds are at the heart of the planet's life-support systems. Their power to regenerate and adapt are essential to maintaining our food supply and our ability to cope with a changing climate. In Uncertain Peril, environmental journalist Claire Hope Cummings exposes the stories behind the rise of industrial agriculture and plant biotechnology, the fall of public interest science, and the folly of patenting seeds. She examines how farming communities are coping with declining water, soil, and fossil fuels, as well as with new commercial technologies. Will genetically engineered and "terminator" seeds lead to certain promise, as some have hoped, or are we embarking on a path of uncertain peril? Will the "doomsday vault" under construction in the Arctic, designed to store millions of seeds, save the genetic diversity of the world's agriculture? To answer these questions and others, Cummings takes readers from the Fertile Crescent in Iraq to the island of Kaua'i in Hawai'i; from Oaxaca, Mexico, to the Mekong Delta in Vietnam. She examines the plight of farmers who have planted transgenic seeds and scientists who have been persecuted for revealing the dangers of modified genes. At each turn, Cummings looks deeply into the relationship between people and plants. She examines the possibilities for both scarcity and abundance and tells the stories of local communities that are producing food and fuel sustainably and providing for the future. The choices we make about how we feed ourselves now will determine whether or not seeds will continue as a generous source of sustenance and remain the common heritage of all humanity. It comes down to this: whoever controls the future of seeds controls the future of life on earth. Uncertain Peril is a powerful reminder that what's at stake right now is nothing less than the nature of the future.

Download or read book The Templar Vault written by Scott Chapman and published by Lulu.com. This book was released on 2013-10-16 with total page 217 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: The last surviving Templar outpost must protect their Order's greatest secret. As their world is torn apart by the jealous fury of kings, their only duty is to a sacred oath of allegiance to the Order and to each other. Step-by-step they eradicate their footsteps, knowing that only their own obliteration will guarantee that their duty will be fulfilled. Eight hundred years later and an international expert in disaster management sets out to prove that the Templars had a last ditch Doomsday plan. Peter Sparke aims at nothing less than to uncover the last refuge of the Order and the secrets they took to their graves.

Download or read book The House on Vesper Sands written by Paraic O'Donnell and published by Tin House Books. This book was released on 2021-01-12 with total page 408 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: Named a Library Reads Pick, Apple Books' Best Book, Powells’ Pick, Amazon Fiction & Literature's “Best of the Month," The Millions' Top Ten Book of the Month, and one of CrimeReads' and Oprah Daily's Best Historical Novels of 2021 "Funny, eerie, tender, haunting and unsettling, smokily atmospheric, and fantastically enjoyable." ?Helen Macdonald, author of Vesper Flights London, 1893: high up in a house on a dark, snowy night, a lone seamstress stands by a window. So begins the swirling, serpentine world of Paraic O’Donnell’s Victorian-inspired mystery, the story of a city cloaked in shadow, but burning with questions: why does the seamstress jump from the window? Why is a cryptic message stitched into her skin? And how is she connected to a rash of missing girls, all of whom seem to have disappeared under similar circumstances? On the case is Inspector Cutter, a detective as sharp and committed to his work as he is wryly hilarious. Gideon Bliss, a Cambridge dropout in love with one of the missing girls, stumbles into a role as Cutter’s sidekick. And clever young journalist Octavia Hillingdon sees the case as a chance to tell a story that matters—despite her employer’s preference that she stick to a women’s society column. As Inspector Cutter peels back the mystery layer by layer, he leads them all, at last, to the secrets that lie hidden at the house on Vesper Sands. By turns smart, surprising, and impossible to put down, The House on Vesper Sands offers a glimpse into the strange undertow of late nineteenth-century London and the secrets we all hold inside us.

Download or read book Archiving Eden written by and published by . This book was released on 2017 with total page 153 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: Spurred Spurred by the impending completion of the Svarlbard Global Seed Vault, Archiving Eden explores the role of seed banks and their preservation efforts in the face of climate c hange, the extinction of natural species, and decreased agricultural diversity. Serving as a global botanical backup system, these privately and publicly funded institutions assure the opportunity for the reintroduction of species should a catastrophic event or civil strife affect a key ecosystem somewhere in the world. Since 2008, Dornith Doherty has worked in collaboration with renowned biologists at the most comprehensive international seed banks in the world: the United States D epartment of Agriculture, Agricultural Research Service's National Center for Genetic Resources Preservation in Colorado, USA, the Millennium Seed Bank, Royal Botanic Gardens, Kew in the UK.; and PlantBank, Threatened Flora Centre, and Kings Park Botanic G ardens in Australia. Utilising the archives' on - site X - ray equipment that is routinely used for viability assessments of accessioned seeds, Doherty documents and subsequently collages the seeds and tissue samples stored in these crucial collections. The am azing visual power of magnified X - ray images, which springs from the technology's ability to record what is invisible to the human eye, illuminates her considerations not only of the complex philosophical, anthropological, and ecological issues surrounding the role of science and human agency in relation to gene banking, but also of the poetic questions about life and time on a macro and micro scale. Doherty is struck by the power of these tiny plantlets and seeds (many are the size of a grain of sand) to g enerate life and to endure the time span central to the process of seed banking, which seeks to make these sparks last for two hundred years or more. Use of the colour delft/indigo blue evokes references not only to the process of cryogenic preservation, c entral to the methodology of saving seeds, but also to the intersection of East and West, trade, cultural exchange, and migration. This tension between stillness and change reflects her focus on the elusive goal of stopping time in relation to living mater ials, which at some moment, we may all want to do.

Download or read book The Last Forever written by Deb Caletti and published by Simon and Schuster. This book was released on 2014-04-01 with total page 352 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: Beginnings and endings overlap in this soaring novel of love and grief from Printz Honor medal winner and National Book Award finalist Deb Caletti. Nothing lasts forever, and no one gets that more than Tessa. After her mother died, it’s all Tessa can do to keep her friends, her boyfriend, and her happiness from slipping away. And then there’s her dad. He’s stuck in his own daze, and it’s so hard to feel like a family when their house no longer seems like a home. Her father’s solution? An impromptu road trip that lands them in Tessa’s grandmother’s small coastal town. Despite all the warmth and beauty there, Tessa can’t help but feel even more lost. Enter Henry Lark. He understands the relationships that matter. And more importantly, he understands her. A secret stands between them, but Tessa’s willing to do anything to bring them together—because Henry may just be her one chance at forever.

Download or read book Food and the City written by Jennifer Cockrall-King and published by Prometheus Books. This book was released on 2012-02-14 with total page 374 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: A global movement to take back our food is growing. The future of farming is in our hands—and in our cities. This book examines alternative food systems in cities around the globe that are shortening their food chains, growing food within their city limits, and taking their "food security" into their own hands. The author, an award-winning food journalist, sought out leaders in the urban-agriculture movement and visited cities successfully dealing with "food deserts." What she found was not just a niche concern of activists but a global movement that cuts across the private and public spheres, economic classes, and cultures. She describes a global movement happening from London and Paris to Vancouver and New York to establish alternatives to the monolithic globally integrated supermarket model. A cadre of forward-looking, innovative people has created growing spaces in cities: on rooftops, backyards, vacant lots, along roadways, and even in "vertical farms." Whether it’s a community public orchard supplying the needs of local residents or an urban farm that has reclaimed a derelict inner city lot to grow and sell premium market veggies to restaurant chefs, the urban food revolution is clearly underway and working. This book is an exciting, fascinating chronicle of a game-changing movement, a rebellion against the industrial food behemoth, and a reclaiming of communities to grow, distribute, and eat locally.

Download or read book The Triumph of Seeds written by Thor Hanson and published by Basic Books. This book was released on 2015-03-24 with total page 288 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: "The genius of Hanson's fascinating, inspiring, and entertaining book stems from the fact that it is not about how all kinds of things grow from seeds; it is about the seeds themselves." --Mark Kurlansky, New York Times Book Review We live in a world of seeds. From our morning toast to the cotton in our clothes, they are quite literally the stuff and staff of life: supporting diets, economies, and civilizations around the globe. Just as the search for nutmeg and pepper drove the Age of Discovery, coffee beans fueled the Enlightenment and cottonseed sparked the Industrial Revolution. Seeds are fundamental objects of beauty, evolutionary wonders, and simple fascinations. Yet, despite their importance, seeds are often seen as commonplace, their extraordinary natural and human histories overlooked. Thanks to this stunning new book, they can be overlooked no more. This is a book of knowledge, adventure, and wonder, spun by an award-winning writer with both the charm of a fireside story-teller and the hard-won expertise of a field biologist. A fascinating scientific adventure, it is essential reading for anyone who loves to see a plant grow.

Download or read book Doomsday Can Wait written by Lori Handeland and published by Lori Handeland. This book was released on 2015-01-06 with total page 337 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: Werewolves? Vampires? Demons? Oh, my! Liz Phoenix here. Just a psychic ex-cop who managed to thwart Doomsday. But the army of demons intent on bringing about the Apocalypse ain’t done yet. Neither am I. I may have lost three quarters of my troops in the last battle, but with the backing of a half-vampire, a fairy and a Navajo skin-walker, three of the most powerful beings on earth, I’m in good shape. Or so I thought until the Naye'i showed up. They call her The Woman of Smoke and she’s one scary demon. The Naye'i wants me dead. But lately, who doesn't?

Download or read book Vault of the Ages written by Poul Anderson and published by Hachette UK. This book was released on 2013-06-24 with total page 140 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: Archaeologists, studying the past, are handicapped by the fact that relics are usually few and in poor condition. Often, one is not even sure where to look for them. Out of such finds, from tombs, ruined cities, swamps, deserts, and any other place where men of the past have left some trace of themselves, the archaeologist tries to build up a picture of these men's lives and civilizations. but there are great gaps in our knowledge and probably always will be. For Instance, we cannot yet read the inscriptions left by the ancient Cretans, and so are in the dark about many features of their high civilization...

Download or read book Food Artisans of the Okanagan written by Jennifer Cockrall-King and published by TouchWood Editions. This book was released on 2016-04-08 with total page 320 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: Winner of the 2017 Taste Canada Food Writing Award in Culinary Narratives. The food lover's guide to finding the best of the best in the vibrant Okanagan. Discover the edible delights of the Okanagan with profiles on more than 125 farm-to-table chefs, bakers, beekeepers, orchardists, farmers, market gardeners, butchers and charcutiers, fisherpeople, coffee roasters, distillers, craft brewers, chocolatiers, millers, foragers, cheesemakers, fishmongers, and producers of fine craft foods and drink. The valley is absolutely bursting with delicious creations, and this self-guided tour is the best way to find them. Complete with full-colour maps of the area's sub-regions (for the North Okanagan, Central Okanagan, South Okanagan, and the Similkameen), and complete contact information so you can visit farmgate shops or local markets, this is a must-have book for both locals and tourists.

Download or read book Bread Wine Chocolate written by Simran Sethi and published by HarperCollins. This book was released on 2015-11-10 with total page 279 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: Award-winning journalist Simran Sethi explores the history and cultural importance of our most beloved tastes, paying homage to the ingredients that give us daily pleasure, while providing a thoughtful wake-up call to the homogenization that is threatening the diversity of our food supply. Food is one of the greatest pleasures of human life. Our response to sweet, salty, bitter, or sour is deeply personal, combining our individual biological characteristics, personal preferences, and emotional connections. Bread, Wine, Chocolate illuminates not only what it means to recognize the importance of the foods we love, but also what it means to lose them. Award-winning journalist Simran Sethi reveals how the foods we enjoy are endangered by genetic erosion—a slow and steady loss of diversity in what we grow and eat. In America today, food often looks and tastes the same, whether at a San Francisco farmers market or at a Midwestern potluck. Shockingly, 95% of the world’s calories now come from only thirty species. Though supermarkets seem to be stocked with endless options, the differences between products are superficial, primarily in flavor and brand. Sethi draws on interviews with scientists, farmers, chefs, vintners, beer brewers, coffee roasters and others with firsthand knowledge of our food to reveal the multiple and interconnected reasons for this loss, and its consequences for our health, traditions, and culture. She travels to Ethiopian coffee forests, British yeast culture labs, and Ecuadoran cocoa plantations collecting fascinating stories that will inspire readers to eat more consciously and purposefully, better understand familiar and new foods, and learn what it takes to save the tastes that connect us with the world around us.

Download or read book The Peculiars written by Maureen Doyle McQuerry and published by ABRAMS. This book was released on 2014-03-18 with total page 311 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: A young girl sets off on a journey of self-discovery in this “richly atmospheric” tale blending steampunk, adventure, and gothic romance (Kirkus Reviews). With her noticeably large hands and feet, Lena Mattacascar is undoubtedly different. Secretly, she’s wondered if she might actually be Peculiar, and if her father—who left when she was only five years old—may have been Peculiar too. On her eighteenth birthday, Lena receives a letter that inspires her to leave the safety of the City and search for her father in the northern wilderness of Scree—a place inhabited by people whose own unusual characteristics make them unacceptable to modern society. Her journey leads to romance, danger, and a darkness she’s never imagined. For in the wilds of Scree, she must confront her deepest fears . . . “Readers graduating from the stories of C.S. Lewis and Edward Eager will be right at home—and cat lovers will adore Jimson’s employer’s pet, Mrs. Mumbles. McQuerry’s extensive world-building leaves open the possibility of future installments.” —Publishers Weekly

Download or read book Doomsday Conspiracy written by Sidney Sheldon and published by Harper Collins. This book was released on 2010-06-22 with total page 328 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: Handpicked by the NSA to track down and identify the ten known witnesses to the recent crash of a weather balloon, Robert Bellamy searches for clues in Rome, Budapest, and Texas.