Download or read book Woody s Last Laugh written by James Christopher Haney and published by John Hunt Publishing. This book was released on 2021-11-26 with total page 320 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: Woody’s Last Laugh explores a simmering controversy amid scientists, conservationists, birders and the media: the supposed “extinction” of American ivory-billed woodpecker. Among the first to identify rampant mental errors inside conservation and environmental professions, the book identifies 53 distinct kinds of cognitive blunders, psychological biases, and logical fallacies on both sides of the woodpecker controversy. Few species have ever provoked such social rancor. Why are rumors of its persistence so prevalent, unlike other near or recently extinct animals? Why are we so bad mannered with each other about a mere bird? How is it that we cannot agree even on whether a mere bird is alive or dead? Woody’s Last Laugh uncovers why such mysteries so mess with our heads. By exploring uncharted borders between conservation and mental perception, new ways of evaluating truth and accuracy are opened to everyone. Author Dr. J. Christopher Haney is a biologist, conservation scientist and lifelong birder. For 12 years he was Chief Scientist at Defenders of Wildlife. In 2010, following the Deepwater Horizon oil blowout, the U.S. Fish & Wildlife Service invited him to lead the largest pelagic study of marine birds ever conducted in the Gulf of Mexico. Since 2013 he has been president of Terra Mar Applied Sciences, an independent public-interest conservation research firm which he founded. If there is one lesson Dr. Haney hopes his book delivers, it is to not overvalue our thinking skills. Human reason is fallible, even among scientists and technical experts. To improve our essential relationship with nature, conservation practices will need to devote as much attention to the unbridled thoughts as the unswerving sentiments. Dead or alive, however, the ivory-bill got the last laugh on us all.
Download or read book Woody s Last Laugh written by James Christopher Haney and published by . This book was released on 2021-12 with total page 536 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: How to identify and avoid 50 common mistakes caused by uncertainty.
Download or read book The Weight of Snow written by B. L. Bruce and published by Black Swift Press. This book was released on 2017-06-05 with total page 118 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: In The Weight of Snow, author B. L. Bruce explores the many plights of the human species, from the mysteries of the heart and the inescapability of death, to the depths of human emotion. Told from the perspective of a poetic naturalist, Bruce shares her appreciation of the wild, illuminating the profound in the mundane while chronicling the natural world as both an observer and as an irrefutable part of it. Her poems focus strongly on image and locality, conjuring the imaginations of readers and celebrating the beauty in the follies of the human condition and its capacity to grip the soul.
Download or read book Ivorybill Hunters written by Geoffrey Edward Hill and published by . This book was released on 2007 with total page 280 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: The last documented sighting of the Ivory-billed Woodpecker--one of the rarest and most intriguing animals in the world--was noted over 50 years ago. Long thought to be extinct, the 2005 announcement of a sighting in Arkansas sparked tremendous enthusiasm and hope that this species could yetbe saved. But the subsequent failure of a massive search to relocate Ivorybills in Arkansas made hope for the species' revival short-lived. Here, noted ornithologist Geoffrey Hill tells the story of how he and two of his colleagues stumbled upon what may be a breeding population of Ivory-billed Woodpeckers in the swamps of northern Florida. He relates their laborious attempts to document irrefutable evidence for the existence ofthis shy, elusive bird following the failure of a much larger research team to definitively prove the bird's existence. Hill tells of his travails both in and out of the vast swamp wilderness, pulling back the curtain to reveal the little-seen political maneuvering that is part of all modern science. He explains how he and his group decided who to exclude or include as their findings came in, and why they feltthe need to keep their search a secret. Hill returns repeatedly to how expectations can guide observations, and how tempting it is to oversell evidence in the face of the struggle between an overwhelming desire to find the bird and the need to retain integrity and objectivity. Written like a good detective story, Ivorybill Hunters also delves into the science behind the rediscovery of a species, explaining how professional ornithologists follow up on a sight record of a rare bird, and how this differs from the public's perception of how scientists actually work. Hillnotes the growing role of amateurs in documenting bird activity and discusses how the community of birders and nature lovers can see, enjoy, and help preserve these birds. Ivorybill Hunters will prove a fascinating read for those with an interest in natural history, adventure, environmental conservation, and science, as well as the more than forty-six million Americans who now call themselves birdwatchers.
Download or read book Apropos of Nothing written by Woody Allen and published by Simon and Schuster. This book was released on 2020-03-23 with total page 312 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: The Long-Awaited, Enormously Entertaining Memoir by One of the Great Artists of Our Time—Now a New York Times, USA Today, Los Angeles Times, and Publisher’s Weekly Bestseller. In this candid and often hilarious memoir, the celebrated director, comedian, writer, and actor offers a comprehensive, personal look at his tumultuous life. Beginning with his Brooklyn childhood and his stint as a writer for the Sid Caesar variety show in the early days of television, working alongside comedy greats, Allen tells of his difficult early days doing standup before he achieved recognition and success. With his unique storytelling pizzazz, he recounts his departure into moviemaking, with such slapstick comedies as Take the Money and Run, and revisits his entire, sixty-year-long, and enormously productive career as a writer and director, from his classics Annie Hall, Manhattan, and Annie and Her Sisters to his most recent films, including Midnight in Paris. Along the way, he discusses his marriages, his romances and famous friendships, his jazz playing, and his books and plays. We learn about his demons, his mistakes, his successes, and those he loved, worked with, and learned from in equal measure. This is a hugely entertaining, deeply honest, rich and brilliant self-portrait of a celebrated artist who is ranked among the greatest filmmakers of our time.
Download or read book The Last Laugh written by S. J. Perelman and published by . This book was released on 2000 with total page 198 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: "The Last Laugh", as its name suggests, is the last of Perelman's 20 books and shows the humorist at his very best. Includes 17 pieces never before collected and the opening chapters of the author's uncompleted autobiography.
Download or read book Long Last Happy written by Barry Hannah and published by Grove/Atlantic, Inc.. This book was released on 2010-12-01 with total page 481 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: A definitive, career-spanning, best-of tribute to a master of the modern American short story, featuring work from his final unpublished collection. A fitting summation of one of America’s greatest short story masters, this towering tribute features stories from Airships, Captain Maximus, Bats Out of Hell, High Lonesome, and Barry Hannah’s final unfinished collection, Long, Last, Happy. The astonishingly varied stories in this collection span nearly five decades of unremitting brilliance. Praised for writing “the most consistently interesting sentences of any writer in America” (Sven Birkerts), Hannah’s ferocious, glittering prose and sui generis worldview introduced readers to a literary New South—a fictional landscape that encompasses “women, God, lust, race, nature, gay Confederates, good old boys, bad old boys, guns, animals, fishing, fighting, cars, pestilence, surrealism, gritty realism, the future, and the past . . . tossed together in glorious juxtapositions” (Vanity Fair). Long, Last, Happy confirms Barry Hannah as one of our most brilliant voices. “Hannah is the Jimi Hendrix of American short fiction; an electrifying Mark Twain—a wailing genius of literary twang, reverb, feedback, and general sonic unholiness that results in grace notes so piercing you heart melts like an overloaded amp.” —Interview
Download or read book Mere Anarchy written by Woody Allen and published by Random House. This book was released on 2007-06-12 with total page 178 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: “I am greatly relieved that the universe is finally explainable. I was beginning to think it was me.”–Woody Allen Here, in his first collection since his three hilarious classics Getting Even, Without Feathers, and Side Effects, Woody Allen has managed to write a book that not only answers the most profound questions of human existence but is the perfect size to place under any short table leg to prevent wobbling. “I awoke Friday, and because the universe is expanding it took me longer than usual to find my robe,” he explains in a piece on physics called “Strung Out.” In other flights of inspirational sanity we are introduced to a cast of characters only Allen could imagine: Jasper Nutmeat, Flanders Mealworm, and the independent film mogul E. Coli Biggs, just to name a few. Whether he is writing about art, sex, food, or crime (“Pugh has been a policeman as far back as he can remember. His father was a notorious bank robber, and the only way Pugh could get to spend time with him was to apprehend him”) he is explosively funny. In “This Nib for Hire,” a Hollywood bigwig comes across an author’s book in a little country store and describes it in a way that aptly captures this magnificent volume: “Actually,” the producer says, “I’d never seen a book remaindered in the kindling section before.”
Download or read book The Ivory Billed Woodpecker written by James T. Tanner and published by Courier Corporation. This book was released on 2012-10-10 with total page 145 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: All who seek this elusive bird rely on this 1942 profile of the species' characteristics and habits including its original distribution patterns; history of its disappearance; feeding, nesting, breeding habits. 20 halftones, 17 tables, 22 other illustrations.
Download or read book Final Season written by Tim Green and published by HarperCollins. This book was released on 2021-09-14 with total page 304 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: **INSTANT #1 NEW YORK TIMES BESTSELLER** From New York Times bestselling author and former NFL player Tim Green comes a gripping, deeply personal standalone football novel about a star middle school quarterback faced with a life-changing decision after his dad is diagnosed with ALS. Perfect for fans of Mike Lupica! With two all-star college football players for brothers and a former Atlanta Falcons defensive lineman for a father, it is only natural for sixth-grade quarterback Benjamin Redd to follow in their footsteps. However, after his dad receives a heartbreaking ALS diagnosis—connected to all those hard hits and tackles he took on the field—Ben’s mom becomes more determined than ever to get Ben to quit football. Ben isn’t playing just for himself though. This might be his dad’s last chance to coach. And his teammates need a quarterback that can lead them to the championships. But as Ben watches the heavy toll ALS takes on his dad’s body, he begins to question if this should be his final season after all.
Download or read book The Ivory billed Woodpecker written by Guy G Luneau and published by Independently Published. This book was released on 2021-08-07 with total page 188 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: The Ivory-billed Woodpecker, Campephilus principalis, survives on the North American continent in our modern era, two-plus decades into the 21st century. Its survival is a natural history miracle. The ivorybill was considered by many to have gone extinct on the North American continent as far back as the early 1900's. Yet it was "rediscovered". After a short while, many lost hope and again labeled it extinct. It was rediscovered again. Sightings of the species continued on through the decades. And encounters continue up into the present day, two-plus decades into the 21st century. How can this be? How can a large bird species, as large as a Wood Duck, continue surviving on the North American continent while living its life "under the radar" of the 330 million people residing in the USA in the 2020 A.D. time frame? This book, The Ivory-billed Woodpecker: Taunting Extinction, offers explanations of the various pathways by which this can occur -- and indeed it has occurred. The modern-day Ivory-billed Woodpecker population is no doubt low in number. But forest square mileage is much larger today, and the average age of the trees in those forests is much older today, in the eastern USA than it was in the mid 1900's when numerous species of forest animals' populations dipped to substantially reduced numbers, including such now-abundant animals as Whitetail Deer, Wild Turkey, Wood Duck, and Black Bear to name a few. Combining the ivorybill's low, but likely increasing, population with it being a quiet, skittish-of-man, retiring, long-distance-traveling, masterfully-wily, master-of-its-environment bird species, along with a modern-day humanity who largely does not spend much time in deep forest and swamp habitats, we then have the factors of the recipe - the equation - that permits the ivorybill to elude detection by humans.
Download or read book Make Em Laugh written by Michael Kantor and published by Hachette UK. This book was released on 2008-12-02 with total page 696 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: From the most popular routines and the most ingenious physical shtick to the snappiest wisecracks and the most biting satire of the last century, Make 'Em Laugh illuminates who we are as a nation by exploring what makes us laugh, and why. Authors Laurence Maslon and Michael Kantor draw on countless sources to chronicle the past century of American comedy and the geniuses who created and performed it-melding biography, American history, and a lotta laughs into an exuberant, important book. Each of the six chapters focuses a different style or archetype of comedy, from the slapstick pratfalls of Buster Keaton and Lucille Ball through the wiseguy put-downs of Groucho Marx and Larry David, to the incendiary bombshells of Mae West and Richard Pryor . And at every turn the significance of these comedians-smashing social boundaries, challenging the definition of good taste, speaking the truth to the powerful-is vividly tangible. Make 'Em Laugh is more than a compendium of American comic genius; it is a window onto the way comedy both reflects the world and changes it-one laugh at a time. Starting from the groundbreaking PBS series, the authors have gone deeper into the works and lives of America's great comic artists, with biographical portraits, archival materials, cultural overviews, and rare photos. Brilliantly illustrated, with insights (and jokes) from comedians, writers and producers, along with film, radio, television, and theater historians, Make 'Em Laugh is an indispensible, definitive book about comedy in America.
Download or read book In Black in White written by L. T. Woody and published by . This book was released on 2009-03 with total page 424 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: Harlem Park is the name of one of the bleakest, meanest neighborhoods on Baltimore's West-side. The nasty scourges of heroin, crack, and a host of other inner-city drug and criminal activity are as prolific in Harlem Park as they are in far too many other neighborhoods around Baltimore City (also known as Charm City), and many other American cities as well. Notable television dramas; HBO's, The Corner, NBC's, Homicide: Life on the Streets and 'The Wire' have explored and dramatized many of Baltimore City's societal ills. These television productions explored, in excruciating detail, the ravages of heroin and its attendant criminal activity on the daily lives of the citizens of Charm City where heroin is nothing less than an epidemic. There is also the frequent national news coverage of the more outrageous murders and assorted mayhem plaguing this relatively small metropolis. In Black In White looks at the lives of some of the people who have worked, played, loved and died on Baltimore's mean streets. It examines a time (1960's -70's) before the periods examined in the aforementioned television shows; a time when life was still dangerous and hard; but perhaps when the neighborhood still retained some of the charm for which Baltimore is sometimes noted. It was a time of great social upheaval and seeming great promise, despite the desperate circumstances of day-to-day life. This is Harlem Park as seen through the eyes of someone actually living squarely in the midst of the fray, someone determined to find another choice' through the impossible miracle of a scholarship to the all-boys St. Paul's Episcopal School in Concord, New Hampshire, an exclusive private boarding school; the same school attended by one-time presidential candidate Senator John Kerry, 'Doonesbury' cartoonist Garry Trudeau and numerous other elite American families and luminaries. Among several other themes, In Black In White looks at the idea of nature versus nurture. It's the story of the two educations' of a black youth; an education derived from attendance in the Baltimore City Public Schools and surviving that city's streets; and then an education acquired from time spent in the ivy-covered Halls of one of the finest boarding schools in America, living and learning daily among some of the most privileged youth in this country. The outcome is anything but certain. Both places have the potential for chewing a body to bits; both places inhabited by some good and not-so-good people. In Black In White is a story about coming of age, forging relationships, success and failure, life and death and moving on. It provides an intimate glimpse into two very different worlds; which in the final analysis may not be all that different.
Download or read book The Last Laugh written by Phil Berger and published by Rowman & Littlefield. This book was released on 2000 with total page 474 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: The Last Laugh is the first and only book to take readers deep into the bizarre universe of the standup comic, from the classic years of Milton Berle, Sid Caesar, and Shecky Greene, to today's comedy superstars. Phil Berger shows how styles and trends in standup have changed over the past fifty years, but how taking the stage in a comedy club is as tough as it's always been. Performers profiled in the book include Woody Allen, Lenny Bruce, George Carlin, Elaine Boosler, Robert Klein, Bill Cosby, Billy Crystal, Dick Gregory, Andy Kaufman, Steve Martin, Cheech and Chong, Eddie Murphy, and a host of others. Filled with comics' hilarious routines and anecdotes, this substantially updated edition also chronicles the lives and careers of more recent artists, including Richard Lewis and Jay Leno.
Download or read book The Unruly Life of Woody Allen written by Marion Meade and published by Open Road Media. This book was released on 2014-04-01 with total page 239 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: “A psychologically nuanced, tough-minded portrait” of the New York filmmaker and his relationships with Mia Farrow and Soon-Yi Previn (Publishers Weekly). Writer, director, actor, humorist. Woody Allen stands as one of our era’s most celebrated artists. Starting in the 1950s, Allen began crafting a larger‐than‐life neurotic persona that has since entertained and enlightened millions. In his films, widely thought to be autobiographical explorations of his own comic fears and fixations, Allen carefully controlled the public’s view of him as a lovable scamp. But that all came crashing down the day Mia Farrow found a Polaroid on her mantle. What followed was a flurry of sensational headlines and legal battles. His relationship with Soon‐Yi Previn, thirty-four years his junior and the step‐daughter of his longtime girlfriend, caused shockwaves in the public’s perception of the director, yet few biographers and journalists have explored what happened and why. In this, the first deep investigation of Allen’s life and the events surrounding his split with Farrow, biographer Marion Meade tracks down dozens of friends, actors, neighbors, and film historians. They open up with insights and details rare in the world of wealth and celebrity. What results is a fascinating portrait of a flawed genius, as adept at constructing his own image as he is at crafting films. Rereleased and updated, this is an unauthorized biography that neither Woody Allen’s fans nor his detractors will be able to put down. The revised and updated edition was reviewed in the Wall Street Journal in 2013 by Carl Rollyson, in a roundup of the five best Hollywood biographies.
Download or read book Reconstructing Woody written by Mary P. Nichols and published by Rowman & Littlefield Publishers. This book was released on 2000-08-23 with total page 269 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: In this pathbreaking new book, Mary P. Nichols challenges this, arguing that Allen's work, from Play It Again, Sam to Deconstructing Harry, is actually an attempt to explore and reconcile the tension between art and life.
Download or read book Talking from the Third Side written by Trudy Morgado Phillips and published by Xlibris Corporation. This book was released on 2016-10-14 with total page 136 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: This compilation has been a labor of love. For the past two years, I have poured my heart and soul out on paper through my blog. I have enhanced my favorite posts and turned it into this, my first book. It is truly like sending your child off to school, hoping that your daughter will make friends. It is one thing to control your blog site, but it is certainly another to send your baby out into the world where you can no longer protect her. No matter how she adapts, I will continue to write. Her youngest sister is already in the works, a novel this time. My hope is that this family continues to grow. As I always ended my posts, much love.
