Download or read book The Empty Ocean written by Richard Ellis and published by Island Press. This book was released on 2013-03-19 with total page 385 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: In The Empty Ocean, acclaimed author and artist Richard Ellis tells the story of our continued plunder of life in the sea and weighs the chances for its recovery. Through fascinating portraits of a wide array of creatures, he introduces us to the many forms of sea life that humans have fished, hunted, and collected over the centuries, from charismatic whales and dolphins to the lowly menhaden, from sea turtles to cod, tuna, and coral. Rich in history, anecdote, and surprising fact, Richard Ellis’s descriptions bring to life the natural history of the various species, the threats they face, and the losses they have suffered. Killing has occurred on a truly stunning scale, with extinction all too often the result, leaving a once-teeming ocean greatly depleted. But the author also finds instances of hope and resilience, of species that have begun to make remarkable comebacks when given the opportunity. Written with passion and grace, and illustrated with Richard Ellis’s own drawings, The Empty Ocean brings to a wide audience a compelling view of the damage we have caused to life in the sea and what we can do about it. "
Download or read book Imagining Atlantis written by Richard Ellis and published by Vintage. This book was released on 2012-01-11 with total page 328 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: Ever since Plato created the legend of the lost island of Atlantis, it has maintained a uniquely strong grip on the human imagination. For two and a half millennia, the story of the city and its catastrophic downfall has inspired people--from Francis Bacon to Jules Verne to Jacques Cousteau--to speculate on the island's origins, nature, and location, and sometimes even to search for its physical remains. It has endured as a part of the mythology of many different cultures, yet there is no indisputable evidence, let alone proof, that Atlantis ever existed. What, then, accounts for its seemingly inexhaustible appeal? Richard Ellis plunges into this rich topic, investigating the roots of the legend and following its various manifestations into the present. He begins with the story's origins. Did it arise from a common prehistorical myth? Was it a historical remnant of a lost city of pre-Columbians or ancient Egyptians? Was Atlantis an extraterrestrial colony? Ellis sifts through the "scientific" evidence marshaled to "prove" these theories, and describes the mystical and spiritual significance that has accrued to them over the centuries. He goes on to explore the possibility that the fable of Atlantis was inspired by a conflation of the high culture of Minoan Crete with the destruction wrought on the Aegean world by the cataclysmic eruption, around 1500 b.c., of the volcanic island of Thera (or Santorini). A fascinating historical and archaeological detective story, Imagining Atlantis is a valuable addition to the literature on this essential aspect of our mythohistory.
Download or read book Swordfish written by Richard Ellis and published by University of Chicago Press. This book was released on 2013-04-15 with total page 290 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: Provides a comprehensive history of the swordfish, from prehistoric fossils to its present-day endangerment, and describes its adaptability and its relationship with humans.
Download or read book Big Fish written by Richard Ellis and published by Harry N. Abrams. This book was released on 2009-04-01 with total page 0 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: From America's foremost painter and chronicler of undersea life comes a natural history of the largest fish on Earth. Blending art and science with historical, cultural, and personal stories, Ellis incorporates anecdotes, archival images, and photos related to legendary catches.
Download or read book Founding the American Presidency written by Richard J. Ellis and published by Rowman & Littlefield. This book was released on 1999 with total page 340 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: At a time when the institution of the presidency seems in a state of almost permanant crisis, it is particularly important to understand what sort of an institution the framers of the Constitution thought they were creating. Founding the American Presidency offers a first-hand view of the minds of the founders by bringing together extensive selections from the constitutional convention in Philadelphia as well as representative selections from the subsequent debates over ratification. Pointed discussion questions provoke students to consider new perspectives on the presidency. Ideal for all courses on the presidency, the book is also important for all citizens who want to understand not only the past but the future of the American presidency. Visit our website for sample chapters!
Download or read book Monsters of the Sea written by Richard Ellis and published by Globe Pequot. This book was released on 2006 with total page 0 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: Few creatures have captured the imaginations of so many for so long as have monsters of the deep. Their history has been surprisingly consistent, the author notes. Most began as myths and then acquired a sense of reality when the existence of creatures resembling those chronicled in legend was documented. Ellis (Men and Whales) gives a superb account of marine monsters and their attendant myths, sightings, scientific discovery and biology. He describes only the best known and the best documented. He traces the mermaid to the manatee and dugong, Leviathan to the sperm whale, kraken to the giant squid and polyp to the octopus (sharks, however, remain sharks). He examines these monsters in art, literature and film, taking Jules Verne and Victor Hugo to task for their ignorance of biology, hysterical fantasy and unmitigated malice. Herman Melville, Arthur C. Clarke and Peter Benchley get better ratings. Of all the sighted monsters, only the giant squid (Architeuthis) retains its mythological and cryptozoological status, for its very existence is shrouded in mystery. Sharks have had a bad reputation throughout history, but until Jaws (1974) they did not figure prominently in literature. At the end of this engaging book, Ellis confesses to skepticism: "monsters, if they exist, have more to fear from us than we do from them.
Download or read book Great White Shark written by Richard Ellis and published by HarperCollins Publishers. This book was released on 1991 with total page 296 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: Shares the latest findings on the great white shark's size, ancestry, relatives, breeding, and feeding habits.
Download or read book Men and Whales written by Richard Ellis and published by . This book was released on 1999 with total page 0 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: The celebrated marine writer-artist Richard Ellis delineates in this copiously illustrated book the complex history of men and whales. Lively, authoritative text is interwoven with photos, paintings, drawings, and maps to provide a comprehensive history of the whales' turbulent--and always controversial--relationship with humankind. Over 250 illustrations.
Download or read book On Thin Ice written by Richard Ellis and published by Vintage. This book was released on 2009-11-17 with total page 425 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: From "a graceful writer who’s written some of the best natural history books of the past decade” (The New York Times Book Review) comes an urgent, stirring celebration and a rallying cry on behalf of one of earth's greatest natural treasures. Polar bears—fierce and majestic—have captivated us for centuries. Feared by explorers, revered by the Inuit, and beloved by zoo goers everywhere, they are a symbol for the harsh beauty and muscular grace of the Arctic. But as global warming threatens the ice caps’ integrity, the polar bear has also come to symbolize the environmental peril that has arisen due to harmful human practices. In the past twenty years alone, the world population of polar bears has shrunk by half. Today they number just 22,000.
Download or read book Entropy Large Deviations and Statistical Mechanics written by Richard.S. Ellis and published by Springer Science & Business Media. This book was released on 2012-12-06 with total page 372 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: This book has two main topics: large deviations and equilibrium statistical mechanics. I hope to convince the reader that these topics have many points of contact and that in being treated together, they enrich each other. Entropy, in its various guises, is their common core. The large deviation theory which is developed in this book focuses upon convergence properties of certain stochastic systems. An elementary example is the weak law of large numbers. For each positive e, P{ISn/nl 2: e} con verges to zero as n --+ 00, where Sn is the nth partial sum of indepen dent identically distributed random variables with zero mean. Large deviation theory shows that if the random variables are exponentially bounded, then the probabilities converge to zero exponentially fast as n --+ 00. The exponen tial decay allows one to prove the stronger property of almost sure conver gence (Sn/n --+ 0 a.s.). This example will be generalized extensively in the book. We will treat a large class of stochastic systems which involve both indepen dent and dependent random variables and which have the following features: probabilities converge to zero exponentially fast as the size of the system increases; the exponential decay leads to strong convergence properties of the system. The most fascinating aspect of the theory is that the exponential decay rates are computable in terms of entropy functions. This identification between entropy and decay rates of large deviation probabilities enhances the theory significantly.
Download or read book Sea Dragons written by Richard Ellis and published by . This book was released on 2003 with total page 336 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: In the days when dinosaurs dominated the earth, their marine counterparts - every bit as big and ferocious - reigned supreme in prehistoric seas. In this book, Richard Ellis takes us back to the Mesozoic era to resurrect the fascinating lives of these giant seagoing reptiles. fierce predators, speculates on their habits, and tells how they eventually became extinct - or did they? He traces the 200-million-year history of the great ichthyosaurs, plesiosaurs and mosasaurs who swam the ancient oceans - and who may, according to some, still frequent the likes of Loch Ness. animal that looked like a crocodile crossed with a shark the size of a small yacht. With its impossibly long neck, Plesiosaurus conybeari has been compared to a giant snake threaded through the body of a turtle. At a length of nearly 60 feet, Mosasaurus hoffmanni boasted powerful jaws that could crunch up even the hardest-shelled giant sea turtle. And Kronosaurus queenslandicus, perhaps the most formidable of the lot, had a skull nine feet long - more than twice that of Tyrannosaurus rex - with teeth to match. reconstruct their lives and habitats. Their fossils have been found all over the world - in Europe, Australia, Japan and even Kansas - in lands that once lay on the floors of Jurassic and Triassic seas. Along the way, the book also provides intriguing insights into and entertaining tales about the work, discoveries and competing theories that compose the world of vertebrate paleontology. The text is also accompanied by Ellis' own illustrations of how these creatures probably appeared and, through these likenesses, we are invited to speculate on their locomotion, their predatory habits and their lifestyles.
Download or read book The Great Sperm Whale written by Richard Ellis and published by University Press of Kansas. This book was released on 2011-04-06 with total page 400 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: Over the past several decades, Richard Ellis has produced a remarkable body of work that has been called "magnificent" (Washington Post Book World), "masterful" (Scientific American), "magical" (Men's Journal), and a "dazzling tour de force" (Christian Science Monitor). Ellis's new book-a fascinating tour through the world of the sperm whale-will surely inspire more such praise for the author heralded by Publisher Weekly as "America's foremost writer on marine research." Written with Ellis's deep knowledge and trademark passion, verve, and wit-and illustrated with a wide array of images including his own signature artwork-his study covers the full spectrum of the sperm whale's existence from its prehistoric past to its current endangered existence. Ellis, as no one else can, illuminates the iconic impact of Physeter macrocephalus ("big-headed blower") on our history, environment, and culture, with a substantial nod to Herman Melville and Moby-Dick, the great novel that put the sperm whale (and whaling) on the literary map. Ranging far and wide, Ellis covers the sperm whale's evolution, ecology, biology, anatomy, behavior, social organization, intelligence, communications, migrations, diet, and breeding. He also devotes considerable space to the whale's hunting prowess, including its clashes with the giant squid, and to the history of the whaling industry that decimated its numbers during the last two centuries. He even includes a story about a beached juvenile he helped rescue, an event that provided scientists with one of their first opportunities to observe a sperm whale in the water and up close. Offering a rich tapestry for anyone with an interest in the marvels of ocean life, Ellis's book provides an indispensable guide to the life and times of one of the planet's most intelligent, elusive, and endangered species.
Download or read book No Turning Back written by Richard Ellis and published by Harper Collins. This book was released on 2009-10-06 with total page 450 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: Nearly every species that has lived on earth is extinct. The last of thedinosaurs was wiped out after a Mount Everest-sized meteorite slammedinto the earth 65 million years ago. The great flying and marine reptiles areno more. Before humans crossed the Bering Land Bridge some 15,000 yearsago, North America was populated by mastodons, mammoths, saber-toothedtigers, and cave bears. They too are MIA. The passenger pigeon, once themost numerous bird in North America, is gone forever. In No Turning Back, renowned naturalist Richard Ellis explores the lifeand death of animal species, immortalizing creatures that were driven toextinction thousands of years ago and those more recently. He documentsthose that were brought back from the brink, and most surprisingly, he revealsanimals not known to exist until the twentieth century -- an antidoteto extinction.
Download or read book Deep Atlantic written by Richard Ellis and published by . This book was released on 1998 with total page 0 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: Reprint of a work originally published by Knopf in 1996. The author is a marine artist and writer whose work, though detailed and scientific, draws in non-scientists with an engaging writing style and with extraordinary black-and-white depictions of sea creatures (100 or so, half-page or smaller, are included here). Discussion includes the Atlantic Ocean and the history of deep sea exploration, and explanation of the biology and habits of numerous sea animals. Annotation copyrighted by Book News, Inc., Portland, OR
Download or read book Richard Ellis written by Ian Ellis and published by . This book was released on 2014 with total page 256 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt:
Download or read book Communication Skills written by Richard Ellis and published by Intellect Books. This book was released on 2009 with total page 0 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: A guide to improving personal communication, including advice on giving presentations, interviewing, writing, and other related topics.
Download or read book Biographical Sketches of Richard Ellis the First Settler of Ashfield Mass and His Descendants written by and published by . This book was released on 1888 with total page 510 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: