Search

Title:
The man who made plants write

Actions:

• Buy book

Price:
$39.95
(available to order)

Summary:
Jagadish Chandra Bose (1858–1937) was a Bengali scientist and polymath who developed a theory of plant communication more than a century ago. Bose suggested that plants had their own vocabulary, an "unvoiced life" that he recorded as a "script" with a crescograph, a device that measured how plants respond to each other and their environments. Inviting readers into the “resounding silence of the green plant kingdom," he described an underlying unity beneath the multiplicity of phenomena, and a world in which "endless music is sung everywhere." Dismissed as idiosyncratic and unscientific when he was alive, Bose provocatively challenged the hierarchy of living beings, which relegated plants to the bottom, and created a mesmerizing body of work on nonhuman intelligence.

Title:
Animaux envahissants ou surabondants

Actions:

• Buy book

Price:
$35.95
(available in store)

Summary:
Dans ce nouvel ouvrage, Claude Lavoie, biologiste et professeur à l’Université Laval, propose pour une première fois au Québec une synthèse rédigée en français sur le problème des espèces animales exotiques envahissantes, comme la coccinelle asiatique et la moule zébrée, et sur la gestion de celles, indigènes, qui sont surabondantes, comme le cerf de Virginie et le cormoran à aigrettes.

Title:
Atlas of botanical fragrance

Actions:

• Buy book

Price:
$39.95
(available in store)

Summary:
The follow-up volume to "Atlas of perfumed botany" continues the exploration of nature’s most captivating scents, focusing on the botanical elements that shape the world of perfumery. This volume presents a selection of woods, leaves, flowers, fruits, gums, resins, seeds, and roots, each contributing unique aromatic qualities. From the deep, rich notes of rosewood and oud to the fresh, green scents of mint and rosemary, this book by Jean-Claude Ellena, the "nose" for Hermès for more than a decade, unveils the diverse origins of fragrance ingredients. Illustrated with vibrant images, this atlas serves as an essential guide for both fragrance enthusiasts and professionals, offering insights into the natural sources of perfumery’s most treasured aromas.

Title:
Forêts anciennes : l'expérience du fond des bois

Actions:

• Buy book

Price:
$29.00
(available in store)

Summary:
Les forêts anciennes représentent aujourd’hui moins de 1 % des forêts du Québec, mais leur importance est capitale. En plus de leur valeur scientifique et biologique, elles sont l’un des rares endroits ayant été peu affectés par les activités humaines pour obéir aux impératifs du marché. Imaginez : les arbres qui s’y trouvent ont pris racine avant même que la voiture à combustion, les antibiotiques et le télégraphe ne soient inventés ! Plonger dans une forêt ancienne, c’est donc entrer en quelque sorte dans un lieu hors du temps. Les arbres couverts de mousses et de lichens portent la marque des saisons dans leur tronc, leurs branches, leur cime. Le chant des oiseaux, les floraisons printa­nières, les traces d’animaux : tout y est légère­ment différent que dans les forêts plus jeunes. Mais quels sont les attributs d’une forêt ancienne ? À quoi reconnaît-on un vieil arbre ? Comment protéger ce précieux patrimoine collectif ? Amoureux des arbres et partisan de la restau­ration écolo­gique, Gabriel Grenier propose ici de nombreuses pistes pour que les forêts anciennes regagnent du terrain. Ce livre, agrémenté de photos, de cartes et d’itinéraires de randonnée dans le nord-est de l’Amérique, s’adresse à tous ceux et celles qui entendent les sirènes du fond des bois et qui ont envie de renouer avec une nature sauvage et indomptée. En nous faisant vibrer avec la profonde mémoire de l’univers, ces cathédrales de biodiversité ont le pouvoir de transformer le regard que nous portons sur nous-même et sur le monde naturel.

Title:
Pleasant Place 8: Garden tools

Actions:

• Buy book

Price:
$28.00
(available in store)

Summary:
More than a mere extension of the hands, the garden tool is what helps the gardener realise their vision. This issue begins with some philosophical remarks in an introduction by Norbert Peeters before diving into the world of garden tools: the essential, the practical, and the beautiful. It includes a visual essay of the wonderful objects of Garden and Wood, a small business selling vintage garden tools and ephemera; gardeners like Piet Oudolf and Jonny Bruce talking about their favourite tools, illustrated in detail by artist Floris Tilanus; a visit to Sneeboer, the most famous Dutch garden tool company, where the trowel has been passed down for four generations; and more.

Title:
Forty ways to know a tree: Exploring trees to understand nature

Actions:

• Buy book

Price:
$38.95
(available in store)

Summary:
There are an estimated three trillion trees in the world, half as many as there once were. To honor and protect these vital organisms, a shift in perspective can help expand our understanding beyond simply appreciating trees' remarkable beauty to discovering the ways they are inextricably connected to our planet, our fellow species, and our spirits. Within these pages, biologist Joan Maloof offers forty distinct ways of encountering, exploring, and learning about a tree. Through engaging, impassioned essays, paired with watercolor illustrations, she invites us to get to know a tree by its leaves; through its rings; from its birds; by its song; and so much more

Title:
The book of birds: A field guide

Actions:

• Buy book

Price:
$42.00
(available to order)

Summary:
A great thinning of the skies is underway. Around 50% of bird species are in decline worldwide. Our dawns and springs are quieter each year than the last. It does not have to be this way-- but we will not save what we do not love. "The book of birds" is a compendium of forty-nine bird species, from Avocet to Yellowhammer, all of which are declining or endangered. Inspired by the classic bird-books with which the authors grew up, this is a field guide with a difference. It asks not "What is that bird?," but "Who is that bird?" It shows its readers how to identify birds, but also how to identify with them.

Title:
Le parfum des arbres : 13 façons de respirer

Actions:

• Buy book

Price:
$17.95
(available to order)

Summary:
Sentir l’arôme corsé et herbacé des baies de genièvre dans un cocktail de gin tonic ; s’enivrer du parfum sucré des fleurs du tilleul d’Amérique ; se plonger dans un vieux livre fleurant la vanille et l’amande et se souvenir que la littérature prend racine dans les arbres… Poète et naturaliste hors pair, David G. Haskell décrit les canaux qu’emprunte l’odorat pour nous connecter intimement à chaque arbre, molécule par molécule. Ainsi, déceler la signature aromatique d’un frêne rouge ou d’un chêne, c’est prendre part à leurs conversations secrètes et mesurer la force du lien immémorial qui nous unit à ces autres êtres vivants. Entrez dans la forêt, humez l’écorce et la sève : c’est le monde entier que vous respirez.

Title:
Corbeaux

Actions:

• Buy book

Price:
$35.95
(available to order)

Summary:
Le corbeau semble un signe inscrit à l'encre noire sur nos paysages. Un signe élégant, marchant posément au sol, s'envolant sans effort et glissant sur le monde. Signe de malheur, parfois, puisqu'il est à l'occasion charognard et a toujours suivi les hommes sur les champs de bataille, à travers les catastrophes. Mais aussi signe de vie. Dans de nombreuses traditions, des Chinois aux Indiens Hopi, la présence du corbeau est interprétée comme un présage heureux. Chez les anciens Grecs, sa parade nuptiale et ses mœurs fidèles lui valaient d'être invoqué comme gage d'amour conjugal. Et partout, son intelligence remarquable a intrigué, exaspéré, étonné ou charmé les humains. Ce livre explore les traces des corvidés (corneilles, corbeaux et pies) dans la mémoire et les cultures du monde, dévoilant les multiples formes du lien entre les hommes et ces oiseaux si fascinants.

Title:
Rat

Actions:

• Buy book

Price:
$25.00
(available to order)

Summary:
The rat has been described as the shadow of the human. From ancient times it spread via the routes of commerce and conquest to eventually inhabit almost every part of the world. Its impact on history has been enormous in terms of the damage done through plague and disease, the destruction of agricultural produce, and the infestations of cities. At the same time the rat has provided science with a huge resource for experimentation. This highly adaptable, fertile and intelligent creature is almost universally loathed, but there are cultures in which it is revered, even deified. This book traces the history of the human relationship with rats from the first archaeological finds to the genetically engineered rats of the present day, describing its role in the arts and sciences, religion and myth, psychoanalysis and medicine. The author includes wide-ranging examples of the rat’s appearance: in literature – 'The Pied Piper'; Beatrix Potter stories, 'The Wind in the Willows'; in culture – Victorian rat-and-dog baiting pits, its popularity as a pet, even the subject of a ’70s pop song; folklore – it was a good luck symbol in ancient Rome, symbol of cunning in Chinese mythology; and psychoanalysis – Freud’s Rat Man, for example. The book also seeks to answer two problems raised by the complexity of human attitudes to the rat. The first concerns how it was that the rat came to be seen not just as verminous, but also as being particularly despised for being so – more so, in fact, than other parasitic animals. The second concerns the manner in which human attitudes to the rat can be so contradictory, when admiration for its abilities are set against this idea of hatred. The rat can be found at the heart of human preoccupations with hygiene, sexuality and appetite, and exists as a perverse totem for the worst excesses of human behaviour. In 'Rat', Jonathan Burt provides a fascinating account of this animal in history, myth and culture.