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Though people generally do not think of them in such terms, crows are remarkably graceful: from the tip of a crow’s beak to the end of its tail is a single curve, which changes rhythmically as the crow turns its head or bends toward the ground. Foraging on their long, powerful legs, crows appear to glide over the earth; they take flight almost without effort, flapping(...)
Crow
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Though people generally do not think of them in such terms, crows are remarkably graceful: from the tip of a crow’s beak to the end of its tail is a single curve, which changes rhythmically as the crow turns its head or bends toward the ground. Foraging on their long, powerful legs, crows appear to glide over the earth; they take flight almost without effort, flapping their wings easily, ascending into the air like spirits. Nevertheless, the whiskers around their beaks and an apparent smile make crows, in a scruffy sort of way, endearingly ‘human’. In a vast range of cultures from the Chinese to the Hopi Indians, crows are bearers of prophecy. Because of their courtship dances and monogamous unions, the Greeks invoked crows at weddings as symbols of conjugal love. Crows are among the most ubiquitous of birds, yet, without being in the least exotic, they remain mysterious. This book is a survey of crows, ravens, magpies and their relatives in myth, literature and life. It ranges from the raven sent out by Noah to the corvid deities of the Eskimo, to Taoist legends, Victorian novels and contemporary films. It will be of interest to all people who have ever been intrigued, puzzled, annoyed or charmed by these wonderfully intelligent birds.
Fauna and flora
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The cockroach could not have scuttled along, almost unchanged, for two hundred and fifty million years – some two hundred and forty-nine before man evolved – unless it was doing something right. It would be fascinating as well as instructive to have access to the cockroach’s own record of its life on earth, to know its point of view on evolution and species domination(...)
Cockroach
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The cockroach could not have scuttled along, almost unchanged, for two hundred and fifty million years – some two hundred and forty-nine before man evolved – unless it was doing something right. It would be fascinating as well as instructive to have access to the cockroach’s own record of its life on earth, to know its point of view on evolution and species domination over the millennia. Such chronicles would perhaps radically alter our perceptions of the dinosaur’s span and importance – and that of our own development and significance. We might learn that throughout all these aeons, the dominant life form has been, if not the cockroach itself, then certainly the insect. Attempts to chronicle the cockroach’s intellectual and emotional life have been made only within the last century when a scientist titled his essay on the cockroach ‘The Intellectual and Emotional World of the Cockroach’, and artists as radically different as Franz Kafka and Don Marquis created equally memorable cockroach protagonists. At least since Classical Greece, authors have brought cockroach characters into the foreground to speak for the weak and downtrodden, the outsiders, those forced to survive on the underside of dominant human cultures. Cockroaches have become the subjects of songs (La Cucaracha), have competed in ‘roachraces’ and have even ended up in recipes. In this accessible, sympathetic and often humorous book, Marion Copeland examines the natural history, symbolism and cultural significance of this poorly understood and much-maligned insect.
Fauna and flora
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Ants are legion: at present there are 11,006 species of ant known; they live everywhere in the world except the polar icecaps; and the combined weight of the ant population has been estimated to make up half the mass of all insects alive today. When we encounter them outdoors, ants fascinate us; discovered in our kitchen cupboards, they elicit horror and disgust.(...)
Ant
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Ants are legion: at present there are 11,006 species of ant known; they live everywhere in the world except the polar icecaps; and the combined weight of the ant population has been estimated to make up half the mass of all insects alive today. When we encounter them outdoors, ants fascinate us; discovered in our kitchen cupboards, they elicit horror and disgust. Charlotte Sleigh’s 'Ant' elucidates the cultural reasons behind our varied reactions to these extraordinary insects, and considers the variety of responses that humans have expressed at different times and in different places to their intricate, miniature societies. Ants have figured as fantasy miniature armies, as models of good behaviour, as infiltrating communists and as creatures on the borderline between the realms of the organic and the machine: in 1977 British Telecom hired ant experts to help solve problems with their massive information network. This is the first book to examine ants in these and many other such guises, and in so doing opens up broader issues about the history of science and humans’ relations with the natural world. It will be of interest to anyone who likes natural history or cultural studies, or who has ever rushed out and bought a can of Raid™.
Fauna and flora
Milk without honey
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Bees are vital to securing our food supply. We could live in a paradise where insects, especially bees pollinate fragrant seas of flowers whose fruits we harvest. Instead, vast lawns are now replacing flower gardens, and agriculture is characterized by monocultures. Pesticides and climate change are also causing insect mortality, with dramatic consequences for the global(...)
Milk without honey
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Bees are vital to securing our food supply. We could live in a paradise where insects, especially bees pollinate fragrant seas of flowers whose fruits we harvest. Instead, vast lawns are now replacing flower gardens, and agriculture is characterized by monocultures. Pesticides and climate change are also causing insect mortality, with dramatic consequences for the global ecosystem. As we destroy the insect populations, honey is just one of many foods that will no longer be available to us, unless we learn to honor our innate connection with nature before it's too late. In gorgeous, limited palette artwork, using contemplative images as well as informative charts, Hanna Harms brings us into the world of bees: their hives, their colonies, and their interactions with the global ecosystem. This is the perfect gift book for anyone concerned about climate change and the environment.
Fauna and flora
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Synanthropes have always been an immutable part of the tapestry of our lives. They are the reason we hear birdsong in the morning and skittering throughout the day, and why we take such pains to fix lids to our garbage cans. But they are so much more than that, too: epidemic vectors, churners of soil, ecosystem evolvers, spiritual lodestars, and, sometimes, sharp-toothed(...)
Our wild familiars: How animals are adapting to cities and reshaping the natural world
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Synanthropes have always been an immutable part of the tapestry of our lives. They are the reason we hear birdsong in the morning and skittering throughout the day, and why we take such pains to fix lids to our garbage cans. But they are so much more than that, too: epidemic vectors, churners of soil, ecosystem evolvers, spiritual lodestars, and, sometimes, sharp-toothed marauders making their way through our most intimate spaces with cruel intent. But beyond their quotidian impact on our lives, synanthropes have a critical part to play in how our communities are shaped and how sustainably they function. These creatures are ambassadors from nature, arbiters of our planet’s future, and a key influence on our species’ ongoing evolution; and recently, something essential has shifted with them. We are in a fraught era of environmental disruption, habitat destruction, and human population expansion that is ravaging formerly wild and untouched habitats. That’s caused us to become ever more inundated with synanthropes, which are bringing delight, chaos and danger to our doorstep. These species, so long dismissed, are forcing us to reckon with them—from the hundreds of thousands of raccoons in urban spaces that spread our refuse no matter how many “raccoon-proof” bags and bins we invent, to the invasive kudzu plants that grow a foot a day, enveloping houses, telephone poles, trees, and any other structures into their green abyss. Now, as urban spaces increasingly become wild spaces, we have a choice: continue to resist them by any means necessary, or take the opportunity to promote a more harmonious coexistence. Through vivid storytelling, ''Our Wild Familiars'' brings to spectacular life the world’s most successful synanthropes, from bats, raccoons, and crows, to some of its weirdest, including the Giant Pacific Octopus. Acting as a guide to the curious, Werb reveals how the cracks in our millennia-long efforts to shield ourselves against the outside world might just lead us to a new and necessary balance with nature—or to an ever more savage future.
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July 2026
Fauna and flora
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Ancient and enigmatic, ferns captivate with understated elegance. Their fronds unfurl in perfect mathematical spirals, connecting us to Earth's primordial past. Victorian-era "fern fever" transformed these plants into cultural icons inspiring art and literature, while Maori traditions revere them as sacred links between heaven and earth. Ferns also played a central role(...)
The elegance of ferns: portrait of a botanical marvel
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Ancient and enigmatic, ferns captivate with understated elegance. Their fronds unfurl in perfect mathematical spirals, connecting us to Earth's primordial past. Victorian-era "fern fever" transformed these plants into cultural icons inspiring art and literature, while Maori traditions revere them as sacred links between heaven and earth. Ferns also played a central role in the picturesque movement, where artists like Reverend William Gilpin sought to capture their untamed naturalism in evocative landscapes. While for poets like John Clare, ferns symbolized a mystical connection to nature, their shadowy habitats offering a refuge for contemplation and melancholy. But ferns are more than symbols—they are ecological marvels, resilient and adaptive. Nitzke also explores the environmental and evolutionary importance of ferns, which have adapted to thrive in diverse environments, from the lush rainforests of New Zealand to the fossilized landscapes of Saxony. Their prehistoric dominance—towering three stories high—is preserved in fossilized remains 360 million years old. ''The Elegance of Ferns'' invites us to marvel at these living relics—symbols of beauty, cultural identity, and ecological resilience illuminating our connection to the natural world.
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March 2026
Fauna and flora
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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(...)
Corbeaux
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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.
Fauna and flora
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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(...)
Rat
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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.
Fauna and flora
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Voyageuse passionnée par le monde végétal, Katia Astafieff nous raconte onze incroyables aventures de plantes venues d'ailleurs, comme le tabac, le kiwi, la rhubarbe ou encore l'étrange rafflésie. Onze plantes, mais aussi onze explorateurs partis en expédition au bout du monde au péril de leur vie, des chercheurs d'or vert, des Indiana Jones de la botanique. Laissez-vous(...)
L'Aventure extraordinaire des plantes voyageuses
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Voyageuse passionnée par le monde végétal, Katia Astafieff nous raconte onze incroyables aventures de plantes venues d'ailleurs, comme le tabac, le kiwi, la rhubarbe ou encore l'étrange rafflésie. Onze plantes, mais aussi onze explorateurs partis en expédition au bout du monde au péril de leur vie, des chercheurs d'or vert, des Indiana Jones de la botanique. Laissez-vous guider sur les traces de l'espion britannique Robert Fortune, déguisé en mandarin pour voler le secret du thé aux Chinois, ou de l'excentrique Joseph Rock qui a fait parvenir en Occident quelques graines d'une délicate pivoine inconnue jusqu'alors.
Fauna and flora
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"30 Trees" presents the favorite trees of 30 internationally renowned landscape architects. In each case, the designers describe the characteristics that represent the essence of the selected tree, the designed landscapes they associate with it, and how it was used in completed projects. These personal insights are complemented by five scholarly essays on criteria such as(...)
30 trees: And why landscape architects love them
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"30 Trees" presents the favorite trees of 30 internationally renowned landscape architects. In each case, the designers describe the characteristics that represent the essence of the selected tree, the designed landscapes they associate with it, and how it was used in completed projects. These personal insights are complemented by five scholarly essays on criteria such as typology, ecology, maintenance, and seasons that are critical in matching trees to landscapes. Additionally, the book includes a botanical description of each species mentioned. The result is a compendium of insights into tree species and the use of trees in landscape architecture. This book will be of interest to professionals and amateurs alike.
Fauna and flora