Not Just Books Books

Book SynopsisPack of 6 gorgeous, foiled, handmade greeting cards, blank inside and shrink-wrapped with a gold envelope. Themed with our art calendars, foiled notebooks and illustrated art books. Art by Annie Soudain.

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Book SynopsisA beautiful, luxurious Flame Tree Slimline Journal. Combining high-quality production and FSC-certified paper with magnificent fine art, the crafted covers are printed on foil, embossed then foil stamped. And they're powerfully practical: a pocket at the back for receipts and scraps and two bookmark ribbons. Art by Van Gogh.

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Book SynopsisArtisan Art Sketch Books from Flame Tree come in a range of hues to suit the mood and are embellished with beautiful art on their tactile, vegan leather covers. Carefully crafted, with decorated edges, two ribbons, thick white paper stock that's ideal for sketching and drawing, and robust flexi covers, they are a pleasure to use. Art by Van Gogh.

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Book SynopsisHabitat is the fundamental unit for understanding species ecology and preserving biodiversity; it has always had a variety of meanings often not explicitly defined. This important book focuses on the two main uses of the term and their importance for nature conservation. The first, traditional usage (TH), is that of terrestrial, aquatic or aerial spatial units which can be denoted by the species they host, with associated trophic relationships and interdependencies. The second, termed resource-based habitat (RBH), focuses on any one species' habitat. These RBHs are rarely limited to one space but are defined by the intersection of appropriate resources and suitable conditions. Since the ability of individuals to exploit resources is influenced by their own unique combination of traits, the RBH is spatially and temporally variable. The book explores how communities are structured, how species and individuals interact (niches, guilds, food webs, etc.), and how biodiversity changes over space and time. Typically, a location distinguished by specific attributes (TH; a meadow, a wood, a field, etc.) has few common species, but many rare ones and the book explores this long challenging conundrum. The TH usage has immense importance and implications for maintaining wildlife. Because of the variety of the ecological characteristics of different species, the study of them in distinctive spatial units (a lake, a moor, the seashore, the lower atmosphere, etc.) requires special methods in each case to determine their conservation status. The RBH is critical for understanding the factors necessary for the maintenance of 'focal' species, regarded as key or rare elements of ecosystems. The book explores the different ways in which such species are maintained: i.e., their traits, defining their ecological and behavioural uniqueness, morphology, physiology, biochemistry, and the resources-and conditions-on which they depend. It also examines how, as specialists or generalists, species are placed in the trophic hierarchy, how they fit into their communities and influence the evolution (or demise) of other species. Ultimately, the book investigates how best to conserve biodiversity.

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a huge range and FREE tracked UK delivery on ALL orders.

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Book SynopsisTHE ONE HEALTH approach offers a comprehensive framework to address the interwoven health challenges arising from the interactions between humans, animals, plants and the environment. By promoting interdisciplinary and intersectoral collaboration, it aims to combat diseases, curtail antimicrobial resistance, and support agricultural and ecosystem sustainability. The success of One Health relies on robust political commitment, adequate funding and coordinated efforts among stakeholders. Moreover, education and public awareness are essential to facilitate cross-sectoral cooperation and tackle regional and economic disparities.This One Health Atlas is a detailed resource that explores the principles, practical applications and future pathways of the One Health concept. Following an introduction that highlights the ways that human, animal and environmental health are interdependent and which stresses the urgency of operationalizing One Health, the atlas is organized into four key sections: Foundation and recent history; Zoonoses, agriculture and food security; Education, networks and governance: One Health in action; and Future directions and emerging challenges. It concludes with a call to integrate science, policy and society to institutionalize One Health, emphasizing stakeholder engagement, local knowledge and collaborative efforts to tackle global health challenges effectively. It gives readers a holistic perspective on navigating and addressing the complexities of global health through the One Health framework.This atlas, combining concise text and rich illustrations, is authored by over 150 experts from diverse continents and disciplines. It examines the intricate interconnections between human, animal, plant and environmental health. Serving as a valuable resource for educators, policymakers, researchers, students and the informed public, it combines scientific rigor with accessibility to tackle critical issues such as zoonotic diseases and food security. By embedding One Health principles into global strategies, this atlas equips readers with the knowledge and tools necessary to develop innovative solutions for a healthier, more sustainable future.

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Book SynopsisThe Nel Whatmore Set of 3 Midi Notebooks features a collection of three midi, foiled notebooks with alternating lined and blank pages. Each notebook has a different beautiful design: Love for My Garden, Up, Up & Away and Beautiful Reflections. With a sturdy cover and rounded corners, they are perfect to be carried everywhere! Nel Whatmore is a fine artist, well known for her floral paintings, landscapes and abstracts. As a contemporary colourist, her paintings are both expressionist and evocative. Nel is a regular exhibitor at Chelsea Flower Show where her stand has won multiple awards including a Five Star Award this year. Her work can be seen in many forms all over the world. She seeks to constantly explore mediums and their ability to convey emotion, including poetry - she has six books of poetry published called the ‘Reasons to Be’ series. Flame Tree: The Art of Fine Gifts.

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Book SynopsisBound in real Elliot tartan Scottish cloth supplied by Kinloch Anderson, this hardback notebook is 21 x 13cm, with 192pp pages - each spread has left blank, right ruled. Has stained edges, ribbon marker, bookmark and inner note holder. Eight perforated end leaves and expandable inner note holder. Each includes a removable booklet and bookmark giving information on the specific tartan used for the binding. With 192 pages, acid-free threadsewn, 80 gsm cream shade pages, with round-cornered cover and bookblock corners, and a matching elastic closure. The Elliot tartan cloth is supplied by and produced with the authority of Kinloch Anderson who are tailors and kiltmakers in Edinburgh.

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Book SynopsisVisiting gardens may be the most popular tourism activity in the world today and visitor numbers throughout the world of gardens - both domestic and international - have come back to beyond pre-pandemic levels; balance sheets are looking healthier and positive.The repercussions of the COVID pandemic and their effect on garden management and operation have changed the calculus or the way gardens must operate; in essence a new reality has come to pass since 2019.Coupled with these effects, other existential influences have occurred that have caused gardens to evaluate their management and programmatic strategies along with the post-COVID adjustments. These have included but are not limited to global climate change, technological advances in the field of AI and computing, and social justice issues affecting how gardens hire, market, and involve themselves in the community in which they are located.This latest book on garden tourism focuses on gardens as a resource that provides experiences to both locals and tourists, and addresses the latest needs of the garden tourism community by delivering: a breadth of author expertise and experience across practising garden researchers insight in to eight critical issues that confront gardens today a manifesto on how to be a 'stand out' public gardenThis invaluable text will be of interest to those studying tourism management and marketing as well as providing a vital resource for garden managers.

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Book SynopsisDrawing on a variety of perspectives, personal narratives, geographies and approaches, this book challenges dominant discourses of outdoor leisure, associated theoretical approaches and modes of representation regarding the access, inclusion and social justice of minoritised participants. We consider concepts like privilege, power, and empowerment to present a range of outdoor leisure experiences of people with diverse body shapes, races, physical abilities and health conditions, gender and sexual identities, ages, and beyond-human bodies. It offers fresh insights into how leisure in the outdoors can be understood, used, and accessed in ways in which willing participants of all kinds, and especially those who have not traditionally been included, supported and centred, can access the benefits of wellbeing, learning, development and challenges that outdoor leisure participation is revered for. The book covers a range of outdoor conceptualisations that challenge the reader to think deeply and broadly about the common threads which bind the broad field of outdoor leisure together. The range of participant experiences explored in this book encompasses everything from suburban outdoors to wild places, summer camps to scuba diving, dog walking to mindful reflection, and trail walking to electric bikes. The book was designed to transition from the merely academic world to the world of activism, offering thoughtfulness and empowerment in personal and professional decision making related to the field. It should appeal to anyone interested in the outdoors from a variety of perspectives (i.e., students, emerging leaders, long-established leaders seeking innovation, thought-leadership and change makers, policymakers, advocates and activists for inclusion and justice) and for a variety of contexts (i.e., recreation, education, tourism, and adventure).

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a huge range and FREE tracked UK delivery on ALL orders.

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a huge range and FREE tracked UK delivery on ALL orders.

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Book SynopsisThis is the first DIY city guide series on the market, kicking off with three of the most popular European destinations: London, Paris, and Berlin. These guides are colouring and creative activity books, travel notebooks, and city guides in one. Each book contains beautiful illustrations of the city for you to colour in or finish, inspirational to-do lists, and fun facts about the city. But it also leaves plenty of space for your own stories, drawings, pictures, tickets, notes, and tips. With this journal you create your own city guide full of memories and tips about your trip to Paris, to cherish as a keepsake of your trip to the city and to inspire friends to go there, too.

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a huge range and FREE tracked UK delivery on ALL orders.

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a huge range and FREE tracked UK delivery on ALL orders.

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Book SynopsisIt does not matter whether you are innovating on your proposition, your team culture or something else. The authors Carola Verschoor and Rik de Vette view innovation as the creation, development and implementation of new forms of value. It is a verb, because ultimately for innovation to happen, thoughts and ideas must be set in motion by doing. To help bring about innovation, Verschoor and de Vette created the Infinite Double Diamond Cards. This card deck is based on the Double Diamond of Design (created by the British Design Council in 2004). What makes the deck infinite is that the cards can be shuffled and re-shuffled, giving the innovation teams unlimited possibilities and inspiration. Infinite combinations can be made in the application of design thinking tools through these cards. They are easy to use, versatile in application and deliver useful results time after time. The front of the cards contains the name of a design thinking tool, reference to the phase in the design process and guidelines regarding time, materials and mindset needed. On the back, players will find a simple, to-the-point description of the methodologies and tools. Together, the cards have the structure of a recipe: "1, 2, 3 and you are done when ...". Each card is a point in a network of alternative approaches to the issues at hand. Verschoor and DeVette have curated a selection of the best, most impactful methodologies and tools, drawing from disciplines as diverse as research, service design, experience design, business and growth-hacking. Because if any process could guarantee a successful outcome, life would be quite boring. By experimenting playfully with the Infinite Double Diamond Cards, designers and innovators will find new and exciting ways to address the problems they are trying to solve.

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Book Synopsis* BOOST CREATIVITY with this deck of 60 dual-sided, illustrated cards* TWO GAMES IN ONE for endless fun* CREATE different geometric shapes with unique card patterns* STIMULATE YOUR IMAGINATION while playing a traditional memory game or by creating a large geometric pattern with the backside of the cards* GIVE THIS EXCITING GIFT of design and mental exercise that is fun for all ages

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Book SynopsisInvite all of your favorite witches, wizards, and Muggles to your next Harry Potter™-inspired event with this stunning invitation set.Bring the magic of the Wizarding World™ to your special occasion with this deluxe invitation set. With an elegant design, this set is perfect for weddings, birthdays, holiday parties, or any other special occasion to celebrate with your closest friends and family. 30 INVITATIONS: The set includes fill-in invitation cards, envelopes, and envelope seals, adorned with classic Hogwarts™ imagery and shimmering gold accents COORDINATING ENVELOPES: Each invitation card comes with a matching envelope ENVELOPE SEALS: Seal every invitation with the beautiful wax seal stickers featuring the iconic Hogwarts™ stamp RSVP SET INCLUDED: Also included is a set of RSVP cards and coordinating envelopes to gather your guests’ attendance responses COMPLETE YOUR COLLECTION: Expand your collection with more coordinating Wizarding World™-inspired event stationery products from Insights, such as Harry Potter: Thank You Boxed Cards, Harry Potter: Hogwarts Guest Book, Harry Potter: Always Wedding Guest Book, and Harry Potter: Hogwarts Wax Sticker Seal Set

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Book SynopsisRevel in the beauty of America's national parks all year long with this beautiful 12-month undated planner. Each month features unique artwork of a different national parkoffering a contemporary take on the famous WPA posters of the 1930sas well as space to organize your monthly priorities, record your weekly activities, and plan your next outdoor excursion. The gorgeous images within will inspire you to embrace the majesty of the outdoors and give you a deeper appreciation for America's most treasured natural wonders. STUNNING ARTWORK: Monthly dividers highlight 12 of the most popular national parks: Mount Rainier, Yosemite, Great Smoky Mountains, Acadia, Arches, Zion, Yellowstone, Joshua Tree, Rocky Mountain, Big Bend, Grand Canyon, and Grand Teton. Learn more about your favorite national parks with a brief summary accompanying each month's artwork, highlighting the park's unique history, notable attractions, and flora and fauna. START PLANNING NOW: Fill in the months and days in this 12-month undated planner to get organized at any time. Make both long- and short-term plans, projects, and goals. 148 PAGES AND OVER 200 PLANNER STICKERS: This planner provides plenty of room to record your goals, priorities, activities, and reflections. Included are 12 unique dividers, monthly spreads, 5 weekly spreads per month, a storage pocket, and over 200 planner stickers. PORTABLE: Crafted with high quality materials, this durable planner with deluxe Wire-O binding is perfect for taking with you on the go. The convenient 7 x 9.25 size fits easily in a bag or drawer. GIFT FOR NATURE LOVERS: The Art of the National Parks Undated Planner makes a wonderful gift for any outdoor enthusiast. COMPLETE YOUR COLLECTION: Take your love for the national parks further with additional books and products featuring gorgeous artwork from the Fifty-Nine Parks print series: The Art of the National Parks coffee table book, The Art of the National Parks Coloring Book, and The Art of the National Parks Park-Lover's Journal.

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Book SynopsisExploring everything from giant squid to sea birds, sharks to sperm whales, this epic voyage with scholar and seafarer Richard J. King provides a new way of approaching Melville's classic sea-yarn: as a book about nature itself.Trade Review"A unique take on Melville...The book is unquestionably well researched: King blends library research with personal experience and draws on interviews with contemporary 'oceanic' professionals, including maritime-historian colleagues, ocean scientists, and sailors. He also provides scores of photographs and other pertinent illustrations. Anyone interested in Melville will find this rich and insightful study fascinating--but those readers curious enough to see Moby-Dick as an oceanographic encyclopedia will benefit most."--J. W. Miller, Gonzaga University "Choice" "An exquisitely detailed and gorgeously written book that reminds us of the wonder of Melville's novel and of the natural world in which it takes place. Fascinating accounts and descriptions of whales, swordfish, sharks, giant squid, ambergris, etc., and of the sea itself: then and now. And informed by a writer who has spent years at sea, is now a professor of maritime literature and history at the Sea Education Association in Woods Hole, Massachusetts. King gives an original, loving rereading of Melville's novel. He is himself a master storyteller whose handsomely illustrated book is deeply informed and full of delightful surprises."--Jay Neugeboren "Ploughshares" "King's book ballasts one's appreciation for Melville's vision with rich freights of lore, observation, scientific data, and history of ideas. It is an admirable companion to the novel and the mind bold enough to bring it into the world."-- "The Nautilus" "Tired of binge-watching those mind-numbing programs and movies? During this pandemic, we've been warned to exercise regularly and that includes our brain. With extra time for nonessential activities, it's an opportunity to read a few good books--especially venturing into unfamiliar territory. . . . This book is excellent. Even if you haven't read Melville's classic of sea literature, you will be amazed at his command of the environmental world that is its setting. . . . What King says will entertain, inform, amuse and sadden you."--JoAnne Fuerst "The Ellsworth American" "King gives us natural history done Melville-style, looking over a ship's rail, and this ingenious focus neatly weds field science and literary history, yielding a study that is fresh, provocative, and welcome."--William Howarth "American Scholar" "Ultimately, answering these questions involves poetry more than science. Melville has combined the rational, objective, Darwinian perspective with the emotional, poetic, Emersonian perspective, pushing the reader to see nature as both dangerous and damaged. Here is King's main point: that Melville's novel can now be read as an introduction to environmental issues of the twenty-first century."--John P. Loonam "Washington Independent Review of Books" "Richard J King's Ahab's Rolling Sea: A Natural History of Moby-Dick is both a brilliant reading of the novel and an elegy for the wonders of the sea that we humans are destroying."-- "New Statesman" "Employing Melville's maritime setting as a base camp for this ambitious excursion into our present-day relationship with the ocean and its denizens, Ahab's Rolling Sea is that rarest of scholarly books: one that delights as it informs. . . . Key to the book's success is King's skill as a writer. He weaves impressive research--much of it archival--with his own insightful and enthusiastic prose. Topping it off, the book is filled with a rich assemblage of illustrations, maps, and photographs. King writes, 'Like the industry of whaling itself, Melville reveled in the chance to show how the ugly, dirty deep revealed both man's hypocrisies and nature's treasures.' The same can be said of Ahab's Rolling Sea, a book that, like Melville's novel and like the wonders of the ocean, manages to thrill, to educate, and to inspire."--Matthew Wynn Sivils "Isis" "The chance that someone could write something new and fresh about such a book seems as unlikely as a big haul from our over-fished oceans, yet King achieves this. . . He has produced a powerful ecocritical analysis of Moby-Dick, reinforcing the novel as essential reading for all who sail, paddle, wander or simply ponder on the sea."--Mandy Haggith, Inverness College, University of the Highlands and Islands "Green Letters" "Ahab's Rolling Sea is a wide-ranging, highly personal, richly eclectic, and extremely well-researched book whose style and humor, combined with its rigor, suggest the potential for popularity even beyond the fascinations of this self-confessed whalehead. Who could not warm to a chapter titled 'Gulls, Sea-Ravens, and Albatrosses' or 'Sword-Fish and Lively Grounds, ' or be intrigued by 'Phosphorescence'? There's a Melvillean romance here, and it sits especially well with King's love and empathy for human as well as natural history. A contemporary, witty, almost postmodern field guide."--Philip Hoare, author of RISINGTIDEFALLINGSTAR, The Sea Inside, The Whale, and Leviathan "Anyone who loves Moby-Dick should read this book."--Nathaniel Philbrick, author of the National Book Award-winning In the Heart of the Sea: The Tragedy of the Whaleship Essex and Why Read 'Moby-Dick'? "Are you? a Moby-Dickhead? If so, are you enough of a Moby-Dickhead to have visited the Phallological Museum in Iceland to inspect a sperm whale's penis? This is one of the many intrepid expeditions undertaken by King in the course of researching Ahab's Rolling Sea. His book, like Moby-Dick itself, tells you everything you ever wanted to know about whales but were too ashamed to ask. The fact that the sperm whale's penis, or 'grandissimus', is four and a half feet long is just one of its juicier details. . . . It turns out that, with due allowance for the state of knowledge in the 1850s, Melville got a surprising amount right about whales: their size, their bone structure, their mass, even their emotional lives. . . . Anyone who isn't completely turned off by sea creatures will enjoy surfing the waves of information that roll genially from this book. Ahab's Rolling Sea also has a big thesis. King argues that Moby-Dick offers a 'proto-Darwinian decentring of the human and the elevation of the whale.' . . . It would be hard to fault either the motives or the facts underlying King's ecological zeal."-- "London Review of Books" "Depending on who you are, reading Moby-Dick, first published in 1851, could be a sleep-inducing slog or a stellar sea yarn of man versus whale. But the book has (sea) legs, and since its release has proved to be one of the most enduring books of American fiction. Its literary merits have been discussed and debated, but King, a professor of maritime literature and history, examines the book as a work of nature writing . . . He does extensive reporting, delving into everything from the rigging of whaleships to the diet of sperm whales."-- "Hakai Magazine" "Herman Melville's sprawling masterpiece Moby-Dick is a fictional feat studded with empirical evidence, reveals maritime historian King in this invigorating study. King traces references to ethology, meteorology, marine microbiota and the oceans to Melville's sailing experience in the Pacific and wranglings with the works of scientists William Scoresby, Louis Agassiz and others. Moby-Dick, King boldly avers, is a 'proto-Darwinian fable'--and its beleaguered narrator, Ishmael, an early environmentalist."-- "Nature" "It took me decades to appreciate that Melville's messy, uncontainable, surging Moby-Dick is perhaps the greatest book ever written about the sea, and about the human relationship with the living world, and perhaps the only book sufficiently un-jaded by mercantilism and modernity to be worthy of the actual ocean itself in all its raw, uncontrollable, surging majesty. But if you don't want to wait decades for Melville's magnificence to be revealed, you can cheat and read King's book. Ahab's Rolling Sea is a marvelous guide to the magic and mystery that was Melville's gift to us, for King reveals the deep, deep backstory of the making of Moby-Dick, the vast pots of experience and information that Melville simmered down, and even the missing ingredients of his age, that made Moby-Dick the richest bouillabaisse in all of literature. Oh, and about Melville's missing ingredients--they're here, in King's terrific book."--Carl Safina, author of Song for the Blue Ocean: Encounters Along the World's Coasts and Beneath the Seas and Becoming Wild: How Animal Cultures Raise Families, Create Beauty, and Achieve Peace "King decisively settles any lingering questions about Moby-Dick, nineteenth-century whales and whaling, and all lore and literature of the sea. More than establishing a factual basis for Ishmael's fiction-making, King writes passionately on climate change, economic pressures on sea creatures, and the future Melville confronts in his marvelous encounter with the 'wonder-world' of whaling. King's deep knowledge grounds lively storytelling, keen observations drawn from years of sailing, and an eye for details that will make Melville's book come alive. But even if you haven't read Moby-Dick, you will revel in this storehouse of fascinating tales and arcana, from Ambergris to Zeuglodon. A treasure for library, classroom, or bedside table."--Wyn Kelley, Massachusetts Institute of Technology, author of Melville's City: Literary and Urban Form in Nineteenth-Century New York and Herman Melville: An Introduction "King dissects the language and information available to Melville, including books found within Melville's library, and identifies how edited versions of what was understood at the time were twisted to serve the story. The reader comes to appreciate Melville's thorough natural history research, especially in light of the fact that Moby-Dick was written at a time when it was not yet decided whether whales were fish or mammals, and when scientific knowledge was shoehorned into a religious worldview...I thoroughly enjoyed King's well-researched analysis of the classic tale which 'offers a benchmark for how Americans understood the ocean in the mid-nineteenth century' and in doing so, compares and contrasts this with our perceptions of the ocean today."-- "The Niche" "King reflects on what we have learned and lost from the oceans since Melville's time. He answers questions many readers surely ponder. . . . Naturally, the book is full of spoilers. Read Moby-Dick, read this, then read Moby-Dick again."-- "BBC Wildlife" "King, a visiting associate professor of maritime literature and history (what a fascinating title this is!), runs after the Leviathan of literary semantics in the most imaginative way: testing what Melville and people of his era knew about their natural environment, maritime ecosystems, birds, cetaceans, and whales before he published Moby-Dick in 1851. . . . King does his best not to be another Ahab seeing his 'White Whale' escaping. And he actually makes it: from the detailed research of the marine fauna to the possible influences of Emerson, Thoreau, Darwin, Bowditch on Melville. This is the retelling of Moby-Dick from an imaginative point of view: from the Pequod towards the cosmos surrounding us in the era of new environmentalism."--Dimitris Doulgeridis "TA NEA (Greece)" "Simply breathtaking, in that it takes one's breath away and refills the lungs with a gust of salty sea breeze...Ahab's Rolling Sea collects accounts from literary criticism, theory, climate activism, and natural history for a deep dive into one of the most popular maritime novels around--Herman Melville's Moby-Dick...The relatability and readability of Ahab's Rolling Sea, at a time when the sea has much receded from daily life, is a testament to King's pedagogical, sailorly, and descriptive mastery. King invites us to stand aloft with him and Ishmael, and look out toward the wonderful, ever-rolling sea. Maybe, if we look close enough, we will even get to see a whale."--Alison Maas "H-Environment" "This examination of Moby-Dick as nature writing could be a sneaky way to get the English majors on your shopping list to read about science."-- "American Scientist" (12/11/2019 12:00:00 AM) "This is a superb work of popular scholarship that rivals the best books of maritime nonfiction currently in print. For any teacher, reader, or aficionado of Melville's magnum opus the present work will be a joy to read; for anyone curious about the current state of the marine environment, this book will be eye-opening."--Dan Brayton, Middlebury College, author of "Shakespeare's Ocean: An Ecocritical Exploration" "Ahab's Rolling Sea highlights our destructiveness as it teases fact from fiction in Moby-Dick, the obsessive hunt for a great white whale. . . . Rigorous. . . . Original."--Chris Simms "New Scientist" "A rather schematic structure--Ahab's Rolling Sea could be used as a reference book, a zoological concordance to Moby-Dick--is combined with a genuinely gripping retelling of the tale."--Brian Morton "Times Literary Supplement" (1/17/2020 12:00:00 AM) "A treasure trove. King situates Melville as a person of his time, writing amid a quickening pace of discoveries about the natural world but, pre-On the Origin of Species, inclined to couch them as further disclosures of God's design."--Stephen Phillips "Spectator" "I'm an easy mark for books like Ahab's Rolling Sea: A Natural History of 'Moby-Dick, ' which I've read a perhaps unhealthy number of times, in light of Annie Dillard's opinion that Melville's baggy masterpiece is the 'best book ever written about nature.' Focusing on nineteenth century oceanography, natural history, and, of course, the whalers' understanding of his prey's remarkable intelligence, King's book is a fascinating and rare thing: a vital addition to Melville studies."--Stephen Sparks "LitHub, 12 Books You Should Read This October" "King uses modern sources and historical texts to take a fresh look at Melville's book--published in the same decade as Charles Darwin's On the Origin of Species--with the well-defined brief of assessing its natural history content. The result is a lighthearted and incredibly enjoyable read that manages somehow, at the right moments, to be both broad and narrow in scope. It should be required reading for anyone attempting Moby-Dick. . . . No captive of the library, King is an experienced seaman and an open-minded and intrepid guide. A visiting associate professor of maritime literature and history at the Sea Education Association in Woods Hole, Massachusetts, he is willing to pull on his old Sou'wester and sail into the watery part of the world. . . . King writes ably and in scholarly detail about albatrosses, ambergris, baleen, barnacles, seals, sharks, sperm whale behavior and language, swordfish, typhoons, and all sorts of marine and cetological marginalia. . . . [A] talented and clear-eyed . . . writer."--Christopher J. Kemp "Science"Table of ContentsIntroduction 1. Herman Melville: Whaleman, Author, Natural Philosopher 2. Numerous Fish Documents 3. Cetology and Evolution 4. White Whales and Natural Theology 5. Whale Migration 6. Wind 7. Gulls, Sea-Ravens, and Albatrosses 8. Small Harmless Fish 9. Phosphorescence 10. Sword-Fish and Lively Grounds 11. Brit and Baleen 12. Giant Squid 13. Sharks 14. Fresh Fare 15. Barnacles and Sea Candies 16. Practical Cetology: Spout, Senses, and the Dissection of Heads 17. Whale and Human Intelligence 18. Ambergris 19. Coral Insects 20. Grandissimus 21. Whale Skeletons and Fossils 22. Does the Whale Diminish? 23. Mother Carey’s Chickens 24. Typhoons and Corpusants 25. Navigation 26. Seals 27. The Feminine Air 28. Noiseless Nautilus 29. Sperm Whale Behavior 30. Sky-Hawk 31. Ishmael: Blue Environmentalist and Climate Refugee Acknowledgments Notes Selected Bibliography Figure Credits and Notes Index

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Book SynopsisExplores the value of oral traditions and challenges entrenched beliefs about ethnogenesis in the Great Basin In When the Earth Was New, Alex K. Ruuska explores riveting multigenerational memories of Numic-speaking communities that extend back, potentially, to the late Pleistocene. These diverse oral traditions describe geological, climatic, and ecological events that occurred over thousands of years and were passed down across many generations. Through the examination of place-based memories and the architecture of Numic knowledge, Ruuska demonstrates convergences of oral traditions, ethnography, ethnohistory, archaeology, and geology. When the Earth Was New critically compares and considers multiple forms of knowledge that contribute to overlapping as well as disparate understandings of both recent and distant pasts in the regions of California, the Great Basin, and the Colorado Plateau. It works at balancing key themes in these regions' histories within a more holistic framework, exploring ancient and modern strands of knowledge with the assistance of twenty-four Tribes and Consolidated Organizations.

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