Search results for ""Author Bird"

Living in the luxurious Arcanum building - with its interior balconies perfect for playing tag, an elevator like an iron birdcage, and quirky neighbours behind every apartment door - has always been fun and games for twelve-year-old Minerva Keen . . . until her neighbours start getting poisoned. Anyone could be next, and everyone is a suspect, including Minerva herself.To clear her name and help the police crack the case, Minerva starts her own detective club. So what if it only has two other members, one Minerva's accident-prone daredevil brother and the other the biggest and quietest kid in school, who happens to be afraid of his own shadow? Minerva knows that with her brainpower, the club's sleuthing skills, and case files full of suspects, they can unmask the poisoner . . . hopefully before it's too late.

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Mindful Thoughts for Walkers explores how walking is an opportunity to deepen our levels of physical and spiritual awareness.Mindful walking can help us face the existential questions of ‘Who am I?’, ‘Where have I come from?’, What am I doing here?’ and ‘Where am I going?’ Through a series of 25 succinct meditations on walking, Adam Ford presents an enlightening guide to how mindfulness and walking can help us improve our conscious living, including: • Taking time to breathe • Finding your rhythm • Being aware of your surroundings ­ • Long-distance walking • Walking with others • Walking by night, by rivers and canals, and exploring the city From a gentle daily stroll to a brisk hike across the mountaintops, this is a powerful reading companion for rural and urban walker alike. If you like this, you might also be interested in Mindful Thoughts for Runners, Mindful Thoughts for Gardeners and Mindful Thoughts for Birdwatchers.

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Never serve a boring looking cake again! This stunning collection of buttercream cake decorating projects will transform your regular bakes into works of art, using simple techniques and nothing but 100% delicious buttercream. With 30 step-by-step single-tier cake decorating projects on a wide variety of themes, you'll find cakes for all occasions that will lift your baking to a new creative level. The cakes range in size from 4 to 8 inches high, and come in a host of shapes and sizes - round and square but also simple carved shapes including a wreath, a log and a birdcage. The ideal book for buttercream beginners, this colourful cake decorating book will show you how to create simple yet sensational cakes every day that will wow all who see and eat them! With expert instruction from the best buttercream teachers in the world, you'll learn step-by-step a wide range of innovative buttercream techniques using piping tips, palette knives and more.

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Winner at the 2020 Independent Publisher Book Awards. A heartening story about connecting to nature and its healing properties.The little girl of the forest embraces you, takes you by the hand, and invites you to immerse yourself in her magical world. The trees surround you. You walk in peace. The light filters through the leaves, in myriad green and ochre tones. It feels as if your feet are putting down roots, connecting you with the vibrant world around you. You are surrounded by birdsong, and the sound of the wind in the treetops… You are bathing in the forest.Walking through the forest has multiple benefits. It helps regulate our blood pressure, slow down the heart rate, reduce stress, improves our mood and tones our immune system. You will sleep better and your good mood will increase.If you ever feel gray, sad, agitated, open the pages of Bathing in the Forest and feel the warm embrace of the girl who lives there…

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Not Exactly As Planned is a captivating, deeply moving account of adoption and the unexpected challenges of raising a child with fetal alcohol syndrome. Linda Rosenbaum’s life takes a major turn when her son, adopted at birth, is diagnosed with irreversible brain damage. With love, hope and all the medical knowledge she can accumulate, she sets out to change his prognosis and live with as much joy as she can while struggling to accept her new reality. Not Exactly As Planned is more than a story of motherlove. It’s about birdwatching, bar mitzvahs, the collision of ’60’s ideals with the real world, family secrets and woodcarving.

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This timely Handbook establishes the 'contextualization' of the learning organization idea as a research field.In contrast to much of the previous literature, which has approached the learning organization as a panacea that every organization could and should adopt, this major new Handbook puts the learning organization into context. It examines the relevance of the learning organization idea to organizations in various specific contexts, employing examples from a wide variety of cultures including China and Islamic nations, and from industries as diverse as the police force, care services for the elderly and family firms.Scholars and students with an interest in organizational learning will find this important Handbook enriching. Human resource practitioners will also find plenty of invaluable information in this resource.Contributors: C. Abrahamson Löfström, A. Ahmad, M. Babur, Y. Baruch, N. Birdthistle, D.A. Blackman, C. Blantern, P. Bogolyubov, T. Boydell, H.T.M. Bui, J. Burgoyne, X. Cong, D.J. Delgado-Hernández, M. Drobnjak, M. Easterby-Smith, Z. Fan, C. Filstad, T.N. Garavan, P. Gottschalk, J.F.L. Hong, S.-w. Hsu, D. Jamali, B. Li, Z. Li, M. Lin, C. Lloyd, D. McDowall, A. Örtenblad, C. Peng, Y. Sidani, R.S. Snell, C. Stothard, S. Talbot, M. Torokoff-Engelbrecht, K.E. Watkins, D. Weir, J. Zhou

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CRAFT is the first project-based magazine dedicated to the renaissance happening within the world of crafts. Celebrating the DIY spirit, CRAFT's goal is to unite, inspire, inform and entertain a growing community of highly imaginative people who are transforming traditional art and crafts with unconventional, unexpected, and even renegade techniques, materials and tools.The theme for CRAFT Volume 04 is costumes, and in the Special Section we profile extraordinary costume makers and show you how to make your own Carmen Miranda-style headdress as well as a sweet disguise for your pooch. The fun just starts there, with 29 awesome projects including making custom car seat covers for your ride, a modern, swanky birdhouse for your yard, and a suede macrame beaded curtain for your pad. We'll show you the ins and outs of spray painted graffiti and moss graffiti, how to harvest squid ink, how to make new candles out of old ones, and much more. We'll even get you started on whittling wood and dyeing fibers using nature's bounty.

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Shoyo Hinata is out to prove that in volleyball you don't need to be tall to fly! Ever since he saw the legendary player known as “the Little Giant” compete at the national volleyball finals, Shoyo Hinata has been aiming to be the best volleyball player ever! Who says you need to be tall to play volleyball when you can jump higher than anyone else? Kenma Kozume has been trying to keep Kageyama and Hinata contained in a birdcage, but they break free with a bold four set! Now that Hinata has added height to his arsenal, Nekoma brings out their own rookie tandem of giants—Lev Haiba and Sou Inuoka—to stop him! The Dumpster Battle dives into the final, climactic set... Who will come out on top, Hinata or Kenma?!

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Animal science is bizarre and wonderful. At the extreme end of zoology, psychologists are designing personality tests for dogs and logic problems for pigeons. They're giving fish spatial reasoning problems and asking cockatoos to keep a beat. Now, through dozens of interactive puzzles, IQ tests and quizzes, Are You Smarter Than a Chimpanzee? lets you test yourself against the best nature has to offer. So: are you more than a match for a marmoset? Or a bit of a birdbrain? Based on real, cutting-edge science and debunking common myths about animals, Are You Smarter Than a Chimpanzee? will make you question your assumptions about our place in the animal kingdom - and, finally, explain the real difference between dog-people and cat-people.

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From the slums of Cape Town to the palaces of Algiers, through Pygmy villages where pineapples grow wild, to the Gulf of Guinea where the sea blazes with oil flares, across two continents and fourteen countries - this epic journey is nothing to swallows, they do it twice a year. But for Horatio Clare, writer and birdwatcher, it is the expedition of a lifetime. Along the way he discovers old empires and modern tribes, a witch-doctor's recipe for stewed swallow, explains how to travel without money or a passport, and describes a terrifying incident involving three Spanish soldiers and a tiny orange dog. By trains, motorbikes, canoes, one camel and three ships, Clare follows the swallows from reed beds in South Africa, where millions roost in February, to a barn in Wales, where a pair nest in May.

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Sebastian Faulks has written nineteen books, of which A Week in December and The Fatal Englishman were number one in the Sunday Times bestseller lists. He is best known for Birdsong, part of his French trilogy, and Human Traces, the first in an ongoing Austrian trilogy. Before becoming a full-time writer, he worked as a journalist on national papers. He has also written screenplays and has appeared in small roles on stage. He lives in London.

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Sebastian Faulks has written nineteen books, of which A Week in December and The Fatal Englishman were number one in the Sunday Times bestseller lists. He is best known for Birdsong, part of his French trilogy, and Human Traces, the first in an ongoing Austrian trilogy. Before becoming a full-time writer, he worked as a journalist on national papers. He has also written screenplays and has appeared in small roles on stage. He lives in London.

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Wally is going on an adventure up, up high in the skies. Join him (and don’t forget to pack a pen or pencil)!Have fun playing puzzling puzzles and amazing activities with Wally and friends as you soar through the pages of this book! Work your way out of a busy airport runway maze; match up dragons to their race day medals; solve birdy wordsearches and visual snap; colour in a nighttime dragon scene; apply rules to crazy clowns in hot air balloons; complete a luggage loop game; spot-the-differences and much, much more! Can you also track down Wally’s lost feather? There are over 100 fantastic stickers and lots of extra things to find and do!

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Alcatraz Island has a chilling history. Surrounded by icy waters, enshrouded by thick fog, and wrapped in whistling wind, it is no surprise to find that it is haunted. In fact, there is so much sadness, desperation, torture, and death in its past, it's almost impossible to believe that there aren't spirits there. Learn about famous prisoners who haunt the island and of those unnamed folks who continue to linger there. Hear Al Capone's mournful banjo and Robert "Birdman" Stroud's shriek in the wind. Find Smitty, the amazing escape artist, and Rufe McCain, who was murdered by a monster. Visit with unsettled spirits on Alcatraz, but make sure you catch the last boat home…

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Gardens teach us to live in the moment. They nourish us, provide solace in grief and offer sanctuary from the stresses of modern life.In a celebration of the healing power of nature, New Zealand gardening guru Lynda Hallinan focuses on the gentle delights that bring joy to our backyards, from birdsong to seasonal beauty.Slowing down, letting go, working in harmony with nature and cherishing the accidental pleasures, from self-sown seedlings to bumblebees sleeping in dahlia blooms: these are the things that make our hearts sing.Lynda also writes about the way memory and tradition connect us to special plants and places, and the thrill of sharing a love of gardening with friends and family.

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Each day we saw the outside world in all its splendour, and each day that view served as a reminder that we had wasted and ruined our lives. Jim Quillen, AZ586 - a runaway, problem child and petty thief - was jailed several times before his twentieth birthday. In August 1942, after escaping from San Quentin, he was arrested on the run and sentenced to forty-five years in prison, and later transferred to Alcatraz. This is the true story of life inside America's most notorious prison - from terrifying times in solitary confinement to daily encounters with 'the Birdman', and what really happened during the desperate and deadly 1946 escape attempt.

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‘I can’t face the big stuff so I comb the moors for a tiny yellow flower’ – so begins Tormentil, the second poetry collection by Ian Humphreys. Set largely in the starkly beautiful West Yorkshire moorlands, these poems creep and bloom across geographies and time. Isolated by grief in the first months of the pandemic, Humphreys goes in search of hope and blessings among the burnt heather, tumbledown mills and canal locks near his home in the Calder Valley. He unearths a landscape of wildflowers and wildlife, a soundscape of rain and birdsong, at once healing, threatening and under threat. These are richly textured poems of living and resisting, anchored by connections to family, food, community – and an acknowledgement of the precarious root-holds of hard-won freedoms. A soaring, defiant hymn to recovery, this vital book contemplates migration, otherness, and all the internal and external elements that bind us, make us unique.

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A collection of vibrant essays to inform, stimulate and inspire every nature lover. Through unparallelled expertise as a field naturalist, Roy Dennis is able to write about the natural world in a way that considers both the problems and the progress in ecology and conservation. Beginning with cottongrass, whose snow-white blooms blow gently in the wind across the wetter moors and bogs, this is a year-round trove of insight and knowledge for anyone who cares about the natural world - from birdsong and biodiversity to sphagnum and species reintroduction. Written by one of our most prominent advocates for rewilding, the essays have a clear message: "Never give up on trying to conserve and restore wildlife and the wild places you cherish. It's essential to try and to succeed. And remember, it's never 'if', but 'when' - and with climate chaos closing in, the time is now."

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Theatre is often said to offer unique insights into the nature of reality, but this obscures the reality of theatre itself. In Real Theatre, Paul Rae takes a joined-up approach to the realities of theatre to explain why performances take the forms they do, and what effects they have. Drawing on examples ranging from Phantom of the Opera and Danny Boyle's Frankenstein, to the performances of the Wooster Group and arthouse director Tsai Ming-liang, he shows how apparently discrete theatrical events emerge from dynamic and often unpredictable social, technical and institutional assemblages. These events then enter a process of cultural circulation that, as Rae explains, takes many forms: fleeting conversations, the mercurial careers of theatrical characters and the composite personae of actors, and high-profile products like the Hollywood movie Birdman. The result is a real theatre that speaks of, and to, the idiosyncratic and cumulative experience of every theatre participant.

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In these one-of-a-kind picture books, every page is bursting with life - and tons to discover! Children as young as age 2 have a blast pointing out recognisable things - a blue tricycle, a hungry dog, a piggyback ride - while older kids can follow the star characters from page to page, telling their stories along the way. How? Wimmelbooks are virtually instruction-free, inviting kids to make their own way through the busy Wimmelworld they encounter, and to craft their own stories. First, you're introduced to a unique cast of characters who are hidden in plain sight on the pages that follow. As you seek them out, each character's storyline unfolds, but it's up to kids to interpret the scenes and create stories they think fit. It's hours upon hours of fun - and an effortless introduction to literacy to boot. My Big Wimmelbook - A Day at the Zoo lets kids explore exciting and diverse exhibits during a lively day at the zoo, featuring animals in a variety of environments: deserts, jungles and forests, plains, tundras, and more. Readers will delight in spotting zookeepers near the lions, families with kids just like them by the seals, a photographer in the birdhouse - and many more charming characters.

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The worldwide development of ecotourism—including adventures such as mountain climbing and whitewater rafting, as well as more pedestrian pursuits such as birdwatching—has been extensively studied, but until now little attention has been paid to why vacationers choose to take part in what are often physically and emotionally strenuous endeavors. Drawing on ethnographic research and his own experiences working as an ecotour guide throughout the United States and Latin America, Robert Fletcher argues that participation in rigorous outdoor activities resonates with the particular cultural values of the white, upper-middle-class Westerners who are the majority of ecotourists. Navigating 13,000-foot mountain peaks or treacherous river rapids demands deferral of gratification, perseverance through suffering, and a willingness to assume risks in pursuit of continuous progress. In this way, characteristics originally cultivated for professional success have been transferred to the leisure realm at a moment when traditional avenues for achievement in the public sphere seem largely exhausted. At the same time, ecotourism provides a temporary escape from the ostensible ills of modern society by offering a transcendent "wilderness" experience that contrasts with the indoor, sedentary, mental labor characteristically performed by white-collar workers.

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The first novel in Kate Williams' groundbreaking new historical series which begins in the First World War. For fans of BIRDSONG and DOWNTON ABBEY.In the idyllic early summer of 1914, life is good for the de Witt family. German Rudolf and his aristocratic English wife Verena are planning the wedding of their daughter, Emmeline, while their eldest son Arthur is studying in Paris and Michael is just back from his first term at Cambridge. Celia, the youngest of the de Witt children, is on the brink of adulthood, and secretly dreams of escaping her carefully mapped out future and exploring the world.But with the onslaught of war, the de Witts find themselves in danger of losing everything they hold dear. As Celia struggles to make sense of the changing world around her, she lies about her age to join the war effort and finds herself embroiled in a complex plot that puts her and those she loves in danger.With gripping detail and brilliant empathy, Kate Williams tells the story of Celia and her family as they are shunned by a society that previously embraced them, torn apart by sorrow, and buffeted and changed by the storms of war.

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Something truly fascinating is afoot in a region of the Upper Midwest commonly known as the Driftless that runs counter to many of the trends in the rest of the nation and just might be blueprint for the future of a downsized United States. Covering parts of four states—Illinois, Iowa, Wisconsin, and Minnesota—that share a shoreline with the Mississippi River, the Driftless area was spared the glacial activity that leveled the rest of the Midwest landscape. What is left is a common culture of tucked away hills and valleys, where small-scale farming, a respect and love of nature, and close-knit community are a way of life. A seasoned journalist known for his nuanced reporting, Stephen J. Lyons tells the stories of the Driftless through the colorful and unforgettable voices of residents who defy easy characterizations and lazy narratives. Readers will meets seed savers, off-the-gridders, birders, farmers, musicians, artists, and writers, all who share a common bond in a separate nation called the Driftless.

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The ultimate pocket-sized guide to more than 120 sports, from soccer to mountain biking.Ever wonder which is the oldest sport? Or how the Olympics came into being? Are sports the same as games? What does a midfielder do in soccer? What are bogeys, eagles, and birdies in golf? The answers to all these questions and more can be found in this pocket-sized sports book for children.With all major team and individual sports organized into clear categories, you can navigate easily to your favourite sport and others like it. Vibrant, clear illustrations and photographs accompany bite-sized chunks of information on gameplay, rules of scoring, court and field sizes, and even equipment for different types of sport and sporting events. Find out more with stats on record breakers and top competitors in every sport. Go deeper with the reference pages on exciting achievements as well as the many sports associations and competitions on the planet. The Pocket Eyewitness series is perfect for all children, whether they are casual sports enthusiasts or die-hard sports buffs.

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“If there is grass and a few scraggling trees, there will be wildlife,” suggests John Hanson Mitchell, an internationally recognized naturalist and advocate for tuning your senses to the wonders of your environment. Whether your yard consists of a small stretch of grass or a rambling mix of forest and field, Mitchell will introduce you to the wealth of plants, insects, and animals that share your corner of the world. Learn how the behavior at the birdfeeder mirrors that of the wild woods; get an inside view of the rich ecology of the woodpile; learn why you might want to welcome a skunk into your garden. In short, you’ll get to know the neighbors you never knew you had who make their homes all around yours. With wisdom and humor, this book reacquaints you with the denizens of your own local habitat.

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Grad student Sarah Deane was on a birdwatching vacation in Texas when she discovered her true calling as the “Nancy Drew of the 1980s” (Publishers Weekly). In these two adventures, however, she's brought her eagle eye back home to Maine.The first stop is Bowmouth College, where Sarah, a newly minted teaching fellow, learns that some things may be even deadlier than academic infighting. One reviewer noted that he was “actually tempted to assign the book to grad students, so they'll know what they're getting themselves into.”Sarah's next port of call is in fact the water, as she and her boyfriend kick back on a swanky yacht in exchange for helping the oddball owner distribute Bibles to churches along the rocky coast. It's all smooth sailing until another passenger turns up dead, and Sarah realizes (with some terror and just a little sleuthly delight) that a death on a ship at sea is just a water-logged version of a locked-room mystery.

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Flight is the story of humankind's most ambitious undertaking. From thousand-year-old flying machines and the trailblazing 'birdmen' who risked their lives to test them, to the Wright brothers' legendary first flight and the iconic spacecraft of the modern era, Flight weaves together the extraordinary history of aviation with an in-depth look at the mechanics of how planes work. Sumptuously illustrated and written by a former RAF technician, this is the definitive guide to how we conquered the skies.

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Celebrating the American heartland as only Larry Kanfer can, A Prairie State of Mind takes readers over fields fertile and fallow and through the eternal cycle of the seasons. Walk roads melodic with birdsong and the chatter of cicadas. Look onto hillsides plowed into geometric perfection while breathtaking thunderheads boil overhead. Experience barn textures and rusted sheds pulled from the past and wind turbines signaling the future. Selected from Kanfer's new collection, A Prairie State of Mind portrays a land of serene beauty and startling contrasts. His perspectives, landscapes, and details embrace the Midwest, confirming that throughout the day and across time, the prairie connects us all.

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Malaysia is a hugely diverse country and supreme holiday destination. Divided into Peninsular Malaysia and the island states of Sabah and Sarawak on Borneo, each offers a wealth of unique attractions.For travellers interested in history and culture, the capital city, Kuala Lumpur, as well as other major cities, such as Putrajaya, Melaka and George Town, are fascinating to explore. Eco-tourists have an amazing choice of destinations from the Taman Negara National Park on Peninsular Malaysia to Gunung Mulu National Park in Sarawak and the Kinabatangan River in Sabah. Visitors to these natural placeswill be able to see Orang-utans, the Malayan Tiger, the Western Tarsier, Proboscis Monkeys and many other primates. Birdwatching in Malaysia is particularly rewarding with 656 species recorded in Peninsular Malaysia and 669 on Borneo. For the adventurous, there are challenging mountains to climb, such as Mt Kinabalu in Sabah, some of the world's best diving around Sipadan."

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Embrace mindfulness, self-love and holistic health in this stunning month-by-month wellness almanac that will lift your heart, mind, body and soul. Beautifully designed, lovingly crafted and filled with mindful affirmations, activities and insights, this gorgeous book will help you embrace the seasons, be empowered by rituals and create positive spiritual habits all year long. Each page shares a mindful insight for inner understanding, and the year-long structure means that activities are tailored for the natural seasonal rhythms which guide us through winter, spring, summer and autumn. Pick out the month and rest your mind’s eye on the pages ahead. Discover seasonal affirmations, rituals, reflections and practical insights for creative mindfulness, nature connection and inner understanding in this soulful guide to creating daily spiritual habits. Standing at 352 pages, this book is filled with ideas, meaning you can find fresh inspiration day-in, day out, to help you live your most mindful life! Reflections, practices and activities in this beautiful book include: Ways to connect with nature, from constructing seedbombs to exploring the scents of a garden or appreciating the beauty of birdsong, Mindful crafting practices from hand stictching to making your own air-drying clay, Wholesome baking ideas from raw chocolate brownies to love macarons, As well as scores of meditative practices to help you ground yourself in the richness of the world around you, from breathwork and yoga poses to appreciation and understanding of the stars. From the hearts and minds of the Leaping Hare Press collective and featuring soothing illustrations by @madebyralu, The Leaping Hare Wellness Almanac is your definitive guide to conscious living all year round.

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Following upon the success of their first book, The Queen Anne Stool, Tom Heller and Ron Clarkson decided to offer a book about building one of the most desirable pieces of American furniture: the piecrust tea table. This tilting top table has the high elegance of eighteenth century design. The top has a beautifully sculpted molding, resting upon an open-styled birdcage. This rotates on a finely contoured and turned pillar adorned at the vase with acanthus leaves, balancing on a delicate ring of pearls which end in a ribbon and flower design. The cabriole legs are adorned with acanthus leaves at the knees and end in a strongly taloned ball and claw foot. Every step, from cutting and turning to carving and finishing, is explained in step-by-step photographs. These are accompanied with by concise descriptions of the techniques involved. While requiring some basic woodworking skills, this book is designed for cabinet makers and carvers of all levels of experience, so they may produce this treasure of furniture for themselves.

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Award-winning novelist and nature writer Inga Simpson terrifies and enthralls with this truly remarkable novel of a woman who must face her worst fears to find survive and find beauty in a world under attack.Fear is her cage. But what's outside is worse...It's night, and the walls of Rachel's home creak in the darkness of the Australian bush. Her fear of other people has led her to a reclusive life as far from them as possible, her only occasional contact with her sister. A hammering on the door. There stand a mother, Hannah, and her sick baby. They are running for their lives from a mysterious death sweeping the Australian countryside - so soon, too soon, after everything.Now Rachel must face her worst fears to help Hannah, search for her sister, and discover just what terror was born of us. . . and how to survive it.For fans of BIRDBOX and A QUIET PLACE, this remarkable, terrifying literary horror thriller holds a mirror up to the changed world we live in today.

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Longlisted for the Raymond Souster Award 2023 by the League of Canadian Poets. Hurricane Watch: New and Collected Poems brings together Jamaican Poet Laureate Olive Senior's first four books of poetry alongside a new collection. Recipient of the Musgrave Gold Medal in 2005 from the Institute of Jamaica, Senior has long been recognised as a skilful and evocative storyteller but what this book shows is the consistency and range of her achievement. Senior's poems are delicate, formally playful and always finely observed, whether responding to Jamaican birdlife, the larger natural world or the traces of a complicated historical inheritance. Often, and always surprisingly, her poems' brilliant descriptions and vivid, gripping narratives open out into ecological reflections, politics and culture in original, surprising and sensuous ways.

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A bumper bag of humorous anecdotes and amusing tales from golf's best-loved personalities that proves golf is a funny old game - birdies, bunkers and all! Read hilarious stories covering everything from caddies to the clubhouse by the game's all-time great characters, including Peter Alliss, Nick Faldo, Sandy Lyle, Sam Torrance and Ian Woosnam. Enjoy the humour of legendary players such as Seve Ballesteros, Tony Jacklin, Jack Nicklaus, Lee Trevino and Tiger Woods, as they share the funny side of playing in the Open Championship and the Ryder Cup. Laugh-out-loud at celebrity golfers Bruce Forsyth and Michael Parkinson's rib-tickling anecdotes about pro-am tournaments. THE WIT OF GOLF is a wonderful collection of jokes, stories and anecdotes, perfect for any golf fan.

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"Birdsong, wind: here by the ocean every noise was surrounded by silence that reached all the way to the stars. Monica studied the white shingled building above the slope of green lawn, deep bays rising two storeys on each side of the front door and the windowed porch. You felt the big rambling construction must have a memory, old thoughts. Listen, I am the voice of what once was. I am as real as the beating of your hungry heart. A flash of sun blinded her, a pirouette of the dazzling god." So begins David Helwig's Saltsea. A lovely, meditative novel, a story about memory, and about how what once was continues to affect what is and what will be. It is the story of a place, of the family that used to own it, and the people who have been its caretakers. Saltsea, a hotel on the shores of Prince Edward Island, where people come for a brief time, their lives intersecting in intimate and unforeseen ways. The characters of Saltsea are finely drawn, with humour, love and compassion. Sadness and even tragedy are a constant here, but Helwig handles it all humanely, without sentimentality, and with the control of a writer at the height of his powers. Saltsea, befitting a novel so concern with memory, is not something you will soon forget.

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Experimental film and ethnographic film have long been considered separate, autonomous practices on the margins of mainstream cinema. By exploring the interplay between the two forms, Catherine Russell throws new light on both the avant-garde and visual anthropology. Russell provides detailed analyses of more than thirty-five films and videos from the 1890s to the 1990s and discusses a wide range of film and videomakers, including Georges Méliès, Maya Deren, Peter Kubelka, Ray Birdwhistell, Jean Rouch, Su Friedrich, Bill Viola, Kidlat Tahimik, Margaret Mead, Tracey Moffatt, and Chantal Akerman. Arguing that video enables us to see film differently—not as a vanishing culture but as bodies inscripted in technology, Russell maps the slow fade from modernism to postmodern practices. Combining cultural critique with aesthetic analysis, she explores the dynamics of historical interruption, recovery, and reevaluation. As disciplinary boundaries dissolve, Russell contends, ethnography is a means of renewing the avant-gardism of “experimental” film, of mobilizing its play with language and form for historical ends. “Ethnography” likewise becomes an expansive term in which culture is represented from many different and fragmented perspectives.Original in both its choice of subject and its theoretical and methodological approaches, Experimental Ethnography will appeal to visual anthropologists, as well as film scholars interested in experimental and documentary practices.

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Contributions by Destiny O. Birdsong, Jean W. Cash, Kevin Catalano, Amanda Dean Freeman, David Gates, Richard Gaughran, Rebecca Godwin, Joan Wylie Hall, Dixon Hearne, Phillip Howerton, Emily D. Langhorne, Shawn E. Miller, Melody Pritchard, Nick Ripatrazone, Bes Stark Spangler, Scott Hamilton Suter, Melanie Benson Taylor, Jay Varner, and Scott D. Yarbrough Twenty-First-Century Southern Writers: New Voices, New Perspectives, an anthology of critical essays, introduces a new group of fiction writers from the American South. These fresh voices, like their twentieth-century predecessors, examine what it means to be a southerner in the modern world. These writers' works cover wide-ranging subjects and themes: the history of the region, the continued problems of the working-class South, the racial divisions that have continued, the violence of the modern world, and the difficulties of establishing a spiritual identity in a modern context. The approaches and styles vary from writer to writer, with realistic, place-centered description as the foundation of many of their works. They have also created new perspectives regarding point of view, and some have moved toward the inclusion of ""magic realism"" and even science fiction in their work. The nineteen essays in Twenty-First-Century Southern Writers feature a handful of fiction writers who are already well known, such as National Book Award-winner Jesmyn Ward, Tayari Jones, Michael Farris Smith, and Inman Majors. Others deserve greater recognition, and, in many cases, works in this anthology will be the first pieces of analysis dedicated to writers and their work. Twenty-First-Century Southern Writers aims to alert scholars of southern literature, as well as the reading public, to an exciting and varied group of writers, while laying a foundation for future examination of these works.

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Embrace the blooming benefits of nature, mindfulness and eco-therapy in this stunning month-by-month nature almanac that will lift your heart, mind, body and self. Strikingly designed, lovingly crafted and filled with nature affirmations, activities and reflections, this gorgeous book will help you connect to the seasons, be empowered by eco-spirituality, and be mindful of nature all year long. Each page shares an eco-insight for nature connection, and the yearlong structure means that activities are tailored for the natural seasonal rhythms which guide us through winter, spring, summer and fall. Pick out the month and rest your mind’s eye on the pages ahead. Discover seasonal affirmations, nature rituals, recipes, eco-reflections and growing tips for nature connection, mindfulness and empowerment in this earthy guide to creating daily eco-aware habits. Standing at 288 pages, this book is filled with ideas for finding fresh inspiration every day in nature to help you live your most mindful life! Reflections, practices and actions in this lush book include: Practical ways to connect with nature, from growing flowers and vegetables to making knotweed preserve, Mindful reflections including tuning into the beauty of birdsong, Star-gazing practices as meditative practices, As well as nature meditations and visualizations to connect spiritually with the natural world. From the hearts and minds of the Leaping Hare Press collective and featuring soothing illustrations by @madebyralu, The Leaping Hare Nature Almanac is your definitive guide to mindfully connecting to nature all year round. Discover even more empowering spiritual practices aligned with the seasons in The Leaping Hare Wellness Almanac.

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All the beauty of coloring with chalk but without the mess! These 32 hand-drawn horticultural designs bring a peaceful garden to life with all of the charming imperfections of original chalkboard art. Relax and fill them with color to create your own rustic-chic masterpiece. From beehives and birdhouses to watering cans and wheelbarrows, each lovely white line illustration is presented on a textured black background, just like a real chalkboard. You ll be delighted by the way warm colors, bright colors, neons, and lighter pastel shades really pop from these designs. Use light-colored pencils and gel pens to personalize your work with lettering, flourishes, and patterning. Talented chalkboard artist Deb Strain provides useful coloring tips and tricks, along with beautifully colored examples to help get you inspired. Each inspirational design is printed on one side only of high-quality, extra-thick paper, perforated for easy removal and display."

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Yan is a compulsive gambler whose wanderlust leads him on a chain of adventures across the South Atlantic and beyond, in the wake of the Falklands War. But this personal voyage takes a heavy toll on his relationships with wife Kate and teenage son Danny, left abandoned in a run-down pub on the North-East coast of England. Twenty-five years later Yan re-appears, terminally ill and determined to make amends before his death. Despite Danny's reticence, the two men begin to reconnect through the unlikely medium of birdwatching, as Danny tries to piece together the truth about Yan's desertion and protracted homecoming.Set against the stark industrial landscapes of the Tees estuary and the wilder shores of the South Atlantic, Hemispheres is an Odyssey for the twenty-first century, a story about fathers and sons, about isolation and human connection, and - ultimately - about the healing power of the natural world.

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Ignatz award Nomination for Outstanding Collection Leon Beyond--part John Hodgman, part out-of-date school textbook--is the know-it-all, relentless-fact-baking brain child of cartoonists Kevin Huizenga and Dan Zettwoch. Leon's knowledge was catalogued weekly in the St. Louis Riverfront Times. Amazing Facts and Beyond collects the comic-strip's best and most outrageous moments. Discover the world of optilusors, Robert Skur, dance notation and grooved disc jellyfish. Learn new words and concepts: winkaton or optogenerian. Mark your extreme calendar before you travel to the pancake and eggs nebula. Meticulously un-researched and full of dubious knowledge, Amazing Facts and Beyond is the modern successor to Ripley's Believe It Or Not. Featuring guest contributions by Ted May, and others. Dan Zettwoch is a cartoonist, illustrator, and designer. Dan's work has been published in countless anthologies. His acclaimed first book Birdseye Bristoe was published last year by Drawn and Quarterly. He lives with his wife in St. Louis, Missouri. Kevin Huizenga is cartoonist whose work has been published by Drawn & Quarterly, Marvel, Fantagraphics, Time, Slate.com and many others. His latest book Gloriana was published last year by Drawn & Quarterly. Kevin lives with his wife in St. Louis, Missouri.

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In this comprehensive study of Olivier Messiaen's magnum opus, Saint François d'Assise, Vincent Perez Benitez examines the opera from both theological and musical-analytical perspectives to ask how Messiaen expresses his Catholic theology through his work. Benitez combines a close reading of the opera score with accounts from Messiaen's associates, studies of Messiaen's birdsong notebooks and other primary documents, and an examination of the religious, musical, poetic, and visual arts literature with which the composer was familiar to explore how the opera's harmonic language and sound-color relationships motivate its musical meaning and expression. Through his analysis of these diverse sources and comparisons of Saint François d'Assise with other works such as Berg's Wozzeck and Wagner's Parsifal, Benitez places Messiaen's compositional practice within larger musical perspectives and historical contexts.

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Kirito has escaped Sword Art Online, the forbidden VRMMORPG of death, and returned to reality. He heads off to find his game partner and lover, Asuna Yuuki. But Asuna never made it back from the nightmare. Lost and desperate, Kirito's only clue to her virtual whereabouts is a mysterious screenshot of Asuna as a fairy trapped in a giant birdcage. His conclusion: She must be trapped within the new, high-powered VRMMORPG, ALfheim Online. Now Kirito must plunge into the world of ALO, where players are fairies who fly gracefully through the air!

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Love working with gourds, but hate all the dust? This new book offers an alternative technique. Step-by-step instructions, along with 176 color photographs, show how to chip and chisel a gourd into a decorative piece for the house or outside. Best of all, only basic, simple tools are needed; no electric cords, no noise, no dust. Create a stunning array of bowls, birdhouses, and ornaments. A gallery of 16 color photographs provides ideas for your own creations. Chip-carving on Gourds is a gentle, relaxing handcraft that any beginner or seasoned gourd crafter can learn and enjoy.

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From python hunting to Swami Keerti’s laughing meditation, from a death in the family to a burial on the rural acres where he’s stood his ground for a decade, Gaylord Brewer extends and explodes his career-long obsessions in Give Over, Graymalkin. This 8th collection of poems is a journal of loss and recovery, departure and surprising return, fleeting hours in a world diminished yet wondrous. Seas writhe with uncharted beasts. Horsemen gather, conflagrant beneath sword and cross. A daughter mounts a bicycle and a divorcé has the Harley delivered. From India to France to Spain, to the birdsong and day lilies of his unruly garden, Brewer continues as poetic conquistador mapping our longing, melancholy, and joy. With his characteristic wit and compassion, signature sculpted lines, and incantatory vigor, buried metaphors arise, holy days pass, toasts are raised, suns set over the desert of the animate dead. And the weary traveler? He approaches a dark corridor that may or may not be the way home.

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According to Apple, there are currently 380,000 registered iOS developers and over a billion iOS devices in use worldwide. Swift, the language of iOS development, is the fastest growing programming language. iOS Development with Swift is a hands-on guide to creating apps for iPhone and iPad using the Swift language. It starts by giving a birdseye view of how an iOS application works and what it takes to build one. With the basics well in hand, the book takes readers through progressively more challenging examples as they learn how to design iOS apps, build good layouts, handle navigation, and interact with the device’s camera. Key Features: · Hands-on guide to creating apps · Teaches the very basics · Rich in examples Written for readers with experience using a language like Java, Python, or C#. No prior iOS development or Swift experience required. About the Technology: Swift is a modern language created by Apple. In 2015 Swift was rated the most loved programming language on Stack Overflow, and it is currently ranked 17 in the programming language rankings guide of January 2016.

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This is the ultimate fun-packed book for children who love butterflies, with over 100 amazing stickers. Simple child-friendly captions on interactive pages present facts about butterflies and moths, for example, the Milkweed Tiger Moth makes clicking sounds to deter bats. With fun themes to explore, children will enjoy spotting the differences and similarities between butterflies, as they decide which sticker belongs where. Beautifully illustrated in great detail, children will love discovering all about butterflies and moths. The 100 stickers are reusable so that children can repeat the process, and use them to make their own sticker books, pictures and games. • Learn about the dramatic life-cycle from caterpillar to butterfly and how their patterns and markings help them to blend into their habitat or warn off predators. • Includes some of the world’s best-loved and most intriguing butterflies, from the tiny Pygmy Blue to the large Queen Alexandra’s Birdwing.

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Award-winning writer Inga Simpson terrifies and enthralls with this truly remarkable novel of a woman who must face her worst fears to survive and find beauty in the Australian bush.Fear is her cage. But what's outside is worse...It's night, and the walls of Rachel's home creak in the darkness of the Australian bush. Her fear of other people has led her to a reclusive life as far from them as possible, her only occasional contact with her sister. A hammering on the door. There stand a mother, Hannah, and her sick baby. They are running for their lives from a mysterious death sweeping the Australian countryside - so soon, too soon, after everything.Now Rachel must face her worst fears to help Hannah, search for her sister, and discover just what terror was born of us. . . and how to survive it.For fans of STATION ELEVEN, BIRDBOX and A QUIET PLACE, this remarkable, frightening yet ultimately hopeful novel holds a mirror up to the world we live in today.

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