The Book of the Year PDF Download

Author: Anthony F. Aveni
Publisher: Oxford University Press
ISBN: 9780195171549
Category : History
Languages : en
Pages : 228

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Book Description
Halloween, Valentine's Day, Christmas, Thanksgiving, New Year's Day - these are but a handful of modern holidays descended from the red-letter days, seasonal celebrations we have invented and reinvented over more than five millennia to meet our changing human needs. When we explore their origins, the holidays begin to reflect not only who we are but also why, through oppressed by time and thwarted by the forces of nature, we never seem to lose the will to control the future.

Author: Kathryn Hennessy
Publisher: DK Publishing (Dorling Kindersley)
ISBN: 9780756667528
Category : Natural history
Languages : en
Pages : 0

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Book Description
A landmark in reference publishing and overseen and authenticated by the Smithsonian Institution's National Museum of Natural History, Natural History presents an unrivaled visual survey of Earth's natural history. Giving a clear overview of the classification of our natural world-over 6,000 species-Natural History looks at every kingdom of life, from bacteria, minerals, and rocks to fossils to plants and animals. Featuring a remarkable array of specially commissioned photographs, Natural History looks at thousands of specimens and species displayed in visual galleries that take the reader on an incredible journey from the most fundamental building blocks of the world's landscapes, through the simplest of life forms, to plants, fungi, and animals.

Author: Diane Ackerman
Publisher: Vintage
ISBN: 0307763315
Category : Science
Languages : en
Pages : 354

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Book Description
Diane Ackerman's lusciously written grand tour of the realm of the senses includes conversations with an iceberg in Antarctica and a professional nose in New York, along with dissertations on kisses and tattoos, sadistic cuisine and the music played by the planet Earth. “Delightful . . . gives the reader the richest possible feeling of the worlds the senses take in.” —The New York Times

Author: Ian Buruma
Publisher: Penguin
ISBN: 1101638699
Category : History
Languages : en
Pages : 383

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Book Description
“Year Zero is a remarkable book, not because it breaks new ground, but in its combination of magnificence and modesty.” —Wall Street Journal A marvelous global history of the pivotal year 1945 as a new world emerged from the ruins of World War II Year Zero is a landmark reckoning with the great drama that ensued after war came to an end in 1945. One world had ended and a new, uncertain one was beginning. Regime change had come on a global scale: across Asia (including China, Korea, Indochina, and the Philippines, and of course Japan) and all of continental Europe. Out of the often vicious power struggles that ensued emerged the modern world as we know it. In human terms, the scale of transformation is almost impossible to imagine. Great cities around the world lay in ruins, their populations decimated, displaced, starving. Harsh revenge was meted out on a wide scale, and the ground was laid for much horror to come. At the same time, in the wake of unspeakable loss, the euphoria of the liberated was extraordinary, and the revelry unprecedented. The postwar years gave rise to the European welfare state, the United Nations, decolonization, Japanese pacifism, and the European Union. Social, cultural, and political “reeducation” was imposed on vanquished by victors on a scale that also had no historical precedent. Much that was done was ill advised, but in hindsight, as Ian Buruma shows us, these efforts were in fact relatively enlightened, humane, and effective. A poignant grace note throughout this history is Buruma’s own father’s story. Seized by the Nazis during the occupation of Holland, he spent much of the war in Berlin as a laborer, and by war’s end was literally hiding in the rubble of a flattened city, having barely managed to survive starvation rations, Allied bombing, and Soviet shock troops when the end came. His journey home and attempted reentry into “normalcy” stand in many ways for his generation’s experience. A work of enormous range and stirring human drama, conjuring both the Asian and European theaters with equal fluency, Year Zero is a book that Ian Buruma is perhaps uniquely positioned to write. It is surely his masterpiece.

Author: Richard Wayne MacDonald
Publisher:
ISBN: 9780578820095
Category :
Languages : en
Pages : 474

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Book Description
Join field biologist Richard MacDonald on a year-long journey to document the birds of Acadia National Park and Downeast Maine. As you read this book, you'll feel as though you are sitting in Richard's living room as he shares his adventures in an easy-to-read story-telling style. With each bird, he relates finding the species while weaving in fun facts and stories from his 40+ years of study, birding, and travel from Newfoundland to Antarctica. Richard relates his introduction to birds through banding ducks as a ten-year-old. The year is bookended with Black-capped Chickadees on a New Year's Day Schoodic Christmas Bird Count and at the end with Boreal Chickadees. You will go out on research vessels into the Gulf of Maine to look for seabirds, hike the mountains of Acadia to observe Snowy Owls, take a night-time bicycle ride into Great Pond Mountain Wildlands to look for the rare Chuck-will's-widow, and view shorebirds from the cockpit of a sea kayak. Through it all, you feel as though you are right there with him. Although the book is about birds, it is not just for birders. Anyone with an interest in nature should read this book.

Author: David M. Carroll
Publisher: Saint Martin's Griffin
ISBN: 9780312147723
Category : Science
Languages : en
Pages : 172

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Book Description
Acclaimed naturalist David M. Carroll guides readers through the yearly cycle of the freshwater turtle. With lyrical yet factual prose observations, Carroll also includes more than 100 of his carefully executed full-color drawings.

Author:
Publisher:
ISBN: 9780241393345
Category :
Languages : en
Pages : 664

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Book Description

Author: DK
Publisher: Penguin
ISBN: 0744055873
Category : Science
Languages : en
Pages : 664

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Book Description
A monumental and beautiful guide to Earth's wildlife and natural history--its rocks, minerals, animals, plants, fungi, and microorganisms--this landmark of reference publishing has been extended and updated. In the 11 years since this book was released, thousands of new species have been identified, and new revelations have redrawn the tree of life. Already featuring galleries of more than 5,000 species, The Natural History Book now includes discoveries such as the olinguito (the "kitty bear" of the Andean cloud forest) and the painted mannakin of Peru. It takes advantage of the first living observations of the giant squid and the deep-sea anglerfish. And it has reorganized the groups of living things to reflect the latest scientific understanding. All this ensures that this, the only ebook to offer a complete visual survey of all kingdoms of life, remains the benchmark of illustrated natural history references. Written by a worldwide team of natural history experts, The Natural History Book is the perfect addition to every family bookshelf, as well as an ideal gift for any nature lover. From granites to grapevines, from microbes to mammals, The Natural History Book is the ultimate celebration of the diversity of the natural world.

Author: DK
Publisher: Penguin
ISBN: 0744020816
Category : Juvenile Nonfiction
Languages : en
Pages : 320

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Book Description
Journey through a mammoth timeline, richly illustrated with over 1,500 photos, maps, and illustrations. Written in association with the esteemed Smithsonian Institution. A beautiful visual reference book with key events of world history, written in an elementary language for budding historians. Take chronological steps through human history, starting long before we even began to write. Learn about significant global events like the rise of different societies, revolutions, invasions, and new discoveries. Meet the most memorable people from the history books. The charismatic leaders, brutal dictators, influential thinkers, and innovative scientists from all around the globe. Written with kids ages 9 to 12 in mind, this book uses unpretentious language and gives straightforward fun facts. The "Child Of The Time" feature encourages young people to imagine themselves in the past and lets them know that children had a place in history. Older readers will love this engaging educational book too! Dive in and discover the parts of the past you haven't yet discovered. The multitude of photos, maps, and graphics make reading about history simple and enjoyable. This visual reference guide provides the reader with an overview of the most fascinating events in history, with concise and bite-sized information. Follow the timeline from our most distant past, all the way through to recent events that you may still remember happening! The History Of The World, From The Stone Age To The Digital Age Go beyond American history and explore the world in this modern twist on an old-fashioned history book. It is easier to follow, organized along a timeline with photos of archaeological artifacts, old maps, and exciting pictures. You won't just read about world history. You'll see it too, right from your armchair. Take a step back in time! - 6.5 MYA - 3000 BCE Before History Began - 3000 BCE - 700 BCE Really Ancient History - 700 BCE - 500 CE Much More Civilization - 500 - 1450 The Marvelous Middle Ages - 1450 - 1750 Exploring and Reforming - 1750 - 1850 Time for Change - 1850 - 1945 Empires and World Wars - 1945 - Present Fast Forward

Author: Richard Fortey
Publisher: Vintage
ISBN:
Category : Science
Languages : en
Pages : 404

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Book Description
From its beginnings on the still-forming planet to the recent emergence of "Homo sapiens, " one of the world's leading paleontologists narrates how and why life on Earth developed as it did. 110 illustrations.