A History of Seeing in Eleven Inventions PDF Download

Author: Susan Denham Wade
Publisher: The History Press
ISBN: 0750992948
Category : Science
Languages : en
Pages : 378

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Book Description
Eyes were one of the very first body parts to evolve more than 500 million years ago, and their structure has remained virtually unchanged through most of evolutionary history. But eyes alone were never enough for Homo sapiens. From the mastery of fire a million years ago to the smartphone today, humans have repeatedly invented new ways to see their surroundings, each other and themselves. Artificial light, art, mirrors, writing, lenses, printing, photography, film, television, smartphones – these tools didn't just add to our visual repertoire, they shaped cultures around the world and made us who we are. Drawing on sources from anthropology to zoology, neuroscience to Netflix, As Far As the Eye Can See traces the history of seeing from the first evolutionary stirrings of sight and discovers that each time we changed how or what we see, we changed ourselves and the world around us. Along the way, it finds, sight slowly eclipsed our other senses. Are we now at 'peak seeing', the author asks. Can our eyes keep up with technology? Have we gone as far as the eye can see?

Author: Robert Bausch
Publisher: Bloomsbury Publishing USA
ISBN: 1620402610
Category : Fiction
Languages : en
Pages : 364

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Book Description
Bobby Hale is a Union veteran several times over. After the war, he sets his sights on California, but only makes it to Montana. As he stumbles around the West, from the Wyoming Territory to the Black Hills of the Dakotas, he finds meaning in the people he meets-settlers and native people-and the violent history he both participates in and witnesses. Far as the Eye Can See is the story of life in a place where every minute is an engagement in a kind of war of survival, and how two people-a white man and a mixed-race woman-in the midst of such majesty and violence can manage to find a pathway to their own humanity. Robert Bausch is the distinguished author of a body of work that is lively and varied, but linked by a thoughtfully complicated masculinity and an uncommon empathy. The unique voice of Bobby Hale manages to evoke both Cormac McCarthy and Mark Twain, guiding readers into Indian country and the Plains Wars in a manner both historically true and contemporarily relevant, as thoughts of race and war occupy the national psyche.

Author: Mark Nepo
Publisher: Simon and Schuster
ISBN: 0757391796
Category : Self-Help
Languages : en
Pages : 226

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Book Description
Stories carry the seeds of our humanness. They help us, teach us, heal us, and connect us to what matters. As Far As the Heart Can See is an invitation to be in relationship with deep and life-giving material. Many spiritual gurus present dense metaphysical theses with an intellectual approach for "working" a spiritual path; poet and philosopher Mark Nepo reaches people through their hearts, bringing something fresh and new to the field by stimulating change through reflection of thoughts and feelings. The stories he shares in As Far As the Heart Can See come from many places—from Nepo's personal history to dreams to the myths of our ancestors. Each one is an invitation to awaken an aspect of living in relationship with the sacred. Following each of the forty-five stories are three forms of an invitation to further the conversation: journal questions, table questions, and meditations. The questions, whether reflected upon in a journal or discussed in deeper conversation with friends or family, are meant to lead the seeker down unimagined paths and back into life; the meditations are meant to ground the learning. These stories and parables about universal concepts and themes offer a poet's sensuality and a philosopher's sensibility to personalizing the journey of the human experience in the world.

Author: Bill Finch
Publisher: UNC Press Books
ISBN: 0807838098
Category : Nature
Languages : en
Pages : 193

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Book Description
Longleaf forests once covered 92 million acres from Texas to Maryland to Florida. These grand old-growth pines were the "alpha tree" of the largest forest ecosystem in North America and have come to define the southern forest. But logging, suppression of fire, destruction by landowners, and a complex web of other factors reduced those forests so that longleaf is now found only on 3 million acres. Fortunately, the stately tree is enjoying a resurgence of interest, and longleaf forests are once again spreading across the South. Blending a compelling narrative by writers Bill Finch, Rhett Johnson, and John C. Hall with Beth Maynor Young's breathtaking photography, Longleaf, Far as the Eye Can See invites readers to experience the astounding beauty and significance of the majestic longleaf ecosystem. The authors explore the interactions of longleaf with other species, the development of longleaf forests prior to human contact, and the influence of the longleaf on southern culture, as well as ongoing efforts to restore these forests. Part natural history, part conservation advocacy, and part cultural exploration, this book highlights the special nature of longleaf forests and proposes ways to conserve and expand them.

Author: Kenny Braun
Publisher: University of Texas Press
ISBN: 9781477315477
Category : Photography
Languages : en
Pages : 200

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Book Description
“In his novel of Texas, The Gay Place, Billy Lee Brammer famously wrote that ‘the country is most barbarously large and final.’ And indeed it is. Few artists and writers and photographers are big enough to embrace it. This book is proof that Kenny Braun is one who does, which is great news for the rest of us.” —S. C. Gwynne, from the foreword Texas continually awes and surprises with its natural beauty. Within the state’s quarter-million square miles are scenic landscapes as varied as the rugged desert mountains of the Big Bend country, cypress swamps and old-growth forests in the piney woods, ocean beaches and dunes along the Gulf Coast, and stretches of the Great Plains that spread as widely over the earth as the skies above. Kenny Braun has traveled the length and breadth of Texas photographing its vast lands. In As Far as You Can See, he presents a portfolio of stunning images that capture the natural splendor of the entire state. From sweeping landscape shots to detailed close-ups, Braun’s photographs offer fresh, lovely views of Texas. He has a keen eye for the unexpected scene, whether it be the refreshing depths of the Balmorhea pool in arid West Texas or the Tuscan-like look of a Fredericksburg vineyard. Even when he photographs iconic spots such as Enchanted Rock or Caddo Lake, Braun finds new perspectives that allow viewers to see these familiar places as if for the first time. Accompanying the images are a brief introduction by Braun and a foreword by the Pulitzer Prize finalist and New York Times best-selling author S. C. Gwynne. This winning combination of photographs and words makes As Far as You Can See a must-have book to own and to give.

Author: Tom Bodett
Publisher: Da Capo Press
ISBN: 9780201106732
Category : Literary Collections
Languages : en
Pages : 164

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Book Description
Homespun humor about the way we live, from the pleasant futility of salmon fishing and the joys of Halloween, to quiet afternoons with soap opera families and endless nights in pursuit of trivia Tom Bodett, humorist, radio star, and pitchman for Motel 6, lives and writes in Homer, Alaska, the little town in the blue Northwest where America stops, carwise. "If you got into your car in New York," he says, "and wanted to take a nice long drive, I mean the longest drive you could without turning around or running into a foreign language, this is where you'd wind up." It's a place of moose and salmon and spectacular sunsets, but, Bodett insists, it's also small-town America, a place not all that different from the Michigan town of his youth. That's why he's made it his home: it perfectly suits his contrary appetites for the extreme and the everyday, for the rigors of the outdoor life and the mundane joys of the family circle. As Far As You Can Go Without a Passport, Bodett's first collection of casual essays, contains pieces on everything from trapping, tree cutting, and halibut fishing, to soap operas, lost socks, and sleeping in. It's guaranteed to please both the renegade and the homebody in every reader.

Author: David Brill
Publisher:
ISBN:
Category : History
Languages : en
Pages : 204

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Book Description
Many an armchair hiker has dreamed of traversing the Appalachian Trail in its entirety. In 1979, David Brill became one of the first of a new generation to complete the Georgia-to-Maine hike. Published by The Appalachian Trail Conference, As Far as the Eye Can See chronicles his six-month, 2,100-mile walk, a quest to live simply and deliberately, with room to grow, to breathe, to change, to discover what really mattered to him. This book is required reading for anyone interested in getting beyond the day-to-day slog of the hike to explore the emotional and spiritual dimensions of a long journey on foot.

Author: Eric Barclay
Publisher: Abrams
ISBN: 1613126174
Category : Juvenile Fiction
Languages : en
Pages : 36

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Book Description
Paige is just like every other kid. She goes to school. She practices her violin. She plays outside. The only problem is, she cannot quite see the chalkboard, her sheet music, or anything else! Despite Paige’s repeated refrain of “I can see just fine,” the comical illustrations portray a different story. Paige’s parents decide it’s time for her to visit the eye doctor, despite her protests. But Paige’s stubbornness quickly dissolves as she braves an enthralling eye checkup, enjoys a playful frame selection, and, most importantly, ends up with perfect eyesight! Barclay successfully depicts a very real and relevant issue with lightheartedness and gentle humor. Young readers will relate to Paige’s journey and celebrate her triumph of seeing clearly in the end. Praise for I Can See Just Fine "It’s a useful, non-didactic story for kids in Paige’s situation—and utterly fun, too.” --Publishers Weekly "A gentle way to introduce the topic of eyeglasses with a resistant child and what to expect in finding a solution." --Shelf Awareness for Readers "With an attractive, clean layout and big speech bubbles, this story is one that young readers will easily follow as Paige ultimately triumphs with her new glasses." --School Library Journal "This is an easy picture book for beginning readers with full-color illustrations. The stylized, pleasing illustrations are done well and a lot of children can relate to the situation." --Library Media Connection

Author: David Lodge
Publisher: Penguin
ISBN: 0140130187
Category : Fiction
Languages : en
Pages : 257

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Book Description
The ups, downs, and exploits of a group of British Catholics--for whom the sexual revolution came a little later than it did for everybody else... In this bracing satire, a group of university students make their way through the fifties and into the turbulent sixties and seventies. We first meet Dennis, Michael, Ruth, Polly, and the others at the altar rail of Our Lady and St. Jude, but soon enough they get caught up in the alternately hilarious and poignant preoccupations of work, marriage, sex, and babies--not always in that order. A satirical comedy in the tradition of Evelyn Waugh, Souls and Bodies take an unblinking look at the sexual revolution and the contemporaneous upheavals in the Catholic Church. The result is as unsettlingly true as it is funny.

Author: Carrie Hope Fletcher
Publisher:
ISBN: 9781785414978
Category : Bakers
Languages : en
Pages : 352

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Book Description
Cherry has a hidden talent. She can see things other people can't, and she decided a long time ago to use this skill to help others. As far as the rest of the town is concerned, she's simply the kind-hearted young woman who runs the local bakery - but in private she uses her gift to add something special to her cakes so that after just one mouthful, the towns people start to feel better about their lives. They don't know why they're drawn to Cherry's bakery - they just know that they're safe there, and that's how Cherry likes it. And then Chase turns up and threatens to undo all the good she has done. Because it turns out Cherry is not the only one who can see what she sees ...