Science

A glorious, unparalleled view of the human body . . . Revolutionary computer images from the creator of "From Conception to Birth" reveal the wonders and complexities of every system in the male and female bodies.
The human body is a marvel of engineering. From the muscular and skeletal systems of the hand working in concert to allow us to type, eat, and caress, to the circadian rhythms of the heart and digestive system keeping things moving despite our consciousness being elsewhere, our bodies are far more complex and awe inspiring than any man-made creation. Not since Andreas Vesalius's "On the Fabric of the Human Body, "illustrated by the scholar in the mid-16th century, has there been a work examining human anatomy for both the scientific and lay communities. "The Architecture and Design of Man and Woman" is the ultimate illustrated look at the internal structures and processes that sustain us as living, thinking, social beings.
Using the most advanced medical and computer technology--including body scans, ultrapowerful microscopes, and molecular surveillance tools--Alexander Tsiaras, founder of a widely acclaimed medical-imaging company, hones in on the body's intricately constructed systems and isolates structures that have never been seen before. In more than 500 astonishing images, he dismantles each system, highlights the anatomical difference between men and women, and rebuilds the body from the molecular level on up. Barry Werth's lyrical, informative text enhances the power of the images, providing an array of startling and fascinating facts.
"The Architecture and Design of Man and Woman" is a milestone in science, art, and technology. As Werth writes in the Introduction, "For the first time we see the body not "like" something, or represented by human hands, or as a grainy negative or video, but very nearly as it is."

The definitive full-color field guide to Arctic wildlife

The Arctic Guide presents the traveler and naturalist with a portable, authoritative guide to the flora and fauna of earth's northernmost region. Featuring superb color illustrations, this one-of-a-kind book covers the complete spectrum of wildlife--more than 800 species of plants, fishes, butterflies, birds, and mammals--that inhabit the Arctic's polar deserts, tundra, taiga, sea ice, and oceans. It can be used anywhere in the entire Holarctic region, including Norway's Svalbard archipelago, Siberia, the Russian Far East, islands of the Bering Sea, Alaska, the Canadian Arctic, and Greenland. Detailed species accounts describe key identification features, size, habitat, range, scientific name, and the unique characteristics that enable these organisms to survive in the extreme conditions of the Far North. A color distribution map accompanies each species account, and alternative names in German, French, Norwegian, Russian, Inuit, and Inupiaq are also provided.

Features superb color plates that allow for quick identification of more than 800 species of plants, fishes, butterflies, birds, and mammals

Includes detailed species accounts and color distribution maps

Covers the flora and fauna of the entire Arctic region

What separates your mind from an animal's? Maybe you think it's your ability to design tools, your sense of self, or your grasp of past and future--all traits that have helped us define ourselves as the planet's preeminent species. But in recent decades, these claims have eroded, or even been disproven outright, by a revolution in the study of animal cognition. Take the way octopuses use coconut shells as tools; elephants that classify humans by age, gender, and language; or Ayumu, the young male chimpanzee at Kyoto University whose flash memory puts that of humans to shame. Based on research involving crows, dolphins, parrots, sheep, wasps, bats, whales, and of course chimpanzees and bonobos, Frans de Waal explores both the scope and the depth of animal intelligence. He offers a firsthand account of how science has stood traditional behaviorism on its head by revealing how smart animals really are, and how we've underestimated their abilities for too long.

People often assume a cognitive ladder, from lower to higher forms, with our own intelligence at the top. But what if it is more like a bush, with cognition taking different forms that are often incomparable to ours? Would you presume yourself dumber than a squirrel because you're less adept at recalling the locations of hundreds of buried acorns? Or would you judge your perception of your surroundings as more sophisticated than that of a echolocating bat? De Waal reviews the rise and fall of the mechanistic view of animals and opens our minds to the idea that animal minds are far more intricate and complex than we have assumed. De Waal's landmark work will convince you to rethink everything you thought you knew about animal--and human--intelligence.

This beautiful and inspiring book tells the stories of 80 birds around the world: from the Sociable Weaver Bird in Namibia which constructs huge, multi-nest 'apartment blocks' in the desert, to the Bar-headed Goose of China, one of the highest-flying migrants which crosses the Himalayas twice a year.

Many birds come steeped in folklore and myth, some are national emblems and a few have inspired scientific revelation or daring conservation projects. Each has a story to tell that sheds a light on our relationship with the natural world and reveals just how deeply birds matter to us.

Natural selection can preserve innovations, but it cannot create them. Nature s many innovations some uncannily perfect call for natural principles that accelerate life s ability to innovate.
Darwin s theory of natural selection explains how useful adaptations are preserved over time. But the biggest mystery about evolution eluded him. As genetics pioneer Hugo de Vries put it, natural selection may explain the survival of the fittest, but it cannot explain the arrival of the fittest.
Can random mutations over a mere 3.8 billion years really be responsible for wings, eyeballs, knees, camouflage, lactose digestion, photosynthesis, and the rest of nature s creative marvels? And if the answer is no, what is the mechanism that explains evolution s speed and efficiency?
In "Arrival of the Fittest," renowned evolutionary biologist Andreas Wagner draws on over fifteen years of research to present the missing piece in Darwin's theory. Using experimental and computational technologies that were heretofore unimagined, he has found that adaptations are not just driven by chance, but by a set of laws that allow nature to discover new molecules and mechanisms in a fraction of the time that random variation would take.
Consider the Arctic cod, a fish that lives and thrives within six degrees ofthe North Pole, in waters that regularly fall below 0 degrees. At that temperature, the internal fluids of most organisms turn into ice crystals. And yet, the arctic cod survives by producing proteins that lower the freezing temperature of its body fluids, much like antifreeze does for a car s engine coolant. The invention of those proteins is an archetypal example of nature s enormous powers of creativity.
Meticulously researched, carefully argued, evocatively written, and full of fascinating examples from the animal kingdom, "Arrival of the Fittest" offers up the final puzzle piece in the mystery of life s rich diversity."

A community of monks offers guidance on raising a puppy by emphasizing commitment, choosing a breed, training the dog, and avoiding intractable behavior problems later on.

Whether playing at defending their own castle or simply chucking pumpkins over a fence, wannabe marauders and tinkerers will become fast acquainted with Ludgar, the War Wolf, Ill Neighbor, Cabulus, and the Wild Donkey--ancient artillery devices known commonly as catapults. Building these simple yet sophisticated machines introduces fundamentals of math and physics using levers, force, torsion, tension, and traction. Instructions and diagrams illustrate how to build seven authentic working model catapults, including an early Greek ballista, a Roman onager, and the apex of catapult technology, the English trebuchet. Additional projects include learning how to lash and make rope and how to construct and use a hand sling and a staff sling. The colorful history of siege warfare is explored through the stories of Alexander the Great and his battle of Tyre; Saladin, Richard the Lionheart, and the Third Crusade; pirate-turned-soldier John Crabbe and his ship-mounted catapults; and Edward I of England and his battle against the Scots at Stirling Castle.