A sunny garden hums, buzzes, creeps and crawls with life. Lift the flaps and peep through the delicate laser-cut holes to discover a whole host of butterflies, birds and bees, caterpillars, squirrels, frogs and other garden wildlife. A delightful information book for the very young.,

Rosemary and Peter Grant and those assisting them have spendtwenty years on Daphne Major, an island in the Galapagos studyingnatural selection. They recognize each individual bird on theisland, when there are four hundred at the time of the author'svisit, or when there are over a thousand. They have observed abouttwenty generations of finches -- continuously. Jonathan Weiner follows these scientists as they watch Darwin'sfinches and come up with a new understanding of life itself.

Each plant or creature is described in detail and given a potted history which is not only fascinating in itself but which also stimulates the reader to find out more. The authors, Mike and Peggy Briggs, set out to inform but also to spark the imagination and encourage people to observe and enjoy what often goes unnoticed and unexplored. Which tree saved the world from perpetual winter? Which weed is still used in hand cream? Why were spiders fed to the sick in ancient times and how can you rid your lawn of moles using wine bottles? All the answers are here, along with snippets of poetry, country recipes, useful cross-references and plenty of pointers to further discovery. From the young student researching schoolwork to the elderly 'armchair rambler who might have thought they knew it all, there is something engrossing, possibly astonishing and perhaps even alarming, for everyone. This book is a treasure trove for anyone with even the slightest curiosity about the species which surround

Perhaps this book will be understood only by someone who has himself already had the thoughts that are expressed in it--or at least similar thoughts.--So it is not a textbook.--Its purpose would be achieved if it gave pleasure to one person who read and understood it.The book deals with the problems of philosophy, and shows, I believe, that the reason why these problems are posed is that the logic of our language is misunderstood.,

In 1831, Charles Darwin embarked on an expedition that, in hisown words, determined my whole career. The Voyage of theBeagle chronicles his five-year journey around the world andespecially the coastal waters of South America as a naturalist onthe H.M.S. Beagle. While traveling through these unexploredcountries collecting specimens, Darwin began to formulate thetheories of evolution and natural selection realized in his masterwork, The Origin of Species. Travel memoir and scientific primeralike, The Voyage of the Beagle is a lively and accessibleintroduction to the mind of one of history's most influentialthinkers.

Wild Witd World is a fascinating new question and answer book about the most fearsome, friendly and fabulous wild animals on the planet. Find out about different types of animals, from chimpanzees to spiders, eagles to sharks,dinosaurs to tigers. Have you ever wondered why gorillas beat their chests, how loud a lion's roar is, or why the dinosaurs disappeared? In Witd Witd Wortd, curious young readers can find the answers to these questions and many more.

Two world-renowned scientists present an audacious new vision ofthe cosmos that "steals the thunder from the Big Bang theory."--"Wall Street Journal"The Big Bang theory--widely regarded as theleading explanation for the origin of the universe--posits thatspace and time sprang into being about 14 billion years ago in ahot, expanding fireball of nearly infinite density. Over the lastthree decades the theory has been repeatedly revised to addresssuch issues as how galaxies and stars first formed and why theexpansion of the universe is speeding up today. Furthermore, anexplanation has yet to be found for what caused the Big Bang in thefirst place. In "Endless Universe," Paul J. Steinhardt and NeilTurok, both distinguished theoretical physicists, present a boldnew cosmology. Steinhardt and Turok "contend that what we think ofas the moment of creation was simply part of an infinite cycle oftitanic collisions between our universe and a parallel world"("Discover"). They recount the remarkable developments inastronom

Around 60,000 years ago, a man—genetically identical to us—livedin Africa. Every person alive today is descended from him. How didthis real-life Adam wind up as the father of us all? What happenedto the descendants of other men who lived at the same time? Andwhy, if modern humans share a single prehistoric ancestor, do wecome in so many sizes, shapes, and races? Examining the hidden secrets of human evolution in our geneticcode, Spencer Wells reveals how developments in the revolutionaryscience of population genetics have made it possible to create afamily tree for the whole of humanity. Replete with marvelousanecdotes and remarkable information, from the truth about the realAdam and Eve to the way differing racial types emerged, TheJourney of Man is an enthralling, epic tour through the historyand development of early humankind.