City of Trees: Essays on Life, Death and the Need for a Forest by Sophie Cunningham

$19.99 AUD

Category: Nature

How do we take in the beauty of our planet while processing the losses? What trees can survive in the city? Which animals can survive in the wild? How do any of us--humans, animals, trees--find a forest we can call home? In these moving, thought-provoking essays Sophie Cunningham considers the meaning of trees and our love of them. She chronicles the deaths of both her fathers, and the survival of P-22, a mountain lion in Griffith Park, Los Angeles; contemplates the loneliness of Ranee, the first elephant in Australia; celebrates the iconic eucalyptus and explores its international status as an invasive species. City of Trees is a powerful collection of nature, travel and memoir writing set in the context of global climate change. It meanders through, circles around and sometimes faces head on the most pressing issues of the day. It never loses sight of the trees. ...Show more

Flight Lines: Across the globe on a journey with the astonishing ultramarathon birds by Andrew Darby

$32.99 AUD

Category: Nature

Andrew Darby follows the extraordinary migratory shorebirds from Australia's southern ocean to the Arctic and back. On these travels he explores the power of science to reveal the mysteries of these birds, and to heal both their endangered world - and unexpectedly - himself. As the sun lowered and turne d Gulf St Vincent fiery, they each called a high-pitched 'peeooowiii!', flashed their black wing-pits, spread their tail skirts and took flight. Andrew Darby follows the odysseys of two Grey Plovers, little-known migratory shorebirds, as they take previously uncharted ultramarathon flights from the southern coast of Australia to Arctic breeding grounds. On these extraordinary flights they chance predators, typhoon weather and exhaustion before they can breed, and maybe return to familiar southern feeding grounds. But the greatest threat to these, and other long-distance migrants on the flyway, is China's dragon economy, engulfing their vital Yellow Sea staging spots. The author meets the dedicated people working to save these intrepid birds, from Russia to Alaska, and the rim of the Arctic Sea to the coasts of the Southern Ocean. Out of their hard-won science he finds hope for the birds - a bright light for our times. But his journey to understand this work and these birds almost ends when he is suddenly diagnosed with an incurable cancer. Then he finds science coming to his rescue too.     ...Show more

The Story of Trees... And How They Changed the World by Kevin Hobbs; David West

$49.99 AUD

Category: Nature

The Story of Trees takes the reader on a visual journey from some of the earliest known tree species on our planet to the latest fruit cultivars. The chosen trees have all had a profound effect on the planet and humankind. Starting with the Ginkgo biloba, fossils of which date back 270 million year s, we learn about how trees came to be integral to the development of our species, and how specific trees have become important religious, political, and cultural symbols. With beautiful illustrations by Thibaud Herem and fascinating botanical facts and figures, this book will appeal to tree lovers from all over the world.    ...Show more

Turning the Boat for Home by Richard Mabey

$39.99 AUD

Category: Nature

For five decades Richard Mabey has been a pioneering voice in modern nature writing. From the rediscovery of foraging that led to Food for Free, through his groundbreaking expeditions in the 'edgelands' in the 1970s, to his reflections on the musicality of bird-song, he has consistently explored new way s of thinking about nature and its relation to our lives. In Turning the Boat for Home, he introduces pieces from his rich writing life that reflect on how his ideas evolved. At the heart is a passionate belief that Earth is a commonwealth, of all species. Mabey recalls the fight against the commercial afforestation of the Scottish peatlands and recounts the experience of running a 'community woodland', one of the first in Britain. Plants, the organisms that underpin all life, have been a source of constant fascination. In his encyclopaedic Flora Britannica Mabey explored how deeply they are embedded in our popular culture. But they are also autonomous beings with their own agendas, as experienced in his own 'serendipitous' garden 'in which wild organisms improvise their own landscapes'. From a new viewpoint, 'the slow-moving carapace' of a boat on the Norfolk Broads, Mabey ponders the migration of geese and the home-loving whirligig beetles. His epiphany is that a sense of "neighbourliness" may be the best model for our relationship with the rest of the living world. Throughout there is a commitment to writing and to language, which may be 'our greatest ecological gift'. In a celebration that links the work of the poet John Clare with the political warnings of Rachel Carson, Mabey suggests that 'the answer to the still present threat of a silent spring is for us to sing against the storm.' ...Show more

A Short Philosophy of Birds by Philippe J. Dubois; Élise Rousseau

$24.99 AUD

Category: Nature

The greatest wisdom comes from the smallest creatures There is so much we can learn from birds. Through twenty-two little lessons of wisdom inspired by how birds live, this charming french book will help you spread your wings and soar. We often need the help from those smaller than us. Having spent a lifetime watching birds, Philippe and lise - a French ornithologist and a philosopher - draw out the secret lessons that birds can teach us about how to live, and the wisdom of the natural world. Along the way you'll discover why the robin is braver than the eagle, what the arctic tern can teach us about the joy of travel, and whether the head or the heart is the best route to love (as shown by the mallard and the penguin). By the end you will feel more in touch with the rhythms of nature and have a fresh perspective on how to live the fullest life you can. ...Show more

On the Red Hill: Where Four Lives Fell Into Place by Mike Parker

$35.00 AUD

Category: Nature

A multi-layered memoir of love, acceptance, finding home and the redemptive power of nature.In the early 2000s Mike Parker and his partner Peredur (Preds) moved into a small village in remote West Wales. A few weeks after arriving, they met Reg and George, a couple for over sixty years, who had arrived in the village at a time when their relationship could have landed them in prison. The four men became acquaintances, and over the years, firm friends. When Reg and George died, within a few weeks of each other, Mike and Preds discovered that they had been left their home- a whitewashed 'house from the children?s stories?, buried deep within the hills. All four men had arrived at the house following different paths. All four shouldn't have stayed. But they did. On the Red Hilltells the story of Rhiw Goch, the Red Hill, but also the story of a community, and of a remarkable relationship blossoming against the backdrop of rural life. On The Red Hillcelebrates the ebb and flow of seasons, of ever-changing landscapes, and the family (both beloved and infuriating) that you find when you least expect it. Taking the four seasons, the four elements and four extraordinary individuals as his structure, Mike Parker creates a lyrical but clear-eyed exploration of the natural world, one?s place in it, and what it means to find a home. ...Show more

Dogs: A Philosophical Guide to Our Best Friends by Mark Alizart

$24.95 AUD

Category: Nature

Man's best friend, domesticated since prehistoric times, a travelling companion for explorers and artists, thinkers and walkers, equally happy curled up by the fire and bounding through the great outdoors--dogs matter to us because we love them. But is that all there is to the canine's good-natured vora city and affectionate dependency? Mark Alizart dispenses with the well-worn clich s concerning dogs and their masters, seeing them not as submissive pets but rather as unexpected life coaches, ready to teach us the elusive recipes for contentment and joy. Dogs have faced their fate in life with a certain detachment that is not easy to understand. Unlike other animals in a similar situation, they have not become hardened, nor have they let themselves die a little inside. On the contrary, they seem to have softened. This book is devoted to understanding this miracle, the miracle of the joy of dogs - to understanding it and, if at all possible, to learning how it's done. Weaving elegantly and eruditely between historical myth and pop-culture anecdote, between the peculiar views of philosophers and the even more bizarre findings of science, Alizart offers us a surprising new portrait of the dog as thinker--a thinker who may perhaps know the true secret of our humanity.   ...Show more

Owls: Journeys Around the World by David Hollands

$35.00 AUD

Category: Nature

David Hollands first became aware of owls as a young boy upon hearing the quavering hoot of the Tawny Owl which lived, out of sight, in the woods near his home. Their secrets remained undiscovered but then he came across some spectral Barn Owls in an ancient English barn. These were the first owls that he had watched at close quarters and photographed in the night. It was a magical experience and, by then, that first awareness had progressed and become a lifelong passion. David Hollands came to Australia in 1961and for a while, the demands of running a medical practice put a brake on other activities. Nevertheless, his fascination for birds, owls and photography could never remain submerged for long and, in 1999, he completed 'Birds of the Night' - a comprehensive study in words and photographs of Australia's owls, frogmouths and nightjars. However, David's owl studies continued. There were owls to be pursued around the world and he set out to find and photograph as many as possible. By his own admission, he has succeeded beyond his wildest dreams. The author's love of birds extends beyond owls and he has also written books on Australia's Birds of Prey and on Kingfishers and Kookaburras. All three books won the Whitley Award for the Best Illustrated Australian Natural History book of that year. ...Show more

The Outermost House by Henry Beston

$19.99 AUD

Category: Nature

Budgerigar: How a Brave, Chatty and Colourful Little Aussie Bird Stole the World's Heart by Sarah Harris; Don Baker

$29.99 AUD

Category: Nature

A curiosity of everything you ever wanted to know (or realised you never knew) about budgies

Trees of Life by Max Adams

$49.99 AUD

Category: Nature

A captivatingly informative and visually beautiful survey of the tree species - from all over the world - that human cultures have found most useful. Each tree species is the subject of a concise text centred on a story - or stories - about the tree in question, and is depicted by means of a photograph , painting or other aesthetic artefact. The species will be organized thematically according to the virtues they impart, be that in the form of timber, nuts, fruit or medicine. The bloodwood tree, a native of central America, is a tree that made a nation. Its wood produces a brilliant and lucrative bright red dye and was imported to Europe for use in dyeing fabrics. The 17th and 18th-century logging camps established by the British later became the modern nation of Belize, and the bloodwood tree appears on its national flag. From the bloodwood to the breadfruit and from the cinchona to the peach, these are trees that offer not merely shelter, timber and fuel but also medicines, dyes, foods and fibres. They are very special trees, and Max Adams, author of The Wisdom of Trees, has a plethora of such fascinating stories to tell about them. ...Show more

Down in the Valley: A Writer's Landscape by Laurie Lee

$29.99 AUD

Category: Nature

'Living in our valley was like broad beans in a pod, so snug and enclosed and protective.' Laurie Lee left his childhood home in the Cotswolds when he was nineteen, but it remained with him throughout his life, until, many years later, he returned for good. In this never before published collection, L aurie Lee guides us through his home landscape around Slad in Gloucestershire, and the memories of his youth there. Down in the Valleybring to life the sights, sounds and traditions of his home - from his favourite pub, The Woolpack, summer bathing and winter skating on the village pond, the church through the seasons, learning the violin and playing jazz records in the privy on a wind-up gramophone. Told with a warm sense of humour and a powerful sense of history, Down in the Valleybrings us a picture of a vanished world. ...Show more