Nature's Explorers - Adventurers Who Recorded the Wonders of the Natural World by Natural History Natural History Museum

$40.00 AUD

Category: Nature

Nature's Explorers celebrates the individuals who made great personal endeavours to document the natural world. Superb artworks and photographs spanning three centuries have been chosen to illustrate each essay. From ground-breaking theorists such as Charles Darwin and Alfred Russel Wallace to evocativ e artists like Ferdinand Bauer and John James Audubon, these explorers shared an ambition to illuminate new worlds and each embodied the spirit of the Enlightenment and the Scientific Revolution. It was not until the early eighteenth century that artists were included on such expeditions, they were called upon to illustrate the new flora and fauna they discovered and in doing so were also able to provide new insights from social, cultural and historical perspectives. ...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

Ness by Robert Macfarlane; Stanley Donwood

$29.99 AUD

Category: Nature

Eerie, unsettling and hauntingly beautiful - a new collaboration from the bestselling creators of Holloway 'Ness goes beyond what we expect books to do. Beyond poetry, beyond the word, beyond the bomb -- it is an aftertime song. It is dark, ever so dark, nimble and lethal. It is a triumphant libretto of mythic modernism for our poisoned age. Ness is something else, and feels like it always has been' Max Porter, author of Lanny Somewhere on a salt-and-shingle island, inside a ruined concrete structure known as The Green Chapel, a figure called The Armourer is leading a black mass with terrible intent. But something is coming to stop him. Five more-than-human forms are traversing land, sea and time towards The Green Chapel, moving towards the point where they will converge and become Ness. Ness has lichen skin and willow-bones. Ness is made of tidal drift, green moss and deep time. Ness has hagstones for eyes and speaks only in birds. And Ness has come to take this island back. What happens when land comes to life? What would it take for land to need to come to life? Using word and image, Robert Macfarlane and Stanley Donwood have together made a minor modern myth. Part-novella, part-prose-poem, part-mystery play, in Ness their skills combine to dazzling, troubling effect. Robert Macfarlane is the author of The Lost Words, The Old Ways and Underland, among other books. Stanley Donwood is an artist and the author of Slowly Downward and Household Worms. His next books are There Will Be No Quiet and Bad Island. ...Show more

The Seafarers - A Journey among Birds by Stephen Rutt

$35.00 AUD

Category: Nature

The British Isles are remarkable for the extraordinary diversity of seabird life that they support: spectacular colonies of charismatic Arctic terns, elegant fulmars and stoic eiders, to name just a few. Often found in the most remote and dramatic reaches of our isles, these colonies are landscapes shap ed not by us but by the birds. In this moving and lyrical account, Stephen Rutt travels to the farthest corners of the UK to explore the part seabirds have played in our story and what they continue to mean to Britain today. From storm petrels (a small bird whose song is frequently likened to a "fairy being sick") on Mousa to gulls in Newcastle and gannets in Orkney, The Seabirds takes readers into breathtaking landscapes, sights, smells and sounds, bringing these vibrant birds and their habitats to life. In the face of a looming environmental crisis, Stephen Rutt's investigation is both personal and passionate. This beautiful book reveals what it feels like to be immersed in a completely wild landscape, examining the allure of the remote and the search for quietness, isolation and nature in an over-crowded world. ...Show more

At the Pond - Swimming at the Hampstead Ladies' Pond by Esther Freud (Contribution by); Margaret Drabble (Contribution by); Leanne Shapton (Contribution by)

$21.99 AUD

Category: Nature

Tucked away along a shady path towards the north-east edge of Hampstead Heath is a sign: Women Only. This is the Kenwood Ladies’ Bathing Pond. Floating in the Pond’s silky waters, hidden by a canopy of trees, it’s easy to forget that you are in the middle of London. On a hot day, thou sands of swimmers from eight to eighty-plus can be found waiting to take a dip before sunbathing in the adjoining meadow. As summer turns to autumn and then winter, the Pond is still visited by a large number of hardy regulars in high-vis hats, many of whom have been swimming here for decades. In these essays we see the Pond from the perspectives of writers who have swum there. Esther Freud describes the life-affirming sensation of swimming through the seasons; Lou Stoppard pays tribute to the winter swimmers who break the ice; Margaret Drabble reflects on the golden Hampstead days of her youth; Sharlene Teo visits for the first time; and Nell Frizzell shares the view from her yellow lifeguard’s canoe. Combining personal reminiscence with reflections on the history of the place over the years and through the changing seasons, At the Pond captures fourteen contemporary writers’ impressions of this unique place. Contributors: Ava Wong Davies | Margaret Drabble | Esther Freud Nell Frizzell | Eli Goldstone | Amy Key Jessica J. Lee | Sophie Mackintosh | So Mayer Deborah Moggach | Nina Mingya Powles Leanne Shapton | Lou Stoppard | Sharlene Teo ...Show more

How to Walk a Dog by Mike White

$29.99 AUD

Category: Nature

The highs and lows, joy and heartache of owning a dog are told in this beautifully written story of life in and around a dog park. 'This wryly affectionate portrait of dogs and their people is a tail-thumpingly delightful read.' Jane Clifton 'So charming and funny and sincere - this is dog lit at its b est.' Steve Braunias 'Mike White, for decades one of the country's most persuasive journalists, makes a case here as irrefutable as it is moving: throw a stick, make a dog happy, be a better person. He has convinced me.' Vincent O'Sullivan Mike White began walking his SPCA-rescue huntaway, Cooper, at Wellington's dog parks ten years ago, and since then has become part of a remarkable community of people and their pets. Written with wit, wisdom and heartbreaking poignancy, How to Walk a Dog is a story anyone who has ever owned or loved a dog will relate to. You will laugh, you will cry, and you will learn some of the secrets of living with a dog. Illustrated with drawings from acclaimed cartoonist Sharon Murdoch. ...Show more

Animal Languages by Eva Meijer

$35.00 AUD

Category: Nature

Dolphins and parrots call each other by their names. Fork tailed drongos mimic the calls of other animals to scare them away and then steal their dinner. In the songs of many species of birds, and in skin patterns of squid, we find grammatical structures . . . If you are lucky, you might meet an animal that wants to talk to you. If you are even luckier, you might meet an animal that takes the time and effort to get to know you. Such relationships can teach us not only about the animal in question, but also about language and about ourselves. From how prairie dogs describe intruders in detail -- including their size, shape, speed and the colour of their hair and T-shirts -- to how bats like to gossip, to the impressive greeting rituals of monogamous seabirds, Animal Languages is a fascinating and philosophical exploration of the ways animals communicate with each other, and with us. Researchers are discovering that animals have rich and complex languages with grammatical and structural rules that allow them to strategise, share advice, give warnings, show love and gossip amongst themselves. Animal Languages will reveal this surprising hidden social life and show you how to talk with the animals. ...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

The Outermost House by Henry Beston

$19.99 AUD

Category: Nature

Written in Stone : Reading the Rocks of the Great Ocean Road by Philomena Manifold

$49.95 AUD

Category: Nature

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

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