King of the Cloud Forests


Book Description

A heart-racing tale of courage, loss, friendship and family. From the nation's favourite storyteller, Michael Morpurgo. Escaping from China as the Japanese invade, Ashley and Uncle Sung embark on a perilous journey across the Himalayas. When battling the hostile environments of the mountains, and finding himself alone in an unfamiliar world, Ashley's courage is put to the test. And a mysterious and terrifying encounter at the hands of an unknown tribe might just change everything. King of the Cloud Forests is a much loved story of bravery and compassion in the face of war and loss, from the author of War Horse. Michael Morpurgo has written more than one hundred books for children and won the Whitbread Award, the Smarties Award, the Circle of Gold Award, the Children's Book Award and has been short-listed for the Carnegie Medal four times. Look out for Morpurgo's other war fiction including War Horse, Friend or Foe, Waiting for Anya and An Eagle in the Snow.




The Andean Cloud Forest


Book Description

A book focused solely on Andean Cloud Forests (ACF) has never been published. ACF are high biodiversity ecosystems in the Neotropics with a large proportion of endemic species, and are important for the hydrology of entire regions. They provide water for large parts of the Amazon basin, for example. Here I take advantage of my many years working in ACF in Ecuador, to edit this book that contains the following sections: (1) ACF over space and time, (2) Hydrology, (3) Light and the Carbon cycle, (4) Soil, litter, fungi and nutrient cycling, (5) Plants, (6) Animals, and (7) Human impacts and management. Under this premise, international experts contributed chapters that consist of reviews of what is known about their topic, of what research they have done, and of what needs to be done in the future. This work is suitable for graduate students, professors, scientists, and researcher-oriented managers.




Monteverde


Book Description

The Monteverde Cloud Forest Reserve has captured the worldwide attention of biologists, conservationists, and ecologists and has been the setting for extensive investigation over the past 30 years. Roughly 40,000 ecotourists visit the Cloud Forest each year, and it is often considered the archetypal high-altitude rain forest.This volume brings together some of the most prominent researchers of the region to provide a broad introduction to the biology of the Monteverde, and cloud forests in general. Collecting and synthesizing vital information about the ecosystem and its biota, the book also examines the positive and negative effects of human activity on both the forest and the surrounding communities. Ecologists, tropical biologists, and natural historians will find this volume an indispensable resource, as will all those who are fascinated by the magnificent wonders of the tropical forests.




The King of Sleep


Book Description

Two kings and two peoples once lived on the island of Innisfail, in harmony with the land and the earth -- though not so peaceably with one another. The arrival of the Gaedhals, from the land of Iber across the sea, shifted this balance and threw the Fir-Bolg and the Tuatha De Danaan into confusion and disarray. In the face of seemingly unstoppable invasion -- and in the aftermath of a great and dangerous gift -- the ultimate fate of their two peoples still remains to be decided. The Druid Sorcha, with the newly appointed queen of the Ravens, must work against those who disrespect and defile their holy land. But Saran, younger son of Brocan, King of the Fir-Bolg, has a quest of his own. He has seen his father's forces struggle and fail, and his brother's birthright diminish as the Gaedhals increase. Saran will do whatever is necessary to see his brother Lom declared king of their people -- no matter what, or who, remains for Lom to inherit.




A Lifetime in Galápagos


Book Description

A beautifully illustrated and deeply personal chronicle of De Roy's lifelong connection with these spectacular islands Tui De Roy was a year old in 1955 when her family left Europe, boarding a banana boat bound for the Pacific to lead a different sort of life in Galápagos, one of self-sufficiency and living close to nature. She grew up on the islands and returned to them often over the next five decades. Discovering photography at a young age, she has dedicated her life to recording the islands' natural history in infinite detail. A Lifetime in Galápagos is De Roy's intimate portrait of one of the most spectacular places on Earth, presenting the wildlife and natural wonders of Galápagos as you have never seen them before. Featuring hundreds of breathtaking color photos, this stunning book guides you into labyrinthine mangroves to observe nesting herons, to misty cloud forests to glimpse flycatchers and orchids, high onto erupting volcanoes, and into the ocean to swim with hammerhead sharks. De Roy's lens provides up-close encounters with orca and sperm whales, colonies of iguanas, and the giant tortoises of Alcedo Volcano. She paints unforgettable portraits of her childhood in Galápagos—the islands at night under the stars of the Milky Way, sea lions at play and on the hunt, the diverse birdlife of Galápagos, and much more. Blending striking images with vivid prose, A Lifetime in Galápagos also discusses the threats that global warming and other environmental challenges pose to the archipelago's unique wildlife and fragile habitats.




The King in the Forest


Book Description

As a boy, Tod saves the small white fawn from certain death. They grow up together but when the fine stag leaves, Tod could never have predicted that he would become so powerful that he becomes King. And no kingdom can have two kings.




Understories


Book Description

A lively, engaging ethnography that demonstrates how a volatile politics of race, class, and nation animates the infamously violent struggles over forests in the U.S. Southwest.




The Cloud Forest


Book Description

A classic work of nature and humanity, by renowned writer Peter Matthiessen (1927-2014), author of the National Book Award-winning The Snow Leopard and the new novel In Paradise Peter Matthiessen crisscrossed 20,000 miles of the South American wilderness, from the Amazon rain forests to Machu Picchu, high in the Andes, down to Tierra del Fuego and back. He followed the trails of old explorers, encountered river bandits, wild tribesmen, and the evidence of ancient ruins, and discovered fossils in the depths of the Peruvian jungle. Filled with observations and descriptions of the people and the fading wildlife of this vast world to the south, The Cloud Forest is his incisive, wry report of his expedition into some of the last and most exotic wild terrains in the world. For more than seventy years, Penguin has been the leading publisher of classic literature in the English-speaking world. With more than 1,700 titles, Penguin Classics represents a global bookshelf of the best works throughout history and across genres and disciplines. Readers trust the series to provide authoritative texts enhanced by introductions and notes by distinguished scholars and contemporary authors, as well as up-to-date translations by award-winning translators.




Why Forests? Why Now?


Book Description

Tropical forests are an undervalued asset in meeting the greatest global challenges of our time—averting climate change and promoting development. Despite their importance, tropical forests and their ecosystems are being destroyed at a high and even increasing rate in most forest-rich countries. The good news is that the science, economics, and politics are aligned to support a major international effort over the next five years to reverse tropical deforestation. Why Forests? Why Now? synthesizes the latest evidence on the importance of tropical forests in a way that is accessible to anyone interested in climate change and development and to readers already familiar with the problem of deforestation. It makes the case to decisionmakers in rich countries that rewarding developing countries for protecting their forests is urgent, affordable, and achievable.




The Storm King


Book Description

“Deeply atmospheric, breathlessly suspenseful, with a ticking clock like no other—a terrific thriller.”—Lee Child Haunted by dark secrets and an unsolved mystery, a young doctor returns to his isolated Adirondacks hometown in a tense, gripping novel in the vein of Michael Koryta and Harlan Coben. Burying the past only gives it strength—and fury. Nate McHale has assembled the kind of life most people would envy. After a tumultuous youth marked by his inexplicable survival of a devastating tragedy, Nate left his Adirondack hometown of Greystone Lake and never looked back. Fourteen years later, he’s become a respected New York City surgeon, devoted husband, and loving father. Then a body is discovered deep in the forests that surround Greystone Lake. This disturbing news finally draws Nate home. While navigating a tense landscape of secrets and suspicion, resentments and guilt, Nate reconnects with estranged friends and old enemies, and encounters strangers who seem to know impossible things about him. Haunting every moment is the Lake’s sinister history and the memory of wild, beautiful Lucy Bennett, with whom Nate is forever linked by shattering loss and youthful passion. As a massive hurricane bears down on the Northeast, the air becomes electric, the clouds grow dark, and escalating acts of violence echo events from Nate’s own past. Without a doubt, a reckoning is coming—one that will lay bare the lies that lifelong friends have told themselves and unleash a vengeance that may consume them all. Praise for The Storm King “Brendan Duffy’s second book mingles horror, historical fiction, supernatural suspense and old-fashioned murder mystery, the rare phantasmagoria whose pieces click into a satisfying resolution. . . . This is a gutsy, intricate, evocative piece of mischief, much closer than anyone usually gets to that particular spell cast by Stephen King.”—USA Today “Duffy follows his debut, House of Echoes, with a stunning literary thriller, which combines accomplished wordsmithing with startling twists.”—Publishers Weekly (starred review) “An elaborately layered, creepily atmospheric story that blends haunting legends and the psychological terror of a murderer on the hunt. A winning thriller sure to draw readers of Jennifer McMahon, Ruth Ware, and Michael Koryta.”—Booklist (starred review)