Pocket Atlas of Remote Islands


Book Description

A lovely small-trim edition of the award-winning Atlas of Remote Islands The Atlas of Remote Islands, Judith Schalansky’s beautiful and deeply personal account of the islands that have held a place in her heart throughout her lifelong love of cartography, has captured the imaginations of readers everywhere. Using historic events and scientific reports as a springboard, she creates a story around each island: fantastical, inscrutable stories, mixtures of fact and imagination that produce worlds for the reader to explore. Gorgeously illustrated and with new, vibrant colors for the Pocket edition, the atlas shows all fifty islands on the same scale, in order of the oceans they are found. Schalansky lures us to fifty remote destinations—from Tristan da Cunha to Clipperton Atoll, from Christmas Island to Easter Island—and proves that the most adventurous journeys still take place in the mind, with one finger pointing at a map.




Remote Islands


Book Description

""Remote Islands: Exploring Earth's Most Isolated Ecosystems"" delves into the fascinating world of Earth's most secluded islands, examining their unique geological features, biodiversity, and the challenges of human habitation. This comprehensive exploration presents remote islands as natural laboratories for studying evolution, climate change, and human adaptability, offering valuable insights into global environmental processes. The book is structured in three parts, beginning with an introduction to the concept of remoteness and criteria for identifying the world's most isolated islands. It then delves into specific case studies, examining island formation, unique flora and fauna, and geological characteristics. The final section explores the challenges and opportunities these islands present for conservation, research, and sustainable human presence. By combining scientific studies with firsthand accounts, the book provides a multi-faceted perspective on island life. What sets this book apart is its holistic approach, presenting remote islands as whole systems rather than focusing solely on biological or geological aspects. It balances scientific rigor with engaging narratives, making it accessible to a broad audience interested in environmental science, earth sciences, and extreme habitats. Through its exploration of these isolated ecosystems, the book highlights the interconnectedness of global environments and the importance of preserving Earth's biodiversity.




Islands Beyond the Horizon


Book Description

Islands have an irresistible attraction and an enduring appeal. Naturalist Roger Lovegrove has visited many of the most remote islands in the world, and in this book he takes the reader to twenty that fascinate him the most. Some are familiar but most are little known; they range from the storm-bound island of South Georgia and the ice-locked Arctic island of Wrangel to the wind-swept, wave-lashed Mykines and St Kilda. The range is diverse and spectacular; and whether distant, offshore, inhabited, uninhabited, tropical or polar, each is a unique self-contained habitat with a delicately-balanced ecosystem, and each has its own mystique and ineffable magnetism. Central to each story is also the impact of human settlers. Lovegrove recounts unforgettable tales of human endeavour, tragedy, and heroism. But consistently, he has to report on the mankind's negative impact on wildlife and habitats — from the exploitation of birds for food to the elimination of native vegetation for crops. By looking not only at the biodiversity of each island, but also the uneasy relationship between its wildlife and the involvement of man, he provides a richly detailed account of each island, its diverse wildlife, its human history, and the efforts of conservationists to retain these irreplaceable sites.




Private Islands for Rent


Book Description

Around the world, the owners of private islands have chosen to rent out their properties, delightfully fulfilling many childhood fantasies in the process. After seven years of research we have compiled a list of fifty exceptional islands, each of which is well worth the trip for just a few days, a week or even longer. Whether a tropical island in the Pacific, Asia, South America, the Caribbean, or the Indian Ocean, a lighthouse on the coast of Croatia, Norway or France, or an island in a lake in Canada or the United States, these places are not just the incarnation of a multimillionaire’s dream. They are open to the public – they are open for you.




Atlas of Improbable Places


Book Description

Atlas of Improbable Places shows the modern world from surprising new vantage points that will inspire urban explorers and armchair travellers alike to consider a new way of understanding the world we live in.




Rat Island


Book Description

Chronicles the highly controversial practice of rescuing endangered island species by killing their predators, explaining how rats and other animals introduced to the Bering Sea midway by shipwrecks have decimated native bird populations.




Marooned on Mogmog


Book Description

It was against all Mogs! The incredible true story of a modern day Australian family shipwrecked on the tiny island of Mogmog in Micronesia. 'It all ended with a shipwreck. ten years of planning, dreaming, plotting and scheming - gone in one night. Who even heard of shipwrecks these days? this is the 21st century, not the 1800s. But, happen it did, to a modern, mostly normal family from Western Australia. Now, home is a remote island in Micronesia that Lonely Planet states is inhabited by some of the world's most remote people - and us. Our beloved boat, Windrider, is now seated indecorously on the coral beach with her bum ripped out, rudders bent through ninety degrees, engines out and systems largely rendered useless. the morning after, we sat on the beach looking at our boat. Was this the end? Could something be salvaged? Andrew has a saying - actually he has lots - but this one is that it is possible to eat an elephant as long as you do it one bite at a time. So we set about our elephant, hoping we weren't going to get stomped on.' With a combined boating experience of sixty-five years, Jennifer Barrie and her husband Andrew were confident that they were unlikely to hit any major snags after setting out on their dream voyage - sailing their beloved Windrider around the Pacific. In early 2010, Jennifer and Andrew, along with their two young daughters, washed up - literally - on the tiny island of Mogmog in Micronesia. Fortunately for the Barrie family, Mogmog is inhabited by a bunch of very friendly locals...or at least that's what they initially thought! this is the true story of a modern day Swiss Family Robinson who lived to tell the tale of surviving a shipwreck and months stranded on one of the world's most remote islands. In Marooned on Mogmog, you'll see that paradise isn't always what it seems...




Trial of Strength


Book Description

The world’s subantarctic islands circle the lower part of the globe below New Zealand, Australia, Africa and South America in the ‘Roaring Forties’ and ‘Furious Fifties’ latitudes. They are filled with unique plants and wildlife, constantly buffeted by lashing rain and furious gales, and surrounded by a vast, powerful ocean. New Zealand and Australian subantarctic islands in particular have a rich and fascinating human history, from the early 19th-century explorers and sealers through to modern-day conservation and adventure tourism. And yet, the subantarctic islands are often called our ‘forgotten islands’ because so few people know of their existence, despite their status since 1998 as World Heritage sites. Trial of Strength is a history book filled with compelling photos for a modern audience, and one that, for the first time, includes women’s stories as more than just a footnote. Balanced and engaging, it features classic tales of infamous shipwrecks, lesser-known stories of intrepid pioneers, as well as more recent stories of adventure tourism, conservation wins, and dramatic helicopter rescues. Written by the descendant of two 19th-century British colonial settlers who attempted to create a home for their young family in this bleak environment, Trial of Strength will leave you with an appreciation for the tenacity of the human race and the forbidding forces of nature.




The Water Is Wide


Book Description

A “miraculous” (Newsweek) human drama, based on a true story, from the renowned author of The Prince of Tides and The Great Santini The island is nearly deserted, haunting, beautiful. Across a slip of ocean lies South Carolina. But for the handful of families on Yamacraw Island, America is a world away. For years the people here lived proudly from the sea, but now its waters are not safe. Waste from industry threatens their very existence unless, somehow, they can learn a new way. But they will learn nothing without someone to teach them, and their school has no teacher—until one man gives a year of his life to the island and its people. Praise for The Water Is Wide “Miraculous . . . an experience of joy.”—Newsweek “A powerfully moving book . . . You will laugh, you will weep, you will be proud and you will rail . . . and you will learn to love the man.”—Charleston News and Courier “A hell of a good story.”—The New York Times “Few novelists write as well, and none as beautifully.”—Lexington Herald-Leader “[Pat] Conroy cuts through his experiences with a sharp edge of irony. . . . He brings emotion, writing talent and anger to his story.”—Baltimore Sun




Fraktur Mon Amour


Book Description

Accompanying CD-ROM contains ... "150 of these [blackletter] fonts for free private and restricted commercial use."--Page 4 of cover.