Underland: A Deep Time Journey


Book Description

National Bestseller • New York Times "100 Notable Books of the Year" • NPR "Favorite Books of 2019" • Guardian "100 Best Books of the 21st Century" • Winner of the National Outdoor Book Award "Mesmerizing…Underland is a portal of light in dark times." —Terry Tempest Williams, New York Times Book Review In Underland, Robert Macfarlane delivers an epic exploration of the Earth’s underworlds as they exist in myth, literature, memory, and the land itself. Traveling through the dizzying expanse of geologic time—from prehistoric art in Norwegian sea caves, to the blue depths of the Greenland ice cap, to a deep-sunk "hiding place" where nuclear waste will be stored for 100,000 years to come—Underland takes us on an extraordinary journey into our relationship with darkness, burial, and what lies beneath the surface of both place and mind. Global in its geography and written with great lyricism, Underland speaks powerfully to our present moment. At once ancient and urgent, this is a book that will change the way you see the world.




Crossroads of Canopy


Book Description

The highly-anticipated fantasy debut from Aurealis and Ditmar Award-winning author Thoraiya Dyer, set in a giant mythical rainforest controlled by living gods. Now in trade paperback. Unar dreams of greatness. Determined but destitute, she escapes her parents’ plot to sell her into slavery. Now she serves in the Garden of the goddess Audblayin, ruler of growth and fertility. But when Audblayin dies, Unar sees her opportunity for glory – at the risk of descending into the unknown dangers of Understorey to look for a reincarnated newborn god. In its depths, she discovers new forms of magic, lost family connections, and murmurs of a revolution that could cost Unar her chance...or grant it by destroying the home she loves. “I am majorly impressed with Thoraiya Dyer's Crossroads of Canopy. A unique, gorgeous, and dangerous world, a stubborn female hero, and a writer to watch!”—Tamora Pierce At the Publisher's request, this title is being sold without Digital Rights Management Software (DRM) applied.




Understory


Book Description

'a controlled and literate work that earns its emotional peaks' - Saturday Paper 'a delight' - The Australian A memoir about staying in one place, told through trees, by the award-winning author of MR WIGG, NEST and WHERE THE TREES WERE. "The understorey is where I live, alongside these plants and creatures. I tend the forest, stand at the foot of trees and look up, gather what has fallen." This is the story of a tree-change, of escaping suburban Brisbane for a cottage on ten acres in search of a quiet life. Of establishing a writers retreat shortly before the Global Financial Crisis hit, and of losing just about everything when it did. It is also the story of what the author found there: the beauty of nature and her own path as a writer. Understory is a memoir about staying in one place, told through trees, by the award-winning author of MR WIGG, NEST and WHERE THE TREES WERE. 'Something powerful ... takes hold of the reader and transports [you] to the forest floor in a kind of awe' - Sydney Morning Herald 'I love the way the reader gets lost in the trees and then lost in Inga's life and then lost in the trees again. Understory feels so rich and nourishing, as if the restorative power of the Australian bush is transmitted through her words.' - Richard Glover, bestselling author and radio presenter 'a fine addition to the genre of Australian nature writing' Books + Publishing **Includes an extract from Simpson's next transporting novel, The Last Woman in the World**




Forest Pattern and Ecological Process


Book Description

Forest Pattern and Ecological Process is a major synthesis of 25 years of intensive research about the montane ash forests of Victoria, which support the world's tallest flowering plants and several of Australia's most high profile threatened and/or endangered species. It draws together major insights based on over 170 published scientific papers and books, offering a previously unrecognised set of perspectives of how forests function. The book combines key strands of research on wildfires, biodiversity conservation, logging, conservation management, climate change and basic forest ecology and management. It is divided into seven sections: introduction and background; forest cover and the composition of the forest; the structure of the forest; animal occurrence; disturbance regimes; forest management; and overview and future directions. Illustrated with more than 200 photographs and line drawings, Forest Pattern and Ecological Process is an essential reference for forest researchers, resource managers, conservation and wildlife biologists, ornithologists and mammalogists, policy makers, as well as general readers with interests in wildlife and forests. 2010 Whitley Certificate of Commendation for Zoological Text.




The Understory


Book Description

"Winner of the Ironweed Press Fiction Prize."




Regreening the Bare Hills


Book Description

In Regreening the Bare Hills: Tropical Forest Restoration in the Asia-Pacific Region, David Lamb explores how reforestation might be carried out both to conserve biological diversity and to improve the livelihoods of the rural poor. While both issues have attracted considerable attention in recent years, this book takes a significant step, by integrating ecological and silvicultural knowledge within the context of the social and economic issues that can determine the success or failure of tropical forest landscape restoration. Describing new approaches to the reforestation of degraded lands in the Asia-Pacific tropics, the book reviews current approaches to reforestation throughout the region, paying particular attention to those which incorporate native species – including in multi-species plantations. It presents case studies from across the Asia-Pacific region and discusses how the silvicultural methods needed to manage these ‘new’ plantations will differ from conventional methods. It also explores how reforestation might be made more attractive to smallholders and how trade-offs between production and conservation are most easily made at a landscape scale. The book concludes with a discussion of how future forest restoration may be affected by some current ecological and socio-economic trends now underway. The book represents a valuable resource for reforestation managers and policy makers wishing to promote these new silvicultural approaches, as well as for conservationists, development experts and researchers with an interest in forest restoration. Combining a theoretical-research perspective with practical aspects of restoration, the book will be equally valuable to practitioners and academics, while the lessons drawn from these discussions will have relevance elsewhere throughout the tropics.




All the Acorns on the Forest Floor


Book Description

"All the Acorns on the Forest Floor is a stirring series of stories interwoven by the common threads of human frailty and the complexities of relationships. Poignant and poetic, the characters of these stunning vignettes are guaranteed to haunt and inspire long after the last page is turned. " –Suzanne Redfearn, bestselling author of In an Instant " In All the Acorns on the Forest Floor, Kim Hooper delivers an empathetic, compulsively readable book with a cast of characters you'll swear you know. With compassion and great heart, Hooper reminds us that people have histories, and we're all more connected than we think." –Michelle Gable, New York Times bestselling author of A Paris Apartment For many women, becoming a mother is the strongest expression of love they know. For others, the conscious choice to not have children empowers them to live their truth. Motherhood looks different for all women in Kim Hooper's All the Acorns On the Forest Floor. Alex is pregnant with her second child, fearful because her first pregnancy ended at 16 weeks. Deb is reckoning with the fact that she was abandoned as a newborn by her mother. Wendy is wrestling with her early feelings about having children. These stories are interwoven into the stories of other women who are intentionally childless, adults reckoning with adoptions, and unwed women who had to make difficult choices. This novel-in-stories is designed to tug at the heartstrings but also provide hope, comfort, and insight into women's experiences with the narrative of motherhood and society's expectations. We see the women at their most vulnerable, making decisions that will forever change the course of their lives. As each character's narrative unfolds, the book illustrates how small and connected people's lives are; no one's circumstances are as unique as they feel. All the Acorns On the Forest Floor is a novel about mothers and daughters and the sometimes difficult relationships they have with those closest to them. These are stories of the deep, abiding love mothers and children have for one another and how fragile those relationships can be when difficult decisions must be made. Hooper has created a novel that draws you in and doesn't let go until the last page. Readers will be anxious to discover how these women's stories are intertwined and inspired by the strength each character shows as they plunge into the world of motherhood, no matter what that world looks like. Readers of Celeste Ng and Liane Moriarty will love All the Acorns On the Forest Floor. The stories' depth invites us all into the worlds of these women and shows us that we are all connected, whether we're mothers or not.




Modelling Forest Systems


Book Description

There are many theoretical approaches to modelling forest systems, but not all of them have valid practical applications. This book reviews current thinking on various models and presents applications in various contexts. Papers have been selected and developed from those presented at aworkshop held in Portugal in June 2002. Topics covered include: Forest reality and modelling strategies Mathematical approaches and reasoning Estimation processes Models, validation and decision under uncertainty Model archives and metadata




The Herbaceous Layer in Forests of Eastern North America


Book Description

The most comprehensive existing volume of multidisciplinary research by top ecologists on the herbaceous layer of forests.




The Scything Handbook


Book Description

The Zen approach to mowing lawns, wacking weeds, harvesting crops, and building modern homesteader abs! Dreading the weekly law mow? Need to whack the weeds in your orchard? Cringing at the drudgery and incessant blare of the mower? Imagine instead long sweeps of an elegant scythe cutting your grass and pesky weeds in blissful, meditative silence. That is the power of the "scythe revolution" sweeping North America. Written by a master of the scythe, professionally trained in Austria, and drawing deeply on research into original German texts, The Scything Handbook brings centuries-old scything techniques into the twent-first century. Detailed illustrations cover scythe assembly, perfecting the stroke, blade selection, honing, peening, and aftercare, as well as background on how scythes are forged. Also covered are the basics of making hay and mulch by hand, and how to grow and harvest gains at the home and homestead scale for self-sufficiency. Scything promotes health, flexibility, mind-body connection, and a meditative contemplation of the natural world while producing beautiful lawns and luscious mulch for the modern gardener and homesteader. This is truly an heirloom tool to master. Join the scythe revolution! Ian Miller followed a career in music with a degree in Agroecology from UC Santa Cruz. During a two year stint on a biodynamic farm in Austria he learned how to scythe and delved into historic scything texts in German. He has worked for Seed Savers Exchange in Iowa and is developing a twemty-acre scythe-based homestead near Decorah, Iowa, where he grows his own grain for bread making and makes hay by hand.




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