Illuminating Natural History

Author : Henrietta McBurney
Publisher : Paul Mellon Centre
Page : 384 pages
File Size : 54,9 Mb
Release : 2021-06-22
Category : Art
ISBN : 1913107191

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Illuminating Natural History by Henrietta McBurney Pdf

This book explores the life and work of the 18th-century English artist, explorer, naturalist, and author Mark Catesby (1683-1749). During Catesby's lifetime, science was poised to shift from a world of amateur virtuosi to one of professional experts. He worked against a backdrop of global travel that incorporated collecting and direct observation of nature. Catesby spent two prolonged periods in the New World--in Virginia (1712-19) and South Carolina and the Bahamas (1722-26)--which he documented in Natural History of Carolina, Florida and the Bahama Islands, the first large-format, color-plate book on the natural history of North America. Interweaving elements of art history, history of science, natural history illustration, painting materials, book history, paper studies, garden history, and colonial history, this volume brings together a wealth of unpublished images as well as previously unpublished letters by Catesby, with contemporary accounts of his collecting and encounters in the wild, and details of the materials and techniques of packing and transporting plants and animals across the Atlantic.

Author : Bernard Bailyn
Publisher : W. W. Norton & Company
Page : 288 pages
File Size : 45,7 Mb
Release : 2020-04-14
Category : History
ISBN : 9781324005841

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Illuminating History: A Retrospective of Seven Decades by Bernard Bailyn Pdf

The brilliance of a master historian shines through this “elegant and engaging memoir” of a lifetime’s work (Richard Aldous, Wall Street Journal). Over a remarkable career Bernard Bailyn has reshaped our understanding of the early American past. Inscribing his superb scholarship with passion and imagination honed by a commitment to rigor, Bailyn captures the particularity of the past and its broad significance in precise, elegant prose. His transformative work has ranged from a new reckoning with the ideology that powered the opposition to British authority in the American Revolution, to a sweeping account of the peopling of America, and the critical nurturing of a new field, the history of the Atlantic world. Illuminating History is the most personal of Bailyn’s works. It is in part an intellectual memoir of the significant turns in an immensely productive and influential scholarly career. It is also alive with people whose actions touched the long arc of history. Among the dramatic human stories that command our attention: a struggling Boston merchant tormented by the tensions between capitalist avarice and a constrictive Puritan piety; an ordinary shopkeeper who in a unique way feverishly condemned British authority as corrupt and unworthy of public confidence; a charismatic German Pietist who founded a cloister in the Pennsylvania wilderness famous for its strange theosophy, its spartan lifestyle, and its rich musical and artistic achievement. And the good townspeople of Petersham, whose response in 1780 to a draft Massachusetts constitution speaks directly to us through a moving insistence on individual freedoms in the face of an imposing central authority. Here is vivid history and an illuminating self-portrait from one of the most eminent historians of our time.

Author : Henrietta McBurney,Windsor Castle. Royal Library,Museum of Fine Arts, Houston
Publisher : Merrell
Page : 0 pages
File Size : 50,6 Mb
Release : 1997
Category : Natural history
ISBN : 1858940389

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Mark Catesby's Natural History of America by Henrietta McBurney,Windsor Castle. Royal Library,Museum of Fine Arts, Houston Pdf

The Natural History , the life work of the English naturalist and artist Markatesby (1682-1749), the most important precursor of Audubon, was the firstomprehensive study of the flora and fauna of the eastern seaboard of Northmerica. Published here for the first time are the original watercolor

Author : Judith Magee
Publisher : Unknown
Page : 0 pages
File Size : 45,5 Mb
Release : 2018-04-12
Category : Art
ISBN : 0565094424

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Art of Nature by Judith Magee Pdf

Art of Nature is an astonishing visual record of the exploration of parts of the natural world that had never previously been documented. It features many of the greatest natural history artists of the last 300 years--Merian, Bartram, Ehret, the Bauer brothers, Audubon, and Gould. Some were seeking fame as scientists or artists, others sought financial gain or at least the prospect of earning a living in what they loved doing. For some it also provided them with the opportunity to present their view of nature to a wider community. Whatever the reasons, few would have contradicted Humboldt's comment that he was "spurred on by an uncertain longing for what is distant and unknown, for whatever excited my fantasy: danger at sea, the desire for adventures, to be transported from a boring daily life to a marvellous world." Continent by continent, Judith Magee draws on the unrivaled collections of the Library of the Natural History Museum in London to illustrate the development of natural history art through the centuries and its crucial role in furthering people's appreciation of nature all around the world.

Author : John G. T. Anderson
Publisher : Univ of California Press
Page : 362 pages
File Size : 41,6 Mb
Release : 2013
Category : Nature
ISBN : 9780520273764

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Deep Things Out of Darkness by John G. T. Anderson Pdf

Natural history, the deliberate observation of the environment, is arguably the oldest science. From purely practical beginnings as a way of finding food and shelter, natural history evolved into the holistic, systematic study of plants, animals, and the landscape. This book chronicles the rise, decline, and ultimate revival of natural history within the realms of science and public discourse. It charts the journey of the naturalist's endeavour from prehistory to the present, underscoring the need for natural history in an era of dynamic environmental change.

Author : Alan Feduccia
Publisher : UNC Press Books
Page : 220 pages
File Size : 46,9 Mb
Release : 1999-02-01
Category : Nature
ISBN : 0807848166

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Catesby's Birds of Colonial America by Alan Feduccia Pdf

With this lovely and informative volume, Alan Feduccia preserves the pathbreaking work of Mark Catesby, the English naturalist and illustrator who founded natural history and bird art in America. First published by UNC Press in 1985, the book features all

Author : Witold Rybczynski
Publisher : Simon and Schuster
Page : 180 pages
File Size : 53,8 Mb
Release : 2001-09-11
Category : Architecture
ISBN : 9780684867304

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One Good Turn by Witold Rybczynski Pdf

The Best Tool of the Millennium The seeds of Rybczynski's elegant and illuminating new book were sown by The New York Times, whose editors asked him to write an essay identifying "the best tool of the millennium." The award-winning author of Home, A Clearing in the Distance, and Now I Sit Me Down, Rybczynski once built a house using only hand tools. His intimate knowledge of the toolbox -- both its contents and its history -- serves him beautifully on his quest. One Good Turn is a story starring Archimedes, who invented the water screw and introduced the helix, and Leonardo, who sketched a machine for carving wood screws. It is a story of mechanical discovery and genius that takes readers from ancient Greece to car design in the age of American industry. Rybczynski writes an ode to the screw, without which there would be no telescope, no microscope -- in short, no enlightenment science. One of our finest cultural and architectural historians, Rybczynski renders a graceful, original, and engaging portrait of the tool that changed the course of civilization.

Author : Callum Angus
Publisher : Unknown
Page : 200 pages
File Size : 47,5 Mb
Release : 2021-04-27
Category : Electronic
ISBN : 1999058879

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A Natural History of Transition by Callum Angus Pdf

Fiction. Short Stories. LGBTQIA Studies. A NATURAL HISTORY OF TRANSITION is a collection of short stories that disrupts the notion that trans people can only have one transformation. Like the landscape studied over eons, change does not have an expiration date for these trans characters, who grow as tall as buildings, turn into mountains, unravel hometown mysteries, and give birth to cocoons. Portland-based author Callum Angus infuses his work with a mix of alternative history, horror, and a reality heavily dosed with magic. Callum Angus is one of the younger writers I'm most excited by, with a mind full of marvels and an ear to match. Every story surprises; every sentence strives gorgeously toward music. This is writing as transition, as entrancement, as transcendence.--Garth Greenwell

Author : Francis Mark Mondimore
Publisher : JHU Press
Page : 365 pages
File Size : 47,6 Mb
Release : 1996-10-30
Category : Social Science
ISBN : 9781421401782

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A Natural History of Homosexuality by Francis Mark Mondimore Pdf

Selected by Choice Magazine as an Outstanding Academic Title A terrible sin, a gift from the gods, a mental illness, a natural human variation—over the centuries people have defined homosexuality in all of these ways. Since the word homosexual was coined in 1869, many scientists in a variety of fields have sought to understand same-sex intimacy. Drawing on recent insights in biology and genetics, psychiatrist Francis Mondimore set out to explore the complex landscape of sexual orientation. The result is A Natural History of Homosexuality, a generous work that synthesizes research in biology, history, psychology, and politics to explain how homosexuality has been understood and defined from ancient times until the present. Mondimore narrates tales of love and courage as well as discrimination and bigotry in settings as diverse as ancient Greece and Victorian England, early America and fin de siecle Vienna. He also tells fascinating stories about societies which accepted, incorporated, or institutionalized homosexuality into mainstream culture, stories illustrating that same-sex eroticism was often accepted as a normal aspect of human sexuality. In twentieth-century America, researchers first recognized that homosexuality might not be "pathological" when Alfred Kinsey and Evelyn Hooker conducted the first studies of sexuality not biased by preconceived notions of "normal" sexual behavior. After exploring sexual development in the human fetus, Mondimore reviews current biological research into the nature of sexual orientation and examines recent scientific findings on the role of heredity and hormones, as well as Simon LeVay's 1991 brain studies. He then turns to a very important focus: on people and their individual experiences. He explores "what happens between childhood and adulthood in an individual that makes him or her come to identify himself or herself as having a sexual orientation." He also explains our current understanding of bisexuality and the transgender phenomena of transsexualism and transvestism. Finally, Mondimore analyzes the circumstances of such prominent scandals as the anti-homosexual trials of Oscar Wilde and Philip von Eulenberg, and recounts the Nazi persecution of homosexuals during the Holocaust. This far-reaching discussion includes a description of the ex-gay ministries and reparative therapy as well as the Stonewall riots and AIDS, ending with the emergence of gay pride and community.

Author : E. Charles Nelson,David J. Elliott
Publisher : University of Georgia Press
Page : 448 pages
File Size : 46,5 Mb
Release : 2015-03-01
Category : Art
ISBN : 9780820347264

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The Curious Mister Catesby by E. Charles Nelson,David J. Elliott Pdf

In 1712, English naturalist Mark Catesby (1683–1749) crossed the Atlantic to Virginia. After a seven-year stay, he returned to England with paintings of plants and animals he had studied. They sufficiently impressed other naturalists that in 1722 several Fellows of the Royal Society sponsored his return to North America. There Catesby cataloged the flora and fauna of the Carolinas and the Bahamas by gathering seeds and specimens, compiling notes, and making watercolor sketches. Going home to England after five years, he began the twenty-year task of writing, etching, and publishing his monumental The Natural History of Carolina, Florida, and the Bahama Islands. Mark Catesby was a man of exceptional courage and determination combined with insatiable curiosity and multiple talents. Nevertheless no portrait of him is known. The international contributors to this volume review Catesby’s biography alongside the historical and scientific significance of his work. Ultimately, this lavishly illustrated volume advances knowledge of Catesby’s explorations, collections, artwork, and publications in order to reassess his importance within the pantheon of early naturalists.

Author : P. A. Thomas
Publisher : Cambridge University Press
Page : 298 pages
File Size : 46,7 Mb
Release : 2000-02-13
Category : Nature
ISBN : 052145963X

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Trees by P. A. Thomas Pdf

Trees are familiar components of many landscapes, vital to the healthy functioning of the global ecosystem and unparalled in the range of materials which they provide for human use. Yet how much do we really understand about how they work? This 2000 book provides a comprehensive introduction to the natural history of trees, presenting information on all aspects of tree biology and ecology in an easy to read and concise text. Fascinating insights into the workings of these everyday plants are uncovered throughout the book, with questions such as how are trees designed, how do they grow and reproduce, and why do they eventually die tackled in an illuminating way. Written for a non-technical audience, the book is nonetheless rigorous in its treatment and will therefore provide a valuable source of reference for beginning students as well as those with a less formal interest in this fascinating group of plants.

Author : Donald Culross Peattie
Publisher : Trinity University Press
Page : 512 pages
File Size : 43,6 Mb
Release : 2013-10-10
Category : Nature
ISBN : 9781595341679

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A Natural History of North American Trees by Donald Culross Peattie Pdf

"A volume for a lifetime" is how The New Yorker described the first of Donald Culross Peatie's two books about American trees published in the 1950s. In this one-volume edition, modern readers are introduced to one of the best nature writers of the last century. As we read Peattie's eloquent and entertaining accounts of American trees, we catch glimpses of our country's history and past daily life that no textbook could ever illuminate so vividly. Here you'll learn about everything from how a species was discovered to the part it played in our country’s history. Pioneers often stabled an animal in the hollow heart of an old sycamore, and the whole family might live there until they could build a log cabin. The tuliptree, the tallest native hardwood, is easier to work than most softwood trees; Daniel Boone carved a sixty-foot canoe from one tree to carry his family from Kentucky into Spanish territory. In the days before the Revolution, the British and the colonists waged an undeclared war over New England's white pines, which made the best tall masts for fighting ships. It's fascinating to learn about the commercial uses of various woods -- for paper, fine furniture, fence posts, matchsticks, house framing, airplane wings, and dozens of other preplastic uses. But we cannot read this book without the occasional lump in our throats. The American elm was still alive when Peattie wrote, but as we read his account today we can see what caused its demise. Audubon's portrait of a pair of loving passenger pigeons in an American beech is considered by many to be his greatest painting. It certainly touched the poet in Donald Culross Peattie as he depicted the extinction of the passenger pigeon when the beech forest was destroyed. A Natural History of North American Trees gives us a picture of life in America from its earliest days to the middle of the last century. The information is always interesting, though often heartbreaking. While Peattie looks for the better side of man's nature, he reports sorrowfully on the greed and waste that have doomed so much of America's virgin forest.

Author : Bill B. Hayes
Publisher : Random House Trade Paperbacks
Page : 306 pages
File Size : 50,8 Mb
Release : 2006-02-14
Category : Biography & Autobiography
ISBN : 9780345456885

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Five Quarts by Bill B. Hayes Pdf

“This beguiling brew of fascinating scientific facts and illuminating, poignant anecdotes makes Five Quarts something like blood itself: vital and pulsing with energy.” –Entertainment Weekly From ancient Rome, where gladiators drank the blood of vanquished foes to gain strength and courage, to modern-day laboratories, where machines test blood for diseases and scientists search for elusive cures, Bill Hayes takes us on a whirlwind journey through history, literature, mythology, and science by way of the great red river that runs five quarts strong through our bodies. Hayes also recounts the impact of the vital fluid in his daily life, from growing up in a household of five sisters and their monthly cycles to his enduring partnership with an HIV-positive man. As much a biography of blood as it is a memoir of how this rich substance has shaped one man’s life, Five Quarts is by turns whimsical and provocative, informative and moving.

Author : Dania Sheldon,Daniel Friedmann
Publisher : Independently Published
Page : 296 pages
File Size : 44,7 Mb
Release : 2021-03-22
Category : Electronic
ISBN : 1689226692

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Mysteries of the First Instant by Dania Sheldon,Daniel Friedmann Pdf

Follow award-winning authors on a fascinating journey...Science and religion harmonized to gain a full understanding of the universe's inception and lawsVancouver, 2020. Physics engineer and CEO Daniel Friedmann loves solving problems. When the avid scientist dives deep into the latest scientific evidence about the universe and the scripture on creation, he faces a question he feels compelled to answer: Is it possible to combine faith and science to fully understand the beginning of the universe and the origins of time, space, elementary particles, and the forces of nature?His quest for answers takes him and his nephew Seb on an incredible journey through the ages, discovering stories from the lives and work of physicists, cosmologists, philosophers, biblical commentators, sages, and mystics.Follow Dan and Seb as they discover insights into the big open questions in cosmology and physics while gaining a better understanding of biblical texts on God's creation. Explore: what came before the Big Bangwhat happened in the first instant of the universe's existencethe link between science's 13.8 billion-year timeline and the six-day creation account the beginning and nature of spacethe beginning, nature, and direction of timeelementary particles-the basic building blocks of everythingthe spooky behavior of the microscopic world and how quantum mechanics gives rise to our realitythe forces of nature and Einstein's relativitywhat undiscovered particles dark matter is made ofwhether the universe will continue to expandhow and why the parameters of the universe are fine-tuned for life to existMysteries of the First Instant is a fascinating and entertaining read, digging deep into the universe's beginning to solve its well-kept mysteries. No scientific or biblical background required. Order your copy today.

Author : William Robert Tymms
Publisher : Unknown
Page : 518 pages
File Size : 41,6 Mb
Release : 1860
Category : Electronic
ISBN : BML:37001102860207

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The Art of Illuminating by William Robert Tymms Pdf