The Ghosts Of Evolution

Author : Connie Barlow
Publisher : Basic Books
Page : 306 pages
File Size : 49,5 Mb
Release : 2008-08-05
Category : Science
ISBN : 9780786724895

Get Book

The Ghosts Of Evolution by Connie Barlow Pdf

A new vision is sweeping through ecological science: The dense web of dependencies that makes up an ecosystem has gained an added dimension-the dimension of time. Every field, forest, and park is full of living organisms adapted for relationships with creatures that are now extinct. In a vivid narrative, Connie Barlow shows how the idea of "missing partners" in nature evolved from isolated, curious examples into an idea that is transforming how ecologists understand the entire flora and fauna of the Americas. This fascinating book will enrich and deepen the experience of anyone who enjoys a stroll through the woods or even down an urban sidewalk. But this knowledge has a dark side too: Barlow's "ghost stories" teach us that the ripples of biodiversity loss around us now are just the leading edge of what may well become perilous cascades of extinction.

Author : Rebecca Stott
Publisher : Random House Digital, Inc.
Page : 418 pages
File Size : 52,5 Mb
Release : 2012
Category : Science
ISBN : 9781400069378

Get Book

Darwin's Ghosts by Rebecca Stott Pdf

Citing an 1859 letter that accused Charles Darwin of failing to acknowledge his scientific predecessors, a chronicle of the collective history of evolution dedicates each chapter to an evolutionary thinker, from Aristotle and da Vinci to Denis Diderot to the naturalists of the Jardin de Plantes. 20,000 first printing.

Author : Connie C. Barlow
Publisher : Unknown
Page : 0 pages
File Size : 44,6 Mb
Release : 2000
Category : Evolution (Biology)
ISBN : OCLC:52094590

Get Book

The Ghosts of Evolution by Connie C. Barlow Pdf

Author : David Sloan Wilson
Publisher : Delacorte Press
Page : 402 pages
File Size : 51,9 Mb
Release : 2007-03-27
Category : Science
ISBN : 9780440336808

Get Book

Evolution for Everyone by David Sloan Wilson Pdf

With stories that entertain as much as they inform, renowned evolutionist David Sloan Wilson outlines the basic principles of evolution and shows how, when properly understood, they can illuminate the length and breadth of creation, from the origin of life to the nature of religion. What is the biological reason for gossip? For laughter? For the creation of art? Why do dogs have curly tails? What can microbes tell us about morality? These and many other questions are tackled by Wilson in this witty and groundbreaking new book. Now everyone can move beyond the sterile debates about creationism and intelligent design to share Darwin’s panoramic view of animal and human life, seamlessly connected to each other. Evolution, as Wilson explains, is not just about dinosaurs and human origins, but about why all species behave as they do—from beetles that devour their own young, to bees that function as a collective brain, to dogs that are smarter in some respects than our closest ape relatives. And basic evolutionary principles are also the foundation for humanity’s capacity for symbolic thought, culture, and morality. In example after example, Wilson sheds new light on Darwin’ s grand theory and how it can be applied to daily life. By turns thoughtful, provocative, and daringly funny, Evolution for Everyone addresses some of the deepest philosophical and social issues of this or any age. In helping us come to a deeper understanding of human beings and our place in the world, it might also help us to improve that world.

Author : George Gibbs
Publisher : Unknown
Page : 416 pages
File Size : 46,5 Mb
Release : 2016-10
Category : Electronic
ISBN : 0947503080

Get Book

Ghosts of Gondwana by George Gibbs Pdf

Have you ever wondered why New Zealand's plants and animals are so different from those in other countries? Why kakapo is the only parrot in the world that cannot fly, or why the kiwi lives here and nowhere else? New Zealand is an extraordinary place, unique on earth, and the remarkable story of how and why life evolved here is the subject of Ghosts of Gondwana. The challenge of explaining New Zealand's natural origins is picked up in this fully revised edition of the popular award-winning book. It presents the latest scientific research in highly readable form, highlighting studies that reveal the deep historical background of our landscapes, fauna and flora - from ancient frogs and moa to delicate insects and the magnificent southern beech forests. It introduces the latest discoveries and resolves past issues like the 'Oligocene drowning' hypothesis. Exciting fossil discoveries are revealed and new scientific technologies and approaches to the discipline of historical biogeography are discussed - approaches that range from undersea geology to molecular clocks - and it inevitably draws attention to the debates and conflicts that distinguish different schools of opinion in this holistic branch of theoretical science. This revision incorporates the results of 10 years of intensive scientific research and includes four entirely new chapters to: focus on 'yesterday's maps' to draw attention to the ephemeral islands in our history that have possibly acted as stepping stones for terrestrial animals and plants but today have sunk into the sea; incorporate the author's own special interest in an ancient group of 'jaw-moths', unknown and unnoticed by most people but with a strong message that New Zealand is part of the world when it comes to explaining where our fauna have come from; present recent research findings on our huge flightless birds, the ratites; and include New Zealand's terrestrial molluscs into the story. Ghosts of Gondwana identifies New Zealand as one of the most challenging places on earth to explain, but it's readable, engaging style and revised illustrations render this often-controversial discipline of science into a format that is accessible to any reader with an interest in natural history and the unique environment of New Zealand.

Author : Arthur Koestler
Publisher : Penguin (Non-Classics)
Page : 384 pages
File Size : 50,8 Mb
Release : 1990-02
Category : Philosophy
ISBN : 0140191925

Get Book

The Ghost in the Machine by Arthur Koestler Pdf

An examination of the human impulse towards self-destruction suggests that in the course of human evolution, a pathological split between emotion and reason developed

Author : Mark V. Barrow
Publisher : University of Chicago Press
Page : 511 pages
File Size : 55,7 Mb
Release : 2011-04-15
Category : Nature
ISBN : 9780226038155

Get Book

Nature's Ghosts by Mark V. Barrow Pdf

The rapid growth of the American environmental movement in recent decades obscures the fact that long before the first Earth Day and the passage of the Endangered Species Act, naturalists and concerned citizens recognized—and worried about—the problem of human-caused extinction. As Mark V. Barrow reveals in Nature’s Ghosts, the threat of species loss has haunted Americans since the early days of the republic. From Thomas Jefferson’s day—when the fossil remains of such fantastic lost animals as the mastodon and the woolly mammoth were first reconstructed—through the pioneering conservation efforts of early naturalists like John James Audubon and John Muir, Barrow shows how Americans came to understand that it was not only possible for entire species to die out, but that humans themselves could be responsible for their extinction. With the destruction of the passenger pigeon and the precipitous decline of the bison, professional scientists and wildlife enthusiasts alike began to understand that even very common species were not safe from the juggernaut of modern, industrial society. That realization spawned public education and legislative campaigns that laid the foundation for the modern environmental movement and the preservation of such iconic creatures as the bald eagle, the California condor, and the whooping crane. A sweeping, beautifully illustrated historical narrative that unites the fascinating stories of endangered animals and the dedicated individuals who have studied and struggled to protect them, Nature’s Ghosts offers an unprecedented view of what we’ve lost—and a stark reminder of the hard work of preservation still ahead.

Author : Banu Subramaniam
Publisher : University of Illinois Press
Page : 296 pages
File Size : 43,8 Mb
Release : 2014-10-15
Category : Social Science
ISBN : 9780252096594

Get Book

Ghost Stories for Darwin by Banu Subramaniam Pdf

In a stimulating interchange between feminist studies and biology, Banu Subramaniam explores how her dissertation on flower color variation in morning glories launched her on an intellectual odyssey that engaged the feminist studies of sciences in the experimental practices of science by tracing the central and critical idea of variation in biology. As she shows, the histories of eugenics and genetics and their impact on the metaphorical understandings of difference and diversity that permeate common understandings of differences among people exist in contexts that seem distant from the so-called objective hard sciences. Journeying into areas that range from the social history of plants to speculative fiction, Subramaniam uncovers key relationships between the life sciences, women's studies, evolutionary and invasive biology, and the history of ecology, and how ideas of diversity and difference emerged and persist in each field.

Author : Roger Clarke
Publisher : Penguin UK
Page : 348 pages
File Size : 49,9 Mb
Release : 2012-11-01
Category : Body, Mind & Spirit
ISBN : 9780141958149

Get Book

A Natural History of Ghosts by Roger Clarke Pdf

A natural history of the supernatural from Roger Clarke, lifelong investigator into England's creepiest real-life ghost stories 'Is there anybody out there?' No matter how rationally we order our lives, few of us are completely immune to the suggestion of the uncanny and the fear of the dark. The subject of whether ghosts exist has fascinated some of the finest minds in history and it remains a subject of overwhelming interest today. This is the first comprehensive, authoritative and readable history of the evolution of the ghost in the west, examining as every good natural history should, the behaviour of the subject in its preferred environment: the stories we tell each other. What explains sightings of ghosts? Why do they fascinate us? What exactly did the haunted see? What did they believe? And what proof is there? Taking us through the key hauntings that have obsessed the world from the poltergeist of Cock Lane through the true events that inspired The Turn of the Screw and the dark events of Borley Rectory right up to the present day, Roger Clarke unfolds a story of class conflict, charlatans and true believers. His surprising castlist ranges from Samuel Johnson to John Wesley, and from Harry Houdini to Adolf Hitler. Inspired by a childhood spent in two haunted houses, Roger Clarke has spent much of his life trying to see a ghost. Written as grippingly as the best ghost fiction, A Natural History of Ghosts takes us on an unforgettable hunt through the most haunted places of the last five hundred years and our longing to believe.

Author : Anna Lowenhaupt Tsing,Nils Bubandt,Elaine Gan,Heather Anne Swanson
Publisher : U of Minnesota Press
Page : 709 pages
File Size : 55,6 Mb
Release : 2017-05-30
Category : Science
ISBN : 9781452954493

Get Book

Arts of Living on a Damaged Planet by Anna Lowenhaupt Tsing,Nils Bubandt,Elaine Gan,Heather Anne Swanson Pdf

Living on a damaged planet challenges who we are and where we live. This timely anthology calls on twenty eminent humanists and scientists to revitalize curiosity, observation, and transdisciplinary conversation about life on earth. As human-induced environmental change threatens multispecies livability, Arts of Living on a Damaged Planet puts forward a bold proposal: entangled histories, situated narratives, and thick descriptions offer urgent “arts of living.” Included are essays by scholars in anthropology, ecology, science studies, art, literature, and bioinformatics who posit critical and creative tools for collaborative survival in a more-than-human Anthropocene. The essays are organized around two key figures that also serve as the publication’s two openings: Ghosts, or landscapes haunted by the violences of modernity; and Monsters, or interspecies and intraspecies sociality. Ghosts and Monsters are tentacular, windy, and arboreal arts that invite readers to encounter ants, lichen, rocks, electrons, flying foxes, salmon, chestnut trees, mud volcanoes, border zones, graves, radioactive waste—in short, the wonders and terrors of an unintended epoch. Contributors: Karen Barad, U of California, Santa Cruz; Kate Brown, U of Maryland, Baltimore; Carla Freccero, U of California, Santa Cruz; Peter Funch, Aarhus U; Scott F. Gilbert, Swarthmore College; Deborah M. Gordon, Stanford U; Donna J. Haraway, U of California, Santa Cruz; Andreas Hejnol, U of Bergen, Norway; Ursula K. Le Guin; Marianne Elisabeth Lien, U of Oslo; Andrew Mathews, U of California, Santa Cruz; Margaret McFall-Ngai, U of Hawaii, Manoa; Ingrid M. Parker, U of California, Santa Cruz; Mary Louise Pratt, NYU; Anne Pringle, U of Wisconsin, Madison; Deborah Bird Rose, U of New South Wales, Sydney; Dorion Sagan; Lesley Stern, U of California, San Diego; Jens-Christian Svenning, Aarhus U.

Author : Randall Fuller
Publisher : Penguin
Page : 304 pages
File Size : 43,6 Mb
Release : 2017-01-24
Category : History
ISBN : 9780698186675

Get Book

The Book That Changed America by Randall Fuller Pdf

A compelling portrait of a unique moment in American history when the ideas of Charles Darwin reshaped American notions about nature, religion, science and race “A lively and informative history.” – The New York Times Book Review Throughout its history America has been torn in two by debates over ideals and beliefs. Randall Fuller takes us back to one of those turning points, in 1860, with the story of the influence of Charles Darwin’s just-published On the Origin of Species on five American intellectuals, including Bronson Alcott, Henry David Thoreau, the child welfare reformer Charles Loring Brace, and the abolitionist Franklin Sanborn. Each of these figures seized on the book’s assertion of a common ancestry for all creatures as a powerful argument against slavery, one that helped provide scientific credibility to the cause of abolition. Darwin’s depiction of constant struggle and endless competition described America on the brink of civil war. But some had difficulty aligning the new theory to their religious convictions and their faith in a higher power. Thoreau, perhaps the most profoundly affected all, absorbed Darwin’s views into his mysterious final work on species migration and the interconnectedness of all living things. Creating a rich tableau of nineteenth-century American intellectual culture, as well as providing a fascinating biography of perhaps the single most important idea of that time, The Book That Changed America is also an account of issues and concerns still with us today, including racism and the enduring conflict between science and religion.

Author : Susan Owens
Publisher : Tate
Page : 0 pages
File Size : 46,5 Mb
Release : 2017-10-03
Category : Social Science
ISBN : 1849764670

Get Book

The Ghost by Susan Owens Pdf

"In this rich survey Susan Owens explores the wide range of roles that ghosts have played in Britain's cultural life, looking at how they reflect our changing attitudes, our hopes and fears. Featuring a dazzling range of artists, including William Blake, Dante Gabriel Rossetti, John Everett Millais, Paul Nash, and Jeremy Deller, alongside writers such as William Shakespeare, Daniel Defoe, Mary Shelley, Emily Brontë, Charles Dickens, Thomas Hardy, Hilary Mantel and Sarah Waters." -- Back cover.

Author : Jean-Claude Schmitt
Publisher : University of Chicago Press
Page : 332 pages
File Size : 42,9 Mb
Release : 1998-04-28
Category : Family & Relationships
ISBN : 0226738876

Get Book

Ghosts in the Middle Ages by Jean-Claude Schmitt Pdf

In this fascinating study, Schmitt examines the significance of the widespread belief in ghosts during the Middle Ages and traces the imaginative, political, and religious contexts of these everyday haunts. Ghosts were pitiful or terrifying, usually solitary, creatures who arose from their tombs to haunt their friends and relatives. Including numerous color illustrations of ghosts and their trappings, this book presents a unique and intriguing look at medieval culture. 28 color plates.

Author : Ken Wilber
Publisher : Quest Books
Page : 428 pages
File Size : 42,9 Mb
Release : 2007-05-16
Category : Science
ISBN : 0835607313

Get Book

Up from Eden by Ken Wilber Pdf

This book chronicles humanity's cultural and psychospiritual evolutionary journey over some six million years from its primal past into its dazzling cosmic future.

Author : Marty Chan
Publisher : Orca Book Publishers
Page : 93 pages
File Size : 46,6 Mb
Release : 2020-07-14
Category : Juvenile Fiction
ISBN : 9781459826229

Get Book

Haunted Hospital by Marty Chan Pdf

Is this place actually haunted by ghosts? Or something even more terrifying? Xander thinks the George Wickerman Hospital would be the perfect setting for Spirits and Specters, a role-playing game where players go on “missions” to find evidence of paranormal activities. According to local legend, tuberculosis patients were used as test subjects in medical experiments that ended tragically, and their disfigured ghosts walk the hallways of this now-abandoned building. What better location to go ghost hunting? Even though they didn’t really believe the rumors, Xander and his friends soon begin to suspect that they are not alone.