"In this essay collection, David Quammen journeys to places where civilization meets raw nature"--

One of the greatest experimental scientists of all time, Michael Faraday (1791–1867) developed the first electric motor, electric generator, and dynamo - essentially creating the science of electrochemistry. This book, the result of six lectures he delivered to young students at London's Royal Institution, concerns another form of energy - candlelight. Faraday titled the lectures "The Chemical History of a Candle," choosing the subject because,...

On March 10, 2013, 6 houses were lost, 7 condemned and 24 were declared to be in imminent danger on Plum Island in northern Massachusetts. But, it was only the latest skirmish in an ongoing battle between man and nature on this fragile barrier beach. Plum Island takes readers to the core of the earth to see how Plum Island's sands were first formed in the metamorphic forge of the earth's interior. It will then follow these minerals as they erode...

Get the Summary of Stephen Hawking's Brief Answers to the Big Questions in 20 minutes. Please note: This is a summary & not the original book. Original book introduction: Stephen Hawking was the most renowned scientist since Einstein, known both for his groundbreaking work in physics and cosmology and for his mischievous sense of humor. He educated millions of readers about the origins of the universe and the nature of black holes, and inspired millions...

Get the Summary of Franck Wilczek's's Fundamentals in 20-minutes. Please note: This is a summary & not the original book. Original book introduction: In Fundamentals, Nobel laureate Frank Wilczek offers the reader a simple yet profound exploration of reality based on the deep revelations of modern science. With clarity and an infectious sense of joy, he guides us through the essential concepts that form our understanding of what the world is and how...

Although climate change is seen as a very 21st-century concern, back in the eighteenth and early nineteenth century naturalists around the world in places as far apart as Mauritius in the Indian ocean and St Vincent in the Caribbean were becoming aware of what they referred to as desiccation, the drying of the land and absence of rainfall due to the cutting down of large swathes of forest trees. This book traces the connections between those naturalists,...

Get the Summary of Avi Loeb's Extraterrestrial in the Room in 20 minutes. Please note: This is a summary and not the original book. Original book introduction: In Extraterrestrial, Loeb takes readers inside the thrilling story of the first interstellar visitor, to be spotted in our solar system. He outlines his controversial theory and its profound implications: for science, for religion, and for the future of our species and our planet. A mind-bending...

Get the Summary of Donella H. Meadows's Thinking in Systems in 20 minutes. Please note: This is a summary & not the original book. Original book introduction: Thinking in Systems, is a concise and crucial book offering insight for problem solving on scales ranging from the personal to the global. Edited by the Sustainability Institute's Diana Wright, this essential primer brings systems thinking out of the realm of computers and equations and into...

The Land of Little Rain (1903) is a collection of essays and short stories by Mary Hunter Austin. Originally published with photographs taken by acclaimed American photographer Ansel Adams, The Land of Little Rain is a classic work of nature writing. Austin is now recognized as an early feminist and conservationist who understood the intricacy and fragility of ecosystems as well as the extent to which human civilization threatens their continued existence. In...

Nature on the brink? Maybe not. With so much bad news in the world, we forget how much environmental progress has been made. In a narrative that reaches from Native American tribal practices to public health and commercial hunting, Wild at Heart shows how western attitudes towards nature have changed dramatically in the last five hundred years. The Chinook gave thanks for King Salmon's gifts. The Puritans saw Nature as a frightening wilderness, full...