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The ways science and technology are portrayed in advertising, in the news, in our politics, and in the culture at large inform the way we respond to these particular facts of life. The better we are at recognizing the rhetorical intentions of the purveyors of information and promoters of mass culture, the more adept we become at responding intelligently to them.

Flash Effect, a startling book by David J. Tietge, documents the manner in which those at the highest levels of our political and cultural institutions conflated the rhetoric of science and technology with the rhetorics of religion and patriotism to express their policies for governance at the onset of the Cold War and to explain them to the American public.

Professor Tietge details our cultural attitudes about science in the early years of the Cold War, when on the heels of a great technological victory Americans were faced with the possibility of destruction by the very weapons that had saved them.

In Flash Effect we learn how, by symbolizing the scientist as both a father figure and a savior—and by celebrating the technological objects of his labor—the campaign to promote science took hold in the American consciousness. The products of that attitude are with us today more than ever.

As long as there have been maps, cartographers have grappled with the impossibility of portraying the earth in two dimensions. To solve this problem mapmakers have created hundreds of map projections, mathematical methods for drawing the round earth on a flat surface. Yet of the hundreds of existing projections, and the infinite number that are theoretically possible, none is perfectly accurate.

Flattening the Earth is the first detailed history of map projections since 1863. John P. Snyder discusses and illustrates the hundreds of known projections created from 500 B.C. to the present, emphasizing developments since the Renaissance and closing with a look at the variety of projections made possible by computers.

The book contains 170 illustrations, including outline maps from original sources and modern computerized reconstructions. Though the text is not mathematically based, a few equations are included to permit the more technical reader to plot some projections. Tables summarize the features of nearly two hundred different projections and list those used in nineteenth-and twentieth-century atlases.

"This book is unique and significant: a thorough, well-organized, and insightful history of map projections. Snyder is the world's foremost authority on the subject and a significant innovator in his own right."—Mark Monmonier, author of How to Lie with Maps and Mapping It Out: Expository Cartography for the Humanities and Social Sciences.

Hawks fly at very high altitudes, sometimes over water, and thus their flight behavior and migration patterns are extremely difficult to study. Now, based on nearly ten years of research, this book provides the most complete analysis to date of how hawks migrate. Paul Kerlinger has employed both direct observations and radar techniques to obtain a much more accurate understanding of the migratory behavior of hawks and the "decisions" they make in flight. And, he has integrated data on the flight behavior of raptors in general with information about their ecology, physiology, evolution, and nonmigratory behavior.

Kerlinger begins with an overview, discussing ecology and geography, research methods, natural history, and evolution, and atmospheric structure. He then addresses specific aspects of flight behavior: aerodynamics, morphology, mechanics, direction, altitude, flocking, water crossing, speed selection, daily distance traveled, and flight strategies. Kerlinger describes each aspect of behavior quantitatively, testing mechanistic hypotheses. In conclusion, he examines how migrants integrate these behavioral components. Throughout the text he draws comparisons between the migratory flight behavior of hawks and that of other taxa. By means of such comparisons, researchers can gain insight into the selective pressures that shape the behavior of migrant species.

A fascinating natural history of an incredibly curious substance.

“Preternaturally hardened whale dung” is not the first image that comes to mind when we think of perfume, otherwise a symbol of glamour and allure. But the key ingredient that makes the sophisticated scent linger on the skin is precisely this bizarre digestive by-product—ambergris. Despite being one of the world’s most expensive substances (its value is nearly that of gold and has at times in history been triple it), ambergris is also one of the world’s least known. But with this unusual and highly alluring book, Christopher Kemp promises to change that by uncovering the unique history of ambergris.

A rare secretion produced only by sperm whales, which have a fondness for squid but an inability to digest their beaks, ambergris is expelled at sea and floats on ocean currents for years, slowly transforming, before it sometimes washes ashore looking like a nondescript waxy pebble. It can appear almost anywhere but is found so rarely, it might as well appear nowhere. Kemp’s journey begins with an encounter on a New Zealand beach with a giant lump of faux ambergris—determined after much excitement to nothing more exotic than lard—that inspires a comprehensive quest to seek out ambergris and its story. He takes us from the wild, rocky New Zealand coastline to Stewart Island, a remote, windswept island in the southern seas, to Boston and Cape Cod, and back again. Along the way, he tracks down the secretive collectors and traders who populate the clandestine modern-day ambergris trade.

Floating Gold is an entertaining and lively history that covers not only these precious gray lumps and those who covet them, but presents a highly informative account of the natural history of whales, squid, ocean ecology, and even a history of the perfume industry. Kemp’s obsessive curiosity is infectious, and eager readers will feel as though they have stumbled upon a precious bounty of this intriguing substance.

No one in America would deny that the weather has changed drastically in our lifetime. We read about El Niño and La Niña, but how many of us really understand the big picture beyond our own front windows or even the headlines on the Weather Channel? Hydrologists and climatologists have long been aware of the role of regional climate in predicting floods and understanding droughts. But with our growing sense of a variable climate, it is important to reassess these natural disasters not as isolated events but as related phenomena.

This book shows that floods and droughts don't happen by accident but are the products of patterns of wind, temperature, and precipitation that produce meteorologic extremes. It introduces the mechanics of global weather, puts these processes into the longer-term framework of climate, and then explores the evolution of climatic patterns through time to show that floods and droughts, once considered isolated "acts of God," are often related events driven by the same forces that shape the entire atmosphere.

Michael Collier and Robert Webb offer a fresh, insightful look at what we know about floods, droughts, and climate variability—and their impact on people—in an easy-to-read text, with dramatic photos, that assumes no previous understanding of climate processes. They emphasize natural, long-term mechanisms of climate change, explaining how floods and droughts relate to climate variability over years and decades. They also show the human side of some of the most destructive weather disasters in history.

As Collier and Webb ably demonstrate, "climate" may not be the smooth continuum of meteorologic possibilities we supposed but rather the sum of multiple processes operating both regionally and globally on different time scales. Amid the highly politicized discussion of our changing environment, Floods, Droughts, and Climate Change offers a straightforward scientific account of weather crises that can help students and general readers better understand the causes of climate variability and the consequences for their lives.

Volume 8 part 6 covers the Acanthaceae family, from Barleria to Hypoestes.

The Flora of Iraq is the only flora for this region in the Middle East. It enables anyone documenting, studying, or managing Iraq’s vast and rich flora to identify the vascular cryptograms and flowering plants. In addition to the detailed taxonomic information, a large amount of supplementary data of general biological interest and economic interest is provided, as well as notes on vernacular names. Nearing completion, it fills a major gap in the floral knowledge of Iraq. Volume 6 covers the Compositae in its entirety.

The Flora of Iraq is the only botanical guide for this region in the Middle East. It enables anyone documenting, studying, or managing Iraq’s vast and rich flora to identify the area’s vascular cryptogams (plants that do not make seeds) as well as its flowering plants. In addition to detailed taxonomic information, a large amount of supplementary data of general biological and economic interest is provided, as well as notes on vernacular names. Rounding out a series decades in the making, it is a vital contribution to our floral knowledge of Iraq.

The Flora of Iraq is the only comprehensive reference for this region in the Middle East. It enables anyone documenting, studying, or managing Iraq’s vast and rich flora to identify the vascular cryptograms and flowering plants. In addition to detailed taxonomic information, it includes general biological and economic data, as well as notes on vernacular names. As this collection nears completion, it fills a major gap in the floral knowledge of Iraq.

 

A descriptive account of the flowering plants and ferns native and naturalized in Kenya, Tanzania, and Uganda, together with information on exotic ornamental and crop plants. At least one species per genus is illustrated, and the bibliography and synonymy are sufficiently detailed to explain the nomenclature and taxonomic circumscriptions within a broad regional context. The Flora is a part work published in fascicles (paperback).
 
 

A descriptive account of the flowering plants and ferns native and naturalised in Kenya, Tanzania and Uganda, together with information on exotic ornamental and crop plants. Prepared at the Royal Botanic Gardens, Kew in co-operation with the East African Herbarium, the National Herbarium of Tanzania, and the Herbaria of Makerere University and Dar es Salaam University.

The Flora of Tropical East Africa is a descriptive, extensively illustrated account of the flowering plants and ferns native and naturalized in Kenya, Tanzania, and Uganda, together with information on exotic ornamental and crop plants. At least one species of each genus is illustrated, and the bibliography and synonymy are sufficiently detailed to explain the nomenclature and taxonomic circumscriptions within a broad regional context. This part of the series is the second volume devoted to the Apocynaceae  family or dogbane, which includes trees, shrubs, herbs, and lianas.  

A descriptive account of the flowering plants and ferns native and naturalised in Kenya, Tanzania and Uganda, together with information on exotic ornamental and crop plants. Prepared at the Royal Botanic Gardens, Kew in co-operation with the East African Herbarium, the National Herbarium of Tanzania, and the Herbaria of Makerere University and Dar es Salaam University.

A descriptive account of the flowering plants and ferns native and naturalised in Kenya, Tanzania and Uganda, together with information on exotic ornamental and crop plants. Prepared at the Royal Botanic Gardens, Kew in co-operation with the East African Herbarium, the National Herbarium of Tanzania, and the Herbaria of Makerere University and Dar es Salaam University.

The Flora of Tropical East Africa is a descriptive, extensively illustrated account of the flowering plants and ferns native and naturalized in Kenya, Tanzania, and Uganda, together with information on exotic ornamental and crop plants. At least one species of each genus is illustrated, and the bibliography and synonymy are sufficiently detailed to explain the nomenclature and taxonomic circumscriptions within a broad regional context. This part of the series is devoted to the Solanaceae or nightshade family, which includes both important agricultural crops as well as a number of toxic plants.

From the Pinacate lava fields and expansive dunes to the shores of the Gulf of California, the Gran Desierto is one of the hottest and driest places in the Western Hemisphere. Yet this region in the state of Sonora in northwestern Mexico embraces a remarkable number of habitats with a fascinating and surprisingly rich flora. This is the heart of the Sonoran Desert, still in a largely primordial state, in juxtaposition with the ravished wetlands of the once great Río Colorado. Flora of the Gran Desierto is the culmination of more than twenty-five years of research in this magnificent desert and delta by botanist Richard Felger. This comprehensive floristic study of more than 565 species of vascular plants features original diagnostic descriptions and innovative identification keys to the families, genera, and species. Particular attention has been devoted to taxa that are poorly known. Even weeds and their histories are treated in detail. Hundreds of illustrations by such eminent botanical artists as Lucretia Brezeale Hamilton, Matt Johnson, and Bobbi Angell will aid in the identification of plants.

Common names of plants are given in English, Spanish, and O'odham. While emphasizing scientific accuracy, the book is written in an accessible style. Felger's observations and knowledge of plant ecology, geographic distribution, evolution, ethnobotany, plant variation and special adaptations, and the history of the region provides botanists, naturalists, ecologists, conservationists, and anyone else celebrating the desert with readable, interesting, and important information. With two of Mexico's newest biosphere reserves—the Pinacate and the Upper Gulf of California—this region is a keystone for desert conservation efforts. Its location linking vast preserves to the north makes this book especially useful for anyone interested in borderland studies and the Sonoran Desert. Flora of the Gran Desierto represents a most creative, definitive, and enthusiastic treatment of Sonoran Desert plant life and is highly relevant to ecological restoration in deserts and wetlands in arid places worldwide.

A critical, illustrated look at the flora of Guyana, Suriname, and French Guiana, designed to treat phanerogams as well as cryptogams of the area. This edition covers the Meliaceae family, and provides plant descriptions, distribution, and taxonomic keys. 

A critical, illustrated Flora of Guyana, Suriname and French Guiana, designed to treat phanerogams as well as cryptogams of the area. Publication takes place in fascicles, each treating a family or group of related families. Treatments provide fundamental and applied information, covering, when possible, wood anatomy, chemical analysis, economic uses, vernacular names and data on endangered species.

A critical, illustrated look at the flora of Guyana, Suriname, and French Guiana, designed to treat phanerogams as well as cryptogams of the area. This edition covers the Cladoniaceae family, and provides plant descriptions, distribution, and taxonomic keys. 

A descriptive account of the flowering plants and ferns native and naturalised in Kenya, Tanzania and Uganda, together with information on exotic ornamental and crop plants. Prepared at the Royal Botanic Gardens, Kew in co-operation with the East African Herbarium, the National Herbarium of Tanzania, and the Herbaria of Makerere University and Dar es Salaam University.