The Oldest Living Things in the World

The Oldest Living Things in the World
Author: Rachel Sussman
Publisher: University of Chicago Press
Total Pages: 305
Release: 2014-06-03
Genre: Nature
ISBN: 022605764X

The Oldest Living Things in the World is an epic journey through time and space. Over the past decade, artist Rachel Sussman has researched, worked with biologists, and traveled the world to photograph continuously living organisms that are 2,000 years old and older. Spanning from Antarctica to Greenland, the Mojave Desert to the Australian Outback, the result is a stunning and unique visual collection of ancient organisms unlike anything that has been created in the arts or sciences before, insightfully and accessibly narrated by Sussman along the way. Her work is both timeless and timely, and spans disciplines, continents, and millennia. It is underscored by an innate environmentalism and driven by Sussman’s relentless curiosity. She begins at “year zero,” and looks back from there, photographing the past in the present. These ancient individuals live on every continent and range from Greenlandic lichens that grow only one centimeter a century, to unique desert shrubs in Africa and South America, a predatory fungus in Oregon, Caribbean brain coral, to an 80,000-year-old colony of aspen in Utah. Sussman journeyed to Antarctica to photograph 5,500-year-old moss; Australia for stromatolites, primeval organisms tied to the oxygenation of the planet and the beginnings of life on Earth; and to Tasmania to capture a 43,600-year-old self-propagating shrub that’s the last individual of its kind. Her portraits reveal the living history of our planet—and what we stand to lose in the future. These ancient survivors have weathered millennia in some of the world’s most extreme environments, yet climate change and human encroachment have put many of them in danger. Two of her subjects have already met with untimely deaths by human hands. Alongside the photographs, Sussman relays fascinating – and sometimes harrowing – tales of her global adventures tracking down her subjects and shares insights from the scientists who research them. The oldest living things in the world are a record and celebration of the past, a call to action in the present, and a barometer of our future.

Evolution in Hawaii

Evolution in Hawaii
Author: National Academy of Sciences
Publisher: National Academies Press
Total Pages: 56
Release: 2004-02-10
Genre: Science
ISBN: 0309166705

As both individuals and societies, we are making decisions today that will have profound consequences for future generations. From preserving Earth's plants and animals to altering our use of fossil fuels, none of these decisions can be made wisely without a thorough understanding of life's history on our planet through biological evolution. Companion to the best selling title Teaching About Evolution and the Nature of Science, Evolution in Hawaii examines evolution and the nature of science by looking at a specific part of the world. Tracing the evolutionary pathways in Hawaii, we are able to draw powerful conclusions about evolution's occurrence, mechanisms, and courses. This practical book has been specifically designed to give teachers and their students an opportunity to gain a deeper understanding of evolution using exercises with real genetic data to explore and investigate speciation and the probable order in which speciation occurred based on the ages of the Hawaiian Islands. By focusing on one set of islands, this book illuminates the general principles of evolutionary biology and demonstrate how ongoing research will continue to expand our knowledge of the natural world.

Earth's Elders

Earth's Elders
Author: Jerry Friedman
Publisher: Easton Studio Press LLC
Total Pages: 271
Release: 2011-12-16
Genre: Social Science
ISBN: 1935212559

In the creation of Earth's Elders, Jerry Friedman met, interviewed and photographed some of the world's oldest elders – 110 years old or older (supercentenarians, as researchers call them). Jerry Friedman, photographer, author and founder of Earth's Elders, spent four years on a landmark project to introduce the world to the sixty oldest people on earth. Using his lens to capture a community that has never before been documented, the award-winning photographer has shed new light on the "invisible" world of people 110 years and older. With each visit on his globetrotting journey to capture the lives of these "super centenarians," Friedman gained a deeper understanding of what the elderly in every culture have to offer. Inspired by the opportunity to improve the quality of life of the elderly, to teach children to recognize the wisdom and value of the elderly as essential parts of our society, and to improve the health of our communities through intergenerational tolerance and communication, Friedman created Earth’s Elders.

Making the Geologic Now

Making the Geologic Now
Author: Elizabeth Ellsworth
Publisher:
Total Pages: 260
Release: 2012-12-01
Genre:
ISBN: 9780988234024

Making the Geologic Now announces shifts in cultural sensibilities and practices. It offers early sightings of an increasingly widespread turn toward the geologic as source of explanation, motivation, and inspiration for creative responses to conditions of the present moment. In the spirit of a broadside, this edited collection circulates images and short essays from over 40 artists, designers, architects, scholars, and journalists who are actively exploring and creatively responding to the geologic depth of "now." Contributors' ideas and works are drawn from architecture, design, contemporary philosophy and art. They are offered as test sites for what might become thinkable or possible if humans were to collectively take up the geologic as our instructive co-designer-as a partner in designing thoughts, objects, systems, and experiences. A new cultural sensibility is emerging. As we struggle to understand and meet new material realities of earth and life on earth, it becomes increasingly obvious that the geologic is not just about rocks. We now cohabit with the geologic in unprecedented ways, in teeming assemblages of exchange and interaction among geologic materials and forces and the bio, cosmo, socio, political, legal, economic, strategic, and imaginary. As a reading and viewing experience, Making the Geologic Now is designed to move through culture, sounding an alert from the unfolding edge of the "geologic turn" that is now propagating through contemporary ideas and practices. Contributors include: Matt Baker, Jarrod Beck, Stephen Becker, Brooke Belisle, Jane Bennett, David Benque, Canary Project (Susannah Sayler, Edward Morris), Center for Land Use Interpretation, Brian Davis, Seth Denizen, Anthony Easton, Elizabeth Ellsworth, Valeria Federighi, William L. Fox, David Gersten, Bill Gilbert, Oliver Goodhall, John Gordon, Ilana Halperin, Lisa Hirmer, Rob Holmes, Katie Holten, Jane Hutton, Julia Kagan, Wade Kavanaugh, Oliver Kellhammer, Elizabeth Kolbert, Janike Kampevold Larsen, Jamie Kruse, William Lamson, Tim Maly, Geoff Manaugh, Don McKay, Rachel McRae, Brett Milligan, Christian MilNeil, Laura Moriarity, Stephen Nguyen, Erika Osborne, Trevor Paglen, Anne Reeve, Chris Rose, Victoria Sambunaris, Paul Lloyd Sargent, Antonio Stoppani, Rachel Sussman, Shimpei Takeda, Chris Taylor, Ryan Thompson, Etienne Turpin, Nicola Twilley, Bryan M. Wilson.

China

China
Author: John Makeham
Publisher:
Total Pages: 372
Release: 2008
Genre: History
ISBN:

China boasts a recorded history that dates back more than 3,500 years, and the Chinese have endowed the rest of the world with an enduring legacy. China examines the turbulent history of this immense nation, including the inventiveness of the Bronze Age society, the Barbarian invasions, the conquest by Genghis Khan, the rise and fall of the dynasties, and the Opium Wars. It takes in the architecture of the emperors; the magnificent buildings of the Forbidden City; the imperial tombs, and the mysterious entombed warriors. It also surveys Chinese culture and social history, including the rise of Confucianism, Taoism and Buddhism, and the cult of ancestor worship.

Ancient Trees

Ancient Trees
Author: Beth Moon
Publisher: National Geographic Books
Total Pages: 0
Release: 2014-09-09
Genre: Photography
ISBN: 0789211955

Captivating black-and-white photographs of the world’s most majestic ancient trees. Beth Moon’s fourteen-year quest to photograph ancient trees has taken her across the United States, Europe, Asia, the Middle East, and Africa. Some of her subjects grow in isolation, on remote mountainsides, private estates, or nature preserves; others maintain a proud, though often precarious, existence in the midst of civilization. All, however, share a mysterious beauty perfected by age and the power to connect us to a sense of time and nature much greater than ourselves. It is this beauty, and this power, that Moon captures in her remarkable photographs. This handsome volume presents nearly seventy of Moon’s finest tree portraits as full-page duotone plates. The pictured trees include the tangled, hollow-trunked yews—some more than a thousand years old—that grow in English churchyards; the baobabs of Madagascar, called “upside-down trees” because of the curious disproportion of their giant trunks and modest branches; and the fantastical dragon’s-blood trees, red-sapped and umbrella-shaped, that grow only on the island of Socotra, off the Horn of Africa. Moon’s narrative captions describe the natural and cultural history of each individual tree, while Todd Forrest, vice president for horticulture and living collections at The New York Botanical Garden, provides a concise introduction to the biology and preservation of ancient trees. An essay by the critic Steven Brown defines Moon’s unique place in a tradition of tree photography extending from William Henry Fox Talbot to Sally Mann, and explores the challenges and potential of the tree as a subject for art.

The Oldest Living Vampire Tells All

The Oldest Living Vampire Tells All
Author: Joseph Duncan
Publisher: CreateSpace
Total Pages: 294
Release: 2015-03-25
Genre:
ISBN: 9781511446594

"My legal name where I currently reside in the city of Liege, Belgium, in the year 2010 A.D., is Gaspar Valessi, but that is not my real name. The name I was given some 30,000 years ago, when I was born in a Paleolithic settlement in the region that is now called Germany-- the name my father gave me shortly after I was voided, bloody and howling, from my mother's womb-- is Gon." So begins the saga of the immortal Gon, a 30,000 year old vampire. This, the first volume of his memoirs, recounts his mortal life in prehistoric Germany alongside his male companion Brulde and his two wives, the Neanderthal Eyya and his Cro-Magnon mate Nyala, and details the fearsome events that lead to his transformation from man to undying monster. This Revised and Expanded Edition includes more than 30,000 words of new material, adding depth to much loved characters and more fully realizing the author's vision of the Oldest Living Vampire and the prehistoric world that gave birth to him. By turns beautiful and subversive, poetic and seductive, the Oldest Living Vampire Saga is like no other vampire series you've ever read! Readers Rave About The Oldest Living Vampire Saga "Sensual and exciting.."."Had me on the edge of my seat.."."Anyone who enjoys Anne Rice's Lestat stories will find this a great read..."."The story of Gon is incredible.."."This author has tremendous talent.."."Not your run of the mill vampire.."."BRAVO!.."."I'm an Anne Rice fan but decided to dive in to what I hoped would be a good read. I was not disappointed!" What The Critics Say "In the competitive literary world of glittery immortals and undead enchantresses, [Mr. Duncan] has successfully created a unique vampire with an extensive historical background that has been embraced by multitudes of fans."--Examiner.com..."I wasn't expecting much. But again, my initial impression was proved wrong. It's an interesting book with a very unique main character."--Uwanted2C.com The Oldest Living Vampire Tells All has been a Kindle best-seller since its debut in 2010... find out for yourself what all the rave reviews are about! The Oldest Living Vampire Saga Chronology: Volume I: The Oldest Living Vampire Tells All Side Story: Nyal's Story Volume II: The Oldest Living Vampire on the Prowl Volume III: The Oldest Living Vampire In Love Side Story: Apollonius Volume IV: The Oldest Living Vampire Betrayed

The Hidden Life of Trees: What They Feel, How They Communicate

The Hidden Life of Trees: What They Feel, How They Communicate
Author: Peter Wohlleben
Publisher: HarperCollins UK
Total Pages: 263
Release: 2017-08-24
Genre: Nature
ISBN: 0008218447

Sunday Times Bestseller‘A paradigm-smashing chronicle of joyous entanglement’ Charles Foster Waterstones Non-Fiction Book of the Month (September) Are trees social beings? How do trees live? Do they feel pain or have awareness of their surroundings?