Lucretius' aim was to free the Roman world from its two great terrors - the gods and death. But On the Nature of Things is also a poem of striking imagery....

In the tradition of Anne Morrow Lindbergh's Gift from the Sea , writer- illustrator Barbara Bash brings a spiritual awareness to her surroundings as she caringly records encounters with animals and plants during solitary walks around the countryside of upstate New York. In this four-color book—designed to look like a one-of-a-kind hand-bound journal—she creates the look and feel of a spontaneously composed diary chronicling her experiences and reflections during a series of solitary retreats. Her handwritten notes and exquisite drawings capture wondrous moments in the natural environment: a dragonfly's brief pause, a surprised deer in tall grass, woodchucks watching her from a distance, a raindrop making its way down a windowpane. Nature lovers, gardeners, and anyone who enjoys walking... Less

Geared to allied health students and written in an engaging narrative style, this pathology text is an easy-to-read primer on the etiology and pathogenesis of human disease. This unique book provides a basic understanding of pathology without microscopic pathology and molecular biology details that health professions students do not need. Each chapter reviews normal anatomy and physiology, explains the development of common diseases, lists the major determinants of disease, presents clinical case studies, and includes end-of-chapter problem-solving questions.

Why does time appear to run in only one direction? We remember the past- but why not the future? We can influence the future- but could we, even theoretically, influence the past?Generations of philosophers and theologians, physicists and mathematicians have puzzles and speculated about these and the many other questions that surround the concept of time. Recent scientific work is said to explain the directionality of time. But time still contains many mysteries- black holes and big bangs, asymmetries and relativities, arrows and loops - that will doubtless continue to occupy us for centuries to come.In this impressive collection of original articles ten internationally known scholars explore and explains the nature of time, apace and now space-time. Founded on the latest developments in... Less

This series focuses on the environmental impact of resource-based industries around the world, today and in the future. How can the growing demand for raw materials be balanced with the increasingly urgent need to reduce the footprint that is left when natural resources are taken from the Earth and developed for worldwide consumption? It is highly illustrated, with an emphasis on presenting a balanced argument about marrying global development with sustainability.

Honey Santana, self-proclaimed "queen of lost causes", has a scheme to help rid the world of irresponsibility, indifference, and dinnertime sales calls....

This important book provides a theory about the nature of fiction, and about the relation between the author, the reader and the fictional text. The approach is philosophical: that is to say, the author offers an account of key concepts such as fictional truth, fictional characters, and fiction itself. The book argues that the concept of fiction can be explained partly in terms of communicative intentions, partly in terms of a condition which excludes relations of counterfactual dependence between the world and the text. This communicative model is then applied to the following problems: how can something be 'true in the story' without being explicitly stated in the text? In what ways does interpreting a fictional story depend upon grasping its author's intentions? Is there always a... Less

Drawn from hundreds of hours of rare archival recordings from the personal collection of his son, Mark Watts, this program presents the essential message of Alan Watts....

The first part of the book, written in a single, uninterrupted flow of inspiration, takes the form of answers from the word of nature to questions posed by the rational mind.  The second part of the book consists of philosophical reflections on the first and proposes the practice of imagination as a way of evolutionary development.  Man y traditions have spoken of a "higher consciousness," but Schwaller de Lubicz's attempt to formulate in modern terms an alchemical science of qualities, functions, analogies and signatures is unique.

Learning Nature presents exciting scholarship on the exploration of the concept of nature and its implications for education. The author-Ruyu Hung-argues that "nature" is a rich and fundamental source of meaning to enable one to learn to live a meaningful life and yet that what is taught about nature in many conventional curricula is severely limited, resulting in an impoverishment of meaning. The central aim of this book is to provide different approaches to the understanding of nature in order to show the fecund meanings that have rich educational significance and the implications for pedagogy. Interrogating the educationally meaningful conceptions of nature, this book identifies five themes to anchor our multifarious understandings of nature. Each theme with its implying polarities... Less

This is a new edition of Paul Davies' very highly regarded text on high-energy particle physics aimed at the scientifically educated general reader. Since the appearance of the first edition in 1979 there have been many major developments in the field, and the author has taken this opportunity to bring the text completely up to date. Paul Davies includes details of one of the most significant of these developments, the experimental discovery in 1983 of the W and Z intermediate vector bosons, and discusses the implications for the eventual unification of the four forces of nature. In addition to this, the discovery of the top and bottom quarks, the details and predictions of modern grand unified theories (GUTs), and the application of the results of high-energy physics to studies of the... Less

Michael Roads had always been close to nature, but when a river started talking to him, he began to doubt his sanity. A series of encounters with the natural world followed, and Roads began to listen — and let go. He found himself led stage by stage to a final wisdom, remarkable in its simplicity and in its message of hope for humanity. This illustrated book, a bind-up of his two best-known works, beautifully articulates that message.

"Today we are standing helpless and perplexed. With no glimmer of improvement anywhere in sight, we feel hopelessly propelled towards a forlorn future. It is understandable therefore that an increasing number of people, sick and tired of this insane activity, are now seeking ways to return to Mother Nature." - Viktor Schauberger (1885-1958) Viktor Schauberger was one of the first genuine environmentalists . In the 1930s he was predicting ecological catastrophe when no one else could see it coming. Schauberger is now being proved right. He foresaw: - Global warming and its devastating consequences. - Increasing violence and lawlessness as the direct result of destructive methods which block Nature's energies and balance. - The destruction of the world's forests and ecosystems. This, and... Less

Experience mathematics--and develop problem-solving skills that will benefit you throughout your life--with THE NATURE OF MATHEMATICS. Karl Smith introduces you to proven problem-solving techniques and shows you how to use these techniques to solve unfamiliar problems that you encounter in your day-to-day world. You'll find coverage of interesting historical topics, and practical applications to real-world settings and situations, such as finance (amortization, installment buying, annuities) and voting. With Smith's guidance, you'll both understand mathematical concepts and master the techniques.

What are the most fundamental features of the world? Do minds stand outside the natural order? Is a unified picture of mental and physical reality possible? The Mind in Nature provides a staunchly realist account of the world as a unified system incorporating both the mental and the physical. C. B. Martin, an original and influential exponent of "ontologically serious" metaphysics, echoes Locke's dictum that "all things that exist are only particulars", and argues that properties are powerful qualities. He also spells out the implications of this view for philosophical conceptions of causation, intentionality, consciousness, and the mind-body problem. Martin emphasizes the importance of non-conscious "vegetative" systems, which provide clear examples of intentionality in the form of... Less

Since the dawn of history philosophers have speculated about the nature of mind. What kind of thing is the mind? How do mental processes fit with the rest of the natural order? Is the mind something different and separate from the body? What is distinctive of the various kinds of mental phenomena such as thinking, feeling, sensing, and consciousness? Addressing these and related problems, this anthology provides a framework for understanding mental functioning. The readings are grouped into five major sections: General Problems about Mind, Self and Other, Mind and Body, The Nature of Mind, and Psychological Explanation. Each section begins with an introduction that discusses the issues and problems that arise in the various selections and shows how each author approaches them. In... Less

This book brings together contributions from scholars across the humanities.A wide-ranging exploration of the interface between performance and nature. Examines the use and usefulness of ideas of ‘performance’ for understanding human-nature relationships. Draws on different disciplines and intellectual traditions and on different conceptions of ‘performance’ and ‘nature’. Contributions are rooted in real-world contexts and problems, explored through detailed ethnographic work. Explores domains as diverse as allotments and bioinvasion, fox hunting and green politics. Makes a distinctive contribution to the ‘cultural turn’ in environmental research.

Nature is the grand designer and human engineers have taken great motivation from it since the earliest of times. This book celebrates structural compliance in nature and human technology. Examples of compliant structures in nature abound, from the walls of the smallest cell, to the wings of the condor, to the tail of the gray whale. The subject of compliant structures in nature and engineering is timely and important, albeit quite broad and challenging. A concise summary of the important features of these interesting structures, this volume demonstrates, wherever possible, a mapping between naturally compliant structures and the promise and opportunity commensurate in human engineering.

The Nature and Function of Dreaming presents a comprehensive theory of dreaming based on many years of psychological and biological research by Ernest Hartmann and others. Critical to this theory is the concept of a Central Image; in this volume, Hartmann describes his repeated finding that dreams of being swept away by a tidal wave are common among people who have recently experienced a trauma of some kind - a fire, an attack, or a rape. Dreams with these Central Images are not dreams of the traumatic experience itself, but rather the Central Image reveals the emotional response to the experience. Dreams with a potent Central Image, like the tidal wave, vary in intensity along with the severity of the trauma; this pattern was shown quite powerfully in a systematic study of dreams... Less

In over eighty original essays, Rex Alphin presents us with a folksy, contemplative view of the beauty and wonderment of everyday life in the rural South. In these brief, introspective essays about his life as a farmer in Isle of Wight, Virginia, Alphin captures the simple moments of country life with the candor, grace and old-fashioned wit of a master storyteller. He writes about the rich experience of being connected to the land, about the joy and beauty of the seasons, and about the importance of the small but profound moments in life overlooked by so many. Watching a rain gauge fill after weeks of drought, digging peanuts, listening to old folks tell their stories, or remembering what it was like to fall in love the first time, Alphin discovers and shares those moments and the... Less

This work contains the Gifford Lectures delivered in the University of Glasgow in the academic years 1932-1933 and 1933-1934. Mr. Temple's purpose has not been to construct, stage by stage, a philosophic fabric where each conclusion becomes the basis of the next advance. Partial Contents: distinction between natural and revealed religion; tension between philosophy and religion; mathematics, logic and history; world as apprehended; truth and beauty; moral goodness; process, mind and value; freedom and determination; transcendence of the immanent; spiritual authority and religious experience; finitude and evil; divine grace and human freedom; commonwealth of value; meaning of history; moral and religious conditions of eternal life; sacramental universe; hunger of natural religion.

The distinguishing feature of this book is its focus on the special character of law in performing certain social functions. Presented are the salient aspects of criminal and civil procedure, alternative dispute resolution, aspects of judicial reasoning on the basis of precedents, especially in cases of manufacturer's liability in tort, certain aspects of the law of contracts, and aspects of international human rights law, including race law, and gender law, both at the national and international levelnot in order to present a composite picture of the whole legal system but in order to test the success of the legal system in carrying out its basic purposes. As in previous editions, it includes relevant materials on comparative and international law. In this edition the international... Less

The definitive collection of prose masterpieces on nature, fully revised and expanded. Encounters with nature have produced some of the great literature of our age. Darwin's ruminations on the Galapagos Islands, Thoreau's communion with Walden Pond, and Rachel Carson's evocation of the rocky coast of Maine are monuments in the history of writing and thought. No less significant are the searching essays of such contemporary writers as Wendell Berry, Terry Tempest Williams, Annie Dillard, and Bill McKibben. Nature Writing: The Tradition in English, includes 152 selections by 132 authors. This is the definitive collection of a many-voiced genre that has flourished in England and America for over two hundred years. Here one will find such classic selections as William Bartram's parley... Less

We ask question after question of an indifferent universe that would just as soon remain mute; and slowly, patiently, one sentence at a time, we write our own version of the book of nature. It is called science, from the Latin word for knowledge, and it is a book everybody should read. With simplicity and elegance, Knowing interprets the book of nature for curious readers of all sorts--but especially for those hoping to appreciate the beauty of physics without getting lost in the mathematics. Indeed, there is a world of scientific understanding in the pages of this gracefully written and inviting book, where hundreds of little diagrams substitute for the equations that physicists otherwise need to tell their tale. Readers will discover the way things work: how big things (like Earth... Less

An awe-inspiring journey, this remarkable album from nature artist Robert Bateman reveals the variety, diversity, and fragility of life on our planet. From the North American cardinal to the charging rhino in East Africa, these paintings capture the essence of life and the precious environment in which it exists. Focusing on Bateman as a developing environmentalist, the messages in these images are urgent and provocative.

1929. The course of Gifford Lectures that Eddington delivered in the University of Edinburgh in January to March 1927. It treats of the philosophical outcome of the great changes of scientific thought which have recently come about. The theory of relativity and the quantum theory have led to strange new conceptions of the physical world; the progress of the principles of thermodynamics has wrought more gradual but no less profound change. The first eleven chapters are for the most part occupied with the new physical theories, with the reasons which have led to their adoption, and especially with the conceptions which seem to underlie them. The aim is to make clear the scientific view of the world as it stands at the present day, and, where it is incomplete, to judge the direction in which... Less

Black Nature is the first anthology to focus on nature writing by African American poets, a genre that until now has not commonly been counted as one in which African American poets have participated. Black poets have a long tradition of incorporating treatments of the natural world into their work, but it is often read as political, historical, or protest poetry--anything but nature poetry. This is particularly true when the definition of what constitutes nature writing is limited to work about the pastoral or the wild.Camille T. Dungy has selected 180 poems from 93 poets that provide unique perspectives on American social and literary history to broaden our concept of nature poetry and African American poetics. This collection features major writers, such as Phillis Wheatley, Rita Dove,... Less

Nature has always been a source of inspiration for the design of the human environment, but in recent years this relationship has grown even more intense. "Nature as model" has influenced the most diverse possible concepts and developmental processes and is revealed in a large spectrum of forms and functions. Nature Design brings together projects and objects from design, architecture, landscape architecture, photography, and art that have been inspired by nature to develop complex and innovative works. The protagonists include Werner Aisslinger, Ronan and Erwan Bouroullec, Peter Eisenman, Zaha Hadid, Herzog and de Meuron, Ross Lovegrove, Olaf Nicolai, Francois Roche, Lars Spuybroek, and Günther Vogt, among others. The book covers the historical and theoretical fundamentals of the themes... Less

The roots of environmental aesthetics reach back to the ideas of eighteenth- century thinkers who found nature an ideal source of aesthetic experience. Today, having blossomed into a significant subfield of aesthetics, environmental aesthetics studies and encourages the appreciation of not just natural environments but also human-made and human-modified landscapes. Nature and Landscape is an important introduction to this rapidly growing area of aesthetic understanding and appreciation. Allen Carlson begins by tracing the development of the field's historical background, and then surveys contemporary positions on the aesthetics of nature, such as scientific cognitivism, which holds that certain kinds of scientific knowledge are necessary for a full appreciation of natural environments... Less

Is nature all there is? John Haught examines this question and in doing so addresses a fundamental issue in the dialogue of science with religion. The belief that nature is all there is and that no overall purpose exists in the universe is known broadly as 'naturalism'. Naturalism, in this context, denies the existence of any realities distinct from the natural world and human culture. Since the rise of science in the modern world has had so much influence on naturalism's intellectual acceptance, the author focuses on 'scientific' naturalism and the way in which its defenders are now attempting to put a distance between contemporary thought and humanity's religious traditions. Haught seeks to provide a reasonable, scientifically informed alternative to naturalism. His approach will... Less