University of Chicago Press: New Titles in Biological Sciences

University of Chicago Press: New Titles in Biological Sciences http://www.press.uchicago.edu/rss/newbio.xml The latest new books in Biological Sciences en-us erg@press.uchicago.edu Mr. Jefferson and the Giant Moose http://www.press.uchicago.edu/cgi-bin/rssresolve.cgi?id=5387723 Lee Alan Dugatkin <br><br><DIV><DIV><P>In the years after the Revolutionary War, the fledgling republic of America was viewed by many Europeans as a degenerate backwater, populated by subspecies weak and feeble. Chief among these naysayers was the French Count and world-renowned naturalist Georges-Louis Leclerc de Buffon, who wrote that the flora and fauna of America (humans included) were inferior to European specimens. </P><P>Thomas Jefferson—author of the Declaration of Independence, U.S. president, and ardent naturalist—spent years countering the French conception of American degeneracy. His <I>Notes on Virginia</I> systematically and scientifically dismantled Buffon’s case through a series of tables and equally compelling writing on the nature of his home state. But the book did little to counter the arrogance of the French and hardly satisfied Jefferson’s quest to demonstrate that his young nation was every bit the equal of a well-established Europe. Enter the giant moose.</P><P>The American moose, which Jefferson claimed was so enormous a European reindeer could walk under it, became the cornerstone of his defense. Convinced that the sight of such a magnificent beast would cause Buffon to revise his claims, Jefferson had the remains of a seven-foot ungulate shipped first class from New Hampshire to Paris. Unfortunately, Buffon died before he could make any revisions to his <I>Histoire Naturelle, </I>but the legend of the moose makes for a fascinating tale about Jefferson’s passion to prove that American nature deserved prestige.</P><P>In <I>Mr. Jefferson and the Giant Moose, </I>Lee Alan Dugatkin vividly recreates the origin and evolution of the debates about natural history in America and, in so doing, returns the prize moose to its rightful place in American history.</P></DIV></DIV><br></div> Hybrid http://www.press.uchicago.edu/cgi-bin/rssresolve.cgi?id=5387732 Noel Kingsbury <br><br><DIV><DIV><P>Disheartened by the shrink-wrapped, Styrofoam-packed state of contemporary supermarket fruits and vegetables, many shoppers hark back to a more innocent time, to visions of succulent red tomatoes plucked straight from the vine, gleaming orange carrots pulled from loamy brown soil, swirling heads of green lettuce basking in the sun. </P><P> </P><P>With <I>Hybrid</I>, Noel Kingsbury reveals that even those imaginary perfect foods are themselves far from anything that could properly be called natural; rather, they represent the end of a millennia-long history of selective breeding and hybridization. Starting his story at the birth of agriculture, Kingsbury traces the history of human attempts to make plants more reliable, productive, and nutritious—a story that owes as much to accident and error as to innovation and experiment. Drawing on historical and scientific accounts, as well as a rich trove of anecdotes, Kingsbury shows how scientists, amateur breeders, and countless anonymous farmers and gardeners slowly caused the evolutionary pressures of nature to be supplanted by those of human needs—and thus led us from sparse wild grasses to succulent corn cobs, and from mealy, white wild carrots to the juicy vegetables we enjoy today. At the same time, Kingsbury reminds us that contemporary controversies over the Green Revolution and genetically modified crops are not new; plant breeding has always had a political dimension.</P><P> </P><P>A powerful reminder of the complicated and ever-evolving relationship between humans and the natural world, <I>Hybrid</I> will give readers a thoughtful new perspective on—and a renewed appreciation of—the cereal crops, vegetables, fruits, and flowers that are central to our way of life.</P></DIV></DIV><br></div> Seasick http://www.press.uchicago.edu/cgi-bin/rssresolve.cgi?id=5472297 Alanna Mitchell <br><br><DIV><DIV><P>We have long lorded over the ocean. But only recently have we become aware of the myriad life-forms beneath its waves. We now know that this delicate ecosystem is our life-support system; it regulates the earth’s temperatures and climate and comprises 99 percent of living space on earth. So when we change the chemistry of the whole ocean system, as we are now, life as we know it is threatened.</P><P> </P><P>In <I>Seasick, </I>veteran science journalist Alanna Mitchell dives beneath the surface of the world’s oceans to give readers a sense of how this watery realm can be managed and preserved, and with it life on earth. Each chapter features a different group of researchers who introduce readers to the importance of ocean currents, the building of coral structures, or the effects of acidification. With Mitchell at the helm, readers submerge 3,000 feet to gather sea sponges that may contribute to cancer care, see firsthand the lava lamp–like dead zone covering 17,000 square kilometers in the Gulf of Mexico, and witness the simultaneous spawning of corals under a full moon in Panama.</P><P> </P><P>The first book to look at the planetary environmental crisis through the lens of the global ocean, <I>Seasick </I>takes the reader on an emotional journey through a hidden realm of the planet and urges conservation and reverence for the fount from which all life on earth sprang. </P></DIV></DIV><br></div> Dawn of Green http://www.press.uchicago.edu/cgi-bin/rssresolve.cgi?id=5764147 Harriet Ritvo <br><br><DIV><DIV><P>Located in the heart of England’s Lake District, Thirlmere, with its placid sheen, surrounding evergreens, and apparent lack of pollution or development, seems to epitomize the unadulterated bucolic ideal. But under its calm surface lurks the enduring legacy of a nineteenth-century conflict that pitted industrial progress against natural conservation—and helped launch the environmental movement as we know it.</P><P> </P><P>Purchased by the city of Manchester in the 1870s, Thirlmere was dammed and converted into a reservoir, its water piped 100 miles south to the burgeoning industrial city and its workforce. This feat of civil engineering—and of natural resource diversion—inspired one of the first environmental struggle<B>s</B> of modern times. <I>The Dawn of Green </I>recreates the battle for Thirlmere and the clashes between conservationists who wished to preserve the lake and developers eager to supply the needs of industry and a growing urban population. Bringing to vivid life the colorful and strong-minded characters who populated both sides of the debate, noted historian Harriet Ritvo revisits notions of the natural promulgated by Romantic poets, recreationists, resource managers, and industrial developers to establish Thirlmere as the template for subsequent—and continuing—environmental struggles. </P><P> </P><P>A century after Thirlmere, the demand for water and the control of water rights are among the most pressing political<B>,</B> humanitarian<B>,</B> and environmental concerns of our time. By investigating Victorian ideas about industry, development, and technology, Ritvo shows how the lessons learned in the Lake District can inform and guide modern environmental and conservation campaigns. </P></DIV></DIV><br></div> Penguin http://www.press.uchicago.edu/cgi-bin/rssresolve.cgi?id=5891286 Stephen Martin <br><br><DIV><DIV><DIV>From the Penguin Books logo to <I>The March of the Penguins</I>, a certain tuxedo-adorned member of the animal kingdom has long captured our hearts and imaginations. Stephen Martin regales us here with the cultural and natural history of the penguin, revealing many fascinating and little-known facts about this beloved bird.</DIV><DIV>Over twenty species of penguins can be found in the Galápagos Islands and New Zealand as well as in Antarctica, and they range from the Little Bee Penguin at two pounds to the imposing Emperor Penguin, which can weigh in at over seventy-five pounds. Martin details the biological facts and natural history of each species, including their evolution, habitats, diet, and behavior, but he also explores the role of penguins in popular culture and thought—from children’s literature such as <I>Mr. Popper’s Penguins</I>, to Batman’s nemesis, the Penguin, to films and television shows including <I>Happy Feet</I> and <I>Pingu</I>. In addition, over one hundred images of penguins enrich Martin’s engaging text.</DIV><DIV><BR />            A captivating natural and cultural history, <I>Penguin</I> will be an essential addition to the bookshelves of penguin fans everywhere.<BR /> </DIV></DIV></DIV><br></div> Nature's Ghosts http://www.press.uchicago.edu/cgi-bin/rssresolve.cgi?id=6043479 Mark V. Barrow, Jr. <br><br><DIV><P>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.</P><P> </P><P>As Mark V. Barrow reveals in <I>Nature’s Ghosts</I>, 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 <I>possible</I> 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.</P><P> </P><P>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, <I>Nature’s Ghosts</I> offers an unprecedented view of what we’ve lost—and a stark reminder of the hard work of preservation still ahead.</P><P> </P></DIV><br></div> In Splendid Isolation http://www.press.uchicago.edu/cgi-bin/rssresolve.cgi?id=6166650 Patricia E. Faasse <br><br><DIV><DIV><DIV>For almost a hundred years, the Willie Commelin Scholten laboratory was the hub of phytopathology research in the Netherlands, where generations of students learned the principles of plant pathology. <I>In Splendid Isolation</I> reconstructs the history of this unique institution, from its beginnings as a small private laboratory in the late nineteenth century to its final days as a renowned university research center. This unique volume chronicles how the laboratory’s scientific reputation spread far beyond the country’s borders as it diagnosed and researched thousands of plant diseases. </DIV><DIV> </DIV></DIV></DIV><br></div> Richard Owen http://www.press.uchicago.edu/cgi-bin/rssresolve.cgi?id=6680337 Nicolaas Rupke <br><br><DIV><DIV><P>In the mid-1850s, no scientist in the British Empire was more visible than Richard Owen. Mentioned in the same breath as Isaac Newton and championed as Britain’s answer to France’s Georges Cuvier and Germany’s Alexander von Humboldt, Owen was, as the <I>Times</I> declared in 1856, the most “distinguished man of science in the country.” But, a century and a half later, Owen remains largely obscured by the shadow of the most famous Victorian naturalist of all, Charles Darwin. Publicly marginalized by his contemporaries for his critique of natural selection, Owen suffered personal attacks that undermined his credibility long after his name faded from history.</P><P> </P><P>With this innovative biography, Nicolaas Rupke resuscitates Owen’s reputation. Arguing that Owen should no longer be judged by the evolution dispute that figured in  only a minor part of his work, Rupke stresses context, emphasizing the importance of places and practices in the production and reception of scientific knowledge. Dovetailing with the recent resurgence of interest in Owen’s life and work, Rupke’s book brings the forgotten naturalist back into the canon of the history of science and demonstrates how much biology existed with, and without, Darwin</P></DIV></DIV><br></div> Passage to Cosmos http://www.press.uchicago.edu/cgi-bin/rssresolve.cgi?id=6732997 Laura Dassow Walls <br><br><DIV><DIV><P>Explorer, scientist, writer, and humanist, Alexander von Humboldt was the most famous intellectual of the age that began with Napoleon and ended with Darwin. With <I>Cosmos</I>, the book that crowned his career, Humboldt offered to the world his vision of humans and nature as integrated halves of a single whole. In it, Humboldt espoused the idea that, while the universe of nature exists apart from human purpose, its beauty and order, the very <I>idea</I> of the whole it composes, are human achievements: cosmos comes into being in the dance of world and mind, subject and object, science and poetry.</P><P> </P><P>Humboldt’s science laid the foundations for ecology and inspired the theories of his most important scientific disciple, Charles Darwin. In the United States, his ideas shaped the work of Emerson, Thoreau, Poe, and Whitman. They helped spark the American environmental movement through followers like John Muir and George Perkins Marsh. And they even bolstered efforts to free the slaves and honor the rights of Indians.</P><P> </P><P>Laura Dassow Walls here traces Humboldt’s ideas for <I>Cosmos </I>to his 1799 journey to the Americas, where he first experienced the diversity of nature and of the world’s peoples—and envisioned a new cosmopolitanism that would link ideas, disciplines, and nations into a global web of knowledge and cultures. In reclaiming Humboldt’s transcultural and transdisciplinary project, Walls situates America in a lively and contested field of ideas, actions, and interests, and reaches beyond to a new worldview that integrates the natural and social sciences, the arts, and the humanities.</P><P> </P><P>To the end of his life, Humboldt called himself “half an American,” but ironically his legacy has largely faded in the United States. <I>The Passage to Cosmos </I>will reintroduce this seminal thinker to a new audience and return America to its rightful place in the story of his life, work, and enduring legacy.</P><P> </P></DIV></DIV><br></div> Marine Macroecology http://www.press.uchicago.edu/cgi-bin/rssresolve.cgi?id=6740796 Edited by Jon D. Witman and Kaustuv Roy <br><br><DIV><DIV><P>Pioneered in the late 1980s, the concept of macroecology—a framework for studying ecological communities with a focus on patterns and processes—revolutionized the field. Although this approach has been applied mainly to terrestrial ecosystems, there is increasing interest in quantifying macroecological patterns in the sea and understanding the processes that generate them. Taking stock of the current work in the field and advocating a research agenda for the decades ahead, <I>Marine Macroecology</I> draws together insights and approaches from a diverse group of scientists to show how marine ecology can benefit from the adoption of macroecological approaches.</P><P> </P><P>Divided into three parts, <I>Marine Macroecology </I>first provides an overview of marine diversity patterns and offers case studies of specific habitats and taxonomic groups. In the second part, contributors focus on process-based explanations for marine ecological patterns. The third part presents new approaches to understanding processes driving the macroecolgical patterns in the sea. Uniting unique insights from different perspectives with the common goal of identifying and understanding large-scale biodiversity patterns, <I>Marine Macroecology </I>will inspire the next wave of marine ecologists to approach their research from a macroecological perspective.</P></DIV></DIV><br></div> Cognitive Ecology II http://www.press.uchicago.edu/cgi-bin/rssresolve.cgi?id=6867840 Edited by Reuven Dukas and John M. Ratcliffe <br><br><DIV><DIV><P>Merging evolutionary ecology and cognitive science, cognitive ecology investigates how animal interactions with natural habitats shape cognitive systems, and how constraints on nervous systems limit or bias animal behavior. Research in cognitive ecology has expanded rapidly in the past decade, and this second volume builds on the foundations laid out in the first, published in 1998.</P><P><I>Cognitive Ecology II</I> integrates numerous scientific disciplines to analyze the ecology and evolution of animal cognition. The contributors cover the mechanisms, ecology, and evolution of learning and memory, including detailed analyses of bee neurobiology, bird song, and spatial learning. They also explore decision making, with mechanistic analyses of reproductive behavior in voles, escape hatching by frog embryos, and predation in the auditory domain of bats and eared insects. Finally, they consider social cognition, focusing on alarm calls and the factors determining social learning strategies of corvids, fish, and mammals.</P><P>With cognitive ecology ascending to its rightful place in behavioral and evolutionary research, this volume captures the promise that has been realized in the past decade and looks forward to new research prospects.</P></DIV></DIV><br></div> Ape http://www.press.uchicago.edu/cgi-bin/rssresolve.cgi?id=6899776 John Sorenson <br><br><DIV><DIV><P>Apes—to look at them is to see a mirror of ourselves. Our close genetic relatives fascinate and unnerve us with their similar behavior and social personality. Here, John Sorenson delves into our conflicted relationship to the great apes, which often reveals as much about us as humans as it does about the apes themselves.</P><P>            From bonobos and chimpanzees to gibbons, gorillas, and orangutans, <I>Ape</I> examines the many ways these remarkable animals often serve as models for humans. Anthropologists use their behavior to help explain our fundamental human nature; scientists utilize them as subjects in biomedical research; and behavioral researchers experiment with ways apes emulate us. Sorenson explores the challenges to the complex division between apes and ourselves, describing language experiments, efforts to cross-foster apes by raising them as human children, and the ethical challenges posed by the Great Ape Project. As well, <I>Ape </I>investigates representations of apes in popular culture, particularly films and advertising in which apes are often portrayed as human caricatures, monsters, and clowns. </P><P>Containing nearly one hundred illustrations of apes in nature and culture, <I>Ape </I>will appeal to readers interested in animal-human relationships and anyone curious to know more about our closest animal cousins, many of whom teeter on the brink of extinction.</P></DIV></DIV><br></div> Infanticide Controversy http://www.press.uchicago.edu/cgi-bin/rssresolve.cgi?id=6925541 Amanda Rees <br><br><DIV><DIV><P>Infanticide in the natural world might be a relatively rare event, but as Amanda Rees shows, it has enormously significant consequences. Identified in the 1960s as a phenomenon worthy of investigation, infanticide had, by the 1970s, become the focus of serious controversy. The suggestion, by Sarah Hrdy, that it might be the outcome of an evolved strategy intended to maximize an individual’s reproductive success sparked furious disputes between scientists, disagreements that have continued down to the present day. </P><P> </P><P>Meticulously tracing the history of the infanticide debates, and drawing on extensive interviews with field scientists, Rees investigates key theoretical and methodological themes that have characterized field studies of apes and monkeys in the twentieth century. As a detailed study of the scientific method and its application to field research, <I>The Infanticide Controversy</I> sheds new light on our understanding of scientific practice, focusing in particular on the challenges of working in “natural” environments, the relationship between objectivity and interpretation in an observational science, and the impact of the public profile of primatology on the development of primatological research. Most importantly, it also considers the wider significance that the study of field science has in a period when the ecological results of uncontrolled human interventions in natural systems are becoming ever more evident.</P></DIV></DIV><br></div> Sojourners in a Strange Land http://www.press.uchicago.edu/cgi-bin/rssresolve.cgi?id=6963841 Florence C. Hsia <br><br><DIV><DIV><P>Though Jesuits assumed a variety of roles as missionaries in late imperial China, their most memorable guise was that of scientific expert, whose maps, clocks, astrolabes, and armillaries reportedly astonished the Chinese. But the icon of the missionary-scientist is itself a complex myth. Masterfully correcting the standard story of China Jesuits as simple conduits for Western science, Florence C. Hsia shows how these missionary-scientists remade themselves as they negotiated the place of the profane sciences in a religious enterprise.</P><P> </P><P><I>Sojourners in a Strange Land</I> develops a genealogy of Jesuit conceptions of scientific life within the Chinese mission field from the sixteenth through eighteenth centuries. Analyzing the printed record of their endeavors in natural philosophy and mathematics, Hsia identifies three models of the missionary man of science by their genres of writing: mission history, travelogue, and academic collection. Drawing on the history of early modern Europe’s scientific, religious, and print culture, she uses the elaboration and reception of these scientific personae to construct the first collective biography of the Jesuit missionary-scientist’s many incarnations in late imperial China.  </P></DIV></DIV><br></div> Multiplicity in Unity http://www.press.uchicago.edu/cgi-bin/rssresolve.cgi?id=8056079 Carlos M. Herrera <br><br><DIV><DIV><P>Plants produce a considerable number of structures of one kind, like leaves, flowers, fruits, and seeds, and this reiteration is a quintessential feature of the body plan of higher plants. But since not all structures of the same kind produced by a plant are identical—for instance, different branches on a plant may be male or female, leaf sizes in the sun differ from those in the shade, and fruit sizes can vary depending on patterns of physiological allocation among branches—a single plant genotype generally produces a multiplicity of phenotypic versions of the same organ.  </P><P> </P><P><I>Multiplicity in Unity </I>uses this subindividual variation to deepen our understanding of the ecological and evolutionary factors involved in plant-animal interactions. On one hand, phenotypic variation at the subindividual scale has diverse ecological implications for animals that eat plants. On the other hand, by choosing which plants to consume, these animals may constrain or modify plant ontogenetic patterns, developmental stability, and the extent to which feasible phenotypic variants are expressed by individuals. </P><P> </P><P>An innovative study of the ecology, morphology, and evolution of modular organisms, <I>Multiplicity in Unity </I>addresses a topic central to our understanding of the diversity of life and the ways in which organisms have coevolved to cope with variable environments. </P></DIV></DIV><br></div> Sexy Orchids Make Lousy Lovers http://www.press.uchicago.edu/cgi-bin/rssresolve.cgi?id=8056090 Marty Crump <br><br><DIV><DIV><P>Vampire bats that regurgitate blood for roosting buddies. Mosquitoes that filch honeydew droplets from ants. Reptiles that enforce chastity on their lovers with copulatory plugs. Capuchin monkeys that use millipede secretions as mosquito repellent. The natural world is full of unusual relationships, and negotiation between life-forms striving to survive is evolution at its most diverse, entertaining, and awe-inspiring.  </P><P> </P><P>Picking up where her highly popular <I>Headless Males Make Great Lovers </I>left off, tropical field biologist Marty Crump takes us on another voyage of discovery into the world of unusual natural histories, this time focusing on extraordinary interactions involving animals, plants, fungi, and bacteria. <I>Sexy Orchids Make Lousy Lovers</I> <I>& Other Unusual Relationships</I> illuminates the ceaseless give-and-take between species. Occasionally, both interacting parties benefit, like when hornbills and dwarf mongooses hunt together for food. Other times, like when mites ride in hummingbirds’ nostrils to reach their next meal of nectar, one individual benefits and the other is neither helped nor harmed. But sometimes one individual benefits at the expense of the other; you need only recall your last sinus infection to understand how that works. </P><P> </P><P>Throughout, Crump brings her trademark spunk and zest to these stories of intimate exchange. She introduces readers to penguins that babysit, pseudoscorpions that ride and mate under the wings of giant harlequin beetles, and parasitic fungi that bend insects to their will. A lively companion to Crump’s earlier work, <I>Sexy Orchids Make Lousy Lovers</I> <I>& Other Unusual Relationships</I> captures the bizarre and befuddling aspects of the behavior of animals, plants, and microbes. After this entertaining romp through the world of natural relationships, you’ll never look at an orchid the same way again.</P></DIV></DIV><br></div> Breeding Bio Insecurity http://www.press.uchicago.edu/cgi-bin/rssresolve.cgi?id=8273991 Lynn C. Klotz and Edward J. Sylvester <br><br><DIV><DIV><P>In the years since the 9/11 attacks—and the subsequent lethal anthrax letters—the United States has spent billions of dollars on measures to defend the population against the threat of biological weapons. But as Lynn C. Klotz and Edward J. Sylvester argue forcefully in <I>Breeding Bio Insecurity</I>, all that money and effort hasn’t made us any safer—in fact, it has made us more vulnerable.</P><P> </P><P><I>Breeding Bio Insecurity </I>reveals the mistakes made to this point and lays out the necessary steps to set us on the path toward true biosecurity. The fundamental problem with the current approach, according to the authors, is the danger caused by the sheer size and secrecy of our biodefense effort. Thousands of scientists spread throughout hundreds of locations are now working with lethal bioweapons agents—but their inability to make their work public causes suspicion among our enemies and allies alike, even as the enormous number of laboratories greatly multiplies the inherent risk of deadly accidents or theft. Meanwhile, vital public health needs go unmet because of this new biodefense focus. True biosecurity, the authors argue, will require a multipronged effort based in an understanding of the complexity of the issue, guided by scientific ethics, and watched over by a vigilant citizenry attentive to the difference between fear mongering and true analysis of risk. </P><P> </P><P>An impassioned warning that never loses sight of political and scientific reality, <I>Breeding Bio Insecurity</I> is a crucial first step toward meeting the evolving threats of the twenty-first century.</P></DIV></DIV><br></div> Great Plains http://www.press.uchicago.edu/cgi-bin/rssresolve.cgi?id=8324795 Michael Forsberg <br><br><DIV><DIV><P>The Great Plains were once among the greatest grasslands on the planet. But as the United States and Canada grew westward, the Plains were plowed up, fenced in, overgrazed, and otherwise degraded. Today, this fragmented landscape is the most endangered and least protected ecosystem in North America. But all is not lost on the prairie. Through lyrical photographs, essays, historical images, and maps, this beautifully illustrated book gets beneath the surface of the Plains, revealing the lingering wild that still survives and whose diverse natural communities, native creatures, migratory traditions, and natural systems together create one vast and extraordinary whole.</P><P> </P><P>Three broad geographic regions in <I>Great Plains</I> are covered in detail, evoked in the unforgettable and often haunting images taken by Michael Forsberg. Between the fall of 2005 and the winter of 2008, Forsberg traveled roughly 100,000 miles across 12 states and three provinces, from southern Canada to northern Mexico, to complete the photographic fieldwork for this project, underwritten by The Nature Conservancy. Complementing Forsberg’s images and firsthand accounts are essays by Great Plains scholar David Wishart and acclaimed writer Dan O’Brien. Each section of the book begins with a thorough overview by Wishart, while O’Brien—a wildlife biologist and rancher as well as a writer—uses his powerful literary voice to put the Great Plains into a human context, connecting their natural history with man’s uses and abuses.</P><P> </P><P>The Great Plains are a dynamic but often forgotten landscape—overlooked, undervalued, misunderstood, and in desperate need of conservation. This book helps lead the way forward, informing and inspiring readers to recognize the wild spirit and splendor of this irreplaceable part of the planet.</P><P> </P></DIV></DIV><br></div> Gems and Gemstones http://www.press.uchicago.edu/cgi-bin/rssresolve.cgi?id=8331041 Lance Grande and Allison Augustyn <br><br><DIV><DIV><P>Gems are objects of wealth, icons of beauty, and emblems of the very best of everything. They are kept as signs of prestige or power. Given as tokens of love and affection, they also come in a kaleidoscopic array of hues and can be either mineral or organic. Gems can command a person’s gaze in the way they play with light and express rich color. And they can evoke feelings of passion, greed, mystery, and warmth. <B></B></P><P>            </P><P>For millennia, gems have played an important role in human culture: they have significant value, both financially and within folklore and mythology. But just what <I>are</I> gems, exactly? This lavishly illustrated volume—the most ambitious publication of its kind—provides a general introduction to gems and natural gemstones, conveying their timeless beauty and exploring similarities among different species and varieties. <I>Gems and Gemstones </I>features nearly 300 color images of the cut gems, precious and semiprecious stones, gem-quality mineral specimens, and fine jewelry to be unveiled in a new Grainger Hall of Gems at The Field Museum in Chicago this October. The book and exhibition’s overarching theme will be the relationship between finished gems and their natural origin: while beautiful as faceted and polished pieces of jewelry, gems are often just as lovely—or even more so—as gemstones in their natural state. For example, an aquamarine or emerald as originally found in a mine with its natural crystal faces can be as stunning as any cut and polished gem prepared for a ring, bracelet, or charm.</P><P> </P><P>Thoughtful of both ancient and modern times, <I>Gems and Gemstones</I> also includes fun-filled facts and anecdotes that broaden the historical portrait of each specimen. When Harry Winston, for instance, donated the Hope Diamond to the Smithsonian in 1958, he sent it through the U.S. mail wrapped in plain brown paper. And for anyone who has ever marveled at the innovations of top jewelry designers, <I>Gems and Gemstones</I> features a dazzling array of polished stones, gold objects, and creations from around the world. Diamonds, sapphires, rubies, amethysts, pearls, topaz, amber—every major gem gets its due in what will be an invaluable source on the subject for years to come. </P></DIV></DIV><br></div> Owl http://www.press.uchicago.edu/cgi-bin/rssresolve.cgi?id=8364262 Desmond Morris <br><br><DIV><DIV><P>From Edward Lear’s “The Owl and the Pussycat”<I> </I>to David Lynch’s <I>Twin Peaks</I>, owls have been woven into the fabric of popular culture. At times they are depicted as dignified, wise old scholars and at other times as foreboding voyeurs who see all and interrogate with an accusatory, “Who? Who?” In <I>Owl </I>best-selling author Desmond Morris explores the natural and cultural history of these predators of the night who embody both good and evil in turn.</P><P> </P><P>In this fascinating book, Morris describes the evolution, the many species, and the wide spread of owls across the globe. Owls are found on every land mass around the world, with the exception of Antarctica; and as a result of their wide distribution, owls appear in the folktales, myths, and legends of many native peoples—in addition to popular art, film, and literature worldwide. Featuring over 100 telling illustrations from nature and culture, <I>Owl </I>will appeal to the numerous fans of this enigmatic bird, from the friendly Mr. Owls to silent, sinister, hunters of the dark.</P><P> </P></DIV></DIV><br></div> Common Interior Alaska Cryptogams http://www.press.uchicago.edu/cgi-bin/rssresolve.cgi?id=8364734 Gary A. Laursen and Rodney D. Seppelt <br><br><DIV><P>With <I>Common Interior Alaska Cryptogams</I>, Gary A. Laursen and Rodney Seppelt offer the first field guide to cryptogams of the Denali National Park and Preserve. Useful to both lay and professional investigators, this fully illustrated compendium covers mushroom fungi, lichenized fungi, lichenicolous fungi, slime molds, mosses, and liverworts. This field guide to commonly seen cryptogams will provide a basis for understanding their vast diversity of taxa, speciation, edibility, relative abundance, and utility, as well as the ecological roles played by these organisms. </P></DIV><br></div> Little Seal http://www.press.uchicago.edu/cgi-bin/rssresolve.cgi?id=8364746 Written and Illustrated by Ram Papish <br><br><DIV><P>The northern fur seal spends most of its life in the open ocean of the North Pacific, from California up through Alaska and down to Japan. These seals travel hundreds of miles, farther than any other seal or sea lion, to reach their remote breeding grounds. Most fur seals go to the Pribilof Islands of Alaska, where, historically, several million fur seals converged annually, but the population counted in the Pribilofs in 2008 was less than one million and dropping rapidly. Ram Papish’s richly illustrated story follows these magnificent—and increasingly vulnerable—creatures through the most important part of their lives.</P></DIV><br></div> Snail http://www.press.uchicago.edu/cgi-bin/rssresolve.cgi?id=8364827 Peter Williams <br><br><DIV><DIV><P>So attached was the author Patricia Highsmith to snails that they became her constant travelling companions. Often hidden in a large handbag, they provided her with comfort and companionship in what she perceived to be a hostile world. Theirs was perhaps an unusual relationship; for most of us the tentacled snail with his sticky trail might be a delicious treat served up in garlic butter but certainly not an affectionate pet. As well, for many a gardener, opinions on the snail and slug (which is a just a snail without a shell) have been shaped by the harm they inflict on vegetable plants and seedlings. With <I>Snail</I>, Peter Williams wishes to change our perspectives on this little but much-maligned creature.</P><P> </P><P>Beginning with an overview of our relationship with snails, slugs, and sea snails,</P><P>Williams moves on to examine snail evolution; snail behavior and habitat; snails as food, medicine, and the source of useful chemicals and dyes; snail shells as collectible objects; and snails in literature, art, and popular culture. Finally, in this appreciative account of the snail, Williams offers a plea for a reconsideration of the snail as a dignified, ancient creature that deserves our respect.</P><P> </P><P>Containing beautiful illustrations and written in an approachable, informal style, <I>Snail </I>will help readers get beyond the shell and slime to discover the fascinating creature inside.</P><P> </P></DIV></DIV><br></div> Pigeon http://www.press.uchicago.edu/cgi-bin/rssresolve.cgi?id=8364845 Barbara Allen <br><br><DIV><DIV><P> </P><P>Our frequent urban companion, cooing in the eaves of train stations or scavenging underfoot for breadcrumbs and discarded French fries, the pigeon has many detractors—and even some fans. Written out of love for and fascination with this humble yet important bird, Barbara Allen’s <I>Pigeon </I>explores its cultural significance, as well as its similarities to and differences from its close counterpart, the dove. While the dove is seen as a symbol of love, peace, and goodwill, the pigeon is commonly perceived as a filthy, ill-mannered flying rodent, a “rat with wings.”</P><P> </P><P>Readers will find in <I>Pigeon </I>an enticing exploration of the historical and contemporary bonds between humans and these two unique and closely related birds. For polluting statues and architecture, the pigeon has earned a bad reputation, but Barbara Allen offers several examples of the bird’s importance—as a source of food and fertilizer, a bearer of messages during times of war, a pollution monitor, and an aid to Charles Darwin in his pivotal research on evolutionary theory. Allen also comments on the literary love and celebration of pigeons and doves in the work of such writers and poets as Shakespeare, Dickens, Beatrix Potter, Proust, and Isaac Bashevis Singer. Along the way, Allen corrects the many stereotypes about pigeons in the hope that the rich history of one of the oldest human-animal partnerships will be both admired and celebrated.</P><P> </P></DIV></DIV><br></div> Pick of the Bunch http://www.press.uchicago.edu/cgi-bin/rssresolve.cgi?id=8381004 Margaret Willes <br><br><DIV><DIV><P>In the dark, bitter days of winter, when the ground lies frozen and snow-covered, it can be hard to believe that mere months before, gardens and window boxes were bursting forth with fragrant, colorful blossoms. Today on the frosty walk home, at least we can pick up cut flowers at the store to remind us of the spring to come. But before the technological miracles of hothouses and refrigeration, flowers could only be captured for the winter months by artists and painters. Some of the finest flower-pieces ever painted were by Dutch and Flemish artists in the seventeenth century, which depict flowers in vases of metal and porcelain, sometimes with insects and butterflies nestling in petals or clinging to stalks. From these flower-pieces we can see what Europeans of the time considered desirable flowers: the rose, iris, carnation, lily, snowdrop, violet, fritillary, narcissus, tulip, daffodil, and hyacinth—many of which are still our favorites today.</P><P> </P><P>Alongside lush color botanical illustrations, <I>Pick of the Bunch </I>presents the social history of these flora—how they arrived in our gardens; how they were bought, acquired and displayed; and who were their devotees and cultivators. The book delves into their symbolic associations in classical and Christian traditions and examines the complex language of flowers employed by the Victorians. Beautiful to behold and engagingly written, <I>Pick of the Bunch </I> is a wonderful gift for any garden lover and will be a warm, much needed glimpse of spring and summer throughout the cold, barren months.</P><P> </P></DIV></DIV><br></div>