Book Description
While observing a family group of elephants in the wild, Caitlin O'Connell, a young field scientist, noticed a peculiar listening behavior. A matriarch she had been watching for months turned her massive head and lifted her foot off the ground. As she scanned the horizon, the other elephants followed suit, all facing the same direction. O'Connell soon made a groundbreaking discovery: the elephants were "listening through limbs," feeling the ripples of the earth's surface for approaching friends and enemies. Through their feet, toenails, trunks, and other, subtler modes of communication, these enormous animals were communicating to one another, demonstrating the vital importance of social relationships in their lives.
Yet this grand revelation about the intelligence of wild animals is also a story of the relationship between humans and elephants as neighbors, vying for the same resources of an increasingly crowded continent. For when O'Connell was first contracted by the Namibian government to develop new methods to deter elephants from raiding villagers' crops, she was unprepared for what she would encounter -- political upheaval, tribal disputes, inhumane poachers, and a fundamentally ineffective approach to wildlife conservation. Despite these setbacks, she came to know and love each of the fascinating, unique elephants under her watchful eye, while at the same time witnessing a change in attitude and policy, providing hope for the elephant's future.
An unforgettable journey of scientific discovery, The Elephant's Secret Sense takes you deep into the wilds of Namibia, from the tops of isolated, desert observation towers to the jaws and claws of ravenous lions to aerial expeditions and dusty highways, where the naturalists do their difficult work in a troubled land threatened by expanding human populations and unstable politics. Resonant with the powerful calls of the mysterious elephant, this is a story about the resilience of nature and the inspiring, astonishing, and often heartbreaking places where humans and wild animals come together.
Customer Reviews:
Not Animals in Translation..........2007-05-20
I was expecting a book similar to Temple Grandin's Animals in Translation. Unfortunately, this book is very much unlike that book. I expected the bulk of this book to focus specifically on elephant communication, but that is not the case. Much time is spent on African conservation in general and the history of certain African areas where she was stationed. When I bought the book, it was not to read about local tribes or their politics, it was to read about elephant communication. Not saying the other topics aren't interesting, but if I wanted to read about those, I would have bought a book specifically on that. Making things worse, her style of writing is very disjointed and skips around.
There are not many books that I don't finish reading, but this was one of them. I was very much looking forward to reading this book based on the reviews. Not sure why there was such a disconnect. Maybe it's expectations. If you are expecting a more in-depth book specifically on elephant communication, with lots of scientific detail, this isn't it.
Who Knew Elephants Hear With Their Toes!.......2007-05-13
Anyone who is interested in African elephants and their rich and amazing lives will find this an interesting read. Caitlin has added hugely to the body of knowledge about Elephant communication. It is part adventure story, as most intrepid young scientists who venture into Africa for their PHD theses discover. It tells of the beauty and terror and difficulties of this most diverse land and her rich wildlife.
Caitlin's book tells of her discoveries, elephant communication research, years of working with people in the Caprivi region to combat Elephant/Human conflict as well as her memorable times in hides stalked by lion and all the other adventures.
The book is well written for the most part, does lose some momentum toward the end of the book but this would appraer to be editing rather than Caitlin's writing. I thoroughly reccomend it.
A must for animal lovers, host of Animal Tails.......2007-04-28
An intricate balance exists between humans and nature that undergirds even the most basic experiences. Ecological researcher, Caitlin O'Connell has spent her professional life exploring the lesser-known aspects of this relationship through her study of elephant behavior in sub-Saharan Africa, shedding light on their value within society and promoting the need for continued conservation and outreach. In THE ELEPHANT'S SECRET SENSE: The Hidden Life of the Wild Herds of Africa , O'Connell uncovers the fascinating and complex communication system of elephants, and conveys the deeper importance of this astounding discovery on modern African society.
An absolute page-turner.......2007-04-06
This book is a fascinating look into the world of elephants and the scientists who study them. I was humbled by Caitlin O'Connell's courageous, intelligent, and compassionate approach to working with these complex animals and the people who must learn to share the land with them.
An astounding achievement and truly riveting story.......2007-03-16
I read this whole book from start to finish on a series of flights that I took recently and I was totally taken with the story and the science behind it. I couldn't put it down and I haven't read a book in 10yrs! From a phenomenal underlying technological journey merges the principles of many scientific disciplines ranging from zoology, biology, acoustics, geophysics, chemistry, mechanics, electronics, mathematics, not to mention anthropology.
As a physicist, I loved the explanation of acoustic coupling and aliasing, a very impressive bridge, making connections between fundamental processes that are essential in tying together a very complex phenomenon.
There were tragic elements to the story that were horrific and left me in tears, but at the same time, a remarkable account of caring and human bonding. Congratulations to the author. I can't wait for her next book!
Amazon.com
That the United States government engaged in dangerous biological research during World War II will come as no surprise to Americans jaded by revelations of secret medical experiments and radiation exposures. But that the accident-plagued facility where it happened--and continues to happen--is just off the coast of Long Island may alarm many readers of Michael Christopher Carroll's Lab 257. Carroll, an attorney by trade, gamely takes on complex microbiology and shady government record-keeping in telling the story of Plum Island, home of the Animal Disease Center--no place for a casual picnic. The lab, initially set up by the Army to research ways of destroying Soviet farm animals (and to keep them from destroying ours), has often dealt with bacteria and viruses that can be passed from animals to humans. Carroll draws compelling causal links between Plum Island and the introduction of Lyme disease, West Nile virus, and duck enteritis, all non-native germs that wreaked sudden havoc in North America, and all germs that Plum Island scientists were allegedly working with. With hurricanes and terrorists on his mind, Carroll asks readers to imagine a scenario in which the Plum Island lab might release pathogens into the most densely populated area in the country. He ends the book with two chilling questions. First, does the United States need a research facility that investigates animal pathogens with potential for human transmission? Second, considering that Plum Island never had a particularly good safety record, is it the right place for such a facility? Lab 257, while occasionally veering into unsupported speculation, introduces key questions to the debate on biological security in the 21st century. --Therese Littleton
Book Description
Nestled near the Hamptons, the fashionable summer playground of America's rich and famous, and in the shadow of New York City, lies an unimposing 840-acre island unidentified on most maps. On the few on which it can be found, Plum Island is marked red or yellow, and stamped U.S. government—restricted or dangerous animal diseases. Though many people live the good life within a scant mile or two from its shores, few know the name of this pork chop-shaped island. Even fewer can say whether it is inhabited, or why it doesn't exist on the map. That's all about to change.
Lab 257: The Disturbing Story of the Government's Secret Plum Island Germ Laboratory blows the lid off the stunning true nature and checkered history of Plum Island. It shows that the seemingly bucolic island on the edge of the largest population center in the United States is a ticking biological time bomb that none of us can safely ignore.
Based on innumerable declassified government documents, scores of in-depth interviews, and access to Plum Island itself, this is an eye-opening, suspenseful account of a federal government germ laboratory gone terribly wrong. For the first time, Lab 257 takes you deep inside this secret world and presents startling revelations including virus outbreaks, biological meltdowns, infected workers who were denied assistance in diagnosis by Plum Island brass, the periodic flushing of contaminated raw sewage into area waters, and the insidious connections between Plum Island, Lyme disease, and the deadly 1999 West Nile virus outbreak.
An exploration of the complex world of microbiology, viruses, and bacteria, Lab 257 also shows how the U.S. Department of Agriculture, which ran Plum Island for the last half century, is far more than wholesome grade-A eggs and the food pyramid. The book probes what's in store for Plum Island's new owner, the Department of Homeland Security, in this age of bioterrorism. And for those interested in questions of national security and safety, it is a call to action for those concerned with protecting present and future generations from preventable biological catastrophes.
Lab 257 will change forever our current understanding of Plum Island -- a place that is, in the words of one insider, "a biological Three Mile Island."
Customer Reviews:
Interesting and frightening read.......2007-04-11
I picked up this book on a whim because I love the conspiracy theory-type books about all the shady government projects. As it turns out, this book really disturbed me.
Carroll, an attorney, wrote this book over the course of seven years, during which he requested government documents under the FOIA, conducted interviews with current and former employees of Plum Island, researched the connection to US-harbored Nazi scientists, and the inevitable decline of lab conditions under the new American trend of "privatization". Carroll visited the island himself before his access was pulled; he never states exactly why this happened. The book outlines the creation of the labs, how and why the island location was chosen (prevailing winds blow out to sea rather than inland, or so they said at the time), how it went from the US Army's jurisdiction to the USDA, and from there how the program went into a long, slow decline in standards, safety, and hazards. The chapter on the hurricane was terrifying in itself - you can feel the terror the maintenance workers must have felt knowing how helpless they were to prevent a potential "biological meltdown".
The book brings up some interesting potential connections between the labs on Pulm island and the relatively sudden appearance of Lyme disease and West Nile virus. Even if the research into animal diseases is the absolute truth, you still can't help but feel incredibly suspicious that the highest concentration of both Lyme and West Nile began in and around Connecticut and Long Island - the closest points of civilian population to Plum Island. Couple that with the discussion of bird migration and mosquito infestations, and you're inspired to do further reading on your own to uncover more of the truth - you can't take anything at face value, but any time the US government is involved on this large of a scale, healthy skepticism of government denials is required.
For those who wonder if we aren't already seeing "bioterror" attacks in the form of salmonella and e. coli attacks on our food manufacturing facilities and mad cow disease ravaging British livestock, this book is a must read on the programs that Richard Nixon supposedly ended in 1972.
The U.S. Government exposed...again........2006-12-13
I don't know about most American's, but I for one am fed up with the insane amount of government corruption. Every day there is something new discovered, or admitted by the government that shows how the principle that one's government should benefit them and protect them before anything else is falling apart. Lab 257 exposes the truth about some of the nation's greatest mysteries, including the outbreak of both Lyme disease and the West Nile virus, both unseen in the United States until after Plum Island's research on the substances, both originating in the area immediately surrounding the island. Carroll ultimately allows the reader to draw their own conclusions about the nature of the Biological Time Bomb known as Plum Island, but as for me, it is quite obvious that the American government is not always working for its people. The sad truth, the harsh truth, must be known; reading this book is essentially to destroying the ignorance so prevalent in the mass society we live in, the ignorance towards politics and just what exactly is going on in terms of biological research. The greatest threat to America is not from Islamic terrorists, but from its own government's lack of care for the most dangerous of situations. Plum Island is one startling example of such blatant disregard, and Lab 257 ingeniously exposes the true nature of its past, present, and frightening future.
Worth your time!.......2006-08-08
Quick read that will really make you question your government. While the intentions were good in the beginning..it just goes to show what happens when we get lazy about certain things (security) and start neglecting important details.
This one will have you scratching your head about the intelligence of our government. I only wonder if this would happen in a post 9-11 America.
Hurricane Bob, Hurricane Katrina = Government Keystone Cops.......2006-03-14
Read and become informed of an enemy within, your? government's arrogance coupled with incompetence. But they did stay at a Holiday Inn Express! With leaders like these who needs enemies? Plum Island brings on the West Nile virus, Lyme disease & many more. Yes, the point of origin, Plum Island USA, a biological laboratory doing dangerous germ/bacterial warfare expermintation. Your tax dollars are killing you! Surprize, Surprise! Well researched by an author who lived it for more than 5 years before publishing. The mainsteam press won't touch this! Its simply too true. Off limits for public consumption. You be the judge.
Lab 257.......2006-03-01
Carroll has done his homework - he documents all the chilling incidents in the history of this "lab of terror." His speculations on the origins of Lyme Disease are thought-provoking, too. A good read with a lot of detail.
Customer Reviews:
Good hagiography of a controversial man.......2003-05-04
This is a good introduction to the theories and life of Viktor Schauberger, an Austrian naturalist and inventor. Born in 1885, Schauberger started life as a forester who tried to understand and copy Nature. From watching mountain streams he developed unorthodox theories based on vortex movement about water and its use. He started out designing highly efficient log flumes that used water in vortex motion and at its densest temperature of 4 degrees Centigrade. He then proposed cleaning up the Rhine River by rebuilding the natural curves which stimulate vortex motion in the water. He said that this vortex motion in the Earth caused spring water to be more alive than plain water. He believed that plants grew better in this living water and developed laboratory sized egg-shaped water energizers to activate water.
He also developed theories about the harmfulness of iron and steel tools in agriculture and proposed replacing them with copper ones. He designed an egg-shaped composter that was supposed to develop Noble compost which would be much more beneficial in gardens.
Around the Second World War his theories and experiments take a much different direction and he starts talking about Implosion energy as opposed to combustion explosion energy. He starts developing machines that generate more energy than they use and that run on water and air. Out of this research he claims to have developed a domestic power station that generates large outputs of energy from slight streams of running water. Even more fantastic is a flying saucer that used a 1/20 horsepower electric motor as a starter and then ran on the surrounding flow of air. The research on these inventions was destroyed at the end of the war. Schauberger and his son Walter never seem to have been able to find the resources to develop working models again.
Today his theories on vortex motion of water are taught at the Anthroposophical Emerson College in England. His copper farming tools are sold from the school his son Walter started, the Pythagoras Kepler Schule in Austria. His water, forestry, and farming theories have been accepted by Biodynamic Farming communities and may be helpful to organic farmers today.
There are two appendices at the end of the book by New Age science experts on the underlying theories of vortex energy. I find these actually detract from the book rather than help it. A Bibliography also is less than useful. Most of the sources are to obscure journals or original Austrian publications. These types of resources are less than helpful in such an introductory text.
Perfect Start for anyone interested in Learning about Water.......2002-04-06
I agree that this book is only a brief introduction into the thoughts of Schauberger but hopefully many people are inspired by this book to move forward into the area of water research in an effort to uncover many more truths about what really makes water healthy.
Unfortunately there is so much...on the market, evolving around new-age water products, which in-no-way copy Mother Nature as Viktor had stressed. All these people need to purchase this book in order to obtain some form of initial clarity if they are going to be involved in water research or water products of any kind. Living-water; revitalized-water; restructured water; clustered & micro-clustered-water; alkaline water; Pi-water; crystal-water; snowflake-water; cupcake-water; energized-water; polarized-water; magnetized-water; and all the many others that are on the market have obviously never read any of Viktor's work or at least understood it. Let us all use Viktor's work as a basis to change the planet and make this world a better place to live.
An Excellent Appetizer, Please Pass the Main Course.......2001-04-16
This is an excellent, brief introduction to the thought of Viktor Schauberger, and I hope it inspires works which are more complete. Callum Coates' books reach in this direction, but what is really needed are more people to read these books, synthesize their information, and come up with new and original books which take us further into depth in these areas. This will probably involve synthesizing the work of Schauberger, Grander, Bienveniste, and others.
An understanding of Schauberger is very important for those attempting to reconstruct an Indigenous European Perspective. Schauberger has the elements of a modern water shaman, and his shamanic / intuitive techniques of letting his body float with the water should be closely correlated with what Hans Peter Duerr has to say about "out of body" experience in his tome "Dreamtime". Although Schauberger lived in the 20th Century, his perspective allows us to imagine back what earlier indigenous practitioners may have been like. The Colonial, Imperialist Europe is only one side of the coin of Europe. We must also include the suppressed indigenous, pagan, and green sides. Significantly, the Inquisition represents a watershed in European history where a great deal of the indigenous healers and theorists were wiped out in holocaust proportions. An understanding of Schauberger, coupled with an appreciation of Steiner, Hildegard of Bingen, Hans Peter Duerr, and others, will allow us to reconstruct what a noncolonial, nonimperialist Europe was like.
Understanding water's nature is essential in this regard, for water forms the basis of our understandings of flow. Furthermore, understanding water's energetic qualities will help us understand how it interacts with the body. Traditional Chinese Medicine, for example, would benefit from an accurate and holistic understanding of water's qualities.
In short, this book is an excellent appetizer, but I await the main course ...
Thought provoking intro to little-known qualities of water.......1998-11-19
Although it occasionally veers into new-age speculation or pseudoscience, this book offers a rare look at truly alternative ideas about water and energy. The description of Schauberger's early work with flumes is enthralling, and the brief exposition of "flow forms" towards the end of the book is valuable. Search "flow forms" in any web search engine to see some of the sites around the world espousing a fascinating technology that unites water pollution control with esthetics.
Great introduction to IMPLOSION and what we missed out !.......1998-08-24
I have to say - I got very AGGRAVATED by some portions of this book , because it TOTALLY agreed and expanded on my very own frustrations with our retarded "modern" technologies.
I have ALWAYS dreaded NOISE - I haven't done empirical research on this subject, but my gut instinct has led me to run from & truly hate noisy machines. I feel like someone were stabbing me when I am exposed to a Harley Davidson on the road ! The only friends I really have in this matter I think are the ANIMALS - have you ever noticed the DREAD & FEAR with which ANY animal reacts to our machines ( most notably our motors - be they lawnmowers, drilling machines ... ) Even birds totally abhor the NOISE from our aircraft & automobiles .. notice their flight, as from terror, when they are flying over traffic !
Now I see that IMPLOSION is essentially a NOISELESS phenomenon !! And this is the technology that truly supports the LIVING ! My question - FOLKS, WHEN WILL WE RECOGNIZE THAT WE ARE NOT MACHINES ?? AND OUR SPIRITUALITY IS NOT SOME GOD-DEVIL-CRAP but a PHYSICAL manifestation of the higher ????
" They have eyes, but they don't see ..... "
Average customer rating:
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Secret Fairy Homes (Disney Fairies)
RH Disney
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ASIN: 0736424032
Release Date: 2006-09-26 |
Book Description
Welcome to the Home Tree! This is where Tinker Bell and all the Disney Fairies live in their own beautifully- and personally-decorated bedrooms. Girls can lift the large gatefolds on each spread of this unique and interactive book and peek inside each of the fairies' rooms. The intricate metalwork on Tink's bed, the seaweed curtains on Rani's windows, and even the saddle Beck uses when riding frogs are just a few of the delightful fairy treasures to be discovered!
Customer Reviews:
Detailed.......2007-09-16
This wasn't exactly what I had in mine when I ordered this book. It doesn't fit my needs for creating fairy homes for my fairys. But, it won't go to waste, I will pass it on to my 2 year old grand-daughter.
Adorable!.......2007-08-23
This book is so detailed. All little girls, ages 5-10, that love fairies will love this book! Is is an insider's look into how the fairies live and it sparks a fairy lover's imagination. My daughter loves to draw fairies and their houses and this book is a big inspiration!
Great Book!.......2007-05-15
This is another in the Disney Fairy series. My seven year old loves these books!
Beautiful!.......2007-04-10
My 6 year old loves this, and so do I! The illustrations in this book are amazing and I love that it's interactive with my child. We love to find all the items listed then go back through for the things we may have missed.
Great book!
Just beautiful!.......2007-03-20
I was at Walmart and noticed this book. I love fairies so I had to look at it. I fell in love with the beautiful artwork and detail. It is a must for fairy lovers!
Book Description
A major contribution to our understanding of the basic laws of the universe -- from the author of
The Book of Nothing.
The constants of nature are the fundamental laws of physics that apply throughout the universe: gravity, velocity of light, electromagnetism and quantum mechanics. They encode the deepest secrets of the universe, and express at once our greatest knowledge and our greatest ignorance about the cosmos.
Their existence has taught us the profound truth that nature abounds with unseen regularities. Yet while we have become skilled at measuring the values of these constants, our frustrating inability to explain or predict their values shows how much we have still to learn about inner workings of the universe.
What is the ultimate status of these constants of nature? Are they truly constant? And are there other universes where they are different?
John D. Barrow, one of our foremost mathematicians and cosmologists, discusses the latest thinking about these and many more dramatic issues in this accessible and thought-provoking book.
Customer Reviews:
Historical and Baffling at times!.......2007-08-27
Barrow's has a good humour about philosophy but also takes it seriously enough to explain all concepts clearly. Numbers are not my thing but this one pulled me in pretty tight. This bloke knows his stuff but the book is very readable. If you're interested in math and M Theory stuff, this a good one. It starts from the beginning when measurements were first used and numbers' significance in the universe, thus spiralling into some fairly complex and modern issues.
Are there any constants in the universe?.......2007-02-23
In considering physics, Einstein once asked whether God had any choice in laying out the rules.
After discussing the history of human measurements (historically a product of chance), Barrow turns his attention to the so called physical constants of measurement and ultimately asks the question of whether they too are a product of chance (albeit on a different scale).
Though admittedly he makes errors along the way (like saying it takes 3 seconds for light to reach Earth from the sun instead of eight minutes), Barrow nonetheless manages to create a physics book that accessible makes cutting edge insights available to the casual reader.
And what Barrow has to say about the "constants of the universe" and perhaps their ultimately changeable nature speaks mightily to the boundless enigma that is the universe (perhaps one of many) in which we live.
Good book.......2007-01-13
This was an entertaining book but a little tedious at times. Also it was not exactly what I expected. I thought it would be more of a description of different physical phenomena, while this is more like a survey of different historical approaches to uniting all constants with one theory, which constantly failed but shed light on many side issues along the way.
ARE FINE-TUNED CONSTANTS EVIDENCE OF GOD?.......2006-09-30
As one who believes that life is a natural property of the universe, I am intrigued by the concept that the constants of nature seem to have been fine-tuned to make life possible. The conservative Patrick Glynn asserts, in God: The Evidence, that they constitute essentially incontestable evidence for what was once merely a matter of faith: "the existence of soul, afterlife, and God." The notion that the universe is really an infinite multiverse, and that we just happen to inhabit one of the infinitesimal few whose constants make the wildly improbably string of coincidence leading to our existence possible, is dismissed as far-fetched nonsense propagated by atheistic scientists desperate to find some way to justify their materialist dogma.
While I once considered the notion of a multiverse to be unlikely, further study has convinced me this is not so. However, even if the multiverse is a fact, the theory offers no more support for materialism than fine-tuned constants constitute evidence for a God whose existence is completely external to the universe. We have no way of examining these other universes, and hence no way of knowing that they have constants incompatible with the evolution of life and intelligence. If consciousness is intrinsic to physical existence, and there is no compelling reason for insisting that it is not, then the constants of nature would necessarily have "fine-tuned" values.
It is odd that John Barrow's interest in this possibility arouses such animosity and ridicule in some people. Is the idea that our existence might not be an accident really so distasteful? There are those who argue that the anthropic principle should instead be called the insectoid principle since the constants are also fine-tuned to produce insects. True enough, but insects are unable to discuss the matter. We are.
Dr. Barrow's book is an excellent choice for anyone interested in gaining a better understanding of some of the intriguing coincidences of nature, and of the myriad ways in which these coincidences have been interpreted by scientists of different historical eras. There are some minor errors in the book, such as the sun being three light-seconds from Earth instead of eight light-minutes, but these are really important. The one question I have is the claim that human behavior, even if free will is illusory, is unpredictable in principle because if people are aware of the predictions made about their behavior, then they can act to falsify those predictions. But if free will really is illusory, why should the scientist not be able, in principle, to predict that behavior also?
(Peter Payne, author of CAPTAIN CALIFORNIA BATTLES THE BEELZEBUBIAN BEASTS OF THE BIBLE)
Barrow embraces change........2005-10-03
Interesting and topical to a discussion on the possibilities of existence. Barrow explores the difficulties of objective measurement, Einstein's fascination with what the universe could have been, Eddington's strange love of theory over experiment, the position of Dirac in the coincidence vs. consequence of habitable places, and the unexpected finding of possible variance in the fine structure constant from the worlds earliest known nuclear reactor.
Book Description
The holistic paradigm, Gaia, deep ecology, new alchemy, all have a hidden ancestor: Johann Wolfgang von Goethe (1749-1832). At the young age of twenty-one, Rudolf Steiner was chosen to edit Goethe's scientific writings for a new collection of Goethe's complete works. Goethe's literary genius was already universally acknowledged; it was Steiner's task to understand and comment on Goethe's unique scientific achievement. Rudolf Steiner recognized the compelling power of Goethe's work with nature and developed Goethe's theory of knowledge in remarkable and far-reaching ways. Here, in fact, began Steiner's own training in epistemology and spiritual science.
Natural science had created a powerful tool for understanding the inorganic world, but failed to comprehend the phenomenon of life. Goethe discovered how thinking could be applied to organic nature, and he understood that this experience requires not just rational concepts but a whole new way of perceiving. This volume, Steiner's introduction to Goethe, is nothing less than a re-visioning of what it means to know the world.
In an age when science and technology have been linked to great catastrophes, many are seeking a different way to address nature. With a fundamental declaration of the interpenetration of our consciousness and the world, Rudolf Steiner shows in Nature's Open Secret how Goethe's approach points the way to a more compassionate, intimate involvement with nature.
Customer Reviews:
Get to know your neighborhood.......2007-02-20
Read with slow intent, Nature's Open Secret leads the reader into the world with the sincere reverence of a poet's gaze. What is openned up to the reader is the living ideas, the source of one's joy in the beauty, behind what the senses tell one of nature. One can begin to approach plants, animals and other phenomena of nature personally, with the entire self, rather than by the detatched way of a disective thinking.
Book Description
A concise and useful handbook on the Golden Section—also known as the Golden Ratio and Golden Mean. The Golden Section is a line segment divided into two parts, such that the ratio of the short portion to the longer portion is equal to the ratio of the longer portion to the whole. It is one of the most elegant and beautiful ratios of the mathematical universe because of its combination of elegance and simplicity—hence the divine nature of its name. Drawing on art, architecture, philosophy, nature, mathematics, geometry, and music—and beautifully illustrated in the Wooden Books fashion with all manner of images—The Golden Section will tell the story of this remarkable construct and its wide ranging impact on civilization and the natural world.
Customer Reviews:
cute, tidy, informative and fun primer.......2007-08-23
Good price for the little tome (about 3.5" x 5". Lots of fun and useful information about the Golden Mean, Section, etc. The tiniest little coffee table book. Excellent value for sucha cool little book.
even us lay people benefited from such a profound concept.......2007-08-21
Having attended a workshop of the Golden Mean by Dr. Scott Olsen in the Detroit area winter 2007, we were all benefited by the well prepared studies on such a fascinating study. Workshop even included hands on demonstrations with many visual aids added to active discussions with questions and comments welcome.
Our group included several people with varied degrees of understanding of sacred geometry and rule of phi. Bringing the book home with me allowed me to go over the information with increased understanding of the subject. I recommend this book to all curious readers---the book presented in a way all will gain knowledge of such a gem of truth..............
Thoughtful Numerology.......2007-03-12
One of the most famous and mysterious of numbers is pi, the ratio of a circle's circumference to its diameter. If you know some mathematics and work with logarithms, you know another important constant, e. Less well known is the number phi (the Greek symbol looks like a capital I superimposed on an o); it is in many ways simpler than the other two and is just as interesting. All you have to do is take a line segment of any length, and put a point on the line so that the point divides the line into a big segment and a little one, and so that the little segment is to the big segment as the big segment is to the line you started with. The section you made, and the connected mathematics and art, are described and illustrated in _The Golden Section: Nature's Greatest Secret_ (Walker Books) by Scott Olsen, which ought to get an award for the book with the greatest density of information in the smallest package. It has but 58 small pages, and half of those are taken up with illustrations (which are wonderfully selected ). But if you follow the pages, and have pencil, paper, and a calculator beside you, there are depths here that bigger books never touch.
It's not too interesting to put a point directly in the middle of a line. You get equal segments that way, or a ratio of one to one, or 1:1; and if a segment is 1, the whole line you bisected is 2, a ratio of 2:1. Plato knew, though, that that was one point that would divide the whole line into shorter and longer portions so that "the whole to the longer equals the longer to the shorter"; or if shorter is a, longer is b, and the whole is a + b, then a + b is to b as b is to a; in symbols, a + b : b as b : a, or a + b : b : a. The ratio is phi (pronounced "fye"). It's numerical equivalent is 1.6180339... (the ellipsis indicating its never-ending nature). There are plenty of surprising properties of this number, some of which you can find on your calculator. For instance, divide phi into one, and you get 0.6180339..., which is exactly one less than phi itself. If you square phi, you get 2.6180339..., which is exactly one more than phi itself. Phi shows up closely related to the Fibonacci Sequence, a series of numbers that shows up all over nature. Rectangles based on phi show up in architecture and art and even music.
"Because of its aesthetic qualities, embodied in its unique ability to relate the parts to the whole," writes Olsen, "golden ratios are used in the design of many modern household items." Credit cards, for instance, are very close to the 8 by 5 Fibonacci approximation of phi. Surely no one ever designed the first credit cards to reflect phi, but the ratio does seem to be inherently attractive. Olsen demonstrates that phi shows up in spirals of DNA, in human proportions, in icosahedrons, and so many other places. His handsome and accessible book is an exercise in an appealing numerology.
Alpha and Omega of Phi.......2006-12-20
Dr. Olsen's "The Golden Section" is not only the best place to begin an exploration into the mysteries of this pervasive ratio, but maybe the topic of sacred geometry in general. Each lusciously illustrated section is a sutra- a packed amalgam of ideas ready to unspiral the reader through the realms of art, nature, number, music, and ultimately, the origin of consciousness and our connection to the divine. Dr. Olsen carries to us the Pythagorean tradition of number not as merely quantity, nor merely quality, but being and generator of being. There are a thousand "DaVinci Code's" on every page.
Through the Veil.......2006-11-18
A small book, with the highest light in Divine order,to be studied and pondered on.
Book Description
The world of plants and its relation to mankind as revealed by the latest scientific discoveries. "Plenty of hard facts and astounding scientific and practical lore."--Newsweek
Customer Reviews:
Interesting read.......2007-08-14
I learned a lot reading this book. I don't know if I agreed that plants are afraid, etc., but it was interesting to see the studies that seem to prove plants have an intelligence.
Houseplants alive!.......2007-07-06
I read this book twenty five years ago when I was living in Oregon in a house filled with plants. I immediately started experimenting with my own plants. Since I had been learning how to meditate already, I was already somewhat sensitized to energies other than society's most dominant . . . and other than my own. It didn't take long to begin to "feel" my plants, and soon I began to "know" which ones I treated appropriately, and which ones not. I changed the way I cared for them, treating each one as an individual. A year later, when I joined the Peace Corps, I sold most of my plants at an auction and was surprized at the high prices they went for. They certainly looked and felt much healthier than any of the others there. Thanks to the authors & publisher of this book for being daring enough to print it at the time you did.
One part science to three parts fantasy.......2007-06-21
An interesting premise now dated and obscured among page after page of mumbo jumbo. A few good blossoms on the dunghill but by and large not a scientific approach at all. Avoid unless you have too much spare time.
you will never walk across the lawn in quite the way you now do..........2007-06-14
this book should be required reading. it changes one's perception of the world, and opens one's mind to alternate realities...human beings are NOT the center of the universe. we are not even the most interesting creatures.
this will forever change how you view your houseplants.............2007-05-26
I am not exaggerating. When I picked up a copy of THE SECRET LIFE OF PLANTS, to go on a journey into the previously "unknown" world of plants, it was listed as, both, a new age and an occult book. Yes, to some it sounds pretty woo woo and out there that the common houseplant could take such a liking to Brahms, or such a disliking to hard rock music, that it would be driven to either thrive or shrivel. Yet, according to scientists and scientific scholars, stranger things have happened--and, in their words and by their accounts, they really DID happen! For example, plants who were the subjects of numerous tests and studies in a laboratory, were proven to have "human-like" feelings for the people that they were introduced to. In fact, the relationships progressed to the point that when one of the participants in the study nearly got run over by public transportation on the street, the participating plant was recorded in reacting in alarm to the peril that the human subject was put in! This wasn't all. Plants also are also proven, in this book, to respond to human sexuality in a very powerful (if not anthropomorphized) manner. Besides the studies, we are introduced to the beliefs of Goethe and the scientific progress made by George Washington Carver (of peanut cultivation fame).
I can definitely see why this engrossing book inspired a soundtrack and an (as of today) unreleased documentary film. This book, written by Peter Tompkins and Christopher Bird, is, quite possibly one of the most engrossing books pertaining to biology and modern-day symbiotic relationships between plants and humans that I have ever read. If THE SECRET LIFE OF PLANTS had been assigned reading in my high school biology class, I might have chosen a different path in college (in the plant sciences, perhaps!). If that isn't a vote of confidence from me, the humble liberal arts major, I don't know what is! Read this fantastic book today.
Book Description
Watson explores the subtle forces of memory fields and suggests that matter has the capacity to absorb emotional “fingerprints,†the mental fossils that channel echoes from the past. He demonstrates the complexity of inanimate life and offers possible proof of our sensitivity to its minute, natural patterns of energy.
Customer Reviews:
Another Clue to the Secret of Life .......2007-08-02
I purchased Watson's book some time ago and I find it ageless. After reading his book, I found I have a new respect for inanimate objects. I have also had unusual experiences that made me realize that there is consciousness in inanimate objects. One I recall is purchasing a new Honda in the late 70's.
I was living in So. Calif. at the time - very little rain and I began getting water in the fuel tank. After three times, I began asking why. Then came the realization that I had given my Honda a female name and this car had a male energy. When I renamed him Charlie, I had no more problems. Bettye Johnson, award-winning author, Secrets of the Magdalene Scrolls.
Very enjoyable...but full of questionable facts.......2007-01-12
This book suggests that just about everything, every object on the planet, has some sort of LIFE in it--life from the Earth itself, or life from the people that have handled it and left a little piece of themselves, their auras, behind.
It is some hardcore new age hippie stuff, but I'll tell ya, it's interesting. It really is.
Lyall Watson does a decent job at justifying his outlandish claims with numerous stories of wedding rings making their ways back their owners over impossible distances, statues bleeding and crying, and places that feel happy or sad or angry to everyone that enters them.
He makes a compelling argument, but his case suffers quite a bit due to the lack of credibility of many of his sources, such as the Enquirer and the Weekly World News and other tabloid stuff, and he never seems to go very far out of his way to confirm or deny anything he reports. The book's notes section is lacking at best, but it does have an index.
I really enjoyed this book, though I'd hardly consider it an infallible nonfiction source. I enjoyed the way it made me think differently...about things. I enjoyed the way it's helped me see the world.
Also, I was amused that its author was able to suspend skepticism enough to consider that candles might be alive, but never enough to consider that the soul might continue to live beyond death.
Very Interesting.......2003-03-03
I read this bok a few years ago and recall enjoying it completely. Lyall Watson's books will make you think, Supernature, the book about
Evil, the Romeo Error, are all books by Lyall Watson that I have enjoyed so much. I reccomend this book because I bought it once, lent it to someone who never returned it, and fully intend to buy it again. It's that good.
pretty good.......2000-04-02
Overall Watson does a good job. His style can get carried away, though. It has been a while since I read this book, so I am fuzzy on the details. What I remember is the general impression that the author loves his subject but gets a little too excited about it at points and this leads to some hyperbolic claims. He has a book coming out called "Jacobson's Organ"; it is about the sense of smell. I have read excerpts from it, and it is written in a similar fashion. More literary science than scientific literature.
Book Description
Mostly tiny, infinitely delicate, and short-lived, insects and their relatives--arthropods--nonetheless outnumber all their fellow creatures on earth. How lowly arthropods achieved this unlikely preeminence is a story deftly and colorfully told in this follow-up to the award-winning For Love of Insects. Part handbook, part field guide, part photo album, Secret Weapons chronicles the diverse and often astonishing defensive strategies that have allowed insects, spiders, scorpions, and other many-legged creatures not just to survive, but to thrive.
In sixty-nine chapters, each brilliantly illustrated with photographs culled from Thomas Eisner's legendary collection, we meet a largely North American cast of arthropods--as well as a few of their kin from Australia, Europe, and Asia--and observe at firsthand the nature and extent of the defenses that lie at the root of their evolutionary success. Here are the cockroaches and termites, the carpenter ants and honeybees, and all the miniature creatures in between, deploying their sprays and venom, froth and feces, camouflage and sticky coatings. And along with a marvelous bug's-eye view of how these secret weapons actually work, here is a close-up look at the science behind them, from taxonomy to chemical formulas, as well as an appendix with instructions for studying chemical defenses at home. Whether dipped into here and there or read cover to cover, Secret Weapons will prove invaluable to hands-on researchers and amateur naturalists alike, and will captivate any reader for whom nature is a source of wonder.
Customer Reviews:
One of a kind.......2007-08-06
Plot: How bugs defend themselves
Pros: Really, really interesting. Lots of color pictures. One of a kind work.
Cons: Lots of big words and chemistry stuff I have forgotten.
Other Thoughts: Bugs are neat. Many of them taste bad to predators, sometimes they sting you, or bite you, or have venom. Ants seem really annoying (even to other bugs). Reminds me why science is cool as some insects have neatfully (a new fake word!) ingenious adaptations.
Grade: A
Beautiful Photo-log and Chemical-Defense Attributes of Insects.......2007-04-24
This book has beautiful color photos (note the front cover for an example) of a good array of mostly North America insects along with their taxonomic order and common names and with brief explanations of their ecology and specific defense mechanisms coupled with detailed chemical analysis.
The book finishes with photos and explanations of essential insect collecting gear and lab analysis equipment.
Over-all, I was struck with the incredible dynamics of insect defenses and how researchers are finding ways to harness these chemicals for a host of products such as medicines, bug repellents, plant defenses, etc. Medical researchers, biochemists and laymen alike, should find this information most helpful and interesting.
Lavishly illustrated; thoroughly professional.......2006-08-05
The "weapons" in the title are mostly chemical. They are poisons that insects and their kin use to protect themselves from predators. Spiders, insects, snakes and other animals use poisons to subdue their victims as part of their preying arsenal, but what the authors focus on in this unusual book are chemicals used by "many-legged creatures" as defensive weapons. Pick up certain beetles or fly larvae or especially some grasshoppers and caterpillars and they will vomit noxious stuff on you. It will smell bad, it may contain harmful bacteria, and it will be "spiked" with deterrent chemicals stemming from plants eaten by the insect.
Or the insect may defecate on you. Imagine that you are the size of the insect, one of its predators. Imagine the effect of copious amounts of feces coming at you. The authors show how these defenses actually work on predators like wolf spiders and even small rodents. I was especially struck by how often these defenses apparently evolved as defenses against ants.
Of course many insects spit, spray, sting, and bite in response to being disturb or threatened. This is how they deliver their noxious chemicals, their poisons, their foul-smelling stuff, their stuff that stings, debilitates and even kills. Eisner, Eisner and Siegler give numerous disquieting examples of exactly how this is done in 69 very creepy chapters. Each chapter is dedicated to a particular creature or Family of creatures from vinegaroons (Chapter 1) through bombardier beetles (Chapter 35) to the honey bee (Chapter 69). Millipedes, cockroaches, ants, aphids, termites and many others make their gruesome appearance.
Gruesome...? Well, it's all in the eye of the beholder, I suppose. The many photos of the creatures that accompany the text are arguably beautiful. With some detachment I can see the earwig (Doru taeniatum) shown in all its black and brown and tan glory on page 77 as quite attractive. (However the beauty of the photo of the cockroach with its egg case hanging out the back on page 59 is a bit beyond my ability to fully appreciate.)
Nonetheless I realize that people who collect and study insects do find them attractive, and properly seen they are as beautiful as...well, Penelope Cruz. Insects are marvelous beings with the most amazing talents, their abilities well beyond that of modern science to emulate. Would that we could build robots with the ability of the ant! Still I must say that for many readers this book could prove an unsettling experience. But in truth the photos are amazing. They are brilliantly colored and sharply focused, showing the creatures in various poses, eating, mating, being eaten, fighting, secreting, guarding eggs, etc. And there are some very nice shots taken through microscopes that reveal wondrous detail.
Clearly "Secret Weapons" is a book for enthusiasts and professionals. Not only are the scientific names given for each creature along with the common names, the authors also give schematic drawings of the elemental composition of each of the chemicals used by the many-legged creatures! Furthermore there is a chapter on "How to Study Insects and Their Kin" in which the kinds of equipment (plastic bags, forceps, nets, vials, hand lenses, scalpels, petri dishes, insect pins, etc.) used by professionals are not only listed and described but presented in color photos. Each chapter concludes with scientific journal and book references for further study.
The Wars of the Multilegged.......2006-07-08
Even if you live in the city, you probably encounter insects or spiders every day. Such animals are enormously successful almost anywhere you go, except for marine environments. There are many reasons for their success, but in _Secret Weapons: Defenses of Insects, Spiders, Scorpions, and Other Many-Legged Creatures_ (The Belknap Press of Harvard University Press), the concentration is on defensive strategies, diverse and strange. The authors, Thomas Eisner, Maria Eisner, and Melody Siegler, are biologists with a mission, to show largely in photographs some of the defenses, especially chemicals but also mechanical measures, mimicry, camouflage, and warning colors. The authors say this is the first photographic introduction to the defenses of arthropods, and it is a book of wonders. It consists of 69 short chapters, each featuring one arthropod and concentrating on a particular method of defense. There are "sprays, oozes, sticky coatings, ... enteric fluids, feces, or systemic toxins." Some insects produce their chemical defenses as part of their physiology, but others grab toxins from the outside and eat them or smear them on themselves to get protection. The toxic or irritant chemicals are shown here in diagram form. The degree of sophistication of defenses among these most humble of creatures must incite any reader's admiration.
There is one surprising tactic after another on these pages. It is amazing, for instance, that any creature is able to use hydrogen cyanide as a weapon; cyanide is an almost universal poison, blocking the chemical cycles of oxidation. Soil centipedes, however, have pores along the body that secrete a sticky substance with cyanide in it. The cyanide forms outside the centipede's body where precursor molecules meet after being ejected. There is a picture shown of a centipede maternally guarding her eggs, ready to launch a cyanide attack on any ant or spider of which they are the natural prey. Acetic acid is familiar as the sour flavor in vinegar. The arachnid named the "vinegaroon" is so called due to the acetic acid in its spray. Vinegar has only a few percent acetic acid, and the vinegaroon's spray has 84%, the highest concentration in nature. Not all the defenses here are chemical; some are mechanical. The bristle millipede looks like a bottle brush. The tufts at the rear of the millipede are actually bunches of hairs with tiny grappling hooks on them. If an ant attacks the millipede, it touches a tuft to the ant, and the hooks attach to hairs on the ant's body. There are barbs on the shaft of the hook as well, and so the millipede's hairs interconnect, immobilizing the ant in a network of locked hairs; when the ant tries to clean itself, it only gets more tangled. Green lacewings lay their eggs on stalks to protect them, and on the stalk leave droplets of oil that repel ants. Once the egg hatches, however, the larva itself can ingest the oil on the way down. Lubber grasshoppers vomit copiously when attacked, and seem to eat noxious food just to make sure the point gets across. Tortoise beetles contract themselves into an almost perfect hemisphere with no folds or cracks on which a predator might make purchase; they also use an intricate system of oil and bristles on their feet that adhere them to a surface so strongly that no attacker can take them away. The larva of another tortoise beetle has a special fork extending up from its tail; it is a feces fork on which the larva hangs, well, feces, and it keeps the feces even in successive molts. The feces form a shield that can be rotated for protection against ants and spiders. Bombardier beetles spray their toxins at the temperature of boiling water; some spiders know to wrap and entangle the beetle gently without causing the discharge, and only to bite down when the rear end is completely enveloped. Sophisticated tactics and counter-tactics seem to be deployed in an ever-increasing cycle. _Secret Weapons_ is beautifully illustrated, and provides hundreds of astounding instances of the baroque lengths to which evolution has driven chemistry, morphology, and behavior.
Excellent Book About Arthropods.......2006-01-25
Although small in size, insects and other arthropods dominate Earth at least in sheer numbers. This is because they have developed various and sundry defensive mechanisms to protect themselves. These weapons are often of a chemical nature. There are also behavioral or morphological means of defense as well.
This book is heavily illustrated with color photographs. This excellent book focuses on 69 different species of arthropods and is an work that is useful for students and experts alike.
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