Average customer rating: |
The Savage and Beautiful Country: The Secret Life of the Mind
Alan McGlashan Manufacturer: Daimon ProductGroup: Book Binding: Paperback Similar Items: ASIN: 3856305173 |
Book Description
Alan McGlashan presents a sensitive view of the modern world and of time, of our memories and forgetfulness, joys and sorrows. He takes the reader on a safari into regions that are strange and yet familiar - into the savage and beautiful country of the mind. No "cures" are offered, but we are provoked to reflect on our roles and attitudes in the contemporary world jungle.
Average customer rating:
|
Biological Soil Crusts: Structure, Function, and Management (Ecological Studies)
Manufacturer: Springer ProductGroup: Book Binding: Hardcover ASIN: 3540410759 |
Book Description
In arid lands, where vegetation is sparse or absent, the open ground is not bare but generally covered by a community of small, highly specialized organisms. Cyanobacteria, algae, microfungi, lichens, and bryophytes aggregate soil particles to form a coherent skin - the biological soil crust. It stabilizes and protects the soil surface from erosion by wind and water, influences water runoff and infiltration, and contributes nitrogen and carbon to desert soils. Soil surface disturbance, such as heavy livestock grazing, human trampling or off-road vehicles, breaks up the fragile soil crust, thus compromising its stability, structure, and productivity. This book is the first synthesis of the biology of soil crusts and their importance as an ecosystem component. Composition and functioning of different soil-crust types are discussed, and case studies are used to show the impact of crusts on landscape hydrology, soil stability, nutrient cycles, and land management.Customer Reviews:
High Recommendation.......2007-03-03
The "Wholly" Book of BSCs.......2005-05-03
Average customer rating: |
Cyanobacteria in Symbiosis
Manufacturer: Springer ProductGroup: Book Binding: Hardcover ASIN: 1402007779 |
Book Description
Cyanobacterial symbioses are no longer regarded as mere oddities but as important components of the biosphere, occurring both in terrestrial and aquatic habitats worldwide. It is becoming apparent that they can enter into symbiosis with a wider variety of organisms than hitherto known, and there are many more still to be discovered, particularly in marine environments. The chapters cover cyanobacterial symbioses with plants (algae, bryophytes, Azolla, cycads, Gunnera), cyanobacterial symbioses in marine environments, lichens, Nostoc-Geosiphon (a fungus closely related to arbuscular mycorrhiza fungi) symbiosis, and artificial associations of cyanobacteria with economically important plants. In addition, cyanobiont diversity, sensing-signalling, and evolutionary aspects of the symbiosis are dealt with. Renowned experts actively involved in research on cyanobacterial symbioses deal with ecological, physiological, biochemical, molecular, and applied aspects of all known cyanobacterial symbioses.
Average customer rating: |
Harmful Cyanobacteria (Aquatic Ecology Series)
Manufacturer: Springer ProductGroup: Book Binding: Hardcover Similar Items:
Accessories:
ASIN: 1402030096 |
Book Description
Several cyanobacterial species can produce powerful toxins that provide a serious threat for water quality, other aquatic organisms, and human health. These harmful cyanobacteria are especially prominent in freshwater ecosystems, and are a major concern for water managers.
From a scientific perspective, there are many recent advances in this research area:
- Owing to the scientific revolution in genomics, new molecular techniques have been developed that enable the detection of toxic cyanobacteria at a very early stage.
- New laboratory culture techniques have enabled eco-physiological studies of toxin production at a detailed scale that was beyond reach until recently.
- Remote sensing of freshwater cyanobacteria is a rapidly expanding field, owing to the increased spectral resolution of airborne data.
- New computational techniques have led to advanced models on the population dynamics of cyanobacteria.
From a management perspective, recognition of the toxins produced by harmful cyanobacteria has recently led to new environmental policies with respect to toxic cyanobacteria in many western countries.
The purpose of this work is to provide an up-to-date overview of the advances in our knowledge of harmful cyanobacteria. The work is directed towards graduate students and scientists in aquatic microbiology, aquatic ecology, environmental toxicology, and water management, and academic professionals in water management and environmental policy.
"This is an outstanding volume that should be a 'must-see' reference for all scientists and environmental professionals who are interested in cyanobacterial ecology and water quality management." Val H. Smith, University of Kansas, USA
Average customer rating: |
Algae and Cyanobacteria in Extreme Environments (Cellular Origin, Life in Extreme Habitats and Astrobiology)
Manufacturer: Springer ProductGroup: Book Binding: Hardcover ASIN: 1402061110 |
Book Description
Algae and Cyanobacteria in Extreme Environments is a unique collection of essays, contributed by leading scientists from around the world, devoted to algae â and some related microbes â observed in unexpected harsh habitats, which it seems are an oasis or Garden of Eden for these organisms. This timely book on Extremophilic algae, including its especially impressive micrographs, may provide clues about the edges of life on Earth and possibly elsewhere in the universe.
Defining locations from the anthropomorphic point of view, the environments explored ranges from severe and distant to ânormalâ places. The algae discussed, microbial oxygenic phototrophs, are classified into various categories according to their habitats. They thrive in various temperature ranges, at the limits of pH values, in salt solutions, under UV radiation, dryness, heavy metals, anaerobic niches, under various levels of illuminations, and under hydrostatic pressure. Authors discuss bio-diversely algal territories ecologically â the hot springs with the thermophiles or acido-thermophiles; Antarctica, the Arctic, and permafrost zones with their cold lovers (Psychrophiles); soda lakes with the alkaliphiles, saltine areas with halophiles. In addition to general essays, Algal species discussed in detail include diatoms, Cyanidium, Galdieria, Dunaliella, and Chroococcidiopsis.
This volume is a must for students of the field of biodiversity, as well as those in phycology, ecology and general biological research.
Average customer rating: |
The Biology of Blue-Green Algae (Botanical Monographs, V. 9)
N. G. Carr , and Brian A. Whitton Manufacturer: Univ of California Pr ProductGroup: Book Binding: Hardcover ASIN: 0520023447 |
Average customer rating: |
Biology of Cyanobacteria (Botanical Monographs, V. 19)
Manufacturer: Univ of California Pr ProductGroup: Book Binding: Hardcover ASIN: 0520047176 |
Average customer rating: |
Blue-Greens (The Institute of Biology's studies in biology)
P. Fay Manufacturer: Edward Arnold ProductGroup: Book Binding: Paperback ASIN: 071312878X |
Average customer rating: |
The Cyanobacteria: Molecular Biology, Genomics and Evolution
Manufacturer: Caister Academic Pr ProductGroup: Book Binding: Hardcover ASIN: 1904455158 |
Average customer rating: |
The Ecology Of Cyanobacteria: Their Diversity in Time and Space
Brian A., Ed. Whitton Manufacturer: Kluwer Academic Publishers ProductGroup: Book Binding: Hardcover ASIN: 0792347358 |
Book Description
Cyanobacteria make a major contribution to world photosynthesis and nitrogen fixation, but are also notorious for causing nuisances such as dense and often toxic `blooms' in lakes and the ocean. The Ecology of Cyanobacteria: Their Diversity in Time and Space is the first book to focus solely on ecological aspects of these organisms. Its twenty-two chapters are written by some thirty authors, who are leading experts in their particular subject. The book begins with an overview of the cyanobacteria - or blue-green algae, for those who are not specialists - then looks at their diversity in the geological record and goes on to describe their ecology in present environments where they play important roles. Why is one of the key groups of organisms in the Precambrian still one of the most important groups of phototrophs today? The importance of ecological information for rational management and exploitation of these organisms for commercial and other practical purposes is also assessed. Accounts are provided of nuisances as well as the ecology of the commercially successful Spirulina and the role of cyanobacteria in ecosystem recovery from oil pollution. Many chapters include aspects of physiology, biochemistry, geochemistry and molecular biology where these help general understanding of the subject. In addition there are three chapters dealing specifically with molecular ecology. Thirty-two pages of colour photos incorporate about seventy views and light micrographs. These features make the book valuable to a wide readership, including biologists, microbiologists, geologists, water managers and environmental consultants. The book complements the highly successful The Molecular Biology of Cyanobacteria already published by Kluwer.
Average customer rating: |
Factors Influencing the Success of Pelagic Cyanobacteria (Comprehensive Summaries of Uppsala Dissertations from the Faculty of Science and Technology, 443)
Per Hyenstrand Manufacturer: Uppsala Universitet ProductGroup: Book Binding: Paperback ASIN: 9155444318 |
Average customer rating:
|
Pocket Adventures Bolivia (Pocket Adventures) (Adventure Guide to Bolivia (Pocket))
Vivien Lougheed , and John Harris Manufacturer: Hunter Publishing (NJ) ProductGroup: Book Binding: Paperback Similar Items:
ASIN: 1588435261 |
Customer Reviews:
Despite some shortcomings - Strongly Recommended........2006-09-02
Average customer rating:
|
Lizzie: A Victorian Lady's Amazon Adventure
Tony Morrison , and Ann Brown Manufacturer: Gloucester ProductGroup: Book Binding: Hardcover ASIN: 0563204249 |
Customer Reviews:
COMMENTED DIARIES OF AN BRITISH LADY IN THE AMAZON.......2006-07-24
Average customer rating:
|
Bolivia Adventure Guide (Adventure Guides Series) (Adventure Guides Series)
Vivien Lougheed Manufacturer: Hunter ProductGroup: Book Binding: Paperback Similar Items:
ASIN: 158843365X |
Download Description
A detailed guide to every aspect of the destination: history, culture, foods, restaurants, hotels, sightseeing, things to do - written by an author who knows the place intimately.Customer Reviews:
Excellent.......2004-07-10
Average customer rating:
|
The Path to Genocide: Essays on Launching the Final Solution (Canto original series)
Christopher R. Browning Manufacturer: Cambridge University Press ProductGroup: Book Binding: Paperback Similar Items:
ASIN: 0521558786 |
Book Description
The Nazi Holocaust haunts the modern imagination as one of the most compelling examples of the human capacity for organized atrocity on a mass scale. This authoritative account of the evolution of Nazi Jewish policy from 1939 to 1942 seeks to answer some of the fundamental questions about what actually happened and why, between the outbreak of war and the emergence of the Final Solution. Christopher Browning's account assesses the historians' interpretations and offers his own insights, based on detailed case studies that uncovered important and telling new evidence.Customer Reviews:
German reaction to execution orders: a fascinating essay.......2004-04-29
His subordinates held him in contempt, especially since he was never seen at the shooting sites. He is quoted as saying, "If this Jewish business is ever avenged on earth, then have mercy on us Germans". There were sergeants who also requested to be excused from the firing squads, as the idea of slaughtering human beings proved too horrendous to carry out. The Germans who carried out the executions were given alcohol to help with their agitation. It was decided "intolerable" to carry out the slaughter while sober. Some ran into the forest to vomit, others were so wracked with nervousness, they misfired. At the end of the day, some 1500 Jews lay dead.
What is so compelling about this essay is that is explains how these German battalions were later able to round up Jews to the gas chambers with relative detachment; there was so much less participation or responsibility (compared to shooting)and the men had become desensitized. In fact, historians have shown that the camps were constructed largely to spare the German executioners the trauma of face-to-face murder.
What is fascinating is this: it has been long believed that Germans who refused to carry out executions feared for their own lives. Not necessarily true. When Major Trapp let his aversion to the killings be known he was relocated and later promoted. In the case of Jozefow, the men had the opportunity to withdraw from shooting. Why didn't they refuse? Because they did not want to seem cowardly and they wanted to be promoted. The ones who refused generally had businesses back home to rely on and didn't care about being promoted. And some did business with Jews, so their animosities were not inflamed.
This essay is riveting. I give this book 3 stars because the other readings are so dry, so long-winded, and so devoid of emotion, that you find yourself reading the same sentence five times. History MUST be exciting to read - otherwise, no one reads it, which is a dangerous thing indeed.
Superb Summation Of Natural History Of The Holocaust!.......2002-09-12
Until that point the Nazi command had been more favorably disposed toward using indigenous populations as slave labor and working and/or starving them to death, rather than killing them outright. Here too Browning argues about three key issues surrounding the decision to proceed with the Holocaust; first, that the Nazi hierarchy itself was divided in terms of strategy and objectives about the resolution of the "Jewish Question"; second, that it was seen as highly advantageous to the national socialist cause to employ their skills and labor as long as possible in support of the war effort, and finally, that the actual implementation of the fragmented policy was further fragmented and "ad-libbed" at the field level by local commanders or police authorities.
Browning uses a virtual flood of documentation and data to substantiate his various positions, and marshals a convincing argument on behalf of the notion that indeed the resulting mass murders of the Holocaust were more likely the production of a series of small but fateful conclusions made incrementally to solve immediate and pressing logistical and tactical situations the Nazi hierarchy faced at particular moments than it was the result of some long-standing grand and evil scheme to systematically annihilate the Jews. Of course, it is in one very real sense an academic issue, since all of the indigenous Jews (as well as everyone else in the areas of interest to the Nazis along the eastern front in Poland and the Ukraine already pre-designated as new settlement areas for Germans would die at the hands of the Nazi regime. The question at hand is whether the actual extermination of those individuals would be accomplished through slave labor, starvation, and exposure to the elements, or through more active and murderous intervention by way of the death camps.
One must also remember that there were also large numbers of German Jews being transported both within and without the country to concentration camps. The same issues of intent apply to them, as well. Certainly Browning's efforts here will not end the long-standing debate. It is, however, a critical contribution to informing the direction and future tenor of that argument. This is an important, provocative, and worthwhile book, and one anyone interested in understanding the details of the "natural history' of how the Holocaust actually came to transpire must read to understand the complexities, contradictions, and confusions abounding in both the record and in individual recollections about the time. I recommend this book, and hope it is much more widely read and appreciated.
Decision to Kill: How it was Taken........2000-06-20
Browning is very specific in his research. There are no guessings, though we can not escape from not being able to give final answer to certain details. He works with data of documents in trying to track how the decision to kill was taken. He is able to get to the point of saying the most probable dates for the final decision by Hitler.
The book presents some answers and alternatives to the question. It analyses 'functionalism' and 'intentionalism' and theories of historians like Arno Mayer, which by the way sufers heavy critics by Browning. You will surely refer back to this book after reading it when discussing the subject of the decision making process of the Holocaust.
Average customer rating: |
Probing the Limits of Representation: Nazism and the "Final Solution"
Manufacturer: Harvard University Press ProductGroup: Book Binding: Paperback Similar Items:
ASIN: 0674707664 |
Book Description
Can the Holocaust be compellingly described or represented? Or is there some core aspect of the extermination of the Jews of Europe which resists our powers of depiction, of theory, of narrative? In this volume, twenty scholars probe the moral, epistemological, and aesthetic limits of an account or portrayal of the Nazi horror.
These essays expose to scrutiny questions that have a pressing claim on our attention, our conscience, and our cultural memory. First presented at a conference organized by Saul Friedlander, they are now made available for the wide consideration and discussion they merit.
Christopher Browning, Hayden White, Carlo Ginzburg, Martin Jay, Dominick LaCapra, and others focus first on the general question: can the record of his historical event be established objectively through documents and witnesses, or is every historical interpretation informed by the perspective of its narrator? The suggestion that all historical accounts are determined by a preestablished narrative choice raises the ethical and intellectual issues of various forms of relativization. In more specific terms, what are the possibilities of historicizing National Socialism without minimizing the historical place of the Holocaust.
Also at issue are the problems related to an artistic representation, particularly the dilemmas posed by aestheticization. John Felstiners, Yael S. Feldman, Sidra Ezahi, Eric Santner, and Anton Kaes grapple with these questions and confront the inadequacy of words in the face of the Holocaust. Others address the problem of fitting Nazi policies and atrocities into the history of Western thought and science. The book concludes with Geoffrey Hartmans's evocative meditation on memory.
Average customer rating: |
A conflict of memories?: The new German debates about the "Final Solution" (Leo Baeck memorial lecture)
Saul Friedländer Manufacturer: Leo Baeck Institute ProductGroup: Book Binding: Unknown Binding ASIN: B0007211TU |
Average customer rating: |
The Historiography of the Final Solution
Wulf Kansteiner Manufacturer: Hodder Arnold ProductGroup: Book Binding: Paperback ASIN: 0340810734 |
Average customer rating: |
Policy of destruction: Nazi anti-Jewish policy and the genesis of the "Final solution"
Peter Longerich Manufacturer: United States Holocaust Memorial Museum, Center for Advanced Holocaust Studies ProductGroup: Book Binding: Unknown Binding ASIN: B0006RSHJS |
Books:
Recommended Books