Average customer rating:
- Beach Stones by Josie Iselin, Margaret Carruthers
- Great addition for any rock collection!
- Great table book!
- beach stones
- A Magical Book
|
Beach Stones
Josie Iselin , and
Margaret Carruthers
Manufacturer: "Harry N. Abrams, Inc."
ProductGroup: Book
Binding: Hardcover
 Collections, Catalogues & Exhibitions
| Photography
| Arts & Photography
| Subjects
| Books
General
| Photography
| Arts & Photography
| Subjects
| Books
Nature & Wildlife
| Photography
| Arts & Photography
| Subjects
| Books
General
| How-to
| Photography
| Arts & Photography
| Subjects
| Books
General
| Oceans & Seas
| Nature & Ecology
| Science
| Subjects
| Books
Rocks & Minerals
| Nature & Ecology
| Science
| Subjects
| Books
General
| Geology
| Earth Sciences
| Science
| Subjects
| Books
Rocks & Minerals
| Field Guides
| Outdoors & Nature
| Subjects
| Books
Similar Items:
-
Pure Sea Glass: Discovering Nature's Vanishing Gems
-
Sea Glass Chronicles
-
Leaves and Pods
-
Seashells
-
One Hundred Seashells
ASIN: 0810955334 |
Book Description
Walking along the water's edge, who among us has not stopped to admire the evocatively patterned, shaped, and multihued stones that beckon? Fun to collect and free for the taking, beach stones are objects of contemplation, beauty, and sentiment. This exquisite volume-at once a gorgeous art book and a nature guide-presents more than 200 exceptional stones from around the world and describes the fascinating natural processes that produced them.
Photographer and installation artist Josie Iselin, who uses a flatbed scanner to generate her imagery, has arranged these stones with great artistry, and nature writer Margaret Carruthers yields their secrets, revealing, for instance, that a pebble from Maine was created 400 million years ago during the birth of a great mountain range. Art lovers and beachcombing spirits everywhere will cherish this gift book.
Customer Reviews:
Beach Stones by Josie Iselin, Margaret Carruthers.......2007-06-12
This book has beautiful images and interesting text. A good book for people who love the beach. It would make a good coffee table book. I was disappointed in the lack of depth offered by the text. I was hoping for more in depth geologic information, and a greater variety of stones pictured. This is not the book for you if you want an in depth look at geologic process and the mineral composition of stones that wash up on the beach.
Great addition for any rock collection!.......2007-05-02
My Husband and I loved this book so much that we bought 3 and gave away 2 as gifts.
Great table book!.......2007-03-15
I pick it up at least once a week and remember summer vacation, walking on the beach. It is interesting, colorful, full of great pictures and fun for those that enjoy the beach. Answers all the questions that I have about beach rocks and why they look the way that they do.
beach stones.......2006-11-05
both books came around 15 pages in the center that were upside down.
i immediately called and they were replaced without question. i am very happy doing business with amazon
barbara karnes
A Magical Book.......2006-10-28
This book will be a source of revelation to anyone interested in the beauty of the natural world. Carruthers' text illuminates, in an engaging and readable way, the geological forces responsible for creating these fascinating stones. An ideal holiday present for both children and adults.
Book Description
Plants have transformed our planet over the last 470 million years as they invaded the land and diversified into the astonishing variety we know today. But their influence has reached even further: they have profoundly moulded the Earth's climate and the evolutionary trajectory of life. Far from being 'silent witnesses to the passage of time', plants are dynamic components of our world, shaping the environment throughout history as much as that environment has shaped them. In iThe Emerald Planet/i, David Beerling puts plants centre stage, revealing the crucial role they have played in driving global changes in the environment, in recording hidden facets of Earth's history, and in helping us to predict its future. His account draws together evidence from fossil plants, from experiments with their living counterparts, and from computer models of the 'Earth System', to illuminate the history of our planet and its biodiversity. This new approach reveals how plummeting carbon dioxide levels removed a barrier to the evolution of the leaf; how forests once grew on Antarctica, how plants played a starring role in allowing spectacular giant insects to thrive in the Carboniferous; and strengthens fascinating and contentious fossil evidence for an ancient hole in the ozone layer. Along the way, Beerling introduces a lively cast of pioneering scientists from Victorian times onwards whose discoveries provided the crucial background to these and the other puzzles. This new understanding of our planet's past sheds a sobering light on our own climate-changing activities, and offers clues to what our climatic and ecological futures might look like. There could be no more important time to take a close look at plants, and to understand the history of the world through the stories they tell.
Customer Reviews:
a good idea.......2007-10-06
It is a very good idea of David Beerling to start each chapter of 'The Emerald Planet' with a short and clear summary. It is immediately clear what the author is arguing in the chapter and what it is about. By browsing through the book and reading all the chapter summaries, one gets an excellent idea what the author is arguing. This is a very good service for the reader who does not have an unlimited amount of time and wants to access if the current book is the right one to invest time in. Above that, it is such a pleasant feature. Compare this book with Oliver Morton 'Eating the Sun' which is a similar subject, but lacks that kind of clarity, then I prefer to invest my time in David Beerling.
Arranging carts and horses.......2007-07-30
For many years, as fossil plants emerged from the rocks, it was believed that these records reflected changes in climate. Plants, it was assumed, had to adapt to variations in weather and other conditions. According to Beerling, plant life was instead the major prompter of climate change. The balance of atmospheric gases was determined by the micro-organisms floating in the seas. The ability to absorb carbon dioxide, coupled with the use of sunlight to convert that into nutrients gives plants the power to shift gas quantities. During the early days, plants exhaled oxygen. It was poison to most organisms, but those capable of using it began the drive leading to today's life. In this useful survey of all the forces forming today's world, Beerling traces how plants "changed Earth's history". Following his thesis requires the reader's close attention, since the organisation of the material is necessarily loose - not fixed chronology nor subject. The many topics to cover cannot be neatly niched.
To the author, the biggest mystery lies in the long delay between plants colonising the land and the formation of the first leaves. Leaf structure reflects how the plant is using energy. That, in turn, becomes a signal of how the atmosphere is composed at any given time. This knowledge was assembled over many years through the work of many researchers. Beerling traces the building of data resources and how the information was interpreted. Images of leaves and stems, analysis of the rock chemistry, field observations and laboratory experiments all contributed to the picture of plant evolution. Numerous surprises emerged, sometimes leading scholars to doubt the data and even their methodology. Looking at the life of plants down the ages is, as he puts it, looking "Through a glass darkly". Pervading his presentation is what the implications are for what is occurring in today's atmosphere - on which our life and those of our children, depends.
Beerling deems investigations into ancient atmospheres a form of "breathalyser", such as the police apply to suspected impaired drivers. In this case, however, it's not alcohol fumes that are measured, but carbon dioxide. Other gases are also sought, but they don't often leave sufficient clues. The information must be derived indirectly. Again, it's the plant's leaves that are used as the pointers to how ancient atmospheres fluctuated. Underlying the variations is the mighty force of plate tectonics. The shifting of land masses and changes in surface configuration leads plants to shift their survival strategies. Acting far more rapidly than creeping continents, the ability of plants to accelerate or impair rock weathering shifts the presence of gas quantities. Carbon dioxide quantities have varied markedly, leading to most of the world's history being warm times. Only recently - in geologic terms - has the planet experienced a cool era, which led to the "ice age" that scoured the Northern Hemisphere with massive glaciers.
As with so much in science, the revelation that plants drive climate instead of passively responding to it has produced at least as many questions as answers. There are anomalous circumstances that must be unravelled. The knowledge gained has led to the formation of "Earth system analysis" techniques using various forms of computer modelling. Many details, however, remain to be worked out. Atmostpheric studies are particularly impaired by lack of knowledge of cloud formation and distribution. Carbon itself, both as a greenhouse gas and as a component of plant growth, remains enigmatic. Beerling traces the selectivity of plants in choosing which carbon isotope will be utilised. That choice has impact on which plants will become dominant in a given area, which also has implications for the animal life living from them. There are no simple nor ready answers to what plants have meant in tracing life's development. Yet, as he emphasises frequently, these are questions that must be addressed further, and that, soon. Understanding our atmosphere is essential to our future. [stephen a. haines - Ottawa, Canada]
Book Description
The collection of natural mineral crystals housed at the Houston Museum of Natural Science is the finest and best known in the world. Now the treasures of this singular collection are shown in resplendent photographs that will seduce both the connoisseur of beauty and the student of natural history.
The spectacular and rare specimens on display here, from a huge imperial topaz crystal weighing more than 2,000 carats to a crystallized gold cluster that is one of the most highly coveted objects in the mineral kingdom, are true masterpieces, the Rembrandts and Picassos of the natural world. Like fine art, minerals are prized for their aesthetic qualities-color, luster, sculptural composition-and for their provenance. Avidly pursued by naturalists throughout the centuries, precious metals and gem crystals have a fascinating history. Stories regarding the pursuit and discovery of these precious natural objects, including tales of good luck and hardship, are related in these pages. Essays that explore connoisseurship in the mineral kingdom and chronicle the history of this noble pursuit add to the appeal of this unique volume. AUTHOR BIO: Wendell E. Wilson is editor and publisher of The Mineralogical Record. Joel A. Bartsch is curator of gems and minerals at the Houston Museum of Natural Science.
Customer Reviews:
a treasury of great specimens.......2007-03-17
The specimens shown in this book from the Houston Museum are truly the top of their class. This is a coffee-table book for the mineral collector, and only falls short of a visit to the museum itself.
Masterpieces of the Mineral World.......2007-01-12
Excellent detail and photography. Very good section on attributes of mineral specimens, locations,and collections through the centuries.A wonderful table top book for everyone to enjoy.
Masterpieces is a masterpiece.......2004-12-26
Minerals and crystals are among the most beautiful objects on the planet. Their sculptural shapes and intense colors can be mesmerizing. Amazingly these specimens haven't been "enhanced" by cutting or polishing. They are as God made them. These magnificent photographs of the world's greatest collection capture their beauty as well as any book I've ever seen.
Book Description
ANCIENT FORESTS: A CLOSER LOOK AT FOSSIL WOOD
Perhaps the most intriguing, beautiful, and informative fossil wood book of all time, exploring the subject with images to illustrate each point — with Scanning Electron Microscope images, digital micro images, macro photographs, and medium format photographs.
Frank Daniels and geologist Dick Dayvault team up to explore the intricacies of fossil wood by leading the reader on an expedition into the micro world of fossil wood mineralization and cell structures.
1600 color photographs, charts, and diagrams, including 438 fossil wood micro images, 40 Geologic Landscapes ™, and 46 thin section micrographs from modern conifers and hardwoods.
Enormous 7 1/2 pound book with 456 11 by 12 inch pages
Specimen photographs from worldwide locations, including numerous woods, cones, ferns, cycads, and short shoots, and including Acrostichum, Araucaria mirabilis, Araucarioxylon, Aurealcaulis moorei, Behuninia provoensis, Calamites, Carpolithus radiatus, Carporichnus bertheorum, Carya, Casuarina, Cupressinoxylon, Cyathodendron texanum, cycadeoid, Dadoxylon, Ginkgo, Grammatopteris, Hermanophyton glismannii, Hermanophyton taylorii, Jensensispermum redmondi, Juglans, Juniperus, Metasequoia, Osmunda, Palmoxylon, Pararaucaria, Pityoxylon, Platanoxylon, Podocarpoxylon, Protoyucca shadishii, Psaronius, Quercus, Rhexoxylon, Schilderia adamanica, Sequoia, Steinerocaulis radiatus, Taxodioxylon, Tempskya, Tietea singularis, Trochodendron, Ulmus, and Woodworthia arizonica.
Fossil wood specimens from Argentina, Australia, Brazil, Canada, Czech Republic, Germany, Gondwana, Great Britain, Greece, Indonesia, Malagasy Republic, Pangea, Paraguay, Turkey and Zimbabwe; and from Arizona, California, Colorado, Idaho, Louisiana, Montana, Nevada, New Mexico, North Dakota, Oregon, Texas, Utah, Washington, and Wyoming in the United States.
Major chapters address Fossil Wood Structure and Identification, The Process of Wood Transformation to Stone, Fossil Woods from the Western United States and around the World, and 3 Major Museum Collections of Fossil Woods.
Customer Reviews:
Great Information on Petrified Wood.......2007-05-07
This is a great book for information on petrified wood. We found it very valuable in identifying several of our specimens.
A masterpiece.......2006-10-28
This is a wonderful book. A photographic and scientific masterpiece. The print quality is excellent.
Magnificent.......2006-06-17
American Forests and his earlier book Petrified Wood are amazingly beautiful books. I have seen a few of the petrified wood samples in museums which are shown in these books, and the photoimages correspond to the authentic samples. I have two other petrified wood photo books that I have loaned out but I don't remember their titles (mostly chapters by German authors). Daniels two books are the very best. Howard McPherson
The best book on fossil wood bar none.......2006-04-11
I have been an amateur fossil hunter for 60 years and on rare occasion a book of this quality is printed.
The author states that the book is mostly done about beautiful specimens and is not as devoted to the scientific side of fossil wood. For my interests as an amateur there is a great deal of material on how wood is fossilized and the best description I have ever read on how opalization occurs. I think the author does more than he thinks with scientific information.
If you are at all interested in fossils woods from a beauty standpoint then this is a "must have" book.
His previous book (which I also own) "Petrified Wood" is also in the above catagory.
I don't know how the publisher can produce this book for 85 dollars with the quantity and quality of color plates (1600) and the number of pages (456).
I hope this review has been helpful to the avid amateur collector.
Book Description
This updated edition is an invaluable source of practical cost-effective maintenance, repair, installation, and field verification procedures for machinery engineers. It is filled with step-by-step instructions and quick-reference checklists that describe preventive and predictive maintenance for major process units such as vertical, horizontal, reciprocating, and liquid ring vacuum pumps, fans and blowers, compressors, turboexpanders, turbines, and more. Also included are sections on machinery protection, storage, lubrication, and periodic monitoring. A new section examines centrifugal pumps and explains how and why they continue to fail. More new information focuses on maintenance for aircraft derivative gas turbines. This revised edition gives special attention throughout to maintenance and repair procedures needed to ensure efficiency, performance, and long life.
Customer Reviews:
A single-source reference for the maintenance professional.......1999-02-28
As in the preceding three textbooks of this series, the authors take us through principles of installation and general operating issues to the main topic of interest: how to install and repair such machines as horizontal and vertical pumps, reciprocating and liquid ring vacuum pumps, blowers, reciprocating gas engines and associated compressors. The second part of this very readable and well-illustrated text takes us to maintenance issues involving such equipment as industrial gearing, belt-drives, steam turbines, turboexpanders, gas turbines, and hydraulic governors, to the maintenance of electric motors and associated apparatus. Part three deals with storage protection and gives cost-saving hints on grease lubricated bearings as well as lubrication management in general. Also touched on is vibration and condition monitoring--a fine overview of profit-driven practices. The book closes with solid information on the maintainability, serviceability, and availability of machinery. When is the next book coming?
Customer Reviews:
Outstanding contribution to the dialogue on global warming........1998-12-15
Fantastic book that should be a must read for anyone involved in the global warming debate and/or policy making associated with the debate. Does a great job of showing why global warming is scary, and why companies that try to address it will be met not with penalties, but with phenomenal business opportunities.
Average customer rating:
|
Fossils of the Santana and Crato Formations, Brazil (Field Guide to Fossils)
David Martill
Manufacturer: Blackwell Publishing Limited
ProductGroup: Book
Binding: Paperback
General
| Science
| Subjects
| Books
General
| Geology
| Earth Sciences
| Science
| Subjects
| Books
General
| Paleontology
| Biological Sciences
| Science
| Subjects
| Books
Geology
| Earth Sciences
| Professional Science
| Professional & Technical
| Subjects
| Books
ASIN: 0901702528 |
Book Description
The Araripe Basin of north-east Brazil contains not one, but two fossil lagerstatten: the Santana and Crato Formations. Both are of late Lower Cretaceous age (Aptian-Albian) and yield diverse and excellently preserved angiosperms, gymnosperms, insects, crustaceans, fishes and tetrapods, including giant pterosaurs. The sedimentology of the Araripe Basin is varied and reflects a dynamic basin influenced by regional and global sea level changes, as well as climatic changes related to the opening of the South Atlantic Ocean and the break up of Gondwanaland. Until now little data on the geology of the Basin and on its (relatively easy) accessibility has been available in English. However, the beautiful fossils are comparatively well-known and widely available through commercial outlets all over the developed world.This book not only summarizes the fossil flora and fauna of the Araripe Basin, but is an attempt to place the fossils in a tectonic, sedimentological and paleoecological context.
Customer Reviews:
Old stuff.......2007-09-25
The price is really too high for this book. Research work is good but isn't worth these old b/w illustrations and few pages.
Average customer rating:
|
The Origins of Angiosperms and Their Biological Consequences
Manufacturer: Cambridge University Press
ProductGroup: Book
Binding: Paperback
General
| Science
| Subjects
| Books
General
| Botany
| Biological Sciences
| Science
| Subjects
| Books
Botany
| Biological Sciences
| Professional Science
| Professional & Technical
| Subjects
| Books
ASIN: 052131173X |
Average customer rating:
- Great introduction to Paleobotany
- Highly enjoyable
|
FOSSIL PLANTS PB (Smithsonian's Living Past)
Kenrick P
Manufacturer: Smithsonian
ProductGroup: Book
Binding: Paperback
Fossils
| Animals
| Biological Sciences
| Science
| Subjects
| Books
General
| Plants
| Biological Sciences
| Science
| Subjects
| Books
Paleobotany
| Plants
| Biological Sciences
| Science
| Subjects
| Books
General
| Botany
| Biological Sciences
| Science
| Subjects
| Books
General
| Paleontology
| Biological Sciences
| Science
| Subjects
| Books
Paleobotany
| Paleontology
| Biological Sciences
| Science
| Subjects
| Books
General
| Geology
| Earth Sciences
| Science
| Subjects
| Books
Botany
| Biological Sciences
| Professional Science
| Professional & Technical
| Subjects
| Books
Geology
| Earth Sciences
| Professional Science
| Professional & Technical
| Subjects
| Books
Reference
| Outdoors & Nature
| Subjects
| Books
Similar Items:
-
COMMON FOSSIL PLANTS W/I AM 2E PB
-
The Evolution of Plants
-
The Evolutionary Biology of Plants
-
Evolution of the Insects
-
Invertebrate Palaeontology & Evolution
ASIN: 1588341569 |
Book Description
An amazing look at plants of the past through an examination of the fossils that remain.
Long before there were animals on the earth, many kinds of plants covered the prehistoric planet. The soft remains rarely fossilized, but sometimes leaves, flowers, and branches would fall into soft mud or be encased by the ash of exploding volcanoes. These plants were preserved and now offer a sampling of life in the distant past and a contrast to our present flora. This complete guide to fossil plants explains both the lives of ancient plants and why certain plants became fossilized. Kenrick and Davis trace the evolution of land plants, ferns, conifers, and their relatives, the flowering plants. Interwoven are snapshots of landscapes and environments of various periods, focusing on plant and animal interactions. The included photographs present these ancient, sometimes delicate pieces of shale, and Kenrick and Davis explain the story that fossil plants can tell us about the past. 16 pages of color photographs, 100 b/w photographs.
Customer Reviews:
Great introduction to Paleobotany.......2007-05-31
This 216 page guide to fossil plants is an excellent overview of the subject. Starting with the simplest cells, it builds to the great forests that once covered much of the Earth. It has separate chapters on the great coal measures, the interaction of plants and animals, and the development of flowering plants.
It contains numerous photographs of plant fossils and has a glossary of terms for those not acquainted with botany.
The book is an excellent introductory text for anyone interested in studying further on the subject of Paleobotany (e.g. Paleobotany and the Evolution of Plants by Wilson N. Stewart).
Highly enjoyable.......2005-03-16
I thouroughly enjoyed this treatment of the fossil history of plants. The book is very tuned to the casual reader, but also gives solid info on plants such as Calamites (an extinct horsetail), Lepidodendrons, Glossopteris, and many others. I read it to the last page and will keep it around to refer to. Fills a niche that has been somewhat neglected.
Book Description
176 pages with 430 full color photographs of some of the most beautiful fossil specimens in existence. Chapters include Paleobotany, Geology, Mineralogy, and Collecting Petrified Materials. Hundreds of specimens from private collections are for the first time available for public view.
Petrified Wood: The World of Fossilized Wood, Cones, Ferns, and Cycads presents photographs of fossil specimens from Argentina, Australia, Brazil, Madagascar, Turkey, and Zimbabwe, and from Arizona, Colorado, Idaho, Louisiana, Nevada, Oregon, Texas, Utah, Washington, and Wyoming in the United States.
Photographs include a variety of types and genera of wood, including Araucaria, Woodworthia, Schilderia, Pentoxylon, Hermanophyton, oak, maple, tamarack, and Ginkgo; cones of Araucaria, Pararaucaria, Cycadeoidea, and Sequoia; and the ferns Tietea singularis, Tempskya, and Osmundacaulis.
Customer Reviews:
Can they be that beautiful?.......2007-09-15
Iy you are a layman, you will certainly ask whether "rock like " items like these can be so pretty. When you read on and understand that nature is actually the artist behind them, then you will start to appreciate that their brilliant color, the pretty pattern as well as the variety of what used to be living trees in this planet millions of years ago are not any less beautiful than the common gems and precious stones which we are much more familiar with. The excellent photos will certainly tempt one to read the book again and again . The only regret is perhaps the lack of more publications on these gems, despite a second and equally attractive book by the same author.
Blaze of color.......2000-10-12
As the various reviews point out this book is a blaze of color. Excellently photographed and excellently printed this volume gives a good impression of how beautiful petrified wood can be. This work is perfectly suited as a coffee table book.
As a wood anatomist I cannot help feeling that an even more beautiful book could be produced by shifting the focus to anatomy: when magnified these woods would look even better. I guess a palaeobotanist would agree with me that this would make for, from a scientific point of view, a more usable and valuable book.
Nevertheless this is a magnificent piece of work: there are some quite stunning pictures in here.
Petrified Wood: The World of Fossilized Wood.......2000-02-01
The best photographic presentation of petrified wood I have every seen. Frank Daniels' love of the subject can be seen in his work as laid out between the covers of this superb book. I totally enjoy showing non palaeontologically minded people this book when they visit. If a person is looking for a photographic presentation of petrified wood, then this would have to be the book. I heartily recommend it. Congratulations Frank on a terrific book.
Books:
- Bergey's Manual of Determinative Bacteriology
- Cacti and Succulents: Step-By-Step to Growing Success (Crowood Gardening Guides)
- Cactus Desert (One Small Square)
- Cannabis: A History
- Carnivorous Plants of the United States and Canada
- Case Files of the Tracker: True Stories from America's Greatest Outdoors
- Colorado's Best Wildflower Hikes Vol 1: The Front Range
- COMMON FOSSIL PLANTS W/I AM 2E PB
- Common Southwestern Native Plants: An Identification Guide
- Conifers of California
Books Index
Books Home
Recommended Books
- Introduction to e-Commerce
- Gardner's Art Through the Ages
- Classic Hollywood, Classic Whiteness
- Chemistry in Focus: A Molecular View of Our World
- DVD Demystified Third Edition
- ForeX Trading for Maximum Profit: The Best Kept Secret Off Wall Street
- Colour Atlas of Micromycetes
- Principles of Accounting: Working Papers for Exercises and Problems, Vol 1, Chapters 1-18 and Append
- Distant Proximities: Dynamics beyond Globalization
- Quintessential Searcher: The Wit and Wisdom of Barbara Quint
