Gods, Wasps and Stranglers PDF Download

Author: Mike Shanahan
Publisher: Chelsea Green Publishing
ISBN: 1603587144
Category : Ficus (Plants)
Languages : en
Pages : 210

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Book Description
They are trees of life and trees of knowledge. They are wish-fulfillers rainforest royalty more precious than gold. They are the fig trees, and they have affected humanity in profound but little-known ways. Gods, Wasps, and Stranglers tells their amazing story.

Author: Mike Shanahan
Publisher: Unbound Publishing
ISBN: 1783522372
Category : Nature
Languages : en
Pages : 193

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Book Description
"Irresistible" - Literary Review Fig trees have affected humanity in profound but little-known ways: they are wish-fulfillers, rainforest royalty, more precious than gold. Ladders to Heaven tells their incredible story. They fed our pre-human ancestors, influenced diverse cultures and played a key role in the birth of civilisation. More recently, they helped restore life after Krakatoa's catastrophic eruption and proved instrumental in Kenya's struggle for independence. Figs now sustain more species of bird and mammal than any other fruit – in a time of falling trees and rising temperatures, they offer hope. Theirs is a story about humanity's relationship with nature, as relevant to our past as it is to our future.

Author: Mike Shanahan
Publisher: Chelsea Green Publishing
ISBN: 1603587152
Category : Nature
Languages : en
Pages : 208

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Book Description
They are trees of life and trees of knowledge. They are wish-fulfillers ... rainforest royalty ... more precious than gold. They are the fig trees, and they have affected humanity in profound but little-known ways. Gods, Wasps and Stranglers tells their amazing story. Fig trees fed our pre-human ancestors, influenced diverse cultures and played key roles in the dawn of civilization. They feature in every major religion, starring alongside Adam and Eve, Krishna and Buddha, Jesus and Muhammad. This is no coincidence – fig trees are special. They evolved when giant dinosaurs still roamed and have been shaping our world ever since. These trees intrigued Aristotle and amazed Alexander the Great. They were instrumental in Kenya’s struggle for independence and helped restore life after Krakatoa’s catastrophic eruption. Egypt’s Pharaohs hoped to meet fig trees in the afterlife and Queen Elizabeth II was asleep in one when she ascended the throne. And all because 80 million years ago these trees cut a curious deal with some tiny wasps. Thanks to this deal, figs sustain more species of birds and mammals than any other trees, making them vital to rainforests. In a time of falling trees and rising temperatures, their story offers hope. Ultimately, it’s a story about humanity’s relationship with nature. The story of the fig trees stretches back tens of millions of years, but it is as relevant to our future as it is to our past.

Author: Charles Fort
Publisher: Library of Alexandria
ISBN: 1613106424
Category : Fiction
Languages : en
Pages : 442

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Book Description
"Time travel, UFOs, mysterious planets, stigmata, rock-throwing poltergeists, huge footprints, bizarre rains of fish and frogs-nearly a century after Charles Fort's Book of the Damned was originally published, the strange phenomenon presented in this book remains largely unexplained by modern science. Through painstaking research and a witty, sarcastic style, Fort captures the imagination while exposing the flaws of popular scientific explanations. Virtually all of his material was compiled and documented from reports published in reputable journals, newspapers and periodicals because he was an avid collector. Charles Fort was somewhat of a recluse who spent most of his spare time researching these strange events and collected these reports from publications sent to him from around the globe. This was the first of a series of books he created on unusual and unexplained events and to this day it remains the most popular. If you agree that truth is often stranger than fiction, then this book is for you"--Taken from Good Reads website.

Author: Sherri Lee
Publisher: Sherri Lee
ISBN: 9780615280301
Category : Cooking
Languages : en
Pages : 160

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Book Description
In addition to great fig recipes, this cookbook includes educational information about figs: preparation, selection, freezing, drying options, rehydration, packaging, and storage tips. A fabulous horticulture guide to growing fig trees and includes contact information for frequently used products and fig trees.

Author: Akiva Silver
Publisher: Chelsea Green Publishing
ISBN: 1603588418
Category : Tree planting
Languages : en
Pages : 290

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Book Description
Trees are our allies in maintaining a healthy planet. Partnering with trees allows us to build soil, enhance biodiversity, increase wildlife populations, grow food and medicine, and pull carbon out of the atmosphere. Trees of Power by Akiva Silver shares a step-by-step path toward working with these arboreal allies, from planting to propagation to understanding the multiple benefits that ten of our most essential tree species - the chestnut, apple, hickory, and more - provide for humans, animals, and nature alike. In this book you'll learn how to work successfully with perennial woody plants. It includes in-depth information on individual species and different ways to propagate trees - whether by seed, grafting, layering, or with cuttings. These time-honored techniques make it easy for anyone to increase their stock of trees simply and inexpensively. Silver's combination of hands-on experience and sincere exuberance for the natural world will inspire a new generation of tree stewards while appealing to anyone who feels a deep appreciation for these magnificent plants.--COVER.

Author: David C. Sutton
Publisher: Reaktion Books
ISBN: 1780233922
Category : Cooking
Languages : en
Pages : 128

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Book Description
Lusciously sweet and with a complex texture, figs are both a nutritious culinary delicacy and an important symbol in religion and culture. Associated with Christmas since the time of Charles Dickens—not to mention Dionysus or the Garden of Eden—the fig is steeped in history. In this account of the festive fruit, David C. Sutton places the fig in its historical context, examining its peculiar origins and the importance it has garnered in so many countries. Sutton begins by describing the fig’s strange biology—botanically, it is not a fruit, but rather a cluster of ingrowing flowers—then considers its Arabian origins, including the possibility that the earliest seeds were transported from Yemen to Mesopotamia in the dung of donkeys. Exploring the history of the fruit in fascinating detail, Sutton postulates that the “forbidden fruit” eaten by Adam and Eve was not an apple, but a fig; and he discusses the role figs played for the Crusaders and guides readers toward the wonderful fig festivals held today. Chock full of tasty recipes, intriguing facts, and bizarre stories, Figs is a toothsome book of delights.

Author: Ben Goldfarb
Publisher: Chelsea Green Publishing
ISBN: 160358739X
Category : NATURE
Languages : en
Pages : 314

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Book Description
Our modern idea of what a healthy landscape looks like and how it functions is distorted by the fur trade that once trapped out millions of beavers from North America's lakes and rivers. Goldfarb shares the powerful story about one of the world's most influential species. He explains how North America was colonized, how our landscapes have changed over the centuries, and how beavers can help us fight drought, flooding, wildfire, extinction, and the ravages of climate change. -- adapted from jacket

Author: Matthew Paul Turner
Publisher: Convergent Books
ISBN: 0525650660
Category : Juvenile Fiction
Languages : en
Pages : 49

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Book Description
From the author of the bestselling children's book When God Made You comes a rhythmic, whimsical journey through creation--for little readers who love science and wonder and the beginnings of all things. For spiritual parents who are looking for a different kind of creation book, Matthew Paul Turner's When God Made the World focuses on the complex way that God created our vast and scientifically operating universe, including the biodiversity of life on our planet and the intricacies of a vast solar system. Scottish illustrator Gillian Gamble brings the natural world to vibrant life with rich colors and poignant detail certain to stretch young minds and engage imaginations. Planet Earth, God made a blue and green sphere, And designed it to orbit the sun once a year. God made daytime and nighttime, climates and seasons, And all kinds of weather that vary by region. God made continents and oceans, islands and seas, A north and south pole that God put in deep freeze. God carved rivers and brooks, mountains and caves, Made beaches with sand and huge crashing waves. God made tropics and plateaus, glaciers and meadows, marshes and tundras and erupting volcanos.

Author: David Ray Griffin
Publisher: Olive Branch Press
ISBN: 9781566560719
Category : Political Science
Languages : en
Pages : 0

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Book Description
Was America’s response to the 9/11 attacks at the root of today’s instability and terror? Because of various factors, including climate change, ISIS, the war in Syria, the growing numbers of immigrants, and the growing strength of fascist parties in Europe, commentators have increasingly been pointing out that the chaos in the world today was sparked by the post-9/11 attacks on Afghanistan and Iraq. At the same time, there has also been much discussion of ways in which the Bush-Cheney administration’s response to 9/11 has damaged America itself by stimulating Islamophobia and fascist sentiments, undermining key elements in its Constitution, moving towards a police state, and in general weakening its democracy. While the first two parts of this book discuss various ways in which 9/11 has ruined America and the world, the third part discusses a question that is generally avoided: Were the Bush-Cheney attacks on Afghanistan and Iraq really at the root of the ruination of America and the world in general, or did the original sin lie in 9/11 itself?