Search:

Results 51 to 60 of 151 | « previous |

The last winter : the scientists, adventurers, journeymen, and mavericks trying to save the world / by Fox, Porter,author.;
Includes bibliographical references and index."One man's "curiously thrilling joyride" of travelogue, history, and climatology, across a planet on the brink of cataclysmic transformation. As the planet warms, winter is shrinking. In the last fifty years, the Northern Hemisphere lost a million square miles of spring snowpack and in the US alone, snow cover has been reduced by 15-30%. On average, winter has shrunk by a month in most northern latitudes. In this deeply researched, beautifully written, and adventure-filled book, journalist Porter Fox travels along the edge of the Northern Hemisphere's snow line to track the scope of this drastic change, and how it will literally change everything-from rapid sea level rise, to fresh water scarcity for two billion people, to massive greenhouse gas emissions from thawing permafrost, and a half dozen climate tipping points that could very well spell the end of our world. This original research is animated by four harrowing and illuminating journeys-each grounded by interviews with idiosyncratic, charismatic experts in their respective fields and Fox's own narrative of growing up on a remote island in Northern Maine."--Amazon.ca.
Subjects: Climatic changes.; Meteorology.; Weather.;
Available copies: 1 / Total copies: 1
unAPI

The signature of all things / by Gilbert, Elizabeth,1969-;
"Spanning much of the eighteenth and nineteenth centuries, the novel follows the fortunes of the extraordinary Whittaker family as led by the enterprising Henry Whittaker--a poor-born Englishman who makes a great fortune in the South American quinine trade, eventually becoming the richest man in Philadelphia. Born in 1800, Henry's brilliant daughter, Alma (who inherits both her father's money and his mind), ultimately becomes a botanist of considerable gifts herself. As Alma's research takes her deeper into the mysteries of evolution, she falls in love with a man named Ambrose Pike who makes incomparable paintings of orchids and who draws her in the exact opposite direction--into the realm of the spiritual, the divine, and the magical. Alma is a clear-minded scientist; Ambrose a utopian artist--but what unites this unlikely couple is a desperate need to understand the workings of this world and the mechanisms behind all life. he story is peopled with unforgettable characters: missionaries, abolitionists, adventurers, astronomers, sea captains, geniuses, and the quite mad. But most memorable of all, it is the story of Alma Whittaker, who--born in the Age of Enlightenment, but living well into the Industrial Revolution--bears witness to that extraordinary moment in human history when all the old assumptions about science, religion, commerce, and class were exploding into dangerous new ideas"--Provided by publisher.
Subjects: Historical fiction.; Enlightenment; Industrial revolution; Painters; Women botanists;
Available copies: 1 / Total copies: 1
unAPI

Tauhou : a novel / by Nuttall, Kōtuku Titihuia,author.;
Includes bibliographical references."Tauhou envisions a shared past between two Indigenous cultures, set on reimagined versions of Vancouver Island and Aotearoa that sit side by side in the ocean. Each chapter in this innovative hybrid novel is a fable, an autobiographical memory, a poem. A monster guards cultural objects in a museum, a woman uncovers her own grave, another woman remembers her estranged father. On rainforest beaches and grassy dunes, sisters and cousins contend with the ghosts of the past--all the way back to when the first foreign ships arrived on their shores. In a testament to the resilience of Indigenous women, the two sides of this family, Coast Salish and Māori, must work together in understanding and forgiveness to heal that which has been forced upon them by colonialism. Tauhou is an ardent search for answers, for ways to live with truth. It is a longing for home, to return to the land and sea."--
Subjects: Experimental fiction.; Novels.; Identity (Philosophical concept); Imaginary places; Māori (New Zealand people); Women; Coast Salish;
Available copies: 1 / Total copies: 1
unAPI

What the wild sea can be : the future of the world's ocean / by Scales, Helen,author.;
Includes bibliographical references (pages 269-290) and index."The acclaimed marine biologist and author of The Brilliant Abyss examines the existential threats the world's ocean will face in the coming decades and offers cautious optimism for much of the abundant life within. No matter where we live, "we are all ocean people," Helen Scales emphatically observes in her bracing yet hopeful exploration of the future of the ocean. Beginning with its fascinating deep history, Scales links past to present to show how the prehistoric ocean ecology was already working in ways similar to the ocean of today. In elegant, evocative prose, she takes readers into the realms of animals that epitomize today's increasingly challenging conditions. Ocean life everywhere is on the move as seas warm, and warm waters are an existential threat to emperor penguins, whose mating grounds in Antarctica are collapsing. Shark populations -- critical to balanced ecosystems -- have shrunk by 71 per cent since the 1970s, largely the result of massive and oft-unregulated industrial fishing. Orcas -- the apex predators -- have also drastically declined, victims of toxic chemicals and plastics with long half-lives that disrupt the immune system and the ability to breed. Yet despite these threats, many hopeful signs remain. Increasing numbers of no-fish zones around the world are restoring once-diminishing populations. Astonishing giant kelp and sea grass forests, rivaling those on land, are being regenerated and expanded. They may be our best defense against the storm surges caused by global warming, while efforts to reengineer coral reefs for a warmer world are growing. Offering innovative ideas for protecting coastlines and cleaning the toxic seas, Scales insists we need more ethical and sustainable fisheries and must prevent the existential threat of deep-sea mining, which could significantly alter life on Earth. Inspiring us all to maintain a sense of awe and wonder at the majesty beneath the waves, she urges us to fight for the better future that still exists for the Anthropocene ocean"--
Subjects: Marine ecology.; Marine ecosystem health.; Nature; Ocean.;
Available copies: 1 / Total copies: 1
unAPI

The illegal : [Book Club Set] / by Hill, Lawrence,1957-;
Fast moving and compelling, The Illegal casts a satirical eye on people who have turned their backs on undocumented refugees struggling to survive in a nation that does not want them. Hill's depiction of life on the borderlands of society urges us to consider the plight of the unseen and the forgotten who live among us.
Subjects: Political fiction.; Illegal immigration; Marathon running; Political refugees;
Available copies: 10 / Total copies: 10
unAPI

Swan song [text (large print)] / by Hilderbrand, Elin,author.;
"In the grand finale of "queen of the beach read" Elin Hilderbrand's beloved Nantucket novels, there's a new couple in town ... and they instantly shake things up. Amid the extravagant parties on land and sea, there's trouble on the island, forcing Chief of Police Ed Kapanesh to postpone his retirement and changing the fabric of life on the picturesque island forever ... "--
Subjects: Domestic fiction.; Large print books.; Novels.; Families; Fires; Friendship; Man-woman relationships; Missing persons; Police chiefs; Rich people;
Available copies: 1 / Total copies: 1
unAPI

Little monsters : a novel / by Brodeur, Adrienne,author.;
"From the author of the bestselling memoir Wild Game comes a riveting novel about Cape Cod, complicated families, and long-buried secrets-for fans of the New York Times bestsellers The Paper Palace and Ask Again, Yes. Ken and Abby Gardner lost their mother when they were small and they have been haunted by her absence ever since. Their father, Adam, a brilliant oceanographer, raised them mostly on his own in his remote home on Cape Cod, where the attachment between Ken and Abby deepened into something complicated-and as adults their relationship is strained. Now, years later, the siblings' lives are still deeply entwined. Ken is a successful businessman with political ambitions and a picture-perfect family and Abby is a talented visual artist who depends on her brother's goodwill, in part because he owns the studio where she lives and works. As the novel opens, Adam is approaching his seventieth birthday, staring down his mortality and fading relevance. He has always managed his bipolar disorder with medication, but he's determined to make one last scientific breakthrough and so he has secretly stopped taking his pills, which he knows will infuriate his children. Meanwhile, Abby and Ken are both harboring secrets of their own, and there is a new person on the periphery of the family-Steph, who doesn't make her connection known. As Adam grows more attuned to the frequencies of the deep sea and less so to the people around him, Ken and Abby each plan the elaborate gifts they will present to their father on his birthday, jostling for primacy in this small family unit. Set in the fraught summer of 2016, and drawing on the biblical tale of Cain and Abel, Little Monsters is an absorbing, sharply observed family story by a writer who knows Cape Cod inside and out-its Edenic lushness and its snakes"--
Subjects: Domestic fiction.; Novels.; Families; Father and child; Secrecy; Siblings;
Available copies: 1 / Total copies: 1
unAPI

Shōgun. by Clavell, James,author.;
After Englishman John Blackthorne is lost at sea, he awakens in a place few Europeans know of and even fewer have seen--Nippon. Thrust into the closed society that is seventeenth-century Japan, a land where the line between life and death is razor-thin, Blackthorne must negotiate not only a foreign people, with unknown customs and language, but also his own definitions of morality, truth, and freedom. As internal political strife and a clash of cultures lead to seemingly inevitable conflict, Blackthorne's loyalty and strength of character are tested by both passion and loss, and he is torn between two worlds that will each be forever changed.
Subjects: Historical fiction.; Novels.; Catholic Church; British; Samurai; Warlordism;
Available copies: 1 / Total copies: 1
unAPI

Shōgun. by Clavell, James,author.;
After Englishman John Blackthorne is lost at sea, he awakens in a place few Europeans know of and even fewer have seen--Nippon. Thrust into the closed society that is seventeenth-century Japan, a land where the line between life and death is razor-thin, Blackthorne must negotiate not only a foreign people, with unknown customs and language, but also his own definitions of morality, truth, and freedom. As internal political strife and a clash of cultures lead to seemingly inevitable conflict, Blackthorne's loyalty and strength of character are tested by both passion and loss, and he is torn between two worlds that will each be forever changed.
Subjects: Historical fiction.; Novels.; British; Courts and courtiers;
Available copies: 1 / Total copies: 1
unAPI

Autumn Peltier, water warrior / by Lindstrom, Carole,1964-; George, Bridget,1994-;
Includes bibliographical references.The seventh generation is creating A sea of change. It was a soft voice, at first. Like a ripple. But with practice it grew louder. Indigenous women have always worked tirelessly to protect our water -- keeping it pure and clean for the generations to come. Yet there was a time when their voices and teachings were nearly drowned out, leaving entire communities and environments in danger and without clean water. But then came Anishinaabe elder Grandma Josephine and her great niece, Autumn Peltier. Featuring a foreword from water advocate and Indigenous Rights Activist Autumn Peltier herself, this picture book from Carole Lindstrom gives voice to the water and asks young readers to join the tidal wave of change.
Subjects: Picture books.; Peltier, Autumn; Mandamin, Josephine; Indigenous peoples; Water conservation; Right to water; Water rights; Indian women activists;
Available copies: 1 / Total copies: 1
unAPI

Results 51 to 60 of 151 | « previous |