Written in Stone : Reading the Rocks of the Great Ocean Road by Philomena Manifold

$49.95 AUD

Category: NATURE/ENVIRO/SCIENCE

The Genius of Birds by Jennifer Ackerman

$35.00 AUD

Category: NATURE/ENVIRO/SCIENCE

Birds are astonishingly intelligent creatures. According to revolutionary new research, some birds rival primates and even humans in their remarkable forms of intelligence.   In The Genius of Birds, acclaimed author Jennifer Ackerman explores the newly discovered brilliance of birds. As she travels ar ound the world to the most cutting-edge frontiers of research--the distant laboratories of Barbados and New Caledonia, the great tit communities of the United Kingdom and the bowerbird habitats of Australia, the ravaged mid-Atlantic coast after Hurricane Sandy and the warming mountains of central Virginia and the western states--Ackerman not only tells the story of the recently uncovered genius of birds but also delves deeply into the latest findings about the bird brain itself that are shifting our view of what it means to be intelligent.   Consider, as Ackerman does, the Clark's nutcracker, a bird that can hide as many as 30,000 seeds over dozens of square miles and remember several months later where it put them, or the mockingbirds and thrashers, species that can store 200 to 2,000 different songs in a brain a thousand times smaller than ours.   But beyond highlighting how birds use their unique genius in technical ways, Ackerman points out the impressive social smarts of birds. They deceive and manipulate. They eavesdrop. They give gifts. They kiss to console one another. They blackmail their parents. They alert one another to danger. They summon witnesses to the death of a peer. They may even grieve.   This elegant scientific investigation and travelogue weaves personal anecdotes with fascinating science. Ackerman delivers an extraordinary story that will both give readers a new appreciation for the exceptional talents of birds and let them discover what birds can reveal about our changing world. Richly informative and beautifully written, The Genius of Birds celebrates the triumphs of these surprising and fiercely intelligent creatures. ...Show more

Fire Country: How Indigenous Fire Management Could Save Australia by Victor Steffensen

$29.99 AUD

Category: NATURE/ENVIRO/SCIENCE

Delving deep into the Australian landscape and its alarming state of devastation, Fire Country is a powerful account from Indigenous land management expert Victor Steffensen on how the revival of Indigenous fire practices, including what's called 'cool burns', could restore our country.   Fire Country o ffers practical solutions for better 'reading country' and knowing when is the right time to undertake cool burns, considering current climate conditions and each landscape's specific ecosystem. From the age of 18, Victor has spent time on country learning traditional cultural and ecological knowledge from Elders. Having been developed over many generations of his people living on the land, this knowledge shows clearly that Australia actually needs fire - with burning done in a controlled manner - for land care and healing.   Victor's writing is unassuming and honest, written in a manner that reflects the nature of yarning. And while much of the knowledge shared in his book is still unknown to western science, there is much evidence that, if adopted, it will benefit all Australians.   ...Show more

Budgerigar: How a Brave, Chatty and Colourful Little Aussie Bird Stole the World's Heart by Sarah Harris; Don Baker

$29.99 AUD

Category: NATURE/ENVIRO/SCIENCE

A curiosity of everything you ever wanted to know (or realised you never knew) about budgies. Beautiful and cheeky, delightful and enchanting, wild or tamed budgerigars are Australia's gift to the bird world.They sing and dance, and yawn as contagiously as humans. They are masters of mimicry. They grasp simple grammar, can count to six and have memories that belie their size. They've been coveted by royals and been companions to the great and famous as well as grannies in suburban kitchens around the world. They've been painted by masters, rendered in the finest porcelain and graced fashionable hats and earrings of the highest order. Their image has been used to sell whisky, stamps and laundry detergent and everything in between.Surprising, charming and occasionally alarming, Budgerigar is the book that at last opens the cage door on the incredible story of the little bird that grew. ...Show more

Where Song Began: Australia's Birds and How They Changed the World by Tim Low

$22.99 AUD

Category: NATURE/ENVIRO/SCIENCE

Renowned for its unusual mammals, Australia is a land of birds that are just as unusual, just as striking, a result of the continent's tens of millions of years of isolation. Compared with birds elsewhere, ours are more likely to be intelligent, aggressive and loud, to live in complex societies, and are long-lived. They're also ecologically more powerful, exerting more influences on forests than other birds. But unlike the mammals, the birds did not keep to Australia; they spread around the globe. Australia provided the world with its songbirds and parrots, the most intelligent of all bird groups. It was thought in Darwin's time that species generated in the Southern Hemisphere could not succeed in the Northern, an idea that was proven wrong in respect of birds in the 1980s but not properly accepted by the world's scientists until 2004 - because, says Tim Low, most ornithologists live in the Northern Hemisphere. As a result, few Australians are aware of the ramifications, something which prompted the writing of this book. Tim Low has a rare gift for illuminating complex ideas in highly readable prose, and making of the whole a dynamic story. Here he brilliantly explains how our birds came to be so extraordinary, including the large role played by the foods they consume (birds, too, are what they eat), and by our climate, soil, fire, and Australia's legacy as a part of Gondwana. The story of its birds, it turns out, is inseparable from the story of Australia itself, and one that continues to unfold, so much having changed in the last decade about what we know of our ancient past. Where Song Beganalso shines a light on New Guinea as a biological region of Australia, as much a part of the continent as Tasmania. This is a work that goes far beyond the birds themselves to explore the relationships between Australia's birds and its people, and the ways in which scientific prejudice have hindered our understanding. ...Show more

Forest Walking Among Trees by Matt Collins; Roo Lewis

$49.99 AUD

Category: NATURE/ENVIRO/SCIENCE

Forest is a celebration of the diverse ways in which trees and forests are as magnificent, economically relevant and profoundly enchanting today as they ever have been. Journeying across the continents, writer Matt Collins and photographer Roo Lewis tie together both the historical context and modern-da y applications of some of the world's most fascinating and iconic trees. They explore the heritage of woodlands from around the world and meet those whose lives are inexplicably bound to them. The book is divided into 10 main chapters, each of which explores a tree from a particular genus - Pine, Juniper, Oak, Hornbeam, Cherry, Beech, Birch, Chestnut, Douglas-fir and Poplar. Each chapter provides the reader with a short introduction to the tree, followed by a journalistic account of its relevance to modern day-life (from gin making on Isle of Islay to a truffle farm in Spain), and concludes with an account of the tree in its native forest (from hornbeams in the Ironwoods of Ontario to firs on Vancouver Island). Captured on medium-format film, Roo's stunning, rich colour images are the perfect companion to Matt's engaging storytelling and botanical knowledge. Forest crafts a captivating interpretation of the story of the forest through the trees. ...Show more

The Library of Ice - Readings from a Cold Climate by Nancy Campbell

$19.99 AUD

Category: NATURE/ENVIRO/SCIENCE

'A wonderful book: Nancy Campbell is a fine storyteller with a rare physical intelligence. The extraordinary brilliance of her eye confers the reader a total immersion in the rimy realms she explores. Glaciers, Arctic floe, verglas, frost and snow -- I can think of no better or warmer guide to the icy e nds of the Earth' Dan Richards, author of Climbing Days A vivid and perceptive book combining memoir, scientific and cultural history with a bewitching account of landscape and place, which will appeal to readers of Robert Macfarlane, Roger Deakin and Olivia Laing.  Long captivated by the solid yet impermanent nature of ice, by its stark, rugged beauty, acclaimed poet and writer Nancy Campbell sets out from the world's northernmost museum - at Upernavik in Greenland - to explore it in all its facets. From the Bodleian Library archives to the traces left by the great polar expeditions, from remote Arctic settlements to the ice houses of Calcutta, she examines the impact of ice on our lives at a time when it is itself under threat from climate change. The Library of Ice is a fascinating and beautifully rendered evocation of the interplay of people and their environment on a fragile planet, and of a writer's quest to define the value of her work in a disappearing landscape. 'The writer and poet offers reflections on ice and snow that draw on art, science and history... a dreamlike book.' - The Guardian 'It is a sparkling and wonderful meditation on a substance we must cherish' - The Independent 'It is a pleasant brew infused with elements not only of travel and history, but also of memoir and personal reflection'- Literary Review 'Ms Campbell, a penniless but intrepid traveller, braves miserable bus journeys, freezing rain, dark and intense cold, but still manages to write rapturously of the beauties of the Arctic'- The Economist ...Show more

The Oak Papers by James Canton

$24.99 AUD

Category: NATURE/ENVIRO/SCIENCE

Oaks are born and die on the same patch of earth. It is that sure-footedness that is so appealing. Ancient oaks hold a powerful sense of the longevity of life. The sense of security, of attachment to place, enchants us. You can stand beneath a grand oak and know that your more distant ancestors did so t oo. This is the story of one man's relationship to an ancient tree, the Honywood Oak. Colossal and wizened, it would have been a sapling when the Magna Carta was signed in 1215. James Canton spent two years sitting with and studying this unique tree. It was an exercise in discipline- he needed to slow down in order to appreciate it fully, to tune in to it, to connect with the ecosystem that lives around, inside and under it. In this stunning, meditative treatise, he examines our long-standing relationship with trees, a material as well as a source of myth and legend, and of solace. We no longer build our houses from the sturdy oak and its relatives, use them to fuel our fires or grind their seeds and nuts into flour in times of famine. Physically, we don't need them. Or do we? The natural world has lessons for us - if we slow down enough to listen. ...Show more

Australia's Birdwatching Megaspots by Chris Farrell & Peter Rowland

$49.99 AUD

Category: NATURE/ENVIRO/SCIENCE

This lavishly illustrated guide describes 55 of the best sites for viewing both common and rare species in Australia. Alongside a map of the area, detailed descriptions of each site cover the type of terrain, climate and specific spots at which certain species are likely to be encountered. A fact file f or each site lists road and rail access; entry fees and permits, facilities, nearby services, accommodation and GPS co-ordinates. Key species for each site are also listed. ...Show more

Mountains Of The Mind: A History Of A Fascination by Robert Macfarlane

$24.99 AUD

Category: NATURE/ENVIRO/SCIENCE

Mountains of the Mind is a beautifully written synthesis of climbing memoir and cultural history

Loving Country: A Guide to Sacred Australia by Bruce Pascoe; Vicky Shukuroglou

$45.00 AUD

Category: NATURE/ENVIRO/SCIENCE

Loving Country is a book that inspires ultimate respect for Mother Earth and the role of her custodians. While readers are encouraged to discover the sacred country of Australia in an open-minded and sensitive manner, the intention of this book is to foster communication and understanding between all pe oples and country, to bring about a range of environmental and social changes. Co-authors Bruce Pascoe and Vicky Shukuroglou hope to empower communities to tell their own stories, and for people to honour them and the country from which they have grown. Beautifully designed, all of the writing and photography in Loving Country has been created in consultation with communities. From the ingenious fish traps at Brewarrina and the rivers that feed the Great Barrier Reef, to the love stories of Wiluna and the whale story of Margaret River, there is so much to celebrate and admire about the oldest continuing culture in the world. For those who want to do more than a whistle-stop tour of Australia, this book offers some keys to unlock and reveal the heart of this loving country. ...Show more

Whale Watching in Australian and New Zealand Waters by Peter Gill; Cecilia Burke

$29.99 AUD

Category: NATURE/ENVIRO/SCIENCE

Australia and New Zealand are perfect places to whale watch. Diverse marine environments from tropical to subantarctic mean that numerous species of whales and dolphins are drawn to our waters, while a plethora of tour operators makes it easier than ever to spot these wonderful creatures in their natura l habitat. Whale Watching in Australian and New Zealand Waters is the definitive guide for holidaymakers, nature lovers and marine specialists. Completely revised and updated, this easy to follow book offers: #65533;e#65533; detailed descriptions of the ecology and behaviour of common whale and dolphin species, including their conservation status #65533;e#65533; a comprehensive guide to the best whale watching sites #65533;e#65533; identification notes, detailed colour illustrations and locator maps for each species #65533;e#65533; completely revised and up to date resources section Peter Gill has been involved in whale research since 1983. He has researched humpback and southern right whales, and is currently studying blue whales off ...Show more