Showing titles in Botany & Plants

Author Mark Plotkin, chief ethnobotanist for Conservation International, has spent much of the past 15 years tracking the shamans of the northeast Amazon. Their knowledge of healing plants may hold the cure to some of today's most devastating diseases. This book is a critically acclaimed account of his apprenticeship to these powerful wise men, a gripping journey into a wild and wonderful world seldom glimpsed by outsiders.

The Untold History of Healing takes the listener on an exciting, expansive journey of the history of medicine from the Stone Age to modern times, explaining that Western medicine has its true origins in the healing lore of Paleolithic hunters and gatherers, herding nomads, and the early sedentary farmers rather than in the academic tradition of doctors and pharmacists.

By the Wainwright-Conservation-Prize-winning author of Rebirding Spend a year in an orchard, celebrating its imperilled, overlooked abundance of life. England's ancient orchards, collaborations between people and nature, are sources of hope for the future. Protecting them promises a far richer England for the centuries to come, for wildlife and for us.

In his follow-up to the best-selling Around the World in 80 Trees, Jonathan Drori takes another trip across the globe, bringing to life the science of plants by revealing how their worlds are intricately entwined with our own history, culture and folklore. From the seemingly familiar tomato and dandelion to the eerie mandrake and Spanish 'moss' of Louisiana, each of these stories is full of surprises. Some have a troubling past, while others have ignited human creativity or enabled whole civilizations to flourish.

Susan S. Scott is an experienced psychotherapist who, due to a back injury, was forced to abandon her therapist's couch and walk for therapy. Through her extended strolls through nature, she discovered the ingenious ability of trees to grow around obstacles and, in essence, heal themselves. The result of Dr. Scott's musings is Healing with Nature. This collection of stories and photos describes a different aspect of the healing process.

Nobody sees and understands woodland better than Ray Mears. With deep natural history knowledge and practical woodcraft skills, gained over a lifetime of learning from the world's last remaining indigenous peoples, Ray offers a different way to experience our wooded landscapes. He challenges the old concepts. He looks to our ancestors and shows how man's hand in shaping woodland is critical. We are not separate from nature, we just need to ensure that our interactions have a positive impact.

Nos últimos anos a ciência tem comprovado que as árvores e o homem têm muito mais em comum do que poderíamos imaginar. Assim como nós, elas se comunicam, mantêm relacionamentos, formam famílias, cuidam dos doentes e dos filhos, têm memória, defendem-se de agressores e competem ferozmente com outras espécies. Em A vida secreta das árvores, o engenheiro florestal alemão Peter Wohlleben alia seus 20 anos de experiência às últimas descobertas científicas para examinar o dia a dia desses seres fantásticos.

Deep in the forest, in places you would never think to look, are some of the most remarkable creatures. Overlooked and unsung, this is the forgotten forest: a world of glow-in-the-dark mushrooms and giant mosses, where slime moulds travel the forest in search of prey and ancient lichens live for thousands of years. Join bestselling author Robert Vennell on a walk through this fantastical forest, wandering through tales from history, science, and spirituality in search of these weird and wonderful species.

Jennifer Jewell brings listeners on an insightful year-long journey exploring the outsize impact one of nature's smallest manifestations—the simple seed. She examines our skewed notions where "organic" seeds are grown and sourced, reveals how giant multinational agribusiness has refined and patented the genomes of seeds we rely on for staples like corn and soy, and highlights the efforts of activists working to regain legal access to heirloom seeds that were stolen from Indigenous peoples and people of color.

Trouet, a leading tree-ring scientist, takes us out into the field, from remote African villages to radioactive Russian forests, offering listeners an insider's look at tree-ring research, a discipline formally known as dendrochronology. Tracing her own professional journey while exploring dendrochronology's history and applications, Trouet describes the basics of how tell-tale tree cores are collected and dated with ring-by-ring precision, explaining the unexpected and momentous insights we've gained from the resulting samples.

With a new introduction exclusively in audio, read by Anna Pavord. The Tulip is not a gardening book. It is the story of a flower that has made men mad. Greed, desire, anguish and devotion have all played their parts in the development of the tulip into the worldwide phenomenon it is today. No other flower has ever carried so much cultural baggage; it charts political upheavals, illuminates social behaviour, mirrors economic booms and busts and plots the ebb and flow of religious persecution.

For over two centuries, as rulers have risen and fallen and wars have raged, one majestic oak tree has lived out an epic drama. From germination in 1780 to adapting to the changing climate of the modern age, its struggles and triumphs took place far from human eyes. That is, until one day a young man named Laurent Tillon came across it, and a decades-long relationship began ... In this dazzling book, biodiversity expert Tillon narrates the story of the tree he calls Quercus

Twelve Trees introduces us to a dozen species of trees that epitomize the challenges facing the planet, and the ways that scientists and others are working with a growing sense of urgency to save them. Scientists, ethnobotanists, indigenous peoples, and collectives of all kinds are studying trees and their workings, using a host of new tools, to learn how trees function individually and collectively, and why they do what they do.

In this poetic audiobook, hear the words of legendary outdoorsman John Muir's entreaty to the American people imploring them to develop, as he did, a connection to their national parks. An ardent outdoorsman, a gifted writer, a dedicated preservationist, and a spiritual beacon, John Muir worked in his life and in his writing to inspire everyone to find a love for the wilderness and to become invested in its preservation.

Der neue Hörbuch-Spaziergang mit dem Lieblingsförster der Deutschen: verblüffende Phänomene und spannende Zusammenhänge. "In unseren Genen ist das Band zu den grünen Riesen noch intakt", sagt Peter Wohlleben - und tritt in seinem neuen Hörbuch den Beweis an. Die Natur ist dem modernen Mensch nur scheinbar fremd geworden, nach wie vor verbindet ihn ein starkes Band mit ihr. Ein Beispiel? Menschliche Reaktionen auf chemische Botenstoffe der Bäume: Unser Blutdruck ändert sich nachweislich, wenn wir im Wald sind.

The smallest flowering plant, on Earth, is one of the most powerful, and widespread: duckweed. Usually, considered a nuisance, duckweed, upon close examination, is an impressive crop, in photosynthetic value. Ethanol, an industry dominated by the Corn Industry (King Corn), faces many challenges, including large water draws, rising fertilizer costs, large diesel fuel bills, and unintended impacts on Food markets.

Marcus Bridgewater has been compared to Bob Ross and Mister Rogers for his soothing TikTok videos that relate botany to humanity. A gardener “who shares tips about caring for one’s plants and oneself” (New York Times) and “is not only a trove of information if you’re looking to flex your green thumb, but a balm for the pandemic-induced chaos happening in the world” (Vogue), his soothing observations on plants and life have made him a social media star. In caring for over 600 plants, Marcus has gained invaluable wisdom.

TREES IN WINTER is about the healing properties of nature and of walking, especially during the coldest season, when the inclination is for so many of us to stay indoors. It is also about the joy of learning a craft and practising it. Richard also shares the deeply moving, personal journey that led to him becoming an artist, as he reflects on how he connects with the world around him, and finds creativity through his walks in nature.

When Helen Lehndorf moves to the city after a childhood living off the land in rural Taranaki, she can't help but feel different from her peers and professors. She finds solace in long walks foraging weeds and plants along the river, but something inside her still longs for home. Chasing a feeling of ancestral belonging, she travels to England with her new husband. There they learn about nature as the commons, shared between all who encounter it - a source of delight, food, medicine.

Mary Siisip Geniusz has spent more than thirty years working with, living with, and using the Anishinaabe teachings, recipes, and botanical information, she shares in Plants Have So Much to Give Us, All We Have to Do Is Ask. Geniusz gained much of the knowledge she writes about from her years as an oshkaabewis, a traditionally trained apprentice, and as friend to the late Keewaydinoquay, an Anishinaabe medicine woman from the Leelanau Peninsula in Michigan and a scholar, teacher, and practitioner in the field of native ethnobotany.