Showing results for "Man and Nature" in Science

Most of Jim Corbett's books contain collections of stories that recount adventures tracking and shooting man-eaters in the Indian Himalayas. This volume, however, consists of a single story, often considered the most exciting of all Corbett's jungle tales. He gives a carefully detailed account of a notorious leopard that terrorized life in the hills of the colonial United Provinces. This story represents Corbett's most sustained and unique effort.

From its man-made origins as a consequence of medieval peat excavations, the Broads of Norfolk and Suffolk have evolved into a natural ecosystem, providing habitat for a diverse range of flora and fauna (some of which are unique to the Broads area), as well as a means of livelihood for the inhabitants of this region. In the company of the book’s author, a self-taught lifelong naturalist and undisputed expert of the Broads (who also wrote under the pen name of John Knowlittle), we discover how the life of the Broads unfolds over the course of a single year. So, why not listen in, and join us ...

In 1898, the British were building a railway line between Mombasa in Kenya and Uganda. At the Tsavo River in Kenya where a bridge needed to be built, the project was suddenly interrupted by two man-eating lions that targeted the camps of the workers. Over a period of nine months, the lions killed scores of people. These lions were deliberately hunting people, preferring humans over any other prey, and they seemed to have supernatural abilities in evading all attempts to stop them. Colonel J.H. Patterson, the chief engineer in charge of the project, finally managed to eliminate them.

This is a volume of poetry by Harry Graham. Graham was known for his satirical poetry, and this volume is a great example of his art. In this volume, Graham charicatures several famous historical or legendary personages, and allows himself some reflections on the story of that person's life. - Summary by Carolin

Brought to you by Penguin. Stephen Hawking's closest collaborator offers the intellectual superstar's final thoughts on the cosmos. One of the biggest questions Stephen Hawking tried to answer in his extraordinary life was how the universe could have created conditions so perfectly hospitable to...

Volcanoes have fascinated - and terrified - people for ages. They have destroyed cities and ended civilizations. In this book, John Dvorak, the acclaimed author of Earthquake Storms, looks into the early years of volcanology and its "father", Thomas Jaggar. Jaggar was the youngest of five scientists to investigate the explosion of Mount Pelee in Martinique, which leveled the entire city of St. Pierre and killed its entire population in two minutes.

A mysterious, bandaged stranger arrives in the small English village of Iping - and chaos follows close behind. H.G. Wells' classic story of obsession, murder, and science run amok. (Summary by Andrew Gaunce)

The Penobscot Man is a collection of true stories about the river drivers, guides, and woodsmen of Maine’s Penobscot River. Fannie Hardy Eckstorm writes from a firsthand knowledge of the region. The book portrays the men's dangerous log‑driving work, their courage and hardships, and the local legends and characters that shaped life along the river. Note: Occasionally, somewhat racist remarks or characterizations make their way into the narrative, reflecting the biases of the era. (Summary by John Greenman)

This was Trollope's last completed novel, and he may have acquired his sympathy for older lovers with age! A not-so-very-old man, Mr. Whittlestaff, dearly loves Mary Lawrie, the girl he provides a home for after her father's death. He wishes to marry her, and she reluctantly accepts him, but warns him of her deep regard for a young man she had known years earlier. That Mr. Gordon had not exactly engaged her, but had gone off to seek his fortune and had not communicated with Mary ever since. Shortly after Mary accepts Mr. Whittlestaff, Gordon shows up. Trollope works out a final arrangement ...

Dive into the findings of Galtons intriguing survey that sought to uncover the distinctions and similarities among the eminent men of his era. This podcast features a wealth of biographical details, biometric data, and thought-provoking quotations from these distinguished individuals. Summarized by Niobium.

Brought to you by Penguin. An immersive journey through trees in Japan by celebrated writer Aya Koda – now available in English for the first time ‘Trees are not just living things, but feeling beings, like us. Better keep a watchful eye over them…’ Ezo spruce, hinoki, cherry blossoms...

A prize was recently offered in the University of Oxford for an Essay on Longevity, and was awarded to the little treatise now published. In the following pages the scope proposed in the subject given for the essay, viz. ‘The Comparative Longevity of different species of lower Animals and the Longevity of Man in different states of Civilization,' has been adhered to. The subject does not admit of very satisfactory treatment from a scientific point of view, and is accordingly one which probably few persons would have selected to write upon, unless under special circumstances, such as were ...

This early novel by James is written in the first person by "James Young", and tells of his early experiences of the deaths of his father and brother, and his enduring love for his childhood companion, Emily. We watch the development of his character, influenced by these early experiences, family, education and enduring love as he becomes a Desultory Man. Unlike James's other works, this is written as a series of sketches, thoughts and poems.(Summary by LynneT)

In this semi-autobiographical work, his first novel, John Dos Passos describes the experiences of young Martin Howe as an ambulance driver, on the French front, during the First World War. - Summary by Mark Leder

The story of a biracial man living in the deep south after the reconstruction era. He is young and talented. Yet, in order for him to avoid stigma, he has to pass as white. But would his sense of belonging and solidarity to the black community of the time catch up with him at the end? "It is very likely that the Negroes of the United States have a fairly correct idea of what the white people of the country think of them, for that opinion has for a long time been and is still being constantly stated; but they are themselves more or less a sphinx to the whites. It is curiously interesting and ...

The results of a survey undertaken by Galton to learn more about individual differences and similarities between the "pre-eminent" men of his time. Brief biographical information, biometric data and extensive quotations have been compiled and presented. Summary by niobium.

The novel tells the story of a journey to the Moon undertaken by the two protagonists: a businessman narrator, Mr. Bedford; and an eccentric scientist, Mr. Cavor. Bedford and Cavor discover that the Moon is inhabited by a sophisticated extraterrestrial civilisation of insect-like creatures they call "Selenites". - Summary by Cliff Stone

A presentation and deconstruction of the "Protocols of the Wise Men of Zion", an anti-Semitic work fabricated in order to brand Jews as dangerous and evil people, depicting the fictional secret Jewish world organization which aims to conquer the modern world. - Summary by Nathan Lewin

Scientist, resistance fighter and Holocaust survivor, Primo Levi was one of Italy's greatest writers and an internationally renowned chronicler of human nature. In his masterpiece The Periodic Table, he charts his incredible life story through the medium of chemistry, using the titular list of...

In 1898, during the construction of river-crossing bridge for the Uganda Railway at the Tsavo River, as many as 135 railway workers were attacked at night, dragged into the wilderness, and devoured by two male lions. The Man-Eaters of Tsavo is the autobiographical account of Royal Engineer Lt. Col. J.H. Patterson's African adventures. Among them, his hunt for the two man-eaters. This book was the basis for the 1996 film The Ghost and the Darkness. (Summary by James Christopher)