Natural Science

At 5:12 am on April 18, 1906, a 7.9 magnitude earthquake struck San Francisco, catching most of the city asleep. For approximately forty-eight seconds, shock waves buckled streets, shattered water mains, collapsed buildings, crushed hundreds of residents to death, and trapped many alive. Matthew Davenport draws on letters, diaries, unpublished memoirs, and previously unearthed archival records, as well as interviews with engineers and geologists, to combine history and science to tell the dramatic true story of one of the greatest disasters in American history.

From foraging and hunting for food to (more recently) finding solace and peace in a beautiful vista, humans have long interacted with the natural world. Though a connection to nature runs deep in our DNA, however, people of the modern age are indoors almost 93 percent of the day. With that said, there is a growing evidence suggests that the natural world promotes mental and physical well-being, including stress relief, improved mood, and neurological benefits.

Evolutionary theory in the theme that binds together these essays on such seemingly disparate topics as the feeding habits of flamingos, flowers and snails that change from male to female and sometimes back again, and the extinction from baseball of the .400 hitter.

Do you know what lies behind every door? There are certain buildings which can be unsettling, disturbing, and downright terrifying. Even in seemingly normal homes, the strange and mysterious can help to create a sense of unease and ill-feeling. But there are certain buildings which scream strangeness from every surface. A coldness, an eerie atmosphere, or even the half caught sight of something moving in the corner of your vision. Some homes breathe paranormal activity and can leave you scared before you've even stepped over the threshold.

Elena Cortez loves Halloween. So when her new sexy neighbor Cassia invites her to a Halloween party, she’s super-stoked! Only problem: Elena thinks Cassia might be a witch. Like a real witch. Who’s using her magic to make Elena have the most epic orgasms of her life! Will Elena be able to discover the truth about Cassia? Will she let herself become the ultimate witch slut? And will she let Cassia put her wand wherever she wants?

Over thousands of years, the Mississippi watershed was home to millions of Indigenous people who regarded "the great river" with awe and respect, adorning its banks with astonishing spiritual earthworks. But European settlers and American pioneers had a different vision: the river was a foe to conquer. In this landmark work of natural history, Boyce Upholt tells the epic story of human attempts to own and contain the Mississippi River, from Thomas Jefferson's expansionist land hunger through today's era of environmental concern

A valuable discovery under the world's second-largest temperate wetland and in the traditional lands of the Cree and Ojibway casts light on the growing conflict among resource development, environmental stewardship, and Indigenous rights. In this colorful tale, Virginia Heffernan draws on her bush and newsroom experiences to illustrate the complexities of resource development at a time when Indigenous rights are becoming enshrined globally.

The Occult and Supernatural Collection includes: The Book of Were-Wolves, The Discovery of Witches, and Irish Witchcraft and Demonology.

In this wide-ranging and accessible new book, biologist-turned-perfumer Elise Vernon Pearlstine turns our human-centered perception of fragrance on its head and investigates plants' evolutionary reasons for creating aromatic molecules. Delving into themes of spirituality, wealth, power, addiction, royalty, fantasy, and more, Pearlstine uncovers the natural history of aromatic substances and their intersection with human culture and civilization.

Everly's entire life is upside down. She's not even sure if she's human anymore, and no one seems to know what she is. Or whether it's good or evil. The only thing she's sure of is she has to save the man she loves. And to do so, she's going to have to face up to Darkfrey Estate, crazy cultists, and a creature that is only tangible in the darkness.

When a detective with a penchant for chaos gets saddled with a new partner, a case that doesn’t make sense, and some particularly determined assassins…justice feels out of reach. Logan Blackwell has been a detective for a long time. After all, mages live for centuries. He lost his parents to the Mage Wars and his best friend to organized crime.

This book has lots of actionable information on how to catapult your self-esteem in order to ultimately boost your self-confidence and happiness levels by unleashing the full power of your mind. Sitting at home feeling sorry for yourself won’t make that happen but learning how to become super confident will. Stress and anxiety are both triggered by lack of self-esteem or lack of confidence. You may not be aware of it, but they skew the way that the world perceives you and also the way in which you interact with life.

The Galapagos were once known to the sailors and pirates who encountered them as Las Encantadas: the enchanted islands, home to exotic creatures and dramatic volcanic scenery. In The Galapagos, science writer Henry Nicholls offers a lively natural and human history of the archipelago, charting its evolution from deserted wilderness to scientific resource (made famous by Charles Darwin) and global ecotourism hot spot.

Tyson Compass, as one of the famed Compass quads, is not a wizard used to living with regrets. Except for one: Grace Carter. Grace is a healer witch he rejected many years ago. After completely disappearing from his life, she has returned and turned his world upside down. Tyson does everything he can to prove he will never hurt her again, and just when he thinks there might be a chance for them, she has to leave again. She makes him promise not to follow her, but after almost two months with no word, he’s done waiting. He’s going to find his girl.

More than any other modern scientists, Stephen Jay Gould has opened up to millions the wonders of evolutionary biology. His genius as an essayist lies in his unmatched ability to use his knowledge of the world, including popular culture, to illuminate the realm of science.

Told in luminous, perceptive prose, The Last Fire Season is a deeply incisive inquiry into what it really means—now—to live in relationship to the elements of the natural world. When Manjula Martin moved from the city to the woods of Northern California, she wanted to be closer to the wilderness that she had loved as a child. She was also seeking refuge from a health crisis that left her with chronic pain, and found a sense of healing through tending her garden beneath the redwoods of Sonoma County.

As a twenty-three-year-old college dropout, Clark Crane has nothing to show for himself but three dead-end jobs. So when he becomes the unlikely intern for enigmatic celebrity Charisma Saintly and her "coven" of personal assistants, he's prepared to do whatever it takes to succeed. Only, he has no idea who—or what—Charisma really is....

The paths of the great American robber barons were paved with riches, and though ordinary citizens paid for them, they also profited. Les Standiford, author of the John Deal thrillers, tells how the man who turned Florida's swamps into the playgrounds of the rich performed the almost superhuman feat of building a railroad from the mainland to Key West at the turn of the century.

With health and sustainability at the forefront of our minds, more and more people are hitting the woodlands and foraging for edible goodies every day. But if you're new to the foraging game, you're probably a little nervous about how you can be sure you're finding the edible gold...and not the toxic imposters. Being able to identify mushrooms confidently and accurately is a crucial part of foraging—and it's only when you can do this that the real fun can begin.

Through explorations of a rich and varied urban landscape, Brenner reveals the complex micro-habitats and surprising nature found in the middle of a city. In her hometown of Seattle, which has plowed down hills, cut through the land to connect fresh- and saltwater, and paved over much of the rest, she exposes a diverse range of strange and unknown creatures.