Spirals in Time

2015-05-07 Nature

Author : Helen Scales
Release : 2015-05-07
Genre : Nature
Kind : eBook
Book Rating : 377/5 ( reviews)

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Book Synopsis Spirals in Time by : Helen Scales

Download or read book Spirals in Time written by Helen Scales. This book was released on 2015-05-07. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: The beautifully written story of shells and their makers, and our relationships with them. Seashells are the sculpted homes of a remarkable group of animals: the molluscs. These are some of the most ancient and successful animals on the planet. But watch out. Some molluscs can kill you if you eat them. Some will kill you if you stand too close. That hasn't stopped people using shells in many ways over thousands of years. They became the first jewelry and oldest currencies; they've been used as potent symbols of sex and death, prestige and war, not to mention a nutritious (and tasty) source of food. Spirals in Time is an exuberant aquatic romp, revealing amazing tales of these undersea marvels. Helen Scales leads us on a journey into their realm, as she goes in search of everything from snails that 'fly' underwater on tiny wings to octopuses accused of stealing shells and giant mussels with golden beards that were supposedly the source of Jason's golden fleece, and learns how shells have been exchanged for human lives, tapped for mind-bending drugs and inspired advances in medical technology. Weaving through these stories are the remarkable animals that build them, creatures with fascinating tales to tell, a myriad of spiralling shells following just a few simple rules of mathematics and evolution. Shells are also bellwethers of our impact on the natural world. Some species have been overfished, others poisoned by polluted seas; perhaps most worryingly of all, molluscs are expected to fall victim to ocean acidification, a side-effect of climate change that may soon cause shells to simply melt away. But rather than dwelling on what we risk losing, Spirals in Time urges you to ponder how seashells can reconnect us with nature, and heal the rift between ourselves and the living world.

Spiral to the Stars

2019-06-25 Social Science

Author : Laura Harjo
Release : 2019-06-25
Genre : Social Science
Kind : eBook
Book Rating : 018/5 ( reviews)

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Book Synopsis Spiral to the Stars by : Laura Harjo

Download or read book Spiral to the Stars written by Laura Harjo. This book was released on 2019-06-25. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: All communities are teeming with energy, spirit, and knowledge, and Spiral to the Stars taps into and activates this dynamism to discuss Indigenous community planning from a Mvskoke perspective. This book poses questions about what community is, how to reclaim community, and how to embark on the process of envisioning what and where the community can be. Geographer Laura Harjo demonstrates that Mvskoke communities have what they need to dream, imagine, speculate, and activate the wishes of ancestors, contemporary kin, and future relatives—all in a present temporality—which is Indigenous futurity. Organized around four methodologies—radical sovereignty, community knowledge, collective power, and emergence geographies—Spiral to the Stars provides a path that departs from traditional community-making strategies, which are often extensions of the settler state. Readers are provided a set of methodologies to build genuine community relationships, knowledge, power, and spaces for themselves. Communities don’t have to wait on experts because this book helps them activate their own possibilities and expertise. A detailed final chapter provides participatory tools that can be used in workshop settings or one on one. This book offers a critical and concrete map for community making that leverages Indigenous way-finding tools. Mvskoke narratives thread throughout the text, vividly demonstrating that theories come from lived and felt experiences. This is a must-have book for community organizers, radical pedagogists, and anyone wishing to empower and advocate for their community.

Swirl by Swirl

2011 Juvenile Nonfiction

Author : Joyce Sidman
Release : 2011
Genre : Juvenile Nonfiction
Kind : eBook
Book Rating : 83X/5 ( reviews)

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Book Synopsis Swirl by Swirl by : Joyce Sidman

Download or read book Swirl by Swirl written by Joyce Sidman. This book was released on 2011. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: Celebrates the shape of a spiral in nature, from rushing rivers to flower buds and even the shape of an ear. Additional factual information about spirals and the plants and animals pictured, follows the text.

Eye of the Shoal

2018-05-03 Nature

Author : Helen Scales
Release : 2018-05-03
Genre : Nature
Kind : eBook
Book Rating : 833/5 ( reviews)

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Book Synopsis Eye of the Shoal by : Helen Scales

Download or read book Eye of the Shoal written by Helen Scales. This book was released on 2018-05-03. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: 'Scales's genuine appreciation and awe for fish are contagious.'- Science 'Delightful' - New Scientist Seventy per cent of the earth's surface is covered by water. This vast aquatic realm is inhabited by a multitude of strange creatures and reigning supreme among them are the fish. There are giants that live for centuries and thumb-sized tiddlers that survive only weeks; they can be pancake-flat or inflatable balloons; they can shout with colours or hide in plain sight, cheat and dance, remember and say sorry; some rarely budge while others travel the globe restlessly. And yet the mesmerising and complex lives of fish remain largely underrated and unseen, living hidden beneath the waterline, out of sight and out of mind. Helen Scales is our guide on an underwater journey, as we fathom the depths and watch these animals going about the glorious business of being fish. As well as the fish, we meet devoted fishwatchers past and present, from voodoo zombie potion hunters and scientists who taught fish how to walk to nonagenarian explorers of the deep sea. Woven throughout are vignettes of Helen's own aquatic explorations, from eerie nighttime dives with glowing fish and up-close encounters with giant manta rays, to floating in the middle of a swirling shoal being watched by thousands of inquisitive eyes. As well as being a rich and entertaining read, this book will inspire readers to think again about these animals and the seas they inhabit, and to go out and appreciate the wonders of fish, whether through the glass walls of an aquarium or, better still, by gazing into the fishes' wild world and swimming through it. 'Engaging and informative' The Economist

What a Shell Can Tell

2022 Juvenile Nonfiction

Author : Helen Scales
Release : 2022
Genre : Juvenile Nonfiction
Kind : eBook
Book Rating : 305/5 ( reviews)

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Book Synopsis What a Shell Can Tell by : Helen Scales

Download or read book What a Shell Can Tell written by Helen Scales. This book was released on 2022. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: A stunning, lavishly illustrated, and information-packed introduction to the wonder of shells through the art of observation - the perfect book for young explorers, collectors, and nature lovers everywhere

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