Fireflies Honey And Silk

Author : Dr. Gilbert Waldbauer
Publisher : Univ of California Press
ISBN 13 : 052094495X
Total Pages : 247 pages
Book Rating : 4.54/5 ( download)

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Download or read book Fireflies, Honey, and Silk written by Dr. Gilbert Waldbauer and published by Univ of California Press. This book was released on 2009-10-06 with total page 247 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: The ink our ancestors wrote with, the beeswax in altar candles, the honey on our toast, the silk we wear. This enchanting book is a highly entertaining exploration of the myriad ways insects have enriched our lives–culturally, economically, and aesthetically. Entomologist and writer Gilbert Waldbauer describes in loving, colorful detail how many of the valuable products insects have given us are made, how they were discovered, and how they have been used through time and across cultures. Along the way, he takes us on a captivating ramble through many far-flung corners of history, mythology, poetry, literature, medicine, ecology, forensics, and more. Enlivened with personal anecdotes from Waldbauer's distinguished career as an entomologist, the book also describes surprising everyday encounters we all experience that were made possible by insects. From butterfly gardens and fly-fishing to insects as jewelry and sex pheromones, this is an eye-opening ode to the wonder of insects that illuminates our extraordinary and essential relationship with the natural world.

Author : Gilbert Waldbauer
Publisher : University of California Press
ISBN 13 : 0520383001
Total Pages : 238 pages
Book Rating : 4.05/5 ( download)

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Download or read book How Not to Be Eaten written by Gilbert Waldbauer and published by University of California Press. This book was released on 2021-04-06 with total page 238 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: “At times this informative book turns wonderfully gross and lovely, reminding us that there’s an entire universe of largely unnoticed creatures all around us.”—Audubon All animals must eat. But who eats who, and why, or why not? Because insects outnumber and collectively outweigh all other animals combined, they comprise the largest amount of animal food available for potential consumption. How do they avoid being eaten? From masterful disguises to physical and chemical lures and traps, predatory insects have devised ingenious and bizarre methods of finding food. Equally ingenious are the means of hiding, mimicry, escape, and defense waged by prospective prey in order to stay alive. This absorbing book demonstrates that the relationship between the eaten and the eater is a central—perhaps the central—aspect of what goes on in the community of organisms. By explaining the many ways in which insects avoid becoming a meal for a predator, and the ways in which predators evade their defensive strategies, Gilbert Waldbauer conveys an essential understanding of the unrelenting coevolutionary forces at work in the world around us.

Author : Rosemary Scanlon McTier
Publisher : McFarland
ISBN 13 : 1476600279
Total Pages : 211 pages
Book Rating : 4.77/5 ( download)

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Download or read book "An Insect View of Its Plain" written by Rosemary Scanlon McTier and published by McFarland. This book was released on 2013-01-30 with total page 211 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: During the nineteenth century, insects became a very fashionable subject of study, and the writing of the day reflected this popularity. However, despite an increased contemporary interest in ecocriticism and cultural entomology, scholars have largely ignored the presence of insects in nineteenth-century literature. This volume addresses that critical gap by exploring the cultural and literary position of insects in the work of Henry David Thoreau, Emily Dickinson, and John Muir. It examines the beliefs these authors share about the nature of our connection to insects and what insects have to teach about creation and our place in it. An important contribution to both ecocriticism and literary entomology, this work contributes much to the understanding of Thoreau, Dickinson, and Muir as nature writers, natural scientists, entomologists, and botanists, and their intimate and highly spiritual relationships with nature.

Author : Subhas Kundu
Publisher : Elsevier
ISBN 13 : 0857097067
Total Pages : 582 pages
Book Rating : 4.64/5 ( download)

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Download or read book Silk Biomaterials for Tissue Engineering and Regenerative Medicine written by Subhas Kundu and published by Elsevier. This book was released on 2014-03-24 with total page 582 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: Silk is increasingly being used as a biomaterial for tissue engineering applications, as well as sutures, due to its unique mechanical and chemical properties. Silk Biomaterials for Tissue Engineering and Regenerative Medicine discusses the properties of silk that make it useful for medical purposes and its applications in this area. Part one introduces silk biomaterials, discussing their fundamentals and how they are processed, and considering different types of silk biomaterials. Part two focuses on the properties and behavior of silk biomaterials and the implications of this for their applications in biomedicine. These chapters focus on topics including biodegradation, bio-response to silk sericin, and capillary growth behavior in porous silk films. Finally, part three discusses the applications of silk biomaterials for tissue engineering, regenerative medicine, and biomedicine, with chapters on the use of silk biomaterials for vertebral, dental, dermal, and cardiac tissue engineering. Silk Biomaterials for Tissue Engineering and Regenerative Medicine is an important resource for materials and tissue engineering scientists, R&D departments in industry and academia, and academics with an interest in the fields of biomaterials and tissue engineering. Discusses the properties and applications of silk for medical purposes Considers pharmaceutical and cosmeceutical applications

Author : David Waltner-Toews
Publisher : ECW Press
ISBN 13 : 1773050354
Total Pages : 386 pages
Book Rating : 4.55/5 ( download)

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Download or read book Eat the Beetles! written by David Waltner-Toews and published by ECW Press. This book was released on 2017-05-09 with total page 386 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: “Provides a sturdy literary exoskeleton to the field of human insectivory . . . it entertains as it enlightens” (Daniella Martin, author of Edible). Meet the beetles: there are millions and millions of them and many fewer of the rest of us—mammals, birds, and reptiles. Since before recorded history, humans have eaten insects. While many get squeamish at the idea, entomophagy—people eating insects—is a possible way to ensure a sustainable and secure food supply for the eight billion of us on the planet. Once seen as the great enemy of human civilization, destroying our crops and spreading plagues, we now see insects as marvelous pollinators of our food crops and a potential source of commercial food supply. From upscale restaurants where black ants garnish raw salmon to grubs as pub snacks in Paris and Tokyo, from backyard cricket farming to high-tech businesses, Eat the Beetles! weaves these cultural, ecological, and evolutionary narratives to provide an accessible and humorous exploration of entomophagy. “Waltner-Toews punctuates this serious subject with his quirky humour . . . Eat the Beetles! is an essential part of a growing buzz.” —Toronto Star “An excellent read for those interested in multiple perspectives on the issue of entomophagy, digging deep into science and math with flair and irreverence.” —Scene Magazine “When it comes to the future of insects as food for humans and livestock, Waltner-Toews walks the line between skepticism and optimism in an intelligent, witty, and provocative analysis.” —Jeff Lockwood, author of The Infested Mind “Full of humor and science, this edible insect book is definitely a must read!” —EntoMove Project

Author : Margareta Séquin
Publisher : Royal Society of Chemistry
ISBN 13 : 1782624481
Total Pages : 197 pages
Book Rating : 4.86/5 ( download)

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Download or read book The Chemistry of Plants and Insects written by Margareta Séquin and published by Royal Society of Chemistry. This book was released on 2017-04-28 with total page 197 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: This book explains the natural chemical compounds that determine the fascinating interactions between plants and insects providing a gentle and absorbing introduction to organic chemistry.

Author : Rikki Ducornet
Publisher : Coffee House Press
ISBN 13 : 156689381X
Total Pages : 134 pages
Book Rating : 4.17/5 ( download)

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Download or read book The Deep Zoo written by Rikki Ducornet and published by Coffee House Press. This book was released on 2014-12-15 with total page 134 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: Included in Library Journal’s "25 Key Indie Fiction Titles, Fall 2014-Winter 2015" Within the writer's life, words and things acquire power. For Borges it is the tiger and the color red, for Cortázar a pair of amorous lions, and for an early Egyptian scribe the monarch butterfly that metamorphosed into the Key of Life. Ducornet names these powers The Deep Zoo. Her essays take us from the glorious bestiary of Aloys Zötl to Abu Ghraib, from the tree of life to Sade's Silling Castle, from The Epic of Gilgamesh to virtual reality. Says Ducornet, "To write with the irresistible ink of tigers and the uncaging of our own Deep Zoo, we need to be attentive and fearless—above all very curious—and all at the same time." "Ducornet’s skill at drawing unexpected connections, and her ability to move between outrage and meditativeness, are gripping to behold."—Star Tribune

Author : Jim Nelson
Publisher : Outskirts Press
ISBN 13 : 1977275052
Total Pages : 196 pages
Book Rating : 4.59/5 ( download)

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Download or read book Ten Insects That Changed the World written by Jim Nelson and published by Outskirts Press. This book was released on 2024-05-26 with total page 196 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: Did you know that the mosquito played an important role in the Louisiana Purchase? Or that dung beetles saved the cattle industry in Australia? That honeybees pollinate about one third of the food we eat? Or that the deadliest animal on earth is an insect? There’s an ant colony some 3,700 miles long! Morgan’s sphinx moth has a tongue more than 13 inches long. A locust plague stopped trains as the tracks became slippery with their crushed bodies. There’s a grasshopper in Africa that eats mice. Jim Nelson’s latest book is a treasure house of fascinating facts, stunning photographs and shocking historical events. One moment you might cringe reading about billions of locusts descending on farmland. The next you may laugh out loud at anecdotes and original poetry. Read about the wasp that turns a cockroach into a zombie or the historic 2024 hatch of a trillion cicadas. Trivia buffs will love the “Insect Book of Records” and chefs can add several insect recipes to their repertoire.

Author : Christine DeVine
Publisher : Cambridge Scholars Publishing
ISBN 13 : 1443832367
Total Pages : 205 pages
Book Rating : 4.66/5 ( download)

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Download or read book Turning Points and Transformations written by Christine DeVine and published by Cambridge Scholars Publishing. This book was released on 2011-07-12 with total page 205 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: From the Irish Cailleach and other shape-shifters of folk legends to modern movie “transformers”; from Ovid’s Metamorphoses to the moment when Gregor Samsa woke up one morning to find himself transformed into an insect in Kafka’s novella; from conversion narratives to slave narratives, turning points and transformations have always been central to literary works and to cultural developments. In fact, with Freytag’s pyramid in mind, one could claim that all literary works focus on the trope of a transformation born of a turning point, because such moments comprise the very essence and vitality of human life and culture. But why are turning points necessarily transformational and in what way? And what brings about those turning points in language, literature, culture and human lives? These are essentially the questions the essays in this volume seek to answer. The contributors examine turning points and transformations – personal, literary and cultural – brought about through the randomness of the universe as well as through human interference, and discuss ways in which humans in general and writers in particular, through their art, experience and cope with the ineluctable results.

Author : Barbara Allen
Publisher : Reaktion Books
ISBN 13 : 1780236050
Total Pages : 480 pages
Book Rating : 4.56/5 ( download)

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Download or read book Animals in Religion written by Barbara Allen and published by Reaktion Books. This book was released on 2016-06-15 with total page 480 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: Animals in Religion explores the role of animals within a wide range of religious traditions. Exploring countless stories and myths passed down orally and in many religious texts, Barbara Allen—herself a practicing minister—offers a fascinating history of the ways animals have figured in our spiritual lives, whether they have been Christian, Jewish, Muslim, or any number of lesser-known religions. Some of the figures here will be familiar, such as St. Francis of Assisi, famous for his accord with animals, or that beloved remover of obstacles, Ganesha, the popular elephant god in the Hindu pantheon. Delving deeper, Allen highlights the numerous ways that our religious practices have honored and relied upon our animal brethren. She examines the principle of ahimsa, or nonviolence, which has Jains sweeping the pathways before them so as not to kill any insects, as well as the similar principle in Judaism of ts’ar ba’alei chayim and the notion in some sects of Islam that all living creatures are Muslim. From ancient Egypt to the Druids to the indigenous cultures of North America and Australia, Allen tells story after story that emphasizes the same message: all species are spiritually connected.