A Discover Magazine Best Book of 2012 An O, The Oprah Magazine “Summer Reading

Argues that such social virtues as cooperation, empathy, and morality are as genetically inherent as aggressive and competitive behaviors, drawing on research with two ape species whose DNA most closely resembles that of humans to explain how ape instincts can inform readers about human behavior. Reprint. 50,000 first printing.

Shares controversial, scientifically based revelations about the origins of HIV/AIDS to trace how it progressed from an unnoticed chimpanzee infection to a widespread human plague. By the award-winning author of The Song of the Dodo. Original.

"A volume for a lifetime" is how The New Yorker described the first of Donald Culross Peatie's two books about American trees published in the 1950s. In this one-volume edition, modern readers are introduced to one of the best nature writers of the last century. As we read Peattie's eloquent and entertaining accounts of American trees, we catch glimpses of our country's history and past daily life that no textbook could ever illuminate so vividly. Here you'll learn about everything from how a species was discovered to the part it played in our country’s history. Pioneers often stabled an animal in the hollow heart of an old sycamore, and the whole family might live there until they could build a log cabin. The tuliptree, the tallest native hardwood, is easier to work than most softwood trees; Daniel Boone carved a sixty-foot canoe from one tree to carry his family from Kentucky into Spanish territory. In the days before the Revolution, the British and the colonists waged an undeclared war over New England's white pines, which made the best tall masts for fighting ships. It's fascinating to learn about the commercial uses of various woods -- for paper, fine furniture, fence posts, matchsticks, house framing, airplane wings, and dozens of other preplastic uses. But we cannot read this book without the occasional lump in our throats. The American elm was still alive when Peattie wrote, but as we read his account today we can see what caused its demise. Audubon's portrait of a pair of loving passenger pigeons in an American beech is considered by many to be his greatest painting. It certainly touched the poet in Donald Culross Peattie as he depicted the extinction of the passenger pigeon when the beech forest was destroyed. A Natural History of North American Trees gives us a picture of life in America from its earliest days to the middle of the last century. The information is always interesting, though often heartbreaking. While Peattie looks for the better side of man's nature, he reports sorrowfully on the greed and waste that have doomed so much of America's virgin forest.

The emphasis in research on waterfowl has traditionally focused on breeding as opposed to migrant or wintering birds. Scientists have long been interested in courtship, nest sites, laying, and brood-rearing, and they have also been concerned about losses of eggs, young, nesting hens, and breeding habitats, especially as they have affected the goal of increasing populations. But lately there has been an upsurge of interest and research on the migratory and wintering phases, and this volume offers ample evidence of the knowledge gained. The authors - 105 waterfowl biologists - have contributed 47 chapters that range geographically from Alaska to northern South America, and from the Pacific Northwest to Nova Scotia and Florida. Their subjects include: --distributional changes due to human influence --population trends and concerns over less common species --pairing and other behavior that occurs in the wintering areas and is vital to the success of the species --feeding ecology and body condition during winter --new habitats created by such activities as aquaculture and park development --losses of habitat due to development and drainage for alternate uses --lead poisoning and pollutants that are detrimental to waterfowl --habitat management for maintenance of successful populations now and in the future Also presented are reports of workshop discussions outlining current issues and future research needs. Preparation of this volume was assisted by an editorial board comprising Bruce J. J. Batt, Robert H. Chabreck, Leigh H. Fredrickson, and Dennis G. Raveling.

A guide to non-traditional sexual expression, presented in the form of answers to written letters, draws on the author's expertise in evolutionary biology and considers such topics as necrophilia, bestiality, sex changes, virgin births, and male pregnancy. 50,000 first printing.

Published in association with the National Museum of American Art, Smithsonian Institution. This beautifully produced oversize (9x11.5) volume contains 104 thoroughly captioned illustrations (55 plates in color) accompanying a narrative profile of the man and his work as naturalist and artist. The author, an art historian and former curator of the New York Historical Society, is an authority on Audubon and on the art and culture of 19th-century America. Annotation c. by Book News, Inc., Portland, Or.

Up North – Reflections Moments & Memories Through the pages of this awe-inspiring book, readers are taken to a place of solitude, romance, laughter and sometimes craziness. The images are woven together with quotes that will inspire and uplift your soul reminding us of the gift of up north.

In a series of essays giving careful consideration to the theory of evolution, Gould examines some of the more intriguing mysteries of the topic, studying the Piltdown Man hoax, the deceleration of earth's rotation, and other phenomena

A passionate tour of the Arctic landscape covers such topics as the aurora borealis, polar bears, killer whales, migrating icebergs, the region's indigenous people, and the author's spiritual experiences there. Winner of the National Book Award. Reprint. 17,500 first printing.