The Naturalists

The Naturalists PDF

Author: Stephen R. Bown

Publisher: Barnes & Noble Publishing

Published: 2002

Total Pages: 284

ISBN-13: 9780760737644

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This volume provides portraits of the early naturalists who explored the New World in the pre-Darwinian Age. The late eighteenth and early nineteenth centuries in Europe and America saw the dawn of a golden age of science in which society energetically sought to quantify, categorize, and rationally explain the world. The author profiles nine important naturalists -- both dedicated professionals and amateurs -- who set off for what is now North and South America to discover and document the natural wonders they found there. Their stories of adventure are punctuated with hardship, both in finding the financing to get their ventures off the ground, and the vagaries of the elements they encountered in the New World. Despite the odds, these explorers, either traveling with artists, or as artists themselves, chronicled their adventures in both words and pictures, providing a unique portrait of the natural world in North, South, and Central America before parts of it became widely settled.

Naturalists in Paradise

Naturalists in Paradise PDF

Author: John Hemming

Publisher: National Geographic Books

Published: 2015-03-10

Total Pages: 0

ISBN-13: 0500252106

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The thrilling stories of the three pioneering English naturalists’ explorations and discoveries in the world’s richest ecosystem One hundred and fifty years ago, the young naturalists Alfred Wallace, Henry Walter Bates, and Richard Spruce were on a journey. Their destination, Amazonia—the world’s largest tropical forest with the greatest river system and richest ecosystem—was then an almost-undiscovered environment to Western explorers and scientists. In Naturalists in Paradise, Amazon expert John Hemming weaves the riveting stories of these three men’s experiences in the Amazon and assesses their valuable research that drastically changed our conception of the natural world. Each of the three naturalists is famous for a particular discovery: Wallace is credited, along with Charles Darwin, for developing the theory of evolution; Bates uncovered the phenomenon of protective mimicry among insects; and Spruce transported the quinine-bearing Cinchona tree to India, saving countless lives from malaria. Drawing on the letters and books of the three naturalists, Hemming reaches beyond the well-known narratives, offering unrivaled insight into the often lawless frontier life in South America as seen through the lives of the great pioneers of modern disciplines: anthropology, tribal linguistics, archaeology, and every branch of natural science.

The Nearsighted Naturalist

The Nearsighted Naturalist PDF

Author: Ann Zwinger

Publisher: University of Arizona Press

Published: 1998-08

Total Pages: 308

ISBN-13: 9780816518814

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A collection of writings about nature follows the author's early life in Indiana, to her home in Colorado, and to her journeys west and overseas

Adventures of a Young Naturalist

Adventures of a Young Naturalist PDF

Author: David Attenborough

Publisher: Quercus

Published: 2018-05-01

Total Pages: 410

ISBN-13: 1635060710

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"A GREAT BOOK." --THE NEW YORK TIMES "MARVELOUS." --THE TELEGRAPH "A RARE GLIMPSE OF A FLEDGLING DAVID ATTENBOROUGH IN THE WILD." --VANITY FAIR Living legend and presenter of BBC's Planet Earth series Sir David Attenborough tells the story of his early career as a broadcaster and a naturalist in his own words. In 1954, David Attenborough, a young television presenter, was offered the opportunity of a lifetime--to travel the world finding rare and elusive animals for the London Zoo's collection, and to film the expedition for the BBC for a new show called Zoo Quest. This is the story of those voyages. Staying with local tribes while trekking in search of giant anteaters in Guyana, Komodo dragons in Indonesia, and armadillos in Paraguay, he and the rest of the team contended with cannibal fish, aggressive tree porcupines, and escape-artist wild pigs, as well as treacherous terrain and unpredictable weather, to record the incredible beauty and biodiversity of these regions. Written with his trademark wit and charm, Adventures of a Young Naturalist is not just the story of a remarkable adventure, but of the man who made us fall in love with the natural world and taught us the importance of protecting it--and who is still doing so today.