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• Three monstrous factoids
• Ulisse Aldrovandi's twofold "Pandechion" : collecting knowledge about monsters
• Observing correctly : on the ambivalent relationship of the Academia Naturae Curiosorum to monsters
• A centaur in London.

"A nuanced reframing of the dual importance of reading and observation for early modern naturalists. Historians of science traditionally argue that the sciences were born in early modern Europe during the so-called scientific revolution. At the heart of this narrative lays a supposed shift from the knowledge of books to the knowledge of things. The attitude of the new-style intellectual broke with the text-based practices of erudition and instead cultivated the new empiricism of observation and experiment. Instead of blindly trusting the authority of ancient sources such as Pliny and Aristotle, practitioners of the new experimental philosophy insisted upon experiential proof. In A Centaur in London, Fabian Kraemer calls a key tenet of this master narrative into question-that the rise of empiricism entailed a decrease in the importance of reading practices. Kraemer shows instead that the early practices of textual erudition and observational empiricism were by no means so remote from one another as the traditional narrative would suggest. Kraemer argues that reading books and reading the book of nature had a great deal in common-indeed, that reading texts was its own kind of observation. Especially in the case of rare and unusual phenomena like monsters, naturalists were dependent on the written reports of others who had experienced the good luck to be at the right place at the right time. The connections between compiling examples from texts and from observation were especially close in such cases. A Centaur in London combines the history of scholarly reading with the history of scientific observation to argue for the sustained importance of both throughout the Renaissance and provides a nuanced, textured portrait of early modern naturalists at work"-- Provided by publisher.

• Introduction
• Biomes: Concepts, Characteristics and Terminology
• Profiles of Angola’s Biomes and Ecoregiens
• Landscapes: Geology, Hydrology and Geomorphology.

This open access book richly illustrates the first, and comprehensive, account of the country’s biomes and ecoregions, the driving forces that account for their diversity and vulnerability, and the ecological principles that provide an understanding of the patterns and processes that have shaped landscapes, ecoregions, and ecosystems. Angola encompasses the greatest diversity of terrestrial biomes and is the second richest in terms of ecoregions, of any African country. Yet its biodiversity and the structure and functioning of its ecosystems are largely undocumented. The author draws on personal field observations from over 50 years of involvement in ecological and conservation studies in Angola and across Southern Africa. The vast recent literature published by researchers in neighboring, better resourced countries provides depth to the accounts of ecological principles and processes relevant to Angola and thus contributing to the understanding and sustainable management of its natural resources. .

• Disc one. Frozen worlds
• Frozen ocean
• Frozen peaks ; Disc two. Frozen South
• Frozen lands
• Our frozen planet

Life in the extreme. In a fragile world of beauty and hostility, nature finds a way to survive and thrive. Sir David Attenborough explores a planet on the brink of major change

• episode 1. Frozen worlds / produced & driectred by Alex Lanchester-- episode 2. Frozen ocean / proeuced & directed by Rachel Scott
• episode 3. Frozen peaks / produced & directed by Alex Lanchester
• episode 4. Frozen South / produced & directed by Orla Doherty
• episode 5. Frozen lands / produced & directed by Jane Atkins
• episode 6. Our frozen planet / produced & directed by James Reed

Life in the extreme. In a fragile world of beauty and hostility, nature finds a way to survive and thrive. Sir David Attenborough explores a planet on the brink of major change

• Beyond the end of the world
• The "furry beast" in the Imperial city
• The republic
• "There begins the harshest of backlands"
• Burdensome tasks and forced obedience
• Article 44, section 32
• "Correcting the world"
• "Returning immediately, through the other side"
• "With presents, patience and good manners"
• Mariano's tongue
• "The greatest number of unforeseen difficulties"
• Dismissals, resignations, and two colonels
• Boxes and rain
• Portage, pole, and paddle
• Passion
• Expedition in peril
• "Shifts and contrivances available in wild countries"
• "Is he a general yet?"
• Jack of all trades
• Catanduvas
• Back in the field
• "I think it advisable the general not continue his journey"
• In the wilderness
• Old Rondon versus the "new state"
• The Gandhi of Brazil
• Battle over a legacy

"Cândido Rondon is by any measure the greatest tropical explorer in history. Between 1890 and 1930, he navigated scores of previously unmapped rivers, traversed untrodden mountain ranges, and hacked his way through jungles so inhospitable that even native peoples had avoided them--and led Theodore Roosevelt and his son, Kermit, on their celebrated "River of Doubt" journey in 1913-14. Upon leaving the Brazilian Army in 1930 with the rank of a two-star general, Rondon, himself of indigenous descent, devoted the remainder of his life to not only writing about the region's flora and fauna, but also advocating for the peoples who inhabited the rainforest and lobbying for the creation of a system of national parks. Despite his many achievements--which include laying down a 1,200-mile telegraph line through the heart of the Amazon and three nominations for the Nobel Peace Prize--Rondon has never received his due. Originally published in Brazil, Into the Amazon is the first comprehensive biography of his life and remarkable career." -- Amazon.com

• The Apotheosis of Humboldt during the Nineteenth Century / Leoncio López-Ocón
• A Sense of Place: Early Modern Roots of Humboldt's Natural History Practices / Florike Egmond
• Six Days on Tenerife: The Making of Humboldt's Tropical Antique / Peter Mason
• Caldas and Humboldt in the Andes: Who Invented Biogeography? / Alberto Gómez Gutiérrez
• An Archaeology of Mutis' Disappearing Gift to Humboldt / José Antonio Amaya
• Incas, Pyramids and Amazons: Notes on Humboldt's Equatorial Encounters / Neil Safier
• Humboldt's Magic Mountain / Juan Pimentel
• Peruvian Desencuentro: Humboldt's Fog, Unanue's Light / Mark Thurner
• Air in a Flask: The Mexican Making of Humboldt's Objects of Knowledge / Miruna Achim and Gabriela Goldin Marcovich
• Humboldt's Misreading of the Mercantilist Face of New Spain / José Enrique Covarrubias
• Bonpland's Cactus, Or Trafficking in Exotics and Ignorance / Irina Podgorny
• Humboldt's Columbus, Or the Iberian Worlds that Humboldt Ignored / Jorge Cañizares-Esguerra

"The Invention of Humboldt is a game-changing volume of essays by leading scholars of the Hispanic world that explodes many myths about Alexander von Humboldt and his world. Rather than 'follow in Humboldt's footsteps' this book outlines the new critical horizon of 'post-Humboldtian' Studies: the archaeology of all that lies buried under the Baron's epistemological footprint. Contrary to the popular image of Humboldt as a solitary 'adventurer' and 'hero of science' surrounded by New World nature, The Invention of Humboldt demonstrates that the Baron's opus and practice was largely derivative of the knowledge communities and archives of the Hispanic world. Although Humboldtian writing has invented a powerful cult that has served to erase the sources of his knowledge and practice, in truth Humboldt did not 'invent nature' nor did he pioneer global science: he was the beneficiary of Iberian natural science and globalization. Nor was Humboldt a pioneering, 'postcolonial' cultural relativist. Instead, his anthropological views of the Americas were Orientalist and historicist, and in most ways were less enlightened than those of his Creole contemporaries. This book will reshape the landscape of Humboldt scholarship. It is essential reading for all those interested in Alexander von Humboldt, the Hispanic American enlightenment, and the global history of science and knowledge"-- Provided by publisher

"In his ability to capture the elusive essence of sport [Mize] serves as a voice for all of us. That's a rare gift and is precisely what makes The Jon Boat Years a treasure that should be read and enjoyed not just now but for generations to come"-- Provided by publisher
"Delightful tales of hunting and fishing, family, friends, dogs, and precious time well spent. Nationally recognized and award-winning writer Jim Mize captures the true essence of sport and living life to the fullest in this collection of stories about his outdoor escapades. In tales spanning more than five decades, Mize invites readers into carefree days hiking through the Colorado Rockies with a fly rod and leisurely casting poppers to bludgill on small southern ponds. Cold days shivering in a duck blind or deer hunting trips lost in fog all make for fine memories. And then there are the dogs. Meet boot-eating Labs, setters with fine noses, and a Brittany spaniel that loved to bounce through frosted kudzu. Mize's humorous stories entertain and return readers to their own turkey hunting or creek-fishing excursions. Black-and-white line drawings from artist Bob White illustrate stories filled with laughter, quiet contemplation, and wonder. Mize reminds the young and old that the pleasure of the pursuit matters most"-- Provided by publisher

• Teilband 1. Darstellung und Interpretation
• Teilband 2. Anthologie historischer Texte
• Teilband 3. Mediziner der Romantik
• Teilband 4. Forschungsbibliographie / unter Mitarbeit von Ulrike von Engelhardt.

"Mexico's Valleys of Cuicatlán and Tehuacán provides an accessible overview of an extraordinary region of Central Mexico. Through first-hand experience and engaging prose, the authors provide a synthesis of the geology, ecology, history, and cultures of the valleys, showing their importance and influence as Mesoamerican arteries for environmental and cultural interchange through Mexico"-- Provided by publisher.

"In a fable for grown-ups by cartoonist Bill Watterson, a long-ago kingdom is afflicted with unexplainable calamities. Hoping to end the torment, the king dispatches his knights to discover the source of the mysterious events. Years later, a single battered knight returns" -- Provided by publisher.
From Bill Watterson, bestselling creator of the beloved comic strip Calvin and Hobbes, and John Kascht, one of America's most renowned caricaturists, comes a mysterious and beautifully illustrated fable about what lies beyond human understanding -- Amazon.com.

Is plot a line, an arc, or a shape? None of these. Rather than thinking of plot as a sequence of events or actions put into place solely through human agency against the backdrop of setting, this book questions why we should distinguish between plot and setting-and indeed, whether we can make such a distinction. After all, plot, Yoon Sun Lee contends, cannot be disentangled from the material setting in which it takes place. In The Natural Laws of Plot, Lee connects the history of the novel and the history of science to show how plot in the realist novel is given shape by the characteristics of the physical world-and how in turn, plot serves as the avenue through which the realist novel participates in the same lines of inquiry about the world as pursued by the natural and physical sciences. Lee argues that the novel emerges and evolves in tandem with the development of scientific practices and concepts in eighteenth- and nineteenth-century Europe to investigate the idea of a unified and objective world. Drawing on readings from Defoe, Austen, Scott, and many others, Lee demonstrates how bodies, human and non-human, behave according to laws that are built into worlds by plot, and how they are subject to causes and consequences that can occur independently of individual action, social forces, or metaphysical destiny. This interest in representing and exploring how things happen sets the novel apart from other literary genres, and makes the history of science integral to the understanding of the history and theory of the novel, and of narrative. Plot, Lee shows us, is immersive and powerful, because it satisfies our wish to know how things happen in a coherent, objective, and possibly real world.
(source: Nielsen Book Data)

• Introduction : natural things in early modern worlds / Mackenzie Cooley, Anna Toledano, and Duygu Yıldırım
• On the design / Zoë Sadokierski and Katie Dean
• Pollen : the sexual life of plants in Mesoamerica / Helen Burgos-Ellis
• Bezoar : medicine in the belly of the beast / Mackenzie Cooley
• Canal : cross-cultural encounters and control of water / Alexander Statman
• Ambergris : from sea to scent in Renaissance Italy / Mackenzie Cooley and Kathryn Biedermann
• Squid : natural history as food history / Whitney Barlow Robles
• Coffee : of melancholic Turkish bodies and sensory experiences / Duygu Yıldırım
• Manchineel : power, pain, and knowledge in the Lesser Antilles / Thomas C. Anderson
• Pitcher plant : drowning in her sweet nectar / Elaine Ayers
• Leaf : the materiality of early modern herbals / Julia Heideklang
• Armadillo : an animal in search of a place / Florencia Pierri
• Bird : living names of Félix de Azara's lost collection / Anna Toledano
• Brain : objecthood, subjecthood, and the genius of Gauss / Nicolaas Rupke
• Epilogue : nature's narratives / Paula Findlen
• Afterword : the disorder of things / Alan Mikhail

"Nature School is a beautifully illustrated and engaging learning resource offering lessons and activities designed to inform and inspire a child's love for the natural world"-- Provided by publisher.

• Introduction
• The planet and the political
• The pandemic and our sense of time
• The historicity of things, including humans
• Staying with the present

"The book opens with a discussion of the pandemic, then investigates the modern origins of the separation between "natural" and "human" histories, and what may be at stake in that separation. Does having different worlds make it difficult for humans to deal with a planet that is one?"-- Provided by publisher