Search:

Results 1 to 10 of 295 |

Plants and civilization / by Baker, Herbert G.(CARDINAL)332475;
Includes bibliographical references (pages 176-178).
Subjects: Botany, Economic.;
Available copies: 1 / Total copies: 1
unAPI

50 plants that changed the world / by Harris, Stephen,1966-author.(CARDINAL)469376;
Includes bibliographical references and index.Introduction -- The plants. Barley ; Mandrake ; Beets ; Opium poppy ; Brassicas ; Cannabis ; Bread wheat ; Broad bean ; Alliums ; Pea ; Olive ; Grape ; Papyrus ; Yew ; Rose ; Pines ; Reeds ; Oak ; Apple ; Pepper ; Carrot ; Woad ; Citrus ; Nutmeg ; White mulberry ; Tobacco ; Tulip ; Chilli ; Quinine ; Cocoa ; Potato ; Tomato ; Coffee ; Maize ; Pineapple ; Smooth meadow grass ; Lycopods ; Cotton ; Sugar cane ; Coconut ; Rice ; Tea ; Ragwort ; Banana ; Rubber ; Sunflower ; Oil palm ; Soya ; Corncockle ; Thale cress.Have you ever stopped to think about how your morning cappuccino came to be? From the coffee bush that yielded the beans, to the grass for the cattle - or perhaps the soya - that produced the milk, plants are an indispensable part of our everyday life. Beginning with some of the earliest uses of plants, Stephen Harris takes us on an exciting journey through history, identifying fifty plants that have been key to the development of the western world, discussing trade, imperialism, politics, medicine, travel and chemistry along the way. There are plants here that have changed landscapes, fomented wars and fuelled slavery. Others have been the trigger for technological advances, expanded medical knowledge or simply made our lives more pleasant. Plants have provided paper and ink, chemicals that could kill or cure, vital sustenance and stimulants. Some, such as barley, have been staples from earliest times; others, such as oil palm, are newcomers to western industry. We remain dependent on plants for our food, our fuel and our medicines. As the wide-ranging and engaging stories in this beautifully illustrated book demonstrate, their effects on our lives continue to be profound and often unpredictable.
Subjects: Plants, Useful; Plants and civilization; Plants and history.;
Available copies: 4 / Total copies: 7
unAPI

Lives of weeds : opportunism, resistance, folly / by Cardina, John,1953-Author(DLC)no 00056117 ;
Includes bibliography (pages 251-274) and index.Introduction: clearing a path -- Dandelion -- Florida beggarweed -- Velvetleaf -- Nutsedge -- Marestail -- Pigweed -- Ragweed -- Foxtail -- Epilogue: what's 'round the bend."The natural histories of eight ordinary plant species transformed into noxious weeds through mostly well-intended human efforts to get rid of them show how lives of people and weeds are entangled in ways that reflect human beliefs and attitudes toward the natural world" --.
Subjects: Weeds.; Plants and civilization.; Weeds;
Available copies: 1 / Total copies: 1
unAPI

Weeds / by Edwards, Nina(Freelance writer);
Includes bibliographical references and index.Introduction -- The idea of weeds -- The background -- Image and allegory -- Unnatural selection : the war on weeds -- Useful weeds -- In our diet -- A wild and weedy garden -- Afterword -- Timeline.Weeds can seem nothing more than intruders in a well-manicured garden. They spring up unwanted and are hastily removed without a second thought. Superweeds are characterized as malevolent trespassers, intent on destroying humanity's carefully cultivated allotments and trails. But the idea of a weed is constantly changing. In a field of corn the scarlet poppy may be unwelcome, but in other contexts it may be prized. What we now consider as weeds may once have had practical uses, as food, for example. Some weeds can be helpful to our ecology, yet the presence of weeds is often considered to be a sign of neglect. They are blitzed from farmland, wayside verges, gardens and even pavements. The concept of what is and is not considered naturally occurring even in our remaining wilderness involves a sense of what is native or alien. This book discusses the history of weeds, looking at the ways literature has interrogated this slippery concept. Weeds is an informative resource for understanding exactly what turns a plant into a weed in varying contexts and reveals just how interesting and useful these seemingly pointless plants can be. Weeds is the perfect companion for gardeners or readers with an interest in botany, as well anyone seeking knowledge about what is, and what is not, a weed.
Subjects: Weeds.; Weeds; Plants and civilization.; Human-plant relationships.;
Available copies: 1 / Total copies: 1
unAPI

A forest journey : the role of trees in the fate of civilization / by Perlin, John,author.(CARDINAL)147854;
Includes bibliographical references and index."Ancient writers observed that forests always recede as civilizations develop and grow. The great Roman poet Ovid wrote that before civilization began, "even the pine tree stood on its own very hills" but when civilization took over, "the mountain oak, the pine were felled." This happened for a simple reason: trees have been the principal fuel and building material of every society over the millennia, from the time urban areas were settled until the middle of the nineteenth century. To this day trees still fulfill these roles for a good portion of the world's population. Without vast supplies of wood from forests, the great civilizations of Sumer, Assyria, Egypt, Crete, Greece, Rome, the Islamic World, Western Europe, and North America would have never emerged. Wood, in fact, is the unsung hero of the technological revolution that has brought us from a stone and bone culture to our present age. Until the ascendancy of fossil fuels, wood was the principal fuel and building material from the dawn of civilization. Its abundance or scarcity greatly shaped, as A Forest Journey ably relates, the culture, demographics, economy, internal and external politics and technology of successive societies over the millennia. The Forest Journey was originally published in 1989 and updated in 2005. The book's comprehensive coverage of the major role forests have played in human life -- told with grace, fluency, imagination, and humor -- gained it recognition as a Harvard Classic in Science and World History and as one of Harvard's "One Hundred Great Books." Others receiving the honor include such luminaries as Stephen Jay Gould and E.O. Wilson. This is a foundational conservation story that should not be lost in the archives. This new, updated and revised edition emphasizes the importance of forests in the fight against global warming and the urgency to protect what remains of the great trees and forests of the world."--
Subjects: Deforestation; Forests and forestry; Plants and civilization.;
Available copies: 3 / Total copies: 3
unAPI

The age of wood [large print] : our most useful material and the construction of civilization / by Ennos, Roland,author.(CARDINAL)324534;
Includes bibliographical references.Prologue: The road to nowhere -- Wood and human evolution. Our arboreal inheritance -- Coming down from the trees -- Losing our hair -- Tooling up -- Building civilization. Clearing the forest -- Melting and smelting -- Carving our communities -- Supplying life's luxuries -- Supporting our pretensions -- Limiting our outlook -- Wood in the industrial era. Replacing firewood and charcoal -- Wood in the nineteenth century -- Wood in the modern world -- Facing the consequences. Assessing our impact -- Mending our strained relationship."As the dominant species on Earth, humans have made astonishing progress since our ancestors came down from the trees. But how did the descendants of small primates manage to walk upright, become top predators, and populate the world? How were humans able to develop civilizations and produce a globalized economy? Now, in The Age of Wood, Roland Ennos shows for the first time that the key to our success has been our relationship with wood. Brilliantly synthesizing recent research with existing knowledge in fields as wide-ranging as primatology, anthropology, archaeology, history, architecture, engineering, and carpentry, Ennos reinterprets human history and shows how our ability to exploit wood's unique properties has profoundly shaped our bodies and minds, societies, and lives. He takes us on a sweeping ten-million-year journey from Southeast Asia and West Africa where great apes swing among the trees, build nests, and fashion tools; to East Africa where hunter gatherers collected their food; to the structural design of wooden temples in China and Japan; and to Northern England, where archaeologists trace how coal enabled humans to build an industrial world. Addressing the effects of industrialization--including the use of fossil fuels and other energy-intensive materials to replace timber--The Age of Wood not only shows the essential role that trees play in the history and evolution of human existence, but also argues that for the benefit of our planet we must return to more traditional ways of growing, using, and understanding trees. A winning blend of history and science, this is a fascinating and authoritative work for anyone interested in nature, the environment, and the making of the world as we know it."--
Subjects: Large print books.; Wood; Trees; Woodwork; Human evolution.; Plants and civilization.; Plants and history.;
Available copies: 5 / Total copies: 5
unAPI

The alchemist / by Bacigalupi, Paolo.(CARDINAL)356706; Drummond, J. K.(CARDINAL)484268;
"In the beleaguered city of Khaim, a lone alchemist seeks a solution to a deadly threat....Every time a spell is cast, a bit of bramble sprouts, sending up tangling vines, bloody thorns, and threatening a poisonous sleep"--From publisher's description on jacket flap.
Subjects: Fantasy fiction.; Novels.; Alchemists; Magic; Regression (Civilization); Plants and civilization; Science and civilization;
Available copies: 3 / Total copies: 3
unAPI

Seven flowers and how they shaped our world / by Potter, Jennifer,1949-(CARDINAL)406080;
Includes bibliographical references and index.Lotus -- Lily -- Sunflower -- Opium poppy -- Rose -- Tulip -- Orchid.Drawing on sources both ancient and modern, and featuring lush full-color illustrations and gorgeous line art throughout, Potter examines our changing relationship with these potent plants and the effects they had on civilizations through the ages. The opium poppy, for example, returned to haunt its progenitors in the West, becoming the source of an enormously profitable drug trade in Asia. In the seventeenth century, the irrational exuberance of the Dutch for rare tulips led to a nationwide financial collapse. Potter also explores how different cultures came to view the same flowers in totally different lights. While Confucius saw virtue and modesty in his native orchids, the ancient Greeks saw only lust and sex. In the eye of each beholder, these are flowers of life and death; of purity and passion; of greed, envy and virtue; of hope and consolation; of the beauty that drives men wild. All seven demonstrate the enduring ability of flowers to speak metaphorically--if we could only decode what they have to say.
Subjects: Flowers.; Flowers; Plants and civilization.;
Available copies: 12 / Total copies: 13
unAPI

Natural histories : 25 extraordinary species that have changed our world / by Westwood, Brett,author.(CARDINAL)658892; Moss, Stephen,1960-author.(CARDINAL)326326;
Includes bibliographical references (pages 408-412) and index.Accompanying Radio 4's acclaimed six-month series with the Natural History Museum, Natural Histories tells the story of our relationship with the natural world. Each chapter focuses on a different creature or species, and the exploration of our reaction to them casts a fascinating light on us--the lion offers a starting point to discussing our relationship with power; the great white shark with fear; coral with the idea of paradise; and the mandrake with poisons. In the expert hands of Brett Westwood and Stephen Moss, this is translated into an imaginative and inspiring book, full of great stories. Natural Histories will bring you face to face with the natural world in all its wonder, complexity and invention
Subjects: Human-animal relationships; Human-plant relationships; Animals and civilization.; Plants and civilization.; Natural history.;
Available copies: 1 / Total copies: 1
unAPI

It started in Eden : how the plant-hunters and the plants they found changed the course of history / by Dodge, Bertha S.(Bertha Sanford),1902-1995.(CARDINAL)723857;
Bibliography: pages 271-276.
Subjects: Botany, Economic; Plant collectors; Botanists; Plants and civilization.;
Available copies: 1 / Total copies: 1
unAPI

Results 1 to 10 of 295 |