- Nature
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Walden
Walden by Henry David Thoreau is one of the best-known non-fiction books written by an American. Published in 1854, it details Thoreau’s life for two years, two months, and two days around the shores of Walden Pond. Walden is neither a novel nor a true autobiography, but a social critique of the Western World, with each chapter heralding some aspect of humanity that needed to be either renounced or praised. Along with his critique of the civilized world, Thoreau examines other issues afflicting man in society, ranging from economy and reading to solitude and higher laws. He also takes time to talk about the experience at Walden Pond itself, commenting on the animals and the way people treated him for living there, using those experiences to bring out his philosophical positions. This extended commentary on nature has often been interpreted as a strong statement to the natural religion that transcendentalists like Thoreau and Emerson were preaching. -
Life on the Mississippi
Life on the Mississippi is a memoir by Mark Twain detailing his days as a steamboat pilot on the Mississippi River before the American Civil War. -
Nature
Nature is a short essay by Ralph Waldo Emerson published anonymously in 1836. It is in this essay that the foundation of transcendentalism is put forth, a belief system that espouses a non-traditional appreciation of nature. Recent advances in zoology, botany, and geology confirmed Emerson's intuitions about the intricate relationships of Nature at large. The publication of Nature is usually taken to be the watershed moment at which transcendentalism became a major cultural movement.
Henry David Thoreau had read "Nature" as a senior at Harvard College and took it to heart. It eventually became an essential influence for Thoreau's later writings, including his seminal Walden. (Summary excerpted from Wikipedia by Neeru Iyer) -
Walking
This was originally a lecture given by Thoreau in 1851 at the Concord lyceum titled "The Wild" . He revised it before his death and it was included as part of the June 1862 edition of Atlantic Monthly. This essay appears, on the surface, to be simply expounding the qualities of Nature and man's place therein. Through this medium he not only touches those subjects, but with the implications of such a respect for nature, or lack thereof. -
Walking (Version 2)
This was originally titled "The Wild" and is a lecture given by Thoreau in 1851 at the Concord lyceum. "Walking" is an essay that explores the relationship between man and nature, trying to find a balance between society and our raw animal nature. -
Snow-Flakes
Volunteers bring you 21 recordings of Snow-Flakes by Henry Wadsworth Longfellow. This was the Weekly Poetry project for December 20th, 2009. -
Winter (Stevenson)
Volunteers bring you 20 recordings of Winter by Robert Louis Stevenson. This was the Weekly Poetry project for November 22nd, 2009. -
Our Cats and All About Them
The Englishman Harrison Weir organized the first cat show in England in 1871. In 1887 he founded the National Cat Club and was its first President and Show Manager until his resignation in 1890.
Our Cats and all about them is concerned with cats and all about them. It describes numerous breeds of cats and what to look for in a cat show champion, and deals with the general management and common diseases of cats, as well as how to raise healthy kittens.
But there is also a hodge podge of cat related stories, games, nursery rhymes, superstitions, as well as a list of cat lovers and a chapter of "The Cat in Shakespeare". -
Animals of the Past
Prior to the emergence of paleontology and comparative anatomy as scientific disciplines at the end of the 18th century, it was generally known that there were species of animals that had disappeared completely. The term "extinction" originally applied to the extinguishing of fires or erasing of one's debt. It was not until 1784 that the term extinction was used to denote the complete eradication of a species of living being. In 1901, Frederic A. Lucas penned an overview of vertebrate animals whose only evidence of being remained in fossil records. The book focuses primarily on vertebrate animals, from fish to mammals. -
School Book of Forestry
Written by a third-generation timberman, this book discusses what forests are, their primary enemies, and their benefits to others. Additionally, mention is made of the U.S. National Forest system. -
Hunting Dogs
The title of this book quotes its object. To tell something of night hunting, and especially to suggest how the ever necessary dog can best be selected, trained, maintained and utilized, is the consideration of first importance. To round out the subject all forms of hunting will receive some notice, and the various breeds of dogs will be so far dealt with, that their value and usefulness in their given fields may be determined. Best of all, the contents of this volume are based on the opinions and declarations of men who have had years of experience in the matters on which they presume to write.(Extracted from the Introduction) -
Gardening Without Irrigation: or without much, anyway
Gardening expert Steve Solomon has written extensively on gardening techniques for the home gardener. Water conservation is the focus of this work, along with more information on how to have the healthiest plants in your garden through "fertigation", appropriate plant rotation, and soil preparation. -
Sidelights on Relativity
Sidelights on Relativity contains ETHER AND THE THEORY OF RELATIVITY, an address delivered on May 5th, 1920, in the University of Leyden; and GEOMETRY AND EXPERIENCE, an expanded form of an address to the Prussian Academy of Sciences in Berlin on January 27th, 1921. (Intro from Project Gutenberg) -
Birds, Vol. I, No 2, February 1897
Birds, Illustrated by Color Photography was a monthly publication of the Nature Study Publishing Company of Chicago. It includes short poems, anecdotes and factual descriptions of birds with accompanying color plates. The magazine was published from 1897-1907 under the various titles, "Birds," "Birds and all Nature," "Nature and Art" and "Birds and Nature." Later volumes were expanded to include animals, plants, etc. Summary by J. M. Smallheer From the Preface of Vol 1 No 1:"Of all animated nature, birds are the most beautiful in coloring, most graceful in form and action, swiftest in motion and most perfect emblems of freedom.
They are withal, very intelligent and have many remarkable traits, so that their habits and characteristics make a delightful study for all lovers of nature. In view of the facts, we feel that we are doing a useful work for the young, and one that will be appreciated by progressive parents, in placing within the easy possession of children in the homes these beautiful photographs of birds.
The text is prepared with the view of giving the children as clear an idea as possible, of haunts, habits, characteristics and such other information as will lead them to love the birds and delight in their study and acquaintance." NATURE STUDY PUBLISHING CO. -
Training of a Forester
Written by a forester, this book looks at the definition of "forest", what the life of a forester entails, discusses the forest service both on the state and national levels, and the training required to be a forester. As a forester himself, and the chief of the US Forest Service, Pinchot was a foremost expert in this topic,and, based on his preface to the work, seems to expect this work to either encourage or dissuade young people from a life in forestry. -
Birds, Vol. III, No 1, January 1898
Birds, Illustrated by Color Photography was a monthly publication of the Nature Study Publishing Company of Chicago. It includes short poems, anecdotes and factual descriptions of birds with accompanying color plates. The magazine was published from 1898-1907 under the various titles, "Birds," "Birds and all Nature," "Nature and Art" and "Birds and Nature." Later issues were expanded to include animals, plants, etc -
Birds and All Nature, Vol. IV, No 6, December 1898
"Birds and All Nature" was a monthly publication of the Nature Study Publishing Company of Chicago. It includes short poems and brief descriptions of birds, animals and other natural subjects with accompanying color plates. The magazine was published from 1897-1907 under the various titles, "Birds," "Birds and all Nature," "Nature and Art" and "Birds and Nature." -
Florida Sketch-Book, A
This is a series of late-19th Century essays about Florida's flora and fauna written by a Massachusetts-based naturalist. -
Romance of Rubber, The
This pamphlet was published in the early 20th century by the United States Rubber Company so that "coming generations of our country ... have some understanding of the importance of rubber in our every day life... We believe the rubber industry will be better off if the future citizens of our country know more about it." Learn about Christopher Columbus's discovery of rubber, how the crafty British entrepreneur, Wickham, managed to smuggle rubber seedlings out of Brazil, and how rubber manufacturing came to be a "peculiarly American industry." The myriad uses of rubber from a century ago are also elaborated in considerable detail - everything from submarines to Keds to dentures. -
Wild Life on the Rockies
"This book contains the record of a few of the many happy days and novel experiences which I have had in the wilds. For more than twenty years it has been my good fortune to live most of the time with nature, on the mountains of the West. I have made scores of long exploring rambles over the mountains in every season of the year, a nature-lover charmed with the birds and the trees. On my later excursions I have gone alone and without firearms. During three succeeding winters, in which I was a Government Experiment Officer and called the "State Snow Observer," I scaled many of the higher peaks of the Rockies and made many studies on the upper slopes of these mountains." -
Titan Of Chasms: The Grand Canyon Of Arizona
This is a 1906 collection of three essays by men famously associated with The Grand Canyon: Charles A. Higgins, John Wesley Powell, and Charles F. Lummis. -
Birds and All Nature, Vol. V, No 5, May 1899
"Birds and All Nature" was a monthly publication of the Nature Study Publishing Company of Chicago. It includes short poems and brief descriptions of birds, animals and other natural subjects with accompanying color plates. The magazine was published from 1897-1907 under the various titles, "Birds," "Birds and all Nature," "Nature and Art" and "Birds and Nature." -
Birds in the Calendar
Delightful sketches of British wild birds - a bird for every month of the year from the pheasant in January to the robin in December. This collection of articles, reprinted in book form from the periodical The Outlook, is full of fascinating information about bird behaviour and habitat, as well as many interesting anecdotes. -
Birds and All Nature, Vol. IV, No 5, November 1898
"Birds and All Nature" was a monthly publication of the Nature Study Publishing Company of Chicago. It includes short poems and brief descriptions of birds, animals and other natural subjects with accompanying color plates. The magazine was published from 1897-1907 under the various titles, "Birds," "Birds and all Nature," "Nature and Art" and "Birds and Nature." -
Birds and all Nature, Vol. IV, No 4, October 1898
"Birds and All Nature" was a monthly publication of the Nature Study Publishing Company of Chicago. It includes short poems and brief descriptions of birds, animals and other natural subjects with accompanying color plates. The magazine was published from 1897-1907 under the various titles, "Birds," "Birds and all Nature," "Nature and Art" and "Birds and Nature." These short pieces are pleasant listening for anyone with a love of nature. -
Birds and All Nature, Vol. VII, No 1, January 1900
"Birds and All Nature" was a monthly publication of the Nature Study Publishing Company of Chicago. It includes short poems, stories and brief descriptions of birds, animals and other natural subjects with accompanying color plates. The magazine was published from 1897-1907 under the various titles, "Birds," "Birds and all Nature," "Nature and Art" and "Birds and Nature." -
Bird Study Book, The
Do you enjoy birdwatching? Would you like to learn a little more about the early conservations efforts to protect wild birds? In the Preface to The Bird Study Book, Pearson tells us “This book was written for the consideration of that ever-increasing class of Americans who are interested in acquiring a greater familiarity with the habits and activities of wild birds. Attention is also given to the relation of birds to mankind and the effect of civilisation on the bird-life of the country. ” An avid ornithologist, T. Gilbert Pearson (1873-1943) was a co-founder in 1905 of the National Association of Audubon Societies of which he was first secretary and then president for many years. He was also a pioneer of the conservation movement in the United States, international bird protection and broad nature education for school-aged children. (Audubon Magazine. 42: 370–371. Nov-Dec 1943)
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Birds and All Nature, Vol. V, No 2 February 1899
"Birds and All Nature" was a monthly publication of the Nature Study Publishing Company of Chicago. It includes short poems and brief descriptions of birds, animals and other natural subjects with accompanying color plates. The magazine was published from 1897-1907 under the various titles, "Birds," "Birds and all Nature," "Nature and Art" and "Birds and Nature." -
Frozen North
It is in this world that Mayde has created his fascinating The Frozen North: "Great as are the barren grounds, or tundri, as they are called in Siberia, the arctic forest region is far greater, for it reaches around the globe in a broad belt, nearly a thousand miles in width. Few indeed are the occupants of these great tracts, compared with the more favored southern lands. The poverty of the soil, and the severity of the climate, prevent the growth of crops, and man is offered only such subsistence as can be gained by hunting and fishing. In consequence they are inhabited but by scattered tribes of savages and by hardy trappers, who brave their dangers for the rich booty to be gained from their many fur-bearing animals." (from Chapter 1) -
Birds and All Nature, Vol. V, No 1, January 1899
"Birds and All Nature" was a monthly publication of the Nature Study Publishing Company of Chicago. It includes short poems and brief descriptions of birds, animals and other natural subjects with accompanying color plates. The magazine was published from 1897-1907 under the various titles, "Birds," "Birds and all Nature," "Nature and Art" and "Birds and Nature." Summary by J. M. Smallheer -
Nature and Art, Vol. VIII, No 1, June 1900
"Birds and All Nature" was a monthly publication of the Nature Study Publishing Company of Chicago. It includes short poems and brief descriptions of birds, animals and other natural subjects with accompanying color plates. The magazine was published from 1897-1907 under the various titles, "Birds," "Birds and all Nature," "Nature and Art" and "Birds and Nature." This issue is the first published under the title "Nature and Art."
“Birds and All Nature” was established January 1897 as “Birds” and has been a magazine of NATURE AND ART since its beginning; therefore it has been urged by many of our subscribers and friends that the name be changed to better express the nature of its contents. Hence the change to “NATURE AND ART.” -
Birds and Nature, Vol. XI, No 5, May 1902
"Birds and Nature" was a monthly publication of the Nature Study Publishing Company of Chicago. It includes short poems, anecdotes and factual descriptions of birds, animals and other natural subjects with accompanying color plates. The magazine was published from 1897-1907 under the various titles, "Birds," "Birds and all Nature," "Nature and Art" and "Birds and Nature." -
Birds and Nature, Vol. X, No 2, September 1901
"Birds and Nature" was a monthly publication of the Nature Study Publishing Company of Chicago. It includes short poems, anecdotes and factual descriptions of birds, animals and other natural subjects with accompanying color plates. The magazine was published from 1897-1907 under the various titles, "Birds," "Birds and all Nature," "Nature and Art" and "Birds and Nature." -
Birds and All Nature, Vol. VI, No 4, November 1899
"Birds and All Nature" was a monthly publication of the Nature Study Publishing Company of Chicago. It includes short poems and brief descriptions of birds, animals and other natural subjects with accompanying color plates. The magazine was published from 1897-1907 under the various titles, "Birds," "Birds and all Nature," "Nature and Art" and "Birds and Nature." -
Life Among the Butterflies
Vance Rudolph's informative work about butterflies includes a summary of current (for publication) butterfly literature, butterfly body structure, life cycle, and egg laying process, as well as their classification and survival strategies. -
Birds and Nature, Vol. XI, No 2, February 1902
"Birds and Nature" was a monthly publication of the Nature Study Publishing Company of Chicago. It includes short poems, anecdotes and factual descriptions of birds, animals and other natural subjects with accompanying color plates. The magazine was published from 1897-1907 under the various titles, "Birds," "Birds and all Nature," "Nature and Art" and "Birds and Nature." -
Birds and Nature, Vol. XII, No 5, December 1902
"Birds and Nature" was a monthly publication of the Nature Study Publishing Company of Chicago. It includes short poems, anecdotes and factual descriptions of birds, animals and other natural subjects with accompanying color plates. The magazine was published from 1897-1907 under the various titles, "Birds," "Birds and all Nature," "Nature and Art" and "Birds and Nature." -
Byways Around San Francisco Bay
California, the land of sunshine and roses, with its genial climate, its skies as blue as the far-famed skies of Venice, and its pure, life-giving air, invites the lover of nature to take long tramps over hill and dale, mountain and valley, and to search out new trails in the rugged mountains.(Quote from section 2: Brook and Waterfall).
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Essay on the Principle of Population, An
The power of population is indefinitely greater than the power in the earth to produce subsistence for man. Population, when unchecked, increases in a geometrical ratio. Subsistence increases only in an arithmetical ratio. A slight acquaintance with numbers will show the immensity of the first power in comparison with the second (Malthus). -
Studies About Trees
In this work Levison aims to create a book that allows beginners to be able to understand how to identify trees, as well as to give information of their structure and uses. Once these topics are addressed, he then moves into concepts of care, planting and forestry. -
Canoeing in the Wilderness
A highly descriptive and engaging narrative from one of America's beloved nature writers, this short piece shows well Thoreau's great love of the early American wilderness. Be transported to the deep woods of Maine and share in both Thoreau's delight in nature and also his admiration of those others who have a deeper connection with the natural world around them. -
Flowers of the Farm
"To-day we are at Willow Farm again, and I want to show you some of the flowers that grow there. I do not mean those which Mrs. Hammond, the farmer's wife, grows in her garden, pretty as they are. We will look rather at the wild flowers in the fields, the hedges, and by the road-side in the lane. No one sows their seed nor takes care of them in any way; yet they grow and blossom year after year, and nearly all of them are beautiful." - Arthur Owens Cooke -
In the Wilderness
These eight essays about Charles Dudley Warner’s visit to the Adirondacks cover a broad range of topics, all with more or less of his dry humor. They include spoofs of the popular Adirondack ‘sportsman’ stories being published at the time, a plea for hunting regulations told from the viewpoint of a deer, the biography of a local guide and character, and reflections on humanity’s effect on the wilderness and vice versa. Much has changed in the Adirondacks since the 1870s, but getting lost in the woods is still pretty much the same now as it seems to have been then. -
Romance of Plant Life
Romance needs not always indicate a love story. In the series "The Library of Romance", authors look at the romantic side of science. The different books cover all different disciplines, including chemistry, astronomy, engineering, and, as in this case, biology.
In this volume, G.F. Scott Elliot walks us through the romantic side of plant life. How do plants move towards the light, what are the dangers to little saplings, how can parts of plants be used for medicine, and why are some of them delicious and others poisonous? Listen to this book to find out. -
Dragons of the Air
Sir Richard Owen coined the term "dinosaur" ("Terrible Reptile" or "Fearfully Great Reptile") in the 19th century. When Harry G. Seeley, a student of law at that time, attended a lecture on flying reptiles, his interest in paleontology was piqued, and he pursued paleontology for the remainder of his life. He determined that dinosaurs could be divided into two groups, the lizard-hipped dinosaurs and the bird-hipped dinosaurs. He is also credited with characterizing flying dinosaurs as warm-blooded active flyers rather than cold-blooded passive gliders. His popular book on the flying dinosaurs, Dragons of the Air, is a comprehensive treatise on the structure, classification, and possible evolutionary origins of the Pterosaurs as well as their relationship to birds. -
Birds, Vol. II, No 1, July 1897
Birds, Illustrated by Color Photography was a monthly publication of the Nature Study Publishing Company of Chicago. It includes short poems, anecdotes and factual descriptions of birds with accompanying color plates. The magazine was published from 1897-1907 under the various titles, "Birds," "Birds and all Nature," "Nature and Art" and "Birds and Nature." Later issues were expanded to include animals, plants, etc -
Among the Tibetans
Isabella L. Bird was an English traveller, writer and natural historian. She was travelling in the Far East alone at a time when such endeavours were risky and dangerous even for men and large, better equipped parties.
In "Among the Tibetans", Bird describes her tour through Tibet with her usual keen eye: From descriptions of the landscape and flora to the manners, customs and religion of the local people we get a fascinating account of a world long past. -
In New England Fields and Woods
Born in rural Vermont in 1833, and nearly unknown to today's readers, Rowland Evans Robinson was once one of Vermont's best-known writers. A talented artist, he drew cartoons in New York City for the “funny papers" before returning to Vermont, where he authored nearly a dozen widely-read books on nature and rural farm life. Poor vision progressed to blindness between the ages of 44 and 60, yet he continued to write with the aid of his wife, Anna. This collection of short essays follows New England's changing seasons and moods in all its natural beauty. -
Dwarf Fruit Trees
This book is a handbook for the home orchardist. The propagation, pruning, choice of variety, and management of dwarf fruit trees, specifically apples, pears, peaches, and plums, are outlined. In addition, there is a section on berry bushes. It is geared towards gardeners in the United States of America and Canada. -
Birds of Song and Story
This mother and son team, each distinguished in their field, collaborate to give charming portraits of a dozen of our favorite song birds. Their use of poetry and flowing prose makes each of these birds come alive in and endearing and accessible way.