The Immense Journey

Anthropologist and naturalist Loren Eiseley blends scientific knowledge and imaginative vision in this story of man.

A native of Lincoln, Nebraska, Loren Eiseley began his lifelong exploration of nature in the salt flats and ponds around his hometown and in the mammoth bone collection hoarded in the old red brick museum at the University of Nebraska, where heøconducted his studies in anthropology. It was in pursuit of this interest, and in the expression of his natural curiosity and wonder, that Eiseley sprang to national fame with the publication of such works as The Immense Journey and The Firmament of Time. In All the Strange Hours, Eiseley turns his considerable powers of reflection and discovery on his own life to weave a compelling story, related with the modesty, grace, and keen eye for a telling anecdote that distinguish his work. His story begins with his childhood experiences as a sickly afterthought, weighed down by the loveless union of his parents. From there he traces the odyssey that led to his search for early postglacial man?and into inspiriting philosophical territory?culminating in his uneasy achievement of world renown. Eiseley crafts an absorbing self-portrait of a man who has thought deeply about his place in society as well as humanity?s place in the natural world.

This graceful essay on the pivotal role of flowers in human evolution is certain to delight those readers already familiar with Loren Eiseley and to find an audience among naturalists, gardeners, and lovers of flowers everywhere. Gerald Ackerman's color floral portraits provide a visual counterpoint to the wondrous text. Two-color text & printed endpapers. 19 color photos.

A collection of the author's favorite essays and poems. This volume includes selections that span Eiseley's entire writing career and provide a sampling of the author as naturalist, poet, scientist, and humanist. "Loren Eiseley's work changed my life" (Ray Bradbury). Introduction by W. H. Auden.

"A paleontologist with the spirit of a poet."--Publisher.

This important and urgent environmentalist text examines the origins and possible futures of humankind within the context of the Space Age To read Loren Eiseley is to renew a sense of wonder at the miracles and paradoxes of evolution and the ever-changing diversity of life. In this brilliant collection, he considers the cosmological significance and ultimate meanings of our evolutionary history, offering a series of profound, lyrical meditations on the origins and possible futures of humankind against the backdrop of the Apollo landings. As Western civilization attains new heights of scientific awareness and technological skill, he asks, is it also blind to its own limits and destructive capacities? Always a fond observer of the natural world, Eiseley makes a newly urgent, environmentalist plea in The Invisible Pyramid: we must protect the fragile “world island” against our unchecked power to pollute and consume it.

NEW YORK TIMES BESTSELLER A “thrilling” (The New York Times), “dazzling” (The Wall Street Journal) tour of the radically different ways that animals perceive the world that will fill you with wonder and forever alter your perspective, by Pulitzer Prize–winning science journalist Ed Yong “One of this year’s finest works of narrative nonfiction.”—Oprah Daily ONE OF THE TEN BEST BOOKS OF THE YEAR: The Wall Street Journal, The New York Times, Time, People, The Philadelphia Inquirer, Slate, Reader’s Digest, Publishers Weekly, BookPage ONE OF THE BEST BOOKS OF THE YEAR: The Globe and Mail, The New Yorker, Oprah Daily, The Washington Post, The Guardian, Smithsonian Magazine, Kirkus Reviews, Library Journal The Earth teems with sights and textures, sounds and vibrations, smells and tastes, electric and magnetic fields. In An Immense World, Ed Yong coaxes us beyond the confines of our own senses to encounter beetles that are drawn to fires, turtles that can track the Earth’s magnetic fields, fish that fill rivers with electrical messages, and even humans who wield sonar like bats. We discover that a crocodile’s scaly face is as sensitive as a lover’s fingertips, that the eyes of a giant squid evolved to see sparkling whales, that plants thrum with the inaudible songs of courting bugs, and that even simple scallops have complex vision. We learn what bees see in flowers, what songbirds hear in their tunes, and what dogs smell on the street. We listen to stories of pivotal discoveries in the field, while looking ahead at the many mysteries that remain unsolved. Funny, rigorous, and suffused with the joy of discovery, An Immense World takes us on what Marcel Proust called “the only true voyage . . . not to visit strange lands, but to possess other eyes.”

In this blockbuster novel, young protagonist Patrick Wu visits a future world - Vancouver in 2032 - brimming with innovation and hope, where the climate crisis is being tackled, the solar revolution is underway and a new cooperative economy is taking shape. Dauncey's "brilliant book shows solutions to the climate crisis that offer a future rich in opportunity and joy" - scientist and award-winning broadcaster David Suzuki. Scientists, activists and politicians are enthusiastic in advance praise for Guy Dauncey's ecotopian novel, Journey To The Future. From Elizabeth May, NDP MP Murray Rankin and UK Green Party leader Caroline Lucas, to activists Tzeporah Berman, Angela Bischoff and Bill McKibben, and scientists David Suzuki, Andrew Weaver and Elisabet Sahtouris, the endorsements for Guy Dauncey's new book are united: Journey To The Future is a gamechanger that must be widely read. In this blockbuster novel, young protagonist Patrick Wu visits a future world - Vancouver in 2032 - brimming with innovation and hope, where the climate crisis is being tackled, the solar revolution is underway and a new cooperative economy is taking shape. But enormous danger still lurks. David R. Boyd, co-chair of Vancouver's Greenest City initiative, says Journey To The Future is "an imaginative tour de force, blending science, philosophy and fiction into a delightful story about how we can and must change the world." About the author, Guy Dauncey Guy Dauncey is a futurist who works to develop a positive vision of a sustainable future and to translate that vision into action. He is founder of the BC Sustainable Energy Association, and the author or co-author of ten books, including the award-winning Cancer: 101 Solutions to a Preventable Epidemic and The Climate Challenge: 101 Solutions to Global Warming. He is an Honorary Member of the Planning Institute of BC, a Fellow of the Findhorn Foundation in Scotland, and a powerful motivational speaker.