Living at the limits of our ordinary perception, mosses are a common but largely unnoticed element of the natural world. Gathering Moss is a beautifully written mix of science and personal reflection that invites readers to explore and learn from the elegantly simple lives of mosses. Robin Wall Kimmerer's book is not an identification guide, nor is it a scientific treatise. Rather, it is a series of linked personal essays that will lead general readers and scientists alike to an understanding of how mosses live and how their lives are intertwined with the lives of countless other beings, from salmon and hummingbirds to redwoods and rednecks. Kimmerer clearly and artfully explains the biology of mosses, while at the same time reflecting on what these fascinating organisms have to teach us. Drawing on her diverse experiences as a scientist, mother, teacher, and writer of Native American heritage, Kimmerer explains the stories of mosses in scientific terms as well as in the framework of indigenous ways of knowing. In her book, the natural history and cultural relationships of mosses become a powerful metaphor for ways of living in the world. Gathering Moss will appeal to a wide range of readers, from bryologists to those interested in natural history and the environment, Native Americans, and contemporary nature and science writing.

More wit and humor from the author of Over the Hill Without a Paddle: And Other Signs of Confusion in a New Millennium. This time he gives us his skewed take and observations on everything with titles from A to Z-except for nine letters in between that apparently aren't that funny-and including the numbers One, Two, Three, and the words First and Second. Check it out. Among the subjects that catch his fancy are wives, husbands, children, grandchildren, doctors, hornets, birds, ants, dogs, morticians and sex. He pitches shows to TV programmers, points out a shortcut to young men in the back seats of cars, and scrutinizes both Family Jewels and Amazon Undies. All of which-and more-go to prove that even someone who has inched his way over the hill and then rolled down the other side can still find plenty to look at if he just lands facing up.

An atmospheric, mainly biographical story set in the 1930s-1950s, of a British Naval Officer's determination to foil the enemy's wartime dive bombing of our fleet. Hundreds of lives were saved by his suggested adaptation of the big, anti-aircraft barrage balloons which were flown above cities and other land based targets, to be specially tailored for the defence of shipping as well. Combined with this moving story is a colourful account of family life at that time, and it was not very long after the ending of the Second World War that Commander "Basher" Boorman began to find himself involved in certain minor skirmishes on his own home front. Commander's daughters do not always obey orders, even if their father has the appropriate rank, and this teenager certainly had a mind of her own. Determined to pursue a career not approved by her father, Basher's daughter found herself to be out-manoeuvred. But battles sometimes resolve themselves in unexpected ways, as was eventually the way with this particular one. 'Gathering Moss' is a fast moving, evocative story which covers a variety of events, backgrounds, and human emotions.