eBook downloads, eBook resources & eBook authors
From Newbery Honor author Kathryn Lasky comes a fascinating journey through the rainforest canopy that's perfect for budding environmentalists.
A story of adventure, survival, courage, and hope, set in the vivid Himalayan landscape of Tibet and India that introduces young readers to a fascinating part of the world and the threat to its people's religious freedom.
A Vietnamese family flees its war-torn home and resettles in California, in a novel that offers a “brilliant exploration of exile, loss, and identity” (Robert Olen Butler). Told from multiple perspectives and spanning several decades, Grass Roof, Tin Roof begins with the story of Tran, a Vietnamese writer facing government persecution, who flees her homeland during the exodus of 1975 and brings her two children to the West. Here, she marries a Danish American man who has survived a different war. He promises understanding and guidance—but the psychic consequences of his past soon hinder his relationships with the family, as the children, for whom the war is now a distant shadow, struggle to understand the world around them on their own terms. In delicate, innovative prose, Strom’s characters experience the collision of cultures and the spiritual aftermath of war on the most visceral level. Grass Roof, Tin Roof is “an affecting study on the slippery nature of home” (Los Angeles Times). “[Strom] explores the mysteries of loss, culture and identity, with skill, poignancy and imagination.” —Detroit Free Press
A Financial Times Best Book of the Year A Guardian Best Architecture Book of the Year “Sharp, revealing, funny.” —The Guardian “An original and even occasionally hilarious book about losing ideals and finding them again... [De Graaf] deftly shows that architecture cannot be better or more pure than the flawed humans who make it.” —The Economist Architecture, we like to believe, is an elevated art form that shapes the world as it pleases. Four Walls and a Roof turns this fiction on its head, offering a candid account of what it’s really like to work as an architect. Drawing on his own tragicomic experiences in the field, Reinier de Graaf reveals the world of contemporary architecture in vivid snapshots: from the corridors of wealth in London, Moscow, and Dubai to the demolished hopes of postwar social housing in New York and St. Louis. We meet ambitious oligarchs, developers for whom architecture is nothing more than an investment, and layers of bureaucrats, consultants, and mysterious hangers-on who lie between any architect’s idea and the chance of its execution. “This is a book about power, money and influence, and architecture’s complete lack of any of them... Witty, insightful and funny, it is a (sometimes painful) dissection of a profession that thinks it is still in control.” —Financial Times “This is the most stimulating book on architecture and its practice that I have read for years.” —Architects’ Journal
This is the fascinating autobiography of the Venerable Lama Dudjom Dorjee. In it are entertaining tales of his Tibetan childhood, his escape from Tibet and his subsequent journey into lama-hood.
Step Out of Your Car and Right into Nature! New England’s Roadside Ecology guides you through 30 spectacular natural sites, all within an easy walk from the road. The sites include the forests, wetlands, alpines, dunes, and geologic ecosystems that make up New England. Author Tom Wessels is the perfect guide. Each entry starts with the brief description of the hike's level of difficulty—all are gentle to moderate and cover no more than two miles. Entries also include turn-by-turn directions and clear descriptions of the flora, fauna, and fungi you are likely to encounter along the way. New England’s Roadside Ecology is a must-have guide for outdoor enthusiasts, hikers, and tourists in Connecticut, Maine, Massachusetts, New Hampshire, Rhode Island, and Vermont.
Describes efforts to protect sea turtles, particularly Kemp's ridley turtles, and help them reproduce and replenish their once-dwindling numbers.
Throughout its history the Guardian has had unparalleled access to mountaineers and climbers, and its coverage of the sport is second to none. From Edward Whymper's conquest of the Matterhorn in 1865 through to the first ever ascent of Everest in 1953, and on to the extreme climbing (and associated apparatus) that dominates the modern-day incarnation of the sport, the paper has chronicled every development with insight and intelligence. This beguiling collection draws together a selection of Guardian writing that is both informative and celebratory, tracking the sport's history and uncovering how public perception has changed over time. - Postings on how cigarettes 'aided breathing' on some of the earliest Everest expeditions - Victorian advice to 'lady climbers': 'Small rings should be sewn inside the seams of the skirt ... [so] that the whole dress may be drawn up at a moment's notice to the requisite height' - Articles on scrambling, fell-running, rock-climbing and rambling. Whether you're a serious mountaineer or a weekend rambler, On the Roof of the World is packed full of insights and stories that make it the perfect bedside companion.
Joseph Jenkins climbed on his first slate roof in 1968, authored the first edition of The Slate Roof Bible in 1997, and published the second edition in 2003. Both editions received national awards. Now, a dozen years later, Jenkins is still very active in the slate roofing industry. The third edition of the book reflects more than a decade of additional experience being passed on to the reader by the man who is arguably the foremost expert on slate roofs in the United States today. The third edition, hardbound, completely updates and expands the material in the second edition, with more emphasis on the craft of slate roof installation. Expanded sections include slate siding, eyebrow dormers, turrets, soldering, flashings, international slate, American slate history, slating styles, installation and repair tips, and trade secrets. Dozens of new color photographs have been added, as well as step-by-step illustrations and line drawings. This book is sure to become a classic. It belongs on the shelf of every architect, roofer, slate roof owner, architectural consultant, history buff, and anyone in the roofing industry.
