Win one of three $50 Countdown vouchers
If you’re fascinated by flora and fauna, our natural history section has everything you need. This list updates when we add new titles to the collection.
Book
A unique guide to the unusual and often surprising birds that soar above our cities around the world. From frigatebirds wheeling over Rio de Janeiro to bowerbirds displaying in the suburbs of Canberra, penguins in Cape Town to pelicans in San Francisco,...
Companion to the film Fantastic Fungi. Contributions from Michael Pollan, Andrew Weil, Eugenia Bone, and many more expterts make Fantastic Fungi an awe-inspiring visual journey through the exotic, little-known realm of fungi and its amazing potential...
Often described as the most intact native ecosystem in the country, Te Hauturu-o-Toi/Little Barrier Island holds a special place in the minds of all New Zealanders interested in preserving our country's unique natural heritage. Written by experts across...
"Who knew that the morepork, our only surviving native owl, can turn its head 270 degrees? Or that the bar-tailed godwit triples its body weight before undertaking an epic and continuous migration of 11,000 kilometres? Or that the tūī has two...
"Once, farmers knew how to make a living hedge and fed their flocks on tree-branch hay. Rural people knew how to prune hazel to foster abundance: both of edible nuts, and of straight, strong, flexible rods for bridges, walls, and baskets. Townspeople...
Brimming with new discoveries, Smith's book takes you swimming in the Atlantic, Pacific, and Indian Oceans to meet the sea's most fascinating creatures. There are scarlet-colored corals, baby-blue sponges, and creatures that change color at the drop of...
Explore ecology in this accessible introduction to how the natural world works and how we have started to understand the environment, ecosystems, and climate change. Using a bold, graphic-led approach, The Ecology Book explores and explains over 85 of...
Consider the Platypus explores the history and features of more than 50 animals to provide insight into our current understanding of evolution. Using Darwin's theory as a springboard, Maggie Ryan Sandford details scientists' initial understanding of ...
For too long, scientists have focused on the dark side of our biological heritage: our capacity for aggression, cruelty, prejudice, and self-interest. But natural selection has given us a suite of beneficial social features, including our capacity for...
Tropical Marine Life of Australia is the definitive guide to tropical Australian and central Indo-Pacific marine life, covering over 2,400 species of animals and plants. Groups covered include seaweeds, corals, molluscs, crustaceans, fishes, reptiles...
Every single one of the millions of species alive today is the most recent link in an almost-endless chain of creation going all the way back to the origins of life. The amazing diversity and complexity we see all around us are products of nature's c...
The humble and industrious dung beetle is a marvelous beast: the 6,000 species identified so far are intricately entwined with human history and scientific endeavor. these night-soil collectors of the planet have been worshiped as gods, worn as jewelery,...
When Long Litt Woon loses her husband of 32 years to an unexpected death, she is utterly bereft. An immigrant in his country, in losing the love of her life she has also lost her compass and her passport to society. For a time, she is stuck, aimless,...
Blackwell explores our intimate relationship with the sea through thoughtful essays and dramatic images of sea creatures, including whales, manta rays, seals, and endless schools of fish, as well as creatures residing in the deepest recesses of the o...
Weaving together stories of science and sociology, The Selfish Ape offers a refreshing response to common fantasies about the ascent of humanity. Rather than imagining modern humans as a species with godlike powers, or Homo deus, Nicholas P. Money recasts...
Even in our hyper-connected world, there are tribes scattered across the far reaches of the globe who still live much the same way that their ancestors did thousands of years ago. Having had minimal contact with the outside world, these peoples currently...
A lavishly illustrated celebration of these glorious animals—and a poignant lament for their future. Elephants are among the most beloved of all creatures. Their behavior can seem almost human, from their complex social interactions to their need to ...
A book filled with underwater adventures, Wild Dives will take you to remote locations where you can experience some of the best, and sometimes weirdest, underwater spectacles from around the world. Nick and Caroline Robertson-Brown take you through more...
Why are you attracted to a certain "type?" Why are you a morning person? Why do you vote the way you do? From a witty new voice in popular science comes a life-changing look at what makes you you. "I can't believe I just said that." "What possessed me...
"[Here], Britt Wray takes us deep int the minds of some of the world's most progressive thinkers to find out the truth about de-extinction. She introduces us to ... futurists like Stewart Brand and scientists like George Church, who are harnessing the...
A ground-breaking work of narrative non-fiction that offers a dramatic new perspective on human history. What was George Washington's secret weapon during the American Revolution, and how did it lead to Britain colonising Australia? What protected Popes...
Our connection to nature is deeply rooted in the history of our evolution. Unfortunately, we have less green space than ever, and our stress and anxiety levels are at an all-time high. Studies have shown that increased exposure to green space can result...
James Lovelock, creator of the Gaia hypothesis and the greatest environmental thinker of our time, has produced an astounding new theory about future of life on Earth. He argues that the anthropocene the age in which humans acquired planetary-scale.....
Biology Essentials For Dummies focuses on just the core concepts you need to succeed in an introductory biology course. From identifying the structures and functions of plants and animals to grasping the crucial discoveries in evolutionary, reproductive,...
The iconic and beautiful Great Barrier Reef Marine Park is home to one of the most diverse ecosystems in the world. With contributions from international experts, this timely and fully updated second edition describes the animals, plants and other organisms...
A entertaining blend of science and personal stories that gives new understanding to those spellbinding, otherworldly creatures we encounter every day.
"It can't fly ... has nostrils at the end of its long beak... cat-like whiskers ... the body temperature of a mammal... sharp claws and strong legs to defend itself ... lays an egg six times larger than that of a chicken ... lives in a burrow ... can...
Seventy years ago, Erwin Schrodinger posed a simple, yet profound, question: 'What is life?'. How could the very existence of such extraordinary chemical systems be understood? This problem has puzzled biologists and physical scientists both before, and...
"Trees are an important part of the life of many cities. Whether in avenues or parks they provide shade, a green resting place for the eye, comfort for the mind, and as we increasingly know from research, help keep the atmosphere cool and fresh. Some...
High in the mountainous rainforests of Burma and India grow some of the world's last stands of mature, wild teak. For more than a thousand years, people here have worked with elephants. In this book, Jacob Shell takes us deep into this strange elephant...
From the Giant Golden Crowned Flying Fox, a megabat with a wingspan of over five feet, to the aptly named Bumblebee Bat, the world's smallest mammal, the number and diversity of bat species is proving to be very rich and vastly underestimated. Noctur...
PRIMATE CHANGE is a wide-ranging, polemical look at how and why the human body has changed since humankind first got up on two feet. Spanning the entirety of human history - from primate to transhuman - Vybarr Cregan-Reid's book investigates where we...
What's the difference between a swallow and a swift? How many species of ducks, penguins, owls or thrushes are there? Which is the rarest parrot or the most endangered hummingbird? What do toucans eat? Discover all the key facts about the world's orders...
"This is a natural history and field guide to New Zealand's 14 species of dragonflies and damselflies ... Key features include: Expert and up-to-date information on the 14 species breeding in New Zealand; natural history of the group including an int...
Few people have done as much to change how we view the world as Charles Darwin. Yet On the Origin of Species is more cited than read, and parts of it are even considered outdated. In some ways, it has been consigned to the nineteenth century. In The ...
A fascinating account of the life of the first hippopotamus to be exhibited in the Regents Park Zoo in London, and probably the first hippo to be exhibited live in Europe since the time of the Roman empire. Written in a lively and accessible style, the...
How the lives of wild honey bees offer vital lessons for saving the world's managed bee colonies. Humans have kept honey bees in hives for millennia, yet only in recent decades have biologists begun to investigate how these industrious insects live in...
From leading geopolitical expert and technology futurist Jamie Metzl comes a groundbreaking exploration of the many ways genetic-engineering is shaking the core foundations of our lives ― sex, war, love, and death.At the dawn of the genetics revolution,...
Most of us have heard of such popular butterflies as the Monarch or Painted Lady. But what about the Fender’s Blue? Or the St. Francis’ Satyr? Because of their extreme rarity, these butterflies are not well-known, yet they are remarkable species with...
The Seven Daughters of Eve presents the theory of human mitochondrial genetics to a general audience. Sykes explains the principles of genetics and human evolution, the particularities of mitochondrial DNA, and analyses of ancient DNA to genetically ...
"New Zealand has an intriguing collection of native freshwater fish that tend to live out their lives largely unnoticed ... Native fish are easy to look after once their needs are understood, and are an interesting and unusual alternative to exotic a...
Nature's Palette is a highly illustrated, immensely entertaining exploration of the science of plant color. Beginning with potent reminders of how deeply interwoven plant colors are with human life and culture-from the shifting hues that told early humans...
Rainforests of Australia's East Coast is aimed primarily at the reader group of more than 500,000 active bushwalkers in Australia. A large percentage of bushwalkers visit all subforms of rainforests on a regular basis and identification of plant species...
Manta and devil rays are some of the most charismatic creatures in the ocean. Born into a life of perpetual motion, these rays must keep swimming to survive. Driven forward by powerful beats of their wing-like pectoral fins, these filter feeding rays...
"The science is clear: Homo sapiens teeters on the brink of extinction. Industrial civilization is an omnicidal heat engine, yet terminating civilization heats the planet even faster in an outcome termed the McPherson Paradox. Only Love Remains: Dancing...
Many of our ancestors - the Angles, the Saxons, the Norse - came to the British Isles in longships made of oak. For centuries the oak touched every part of a Briton's life - from cradle to coffin It was oak that made the wooden walls of Nelson's navy,...
"The story of a grizzly bear named Millie: her life, death, and cubs, and what they reveal about the changing character of the American West. The grizzly is one of North America's few remaining large predators. Their range is diminished, but they're ...
Welcome to the biggest, fastest, deadliest science book you'll ever read. The world's largest land mammal could help us end cancer. The fastest bird is showing us how to solve a century-old engineering mystery. The oldest tree is giving us insights i...
Presents a history of the human understanding of heredity and how it has shaped society, chronicling the transitions brought about by genetic research and making predictions about how evolving understandings are likely to impact the future.
Darwin's theory of evolution is still the greatest breakthrough in biological science. His explanation of the role of natural selection in driving the evolution of life on earth depended on steady variation of living things over time - but he was unable...
Ever since Darwin, we have used the metaphor of the 'tree of life' to explain evolution, but this metaphor no longer holds up. Genes don't just move vertically, they can also pass laterally across species boundaries, known as 'horizontal gene transfer'...
Consider the possibility that the evolutionary scientific explanation for mankind has ignored critical facts that are buried deep within the fossils and mankind's DNA.
Unravelling the double helix covers the most colourful period in the history of DNA, from the discovery of 'nuclein' in the late 1860s to the landmark publication of James Watson's The double helix in 1968. These hundred years included the advent of the...
Out of sight, underfoot, unseen beyond fleeting scuttles or darting flights, insects occupy a hidden world, yet are essential to sustaining life on earth. Insects influence our ecosystem like a ripple effect on water. They arrived when life first moved...
In 1859 Darwin described a deceptively simple mechanism that he called "natural selection," a combination of variation, inheritance, and reproductive success. He argued that this mechanism was the key to explaining the most puzzling features of the n...
An archive of never-before-published illustrations of insects and plants painted by a pioneering naturalist. During his lifetime (1751-ca. 1840), English-born naturalist and artist John Abbot rendered more than 4,000 natural history illustrations and...
A beautifully illustrated exploration of the science behind the awe-inspiring giants of past and present The colossal plants and animals of our world-dinosaurs, whales, and even trees-are a source of unending fascination, and their sheer scale can be...
Ospreys are one of the few bird species that are found throughout the world. From forests in Hokkaido to rivers in Oregon and islands off Australia, Ospreys steal the show as nature lovers easily watch them build their massive nests and tend to their...
From the eastern rainforests to central deserts, Australia is home to some 900 species of birds. This book covers over 400 Australian bird watching sites conveniently grouped into the best birding areas, from one end of the country to the other. This...
Art Wolfe's immersive photos capture the wonder humans have felt about trees for millennia. From the biblical Tree of Life to the Native American Tree of Peace, trees have played an archetypal role in human culture and spirituality since time immemorial....
Born into a life of perpetual motion, manta rays must keep swimming to survive. Driven forward by powerful beats of their wing-like pectoral fins, they search the ocean currents for concentrated patches of the tiny planktonic organisms on which they feed....
How do we take in the beauty of our planet while processing the losses? What trees can survive in the city? Which animals can survive in the wild? How do any of us—humans, animals, trees—find a forest we can call home? In these moving, thought-provoking...
Based on over one hundred interviews with leading scientists and conservation managers, Irus Braverman documents a community caught in an existential crisis and alternating between des-pair and hope. In this book, corals emerge as signs and measures,...
Asserting that religious creeds and philosophical questions can be reduced to purely genetic and evolutionary components, and that the human body and mind have a physical base obedience to the laws of physics and chemistry, "Genesis" demonstrates that...
The science journalist draws on ancient food traditions and the latest research on healthy gut maintenance to explain the role of the microbiome and how to adapt a diet to promote optimal microbiome balance.
A firsthand chronicle of the catastrophic reality of our planet's changing ecosystems and the necessity of relishing this vulnerable, fragile Earth while we still can.
This 10th-anniversary edition of Bruce Lipton's best-selling book The Biology of Belief will be updated to bolster the book's central premise with the latest scientific discoveries - and there have been a lot in the last decade. The Biology of Belief...
Nepal, c. 1900: The single deadliest animal in recorded history began stalking humans, moving like a phantom through the lush foothills of the Himalayas. As the death toll reached an astonishing 436 lives, a young local hunter was dispatched to stop ...
Microbiology is the study of life itself, down to the smallest particle. Microbiology is a fascinating field that explores life down to the tiniest level. Did you know that your body contains more bacteria cells than human cells? It's true. Microbes ...
Scientists expect one billion people to have their genomes sequenced by 2025. Yet cultural psychologist Steven J. Heine argues that, in trying to know who we are and where we come from, we’re likely to completely misinterpret what's 'in our DNA.' Hei...
Every year around August, large flocks of Eastern Curlews leave their breeding grounds in the Arctic and embark on a perilous 10,000km journey to the coast of Australia. The birds cannot swim; if they become exhausted and fall into the ocean, they die....
'Our everyday lives are connected to the deep ocean in ways we seldom realise.' Between these pages is everything you need to know about our oceans, explained in 25 questions.
When we talk about human history, we focus on great leaders, mass migration and decisive wars. But how has the Earth itself determined our destiny? How has our planet made us? As a species we are shaped by our environment. Geological forces drove our...
"With jaw-dropping endemic species such as Kiwi, Kea and Takahe, New Zealand is a birdwatcher's paradise. For New Zealand birders and visitors to the country alike, this innovative and useful book is the perfect accompaniment to a good field guide such...
Since the Colonial Museum opened in 1865 and the first director, Sir James Hector, began collecting items of geological and natural history significance, the collections of New Zealand's national museum have become enormously significant - not to men...
"Migrating wildlife species across the globe face a dire predicament as their traditional migratory routes are cut off by human encroachment. Forced into smaller and smaller patches of habitat, they must compete more aggressively for dwindling food r...
"Atreasure trove of unique, bizarre and wonderful plants, The Meaning of Trees explores the myriad ways in which New Zealand's extraordinary flora has been used in cuisine, crafts, medicine and culture, providing everything from seafaring canoes and ...
A brilliant and controversial book which demonstrates that evolution by natural selection - the unconscious, automatic, blind yet essentially non-random process discovered by Darwin - is the only answer to the biggest question of all: why do we exist...
In this "phytobiography" a collection of stories written in partnership with a plant research scientist, Monica Gagliano, reveals the dynamic role plants play in genuine first-hand accounts from her research into plant communication and cognition. By...
Was this page useful?
How can we improve this page?