Author: Mike Hansell File Type: pdf From termite mounds and caterpillar cocoons to the elaborate nests of social birds and the deadly traps of spiders, the constructions of the animal world can amaze and at times even rival our own feats of engineering. But how do creatures with such small brains build these complex structures? What drives them to do it? In this fascinating volume, Mike Hansell looks at the extraordinary structures that animals build--whether homes, traps, or courtship displays--and reveals what science can tell us about this incredible behavior. We look at wasps nests, leaf-cutting ants, caddis flies and amoebae, and even the extraordinary bower bird, who seduces his mate with a decorated pile of twigs, baubles, feathers, and berries. We discover how some animals produce their own building materials, such as the silk secreted by spiders to weave an array of different web and traps, or the glue some insects produce to hold their buildings together. And we learn how a vast colony of social insects can create nests which may penetrate up to twenty feet into the ground and house millions of individuals--all built by tiny-brained animals repeating many simple actions as they roam randomly around the structure. Hansell also sheds light on how animal buildings have evolved over time, how insect societies emerged, how animals can alter their wider habitat, and even whether some animals have an aesthetic sense. Finally, he shows how animal structures may reveal clues to the origins of our own tool use and appreciation of beauty. Built by Animals offers a colorful account of a facet of animal behavior that will delight anyone interested in the natural world.From Publishers WeeklyHansell (Animal Architecture), emeritus professor of animal architecture at the University of Glasgow, looks at termite nests, amoeba cases, caddis larvae traps and birds nests and wonders how creatures with brains so much smaller and simpler than those of humans can create such complex structures. This methodical book discusses some of the intriguing scientific investigations that have been made into animal engineering, from the organization of social insects that work together to construct their nests to the impact of animal architecture on the environment. Hansell describes the biochemistry and mechanical properties of spiders webs computer models that simulate the building of nests by wasps the mathematical models constructed by theoretical biologists to demonstrate how animals transmit information from generation to generation and laboratory experiments showing that honey bees can learn and retain information about spatial relationships. This emphasis on precision is balanced by one carelessly undisciplined question when Hansell looks at the elaborately decorated structures male bower birds build to attract their mates and wonders whether it might be possible that nonhuman animals have the capacity to appreciate beauty. His engaging discussion provides ample reason to pursue the inquiry. B&w illus. (Dec.) Reed Business Information, a division of Reed Elsevier Inc. ReviewThe book is a fascinating read, with personal anecdotes and reflections blending into thought-provoking explorations of the various themes.--J. Scott Turner, American ScientistWhen...does a giant golden digger wasp stop digging its burrow and start excavating the terminal chamber? Is it when she feels she has done enough work, or when the burrow is long enough? Hansell, an evolutionary biologist specialising in animal architecture, knows the answers and can tell a good story. Great stuff.--ew ScientistThis methodical book discusses some of the intriguing scientific investigations that have been made into animal engineering.--Publishers WeeklyIt is to the eternal credit and pride of humanity that scientists like Mike Hansell strive with insight and ingenuity to catalogue the wonders of the natural world and to convey their findings in such enthusiastic fashion to the rest of us blinkered anthropocentrics.--DiscoverUnusual and fascinating--Publishing NewsThis fascinating assemblage of the worlds animal architects will fill a niche in all collections.--ooklistThe book is a fascinating read, with personal anecdotes and reflections blending into thought-provoking explorations of the various themes.--American ScientistRecommended for general readers lower-division undergraduates through graduate students. -- J. Burger, ChoiceCovering the who, what, and why of animal construction, Hansell reveals the blueprint of structures that can rival human architectures.--Science NewsAnyone with an interest in animal behavior will like this book.--Birdbooker Report

Author: Adrian Poole File Type: pdf To your local anchorperson, the word tragedy brings to mind an accidental fire at a low-income apartment block, the horrors of a natural disaster, or atrocities occurring in distant lands. To a classicist however, the word brings to mind the masterpieces of Sophocles, Shakespeare, and Racine beautiful dramas featuring romanticized torment. What has tragedy been made to mean by dramatists, storytellers, philosophers, politicians, and journalists over the last two and a half millennia? Why do we still read, re-write, and stage these old plays? This lively and engaging work presents an entirely unique approach which shows the relevance of tragedy to todays world, and extends beyond drama and literature into visual art and everyday experience. Addressing questions about belief, blame, mourning, revenge, pain, and irony, noted scholar Adrian Poole demonstrates the age-old significance of our attempts to make sense of terrible suffering.Review`Oxfords always stimulating Very Short Introductions series. Independent on Sunday About the AuthorAdrian Poole is Reader in English & Comparative Literature, University of Cambridge, and Fellow of Trinity College, Cambridge. He has written and lectured on Greek and Shakespearean tragedy, on literary translation and on nineteenth-century English literature. His publications include Gissing in Context (1975), Tragedy Shakespeare and the Greek Example (1987), Shakespeare and the Victorians (2003), The Oxford Book of Classical Verse in Translation (1995, co-edited with Jeremy Maule), and editions of novels by Dickens, James and R. L. Stevenson. He is working on a project about witnessing tragedy developed out of his 1999 British Academy Shakespeare Lecture, Macbeth and the Third Person.

Author: Christian Joppke File Type: pdf Multiculturalism is controversial in the liberal state and has frequently been declared dead, even in countries that have never had a policy under that name. This authoritative book reviews the different meanings multiculturalism has acquired across theories, countries, and domains to evaluate the extent of its demise and the ways in which it lives on. Christian Joppke intriguingly argues that, beyond the ebb and flow of policy, liberal constitutionalism itself bears out a ?multiculturalism of the individual? that is not only alive but necessary in a liberal society. Through a provocative comparison of gay rights in the United States and the accommodation of Islam in Europe, he shows that liberal constitutionalism constrains majority power, requiring the state to be neutral about people?s values and ethical commitment. It cannot but give rise to multiple ways of life or cultures, as people are endowed with the freedom to embrace them. Accordingly, impulses toward multiculturalism persist, despite its political crisis, but with a new accent on the individual, rather than group, as the unit of integration. Tightly argued and clearly written, this book provides a judicious assessment of multiculturalism in the West and will be of interest to a broad readership across the social sciences and legal studies. **

Author: Gloria Moss File Type: epub Discover how men and women perceive the world differently and why they wont agree on the colour or shape of the sofa!