P John: 800 books

Though it encompasses the majority of the Earth’s history, much about Precambrian time still remains unknown to us. With its climate extremes and unstable surfaces, Precambrian Earth hardly resembled the planet we see today. Yet for all its differences, it made the existence of future generations...

While they come in all shapes, textures, and sizes, animals that subsist on the Earth’s natural vegetation share many common elements as well. Occupying a unique place in the food chain, grazers all over the Earth provide vital nourishment for carnivores and are often valuable to humans for meat,...

From lemurs to apes to human beings, primates are unique among mammals—for example, our brains are large compared to our size. Our complex interactions, intricate social structures, and extensive range of emotions allow us to adapt and thrive in diverse habitats around the globe. In this volume,...

The devastation wrought by earthquakes and volcanoes often obscures the fact that these destructive forces are also some of the most creative on the planet birthing mountains and other land forms. With detailed diagrams outlining the structure of continental and oceanic crust and the distribution...

The Earth’s capacity to sustain life increasingly depends on the actions of humans and our commitment to preserving the planet’s incredible biodiversity. Because its ecosystems are vulnerable to pollution, overuse, and numerous other damaging activities, plants and animals that rely on these regions...

Winding their way through the planet’s landscapes and supplying some of its most prosperous cities with fresh water, food, and transportation conduits, rivers and streams have critical ecological and economic significance. As they carve out waterfalls, valleys, canyons, deltas, and a host of other...

Primeval jungles, mountain ranges, and the cover of deep forests are not the only domains of meat-eating creatures. Carnivores also can be found stalking prey from the air, in ocean depths, and marshy swamps. Raptors, sharks, and crocodiles are among the most predominant non-mammalian meat-eaters...

Between their verdant canopies and shaded floors, forests contain a multi-tiered ecosystem that supports an abundance of flora and fauna. Together with the grasses and vegetation in the grasslands to which they are frequently adjacent, forests make up 70 percent of the Earth’s land area and sustain...

More than 15,000 species of reptiles and amphibians roam planet Earth today. Believed to be descendents of the dinosaurs, reptiles are scaly and cold-blooded. Amphibians lead something of a double-life, since they are capable of living in terrestrial and aquatic habitats. This colorful volume details...

The planet’s natural dips and elevations, slopes and structures, stud the world’s landscapes and enrich its panoramas. However, the Earth’s landforms should not be viewed as anomalies in its topography; rather, they are often invaluable components of ecosystems and hold significant clues to...

Constituting more than 70 percent of Earth’s surface, the world’s oceans are so vast as to remain something of an enigma to this day. Navigating these imposing seas and unlocking their secrets is the calling of oceanographers. Their research helps determine what climatic, geologic, and chemical...

Lakes and wetlands are significant ecosystems that nourish, sustain, and house many of the planet’s plant and animal species. Though both of these regions are defined by water—both fresh and saline—each lake and particular type of wetland also has characteristics all its own. This detailed volume...

Characterized by uncompromising climate, sparse population density, and extreme aridity, deserts, steppes, and scrublands represent some of the least accessible regions on the planet. However, despite the severity of these ecosystems, they still boast mesmerizing terrains and are capable of supporting...

Notwithstanding its detractors, evolutionary science has anticipated modern genetic research and continued to illuminate mysteries about our past and our connectedness to the species around us. Detailing the evolutionary process and speciation as well as the continuing debates about evolution’s...