Ecological science, the Biosphere Books

A wonderfully illustrated guide to the natural history of the world's batsBats are the second-largest order of mammals and inhabit almost every corner of the globe, but these secretive creatures are often maligned and misunderstood. With more than 1,400...

‘Fascinating’ Greta Thunberg‘Extraordinary’ Merlin Sheldrake‘A must-read’ New Scientist‘Enthralling’ George Monbiot‘Brilliant’ Philip Hoare Wildlife filmmaker Tom Mustill had always liked whales. But when one breached onto his kayak, nearly killing him,...

The follow-up to the BBC Radio 4 Book of the Week Other MindsA Times and Sunday Times Book of the YearA Waterstones Best Book of 2020The scuba-diving philosopher explores the origins of animal consciousness. Dip below the ocean’s surface and you are...

Many of us gain inspiration, solace, beauty and a sense of wonder from our interactions with nature, and writers have long plumbed and explored these depths.At the same time as many of us tune in to natural landscapes, our environment is imperilled as...

Victoria's South-West is an iconic region of Australia that includes the exceptional landscape features of the Grampians-Gariwerd, the Victorian Volcanic Plain with crater lakes and cones, the forests of the Great Dividing Range, and Melbourne...

If you've ever walked along a beach or rocky shore and peered, poked or wondered at the things cast upon it by the waves, this book is for you. Beaches are our windows to the ocean, and the objects we find on them tell stories about life, death and...

Charles Darwin's voyage on the HMS Beagle was a journey that would revolutionise our understanding of the natural world and our place in it.The magisterial work it spawned, The Origin of Species, is widely associated with the flora and fauna of the...

This is a book of the discovery of birds and the places they live. Everywhere we go there are birds, and they all have mysteries to be unravelled. These mysteries include the way they look, from bizarre to apparently mundane, why they live where they...

Australia is home to some of the world’s most unique frogs, from colourful burrowing frogs, to frogs with ‘hip-pockets’ and even some that can turn their stomach into a womb. A Complete Guide to Frogs of Australia provides a detailed account of all 246...

A 2022 Whitley award winner for zoological literature (Children's Natural History category). Explore modern Australian insects, non-insect hexapods and life cycles. Their importance of insects to the ecosystems of our world, and to our own survival,...

Encounter the most incredible animals in the world with this easy-to-read, all-in-one reference book! You’ll meet the deadliest, weirdest, most endangered and most extreme animals from every corner of the globe, including Asia’s bengal tiger, North...

Georgina Steytler, one of Australia’s most gifted wildlife photographers, is passionate about birds and conservation. In this stunning collection of her work over the last decade, her poetic images portray birds as individuals, each with a character of...

Whether marvelling at the beauty of an outback sunset or battening down against the terror of an approaching cyclone, Australians share a deep, instinctive fascination with the weather. The Australian Geographic Weather Journal offers the opportunity to...

Bec Crew is a Sydney-based science communicator with a love for weird and wonderful animals. From strange behaviours and special adaptations to newly discovered species and the researchers who find them, her topics celebrate how alien yet relatable so...

Collecting together the animals from beloved Australian Geographic series Australia’s Most Dangerous, this hard-cover book profiles Australia’s deadliest animals. We’ve got the world’s most venomous snake; the deadliest jellyfish, spider and octopus; the...

Animals, of course, come in all shapes and sizes with all manner of talents. But did you know how extreme they can be? Do you know which bird laid the heaviest egg ever recorded, how large the biggest frog in the world is or where to find a baby bird...

Our unique plants and animals are one of the many reasons people visit our country. Australia has more than 27,700 plant species, 378 mammal species, 828 bird species, 4000 fish species, 140 snake species, two crocodile species and around 50 types of...

Now you see it, now you don't! Explore some of the intriguing ways animals disguise themselves. A fish that breathes air? Australia has one of the world’s most unusual fish. Discover the amazing habits of the malleefowl as it works hard, and cleverly, to...

If you go down to the woods today, you’re in for a big surprise! So stay in and read about the nasties you’ll find there: from North America’s grizzly bears to Europe’s wolves. In Africa, stay clear of the black mamba’s ‘kiss of death’, and in South...

You'll be awestruck by the achievements of these amazing Australians! They've climbed the highest mountains, trekked across frozen valleys and sailed solo around the world. They've endured blizzards, bullets, searing desert sands and icy shark-infested...

The creatures in this book are the superheroes of Australia’s animal world, beating all the records when it comes to size, speed, strength, and survival. What animal runs so fast it goes blind? Which creature has a tongue that weighs as much as an...

Have you ever seen a Sumatran tiger? Or a Chinese giant salamander? Sadly, hardly anyone ever has. And that’s because very few of these animals are left on the planet. But you’ll find them here along with a lot of other animals on the world’s most...

If it seems like Australia has a lot of deadly creatures, that’s because we do! We’ve got the world’s most venomous snake; the deadliest jellyfish, spider and octopus; the biggest crocodile; and all of the shark species known to have attacked and killed...

Learn about some of Australia's most intriguing and wonderfully weird animals. Explore Australia's Most Freaky to discover the bizarre body shapes and colours, extraordinary lifestyles and amazing hunting techniques of our freaky creatures. Packed full...

From the gwardar and the python to sea snakes and the red-bellied black snake, slither through the stories of Australia's most dangerous snakes. Packed full of detailed illustrations, beautiful images from the Australian Geographic image library,...

From big, hairy spiders and intricate, delicate spiders to pointy fangs and sticky webs -- welcome to the world of Australia's creepy crawly spiders!With fast facts, full colour illustrations and images from Australian Geographic's image library this...

From the zebra shark and the wobbegong shark to the great white and the hammer head, delve into the depths and discover the toothy grins and pointy fins of Australia's most dangerous sharks. Packed full of detailed illustrations, beautiful images from...

An in-depth look at the role of plant spirits in shamanic rituals from around the world • Shows how shamans heal using their knowledge of plant spirits as well as the plant’s “medical properties” • Explores the core methods of plant shamanism--soul...

A richly illustrated guide to wasps around the world.Wasps have been around since before the dinosaurs and are one of the world's largest insect groups. More than 150,000 species have been identified, and while the black-and-yellow insect with a cinched...

Linking literature, philosophy, art, and personal experience, a moving exploration of the wooded landscape's power.In 1985 Boria Sax inherited an area of forest in New York State, which had been purchased by his Russian, Jewish, and Communist...

The graphic novel adaptation of Peter Wohlleben's international bestseller, with breathtaking illustrations and easy-to-follow text that will delight readers young and old.Are trees social beings? For forester Peter Wohlleben, the answer has always been...

"A joyful and imaginative exploration of these totemic trees."-Tristan Gooley, author of How to Read a TreeThe perfect gift for nature lovers and bookworms alike, Oaklore unveils how the mighty oak tree has shaped and influenced English literature,...

This full-color illustrated textbook offers the first comprehensive introduction to all major aspects of tropical ecology. It explains why the world's tropical rain forests are so universally rich in species, what factors may contribute to high species...

A captivating portrait of the poet and the scientist who shared an enchanted view of nature.Emily Dickinson and Charles Darwin were born at a time when the science of studying the natural world was known as natural philosophy, a pastime for poets,...

England's Green explores how environmental concerns have shaped and reflected English national identity since the 1960s. David Matless covers themes including agriculture, nature, leisure, climate change, the Anthropocene, the folkloric, the...

In this richly illustrated book, Victoria Dickenson explores the natural and cultural history of this most familiar creature, from the giant extinct rabbits of Minorca to the tiny endangered Volcano rabbits of Mexico...

A marvellously illustrated guide to colour in the natural world.Recent years have seen tremendous strides in the fields of vision, visual ecology, and our own multilayered experience of colour in life and the world. These advances have been driven by...

Timely and provocative reflections on the future of the wild in an increasingly human world.The Heart of the Wild brings together some of today's leading scientists, humanists, and nature writers to offer a thought-provoking meditation on the urgency of...

A beautifully illustrated guide to the natural history and breathtaking diversity of spiders around the world.Spiders are dominant predators in virtually every terrestrial ecosystem on the planet. A marvel of evolution with species numbering in the tens...

A richly illustrated guide to lichens and their biology.Existing at the margins of life, lichens are the result of symbiotic relationships between fungi and photosynthesising partners in the form of algae or cyanobacteria. Comprising more than twenty...

Are we sometimes too strong for our own good?Amid epidemics of anxiety and depression,threats of ecological and economic disaster, not to mention a pandemic, resilience has been the buzzword of the decade, the answer to every challenge we face as...

Plankton are the unsung heroes of planet Earth. Passive drifters through the world's seas, oceans, and freshwater environments, most are invisible or very small, but some are longer than a whale. They are the global ocean's foundation food, supporting...

A richly illustrated guide to the world's frogs that includes species from every family.With more than 7,600 known species, frogs exhibit an extraordinary range of forms and behaviours, from those that produce toxins so deadly that they could kill a...

A charming, richly illustrated, pocket-size exploration of the world's trees.Packed with surprising facts, this delightful and gorgeously designed book will beguile any nature lover. Expertly written and beautifully illustrated throughout with colour...

An eye-opening volume of research andphotographs exploring one of North America's most persistent-and misunderstood-predators.The coyote. Even its image conjures up more myth than fact. From its depictions as the "trickster" in ancient fables to its...

**Shortlisted, Royal Society Trivedi Science Book Prize 2024**The great auk is one of the most tragic and documented examples of extinction. A flightless bird that bred primarily on the remote islands of the North Atlantic, the last of its kind were...

An authoritative, marvelously illustrated field guide to the velvet ants of North AmericaVelvet Ants of North America is a beautiful photographic guide to the species of the wasp family Mutillidae found in the United States and Canada. Featuring hundreds...

What is the nature of the 'laws' that Marx and Engels sought to formulate for the development of capitalism? How to understand and judge Engels's attempt to formulate a general philosophy and worldview? These are the questions highlighted in this...