Since its inception in 1915, the Best American series has become the premier annual showcase for the country's finest short fiction and nonfiction. For each volume, a series editor reads pieces from hundreds of periodicals, then selects between fifty and a hundred outstanding works. That selection is pared down to the twenty or so very best pieces by a guest editor who is widely recognized as a leading writer in his or her field. This unique system has helped make the Best American series the most respected -- and most popular -- of its kind. The Best American Science and Nature Writing 2004, edited by Steven Pinker, is another "provocative and thoroughly enjoyable [collection] from start to finish" (Publishers Weekly). Here is the best and newest on science and nature: the psychology of suicide terrorism, desperate measures in surgery, the weird world of octopuses, Sex Week at Yale, the linguistics of click languages, the worst news about cloning, and much more.

Yosemite is a world-famous location that has attracted photographic greats like Eadweard Muybridge, Edward Weston, and Ansel Adams, along with environmentalists, mountaineers, and countless tourists. Yosemite in Time puts this landscape and its history in a new perspective, with Mark Klett and Byron Wolfe's original photographs and panoramas, together with rephotographs of some of the most enduring images taken at Yosemite. In three essays, noted critic Rebecca Solnit brings in nature, culture, and politics to look through the past to understand the present. As she writes in her introduction, "Yosemite is a singular place onto which are mapped myriad expectations and desires." To track many of those designs, Klett, Solnit, and Wolfe made multiple expeditions over three years. They found the exact points where Muybridge, Weston, and Adams stood to photograph what would become seminal views of a grand landscape; they replicated the exact time of day and year of the earlier photographs in order to get exactly the same angle of light. While Klett and Wolfe brought both precision and invention to their rephotography, Solnit reconstructed the layers of meaning and overlapping ideas entwined with the "steep, intricate, hallowed, scarred landscape of Yosemite." Together, the photographs and essays reconsider the iconic status of Yosemite in America's conception of wilderness, examine how the place was interpreted by early Euro-Americans, and show how our conceptions of landscape have altered and how the landscape has changed--or not--over time. Arresting and incisive, Yosemite in Time explores the environmental and photographic history, science, and politics of a site that has long captured our collective imagination.

In 1993, Alan Rabinowitz, called "the Indiana Jones" of wildlife science by The New York Times , arrived for the first time in the country of Myanmar, known until 1989 as Burma, uncertain of what to expect. Working under the auspices of the Wildlife Conservation Society, his goal was to establish a wildlife research and conservation program and to survey the country's wildlife. He succeeded beyond all expectations, not only discovering a species of primitive deer completely new to science but also playing a vital role in the creation of Hkakabo Razi National Park, now one of Southeast Asia's largest protected areas. Beyond the Last Village takes the reader on a journey of exploration, danger, and discovery in this remote corner of the planet at the southeast edge of the Himalayas where tropical rain forest and snow-covered mountains meet. As we travel through this "lost world" -- a mysterious and forbidding region isolated by ancient geologic forces -- we meet the Rawang, a former slave group, the Taron, a solitary enclave of the world's only pygmies of Asian ancestry, and Myanmar Tibetans living in the furthest reaches of the mountains. We enter the territories of strange, majestic-looking beasts that few people have ever heard of and fewer have ever seen -- golden takin, red goral, blue sheep, black barking deer. The survival of these ancient species is now threatened, not by natural forces but by hunters with snares and crossbows, trading body parts for basic household necessities.The powerful landscape and unique people the author befriends help him come to grips with the traumas and difficulties of his past and emerge a man ready to embrace the world anew. Interwoven with his scientific expedition in Myanmar, and helping to inform his understanding of the people he met and the situations he encountered, is this more personal journey of discovery.

"In an effort to help us reconnect with the food that sustains our lives, David Moscow has spent four years going around the world, meeting with rock-star chefs, and sourcing ingredients within local food ecosystems--experiences taking place in over twenty countries that include milking a water buffalo to make mozzarella for pizza in Italy; harvesting oysters in Long Island Sound and honey from wild bees in Kenya; and making patis in the Philippines, beer in Malta, and sea salt in Iceland. Moscow takes us on deep dives (sometimes literally) with fisherfolk, farmers, scientists, community activists, historians, hunters, and more, bringing back stories of the communities, workers, and environments involved -- some thriving, some in jeopardy, all interconnected with food. The result is this travel journal that marvels in the world around us while simultaneously examining the environmental issues, cultural concerns, and overlooked histories intertwined with the food we eat to survive and thrive. Through the people who harvest, hunt, fish, and forage each day, we come to understand today's reality and tomorrow's risks and possibilities"--

In April 2018, seasoned adventurer Ben Fogle and Olympic cycling gold medallist Victoria Pendleton, along with mountaineer Kenton Cool, took on their most exhausting challenge yet - climbing Everest for the British Red Cross in an attempt to highlight the environmental challenges mountains face. The expedition was to become the adventure of a lifetime, the culmination of a journey that started with a moment of tragedy years before. For Ben was inspired to take on this challenge by the memory of his son, Willem, who was stillborn in 2014. This is the story of an incredible journey that has for ever changed the lives of those involved. `The climb from Camp 4 to the summit is like stepping into a parallel universe. One in which life and death become frighteningly close. In places the lines become blurred. There are few places where the margin is so close and visceral. Angels and the grim reaper are bed pals. When you are in the zone, in the moment, you are literally counting by the step. By the second. In some ways you are in your own little bubble. In places, the fear was almost paralysing. ... In that fine line between life and death I only saw brightness. ... While I hope my expedition has helped inspire, it is also a reminder of the fragility of life. Hold those you love close to you. Don't forget to tell them how much you love them and never become complacent in life. We are all mere mortals on this planet, but don't let that reality stop you from living it to the full.' To laugh is to risk appearing the fool. To weep is to risk appearing sentimental. To reach out to another is to risk involvement. To expose feelings is to risk exposing your true self. To place your dreams, ideas before a crowd is to risk their loss. To love is risk not being loved in return. To live is to risk dying. To hope is to risk despair. To try is to risk failure. But risks must be taken, because the greatest hazard in life is to risk nothing. The person who risks nothing, does nothing, has nothing, and is nothing. They may avoid suffering and sorrow, but they cannot learn, feel, change, grow, love, live. Chained by their certitudes, they are a slave: they have forfeited their freedom. Only a person who risks is truly free.

Provocateurs Will Self and Ralph Steadman join forces in this post-millennial meditation on the vexed relationship between psyche and place in a globalised world, bringing together for the first time the very best of their 'Psychogeography' columns for the Independent . Ranging from the Scottish Highlands to Istanbul and from Morocco to Ohio, Will Self's engaging and disturbing vision is perfectly counter-pointed by Ralph Steadman's edgy and beautiful artwork.

Hang on for a Wild Journey through the Political and Spiritual Adventures of the Baby-Boom Generation Join Wes "Scoop" Nisker as he takes us on a hilarious, wild ride through the heyday of the Beats and the Hippies and the birth of the modern environmental movement, and the surge of Buddhism in the West.

Building on their first successful collaboration, more Self and Steadman on the oddities of place in the contemporary world. Will Self's satiric eye and hyperactive prose meet once again with Ralph Steadman's manic hand and effulgent color, creating the coveted sequel to their collaboration Psychogeography : here is Psycho Too . In this energetic romp through an all-new landscape, Self and Steadman further explore the effects of our geographical environment�natural, man-made, or man-manipulated�on our emotions and behavior, and the interplay of surroundings and self. In the introductory essay, Self sets out to walk the entire length of Britain�or, more precisely, a Britainshaped island off the coast of Dubai, part of the artificial archipelago of private isles replicating, in miniature, all the world's landmasses. Fifty additional short essays cover terrain from Istanbul to Los Angeles, East Yorkshire to Easter Island, all accompanied by Steadman's inimitable illustrations. Psycho Too is a dazzling guide to the wheres and wherefores of the way we live now.

The Harz Journey is a travel narrative that blends personal reflections with observations about nature and society. The author embarks on a journey through the Harz Mountains, where he explores the liberating power of nature and its contrasts with urban life. As he departs from a university town, he reflects on its peculiar dynamics and the academic culture, emphasizing the tensions between intellectual pursuits and the natural world. His journey is marked by humor, lyricism, and social commentary, highlighting the complexity of human experience. Through vivid descriptions of the landscape, Heine reveals the richness of his encounters with both people and nature. The narrative is not only a travelogue but also a philosophical exploration of the individual's relationship with the world around them, infused with wit and poetic insight. His observations challenge conventional social norms, offering a thought-provoking journey that transcends mere physical travel. The work remains an important reflection on the tensions between intellectual life and the natural environment.

When frontline BBC news reporter David Shukman switched beat from world affairs to environment in 2003, he feared he might be in for a dull life. He couldn't have been more wrong. His new job has taken him to every corner of the earth: journeying up the fabled North West Passage in the Arctic, chasing after loggers in the Amazon and battling through plastic waste in the Pacific Ocean, getting trapped in Siberian blizzards along the way. Reporting Live from the End of the World charts Shukman's extraordinary adventures, in the process providing a fascinating eye-witness account of the state of the planet. Wonderfully written and often very funny, the book will be loved by travel, science or environment readers alike.