National Network for Equitable Library Service

Les champignons constituent l'une des trois formes de vie supérieure sur la planète avec les plantes et les animaux. Ils ne sont pas nés de la dernière pluie : cela fait 450 000 millions d'années qu'ils ont commencé à se répandre dans tous les écosystèmes, des forêts jusque dans notre organisme. Les champignons sont des partenaires écologiques essentiels. Près de 90 % des plantes vivent en symbiose avec eux. Et cette cohabitation nous ramène aussi loin qu'aux premiers instants de la vie botanique et animale sur Terre.

Tout est lié: végétaux, insectes et animaux vivent en parfaite symbiose. C'est ainsi qu'un loup peut modifier le cours d'une rivière, que certains petits arbres produisent des substances répulsives pour dissuader les cerfs de les manger ou qu'une forêt fabrique des nuages. Toutefois, comme dans les subtils rouages d'une horloge, une vétille peut dérégler les mécanismes mis en place dans la nature.

Avec cette somme sur la nature du langage, Charles Taylor offre à ses lecteurs le livre qui était présent en arrière-plan de ses travaux précédents, notamment «Les Sources du moi» et «L'Âge séculier». En s'appuyant sur quatre décennies de réflexions et de recherches, il démontre comment, grâce au langage, l'être humain se découvre et se révèle au monde et aux autres. Au cours de sa longue histoire, la philosophie occidentale s'est divisée en deux camps à propos de la nature du langage.

In the tradition of Daniel Levitin's This Is Your Brain on Music and Oliver Sacks' Musicophilia, Bad Singer follows the delightful journey of Tim Falconer as he tries to overcome tone deafness--and along the way discovers what we're really hearing when we listen to music. A work of scientific discovery, musicology, and personal odyssey, Bad Singer is a fascinating, insightful, and highly entertaining account from an award-winning journalist and author.

As this self-reflective book demonstrates, when one takes up the serious study of water, one cannot but be surprised at how far that interest can take you: from the very origins of the cosmos right down to the unique structure and remarkable qualities of water as a molecule. It takes you to the depths of the oceans, to the upper reaches of the Earth's atmosphere, and into the centres of storms. You fall to Earth with raindrops, travel tiny streams and great rivers, go round and round in lakes and ponds.

Science and technology have shaped not only economic empires and industrial landscapes, but also the identities, anxieties, and understandings of people living in modern times. Made Modern draws together leading scholars from a wide range of fields who write on topics ranging from exploration and infrastructure to the occult sciences and communications. The contributors use histories of science and technology to enrich our understanding of Canadian history and of Canada's place in a transnational modern world.

Don't be afraid to try! Make connections! Be persistent! Ask questions and never take no for an answer! Learn the secrets and amazing stories of successful inventors! How to Become an Accidental Genius is full of inspiring tales of famous and lesser-known inventors who have changed the world, from George Washington Carver, Mary Anderson (inventor of the windshield wiper) and inventor and actress Hedy Lamarr to Frank Epperson (of Popsicle fame) and Mary Sherman Morgan (The Woman Who Saved the U.S. Space Race). Readers will be amazed at the inventiveness of these geniuses.

This book examines the character and relevance of remembrance, inviting readers to think creatively and deeply about the ways that memories are transmitted, recorded, and distorted through time and space. Ranging from molecular genetics and astrophysics to law and Indigenous oral histories, the essays draw from a diverse group of contributors to capture different perspectives on memory. Reflecting upon memory in engaging and unexpected ways, this collection offers an interdisciplinary roadmap for exploring how, why, and when we remember.

Do both the zoo and the mental hospital induce psychosis, as humans are treated as animals and animals are treated as humans? How have we looked at animals in the past, and how do we look at them today? How have zoos presented themselves, and their purpose, over time? In response to the emergence of environmental and animal studies, anthropologists, sociologists, philosophers, theorists, literature scholars, and historians around the world have begun to explore the significance of zoological parks, past and present.

By building his own microscope, Antony van Leeuwenhoek advanced humanity's understanding of the oft-invisible world around us. Microbes are everywhere: in the soil and oceans, in snow, and inside our bodies. But in Antony van Leeuwenhoek's time, people believed that what they saw with their own eyes was all that existed in the world. How did a simple tradesman - who didn't go to college or speak English or Latin like all the other scientists - change everyone's minds?