The Secret Life of Dust: From the Cosmos to the Kitchen Counter, the Big Consequences of Little Things

Hannah Holmes A mesmerizing expedition around our dusty world Some see dust as dull and useless stuff. But in the hands of author Hannah Holmes, it becomes a dazzling and mysterious force; Dust, we discover, built the planet we walk upon. And it tinkers with the weather and spices the air we breathe. Billions of tons of it rise annually into the air--the dust of deserts and forgotten kings mixing with volcanic ash, sea salt, leaf fragments, scales from butterfly wings, shreds of T-shirts, and fireplace soot. Eventually, though, all this dust must settle. The story of restless dust begins among exploding stars, then treks through the dinosaur beds of the Gobi Desert, drills into Antarctic glaciers, filters living dusts from the wind, and probes the dark underbelly of the living-room couch. Along the way, Holmes introduces a delightful cast of characters--the scientists who study dust. Some investigate its dark side: how it killed off dinosaurs and how its industrial descendents are killing us today. Others sample the shower of Saharan dust that nourishes Caribbean jungles, or venture into the microscopic jungle of the bedroom carpet. Like The Secret Life of Dust, however, all of them unveil the mayhem and magic wrought by little things. Hannah Holmes (Portland, ME) is a science and natural history writer for the Discovery Channel Online. Her freelance work has been widely published, appearing in the Los Angeles Times Magazine, the New York Times Magazine, Outside, Sierra, National Geographic Traveler, and Escape. Her broadcast work has been featured on Living on Earth and the Discovery Channel Online's Science Live.

Holmes, Hannah

wiley

Hannah Holmes A mesmerizing expedition around our dusty world Some see dust as dull and useless stuff. But in the hands of author Hannah Holmes, it becomes a dazzling and mysterious force; Dust, we discover, built the planet we walk upon. And it tinkers with the weather and spices the air we breathe. Billions of tons of it rise annually into the air--the dust of deserts and forgotten kings mixing with volcanic ash, sea salt, leaf fragments, scales from butterfly wings, shreds of T-shirts, and fireplace soot. Eventually, though, all this dust must settle. The story of restless dust begins among exploding stars, then treks through the dinosaur beds of the Gobi Desert, drills into Antarctic glaciers, filters living dusts from the wind, and probes the dark underbelly of the living-room couch. Along the way, Holmes introduces a delightful cast of characters--the scientists who study dust. Some investigate its dark side: how it killed off dinosaurs and how its industrial descendents are killing us today. Others sample the shower of Saharan dust that nourishes Caribbean jungles, or venture into the microscopic jungle of the bedroom carpet. Like The Secret Life of Dust, however, all of them unveil the mayhem and magic wrought by little things. Hannah Holmes (Portland, ME) is a science and natural history writer for the Discovery Channel Online. Her freelance work has been widely published, appearing in the Los Angeles Times Magazine, the New York Times Magazine, Outside, Sierra, National Geographic Traveler, and Escape. Her broadcast work has been featured on Living on Earth and the Discovery Channel Online's Science Live.

Science & Math

Earth Sciences

Reference

Foreign Language Study & Reference

Trade Paper Press

Stiff meets Your Inner Fish in this surprising, humourous, and edifying look at our species as, essentially, animals. Combining personal stories, cutting-edge science, and a buoyant sense of humour, Hannah Holmes offers an intriguing and fresh way to understand our place in the world. Science journalist Hannah Holmes wryly examines the human animal, beginning with the animal she knows best: herself. What she finds is that, of course, we are indisputably animals – in some ways (smell and vision, for instance) rather inferior ones. Yet Holmes also discovers that Homo sapiens exhibit some traits and behaviours found in no other animal on earth. Our species is among the most generous, and the most thoughtful. Not so admirably, we kill ourselves any number of ways, including by eating ourselves to death. All this in addition to a patently bizarre physical appearance, and shocking lack of defences. Confronting the creature in the mirror, Holmes wrestles with the big questions: Are humans special at all? How different are men and women? (Very.) What is our place in the kingdom of animals – and on the planet Earth?

The Well-Dressed Ape: A Natural History of Myself

Literature & Fiction

Literary

Random House Canada

DID YOU KNOW THAT • we have more hair follicles than a chimpanzee • a male boxer in top condition can punch with the force of a thirteen-pound mallet swung at twenty miles an hour • the best human endurance runners can outlast a horse • one odor above all is sexually stimulating to the human male: cinnamon buns • our home-building skills compare nicely with those of the bagworm With dry wit and penetrating insight, science journalist Hannah Holmes casts the eye of a trained researcher and reporter on . . . herself. And on our whole species. She compares the biology and behavior of humans with that of other creatures, exploring how the human animal fits into the natural world. Holmes also reveals the ways in which Homo sapiens stands apart from other mammals (and all other animals) in ways that are alternately admirable and devastating. Deftly mixing personal stories with the latest scientific research, Hannah Holmes has fashioned an engaging field guide to that oddest and most fascinating of primates: ourselves.

Politics & Social Sciences

Anthropology

Random House Trade Paperbacks

Content-Area Vocabulary Strategies: Science

Education & Teaching

Schools & Teaching

J. WESTON WALCH PUB

The well-dressed ape, akaHomo sapiens, is a strange mammal. It mates remarkably often, and with unprecedented affection. With similar enthusiasm, it will eat to the point of undermining its own health–behavior unthinkable in wild animals. The human marks its territory with doors, fences, and plastic flamingos, yet if it’s too isolated it becomes depressed. It thinks of itself as complex, intelligent, and in every way superior to other animals–but is it, really? With wit, humility, and penetrating insight, science journalist Hannah Holmes casts the inquisitive eye of a trained researcher and reporter on . . . herself. And not just herself, but on our whole species–what Shakespeare called “the paragon of animals.” In this surprising, humorous, and edifying book, Holmes explores how the human animal–the eponymous well-dressed ape–fits into the natural world, even as we humans change that world in both constructive and destructive ways. Comparing and contrasting the biology and behavior of humans with that of other creatures, Holmes demonstrates our position as an animal among other animals, a product of–and subject to–the same evolutionary processes. And not only are we animals–we are, in some important ways (such as our senses of smell and of vision), pitiably inferior ones. That such an animal came to exist at all is unlikely. That we have survived and prospered is extraordinary. At the same time, Holmes reveals the ways in which Homo sapiens stands apart from other mammals and, indeed, all other animals. Despite the vast common ground we share with our fellow creatures, there are significant areas in which we are unique. No other animal, as far as we know, shares the human capacity for self-reflective thought or our talent for changing ourselves or our environment in response to natural challenges and opportunities. One result of these extraordinary characteristics is the spread of our species across the entire planet; another, unfortunately, is global warming. Deftly mixing personal stories and observations with the latest scientific theories and research results, Hannah Holmes has fashioned an engaging and informative field guide to that oddest and yet most fascinating of primates: ourselves.

Random House]

Who are you? It’s the most fundamental of human questions. Are you the type of person who tilts at windmills, or the one who prefers to view them from the comfort of an air-conditioned motorcoach? Our personalities are endlessly fascinating—not just to ourselves but also to our spouses, our parents, our children, our co-workers, our neighbors. As a highly social species, humans have to navigate among an astonishing variety of personalities. But how did all these different permutations come about? And what purpose do they serve? With her trademark wit and sly humor, Hannah Holmes takes readers into the amazing world of personality and modern brain science. Using the Five Factor Model, which slices temperaments into the major factors (Extraversion, Neuroticism, Agreeableness, Conscientiousness, and Openness) and minor facets (such as impulsive, artistic, or cautious), Holmes demonstrates how our genes and brains dictate which factors and facets each of us displays. Are you a Nervous Nelly? Your amygdala is probably calling the shots. Hyperactive Hal? It’s all about the dopamine. Each facet took root deep in the evolution of life on Earth, with Nature allowing enough personal variation to see a species through good times and bad. Just as there are introverted and extroverted people, there are introverted and extroverted mice, and even starfish. In fact, the personality genes we share with mice make them invaluable models for the study of disorders like depression, schizophrenia, and anxiety. Thus it is deep and ancient biases that guide your dealings with a very modern world. Your personality helps to determine the political party you support, the car you drive, the way you eat M&amp;Ms, and the likelihood that you’ll cheat on your spouse. Drawing on data from top research laboratories, the lives of her eccentric friends, the conflicts that plague her own household, and even the habits of her two pet mice, Hannah Holmes summarizes the factors that shape you. And what she proves is that it does take all kinds. Even the most irksome and trying personality you’ve ever encountered contributes to the diversity of our species. And diversity is the key to our survival.

Quirk: Brain Science Makes Sense of Your Peculiar Personality

Health, Fitness & Dieting

Psychology & Counseling

THE WELL-DRESSED APE, aka Homo sapiens, is a strange mammal. It thinks of itself as complex, intelligent, and in every way superior to other animals – but is it, really? With wit, humility, and penetrating insight, science journalist Hannah Holmes casts the inquisitive eye of a trained researcher and reporter on...herself. And not just on herself, but on our whole species – what Shakespeare called “the paragon of animals.” In this surprising, humorous, and edifying audio, Holmes explores how the human animal fits into the natural world, even as we humans change that world in both constructive and destructive ways. Comparing and contrasting the biology and behavior of humans with that of other creatures, Holmes demonstrates our position as an animal among other animals, a product of – and subject to – the same evolutionary processes. And not only are we animals – we are, in some important ways (such as our senses of smell and of vision), pitiably inferior ones. That such an animal came to exist at all is unlikely. That we have survived and prospered is extraordinary. At the same time, Holmes reveals the ways in which Homo sapiens stands apart from other animals. Despite the vast common ground we share with our fellow creatures, there are significant areas in which we are unique — our capacity for self-reflective thought and our talent for changing ourselves in response to natural challenges. Deftly mixing personal stories and observations with the latest scientific theories and research results, Hannah Holmes has fashioned an engaging and informative field guide to that oddest and yet most fascinating of primates: ourselves.

BRILLIANCE AUDIO ^

Biological Sciences

See the best price to sell, buy, or rent books by Holmes, Hannah. BookScouter helps to compare book prices from 25+ online bookstores and 30+ buyback vendors with a single search.

Books by Holmes, Hannah

See the best price to sell, buy, or rent books by Holmes, Hannah. BookScouter helps to compare book prices from 25+ online bookstores and 30+ buyback vendors with a single search.

The Secret Life of Dust: From the Cosmos to the Kitchen Counter, the Big Consequences of Little Things

The Secret Life of Dust: From the Cosmos to the Kitchen Counter, the Big Consequences of Little Things

The Secret Life of Dust: From the Cosmos to the Kitchen Counter, the Big Consequences of Little Things

The Well-Dressed Ape: A Natural History of Myself

The Well-Dressed Ape: A Natural History of Myself

Content-Area Vocabulary Strategies: Science

The Well-Dressed Ape: A Natural History of Myself

Quirk: Brain Science Makes Sense of Your Peculiar Personality

The Well-Dressed Ape: A Natural History of Myself

The Well-Dressed Ape: A Natural History of Myself