The Economic Naturalists Field Guide

Ask a dozen talking heads about the course of action we should take to right the economy and you’ll get thirteen different answers. But what if we possessed a handful of basic principles that could guide our decisions—both the personal ones about how to save and spend but also those national ones that have been capturing the headlines?Robert H. Frank has been illustrating these principles longer and more clearly than anyone else. InThe Economic Naturalist’s Field Guide, he reveals how they play out in Washington, on Wall Street, and in our own lives, covering everything from healthcare to tax policy to everyday decisions about what we do with our money.In today’s uncertain economic climate,The Economic Naturalist’s Field Guide’s insights have more bearing than ever on our pocketbooks, policies, and personal happiness.

Why do the keypads on drive-up cash machines have Braille dots? Why are round-trip fares from Orlando to Kansas City higher than those from Kansas City to Orlando? For decades, Robert Frank has been asking his economics students to pose and answer questions like these as a way of learning how economic principles operate in the real world-which they do everywhere, all the time. Once you learn to think like an economist, all kinds of puzzling observations start to make sense. Drive-up ATM keypads have Braille dots because it's cheaper to make the same machine for both drive-up and walk-up locations. Travelers from Kansas City to Orlando pay less because they are usually price-sensitive tourists with many choices of destination, whereas travelers originating from Orlando typically choose Kansas City for specific family or business reasons. The Economic Naturalist employs basic economic principles to answer scores of intriguing questions from everyday life, and, along the way, introduces key ideas such as the cost-benefit principle, the “no cash on the table” principle, and the law of one price. This is as delightful and painless a way to learn fundamental economics as there is.

The California Naturalist Handbook provides a fun, science-based introduction to California’s natural history with an emphasis on observation, discovery, communication, stewardship and conservation. It is a hands-on guide to learning about the natural environment of California. Subjects covered include California natural history and geology, native plants and animals, California’s freshwater resources and ecosystems, forest and rangeland resources, conservation biology, and the effects of global warming on California’s natural communities. The Handbook also discusses how to create and use a field notebook, natural resource interpretation, citizen science, and collaborative conservation and serves as the primary text for the California Naturalist Program.

This book is the first user-friendly regional guide devoted to ants—the “little things that run the world.” Lavishly illustrated with more than 500 line drawings, 300-plus photographs, and regional distribution maps as composite illustrations for every species, this guide will introduce amateur and professional naturalists and biologists, teachers and students, and environmental managers and pest-control professionals to more than 140 ant species found in the northeastern United States and eastern Canada. The detailed drawings and species descriptions, together with the high-magnification photographs, will allow anyone to identify and learn about ants and their diversity, ecology, life histories, and beauty. In addition, the book includes sections on collecting ants, ant ecology and evolution, natural history, and patterns of geographic distribution and diversity to help readers gain a greater understanding and appreciation of ants.

Habitats of Australasia (Australia, NZ and New Guinea) -- Habitats of the Neotropics (Central and South America) -- Habitats of the Afrotropics (SSaharan Africa) -- Habitats of the Palearctic (Europe, North Asia and North Africa) -- Habitats of the Nearctic (North America).

This insightful Modern Guide offers a broad coverage of questions and controversies encountered by contemporary economists. A refreshing approach to philosophy of economics, chapters comprise a range of methodological and theoretical perspectives, from lab and field experiments to macroeconomics and applied policy work, written using a familiar, accessible language for economists.

This award-winning naturalists's guide to San Diego's intertidal zones and harbors was written and produced by eleventh-grade science, math, and humanities classes at a public charter school close to San Diego Bay.

This user-friendly and authoritative book will serve scientists, growers, and sightseers as a guide to the 67 genra and 550 species of naturally occurring palms found in the Americas. Its purpose is to give an introduction to the diversity of palms and allow almost anyone to identify a palm from this part of the world. Andrew Henderson is Assistant Scientist at the New York Botanical Garden. Gloria Galeano and Rodrigo Bernal are Assistant Professors at the Instituto de Ciencias Naturales, Universidad Nacional de Colombia, Bogota. Originally published in 1995. The Princeton Legacy Library uses the latest print-on-demand technology to again make available previously out-of-print books from the distinguished backlist of Princeton University Press. These editions preserve the original texts of these important books while presenting them in durable paperback and hardcover editions. The goal of the Princeton Legacy Library is to vastly increase access to the rich scholarly heritage found in the thousands of books published by Princeton University Press since its founding in 1905.

Ranging from the largest terrestrial carnivore, the Polar Bear, to the tiny Least Weasel that can squeeze through a wedding ring, the true carnivores include some of the world's most charismatic, admired, feared and spectacular creatures. This new edition of Luke Hunter's comprehensive guide profiles all of the world's terrestrial carnivore species. Thoroughly updated throughout and covering recently described species, a detailed account describes each species' key identification characteristics, distribution and habitat, behaviour, feeding ecology, social patterns, life history statistics, conservation and the latest on classification. The new edition also includes accurate distribution maps for each species. Colour plates by top wildlife artist Priscilla Barrett depict each species, with subspecies, colour variations and behavioural vignettes for many. There are also detailed line drawings of more than 230 skulls and 110 footprints.