The Hellbenders

Wild Life documents a nuanced understanding of the wild versus captive divide in species conservation. It also documents the emerging understanding that all forms of wild nature—both in situ (on-site) and ex situ (in captivity)—may need to be managed in perpetuity. Providing a unique window into the high-stakes world of nature conservation, Irus Braverman describes the heroic efforts by conservationists to save wild life. Yet in the shadows of such dedication and persistence in saving the life of species, Wild Life also finds sacrifice and death. Such life and death stories outline the modern struggle to define what conservation should look like at a time when the long-established definitions of nature have collapsed. Wild Life begins with the plight of a tiny endangered snail, and ends with the rehabilitation of an entire island. Interwoven between its pages are stories about golden lion tamarins in Brazil, black-footed ferrets in the American Plains, Sumatran rhinos in Indonesia, Tasmanian devils in Australia, and many more creatures both human and nonhuman. Braverman draws on interviews with more than one hundred and twenty conservation biologists, zoologists, zoo professionals, government officials, and wildlife managers to explore the various perspectives on in situ and ex situ conservation and the blurring of the lines between them.

Doug wasn't sure whether he should trust Satan.The red flag was that he said he was Satan. But the deal was good: Listen to Satan's story in exchange for some donuts. And Doug only half-fulfilled his part of the bargain.But maybe he should have listened better, because during his friend Bryce's next scheme (theft with light to moderate treason-the usual), Doug and the rest of his friends-Lulu (the fun one) and Charlene (the not fun one)-end up with a powerful artifact, a small metal cube with world-ending power that Lulu decorated with bunnies. And now everyone wants the bunny cube, which means Doug, Bruce, Lulu, and Charlene are being pursued by a insane supermodel general, an army of sadists, a vast criminal organization, a smaller, more-in-startup-mode criminal organization, and an unstoppable killing machine-the worst kind of killing machine.Doug and his friends may be a bunch of losers who aren't particularly smart or good at anything, but they have one thing going for them: a really cool name for their mercenary group. And now it's up to Hellbender to save the world-well, what's left of it. It's pretty ruined and war-torn already. But, you know, they live there, so they kind of need it.It's a mess, but that's what you get for listening to Satan. Or half-listening.

POINT OF NO RETURN Out of the ashes of the conflagration that savaged mankind two centuries ago, Deathlands was born—a tortured testament to a world long gone. Yet, in this kill-or-be-killed world where justice is the way of the past and blood is law, hope is the last refuge of the doomed. For Ryan Cawdor, driven by a warrior's instinct to survive, it's a world that exacts a devil's bargain: the struggle for daily existence in return for a chance to forge a better life. VANGUARD Emerging from a gateway into a redoubt filled with preDark technology, Ryan and his band hope to unlock some of the secrets of postnuclear America. But the fortified redoubt is under the control of a half-mad former sec man hell-bent on vengeance, who orders Ryan and the others to jump-start his private war against two local barons. Under the harsh and pitiless glare of the radblasted desert sun, the companions fight to see another day, whatever it brings…. In the Deathlands, the condemned shall inherit the earth…

Popular Science gives our readers the information and tools to improve their technology and their world. The core belief that Popular Science and our readers share: The future is going to be better, and science and technology are the driving forces that will help make it better.

Since the last edition of this definitive textbook was published in 2013, much has happened in the field of animal behavior. In this fourth edition, Lee Alan Dugatkin draws on cutting-edge new work not only to update and expand on the studies presented, but also to reinforce the previous editions’ focus on ultimate and proximate causation, as well as the book’s unique emphasis on natural selection, learning, and cultural transmission. The result is a state-of-the-art textbook on animal behavior that explains underlying concepts in a way that is both scientifically rigorous and accessible to students. Each chapter in the book provides a sound theoretical and conceptual basis upon which the empirical studies rest. A completely new feature in this edition are the Cognitive Connection boxes in Chapters 2–17, designed to dig deep into the importance of the cognitive underpinnings to many types of behaviors. Each box focuses on a specific issue related to cognition and the particular topic covered in that chapter. As Principles of Animal Behavior makes clear, the tapestry of animal behavior is created from weaving all of these components into a beautiful whole. With Dugatkin’s exquisitely illustrated, comprehensive, and up-to-date fourth edition, we are able to admire that beauty anew.

Using first-person stories and approachable scientific reviews, this volume explores how zoos conduct and support science around the world.

The ideal popular guide to the key Spaghetti Westerns - mainly the good but also the bad and the ugly - this is an authoritative, entertaining and comprehensive companion to the films that created the mythical Spaghetti West in the most improbable circumstances. Sergio Leone's "Dollars" trilogy is covered, with many more major and minor Spaghetti Westerns, including Sergio Corbucci's "Navajo Joe", Carlo Lizzani's "The Hills Run Red" and Duccio Tessari's "A Pistol for Ringo". This popular guide explores the films through the biographies and filmographies of key personnel, stories of the films' making, their locations and sets, sources, musical scores, detailed cast information, box office fortunes internationally, with many illustrations, including original posters and stills.

Science fiction at its very best, this award-winning anthology features worksby the top sci fi writers of the year.

Sixteen of the best short stories from the one and only culture mashup genius brain of Howard Waldrop.