Well Read Books: The Itch

"There are a thousand causes underlying a condition of itching. They can include anything from dandruff to diabetes.

"In medical discussion and articles the term pruritis is used to indicate itching. To show the low status of the word, a similar-sounding word, prurience, means lewdness in thought or desire. An "itch plant," which is found in tropical countries and which is used to make itching powder, is call mucuna pruriens.

"Why do people scratch? Some believe that the pain produced by the scratching is a mean of stopping the itching. The physiological explanation is that itching stops when pain supervenes. But the explanation lies deeper...

The Itch and what to do besides scratching

by J. I. Rodale

Rodale Books, 1971

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Now Exploring "Lake Effect"

This book offers an in-depth and personal look at a natural phenomenon shaped by geography and weather patterns and how it affects human history. A "lake-effect snow" occurs when narrow bands of clouds formed in cold, dry arctic air pass over a large, relatively warm inland lake, producing intense snowfalls lasting from a couple of minutes to two days. Such snowfalls occur famously along the Great Lakes, the Great Salt Lake, and Hudson Bay; this narrative focuses on the Great Lakes and the Buffalo area east of Lake Erie in particular.

continued in The Nature Pages

Lake Effect

Tales of Large Lakes, Arctic Winds, and Recurrent Snows

by Mark S. Monmonier

Syracuse University Press, 2012

Nature Writing and Natural Histories
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Reading the History: The Kentucky Derby

If the Super Bowl had been played in the same city each year, say a working class community like Green Bay, and still grew up to become a multi-billion-dollar spectacle attracting the world's rich and famous as well as the beer-swilling, tatooed commoners then it would be an event comparable to the Kentucky Derby, especially if you added an extra hundred years of tradition to its history.

An unabashed  thoroughbred horse enthusiast and Kentucky Derby fan, the author nevertheless provides a straightforward history and honest assessment of the event and its evolution.

The book follows the progress of the Derby through the decades as it broke away from a pack of other races to become America’s premier thoroughbred event.

The Kentucky Derby

How the Run for the Roses Became America's Premier Sporting Event

by James C. Nicholson

The University Press of Kentucky, 2012

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Denali National Park

The second edition of this guidebook updates and reorganizes a first edition published ten years ago by the defunct Alaska Northwest Books and now long out of print. It provides detailed information on the history of the region and advice on exploring by foot, train, car, bus, boat or even sled dog team.

Continued in The Nature Pages

Denali National Park

The Complete Visitors Guide to the Mountain, Wildlife, and Year-Round

Outdoor Activities

by Bill Sherwonit

Mountaineers Books, 2013

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Artwork: Remote Ruth Gorge, Denali National Park, Alaska

Weird Life

As a consequence of space exploration and the realization that life on other planets might be very different from what we are used to, scientists in recent decades have improbably discovered bizarre life forms here at home in places previously deemed uninhabitable.

This book provides a bestiary of weird creatures, both real and imagined, and describes the science behind their existence.

Weird Life
The Search for Life That Is Very, Very Different from Our Own
by David M. Toomey
W. W. Norton & Company, 2013

Out There: Scouting the Frontiers of Science
Out There: Extreme Sucking Up
Artwork: O'opu Nopili
Science and Technology Books
The Nature Pages

Dark

Until that moment, Silas had thought he knew what dark was-the simple absence of light. He thought that he understood it. He even thought that he had experienced it before. But as he rounded the first riser of stairs and continued up, step by step, he and darkness were forced into new intimacy. He came to understand that darkness was not just a lack but a thing, that it possessed mass, that it can be felt on your skin, that it can be a burden you carry. 

He knew then, with a certainty he could feel in his bones, exactly what had motivated his ancient ancestors when they first gathered around that very thing that the rest of creation fled from. It hadn't been to cook, or to harden spear points. Those things had come later. Heat was just a collateral benefit. Man had mastered fire simply to push the darkness away.

The Games

by Ted Kosmatka

Del Rey, 2013

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New Stokes Birding Guide

Available in Eastern and Western volumes, The New Stokes Field Guide to Birds features over 4,600 North American bird species with stunning color photographs.

Each guide includes:

* the newest scientific and common names and phylogenetic order
* special help for identifying birds in flight through important clues of behavior, plumage, and shape
* detailed descriptions of songs and calls
* important behavioral information and key habitat preferences
* the newest range maps, detailing species' winter, summer, year-round ranges, and migration routes

The New Stokes Field Guide to Birds: Eastern Region

The New Stokes Field Guide to Birds: Western Region

by Donald Stokes and Lillian Stokes

Little, Brown and Company, 2013

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