Gilbert White has been called the most renowned geographer internationally of the twentieth century, and one who personifies the ideal of a natural resources scientist committed to the stewardship of our planet. He has educated the nation and the world on how to change the ways we manage water resources, mitigate natural hazards, and assess the environment.

A beautiful and fascinating portrait of the world’s most extreme wildlife, from the sexiest beast to the smelliest plant.

Fast facts and practical advice to keep you prepared, whether you’re dealing with mud or flood, drought or derecho. This valuable, comprehensive guide is full of life-saving information for virtually any extreme weather event—blizzard, hurricane, firestorm, tornado, heatwave, and beyond. Weather reporter Dennis Mersereau, working with the editors of Outdoor Life magazine, debunks common myths, provides hands-on survival tips (some of them literally hands-on—as in, don’t lose your fingers to frostbite), and shares some fascinating historical facts and world records. Learn how to: Read a weather map Survive in a snowbound car Stay oriented in a whiteout Make waterproof matches Avoid lightning hot spots Rescue someone caught in a flood Know your monsoons Survive a sandstorm Make peace with the polar vortex Drought-proof your home and much more “Don’t mess with the Mersereau. He will find your weather fables and he will crush them…We need more Dennises. In fact, the National Weather Service itself should be run by Dennis, with each local office headed by a Dennis-like weather blogger tasked with explaining the relevant weather news of the day, and entertaining us when the weather is boring.”—Slate

Explores the limits of human survival and the physiological adaptations that enable us to exist under extreme conditions. The author reviews limits to human life underwater, at high altitudes, at high speeds, at micro levels, and at freezing and hot temperatures.

In March 2011 the eyes of the world turned to the Pacific, where an earthquake and tsunami devastated cities along Japan's northern coasts only weeks after a major earthquake caused billions of dollars in damages in Christchurch, New Zealand. At the same time, Haiti was still reeling from the January 2010 earthquake that killed more than 300,000 people and the airline industry was still recovering from the 2010 eruption of a volcano in Iceland that sent clouds of ash billowing across Europe, disrupting global air travel for weeks. Now TIME explores the science behind the powerful forces that create such natural disasters in an updated edition of its classic 2006 volume Nature's Extremes. Here are the tectonic forces that breed earthquakes, volcanoes and tsunamis .... the powerful weather patterns that create deadly hurricanes, tornadoes and wildfires ... and a host of other natural nightmares, from deadly mudslides to avalanches, solar flares to dust storms. Filled with galleries of fascinating, sometimes mind-boggling, photographs and featuring the informative graphics that are a hallmark of the magazine, Nature's Extremes documents the destructive power of nature at its most deadly. It is a must-read for anyone concerned with the future of our planet. TIME will donate a portion of the proceeds from this volume to organizations working to aid victims of Japan's 2011 earthquake and tsunami.

The Extreme Life of the Sea exposes the eternal darkness of the deepest undersea trenches to show how marine life thrives against the odds, describing how flying fish strain to escape their predators, how predatory deep-sea fish use red searchlights only they can see to find and attack food, and how, at the end of her life, a mother octopus dedicates herself to raising her batch of young.