"A collection of thirty-three essays on Pennsylvania wildlife, science, and country living"--Provided by publisher.

Three fantastic stories by Indigenous mother-and-daughter team Gladys and Jill Milroy, collected together for the first time. Told in the tradition of teaching stories, these avian tales take young readers on adventures of self-discovery and fulfilment with endearing animal characters and exciting plot lines.

“Crows and people share similar traits and social strategies. To a surprising extent, to know the crow is to know ourselves.”—from the Preface From the cave walls at Lascaux to the last painting by Van Gogh, from the works of Shakespeare to those of Mark Twain, there is clear evidence that crows and ravens influence human culture. Yet this influence is not unidirectional, say the authors of this fascinating book: people profoundly influence crow culture, ecology, and evolution as well. John Marzluff and Tony Angell examine the often surprising ways that crows and humans interact. The authors contend that those interactions reflect a process of “cultural coevolution.” They offer a challenging new view of the human-crow dynamic—a view that may change our thinking not only about crows but also about ourselves. Featuring more than 100 original drawings, the book takes a close look at the influences people have had on the lives of crows throughout history and at the significant ways crows have altered human lives. In the Company of Crows and Ravens illuminates the entwined histories of crows and people and concludes with an intriguing discussion of the crow-human relationship and how our attitudes toward crows may affect our cultural trajectory.

As the great cold moves in and creeps into their hideaways, the animals are forced to prepare for winter. The blind goanna lizard and the flightless magpie—the weakest among the animals—are helpless on their own, but when they work together, the power of their friendship and cooperation make them strong enough to survive the elements. Told in the traditional style of indigenous Australians, this original story enlightens young readers with a message of reconciliation and promotes care for the environment.

During the Hellenistic period you couldn't swing a dead cat three feet in any direction without hitting a verbose, toga-wearing, wine-swilling philosopher in the back of the head. However, since that golden era of logical thought, philosophizing has been in a state of decline. The sole purpose of this book is to take Americans back to a sweeter time when philosophical questions were not only politely asked, they were damn well answered! Why do scientists love monkeys? How can we make fortune cookies better? Does Oprah need shock collars for her guests? What is a love chicken? Why buy your kids from Wal-Mart? Why do vampires hate lamb with mint jelly? What is hu-falf? Why serve death row inmates take-out from Outback Steakhouse? When is it acceptable to dress a dictator in a bull suit? Why do we need to save the beautiful ski people of Aspen? This book addresses the questions that Americans never imagined they'd ever have to ask, much less answer. The text, written entirely by a crow, breaks down the philosophical underpinnings behind American culture and elucidates life in an entertaining, unusual, easy-to-understand way that explains the phenomena and evolution of American philosophy.

Any journey with Alexander Theroux is an education. Possessed of a razor-sharp and hyperliterate mind, he stands beside Thomas Pynchon as one of the sharpest cultural commentators of our time. So when he decided to accompany his wife ― the artist Sarah Son-Theroux ― on her Fulbright Scholarship to Estonia, it occasioned this penetrating examination of a country that, for many, seems alien and distanced from the modern world. For Theroux, the country and its people become a puzzle. His fascination with their language, manners, and legacy of occupation and subordination lead him to a revelatory examination of Estonia’s peculiar place in European history. All the while, his trademark acrobatic allusions, quotations, and digressions ― which take us fromHamlet through Jean Cocteau to Married… with Children ― render his travels as much internal and psychical as they are external and physical. Through these obsessive references to Western culture, we come to appreciate how insular the country has become, yet also marvel at its fierce individuality and preternatural beauty ― such is the skill of Theroux’s gaze. This travelogue of his nine months abroad also brims with anecdotes of Theroux’s encounters with Estonian people and ― in some of its most bitterly comedic episodes ― his fellow Americans whom he at times feels more alienated from than the frosty, humorless Europeans. Estonia: A Ramble Through the Periphery is as biting and satirical as it is witty and urbane; as curious and lyrical as it is brash and irreverent. It marks a new highlight in an already stellar career and a book that continues Fantagraphics’ exceptional line of prose works.