This memoir by a marine biologist “sings the life of a beginning Zen practitioner. . . . [with] a haunting, beautiful appreciation of the natural world.”(Publishers Weekly) Anne Rudloe was attracted to Zen as a college student. But it seemed premature for a twenty-one-year-old to focus on the difficulties of life when she'd hardly begun to live. Twenty-five years later, she was ready to explore the spiritual discipline that originated in Asian monasteries more than a millennium ago. Rudloe's quest is compellingly chronicled in Butterflies on a Sea Wind, which combines the rigor of formal monastic Zen practice with the challenges of integrating Zen concepts into modern daily life. Her narrative describes both the physical and mental demands of Zen retreats and how she applied what she learned there to her work as a marine biologist in Florida, as well as to the rigors of raising children and caring for an elderly grandmother. In words that intimately draw in her readers, she describes how Zen helps us look inward and use the wisdom we find there to reach out to others. During the 1990s, the number of organized Buddhist centers in this country grew more than 40 percent, from 429 to 1,062. While there are many books about Zen on the market today, few give a clear picture of what it's like to actually sit down and begin a meditation practice and then apply it to a daily life. Likewise, few books discuss the types of issues most people face every day: raising a family and earning a living. Butterflies on a Sea Wind does all this and more.

As part of his challenge to the theory of evolution, the outspoken creationist presents alternative theories of bird flight and migration. In 1932, Bernard Acworth established the Evolution Protest Movement (now called the Creation Science Movement) for the purpose of criticizing evolutionary theory in scientific terms. A freelance journalist and amateur ornithologist, he took aim at the accepted science of ornithology with a keenly skeptical eye. Here, Acworth addresses topics including bird and butterfly migration, and the peculiarities of the cuckoo. In Bird and Butterfly Mysteries, Acworth presents a close examination of the science concerning the flight of winged animals. Through this analysis, he exposes errors that call into question many of the major conclusions reached by professional ornithologists. While the two Laws of Currents Acworth proposes in this volume have since appeared in other works on ornithology, he has never received due credit for their discovery.

The California Tortoiseshell, West Coast Lady, Red Admiral, and Golden Oak Hairstreak are just a few of the many butterfly species found in the floristically rich San Francisco Bay and Sacramento Valley regions. This guide, written for both beginning and experienced butterfly watchers by one of the nation’s best-known professional lepidopterists, provides thorough, up-to-date information on all of the butterfly species found in this diverse and accessible region. Written in lively prose, it discusses the natural history and conservation status for these butterflies and at the same time provides an integrated view of butterfly biology based on studies conducted in northern California and around the world. Compact enough for use in the field, the guide also includes tips on butterfly watching, photography, gardening, and more. * Discusses and identifies more than 130 species * Species accounts include information on identifying butterflies through behavior, markings, and host plants * Beautiful full-color plates illustrate top and bottom views of wings for easier identification * Includes a species checklist and a glossary

“What a wonderful idea for an adventure! Absolutely inspired, timely, and important.” —Alistair Humphreys, National Geographic Adventurer of the Year and author of The Doorstep Mile and Around the World by Bike Outdoor educator and field researcher Sara Dykman made history when she became the first person to bicycle along­side monarch butterflies on their storied annual migration—a round-trip adventure that included three countries and more than 10,000 miles. Equally remarkable, she did it solo, on a bike cobbled together from used parts. Her panniers were recycled buckets. In Bicycling with Butterflies, Dykman recounts her incredible journey and the dramatic ups and downs of the nearly nine-month odyssey. We’re beside her as she nav­igates unmapped roads in foreign countries, checks roadside milkweed for monarch eggs, and shares her passion with eager schoolchil­dren, skeptical bar patrons, and unimpressed border officials. We also meet some of the ardent monarch stewards who supported her efforts, from citizen scientists and research­ers to farmers and high-rise city dwellers. With both humor and humility, Dykman offers a compelling story, confirming the urgency of saving the threatened monarch migration—and the other threatened systems of nature that affect the survival of us all.