Gods, Wasps and Stranglers: The Secret History and Redemptive Future of Fig Trees - Paperback

$27.94

Gods, Wasps and Stranglers: The Secret History and Redemptive Future of Fig Trees - Paperback

Name: Gods, Wasps and Stranglers: The Secret History and Redemptive Future of Fig Trees - Paperback
Brand: Books by splitShops
SKU: 9781603587976
Price: 27.94 USD
Availability: InStock

$27.94

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by Mike Shanahan (Author)

"If you're looking for a dose of wonder in your reading life, I recommend this beautiful book about the magic of fig trees."--Book Riot

Over millions of years, fig trees have shaped our world, influenced our evolution, nourished our bodies and fed our imaginations. And as author and ecologist Mike Shanahan proclaims, "The best could be yet to come."

Gods, Wasps and Stranglers weaves together the mythology, history and ecology of one of the world's most fascinating--and diverse--groups of plants, from their starring role in every major religion to their potential to restore rainforests, halt the loss of rare and endangered species and even limit climate change.

In this lively and joyous book, Shanahan recounts the epic journeys of tiny fig wasps, whose eighty-million-year-old relationship with fig trees has helped them sustain more species of birds and mammals than any other trees; the curious habits of fig-dependent rhinoceros hornbills; figs' connection to Krishna and Buddha, Jesus and Muhammad; and even their importance to Kenya's struggle for independence.

Ultimately, Gods, Wasps and Stranglers is a story about humanity's relationship with nature, one that is as relevant to our future as it is to our past.

"Surprising, engrossing, disturbing and promising, Gods, Wasps and Stranglers combines masterful storytelling and spellbinding science. This is a beautifully written and important book about trees that have shaped human destiny."--Sy Montgomery, author of The Soul of an Octopus

Author Biography

Mike Shanahan is a freelance writer with a doctorate in rainforest ecology. He has lived in a national park in Borneo, bred endangered penguins, investigated illegal bear farms, produced award-winning journalism and spent several weeks of his life at the annual United Nations climate change negotiations. He is interested in what people think about nature and our place in it. His writing includes work published by The Economist, Nature, The Ecologist and Ensia, and chapters of Dry: Life without Water (Harvard University Press); Climate Change and the Media (Peter Lang Publishing) and Culture and Climate Change: Narratives (Shed). He is the illustrator of Extraordinary Animals (Greenwood Publishing Group) and maintains a blog called Under the Banyan.

Number of Pages: 208

Dimensions: 0.6 x 8.4 x 5.5 IN

Illustrated: Yes

Publication Date: March 27, 2018

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