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Super Natural: How Life Thrives in Impossible Places [Hardback]

4.33/5 (11 ratings by Goodreads)
  • Formāts: Hardback, 368 pages, height x width: 229x152 mm, 8 black-and-white illustrations
  • Izdošanas datums: 23-Sep-2025
  • Izdevniecība: WW Norton & Co
  • ISBN-10: 1324079185
  • ISBN-13: 9781324079187
  • Formāts: Hardback, 368 pages, height x width: 229x152 mm, 8 black-and-white illustrations
  • Izdošanas datums: 23-Sep-2025
  • Izdevniecība: WW Norton & Co
  • ISBN-10: 1324079185
  • ISBN-13: 9781324079187
From scorching deserts to frozen seabeds, from the highest peaks of the Himalaya to the hadal depths of the oceans, there are habitats on this Earth that appear hostile to lifeyet where, nevertheless, life flourishes. In North American forests, wood frogs awaken each spring from solid blocks of ice. Under the Saharan sun, shielded by silvery hairs, desert ants sprint through the midday heat that is lethal to any other animal. At the bottom of ice-covered lakes, painted turtles pass months without breathing oxygen. Transporting readers to far-flung environments we could never call home, in Super Natural, award-winning science writer Alex Riley paints an awe-inspiring portrait of lifes remarkable resilience even under the harshest circumstances.

Riley illuminates ecosystems on every continent to tell the stories of creatures exquisitely adapted to endure unimaginable deprivationsof water, oxygen, food, sunlightand extremes of heat and cold, of pressure and altitude. To survive half a year without food on barren islands, snakes will shrink and regrow their digestive systemseven their hearts. At the site of the Chernobyl disaster, fungi harness radiation to thrive. Evolution, we see, can and will carve out a niche just about anywhere.

Super Natural shows us how, at natures furthest limits, the rules of biology as we know them are rewrittenand how, in lifes astonishing ingenuity and persistence even in the face of calamity and change, we can find hope for the future of life on Earth.

Recenzijas

"This colorful surveyexplores the myriad ways animals, plants, and microorganisms survive, and even thrive, in environments previously assumed to be uninhabitable.Filled with striking stories, vivid descriptions, and meaningful science, this is a fascinating account of resilience." -- Publishers Weekly "A celebration of the most extreme, extraordinary, and eccentric things that life is capable of. Alex Riley writes with joy and passion, and each page brings a new revelation about the resiliency of life." -- Steve Brusatte, best-selling author of The Rise and Fall of the Dinosaurs "A book filled with natures wonders. . . . [ Super Natural is] about resilience, endurance, and ingenuity . . . [ I]ts a combination that gives hope in our troubled times." -- Andrea Wulf, best-selling author of The Invention of Nature "A mind-expanding romp. . . . With awe and curiosity, Alex Riley plumbs the abyssal plains, the polar ice caps, and every habitat in between to reveal the tenacity, diversity, and flat-out weirdness of life on our harsh, hospitable planet." -- Ben Goldfarb, award-winning author of Eager "Deeply researched and wide-ranging. . . . Alex Riley is an eagle-eyed, golden-hearted, and entertaining guide . . . attuned to both the humor and awe of the natural world, and never failing to provide his each and every subject with the loving attention it deserves." -- Ferris Jabr, author of Becoming Earth "A lively and fascinating exploration of how life not only persists, but thrives at the extremes. . . . [ W]e come to see the whole of life, ourselves included, more clearly." -- David George Haskell, Pulitzer-finalist author of Sounds Wild and Broken "Super Natural will leave you awed by the extraordinary feats of seemingly humble creaturesand by the resilience, head-spinning variety, and enduring mysteries of life on Earth." -- Michelle Nijhuis, author of Beloved Beasts "A thrilling and original way to explore nature?the science is fascinating." -- Tristan Gooley, best-selling author of How to Read a Tree

Alex Riley is an award-winning science writer and the author of Super Natural and A Cure for Darkness. A former research scientist at the Natural History Museum in London, he has coauthored peer-reviewed scientific research and published his popular science reporting in New Scientist, PBSs NOVA Next, the BBC, Aeon, and Nautilus Magazine, among others. He lives in Devon, UK, with his family.