Cover news reporter Xue Weirui
Of the twenty-four solar terms, Qingming is the only day that is both a solar term and a festival. At the turn of mid-spring and late spring every year, we have the opportunity to pay tribute to the memory of those who have passed away, and there are also reasons to go out for a spring tour and get close to life and nature. From the branches and leaves to the insects, birds, fish and beasts, from the continuation of life to the aesthetic evolution, do we really understand the world on which we live? This list of natural history books takes you deep into the complexities of nature.
The Evolution of Beauty
The Forgotten Darwinian Theory of Spouse Choice
How the animal world has been shaped and how we are
Author:Richard M. O. Plum
Publisher: CITIC Publishing House
Publication date: January 2019
"Sexual selection is a potentially independent, autonomous process that is dominated by the organism itself (primarily females). Darwin believed that female creatures had 'taste for beauty' and 'aesthetic ability', while male creatures were always trying to 'seduce' their mates. Through decades of fieldwork and wild bird experience, Plum has found that male plum-winged plovers sing with their wings, male big-eyed pheasants whose wing feathers are spread out into 4-foot-wide cones, and male red-capped petites who use space dance steps for courtship, and the ostentatious features of these animals have little to do with the theory of natural selection.
Darwinian theory is most concerned about the origin of species, and The Evolution of Beauty focuses on the choice of mates in Darwin's Origin of Man and Sexual Selection. The most revolutionary point of view of the theory is that it clearly proposes the concept of aesthetics, positioning organisms, especially female organisms, as agents of species evolution. Darwin believed that the evolution of Beauty in nature was due to the evolution of animals into what they thought beauty was, and Prum further elaborated on this aesthetic-based evolutionary theory of mate selection in The Evolution of Beauty.
The book's view is even somewhat "feminist", and Prum's revelation of the aesthetic mechanism of female sexual autonomy proves that sexual autonomy is very important. This is a far-reaching scientific discovery for feminism. "Sexual violence can only be defined as the destruction of that agency when we recognize that spousal choice is a form of individual agency. To borrow the words of Susan Brownmiller, sexual violence is also against the wishes of the female duck. Only by acknowledging the role these factors play in nature, Prum said, can we make progress in fully understanding it.
Kiss of the Rose
Naturalism of flowers
Author: Peter Bernhardt
Publisher: Peking University Publishing Co., Ltd.
Publication date: July 2009
"Flowers are a yardstick to measure the quality of our lives." There are many people who like flowers, but there are very few people who really understand flowers. The blossoming of flowers is a romantic affair, and in the records of the Kiss of the Rose, the flowers of the thorn-leaved tree are thousands of small cream-colored stars, each spear pole blooming for weeks, emitting a fragrance in the air at nine or ten o'clock in the morning, and the smell is reminiscent of honey and the smell of old books. "As a living creature, the spiny leaf tree reminds people of how extraordinary a plant can become when it reproduces."
The Kiss of the Rose is a botanical exposition on flowers. The author, Peter Bernhardt, is a professor in the Department of Biology at Saint Louis University, and has published botanical books such as "Cunning Viola and Underground Orchid", "Natural Rhymes", and "Gods in the Garden". In 1999, Bernhardt's Kiss of the Rose: A Naturalism of Flowers was published, which received numerous acclaim from The New York Times, Science, and Nature. In Science, Endres said, "Bernhardt skillfully combines knowledge of the morphology, function, and ecology of flowers with the history, legends, and myths of flowers. His depictions create a balanced naturalistic work. ”
This book is suitable for gardeners and environmental workers, as well as nature lovers and plant lovers. Starting with a patch of rose calyx, Kiss of the Rose covers the structure of flowers, when flowers bloom and wither, pollen and pollination, flower-insect interaction, flower evolution, and more.
"Colorful Life"
Author: Edward Wilson
Publication date: May 2016
"Colorful Life" tells the history of life on Earth, is regarded as the best sequel to Darwin's "Origin of Species", and was once selected by the New York Public Library as the "Top Ten Best Books of the Century" in the science category. Author Edward Wilson is known as the father of "biospeciality" and is one of the most influential scientists in the world. Wilson is good at writing and essays, good at popular science writing, and has won the Pulitzer Prize twice for "On Human Nature" and "Ants". As the proposer of the concept of "biodiversity", "Colorful Life" is his pioneering work on biodiversity.
The Earth has gone through five mass extinctions to have the richness and magnificence it has today. From ants to butterflies to birds to plankton, "every bit of biodiversity is priceless and is meant to be learned and cherished." Wilson tells the glorious and great history of the evolution of life on Earth, depicting the multiplicity of life beyond human imagination.
Biodiversity is the sum of the genetic variations of all organisms in a given environment, and Wilson defined the term biodiversity as an environmentally friendly concept that affects the world. Today, 22 May is established annually as the International Day for Biological Diversity. Wilson said, "We must understand that what we want to protect is not only the health and freedom of human beings, but also the whole world on which the human spirit depends." It is the colorful life that gives the natural world a new meaning. ”
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