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Secret Life of the City - by Hanna Hagen Bjørgaas (Hardcover)

Secret Life of the City - by  Hanna Hagen Bjørgaas (Hardcover) - image 1 of 1
Secret Life of the City - by  Hanna Hagen Bjørgaas (Hardcover) - image 1 of 1
$15.59 sale price when purchased online
$27.95 list price
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About this item

Highlights

  • Come along on an informative, whirlwind tour of urban species--from intelligent crows to backyard lichens--and discover that you are surrounded by wild nature, even in your own backyard.When biologist Hanna Bjørgaas spots a fairy cup lichen in Antarctica, she is surprised to recognize it from her own backyard in Oslo.
  • About the Author: Hanna Bjørgaas is a biologist who has worked as a guide in the Arctic and Antarctic, led field courses in Norway, and worked with architects and artists to help communicate the joy of nature to others.
  • 264 Pages
  • Nature, Ecosystems & Habitats

Description



About the Book



"Discover who's living in your own backyard. More than half of all humans now live in cities, with a mixture of plants, animals, and fungi that have never been together before. Yet not only do few of us see and appreciate these creatures, we often try to eradicate them. What if understanding urban species could help preserve our connection to nature? Secret Life of the City introduces us to corvids, songbirds, ants, pigeons, bats, sparrows, lichens, and linden trees--and the experts who study their surprising abilities to survive, and thrive, in urban spaces. Blending science and story, this fascinating book invites us to pay attention to the sights, sounds, and smells all around us"--



Book Synopsis



Come along on an informative, whirlwind tour of urban species--from intelligent crows to backyard lichens--and discover that you are surrounded by wild nature, even in your own backyard.

When biologist Hanna Bjørgaas spots a fairy cup lichen in Antarctica, she is surprised to recognize it from her own backyard in Oslo. When she returns home, she embarks on a journey into urban nature, visiting city parks, cemeteries, and concrete rooftops to investigate the species that live in urban spaces. Along the way, she meets corvids, songbirds, ants, pigeons, bats, sparrows, fungi, and linden trees--and the experts who study their surprising abilities to survive, and thrive, in the city.

As Bjørgaas discovers, urban nature--and its unique mixture of species that have never lived together before in Earth's history--is valuable. More than half of the world's human population lives in densely populated areas--and plants and animals have followed us into cities. Secret Life of the City invites us to pay more attention to the sounds, sights, and smells of urban nature right outside our door.

A treasure trove of fascinating flora and fauna, this wonderful book offers a plea to save our city plants, animals, and fungi before we lose them, too.




Review Quotes




"Fascinating... A marvelous journey... Bjørgaas passes a calendar year exploring the internal lives of crows, bats, nightingales, gulls, lichens and urban soils, a grounded account of the sublime adventures that come from slowing down and paying attention."
--Washington Post

"A gem of a book."
--Anne Sverdrup-Thygeson, author of Extraordinary Insects

"Biologist Bjørgaas debuts with an enchanting paean to the overlooked marvels of metropolitan wildlife. . .offer[s] a nuanced understanding of urban flora and fauna and push back against common assumptions about where nature ends and the human world begins. City dwellers will see their environs in a new light."
--Publishers Weekly

"This book is a delight to read. Like an urban Alice in Wonderland, bubbling biologist Hanna Bjørgaas takes us on a rollercoaster of interconnected adventures with the animals and other creatures that she shares her daily life with. We climb with her through the undergrowth, confront cheeky city birds, and poke around in layers of moss and lichen. Her enthusiasm for all life around her and the dedicated scientists who study it is infectious. Plus, we pick up a lot of good science without even noticing it, that's how good a tour guide she is."
--Menno Schilthuizen, author of Darwin Comes to Town

"A wonderfully intimate account of the secret rhythms of the city. Hanna Bjørgaas's exploration of the city reveals its natural life in memorable detail, delving deep into the microorganisms within the soil and soaring high above the city with peregrine falcons. Her book is a moving call to understand our urban environments better and appreciate their mysterious ecosystems."
--Ben Wilson, author of Urban Jungle: The History and Future of Nature in the City

"I once saw a sign that said 'Love is a Decision, ' and Hanna Bjørgaas's book made me realize that wonder is a decision, too. I loved her decision, at the outset of the book, to wonder about nature in Oslo--sparrows and dirt and lichen and bats--and I loved how her questions lead to revelatory answers, about the city's noise affecting bird sopranos and bird contraltos differently; how as we are afraid of the dark, bats are afraid of the light; that putting your head in soil cheers you up, and that if you want to cheer up the soil you just leave it alone. This book, full of dazzling information, begins with wonder and ends with affection for 'the near and the dear': the subjects have become the friends."
--Amy Leach, author of Things That Are and The Everybody Ensemble





About the Author



Hanna Bjørgaas is a biologist who has worked as a guide in the Arctic and Antarctic, led field courses in Norway, and worked with architects and artists to help communicate the joy of nature to others. She has written articles on popular science and contributed to conferences on ecology and farming. She admits to feeling a bit naked without a pair of binoculars and a magnifying glass hanging around her neck.

Dimensions (Overall): 8.5 Inches (H) x 5.6 Inches (W) x .8 Inches (D)
Weight: .9 Pounds
Suggested Age: 22 Years and Up
Number of Pages: 264
Genre: Nature
Sub-Genre: Ecosystems & Habitats
Publisher: Greystone Books
Theme: General
Format: Hardcover
Author: Hanna Hagen Bjørgaas
Language: English
Street Date: April 25, 2023
TCIN: 87253460
UPC: 9781771649353
Item Number (DPCI): 247-41-1528
Origin: Made in the USA or Imported
If the item details above aren’t accurate or complete, we want to know about it.

Shipping details

Estimated ship dimensions: 0.8 inches length x 5.6 inches width x 8.5 inches height
Estimated ship weight: 0.9 pounds
We regret that this item cannot be shipped to PO Boxes.
This item cannot be shipped to the following locations: United States Minor Outlying Islands, American Samoa (see also separate entry under AS), Puerto Rico (see also separate entry under PR), Northern Mariana Islands, Virgin Islands, U.S., APO/FPO, Guam (see also separate entry under GU)

Return details

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This item must be returned within 90 days of the date it was purchased in store, shipped, delivered by a Shipt shopper, or made ready for pickup.
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