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Book reviews for "Turner,_J._Scott" sorted by average review score:
The Extended Organism : The Physiology of Animal-Built Structures
Published in Paperback by Harvard Univ Pr (2002)
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Bringing the Outside In
A Field Guide to Stone Artifacts of Texas Indians
Published in Paperback by Texas Monthly Pr (1993)
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Missing Types
Although several types are mentioned that aren't found in many publications, one common point are missing (at least), Rockwall,
Very Helpful Field Guide for This Beginner
I purchased this book after I've recently been exposed to our local Texas Indian artifacts. This book was extremely helpful in identifying and categorizing items that I have stumbled across. It is a must to have in your backpack!
Landscapes of memory : Turner as illustrator to Scott
Published in Unknown Binding by Scolar ()
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Sir Walter Scott countryside : an album of J. W. M. Turner landscapes
Published in Unknown Binding by Ramsay Head Press ()
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Perhaps. Turner's book is well argued and full of good ideas, and it may presage a neo-holism. Whether it accomplishes that, though, is less important than what it does manage to do. Turner is astonishingly encyclopedic in his explanations of his many surprising examples of out-of-body physiology. He draws upon thermodynamics, hydrodynamics, chemistry, electrical circuits, fractals, acoustics, and much more to put his audacious ideas onto a sound scientific foundation. This does not make for easy reading, but he is a genial guide and he tries his best to explain complicated ideas simply; the book is not for those, however, who can't stand equations mixed with the text. The best parts of the book are the examples of animals that have as good as made their surroundings part of their innards. There are lots of examples. In addition to the beetles that grab a bubble of air to use as scuba gear, there are beetles that not only do that, but if there is a current moving over them, their hydrodynamic form causes a suction, so that if they face into the current (which they of course habitually do), a bubble forms, pulled out of the water itself. They make this their gills, and they never have to go to the surface. Spittlebugs make a frothy white spittle attached to plants. The spittle isn't spittle, of course, but a froth of sap from the plant, processed by the digestive tract, excreted, and inflated with bubbles. Turner makes the case that since the bugs have a diet of protein-rich sap, they have a lot of ammonia as a waste product, and they cannot detoxify it as other animals do. The spittle enables the ammonia to be carried away; in other words, it functions as an exterior kidney. Earthworms, Turner shows, are fundamentally aquatic animals that only manage to get around when the water content of soils is perfectly balanced for them. (Turner reminds us that Darwin got enormous satisfaction for his last great work concerning earthworms and what they do to soils; before Darwin, earthworms were regarded as pests which ate plant roots.) The burrowing activities of the earthworm actually make the soil itself more favorable to the narrow needs of their own survival, and they use the soil as an organ to maintain a proper salt and water balance inside them.
There are many examples even before Turner gets to bees and to termites, which are his own particular enthusiasm and which use their homes to regulate temperature, oxygen content, and more. It is inarguable that these creatures really do shape their environment, and in ways that are not obvious. With clarity, humor, and a broad scientific understanding, Turner has done much to advance an argument to his holistic view.