Getting Closer: Rediscovering Nature Through Bird Photography by Paul Sorrell

$44.99 NZD

Category: Animals

With Getting Closer to guide you, and a camera in hand, discover how to connect with nature by using a photographer’s eye. Using birds as his focus, the author offers a simple, practical path for readers to ‘rewild’ themselves and engage with the natural world, while improving their photographic skills at the same time. Getting Closer is a beautifully illustrated discussion of photography as a way of achieving greater intimacy with the natural world. With a focus on birds, the book  is directed primarily at photographers (of all levels of skill and experience), but also at birders, people interested in the outdoors, and those who would simply like to achieve a deeper connection with the natural world. The introduction makes the case for reconnecting with nature in a way that will draw in a wide range of readers, not just photographers. We have to reconnect, as most of us have lost the spontaneous bond with nature we enjoyed as young children and, in the face of impending ecological disaster, reconnecting with nature is our most urgent task. The author offers a simple, practical path for readers to begin to ‘rewild’ themselves. This is the focus of the second part of the book, where the author explores ways of becoming attentive to the natural world around you, wherever you may live. Through self-contained spreads on topics ranging from ‘the four seasons’ and ‘winds and tides’ to ‘flight shots’ and ‘colour and texture’, he introduces basic, hands-on techniques that, with practice, will enable readers to both deeply connect with their environment and become proficient wildlife photographers. ‘Top tips’ on each spread provide technical information aimed at more serious photographers. ...Show more

A Polar Affair - Antarctica's Forgotten Hero and the Secret Love Lives of Penguins by Lloyd Spencer Davis

$32.99 NZD

Category: Animals

A captivating blend of true adventure and natural history by one of today's leading penguin experts and Antarctic explorers George Murray Levick was the physician on Robert Falcon Scott's tragic Antarctic expedition of 1910. Marooned for an Antarctic winter, Levick passed the time by becoming the first man to study penguins up close. His findings were so shocking to Victorian morals that they were quickly suppressed and seemingly lost to history. A century later, Lloyd Spencer Davis rediscovers Levick and his findings during the course of his own scientific adventures in Antarctica. Levick's long-suppressed manuscript reveals not only an incredible survival story, but one that will change our understanding of an entire species. A Polar Affair reveals the last untold tale from the Heroic Age of Antarctic Exploration. It is perhaps the greatest of all of those stories--but why was it hidden to begin with? The ever-fascinating and charming penguin holds the key. Moving deftly between both Levick's and Davis's explorations, observations, and comparisons in biology over the course of a century, A Polar Affair reveals cutting-edge findings about ornithology, in which the sex lives of penguins are the jumping-off point for major new insights into the underpinnings of evolutionary biology itself. ...Show more

Frankel: One Race, 12 Horses and the Beginning of a Racing Dynasty by Simon Cooper

$39.99 NZD

Category: Animals

Mountains According to G by Geraint Thomas

$39.99 NZD

Category: Animals | Series: Planet Omar Ser.

Cycling fans obsess about climbs and big mountains. They love reading about their tests and tribulations and they love to ride them - a cricket lover can never bat at Lord's, or a football supporter score at Wembley, but any rider can take on the challenge of an iconic mountain. There have been fine bo oks about the big climbs before but never from the voice of an elite GC winner, taking you inside what these climbs really feel like, where the attacks come, where the pain kicks in. From best-known big-hitters, via pro-peloton favourites, to the secret climbs Geraint has come to love, and featuring Australia, Belgium, France, the Netherlands, Mallorca and Wales, this is the cyclist's secret manual. ...Show more

How to Hold Animals by Toshimitsu Matsuhashi

$34.99 NZD

Category: Animals

How to Hold Animals is the irresistible guide to holding more than forty critters according to advice from wildlife specialists. Learn from the experts--a pet shop owner, a veterinarian, a wildlife photographer, and a reptile handler--how to pick up and hold dozens of species of animals, great and smal l, furry, scaly, and feathery, including snails, chipmunks, chickens, chinchillas, stag beetles, lizards, hamsters, owls, grasshoppers, mice, and more. Chock full of fascinating facts, interviews with experts, and full-color photos on every page, How to Hold Animals will delight and inform animal lovers of all stripes. ...Show more

The Heart of a Horse: Life Lessons from Horses and Other Animals by Candida Baker

$32.99 NZD

Category: Animals

Learning to 'listen' with all our senses and the magic that happens when we keep an open mind about the idea of communication from the animal world  

In Praise of Famous Horses by Sean Magee

$49.99 NZD

Category: Animals

Horses is an A-Z companion to perhaps the most loved of all domesticated animals. The book's entries include a wealth of unexpected, fascinating and serendipitous information, from horse-slang phrases to horses in British pub signs, and from the horse in advertising to the horse as a food item. Themes s uch as the horse in warfare and the horse in folklore abound. These features add up to a richly satisfying accumulation of information about the horse's role in human culture and society over two millennia. Horses will not only be a helpful reference source and congenial bedside book for those who work with or enjoy horses, but also a satisfying and browsable companion for the inquisitive general reader. ...Show more

How to Walk a Dog (PB) by Mike White; Sharon Murdoch (Illustrator)

$24.99 NZD

Category: Animals

The highs and lows, joy and heartache of owning a dog are told in this beautifully written story of life in and around a dog park. 'The book of the year. THE book on dogs. And people.' Andrew Dickens, Newstalk ZB

Monarchs of the Sea - The Extraordinary 500-Million-Year History of Cephalopods by Danna Staaf

$34.99 NZD

Category: Animals

An epic and fun history spanning from the mollusks that invented swimming to the octopuses and other intelligent cephalopods of today Publisher's Note: Monarchs of the Sea was previously published in hardcover as Squid Empire. Before mammals, there were dinosaurs. And before dinosaurs, there were cephal opods--the ancestors of modern squid, octopuses, and more creatures--Earth's first truly substantial animals. Essentially inventing the act of swimming, cephalopods presided over an undersea empire for millions of years--until fish evolved jaws, and cephalopods had to step up their game or risk being eaten. To keep up, some streamlined their shells and added defensive spines, while others abandoned the shell, opening the gates to a flood of evolutionary innovations: masterful camouflage, fin-supplemented jet propulsion, and intelligence we've yet to fully measure. Monarchs of the Sea is an epic, witty history about these bizarre but beautiful creatures that ruled the seas--and still captivate us today. ...Show more

The Little Book of Dogs - Woofs of Wisdom by Orange Orange Hippo!

$14.99 NZD

Category: Animals | Series: The\Little Book Of... Ser.

Live. Laugh. Bark. What could be better than the presence of a fuzzy and faithful four-legged friend? From their loyalty and devotion to their endearing capacity to face life, work and exercise with endless enthusiasm, dogs have been our steadfast companions for thousands of years. They may be wordless, but their ability to communicate with deeply expressive eyes, a wagging tail or a joyful bark brings out the very best in their humans - and it's no wonder they have inspired many a bon mot or wise insight over the decades. Packed full of wonderful quotes as well as fascinating snippets of information, this little book is the perfect gift for any dog-lover. 'If you pick up a starving dog and make him prosperous, he will not bite you. This is the principal difference between a dog and a man.' Mark Twain, Pudd'nhead Wilson, 1894. 'Like many other much-loved humans, they believed that they owned their dogs, instead of realizing that their dogs owned them.' Dodie Smith, The 101 Dalmatians, 1956. 'My dog is half pit-bull, half poodle. Not much of a watchdog, but a vicious gossip.' Craig Shoemaker. ...Show more

The Little Book of Cats - Purrs of Wisdom by Orange Orange Hippo!

$14.99 NZD

Category: Animals | Series: The\Little Book Of... Ser.

Time spent with cats is never wasted. Comforting, cuddly, cute... What could be better than the presence of a fabulous feline fur-ball? As well as being totally adorable, cats are fiercely independent, curious and mischievous - and they make wonderful, low-maintenance companions. Research has shown that a purring cat on your knee - or quite possibly lying across your computer keyboard - is the perfect antidote to stress. It's no wonder these superior beings have inspired many a bon mot or wise insight over the decades. Packed full of wonderful quotes as well as fascinating snippets of information, this little book is the purr-fect gift for any cat lover. 'In ancient times cats were worshipped as gods. They have never forgotten this.' Terry Pratchett. 'Unlike a human smile, purring cannot be, as far as anyone knows, faked.' Jeffrey Moussaieff Masson, The Nine Emotional Lives of Cats: A Journey Into the Feline Heart, 2002. 'Dogs come when they're called; cats take a message and get back to you later.' Mary Bly. 'Cats have it all - admiration, endless sleep, and company only when they want it.' Rod McKuen. ...Show more

Extraordinary Old Dogs: Uplifting True Tales of Remarkable Seniors by Laura Greaves

$40.00 NZD

Category: Animals

Puppies are wonderful, but there is something truly special about an old dog. It's the grey muzzle and salt-and-pepper eyebrows; the face that says 'been there, sniffed that.' It's the plodding gait; the long naps in the sunshine; the undiminished wonderment at the beauty of the world. And more than any thing, of course, it's the lifetime of love, laughter and licks. Most dog lovers wish their four-legged friends could live forever, and yet senior canines are surrendered to shelters and rescue groups in heartbreakingly high numbers. For some people, it seems ageing is an inconvenience rather than an achievement to be celebrated. But every day, all over the world, elderly dogs are doing incredible things. From saving lives and breaking records to leading online movements and surviving against the odds, stately seniors are wringing every ounce of joy and adventure from their lives. In Extraordinary Old Dogs, meet the geriatric tail-waggers proving there's plenty of life in the old dog yet.   ...Show more