David Evans

Andrew Lack

Instant Notes in Plant Biology covers all aspects of modern plant biology. The scope and depth of this text are suitable for a first and second year undergraduate student of plant biology, including molecular biologists and biotechnologists.

BIOS Instant Notes in Plant Biology

David Lambert Lack

'Lord in heaven, how he Sings!' A love of birds, especially of the robin, shared over many years by father, mother and son, have brought this beautiful, entertaining, welcome book into being. REDBREAST: THE ROBIN IN LIFE AND LITERATURE by Andrew Lack, is an updated, extended - transformed - version of the classic ROBIN REDBREAST, by eminent ornithologist David Lack, which came out in 1950 and has long been out of print. In addition to the early pastoral poetry, poems are included by Ted Hughes, W H Davies, Hal Summers, Laurence Whistler, John Betjeman, Andrew Young, Frances Hodgson Burnett, John Clare, Walter de la Mare - the list is endless. The robin has been present at Elizabethan murders, in eighteenth-century politics, and in the Victorian nursery. Here is an example of its territorial determination: 'Oddest of all is the robin, who (in 1939) nested behind the engine of an aeroplane in Denham. Six times the nest was destroyed by the human airman, and six times the feathered airwoman rebuilt it. Then the man gave in, and let her lay her six eggs in her seventh nest. The hatching of the eggs was odder still. Mrs Robin sat on her eggs till the plane went up, and while it soared in the sky the hot engine acted as foster mother. When it came down to earth, the patient robin took up her duties again. The young robins were hatched between flights, and each as it saw the light could boast that it had already out-soared the golden eagle' - (Eleanor Farjeon, from 'The New Book of Days') In his Foreword, Richard Mabey (who also wrote the Preface for our triple-award-winner, 'An Exaltation of Skylarks' by Stewart Beer) describes Andrew's book as 'a rich re-working' of his father's book. He notes, as we know, that 'the bird has always been there in a corner of our hearts'. Embellishing the text are black and white illustrations, and colour plates include paintings by J M W Turner and Beatrix Potter, with brilliant, funny cartoons deftly drawn by Euan Dunn, of the RSPB. Terence Lambert (as for 'An Exaltation of Skylarks') has painted a striking wrap-round jacket that, with a lovely robin frontispiece photograph by a 13-year old girl, leads us into an absorbing storyland.

The Robin in Life and Literature

Redbreast

The second edition of Instant Notes in Plant Biology, has been both updated and reorganized and gives an insight into the whole of plant science, integrating structure, function and physiology. A major addition is the section on understanding plants which introduces the major techniques in plant science and shows how advances are made. Molecular techniques are used in all areas of plant science and are included throughout.

Few weeds have been more successful throughout history than the poppy. Hated by farmers for its stubbornness, the poppy has been a favorite of artists and poets, due to its distinct and brilliant color, and it has functioned symbolically as everything from a war memorial to an emblem of the exotic cultures of the East. In this book, Andrew Lack explores all the aspects of one of our most familiar flowers, combining biology, history, and culture to paint a bright portrait of this fascinating plant. Lack looks deep into the past of the poppy’s ancient history—before it seemed to inhabit only ditches and cornfields—and examines the biology that gives it its unique coloring. He analyzes the poppy’s many members of this beautiful family, including the opium poppy, which is the source of one of the world’s oldest—and most ravaging—narcotics. He describes how the poppy came to be associated with war and remembrance, and he looks at how they have been used to commemorate everything from weddings to funerals. Beautifully illustrated, the book will appeal to gardeners or anyone fascinated by the way plants have so powerfully figured in human culture and traditions.

Andrew Lack

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