With stunning infographics on every page, this riveting visual guide reveals the mind-bending marvels of nature’s timescales both large and minuscule
“This work broadens our perception of time by looking at it through natural cycles . . . . The visuals seamlessly enhance the text, making for an impactful learning experience.”—Booklist starred review
Contents:
Introduction
* Clock of the Long Now
* Critical flicker fusion frequency and how all animals perceive time differently
CHAPTER 1: EVOLUTIONARY SPANS
* Humans arrive at five seconds to midnight
* The nautilus and the whale
* When early man decided to ride the horse
CHAPTER 2: ECOLOGICAL SPANS
* Lichen growth to show pollution reduction
* River regeneration
* After the fire
* After the flood
* Lemming population fluctuations
* From chaos to order, self-organizing systems in social insects
* Rates of migration
* How disease spreads
* Occupation of a shared nesting hole by tits and other species
* Seasonal ocean current migrations
CHAPTER 3: LIFE SPANS
* Clonal colonies (the quaking aspen called Pando)
* Mahogany vs. pine
* Time taken for an immortal jellyfish to die
* From the very, very old to the very, very young (Galapagos tortoise to the mayfly)
* The mad cat virus
* Metamorphosis
* Long pupations in cicadas, mayflies, and butterflies
CHAPTER 4: GROWTH SPANS
* Why is an elephant pregnancy so long?
* Time from birth to maturity (human vs. aphid)
* Parenting spans and kittens' eyes
* A little older than my teeth?
* A cat gives birth
* A baby giraffe learns to walk
* A limb regenerates (human, lizard, jellyfish)
* Every breath we take (comparing respiratory rates)
* Estrous cycles
* In heat
* Skunk rut
* The melatonin effect
* A circadian rhythm
* Hair growth
* Nail growth
* Ugly ducklings (and penguins)
CHAPTER 5: BEHAVIORAL SPANS
* Quick to react? (springbok, fly, sloth)
* Sleep tight (sloth, cat, bird)
* Hibernation
* For a beaver to build a kingdom
* For a bowerbird to build a bower
* For a weaverbird to weave a nest
* Alzheimers
CHAPTER 6: DECOMPOSITION SPANS
* Pumpkin
* Human
* Aging
* Whale fall
* Rock erosion
Further reading
Index
Acknowledgments
