Books with author Michael Port

When a solar or lunar eclipse is approaching, people excitedly prepare to watch the enthralling events. They're just small reminders that other celestial bodies are out there. In this book, readers will learn with the help of diagrams and key science vocabulary how eclipses happen, when they can expect them, and the differences between partial and full eclipses. Fun facts sprinkled throughout the text will encourage stargazers to mark their calendars for the next eclipse.

Some of the fastest planes in the world can only be found in the US military. Though fighter planes have been used since the aerial dogfights of World War I, todays jets seem unstoppable. They can slip through radar undetected, carry numerous missiles, and fly faster than the speed of sound. Full-color photographs of these swift military machines enhances the historical and science content. Readers will be continually engaged as they are introduced to the futuristic F-35 and as they learn how a jet engine works.

The New York Times bestseller that’s changing America’s diet is now perfect for younger readers “What’s for dinner?” seemed like a simple question—until journalist and supermarket detective Michael Pollan delved behind the scenes. From fast food and big organic to small farms and old-fashioned hunting and gathering, this young readers’ adaptation of Pollan’s famous food-chain exploration encourages kids to consider the personal and global health implications of their food choices. In a smart, compelling format with updated facts, plenty of photos, graphs, and visuals, as well as a new afterword and backmatter, The Omnivore’s Dilemma serves up a bold message to the generation that needs it most: It’s time to take charge of our national eating habits—and it starts with you.

An Angry Earth offers a terrifying end to a world whose overseers abused its resources to live more comfortably until the Earth had nothing left to give. Each concurrent devastating natural disaster is recorded by a single child left to bear witness.It starts with a rumbling underfoot.Then the ocean reaches for the sky and the land is lost to the sea. The water recedes and the soil becomes as dust.And all at once you realize the choices you’ve made are the reasons you have arrived at this end. An environmentally charged and fully illustrated telling of what will happen if we do not curb our current abuses.Save the world. Save yourself. Read the book.

Readers will find out about the other planets that scientists have discovered through accessible text, fun fact boxes, and amazing photographs. They will be introduced to amazing scientific tools including the Kepler telescope, which has assisted in locating many planets outside of our solar system. The question of other planets sustaining life, as it is on earth, has been plaguing scientists and curious minds for some time. Along with fuel scientists, readers will speculate whether there are habitable planets and if people could move to them or not.

Did you know that the 1970 Chevelle SS 454 LS6 was the most powerful muscle car ever produced? Readers discover this and many other facts waiting for them inside this book. They explore the fascinating history behind the development of these cars. Vibrant images guide readers as they learn about the different models of Chevelles. Though Chevelles have not been made since 1977, this book explains why the Chevelle is a memorable model.

A giant wave of water is so powerful and savage that it can tear houses off foundations, uproot trees, and easily sweep people away. Tsunamis are truly frightening and destructive natural disasters. Readers will read about how these waves of water form and see photographs of damage from the worst tsunamis in history. Theyll also learn about advances in science that may help protect people from tsunamis in the future.

Michael Pollan’s unmatched ability to draw lines of connection between our everyday experiences—whether eating, gardening, or building—and the natural world has been the basis for the popular success of his many works of nonfiction, including the genre-defining bestsellers, The Botany of Desire, The Omnivore’s Dilemma, and In Defense of Food. With this updated edition of his earlier book A Place of My Own, listeners can revisit the inspired, intelligent, and often hilarious story of Pollan’s realization of a room of his own—a small, wooden hut, his “shelter for daydreams”—built with his admittedly unhandy hands. Inspired by both Thoreau and Mr. Blandings, A Place of My Own not only works to convey the history and meaning of all human building, it also marks the connections between our bodies, our minds, and the natural world.“[A]n inspired meditation on the complex relationship between space, the human body, and the human spirit.” —Francine du Plessix Gray

"A room of one's own: is there anybody who hasn't at one time or another wished for such a place, hasn't turned those soft words over until they'd assumed a habitable shape?"When writer Michael Pollan decided to plant a garden, the result was an award-winning treatise on the borders between nature and contemporary life, the acclaimed bestseller Second Nature. Now Pollan turns his sharp insight to the craft of building, as he recounts the process of designing and constructing a small one-room structure on his rural Connecticut property--a place in which he hoped to read, write and daydream, built with his two own unhandy hands.Invoking the titans of architecture, literature and philosophy, from Vitrivius to Thoreau, from the Chinese masters of feng shui to the revolutionary Frank Lloyd Wright, Pollan brilliantly chronicles a realm of blueprints, joints and trusses as he peers into the ephemeral nature of "houseness" itself. From the spark of an idea to the search for a perfect site to the raising of a ridgepole, Pollan revels in the infinitely detailed, complex process of creating a finished structure. At once superbly written, informative and enormously entertaining, A Place of My Own is for anyone who has ever wondered how the walls around us take shape--and how we might shape them ourselves.A Place of My Own recounts his two-and-a-half-year journey of discovery in an absorbing narrative that deftly weaves the day-to-day work of design and building--from siting to blueprint, from the pouring of foundations to finish carpentry--with reflections on everything form the power of place to shape our lives to the question of what constitutes "real work" in a technological society.A book about craft that is itself beautifully crafted, linking the world of the body and material things with the realm of mind, heart, and spirit, A Place of My Own has received extraordinary praise: -->

Powerful winds, blinding snow, and freezing temperatures are the hazardous combination of a severe blizzard. This book guides readers through the conditions needed for a blizzard to occur, discusses the many dangers that blow in with blizzards, and describes some of the most terrible snowstorms in history. Amazing photographs of record snowfalls will astound readers.

Though some people consider UFOs to be purely science fiction, others keep an open mind. Alien visitations, government conspiracies, and optical illusions are just three of the possible explanations for UFOs. Readers of this book will decide which side they are on. They can examine UFO photographs, learn more about famous sightings, and create their own theories.