Urban Nature

Since the beginning of civilization, humans have built cities to wall nature out, then glorified it in beloved but quite artificial parks. In Urban Jungle Ben Wilson—the author of Metropolis, a seven-thousand-year history of cities that the Wall Street Journal called “a towering achievement”—looks to the fraught relationship between nature and the city for clues to how the planet can survive in an age of climate crisis.

Sawyer Matthews is a retired and presumed-dead assassin. Ripped from her life of shadows and secrets, she's decided to gamble it all and accept a new chapter in her life - one that may lead to a brighter future. With her first case over and budding relationships with some of her teammates, Sawyer finds herself feeling more secure. Sawyer's found a place on the team, and wants to keep it, no matter the struggles that come from it. It should have been a standard, mundane trip to New York, and the base of operations for the IMPO and the WMC.

Plants play a critical role in how we experience our environment. They create calming green spaces, provide oxygen for us to breathe, and nourish our senses. In The Nature of Plants, ecologist and nursery owner Craig Huegel demystifies the complex lives of plants and provides listeners with an extensive tour into their workings.

Sapphira is a ticking time bomb. Two years ago, she lost control of the unstable energies within her and caused a horrific supernatural incident. Since then, she and her family have lived in constant fear of another - and her freedom seems only a distant memory. In Huskers Grove, Iowa, a darkness looms. A great and faceless evil. An evil that wants Sapphira. Can she master her abilities to save the ones she loves, or will she fall victim to the enemy who seeks to take what is rightfully hers?

Chris and Tanya have been assigned as Coven Rovers, travelling the country and troubleshooting the supernatural community. It's a job that's part cop and part auditor, one that should be long periods of boredom mixed with small parts of action. But this is Chris and Tanya, so a sudden assignment to check on a rogue vampire leads to a run-in with a hostile master vampire, a hit squad, monsters straight out of Native American folklore, black ops teams, and, worst of all, vampire politics.

Danger lurks in the shadows and desire shimmers in the sultry heat as leopard shifter Drake Donovan is sent to a Louisiana bayou to investigate a murder. He's ready for anything except the insatiable hunger that rocks him when he meets Saria Boudreaux, a woman with a compelling motive-and ability-to distract him from the task at hand...

In the seedy underbelly of the Chicago supernatural scene is a club about which no one talks. The Patronus Ceteri have tolerated it for decades, but when club-goers start dying, the self-appointed protectors of the balance can't let it go. To get to the bottom of what's happening there, Sapphira must ally herself with a wolf she's not sure she can trust, a troll she's been forbidden to see, and a ghost who can't speak. Her psychotic ex has also returned, threatening to expose her secrets to those who can hurt her the most. Even more than the killer on the loose.

Scorpio Valentino, a sexy-diva beauty-salon owner, is used to having her way with any and every man that she meets. She’s a master at playing head games and also possesses a curvaceous body that’ll have any man’s tongue watering. But when one man (Jaylin) has finally been able to free himself from her grip and moves on, Scorpio just ain’t having it. She’ll try anything to get him back.

How Real Estate Developers Think considers developers from three different perspectives. Brown profiles the careers of individual developers to illustrate the character of the entrepreneur; considers the roles played by innovation, design, marketing, and sales in the production of real estate; and examines the risks and rewards that motivate developers as people.

As the daughter of two immortals, Sapphira was born with incredible power. Mastering it nearly cost her life, but with the help of her brothers, she was able to start over in Chicago, helping them police the supernatural community. While tracking down a missing person, an unexpected accident unlocks a terrifying new power - the ability to experience the last few moments of a victim's life. Following what she sees leads Sapphira, Nico, and Alek to more missing girls with special powers, and a growing realization that they're running out of time.

"Dark Hero" by Hannah Howell. Unlike most of his clan, Berawald MacNachton chooses to live in comfortable seclusion, far from the enemies who hunt his kind - until Evanna Massey and her young brother intrude upon his solitude…"Bride of the Beast" by Adrienne Basso. When Haydn of Gwynedd first met Bethan of Lampeter, she was a brave and fearless young girl, risking her life to save his..."Kiss of the Vampire" by Eve Silver. Devoted to her work at King's College Hospital, Sarah Lowell is shocked to discover that someone - or something - is killing the weakest patients, draining them of their blood.

Alison is a young Drow princess whose power is just beginning to grow inside of her - too bad for the dark forces after her. They won’t see it coming. Even better...Alison’s making a few tween friends who can stand by her side.

There are more crows now than ever. Their abundance is both an indicator of ecological imbalance and a generous opportunity to connect with the animal world. Crow Planet reminds us that we do not need to head to faraway places to encounter "nature". Rather, even in the suburbs and cities where we live we are surrounded by wild life such as crows, and through observing them we can enhance our appreciation of the world's natural order.

Decades after The Death and Life of Great American Cities forever changed the field of urban studies, Jane Jacobs—one of the few contemporary thinkers whose works will remain in print for generations—brought us a modern classic on economies and ecology. The Nature of Economies is written in the form of a Platonic dialogue, a conversation over coffee among five contemporary New Yorkers. The question they discuss is: Does economic life obey the same rules as those governing nature? The answers that emerge will shape the way people think about how economies really work.

The loss of walking as an individual and a community act has the potential to destroy our deepest spiritual connections, our democratic society, our neighborhoods, and our freedom. But we can change the course of our mobility. And we need to. Delving into a wealth of science, history, and anecdote, from our deepest origins as hominins to our first steps as babies, to universal design and social infrastructure, A Walking Life shows exactly how walking is essential, and how deeply reliant our brains and bodies are on this simple pedestrian act - and how we can reclaim it.

Piper Jones can't catch a break. After a lifetime of animosity and indifference from the supernatural community, she thought she'd finally found a home with the vampire king's enforcers. Then the dark and mysterious Merc walks into her life, and it takes a disastrous turn for the worse.

Cities are birthplaces of civilization; centers of culture, trade, and progress; cauldrons of opportunity - and the home of 80 percent of the world's population by 2050. As the 21st century progresses, metropolitan areas will bear the brunt of global megatrends such as climate change, natural resource depletion, population growth, income inequality, mass migrations, and education and health disparities, among many others.

This audiobook is the personal memoir of an urban couple's journey to farming rather than a how-to guide and is sure to delight those interested in moving to the country or simply learning more about the struggles of sustainable farming. When Tim and Liz Young decided to leave their comfortable suburban life and become first-time farmers in rural Georgia, they embarked on a journey that would change their lives.

Jimmy and his Magi friends are back at it again. The Goblin King's daughter is missing, the courts of Faerie are in turmoil, mysterious agents are hunting the crew, and of course the Master Magi are still missing. Sure, Jimmy and company stopped a major demon, goblin, and giant spider invasion just a few short weeks ago, but things are now getting crazy and wild outside of the Earth realm. The young Magi crew must learn to walk between the worlds, enter the realm of Faerie, rescue the Goblin Princess, and avoid mysterious assassins while throwing themselves smack-dab in the middle of Fae ...

Menno Schilthuizen is one of a growing number of “urban ecologists” studying how our manmade environments are accelerating and changing the evolution of the animals and plants around us. In Darwin Comes to Town, he takes us around the world for an up-close look at just how stunningly flexible and swift-moving natural selection can be.