10 BEAUTIFUL NEW BOOKS CELEBRATING THE BEAUTY OF DIVERSITY NOW

In celebration of the beauty of diversity, the BN Team has curated a gorgeous collection of new books on the subject, from biodiversity to diversity of art and culture.

Explore and enjoy them below.

1. A SEA OF GLASS: SEARCHING FOR THE BLASCHKAS’ FRAGILE LEGACY IN AN OCEAN AT RISK (ORGANISMS AND ENVIRONMENTS)

Dive below the surface to discover everything from dangerous jellyfish to harpoon-backed sea slugs. A Sea of Glass, by Drew Harvell, explores the quest to document the diverse invertebrates by Leopold and Rudolf Blaschka, history’s greatest father-son glassmaking team more than 160 years ago. 

As the beautiful menagerie of diverse marine creatures was locked away for decades at Cornell University, this unique book is like finding a time capsule of biodiverse life in the oceans before human impact.  

Drew Harvell and the Blaschka menagerie are featured in Fragile Legacy, which won the Best Short Film award at the 2015 Blue Ocean Film Festival & Conservation Summit.

See the Blaschka works on display at the Corning Museum of Glass through May 2016.

"This book is significant not just for its scholarship on a fragile ecosystem, but also for its celebration of the symbiotic relationship between art and science.”— Dale Chihuly, American glass sculptor and founder of the Pilchuck Glass School.

University of California Press (2016)

From food, to ecosystems, to art, and to culture, the world is diverse. We’ve curated 10 books that offer compelling insight into the most beautiful varieties found on planet Earth. Check them out below!

2. PAULETTE TAVORMINA: SEIZING BEAUTY

Old Masters painted sumptuous still lifes that often celebrated diversity, by laying out a varied spread of flora, food, and artifacts to tempt and amaze. Photographer Paulette Tavormina created a series of works that celebrate that gorgeous ranges of color, texture and form of these classic arrangements, featured in her new book, Seizing Beauty.

Tavormina’s painterly photos, with their opulent, seductive, tablescapes have a contemporary sensibility. Essays by art and photography scholars Silvia Malaguzzi, Mark Alice Durant, and Anke Van Wagenberg-Ter Hoeven explore the 17th and 18th century sources of Tavormina’s inspiration, as well as her intensely personal style.

The Monacelli Press (2016)

3. KOREATOWN: A COOKBOOK

Koreatown: A Cookbook is all about what’s real and delicious. With variety of spicy, funky, and flavor-packed recipes, this new book takes you to the heart of Korean cooking in America.

Chef Deuki Hong, of the smash-hit Korean barbecue restaurant Kang Ho Dong Baekjeong in Manhattan’s Koreatown, gives us mealtime feasts through amazing stories, enlightening interviews, and over 100 mouthwatering recipes. From Korean barbecue, to stews, soups, and the many kimchis of the Korean American table, this cookbook is a perfect way to expand the diversity of your international cooking repertoires.

Publisher: Clarkson Potter ( 2016)

4. BIRD LOVE

Bird Love, by fine art photographer Leila Jeffreys, captures the beauty and diversity of birds. Working with animal rescue and conservation groups to find subjects to photograph, Jeffreys created stunning portraits of each species, from the exotic birds of her native Australia to those of North America.

This book is a sheer delight -- a must for bird-lovers -- and anyone with a passion for beauty in diversity.

“Showcases dozens of exotic examples from around the world.”

(The Wall Street Journal)

Harry N. Abrams (2015)

5. NATURE MANDALAS: WONDERS OF THE EARTH, WIND, AND SEA - LIFE CIRCLES OF BIODIVERSITY AND CONSERVANCY

See the beautiful diverse microarchitecture of animals through the artistic eye in this new book. Nature Mandalas Wonders of the Earth, Wind, and Sea: Life Circles of Biodiversity and Conservancy, by artist Tim Phelps, offers vivid illustrations and an engaging story that invites the reader to explore the seemingly endless range of diversity of this planet’s life forms.

Using symbolic patterns of mandalas, Phelps combines color, texture, and fluidity, to create unique portraits of each organism and its role in the web of life. Phelps, influenced by a diverse art forms and styles, including art nouveau, art deco, batik and more, encourages us to appreciate the astonishing beauty of biodiversity.

Schiffer (2016)

6. VARIETAL WINES: A GUIDE TO 130 VARIETIES GROWN IN AUSTRALIA AND THEIR PLACE IN THE INTERNATIONAL WINE LANDSCAPE

Varietal Wines: A Guide to 130 Varieties Grown in Australia and Their Place in the International Wine Landscape celebrates the diversity of wine grapes grown in Australia.

Author James Halliday, one of the leading authorities on Australian wine, offers exceptional profiles and explores the history and significance of Australian varietals. Packed with beautiful photography and essential facts, this book is a must for oenophiles.

Publisher: Hardie Grant Books (2016)

7. LIVING DIVERSITY: THE COLUMBIA PIKE DOCUMENTARY PROJECT

Take a thought-provoking journey to Arlington, Virginia in this beautiful collaboration, which documents the immense diversity of the place these photographers call home.

Living Diversity: The Columbia Pike Documentary Project collects work by the Columbia Pike Documentary Project who have captured the ever-changing life and culture of people and places making up this historic place.

This new book offers a visual avenue for understanding tolerance and diversity, and how this beautiful community continues to live in harmony.

Columbia Pike Project (2015)

8. A HISTORY OF 1970S EXPERIMENTAL FILM: BRITAIN’S DECADE OF DIVERSITY

The 1970’s was a period in British filmmaking that at first blush seems a bit monotonous and shallow. But that is only because so many films made during that time failed to receive recognition.

A History of 1970s Experimental Film: Britain's Decade of Diversity, by Patti Gaal-Holmes, is a comprehensive historical account of the rich diversity of the 1970s British experimental filmmaking.

This book delves deep into the variety of approaches to individual films, while examining the broad range of technical, aesthetic, and production-values explored in this exciting period.

Palgrave Macmillan (2015)

9. ECOSYSTEMS OF CALIFORNIA

While Earth contains a broad diversity of ecosystems, each ecosystem is, in and of itself, a study in biodiversity.

Ecosystems of California, by Harold Mooney and Erika Zavaleta, provides an insightful look at the incredibly beautiful ecological bounty of California, from its mountaintops to its oceans, both past and present, with predictions and warnings about their future.

University of California Press (2016)

10. LIFE AMONGST THE THORNS: BIODIVERSITY & CONSERVATION OF MADAGASCAR’S SPINY FOREST

Take a journey biodiverse places on Earth, in Life Amongst The Thorns: Biodiversity & Conservation Of Madagascar's Spiny Forest, a new book by Louise Jasper and Charlie Gardner.

Produced in collaboration with WWF Madagascar and Western Indian Ocean Programme Office (MWIOPO), this beautiful book introduces us to one of the world’s great biological treasures, the unique Spiny Forest.

Revel in the lavish illustrations of diverse endemic flora and fauna, and, once you fall in love, take action to help save this threatened paradise.

John Beaufoy Publishing (2015)

Read more about Beautiful Diversity, as it relates to Arts/Design, Nature/Science, Food/Drink, Place/Time, Mind/Body, and Soul/Impact.

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IMAGE CREDITS

1. Image: Courtesy of  Humboldt University of Berlin. Sun Animalcule Heliozoa (Actinophrys sol). Glass model created by Leopold & Rudolf Blaschka of the Blaschka Studio.
2. Image: by Philippe Wagneur, Courtesy of MHN / MHS. Porpita porpita. Glass model created by Leopold & Rudolf Blaschka of the Blaschka Studio.
3. Image: Courtesy of University of California Press. A Sea of Glass: Searching for the Blaschkas' Fragile Legacy in an Ocean at Risk (Organisms and Environments).
4. Image: Courtesy of Museum of Wales. Portuguese Man-of-War (Physalia physalis). Glass model created by Leopold & Rudolf Blaschka of the Blaschka Studio.
5. Image: Courtesy of The Harvard Museum of Natural History. Sea Creatures in Glass:  Blaschka Models of Marine Invertebrates.
6. Image: Courtesy of The Corning Museum of Glass. Blaschka Sea Creatures.
7. Image: Courtesy of The Monacelli Press. Paulette Tavormina: Seizing Beauty.
8. Image: Courtesy of Clarkson Potter. Koreatown: A Cookbook.
9. Image: by Leila Jeffreys. Courtesy of Harry N. Abrams. Bird Love.
10. Image: Courtesy of Schiffer. Nature Mandalas Wonders of the Earth, Wind, and Sea: Life Circles of Biodiversity and Conservancy.
11. Image: Courtesy of Hardie Grant Books. Varietal Wines: A Guide to 130 Varieties Grown in Australia and Their Place in the International Wine Landscape.
12. Image: Courtesy of Columbia Pike Project. Living Diversity: The Columbia Pike Documentary Project.
13. Image: Courtesy of Palgrave Macmillan. A History of 1970s Experimental Film: Britain's Decade of Diversity.
14. Image: Courtesy of University of California Press. Ecosystems of California.
15. Image: Courtesy of John Beaufoy Publishing. Life Amongst The Thorns: Biodiversity & Conservation Of Madagascar's Spiny Forest.
16. Image: Courtesy of Schiffer. Nature Mandalas Wonders of the Earth, Wind, and Sea: Life Circles of Biodiversity and Conservancy.
17. Image: by BN App - Download now!
18. Image: Courtesy of Schiffer. Nature Mandalas Wonders of the Earth, Wind, and Sea: Life Circles of Biodiversity and Conservancy.