University of California Press Blog

Tracking the Elusive Monitor Lizard

Dragonlike and prehistoric-looking, monitor lizards, or varanids, are uncommonly intelligent: "I dare anybody to...look a monitor lizard in the eye. It's looking back at you", says Eric Pianka, lizard expert and co-author of Lizards: Windows to the Evolution of Diversity, in Lizard Kings, an upcoming NOVA documentary. Varanids vary in size from mere centimeters to 10 feet or more, and research suggests that some types can count up to six. Over the past 80 million years, monitor lizards have adapted supremely well to their surroundings, and are notoriously elusive and hard to observe. In Lizards, Pianka recalls his adventures staking out a lizard's hiding place for days, just to catch a glimpse of a varanid in the wild.

Lizard Kings, a NOVA documentary that will air Tuesday, October 20 on PBS, joins Pianka and his colleagues in Australia, as they follow varanid tracks and find creative ways to learn more about these magnificent creatures, including "lizardcam" footage shot by the lizards themselves.

Watch a preview of Lizard Kings on the NOVA site. The program airs on PBS tomorrow, Tuesday, October 20.

Eric R. Pianka is co-author, with Laurie J. Vitt, of Lizards: Windows to the Evolution of Diversity.

A Toast to History

Dr. Patrick E. McGovern, a biomolecular archaeologist and author of Uncorking the Past: The Quest for Wine, Beer, and Other Alcoholic Beverages, works with Dogfish Head Craft Brewery to resurrect the world's earliest fermented beverages from molecular and archaeological evidence. Together they have created several brews from ancient recipes, including Theobroma, a chocolate ale from Honduras, and Midas Touch, recreated from traces of ingredients unearthed in a 2,700-year-old tomb in Turkey that may have belonged to King Midas. Brewed with honey, grapes, and saffron, Midas Touch won the bronze medal for specialty honey beer at the Great American Beer Festival in September. Above, McGovern (right), and a brewer/festivalgoer toast with Chateau Jiahu from Dogfish Head, which won the gold medal for specialty beer at the festival.

Chateau Jiahu is formulated from evidence found at Jiahu, a Neolithic archaeological site in China that also yielded China’s earliest pottery and oldest rice, and the oldest known working musical instruments (bone flutes made from the wings of the red-crowned crane). McGovern and colleagues analyzed the residue found in cups and drinking vessels at Jiahu, and unraveled the ingredients in the ancient brew: hawthorn fruit, grapes, honey, and rice. At 9,000 years old, this drink is the earliest known fermented beverage in the world, and, as McGovern details in Uncorking the Past, it may have been used in the rituals of early shamans, as well as for enjoyment and celebration.

Hurt Book Sale, October 15

University of California Press will sell hundreds of new and slightly scuffed books from the warehouse at a significant discount on Thursday, October 15, from 9 a.m. to 5 p.m.  Prices are $5 for paperbacks and $10 for hardbacks, with a few exceptions for art books and oversized editions.  The sale will be held in front of the UC Press offices at 2120 Berkeley Way, Berkeley, one block north of University between Shattuck and Oxford.

Don't live in Berkeley?  Remember we still have our online sale happening with incredibly steep discounts on over 4,000 of our titles.  Shop now at go.ucpress.edu/bigsale.

Beetles and Books with Dr. Art Evans, Sept. 17

Throughout history, humans have used beetles as medicinal remedies, eaten them roasted or skewered, made them into brilliantly patterned jewelry, kept them as pets, and much more. As the largest, and one of the most successful and enduring groups of animals in the world, beetles have many lessons to offer. To learn more about these fascinating creatures, join Dr. Art Evans for a talk and signing for his book An Inordinate Fondness for Beetles, this Thursday, September 17 at 7PM, at The Bone Room in Berkeley.

Evans is also co-author, with James N. Hogue, of Introduction to California Beetles and Field Guide to Beetles of California. 

The Bone Room is located at 1573 Solano Ave., Berkeley, CA, 94707.

Puzzle Contest Complete

Thanks to all who entered the puzzle contest last week, and congratulations to the lucky puzzlers who took home copies of The Book of Codes. For updates on future contests and other news, follow us on Twitter at www.twitter.com/ucpress.

Thanks to all who entered the puzzle contest last week, and congratulations to the lucky puzzlers who took home copies of The Book of Codes. For updates on future contests and other news, follow us on Twitter at www.twitter.com/ucpress.

Win this Book

Solve the puzzle, win the book.  Do it now or you'll miss you chance.  Once a day all week long.  Want to be the first to know when the new puzzle goes up?  Follow us on Twitter at www.twitter.com/ucpress.

UC Press Supports the National Ocean Sciences Bowl

UC Press is happy to announce that we are supporting the National Ocean Sciences Bowl which is organized by the Consortium for Ocean Leadership. The event will take place on April 25-27 at the Smithsonian in Washington, D.C., where high school students are tested on their knowledge of scientific and technical expertise.

The website describes the program and competition:

"The Consortium for Ocean Leadership, representing leading oceanographic institutions universities and aquaria, manages a national academic competition for high schools on topics related to the study of the oceans -- the National Ocean Sciences Bowl (NOSB®). The NOSB is a nationally recognized and highly acclaimed high school academic competition that provides a forum for talented students to test their knowledge of the marine sciences including biology, chemistry, physics, and geology. The NOSB was created in 1998 in honor of the International Year of the Ocean and since its inception, the competition has grown to include 25 regional competition locations with 300 schools and over 2,000 students participating annually."

UC Press congratulates local high school, Mission San Jose in Fremont, CA as the regional winner of the competition in which they won the Sea Lion Bowl, where they competed with other Bay Area schools. The group from Mission San Jose High School will take their smarts to the NOSB at the end of the month with their hopes set on the final prize, in which the top four teams win an experiential trip.

Planet Earth returns to TV on October 12th

Planet Earth, the television series, returns to the Discovery Channel on Sunday, October 12th from 1 PM to 11 PM and again, from 11 PM to 3 AM into Monday morning. Narrated by actress Sigourney Weaver, this spectacular and engaging series takes a look at the distinctive characteristics of the earth in this fascinating documentary that is broken up into 11 different parts. To view the TV listings for this show, including a summary for each episode, please click here. For all you natural history and Planet Earth buffs out there, be sure to pick up our companion book to the series, Planet Earth: As You've Never Seen It Before by series producer, Alastair Fothergill. For a limited time only, the hardcover book is on sale for $25.95 during our annual Online Book Sale.

Online Book Sale

UC Press Announces Its 2008 Online Book Sale!

This year's sale includes:
* Over 3,000 titles at greatly reduced prices
* Hundreds of titles available for under $10
* Many bestselling titles at sale prices

To visit our sale page and browse sale titles, please visit go.ucpress.edu/filluprss  When placing orders, please enter the discount code: 09M4149 in the coupon code box in the shopping cart and click the "update" button to obtain your sale price.

This year's sale runs from today through October 31.  Stock is limited-order now!

 

Weegee's Naked City, 63 Years Later

The photographer Weegee's camera was the eye of the night; with his eerily accurate timing and nocturnal hours, he provided the curious with a porthole to Manhattan's midnight world. He was one of the first tabloid photographers, showcasing bloodstained gangsters, tenement residents, and fur-draped celebrities, and his book Naked City made him famous. As authors Anthony Lee and Richard Meyer discuss in Weegee and Naked City, there are many ways to interpret Weegee's influence, and his work gains meaning when it is viewed in the social and artistic context of the 1930s and 40s. He helped establish photography in the art world, but also exposed the social problems of urban life, and played a gritty, underworld character in his own tabloid story. For the nostalgic or curious who wish to see if the ghosts of Weegee's Naked City still walk the streets, The New York Times Weekend Explorer has created an audio walking tour of Weegee's old haunts, from his room above a gun shop to the Bowery, Washington Square Park, and the scenes of some of his famous photographs.