Bücher veröffentlicht von Dayton Publishing LLC

Some inventions are such a familiar part of our everyday lives that we may never stop to think about where they came from or who invented them. Botts's Dots: Not Just a Bump in the Road is the first book in the Who Invented That? series about just such inventions. Dr. Elbert Dysart Botts was a hero of the modern era. In the 1950s he worked as an engineer at a division of California's Highway Transportation Agency later called Caltrans. To improve safety for drivers and highway workers, he and his team developed the markers now known as Botts Dots. These little round dots, laid out in rows, made it easier for drivers to stay within their lanes, especially at night or in rainy weather, or when sleepy or distracted. This is the story of Dr. Botts and his dots.

It was the winter of 1937-'38. World War II was brewing. At a remote duty station on Kanaga Island, Alaska, in the middle of the Aleutian chain, eight men were engaged in a U. S. Navy mission whose aim was secret even from them.The medic, Chief Pharmacist's Mate Royse Gibson, had little to do - no one in the small contingent got sick, no one was injured. There wouldn't be a mail boat for months. So Gibson kept a diary in the form of letters to his wife and two young daughters at home, to be mailed if ever it was possible. He wrote of his daily routine, and his far more interesting spare-time activities on the island.Then one day Gibson and the cook went seal hunting, and disappeared without a trace.Gibson's letters home, finally delivered to his family months later, comprise half of Kanaga Diary. The other half of this "double memoir" is his daughter Estelle's story of the family, struggling, eventually moving on, but keeping his memory alive. In 1995 Estelle and her husband set out for Kanaga on a pilgrimage to investigate her father's disappearance and to finally say goodbye.The book is illustrated with photos, maps, and ephemera of the times, both long past and recent, on Kanaga Island. The story of the secret U. S. Navy aerological station on Kanaga is one that's new and surprising even to those familiar with the history of World War II in the Aleutian Islands. Though it began eight decades ago, the story of the family at home and uncertain will resonate with military families even today.

Often when we look at a desert landscape, we see only today's "snapshot" of the plants and animals that live there. But what would we see if we took a much longer look - long enough to see the dramatic changes that happen over time in this dynamic ecosystem?This friendly book tells the fascinating story of life in the desert as seen through the eyes of Renaldo, a Sonoran desert tortoise who has observed the weather, plants and animals in the highly diverse ecosystem for many years."I am more than 80 years old," begins Renaldo, "and I've lived here all my life. I want to tell you about some of the things I've seen."Photos, drawings and Renaldo's clear explanations help readers of all ages and backgrounds understand this Sonoran desert and encourage them to wonder about what they see there:• Why is that packrat nest surrounded by a mess of sharp-spined cactus "buds"?• Why is this saguaro cactus standing all alone, while that one over there seems to be "embraced" by the branches of a mesquite tree?• Why do some ocotillo plants have a few long stems reaching almost straight up, while other ocotillos are "bushy," with more, shorter stems?• What killed the cactuses whose woody "skeletons" we see stretched out on the ground?• Why are grasses and small flowering plants dotted over the landscape in patches, almost as if they were planted in small gardens? And what does that have to do with jackrabbit boxing matches?Find the fascinating answers to these and other questions in the pages of Rabbits and Rats, Birds and Seeds, Cactus and Trees, or in the Spanish-language edition: Liebres y Ratas, Aves y Semillas, Cactos y Árboles.Royalties from this book will be donated to support regional environmental education in Sonora, Mexico.Renaldo the tortoise has observed this desert for many years. Photos, drawings and Renaldo's clear explanations answer many questions like these:• Why is that packrat nest surrounded by sharp cactus spines?• Why is that tree "hugging" that cactus?• Why do jackrabbits have boxing matches?• What killed those cactuses, leaving behind only "skeletons"?Rabbits and Rats, Birds and Seeds, Cactus and Trees is also available in a Spanish-language edition: Liebres y Ratas, Aves y Semillas, Cactos y Árboles.