From the temptation of Eve to the venomous murder of the mighty Thor, the serpent appears throughout time and cultures as a figure of mischief and misery. The worldwide prominence of snakes in religion, myth, and folklore underscores our deep connection to the serpent—but why, when so few of us have firsthand experience? The surprising answer, this book suggests, lies in the singular impact of snakes on primate evolution. Predation pressure from snakes, Lynne Isbell tells us, is ultimately responsible for the superior vision and large brains of primates—and for a critical aspect of human evolution.

Drawing on extensive research, Isbell further speculates how snakes could have influenced the development of a distinctively human behavior: our ability to point for the purpose of directing attention. A social activity (no one points when alone) dependent on fast and accurate localization, pointing would have reduced deadly snake bites among our hominin ancestors. It might have also figured in later human behavior: snakes, this book eloquently argues, may well have given bipedal hominins, already equipped with a non-human primate communication system, the evolutionary nudge to point to communicate for social good, a critical step toward the evolution of language, and all that followed.

Lavishly illustrated, Peter Hatch's The Fruits and Fruit Trees of Monticello is not only a detailed history of Jefferson's gardens and their re-creation but a virtual encyclopedia of early American pomology.

Micropropagation has become a reliable and routine approach for large-scale rapid plant multiplication, which is based on plant cell, tissue and organ culture on well defined tissue culture media under aseptic conditions. A lot of research efforts are being made to develop and refine micropropagation methods and culture media for large-scale plant multiplication of several number of plant species. However, many forest and fruit tree species still remain recalcitrant to in vitro culture and require highly specific culture conditions for plant growth and development. The recent challenges on plant cell cycle regulation and the presented potential molecular mechanisms of recalcitrance are providing excellent background for understanding on totipotency and what is more development of micropropagation protocols. For large-scale in vitro plant production the important attributes are the quality, cost effectiveness, maintenance of genetic fidelity, and long-term storage. The need for appropriate in vitro plant regeneration methods for woody plants, including both forest and fruit trees, is still overwhelming in order to overcome problems facing micropropagation such as somaclonal variation, recalcitrant rooting, hyperhydricity, polyphenols, loss of material during hardening and quality of plant material. Moreover, micropropagation may be utilized, in basic research, in production of virus-free planting material, cryopreservation of endangered and elite woody species, applications in tree breeding and reforestation.