title: Demons in Eden: The Paradox of Plant Diversity
author: Jonathan Silvertown
description: Anyone who has ever experienced the otherworldly proliferation of kudzu will appreciate the concept of Darwin's "survival of the fittest" theory run amok. Such rampant growers are what Silvertown terms "Darwinian demons," biological superpowers with the potential to outproduce all other life-forms in their territory; but even though they may be evolutionary wonders, such demons are, somehow, kept in check. From Central American rain forests to the Royal Botanical Gardens at Kew, and from Florida's lushly teeming wetlands to Japan's stark volcanic outcroppings, Silvertown examines a kaleidoscopic variety of habitats throughout the world to discover how plant biodiversity occurs, why it endures, and when it ceases. Even <i>Homo sapiens</i>, perhaps the ultimate Darwinian demon, comes under his scrutiny as Silvertown investigates the effects of hybridization and genetic engineering. In an educational and entertaining analysis of the nature of species diversity, Silvertown brings to fruition some 30 years of personal and professional research as he incisively probes current ecological conditions to reveal the considerable threats posed by these evolutionary intruders. <i>Carol Haggas</i><br /><i>Copyright  American Library Association. All rights reserved</i>
zlib_text:   
  
  **ACADEM'S FURY**
  
   _ **Codex Alera Book 2**_
  
   **By**
  
   **Jim Butcher**
  
  ![](Images/image00335.jpeg)
  
    
  
    
  
  **Prologue**
  
  ![](Images/image00334.jpeg)![](Images/image00331.jpeg)
  
    
  
  If the beginning of wisdom is in realizing that one knows nothing, then the
  beginning of understanding is in realizing that all things exist in accord
  with a single truth: large things are made of smaller things.
  
  Drops of ink are shaped into letters, letters form words, words form
  sentences, and sentences combine to express thought. So it is with the growth
  of plants that spring from seeds, as well as with walls built of many stones.
  So it is with mankind, as the customs and traditions of our progenitors blend
  together to form the foundation for our own cities, history, and way of life.
  
  Be they dead stone, living flesh, or rolling sea; be they idle times or events
  of world-shattering proportion, market days, or desperate battles, to this
  law, all things hold:
  
  Large things are made from small thing