In its beginning, The Bear felt like The Road: an unnamed father and his unnamed child (a girl in this novel) are trying to survive in a post-apocalypIn its beginning, The Bear felt like The Road: an unnamed father and his unnamed child (a girl in this novel) are trying to survive in a post-apocalyptic world. But it didn't take long to realize that the two were maybe the only humans left on the planet, living off the land peacefully in a cabin.
Initially, there is little to no drama -the dad is busy teaching his daughter how to survive, and the two regularly make a trek up a mountain to visit the mother's grave - but when dad decides it is time to hike to the ocean to replenish their salt stores the plot begins to take shape. As the book's blub states - there is an accident and the girl finds herself trying to survive on her own in an unfamiliar setting, with winter on its way.
This is a tough one for me to rate. What I liked: *the melancholy tone - sadness over the loss of a parent was ever-present and daily life was a struggle. There were a number of poignant scenes, especially at the end. Very affecting. *realistic and detailed descriptions of the nature in the natural settings and activities such as hunting and fishing. Some hunting scenes were gruesome but when a person's survival is on the line suffering is part of the equation.
What I didn't like: *this is a dystopian fantasy book. I'm not a fan of fantasy. No spoilers but about halfway through the title character is introduced and with it some fantastical elements that made me groan initially. But by the end of the book I had bought in. *the effects of winter living / survival after some life-threatening crises. I'm not sure if a person could've survived what the girl went through in the extreme winter conditions she faced. Maybe a person could, but it just seemed like a stretch. I know how fast my fingers begin to freeze if I'm outside in frigid weather with no gloves.
This is a tough one to rate but based on my strong feelings after I finished the last page I'm going to give it four stars. It is a quick read, and I'd recommend to someone who likes some fantasy sprinkled in with their melancholic dystopian fiction.
North Woods is actually a series of stories, centered around a house located in a western Massachusetts forest, which take place from the 17th centuryNorth Woods is actually a series of stories, centered around a house located in a western Massachusetts forest, which take place from the 17th century through to the present. The house starts out as a small, crude, stone affair in the Puritan times and over the centuries becomes a modern home of today. Each story features the exploits of the house's inhabitant(s) of the particular era, and their stories are interwoven and linked in some way through the years. Some of the house’s occupants maintain their residency and make appearances even after their death. To add to the experience, the author adds short interludes in between some of the main chapters. They feature poetry, wildlife stories, and house-related information. And chapters and interludes are written in many different styles. I enjoyed listening to the Audible version which featured an ensemble of ten narrators which made each of the human characters stand out and the experience of each chapter/interlude unique.
In each chapter, we meet and get to know the new inhabitants and the are treated to some fantastic nature writing as the occupant(s) and Mother Nature herself change the flora and fauna of the grounds and surrounding forest through time. I was intrigued by the lives of the human characters in the stories and found the nature writing to be amazing. There were beautifully detailed descriptions of the local animals, bugs, and especially trees. And particularly interesting was the author’s description of the spread of the 20th century diseases that brought the east-to-west downfall of the great American trees the chestnut and elm, and the currently in-process downfall of the ash tree. (side note: we have six mature ash trees on our lot and the first emerald ash borer detected in our town was discovered last spring about three blocks away – kind of depressing after living through the fall of the chestnut and elm in the 1970s and 1980s in my area).
I’m not a fan of fantasy or ghost stories but, like some David Mitchell’s books, the writing and storytelling in North Woods is so good that I let it go and rode the wave. The re-appearance of former inhabitants eventually becomes a recurring theme and there are even some strange interactions between the living in the dead, not just footsteps in a hallway or creaking doors.
The chapters are not long but the characters felt adequately fleshed out and were memorable. Their personas are easy to recall if / when they turn up later in the house's history.
The tone of the novel is melancholic, it seems like most of the house’s inhabitants are downcast or dealing with some major personal trial, and their happiness is fleeting. I love the overall theme of how we humans come and go and our houses hold memories that pre-date us and will host lives long after we are gone; and, and trees also live on and we are often just merely a short chapter in their lives. It makes one wonder who has passed through your own house and what significant events took place there? And what will life be like in my house for the people who follow me? In my case we were lucky to have a senior citizen living next door when we bought our house in 1991 who told us all kinds of stories of our turn-of-the century abode.
I was hooked from the first short chapter and loved this book right through to the end. I’m not surprised by its award nominations. It is one of my top five reads of the year. Tremendous. Phenomenal....more
Flights of Fancy would be an excellent introduction to Dawkins to a first time reader. It's an excellent, succinct, and to-the-point book about the hiFlights of Fancy would be an excellent introduction to Dawkins to a first time reader. It's an excellent, succinct, and to-the-point book about the history of flight (and gliding) in the animal kingdom, including the relatively short history of human flight. He even touches on how plants use air currents to spread their seeds and pollinate.
While relatively short by Dawkins' standards, less than five hours in audio divided in to short chapters, the book is packed with a ton of great biological information and interesting observations, all read to you by the world's preeminent evolutionary biologist. As always his prose is smooth and satisfying, and he manages to sprinkle some humor in here and there for good measure. When it comes right down to it, it's really amazing that animals can fly so efficiently considering the amount of energy required and physical traits needed to overcome the Earth's gravity.
After looking at the previews of the Kindle and print additions I regret not buying the physical version of the book. The illustrations are fantastic and numerous. I'll have to spend a lunch hour at Barnes and Noble with it to take them all in.
Richard is 81 now and I hope he has some more books in him. I've seen him speak in person twice, in Rochester MN and Dallas. My wife and I flew to Dallas in 2018 and bought the meet and greet passes for his appearance with the great Carolyn Porco. It was a thrill for me to chat with him and get a picture of the two of us. He is one of humanity's brightest minds....more
Barkskins begins with two poor young Frenchmen, Duquet and Sel, arriving in New France (Canada). They are forced to work for three years in exchange fBarkskins begins with two poor young Frenchmen, Duquet and Sel, arriving in New France (Canada). They are forced to work for three years in exchange for their own land to eventually settle on. They are blown away over how wild the new world is and the seemingly infinite amount of huge trees that stretch for as far as the eye can see. In the rest of this epic novel we get to know their decedents over 300 years and witness the deforestation of North America due the insatiable appetite for wood of the growing continent along with the ever increasing demand from Europe. Also, we read of the native peoples were cast aside and exploited for cheap labor and the ravaging of the animal population for food and fur. This was a brutal time. Work was physically hard and accidents and sickness took a lot of lives at young ages. As we move through the novel to modern times, the messages start to transition a bit towards ecology and preservation rather than pure exploitation.
I found this book to be hard to put down. The author describes the settings beautifully, and logging processes and living conditions in great detail and you feel like you are back in time. The novel feels like a series of short stories or novellas as we skip from one generation to the next, and alternate between the Duquet and Sel families. And even though we didn't spend an inordinate amount of time with any one character, I felt like I knew many of them. Portions of the book were set in Europe, China, and New Zealand as well. The scope of this novel is massive and the author must've done a lot of research in a number of subjects such as logging, economics, native cultures, and everything in between dating back to the 1600s.
I did the double dip on this - I own the massive paperback and also listened on Audible. Luckily there were detailed family trees of the Duquets and Sels in both formats. I was constantly flipping back to remind myself who was related to who. The audiobook was narrated by Robert Petkoff who did a great job with the many voices and dialects. This is the first book by Proulx I've read and am interested in reading more, her writing was fantastic.
While reading, I couldn't help but wonder what the US and Canada where the book was set looked like in the 17th and 18th centuries. I've seen old-timey pictures of the Minnesota Big Woods in which tree trunks were unimaginably large. We'll never see anything like that ever again. It's sad but these resources built the cities and houses we live in, and hopefully with the knowledge of the importance of trees and forests in regards to our current climate issues the wave of conservation will continue to gain momentum.
Five stars. I'm guessing this will be in my top five of 2021, possibly in the top slot.
I LOVED the first eight hours of The Overstory. It kept me company on a long road trip and I was mesmerized. This section of the book contained eight I LOVED the first eight hours of The Overstory. It kept me company on a long road trip and I was mesmerized. This section of the book contained eight chapters, each one focusing on nine different people and their lives and relationship to particular trees important in their lives. I was blown away by the writing and invested in each one of their stories. There was a chapter about a chestnut tree which brought back great memories of the many chestnut trees around town when I was growing up. It's sad that they are gone. I love trees and have read a number of books about them, all of which I've rated highly. I was thinking this would be a five-star book.
Then came the section titled "Trunk" which was nine hours of bouncing randomly around between the nine characters as their lives progressed along, usually in a negative way, with trees still playing a part of each of their lives in some fashion. This section was harder to follow along in audio as it transitioned between people without warning or introduction and I had to try to recall what that particular character's background was and what they were up to when we last left off. I felt like I was drowning at each switch. The novel seemed to be transitioning away from trees as major characters to focus on the humans. The trees were much more likable and interesting.
Next up was the 5.5 hour long "Crown" section, and by this point I began to totally lose interest as I was getting bored with the characters and some of the plots began to feel repetitive. Also, some of the characters turned out to be unlikeable and I was ready to just be finished with them. There was some preaching, which I could agree with, but overall the shenanigans of the characters was not appealing and sometimes off-putting to me.
The novel finished with the 1.5 hour long "Seeds" section, and by this point I just wanted to be done with characters which I was absolutely sick and tired of the whole bloated affair. It felt like the author was just burying me in words and rehashing the same messages. If there was a point to the ending I missed it.
The audio book was narrated by Suzanne Toren who did a fine job overall, but there were so many different voices that it was hard to differentiate between them, and some of her male characters sounded overly nasally and grating, which didn't work for me. This big book would've benefitted with another narrator or two.
Overall, I'm giving it 2.5 stars. It started out as a five-star book for me but ended with one star. I think I'll pass on Powers' other works....more
When I first started reading I was unaware that author Margaret Murie was such and icon of nature conservatism. She is known as the "grandmother of thWhen I first started reading I was unaware that author Margaret Murie was such and icon of nature conservatism. She is known as the "grandmother of the conservation movement"! She helped establish The Wilderness Society, the Arctic National Wildlife Refuge and received numerous awards over the year including the Presidential Medal of Freedom in 1998 by President Clinton.
Two in the Far North is about Margaret's adventures in Alaska throughout most of her life, beginning as a nine-year old in 1911 and ending with her last visit 1975, in her 73rd year! (She lived to be 101.) Her stories are told though a series of highly detailed monologues and diary entries. She describes Alaska, and its flora and fauna beautifully. You feel like you were right there with her, freezing your bum off (during most of the year, anyway). The experiences she shared were interesting as stand alone stories, but what made them more interesting was how some things changed in subsequent visits over the years. Travel in the artic was always inherently dangerous, but as technology advanced from 1911 to 1975 some of the danger was mitigated and the wilderness became more accessible. For instance, on her first trip through Alaska the modes of transportation were steam ship and dog sled, and the steamer could only make it so far up the wild rivers. Eventually, the railroad cut through Alaska and later float plane could deposit you on any lake you wished to visit. (This became a worry (and motivation) of Margaret as she feared the increased accessibility would lead to this beautiful country being overrun by developers or mining/ oil companies.)
Along with her descriptions of natural Alaska, she provides insight in to the lives of the early settlers and native Alaskans who she met and lived amongst. Life on the frontier was harsh and cold for much of the year as one would expect. We upper-Midwesterners think we are hardy. This was winter living turned to 11. She met her biologist husband, Olaus in Alaska in the early 1920s while he was researching and collecting animal specimens and they became a great research and conservation; truly heroes of environmentalism before it became the issue it is today.
My favorite parts of the book were of her early life as a young girl in the 1900s and how her and the other settlers persevered in such a harsh and unforgiving environment, her plane crash (not really a crash per se, but the plane engine died in the middle of the Alaskan wilderness and she was stranded), and the recounting of her and Olaus's last good-byes to the the land they loved . The Afterword written by her son Donald is touching as well.
I knew I would like this book as soon as I saw the cover, which features the smiling Margaret and Olaus in their winter fur clothing, probably in the late 1920s. What a pair. Their legacies in conservation will live on forever....more
After listening to Helen MacDonald’s excellent book H is for Hawk in 2016 I immediately added Vesper Flights to my TBR list and I finally got around tAfter listening to Helen MacDonald’s excellent book H is for Hawk in 2016 I immediately added Vesper Flights to my TBR list and I finally got around to it. Unlike H is for Hawk, which is about her life with her goshawk Mabel, this book is a series of 41 nature essays which covers a wide variety of topics but primarily are about birds. I again listened in Audible. She has a great voice and her narration is excellent, and really adds to the book especially when she tugs at your emotions.
It seems like she’s been everywhere and has had encounters with a wide variety of beasts. She is British so we learn a lot of the issues faced on the island regarding the struggles of wildlife, birds in particular. But her travels took her all over the world and she seems to have a story for every location.
Some of my favorite essays were: her experience with an ostrich at a farm she worked at as a young person, the tale of Menesh the stork accused of being a spy and "arrested", the rise and fall of orioles in Great Britain, experiences with goats, the story of the arrow-stork, watching bird migration from the top of the Empire State Building, the effects of the 9-11 light beams on birds, and the tradition of swan upping. There are also chapters with interesting information about nests, swifts, wild pigs, mushrooms, cuckoos, berries, and a ton of other subjects. She also veers away from nature at times, writing about her migraines and her friend Nathalie Cabrol, a French NASA astrobiologist who studies lakes on Mars.
Some of the chapters inspire awe and some leave you with a lump in your throat and all you can say is “wow”. Great examples of this are her conclusion to the chapter Nests where she waxes poetically about an unhatched bird as she watches its shadow move around inside its egg and how it will someday rule the skies over our heads, and the whole final chapter What Animals Taught Me where she puts our relationship with nature in perspective. I think she's a great writer and she is the person you want to go on a hike in the woods with.
Like any collection, some topics held my interest more than others but overall this was excellent and listening to the brilliant author read her own words really added to the experience. ...more
Shellenbeger has been an activist since starting an Amnesty International chapter in his high school and became an environmental activist in college wShellenbeger has been an activist since starting an Amnesty International chapter in his high school and became an environmental activist in college where he received a degree in Peace and Global Studies and a Master's degree in Cultural Anthropology. Early on, he focused on Latin America and lived amongst the local farmers there. He was named a Time magazine Hero of the Environment in 2008 and has pretty much spent his life in environmental activism. So why then would he write a book seemingly against environmental alarmism? Because he has dealt with both the exaggerating alarmists and misinformed deniers, both of which are off base in his opinion. This book presents a rational view of the climate predicament we are in.
Shellenberger sifts through the hysteria being fed to us in seemingly undigestable chunks through the media and breaks down what is true and what are exaggerations. He explains how we got to where we are and how we need to proceed going forward, in a clear and rational manner. He states, "young people learning about climate change for the first time might understandably believe, upon listening to Lunnon and Thunberg that climate change is the result of deliberate, malevolent actions. In reality, it is the opposite. Emissions are a by product of energy consumption which has been necessary for people to lift themselves, their families, and their societies out of poverty and achieve human dignity. "
My favorite part of this book is when the author defends and advocates for nuclear power. His past writings and media appearances promoting nuclear power was how I originally discovered him. Due to some high profile catastrophic nuclear accidents, the world's opinion of nuclear power has turned sour and calls for decommissioning existing plants is getting louder and louder. In reality, more deaths and environmental issues are caused by other forms of energy generation as he illustrates. Unfortunately for the environment, it will be absolutely impossible to replace the power generated by nuclear with renewables such as solar and wind and gas and coal will be forced to make a comeback. Look at all our gadgets and electric cars- energy usage will continue to grow. Advances in nuclear power generation have been great, and Gen IV plants are safer than ever and can even process existing waste. How can we ignore this source of zero emission power? Shellenberger will explain all this to you.
The author touches on a number of other subjects such as: what saved the whales, plastics, sweatshops, the Amazon rainforests, eating meat, and the sixth extinction. Some subjects appealed to me less than others but overall, I thought the points were well argued and facts laid out clearly. I've always found Shellenberger's writing to be clear and concise. I would highly recommend to anyone interested in climate science. You may not agree with all the author's points but it is interesting to learn of our climate issues from someone as credentialed and intelligent as Shellenberger. ...more
When I think of fungi the first thing that comes to mind are the mushrooms that seemingly sprout up overnight after a rain in spots where my dogs defeWhen I think of fungi the first thing that comes to mind are the mushrooms that seemingly sprout up overnight after a rain in spots where my dogs defected. But fungi are everywhere, all around us and literally everywhere we trod. Plus, they are responsible for some of our favorite foods and drinks. And to top it off the largest organism in the world is a massive fungus. Yet there is much we still don't know about how they operate. I learned a ton about fungi from this book and also learned about what we understand about them and how we are trying to figure them out.
This book is part fascinating, horrifying, and even hopeful in a way. It was fascinating to read about how fungi appear to make decisions faced with options while lacking any sort of brain. They interact with trees in the "wood wide web". The horrifying bits relate to the fungis which take over insects, turning them in to zombies in order to carry out fungal reproductions. One fungi takes over the brain of an ant which climbs to a high surface in order to release the fungi's spores. The ant is basically a "fungi in ant's clothing". Fungi are able to alter a human's brain chemistry as well as we have known for long time. The hopeful bit is that we are now discovering fungi which are able to digest plastics, oils, and other waste products and turn them in to harmless chemicals. Some fungi can even break down radioactive materials.
The author also mixes in interesting anecdotes regarding his fungi-related research and travels. Some worked better than others.
Cool fact: Star Trek: Discovery introduced an astromycologist character who uses fungi to develop technologies to aid humanity.
Excellent book. Highly recommended to anyone who enjoys weird science. You'll be surprised how relevant and important fungi are to our everyday lives. This was the February read for the Science and Inquiry Goodreads Book Club. 4.5 stars....more
It took a while for me to get in to this book but as soon as the woman arrived in the polar night I found it hard to put down and the last couple of cIt took a while for me to get in to this book but as soon as the woman arrived in the polar night I found it hard to put down and the last couple of chapters left a lump in my throat. A Woman in the Polar Night is the story of a year in the life of Austrian housewife, Christiane Ritter, who accepts the invitation of her researcher husband Hermann to spent roughly twelve months living with him and a hunter friend Karl living in a tiny hut on a remote island in the Norwegian Arctic. The year is 1934 so there are no modern appliances or modern anything. The shack has a wood stove for cooking and heating, and that's it. They are hundreds of miles from civilization and their closest neighbor is a man living in a similar hut 60 miles away. The people on the ship Christiane sails to to meet Hermann on the Arctic island can't believe she's going to attempt this, and try to talk her out of it.
Christiane envisions being curled up next to a fire, reading, and relaxing for twelve months but when she arrives she is shocked how desolate the landscape is and how spartan her living conditions will be. Once winter arrives, the real fun begins. Temperatures are brutally cold every day, the lakes freeze over, the animals leave, and the regular snowfalls in time completely cover the hut. Eventually the sun sets and doesn't rise again for months, and as their food reserves dwindle they rely on their rifles to provide sustenance.
Christiane writes in a spare and straightforward manner. She is very descriptive of the landscape, animals, weather, and the three's activities such as hunting, cooking, meals, going on hikes. You feel like you are right there with them in this isolated winter world. It was fun to read how her attitude towards her arctic home changed over the course of the year.
I read this at the perfect time, with the sun here starting to feel warm, high temperatures are above freezing, and our heavy snow-pack is finally starting to melt. I think if I would've read this in November or December with the long winter ahead it would've been depressing, knowing what was ahead of me every time I stepped out the door of my house. Not to compare central MN to the Arctic, but we deal with our share of winter brutality.
My copy of the book contains a number of quaint little drawings by Christiane and three neat black and white photos of Christiane and Hermann, the shack in summer, and the shack in winter with just the stove pipe sticking out of the snow. This book was short and a quick read, and I just loved it....more
We've had Silent Spring on our bookshelf for a decade, maybe two, and I finally got around to reading this landmark book for this year's Science SepteWe've had Silent Spring on our bookshelf for a decade, maybe two, and I finally got around to reading this landmark book for this year's Science September reading event. I know my wife has read it and talks about it in her classroom. It was very eye opening! I remember the pollution and general lack of concern for the environment in the early 1970s but I had no idea what went on in the 1950s and 1960s to set the stage for the mess we created prior to Nixon's creation of the EPA. What a sobering and sad read this was.
You could say that it shows the dark side of science, or at least the shortsightedness of those in charge of implementing science. Humans thought that chemicals could eradicate the bugs and plants that they deemed nuisances, or at worst were actually life threatening, but failed to realize the downstream effects the chemicals had on themselves and the environment. It was shocking to read that chemicals were sprayed indiscriminately over crops, wetlands, and cities. While people were hanging laundry and kids were at play!
DDT was probably the most often referenced chemical in the book. The author doesn't mention that its use has been credited with saving lives from insect-borne human diseases and that it was also effective for insect control in crop and livestock production. I know there are currently debates over whether DDT should be used more heavily in malaria-plagued countries where many are dying from the disease. But there is no denying the negative risks of DDT, particularly its bio-accumulative nature which lead to serious health issues in those exposed and those up the food chain. Also, in the fight against malaria, mosquitoes gradually develop an immunity and its effectiveness eventually declines.
It was interesting to read how the introduction of non-native species of plants and insects was offered as a solution to the use of chemicals against what we deemed pests. We now know that this has also produced disastrous results in many places.
This must've been a shocking book to read in the early 1960s. We were literally killing the planet! It's still an important book to read today as we still need to be cognizant of the chemicals we are releasing in to the environment. Living by the Mississippi River for 28 years I have seen the benefits of the DDT ban first hand as bald eagles are now a common sight in the neighborhood. I'm guessing they weren't fifty years ago.
My sixth and final read for Science September....more
The Genius of Birds is an excellent look in to intelligence of birds covering topics such as their brain (which evolved differently than mammals), useThe Genius of Birds is an excellent look in to intelligence of birds covering topics such as their brain (which evolved differently than mammals), use of tools, complex social systems, vocal "virtuosity", aesthetic nature, and navigational acuity. I knew a lot about birds before I started the book as I listen to a number of science podcasts and have read about them since we moved to our home near the Mississippi River and started feeding them 28 years ago. Still, I learned a lot from this book and there were some neat mysteries addressed and mind blowing information which was new to me.
Living by the mighty Mississip and on the Mississippi Flyway migration route and having eight different bird feeders / food options has brought in a huge variety of birds to our backyard! We bought a illustrated bird guide and have recorded for 28 years the date we see bird species show up for the first time in the spring. Their consistency is amazing, and some birds only spend a day or two before moving on. It's fun to have some species spend the whole summer nesting in our trees every year, and it's always melancholy when we realize they have migrated away. Most recently, the hummingbirds and orioles have abandoned us for warmer climes. Through observation, I've always appreciated and admired the intelligence and guile of birds and this book deepened my appreciation even more. Especially the navigational acumen that birds display during migration. It boggles the mind.
I just heard on Science Friday yesterday that scientists estimate that North America has lost 32 billion birds since 1970, or one in four of all birds. This is due to loss of habitat, more buildings / windows, climate change, and a number other lesser factors. This is a shame, but not surprising as many animals species are in decline due to human encroachment on wild areas world wild. Birds are smart and resilient, though. All they need is a chance, like the bald eagle and peregrine falcon were given. Their numbers have rebounded dramatically. We now see more bald eagles on the river than we ever did before.
This was more like bird musings from an old guy than a book review. I do highly recommend this book to anyone with even the slightest interest in birds. It is fascinating and full of interesting science. I think that anyone who reads The Genius of Birds will develop a new appreciation of our feathered friends. And you'll know why chickadees change the number of their "dees" when they see you or your dog in the back yard!...more
This was certainly better than I thought it would be. Based on the subject matter I thought this book would be a tad dry; but, on the contrary, it wasThis was certainly better than I thought it would be. Based on the subject matter I thought this book would be a tad dry; but, on the contrary, it was really interesting and quite entertaining. The writing is very accessible and heavy scientific terms are left by the wayside for the most part. Hanson takes a common item that we take for granted and weaves interesting tales around them to make his point of how seeds shaped the world and influenced its history.
Hanson takes the story back to how seeds evolved to become so successful and the most common way of plant reproduction after spore reproduction was the method of choice during prehistory. Instead of reciting a history of seeds he divided the book in to sections which included information pertaining to how seeds defend themselves, how they travel, how they endure long periods of dormancy, and how the design of different types of seeds helps them flourish. The examples he uses to exemplify each section and chapter are relatable and narrative easy to follow.
Prior to reading the book, my wife and I were talking about fruits and wondered why apple trees, orange trees, peach trees, watermelons, etc., would wrap their seeds with such a large quantity of fruit. This is covered in the book. So are other interesting topics such as the design and function of the seeds of coconuts, coffee, chili peppers, and cotton. Cotton and coffee were given a lot of ink as their popularity basically changed the world, in good ways and bad.
My favorite parts were the discussion of how seeds travel and the chapter about the seed banks found throughout the world, the most famous of which is the Global Seed Vault in Norway. Also, fascinating was the chapter about the endurance of seeds. A 2,000 year old seed found by archaeologists in the ruins of a city in Israel started growing in 2005 and is still flourishing!
I would recommend this to anyone as seeds are actually really interesting and relevant to everyday life. The subject matter is presented more anecdotally than scholarly or technically, and knowledge of botany is not necessary to enjoy this. Seeds are everywhere and almost everything we eat and drink every day either was processed from a seed or grew from one. How can you not love them? 4.5 stars....more
I've had The World Without Us on my TBR list ever since I saw the pilot to the History Channel's Life After People TV series. I wish I would've read iI've had The World Without Us on my TBR list ever since I saw the pilot to the History Channel's Life After People TV series. I wish I would've read it earlier as I found it to be a fascinating and in-depth thought experiment albeit disheartening, with an undercurrent of gloom and doom, but with a sliver of hopefulness peaking through the clouds. This is a book I wish everyone would read as it addresses what is happening to this life-sustaining spaceship we are traveling through our solar system on.
The premise of the book is this: what would happen if humans suddenly disappeared? I was expecting a book about what would happen to human-made structures such as dams, skyscrapers, dams, our houses, bridges, etc. But the scope of the book is much broader than this. The author addresses the fate of aforementioned things as well as a good number of others that would be (mostly favorably) affected by the lack of homo sapiens such as wild animals around the world, the seas, the atmosphere, and the overall climate. In most of his examples he describes what nature / places were like prior to homo sapiens, how our changes are affecting them now, and what would happen if we went away. Surprise: prior to homo sapiens (and pre-humans) many now-extinct plants and animals, especially megafauna, flourished. Rule of thumb: where humans go, mass extinction follows. If humans went away the plants and animals which survived us would come back with a vengeance - nature will reclaim its planet.
A fascinating example of what an area was like before and after humans is Manhattan, which was part marshy bog, part hilly, and full of brooks and streams before it was leveled, filled in, and developed in to what it is today. After humans, the pumps which keep the underbelly of the city dry will eventually fail and the lower infrastructure will flood and gradually corrode and erode, and over time destabilize the large buildings' bases. While pavement cracks and the forest moves back in to reclaim its territory, the storm winds will eventually topple the weakened skyscrapers. It will revert to back to a woody, wildlife-filled space within a concrete jungle. Also particularly interesting is what would befall nuclear plants (big problems if they aren't shut down), petrochemical plants (same story), and all the unused CFCs contained it air conditioners, refrigerators, and vehicles which will gradually leak in the the atmosphere.
You might think that the earth would return to an unspoiled paradise but unfortunately Homo sapiens have done so much damage to the planet that this is impossible. For some things, like plastics and nuclear power, it is too late to turn back. The section in the book about plastics is depressing. Plastic waste is now found everywhere. The oceans are full of it, and it isn't just floating on the surface. Tiny plastic micro-beads are found in the bellies of fish and turtles, and stuck in jellyfish. This insane proliferation of plastic waste has taken place in less than fifty years, and plastic production has escalated. Even if humans disappeared today, plastics will be a planetary issue for hundreds and hundreds of years. Nuclear waste will be an issue for thousands of years.
In the acknowledgements one gets the sense of the amount of research and travel the author did for this book. He traveled to all continents except Antarctica and Australia, visiting pristine forests, African jungles, the arctic tundra, petrochemical plants, major cities, etc. He even got special clearance from the North and South Koreans to visit the DMZ, which is a 5 km wide path along the border which humans have abandoned and nature reclaimed since the war ended. Additionally, he lists an impressive number of experts consulted for this book. The book also contains a lengthy bibliography and extensive index.
I can't recommend this book highly enough to anyone interested in earth science or the hypothetical fate of the planet if humans were wiped out. With our without us, the earth will only survive another five billion or so years as it will be swallowed up by our sun when it becomes a red giant. After that, all that will be left of humanity will be our radio and TV transmissions and any spacecraft which escaped the sun's gravity. Until then, we need to get our act together and start treating our oasis in space much better. ...more
The Hidden Life of Trees was fantastic. I learned a lot and could relate to many of the points the author made. When we moved in to our house in 1991 The Hidden Life of Trees was fantastic. I learned a lot and could relate to many of the points the author made. When we moved in to our house in 1991 there were just two trees in the backyard and we planted sixteen more to go along with the eight trees in our front yard, and over the years I’ve watched them exhibit some of the behaviors and go through some of the struggles described in the book. In fact, my late father-in-law, a professional tree trimmer, saved a few of their lives as well as the lives of several of our neighbors’ trees after a tornado hit our town in 1997 and snapped and twisted tree trunks and shredded tree crowns.
The audio book consists of 36 short chapters and at the conclusion, an approving note from forest scientist Suzanne Simard, who produced a documentary about trees with the author. When I started the book I was a bit worried because it felt like the author was over-anthropomorphizing trees and their offspring seeds. He equated tree creaking to screaming and compared the “pain” seeds feel when being eaten to the pain of a mammal being killed by a predator. I have a hard time equating tree and animal feeling. Most mammals have a pretty complex nervous system. The only other negative for me was that he talked mostly of Beech which are common in his German forests. Understandable, but I'm just not familiar with Beeches up here in the frozen tundra.
The rest of the book was chock full of fascinating botany! It was wonderfully narrated by Mike Grady, an Englishman, and I had to keep reminding myself that the author Peter Wohlleben was a German forester – I envisioned the subject forests in Great Britain. The author is passionate about all things forest, not just the trees. Not only will you glean gobs of knowledge about trees, you’ll also learn about their friends and foes, such as bugs, fungi, and forest animals.
The parts I enjoyed the most and found especially interesting were: how social trees are by communicating through their root systems, how life differs for forest trees verses city trees, how selective breeding through agriculture has made plants “deaf and dumb”, what goes in to the timing of the fall leaf drop, how evergreens manage to survive bitter cold winters with their needles (leaves) intact, and how trees fight back against pests. He addressed the reason why the Giant Sequoias in Europe don’t grow as big as the ones in America - I was surprised to see one in a Scotland park last summer and wondered about that myself. The chapter about the timing of the deciduous trees' fall leaf drop was also particularly interesting as we have four old Hackberry trees in our front yard which are all the same age but drop their leaves at different times. In fact, one of them drops its leaves a couple weeks after the first one does. That’s always puzzled me.
The information in this book compliments and crosses over with that found in two other great books I’ve read over the last couple of years: Lab Girl by Hope Jahren and The Triumph of Seeds by Thor Hanson.
You’ll come away from this book with a new level of respect for trees. They are more similar to perceptively more advanced members of the animal kingdom than previously thought.
I’m planning on buying a paper copy of this book for my tree-hugging wife, who has a stuffed Lorax sitting on the dash of her vehicle. ...more
Excellent book. I really enjoyed the narration by the author, she had a nice voice and there are some parts in the book that are so poetic and nicely Excellent book. I really enjoyed the narration by the author, she had a nice voice and there are some parts in the book that are so poetic and nicely written/narrated that I went back and listened to them twice.
The book is basically about Helen Macdonald's taming and raising of her (awesome) hawk, Mabel. Helen's father dies and she becomes grief-stricken and depressed, and then decides to purchase and raise a hawk like her father did. The book alternates between Helen and Mabel's story and related hawk-rearing stories from author TH White, who wrote a book about raising a goshawk which Helen read when she was young. There are also flashbacks in which Helen recalls stories about her dad.
Hawks are savage hunters and killers and there are some gruesome and unpleasant parts in the book. (Our back yard bird feeders are visited by hawks and I even have a video of a hawk catching and eating a crippled squirrel in our back yard - so I've seen it up close and personal.) The way humans treat hawks and the animals used for hawks' food in the book was a bit cruel at times. There are parts of the TH White story which are odd and depressing.
The main story about the taming of Mabel and Helen's coping with her loss and other personal issues is excellent and worth reading, especially if you are a fan of birds of prey. I may listen to this again someday. Almost five stars.
I just loved this book from start to finish. The chapters alternate between personal stories of the author's life and scientific information about plaI just loved this book from start to finish. The chapters alternate between personal stories of the author's life and scientific information about plants and trees. The chapters about plants and trees usually tackle a single subject (hackberry trees, vines, cactus, etc.) are chock full of up-to-date scientific information and the words flow beautifully like poetry. I went back and listed to some of these chapters twice, they were just so full of great information and insight presented with a love and sensitivity of trees and plants. The information you learn in these chapters will make you look differently at trees and keep you from taking them for granted.
The chapters about Hope's life began with her upbringing in Austin, MN, and carried through to the present day where she works and lives with her family in HI. I found the parts about her time at the University of Minnesota interesting as both we roamed the same halls in the Health Sciences complex and University Hospital, and spent time unwinding at the plaza there, although we probably missed each other by a couple years. Also, she mentioned on Twitter that she spend a lot of time writing on the second floor of Wilson Library, where I lived most nights while studying and writing papers while in business school at the U. I thought the personal chapters were also beautifully written and narrated by the author. Subject matter ranged from her struggles as a woman scientist, the many research trips she took, battling mental illness, meeting her husband, the birth of her son, and, at the end, promising her long-time research partner that she would collect their twenty years of stories in a book.
Highly recommended for fans of earth science, The Lorax, and women of science. ...more
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