The next Books & Beyond (BAB) discussion group will be Tuesday,
September 26th at 6:30pm at the LEVITE JEWISH COMMUNITY CENTER at 3960 Montclair
Road, Birmingham, AL 35213. Registration
(no library card required, skip that step!) is available here: https://www.oneallibrary.org/event/6648598
The topic up for discussion will be books, libraries, bookstores,
and the like and there is a list of suggestions on our Shelf Care site,
accessible here (scroll down to the purplish banner midway down): https://oneallibrary.org/adults---reading-recommendations
This week, BAB met to chat about ecology. Have a look!
Four Fifths a Grizzly: A New Perspective on Nature That Just Might Save Us All by Douglas Chadwick
This book is a reflection on man’s rightful place in the
ecological universe. Using personal stories, recounting how he came to love and
depend on the Great Outdoors and how he learned his place in the system of
Nature, Chadwick challenges anyone to consider whether they are separate from
or part of nature. The answer is obvious, that we are an indivisible from all
elements of a system that is greater than ourselves and should never be
neglected, taken advantage of, or exploited. This is a fresh and engaging take
on man’s relationship to nature by a respected and experienced author.
The World Without Us by Alan Weisman (multiple group members loved this title)
If human beings disappeared instantaneously from the Earth,
what would happen? How would the planet reclaim its surface? What creatures
would emerge from the dark and swarm? How would our treasured structures--our
tunnels, our bridges, our homes, our monuments--survive the unmitigated impact
of a planet without our intervention? In his revelatory, bestselling account,
Alan Weisman draws on every field of science to present an environmental
assessment like no other, the most affecting portrait yet of humankind's place
on this planet.
Braiding Sweetgrass: Indigenous Wisdom, Scientific Knowledge, and the Teachings of Plants by Robin Wall Kimmerer
As a botanist, Robin Wall Kimmerer has been trained to ask
questions of nature with the tools of science. As a member of the Citizen
Potawatomi Nation, she embraces the notion that plants and animals are our
oldest teachers. In Braiding Sweetgrass, Kimmerer brings these two lenses
of knowledge together to take us on “a journey that is every bit as mythic as
it is scientific, as sacred as it is historical, as clever as it is wise”
(Elizabeth Gilbert).
The Terraformers by Annalee Newitz
A science fiction epic for our times and a love letter to
our future, The Terraformers will take you on a journey spanning
thousands of years and exploring the triumphs, strife, and hope that find
us wherever we make our home.
Pests: How Humans Create Animal Villains by Bethany Brookshire
An engrossing and revealing study of why we deem certain
animals “pests” and others not—from cats to rats, elephants to pigeons—and what
this tells us about our own perceptions, beliefs, and actions, as well as our
place in the natural world.
The Secret Wisdom of Nature: Trees, Animals, and the Extraordinary Balance of All Living Things by Peter Wohlleben, translated by
Jane Billinghurst
In The Secret Wisdom of Nature, master storyteller and
international sensation Peter Wohlleben takes readers on a thought-provoking
exploration of the vast natural systems that make life on Earth possible. By
introducing us to the latest scientific discoveries and recounting his own
insights from decades of observing nature, one of the world’s most famous
foresters shows us how to recapture our sense of awe so we can see the world
around us with completely new eyes.
An Immense World: How Animal Senses Reveal the Hidden Realms Around Us by Ed Yong
A “thrilling” (The New York Times), “dazzling” (The
Wall Street Journal) tour of the radically different ways that animals perceive
the world that will fill you with wonder and forever alter your perspective, by
Pulitzer Prize–winning science journalist Ed Yong.
Listen to Ed Yong's February 2023 NPR Fresh Air interview.
Spell of the Sensuous: Perception and Language in a More-Than-Human World by David Abram (also available in eaudio on the Hoopla app)
In The Spell of the Sensuous David Abram draws on
sources as diverse as the philosophy of Merleau-Ponty, Balinese shamanism,
Apache storytelling, and his own experience as an accomplished sleight-of-hand
of magician to reveal the subtle dependence of human cognition on the natural
environment. He explores the character of perception and excavates the sensual
foundations of language, which--even at its most abstract--echoes the calls and
cries of the earth. On every page of this lyrical work, Abram weaves his
arguments with a passion, a precision, and an intellectual daring that recall
such writers as Loren Eisleley, Annie Dillard, and Barry Lopez.
Remarkably Bright Creatures by Shelby Van Pelt (ebook and eaudio available on the Hoopla app)
After Tova Sullivan’s husband died, she began working the
night shift at the Sowell Bay Aquarium, mopping floors and tidying up. Tova
becomes acquainted with curmudgeonly Marcellus, a giant Pacific octopus living
at the aquarium. Marcellus knows more than anyone can imagine but wouldn’t
dream of lifting one of his eight arms for his human captors—until he forms a
remarkable friendship with Tova.
The Sound of a Wild Snail Eating by Elizabeth Tova Bailey (ebook also available on the Hoopla app)
The Sound of a Wild Snail Eating is a remarkable journey of
survival and resilience, showing us how a small part of the natural world can
illuminate our own human existence, while providing an appreciation of what it
means to be fully alive.
Silent Spring by Rachel Carson
First published by Houghton Mifflin in 1962, Silent Spring
alerted a large audience to the environmental and human dangers of
indiscriminate use of pesticides, spurring revolutionary changes in the laws
affecting our air, land, and water. “Silent Spring became a runaway
bestseller, with international reverberations.
The Underworld: Journeys to the Depths of the Ocean by Susan
Casey
Susan Casey is our premiere chronicler of the aquatic world.
For The Underworld she traversed the globe, joining scientists and
explorers on dives to the deepest places on the planet, interviewing the marine
geologists, marine biologists, and oceanographers who are searching for
knowledge in this vast unseen realm.
Her other books include:
The Wave: In Pursuit of the Rogues, Freaks, and Giants of the Ocean
The Devil’s Teeth: A True Story of Obsession and Survival Among America’s Great White Sharks
Voices in the Ocean: A Journey Into the Wild and Haunting World of Dolphins
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