reading earth

 

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 (multiple group members loved this title)

 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