[Mike Collins]

A tremendous natural disaster occurs every year. It is commonly known as winter. In Winter World-the ingenuity of animal survival by Bernd Heinrich many fascinating survival tactics are presented and described. Toads in Minnesota will dig into the soil 4 feet below the surface to escape the freezing soil. Snapping turtles that depend upon surface air to breath will remain for up to six months in the mud beneath a pond or in rivers. Bee hives in the Northern Hemisphere will remain at a continuous 36 C degrees even though the outside air is below zero. Many other species are discussed to leave the reader amazed at how animals make it through the bitter cold of winter and, in the author's words, "...defy the odds and the laws of physics and prove the fabulous is possible."

[Mike Collins]

The main benefit of reading Arctic Village by Robert Marshall is that it reflects the life in the arctic prior to the modern day access of roads into the area. The book was written in 1933 when the town he lived in, Wiseman, Alaska was only accessible by either dog sleds or a six mile road from Nolan Creek. Times have changed as he writes "Most of the Eskimo women and a few of the white ones wear splendidly beaded mooseskin moccasins." He offers several chapters about his understanding of Eskimo recreational life, communal life, and sexual life.

[mike]

Enjoyed his biography of David Thompson (Sources of the River) so trying this one...

[Backpacker Joe]

Just started book number 32 this year. Ravaged Land - Kellee L. Greene

[zephyr]

I recently finished reading David Montgomery’s Growing A Revolution, Bringing Our Soil Back To Life. Here’s a link to the Good Reads page description of the book. Montgomery is a professor of geomorphology at the University of Washington. I've mentioned him before in another thread. Previously I had read his book Dirt. Which is a study on soil erosion and how it has shaped history and civilizations. Growing A Revolution is in the same realm but talks about how farmers all over the world are working to restore soil health through “conservation agriculture” using cover crops and mulch, no till planting methods and a robust crop rotation system. The idea is to reduce “inputs” of chemical fertilizers and pesticides and even reduce the use of fossil fuels by having to drive less over the fields. He interviews many different farmers and agronomists working in Central America, Africa, Europe, Southwest Asia and North America to bring back soil health by encouraging the culture of microorganisms and mycorrhizal fungus that assist plants in absorbing nutrients. If you are a gardener, farmer or someone who cares about agriculture, food production, prevention of soil erosion, soil health, reduction of chemical fertilizers, pesticides and fossil fuels then this book is for you or that person you know. ~z

[Mike Collins]

Midnight Wilderness-Journeys In Alaska's Arctic National Wildlife Refuge by Debbie S. Miller allows the reader to visit the arctic's fascinating tapestry with her descriptions drawn from over 1,000 miles of hiking over 13 years. Having shared some of the same arctic experiences as she had added further appreciation to my reading.

[zephyr]

For the past three weeks or so I have been enjoying A Natural History of Belize: Inside the Maya Forest by Samuel Bridgewater. He was formerly Research Station Manager at Las Cuevas in Belize. Belize as you will recall is the former British Honduras and sits on the lower southeast flank of the Yucatan peninsula (map link) facing the Caribbean Sea. This book is beautifully designed with many photos, maps, charts, diagrams and boxed comments that illustrate the geology, flora and fauna of this very diverse tropical area. Not only does it cover the current ecology and climate, but also its prehistory and paleontological flora and fauna as well Here’s a bit from the book jacket blurb: " Belize’s Chiquibul Forest is one of the largest remaining expanses of tropical moist forest in Central America. It forms part of what is popularly known the Maya Forest. Battered by hurricanes over millions of years, occupied by the Maya for thousands of years, and logged for hundreds of years, this ecosystem has demonstrated its remarkable ecological resilience through its continued existence into the twenty first century. Despite its history of disturbance or maybe in part because of it, the Maya Forest is ranked as an important regional biodiversity hot spot and provides some of the last regional habitats for endangered species such as the jaguar, the scarlet macaw, Baird’s tapir, and Morelet’s crocodile. …” I got this book from the Seattle Public Library. I was continually amazed at the many different relationships between plants (particularly flowering trees) and animals for pollination, seeding, protection, and habitat. Even though this study is of a tropical climate, there’s a lot of useful information on how forests develop over time from pioneering species to climax species. It’s interesting to see how that the work of naturalists and scientists of past centuries has been included in this work. I highly recommend it for the amateur naturalist and observer. ~z

[tmatlack]

Never Call Me a Hero: Dusty Kleiss...minute by minute action for Battle of Midway with one of the pilots who flew several successful missions over the doomed Japanese carriers. Many compliments to fellow pilots, training corps, and especially the designers and manufacturers of the SBD Dauntless dive bomber. Many people, me included, believe Midway to be equal to the Invasion of Normandy as a turning point in a theater war we were losing! Tom

[gb]

Arabia Felix by Hansen Book Review Arabia Felix

[zephyr]

This is a dense scholarly work that made me think about a lot of issues in our society and the future of our way of life—The Bell Curve: Intelligence and Class Structure in American Life by Richard J. Hernstein and Charles Murray. This was first published in 1994 and then the 1996 paperback version (which I read) with an Afterword. It’s pretty hefty at 577 pages of text replete with many illustrations, charts and diagrams. From the Preface: “This book is about differences in intellectual capability among people and groups and what these differences mean for America’s future.” There was quite a bit of controversy when the book was first published and there still is today. The author’s were quite prescient twenty years ago when they talked about the growth of the underclass and the coming of the custodial state. They discuss ways to moderate this and preserve dignity and the sense of a valued place for everyone. Here's how they define a valued place: "You occupy a valued place if other people would miss you if you were gone." The authors think that our society's rules have become unnecessarily complex and we need to make it simpler to make a living and live a virtuous life. Anyway there's plenty of food for thought here. As one reviewer said, “The prose is exceptionally lucid, often elegant…” At times this is not an easy read, much of the statistical analysis and data I could only skim over. But they have designed the book for different levels of reading—layman and scholar. I had heard about this book years ago, but it recently came up on my radar while listening to a podcast interview with the surviving author Charles Murray and the writer Sam Harris. ~z

[lookout bob]

India 40 and the Circle of Demons ( A Memoir of Death, Sickness, Love, Friendship, Corruption, Political Fanatics, Drugs, Thugs, Psychosis, and Illumination in the US Peace Corps) https://www.amazon.com/India-40-Circle-Demons-Friendship-Illumination/dp/1543421156/ref=sr_1_1?ie=UTF8&qid=1503277732&sr=8-1&keywords=Peter+Adler I might have been influenced to read this book as Peter is my eldest brother....

[Ski]

I had a lengthy and most interesting conversation earlier today with the Park botanist at Olympic National Park regarding the treatment of non-indigenous invasive flora in the Queets Valley. She was most helpful in answering my questions, and provided me with several documents that I wasn't aware even existed up until this morning. I have not yet had an opportunity to sit down and read them in their entirety, but just skimming through them I can see that the non-native invasives are a subject about which Olympic National Park is not only acutely aware of, but a matter about which they seem intent on addressing effectively. If you are interested in this subject I would be happy to email you copies of the documents. PM me with a valid email address. Heritage Plants at Former Homesteads in the Queets Valley Olympic National Park - Acker et al 2015 (NPS) *.pdf format 2.3 MB Invasive Plants in the Queets Valley Olympic National Park - Acker et al 2014 (NPS) *.pdf format 6.5 MB Paradise Fire Burned Area Rehabilitation Report Olympic National Park - Coles 2017 (NPS) *.pdf format 852 KB There are a few miscellaneous supporting documents that I will forward along with these as well. BK

[Mike Collins]

Whither the Waters-Mapping the Great Basin from Bernardo de Miera to John C. Fremont by John L. Kessell explores the influence that cartographic errors had upon westward expansion. Miera had shown a major but nonexistent waterway extending west from the Great Salt Lake toward the Pacific. The mythical Rio de San Buenaventura was born and didn't die until Fremont's seminal map that delineated the borders of the Great Basin.

[Mike Collins]

The eighteenth century spawned a number of scientific explorations of the world. Joseph Banks was the naturalist aboard the Endeavour with Captain Cook. Patrick O'Brian successfully transports the reader into that world in his biography Joseph Banks-A LIfe . The difficulties of the three-year voyage are recounted in quotes from journals and letters that breathe life into the history of that important era.

[zephyr]

Finished reading Daniel Dennett’s Breaking The Spell: Religion As A Natural Phenomena. (Published in 2006 by Viking) Wiki entry here. Thought-provoking, interesting at times and slow at others. Dennett is a philosophy professor and I have seen him on YouTube videos with other speakers. I like hearing his ideas but not always the delivery or presentation. From the book jacket description: “…In a spirited argument that ranges widely through biology, history, and psychology, Dennett explores how religion evolved from folk beliefs and how these early “wild” strains of religion are then carefully and consciously domesticated. As the motives of religion's stewards entered this process, such features as secrecy and systematic invulnerability to disproof emerged. Dennett contends that this protective veneer of mystery needs to be removed so that religions can be better understood, and –most important—he argues that the widespread assumption that they are the necessary foundation of morality can no longer be supported…” ~z