Hi Johnny,
Here are some notes on our very fun BiblioUn. yesterday:
First of all, the Japanese term I couldn’t dredge up was ‘shinrin yoku,’ or ‘forest bathing.’ My friend, Yasuko, and I are glad that our belief that ‘bathing in nature’ is actually beneficial is now validated by the Japanese term, ‘shinrin yoku.’ It means ‘making contact with and taking in the atmosphere of the forest,’ and it is something the Japanese take seriously (as do I!). And remember I said that this not-so-common term and its meaning were inscribed on a large reader board at the not-so-prominent Little Zigzag Falls near Zigzag and Government Camp, OR. What are the chances of that?!?!
Whew! one or two sentence summary of the books I mentioned:
The Overstory – Richard Powers – A novel with 9 main characters about our treatment of and relationship with the environment, specifically trees, forests…Nine very different characters and nine very different stories, but all pulled together in the end.
Underland– Robert MacFarlane – Nonfiction telling of explorations under the earth’s surface. MacFarlane studies the fungi that create a cooperative system below forest floors, with the plant scientist, Merlin Sheldrake. (I had totally forgotten his romp with Sheldrake the whole time I was later reading Entangled Life by..Merlin Sheldrake!) The book also looks at burial and darkness and deep time…
The Lost Words-Robert MacFarlane – Beautiful art in a large book depicting one hundred words in middle schoolers’ dictionaries that have been deemed obsolescent and have been replaced, mostly by computer related terms (byte, etc.). Because most children no longer get out in nature much anymore (hence the nauseating term ‘Nature Deficit Disorder’), most or all of the words are related to nature: wren, bramble, dandelion, weasel, etc. MacFarlane writes a poem for each lost word, and each is accompanied by a gorgeous watercolor.
The Invention of Nature – Andrea Wulf – Story of Alexander von Humboldt, early to mid-19th century Prussian explorer and naturalist who understood nature as an interconnected global force. He discovered the similarities in climate zones across the world at different elevations and different latitudes, and also predicted human-caused climate change.
The Brother Gardeners – Andrea Wulf – In the 18th century, wealthy estate owners in England sought to expand their properties from the rigid, formal privet/lawn/columnar conifer forms to include exotic, floriferous plants from around the world. Captain Cook, Captain Bligh,Erasmus Darwin (grandad of Chuck), Benjamin Franklin and others figure into this plant frenzy.
The Wild Trees – Richard Preston – About the scaling and mapping of the tallest trees in the world (350′-400′!) , found in the California Redwoods. The discovery of another plant world, hundreds of feet up in the trees, figures into this; compacted soil, ferns, moss, huckleberry bushes, even crustaceans live and thrive in this ‘deep canopy.’ You can walk around up there. Wow!
Braiding Sweetgrass – Robin Wall Kimmerer – Author is a professor of botany and of Potawatomi heritage. She ‘braids’ together indigenous wisdom and scientific knowledge and gives equal importance to each. She convinced me.
The Botany of Desire – Michael Pollan – Author picks four plants (potato, marijuana, tulip and apple) to show how plants create desire in humans, thereby assuring (in very different ways) their (continued) survival. The potato (control), marijuana (intoxication), tulip (beauty), and apple (sweetness). He posits that plants control us rather than us controlling plants.
Thanks for yesterday and all other Biblio days!
Jude
Jude also held up a copy of The Entangled Web by Merlin Sheldrake.
Martha talked about A World on the Wingby Scott Weidensaul.
Johnny Scharbach spoke of The Secret Life of Trees by Peter Wohlleben and mentioned Chris Maser, who wrote many books, including Forest Primeval. He also talked about a book he’s reading titled The Web of Meaning.
Katie told us a little about what her son Abel and his wife Tao are doing. They are both ecologists, and are currently helping teach a Permaculture course through Oregon State University. Katie: please remind me what books you talked about.
Todd talked about the New England Transcendentalists and read this poem that he wrote:
