Book Post

Home
Our Authors
Summer Reading
Archive
About

Science and Nature

Diary: Laura Marris, on Limulus polyphemus, the Atlantic horseshoe crab
As a child, I became fascinated with limulus and the way they carry other species, becoming itinerant microcosms of aquatic invertebrate life
2
Review: Brian Fagan on an Island Atlas
As islands lose their terrestrial configurations, the remembered and the imaginary, as well as science and nature, come together to define them
Review: (2) Charles Graeber, New books on altered states
Amitav Ghosh’s Smoke and Ashes is a revelatory journey through identity and colonialism, power and class, appetite and addiction; George Fisher’s Beware…
1
Review: (1) Charles Graeber, New books on altered states
LSD, a psychoplastogen developed in the 1940s in Switzerland, arrived on the cusp great changes for humanity and the sciences.
Diary: Jamaica Kincaid, Entries from an Encyclopedia of Gardening for Colored Children
C is for cotton (Gossypium), a member of the mallow family, which also includes okra, hollyhock, and cacao or cocoa. Cotton has been used to weave into…
Review: David Alff on road ecology
The word “crossing” refers both to the act of meeting another’s path and the place where that happens. In our vehicularized modernity, crossings have…
Diary: Sumana Roy, Do Trees Laugh?
A recent discovery that plants "cry" when harmed reminds the author of a pioneering mid-century researcher into vegetal feelings
3
Review: Brian Fagan on the Taste and Ecology of Water
A new book from a specialist in sensory perception and the manufacturing of drinking water, a seemingly minor issue that is of fundamental importance
2
Review: John Banville on Darkness
In the old days darkness was the lair of demons and daylight the place of angels. Now light, it seems, is the bringer of destruction to the natural…
2
Diary: Sean Hill, (2) This Land Is My Land
We look for the pristine—the not “us”— to find what we declare nature. This seems to me to be about power and ownership—access to the “right” kind of…
Diary: Sean Hill, (1) This Land Is My Land
In 1786, the State of Georgia purchased Austin Dabney’s freedom and granted him 250 acres of land in recognition for his bravery and service in the…
Review: Anthony Domestico on Gary Snyder
To drift, to take whatever comes, is a poetic and spiritual discipline that 92-year-old poet Gary Snyder has mastered. He hikes and chants, bakes bread…
2
© 2024 The Author
Privacy ∙ Terms ∙ Collection notice
Start WritingGet the app
Substack is the home for great culture