Fastest Things on Wings: Rescuing Hummingbirds in Hollywood by T. Masear

Summary (Amazon): 

A heartwarming account of the trials and triumphs a Hollywood hummingbird rehabber encounters while caring for her tiny, fragile patients.

Before he collided with a limousine, Gabriel, an Anna’s hummingbird with a head and throat cloaked in iridescent magenta feathers, could spiral 130 feet in the air, dive 60 miles per hour in a courtship display, hover, and fly backward.

When he arrived in rehab caked in road grime, he was so badly injured that he could barely perch. But Terry Masear, one of the busiest hummingbird rehabbers in the country, was determined to save this damaged bird, who seemed oddly familiar.

During the four months that Terry worked with Gabriel, she took in 160 hummingbirds, from a miniature nestling rescued by a bulldog and a fledgling trapped inside a skydiving wind tunnel at Universal CityWalk, to Pepper, a female Anna’s injured on a film set. In their time together, Pepper and Gabriel form a special bond and, together, with Terry’s help, learn to fly again.

Woven around Gabriel’s and Pepper’s stories are those of other colorful birds in this personal narrative filled with the science and magic surrounding these fascinating creatures.

Reviews:

1. Kirkus Reviews: https://www.kirkusreviews.com/book-reviews/terry-masear/fastest-things-on-wings/?page=17

2. LA Times: https://www.latimes.com/books/jacketcopy/la-ca-jc-terry-masear-20150628-story.html

Interviews:

1. https://behindeveryday.com/fastest-things-on-wings/

2. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=dqctVIQh00c

(Goodreads)

Author's website: https://www.losangeleshummingbirdrescue.org/

National Audubon Article: https://www.audubon.org/news/excerpt-fastest-things-wings

Hummingbirds of North America:

• https://www.thespruce.com/hummingbirds-of-north-america-4121900
• https://birdfeederhub.com/types-of-hummingbirds/
• https://abcbirds.org/blog21/types-of-hummingbirds/

Hummingbird Webcams: 

1. Aryana Hummingbird: https://explore.org/livecams/hummingbirds/aryana-hummingbird?gclid=Cj0KCQiAxbefBhDfARIsAL4XLRp3DkBeRvPDuY84coC8P5NOz6rrGalEPfba9YxEFB74edT5B6gOdJgaAvoQEALw_wcB

2. Bella Hummingbird: https://www.bellahummingbird.com/

3. Hummingbirdspot: https://www.hummingbirdspot.com/live-cam

Discussion Questions: 

(LA Times)

The Seaweed Chronicles by Susan Shetterly

 

Summary (Amazon): “Seaweed is ancient and basic, a testament to the tenacious beginnings of life on earth,” writes Susan Hand Shetterly in this elegant, fascinating book. “Why wouldn’t seaweeds be a protean life source for the lives that have evolved since?” On a planet facing environmental change and diminishing natural resources, seaweed is increasingly important as a source of food and as a fundamental part of our global ecosystem.

In Seaweed Chronicles, Shetterly takes readers deep into the world of this essential organism by providing an immersive, often poetic look at life on the rugged shores of her beloved Gulf of Maine, where the growth and harvesting of seaweed is becoming a major industry. While examining the life cycle of seaweed and its place in the environment, she tells the stories of the men and women who farm and harvest it—and who are fighting to protect this critical species against forces both natural and man-made. Ideal for readers of such books as The Hidden Life of Trees and How to Read Water, Seaweed Chronicles is a deeply informative look at a little understood and too often unappreciated part of our habitat.

Reviews: 

1. Washington Post: https://www.washingtonpost.com/outlook/an-homage-to-seaweed-and-a-plea-for-wise-management-of-this-valuable-resource/2018/08/23/7a51a198-8909-11e8-a345-a1bf7847b375_story.html

2. Wall Street Journal: https://www.wsj.com/articles/seaweed-chronicles-review-a-fragile-world-at-the-waters-edge-1533928547

(Bangor Daily News)  Sheep and Flat Island

Videos and Interviews:

1. Interview: Surry Historical Society: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Fu5Puj77aqI

2. Interview: https://vimeo.com/341578655

(medium.com)

Author's Website: http://www.susanhandshetterly.com/

Discussion Questions (Anne will be leading the discussion and also wrote the questions)

(WSJ.org)

Underland by Robert Macfarlane

 

Summary: (Amazon)

In Underland, he delivers his masterpiece: an epic exploration of the Earth’s underworlds as they exist in myth, literature, memory, and the land itself.

In this highly anticipated sequel to his international bestseller The Old Ways, Macfarlane takes us on an extraordinary journey into our relationship with darkness, burial, and what lies beneath the surface of both place and mind. Traveling through “deep time”―the dizzying expanses of geologic time that stretch away from the present―he moves from the birth of the universe to a post-human future, from the prehistoric art of Norwegian sea caves to the blue depths of the Greenland ice cap, from Bronze Age funeral chambers to the catacomb labyrinth below Paris, and from the underground fungal networks through which trees communicate to a deep-sunk “hiding place” where nuclear waste will be stored for 100,000 years to come. Woven through Macfarlane’s own travels are the unforgettable stories of descents into the underland made across history by explorers, artists, cavers, divers, mourners, dreamers, and murderers, all of whom have been drawn for different reasons to seek what Cormac McCarthy calls “the awful darkness within the world.”

Reviews:

Guardian: https://www.theguardian.com/books/2019/may/08/underland-by-robert-macfarlane-review

NY Times: https://www.nytimes.com/2019/06/03/books/review-underland-robert-macfarlane.html

The Atlantic: https://www.theatlantic.com/magazine/archive/2019/07/robert-macfarlane-underland/590632/

(NY Times)

Videos, Films and Interviews:

1. Interview with Politics and Prose: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=aWsRPNFfpDY

2. Interview with Book Lust: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=kd853p8cxos

3. Documentary Film: Kiss the Ground is about regenerative agriculture and the importance and role of soil in solving climate change. https://kisstheground.com/

(goodreads.com)

Famous Caves:

1. Lascaux: https://whc.unesco.org/en/list/85/

2. Chauvet: https://www.smithsonianmag.com/history/france-chauvet-cave-makes-grand-debut-180954582/

3. Alta, Norway: https://whc.unesco.org/en/list/352/; 

https://www.rockartscandinavia.com/images/articles/a13norstedt.pdf

Hellsegga, Norway

(https://www.rando-lofoten.net/de/hellsegga-de)

Local Caves and Caverns:

1. Crystal Cave: https://crystalcavepa.com/home/

2. Broomall Caves and Lenape: https://www.visitpa.com/region/lehigh-valley/mystery-unearthed-extraordinary-story-two-lenape-rock-shelters

3. Lost River Caverns: https://www.lostcave.com/sitef/index.php

Maelstrom Whirlpool Video

(Dark Matter Labs - ZMEscience.com)

Discussion Questions: (John will lead our discussion and here are his questions.)

(irishtimes.com)

The Book of Eels by Patrik Svensson

 

Summary (Amazon): 

Remarkably little is known about the European eel, Anguilla anguilla. So little, in fact, that scientists and philosophers have, for centuries, been obsessed with what has become known as the “eel question”: Where do eels come from? What are they? Are they fish or some other kind of creature altogether? Even today, in an age of advanced science, no one has ever seen eels mating or giving birth, and we still don’t understand what drives them, after living for decades in freshwater, to swim great distances back to the ocean at the end of their lives. They remain a mystery.

Drawing on a breadth of research about eels in literature, history, and modern marine biology, as well as his own experience fishing for eels with his father, Patrik Svensson crafts a mesmerizing portrait of an unusual, utterly misunderstood, and completely captivating animal. In The Book of Eels, we meet renowned historical thinkers, from Aristotle to Sigmund Freud to Rachel Carson, for whom the eel was a singular obsession. And we meet the scientists who spearheaded the search for the eel’s point of origin, including Danish marine biologist Johannes Schmidt, who led research efforts in the early twentieth century, catching thousands upon thousands of eels, in the hopes of proving their birthing grounds in the Sargasso Sea.

Blending memoir and nature writing at its best, Svensson’s journey to understand the eel becomes an exploration of the human condition that delves into overarching issues about our roots and destiny, both as humans and as animals, and, ultimately, how to handle the biggest question of all: death. The result is a gripping and slippery narrative that will surprise and enchant.

(NY Times)

Reviews: 

1. NY Times: https://www.nytimes.com/2020/05/22/books/patrik-svensson-book-of-eels-sweden.html

2. Wall Street Journal: https://www.wsj.com/articles/the-book-of-eels-review-the-riddle-of-the-sargasso-sea-11588975178

3. CBC: https://www.cbc.ca/radio/sunday/the-sunday-magazine-for-december-13-2020-1.5836365/what-eels-can-tell-us-about-how-humans-construct-knowledge-1.5836521

(CBC-Parks Canada)

Interviews: 

In Toronto: http://book-news.org/patrik-svensson-the-book-of-eels

Rachel Carson

1. Her books: Under the Sea and The Sea Around Us: http://www.rachelcarson.org/Books.aspx

2. Documentary about Rachel Carson: https://www.alleghenyfront.org/new-documentary-explores-the-life-and-legacy-of-rachel-carson/

3. Videos about The Sea Around Us: 

a. https://vimeo.com/185178272; 

b. https://beta.prx.org/stories/74121; 

c. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=NDZM6uiGCRQ

(https://www.thetimes.co.uk/)

Famous Eels:

1. Brantevik Eel: 

a. https://www.thelocal.se/20140808/worlds-oldest-eel-dies-in-sweden/

b. story and video: https://www.sunnyskyz.com/blog/446/An-Eel-Was-Placed-In-A-Swedish-Well-To-Keep-The-Water-Supply-Clean-It-Lived-For-155-Years

2. Fritz Netzler's Eel, "Putte": https://www.livescience.com/47333-155-year-old-eel.html

Newest Research on Eels: https://www.nature.com/articles/s41598-020-72916-5

Red List of Threatened Species: International Union of Conservation of Nature (IUCN): https://www.iucnredlist.org/about/barometer-of-life

IUCN - Red listed: European Eel: https://www.iucnredlist.org/species/60344/152845178

Advocacy - What can you do to help? Organizations making a difference:

1. Endangered Species Coalition: Wildlife Corridors in PA: https://www.endangered.org/wildlife-corridors-pennsylvania/

2. Organizations working to save Endangered Species: Lists:

a. https://medium.com/@GVI/10-of-the-best-organizations-to-follow-that-help-endangered-animals-e2735a787269#:~:text=The%20WWF%20is%20probably%20the,land%20and%20in%20the%20ocean.

b. https://www.oysterworldwide.com/news/17-charities-that-help-endangered-animals/

Discussion Questions:

 

Summary (from Amazon): "Do fishes think? Do they really have three-second memories? And can they recognize the humans who peer back at them from above the surface of the water? In What a Fish Knows, the myth-busting ethologist Jonathan Balcombe addresses these questions and more, taking us under the sea, through streams and estuaries, and to the other side of the aquarium glass to reveal the surprising capabilities of fishes. Although there are more than thirty thousand species of fish―more than all mammals, birds, reptiles, and amphibians combined―we rarely consider how individual fishes think, feel, and behave. Balcombe upends our assumptions about fishes, portraying them not as unfeeling, dead-eyed feeding machines but as sentient, aware, social, and even Machiavellian―in other words, much like us.

What a Fish Knows draws on the latest science to present a fresh look at these remarkable creatures in all their breathtaking diversity and beauty. Fishes conduct elaborate courtship rituals and develop lifelong bonds with shoalmates. They also plan, hunt cooperatively, use tools, curry favor, deceive one another, and punish wrongdoers. We may imagine that fishes lead simple, fleeting lives―a mode of existence that boils down to a place on the food chain, rote spawning, and lots of aimless swimming. But, as Balcombe demonstrates, the truth is far richer and more complex, worthy of the grandest social novel.
Highlighting breakthrough discoveries from fish enthusiasts and scientists around the world and pondering his own encounters with fishes, Balcombe examines the fascinating means by which fishes gain knowledge of the places they inhabit, from shallow tide pools to the deepest reaches of the ocean."

Reviews: 

1. https://www.huffpost.com/entry/book-review-what-a-fish-k_b_11796698

2. https://www.publishersweekly.com/978-0-374-28821-1

Interviews:

1. NPR, Fresh Air: https://www.npr.org/books/titles/482468120/what-a-fish-knows-the-inner-lives-of-our-underwater-cousins

2. World of Vegan: https://www.worldofvegan.com/what-a-fish-knows/

Author's Site: https://jonathan-balcombe.com/what-a-fish-knows/

Videos:

1. Zoocheck: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=S0--HgyKg_s

2. TED Talks: "Most Eaten, Least Heard": https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=B-mzvFxfFCQ

3. Pufferfish making a nest: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=yaPmYYWsixU 

4. Groupers and moray eels hunting together.: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=he4bno1oseA

5. From a trawler (graphic) showing the suffering of fish: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ypa3_dnb-

6. spraying characin - the fish that lay eggs and sperm on leaves above water...https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=HD_6zPyrb00

7. Tigerfish catching barn swallow midair: https://www.npr.org/sections/thetwo-way/2014/01/13/262165937/chomp-fish-snatches-bird-in-flight-video

Articles: 

Smithsonian: https://www.smithsonianmag.com/science-nature/fish-feel-pain-180967764/

D.H. Lawrence poem, Fish: https://allpoetry.com/poem/8510225-Fish-by-D-H-Lawrence

Film: My Octopus Teacher (Sheryl recommended this incredible and beautiful movie)

Info: https://www.netflix.com/title/81045007

Trailer: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=3s0LTDhqe5A

NPR Article: https://www.npr.org/2020/10/15/923915545/filmmaker-finds-an-unlikely-underwater-friend-in-my-octopus-teacher

Discussion Questions: (These are from Sheryl - a big thank you!)

(wikipedia)

Braiding Sweetgrass: Indigenous Wisdom, Scientific Knowledge and the Teaching of Plants by Robin Kimmerer

Summary: (from Amazon): 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).

Drawing on her life as an indigenous scientist, and as a woman, Kimmerer shows how other living beings—asters and goldenrod, strawberries and squash, salamanders, algae, and sweetgrass—offer us gifts and lessons, even if we've forgotten how to hear their voices. In reflections that range from the creation of Turtle Island to the forces that threaten its flourishing today, she circles toward a central argument: that the awakening of ecological consciousness requires the acknowledgment and celebration of our reciprocal relationship with the rest of the living world. For only when we can hear the languages of other beings will we be capable of understanding the generosity of the earth, and learn to give our own gifts in return.

Reviews:

The Guardian: https://www.theguardian.com/books/2020/may/23/robin-wall-kimmerer-people-cant-understand-the-world-as-a-gift-unless-someone-shows-them-how

Boston Globe: https://www.bostonglobe.com/2019/11/20/arts/braiding-sweetgrass-author-robin-wall-kimmerer-restoring-relationship-with-land/

(gardeningknowhow.com)

Interviews: 

Away to Garden: https://awaytogarden.com/braiding-sweetgrass-robin-wall-kimmerer/

New York Botanical Garden: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=oDQ5WDLQb9M

The Sun Magazine: https://www.thesunmagazine.org/issues/484/two-ways-of-knowing

Harvard: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=9R4whGlL-EA

Black Ash basket making video: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=UzJ--mhi2l4

Native American Tribes Maps: https://www.npr.org/sections/codeswitch/2014/06/24/323665644/the-map-of-native-american-tribes-youve-never-seen-before

(http://worldwithoutgenocide.org/genocides-and-conflicts/american-indian)

Onondaga Lake Article: https://www.syracuse.com/news/2020/02/opponents-say-onondaga-lake-may-still-be-too-contaminated-for-beach.html

(Onondaga Lake - CNYCentral.com)

Author's Sites: 

SUNY, ESF:  https://www.esf.edu/faculty/kimmerer/

Center for Humans and Nature: https://www.esf.edu/faculty/kimmerer/

Facebook Page: https://www.facebook.com/braidingsweetgrass/

(startribune.com)

Discussion Questions from others:

1. Longwood Gardens: https://longwoodgardens.org/sites/default/files/wysiwyg/Discussion_And_Question_Guide_Braiding_Sweetgrass.pdf

2. Heated Book Club: https://heated.world/p/book-club-discussion-thread-braiding/comments

3. The Sustainability Club: https://karareardon21.wixsite.com/website

4. University of Utah with Bibliography: 

https://campusguides.lib.utah.edu/CommunityReads/BraidingSweetgrass

Discussion Questions: (These questions come from the sources listed above. Heidi will be leading the discussion.)

1. What themes or concepts resonated the most with you, e.g the gift economy, reciprocity, gratitude, etc.?

2. Kimmerer states that in the Native ways of knowing, human people are often referred to as "the younger brothers of Creation." (p.9) Do you agree that humans can learn from plants and animals? If so, how can we humble ourselves to "listen" to the wisdom of the plants?

3. The "Gift of Strawberries" (pp.22-32) introduces the concept "that the essence of a gift economy is at its root, reciprocity" (p. 28) How can "the relationship of gratitude and reciprocity that has been developed increase the evolutionary fitness of both plant and animal?" (p. 30)

4. 'Learning the Grammar of Animacy' (pp. 48-59) introduces the concept of communing with nature by getting to know more about plants and recognize that they are not inanimate objects. What can you do to start learning about the plants in your immediate environment" If you addressed the plants as something other than 'it', would that change your attitude? How?

5. In 'Allegiance to Gratitude' (pp. 103-117), the author shares the Thanksgiving Address used by the indigenous people to give thanks to the land. She states, "..it is the credo for a culture of gratitude." (p. 115) How does the this address support the concept of "our mutual allegiance as human delegates to the democracy of the species"? (p. 116) What does this mean to you?

6. In 'Putting Down Roots' (pp. 254-267), the author states, "Losing a plant can threaten a culture in much the same was as losing a language." (p. 261) Based on the discussion in this chapter, how can plants repeat the history of their people? (p. 262). What are some examples that she give to support her statement, "Reciprocity is a key to success'? (p. 262)

7. The chapter, 'Old-Growth Children' (pp. 277-292), captures the essence of sustainability and how we can learn from an old-growth forest. What tools do forest ecosystem have for "dealing with massive disturbance..."? What is the difference between industrial and sustainable forestry? What can our role be in the regeneration of these ecosystems? (p. 284)

8. The Onondaga people still live the precepts of the Great Law and still believe that, in return for the gifts of Mother Earth, human people have responsibility for caring for the nonhuman people, for stewardship of the land." (p. 319) What do you believe are the responsibilities of our government and our society in aiding the Onondaga Nation in its efforts to restore Onondaga Lake to a healthy state?

9. Reflecting upon Kimmerer's statement, "environmentalism becomes synonymous with dire predictions and powerless feelings." (p. 327) She reminds us that "Even a wounded world is feeding us . . giving us moments of wonder and joy." Do you agree that the environmental movement does not focus enough on the joy of the natural world? If yes, how can that be fixed? Also, what actions can you take within your community to bring about positive environmentalism and ecological restoration/preservation?

(Black Ash basket woven by John Pigeon)

The Song of Trees by David Haskell

Summary (Amazon): David Haskell has won acclaim for eloquent writing and deep engagement with the natural world. Now, he brings his powers of observation to the biological networks that surround all species, including humans. Haskell repeatedly visits a dozen trees, exploring  connections with people, microbes, fungi, and other plants and animals. He takes us to  trees in cities (from Manhattan to Jerusalem), forests (Amazonian, North American, and boreal) and areas on the front lines of environmental change (eroding coastlines, burned mountainsides, and war zones.)  In each place he shows how human history, ecology, and well-being are intimately intertwined with the lives of trees.
 
Scientific, lyrical, and contemplative, Haskell reveals the biological connections that underpin all life.  In a world beset by barriers, he reminds us that life’s substance and beauty emerge from relationship and interdependence.

Reviews:

Videos:

1. Listening to Trees: Alex Metcalf: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=0AtcQL7bIHc

2. TED Talk: Trees, People and Interconnection: We're All Made from Relationships: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=2ILCendITgM

3. Stories Happen in the Forest: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=J4bpKHfWhAk

4. Nature Moments: The Song of Trees: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=e28IYTONXdY

5. National Geographic: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=7kHZ0a_6TxY

6. BBC: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=yWOqeyPIVRo

(Ceibo, Ecuador)

Reviews:

1. The Atlantic: https://www.theatlantic.com/science/archive/2017/04/trees-have-their-own-songs/521742/

2. The Guardian: https://www.theguardian.com/books/2017/jul/07/songs-of-trees-david-george-haskell-review

(wikipedia - Red-bellied Woodpecker)

Interviews: 

1. NPR: https://www.npr.org/sections/13.7/2017/04/04/522011396/the-key-to-life-is-the-network

2. Outside Magazine: https://www.outsideonline.com/2167116/david-haskell-speaks-trees

3. 360 Yale: https://e360.yale.edu/features/how-listening-to-trees-can-help-reveal-natures-connections

Author's Site: https://dghaskell.com/

(Sabal palms on Catherine Island from Author)

Discussion Questions: (This will include last month's book, Buzz, Sting, Bite and also Haskell's book for our discussion due to the pandemic and change of format. We will be meeting via Zoom - if you are interested in participating, please make a comment below for an invitation to join in. If you are a member, you should have received an invitation via email.)

After reading Buzz, Sting, Bite, which facts and stories surprised you and how did they change your perspective about insects?

As described in both books, humans are having major impacts on every aspect of life on earth. Discuss how these changes affect both insects as well as trees including, excess light, insecticides, climate change, plastics, salt, etc.

Haskell emphasizes that life is about relationships and a living network, but that there are tensions that exist between them. Discuss the human relationship with “nature” as well as reflecting on your own concept of what nature means to you. (See pp. viii, 179, 186)

In the Songs of Trees, which stories resonated with you and why?

We read The Forest Unseen by Haskell previously, and this is the second “Haskell” reading for our group. Discuss his style and organization of this book. Are there any excerpts that you especially liked or not? Which book did you like more?

Which aspects of the world are you attuned to and tickle your senses? (see page 191-)

(mnn.com)