by Carol Mullen, with photos by Rodney Olsen
A few times a year, folks who enjoy nature literature meet at a local restaurant for a Book Share event. Participants enjoy good food as they provide a brief overview of a book or other material that they found inspiring and useful. The most recent get-together was at Café Sazon, a Latin bakery and café in South Arlington and an enthusiastic group contributed to the discussion of several reads.
The ARMN Winter Book Share and Dinner at Cafe Sazon on Feb. 6, 2018, was a fun and informative evening. Ten ARMN members shared their favorite recently read books, magazines, authors and websites, with the primary aim of enhancing our knowledge of Virginia’s natural resources. It was a delightful hour of “A01 Continuing Education” with lively discussions on a number of topics and an opportunity to learn from each other. Cafe Sazon was an enjoyable location on a cold February night, and both the food and staff were great.
Here is a list of the literature recommended by the participants at the Winter Book Share evening:
The Wonder of Birds: What They Tell Us About Ourselves, the World, and a Better Future, by Jim Robbins, 2017
The Worst Hard Time: The Untold Story of Those Who Survived the Great American Dust Bowl, by Timothy Egan, 2006
Scientific American: The Science Behind the Debates, Special Collector’s Edition, Volume 26, Issue 5s, Winter 2017-2018
The Living Forest, by Joan Maloof, 2017
Among the Ancients: Adventures in the Eastern Old-Growth Forests, by Joan Maloof, 2011
Feral: Rewilding the Land, the Sea, and Human Life, by George Monbiot, 2017
The Golden Spruce: A True Story of Myth, Madness, and Greed, John Vaillant, 2006
The Control of Nature, John McPhee, 1990
The Songs of Trees: Stories from Nature’s Great Connectors, by David George Haskell, 2017
The Forest Unseen, by David George Haskell, 2013
1491, by Charles Mann, 2006
Teaching the Trees: Lessons from the Forest, by Joan Maloof, 2007
The Evolution of Beauty: How Darwin’s Forgotten Theory of Mate Choice Shapes the Animal World – and Us, by Richard O. Prum, 2017
The Evolution Underground: Burrows, Bunkers, and the Marvelous Subterranean World Beneath our Feet, by Anthony J. Martin, 2017
The Modern Scholar: The Biology of Birds, by Professor John Kricher, 2012
The Tarantula in My Purse: and 172 Other Wild Pets, by Jean Craighead George, 1997
A Beginner’s Guide to Recognizing Trees of the Northeast, by Mark Mikolas, 2017
American Forest Magazine
The “Plant One Million Trees” Project, http://www.plantonemillion.org/.
Does a book share event sound good to you? Then look for future gatherings that will be highlighted on the www.armn.org homepage under “Upcoming Events.” Anyone with an interest in nature may attend and you do not need a book to share—or even be an ARMN member—if you just want to hear more about the current reads. If you do have literature to share, reviews and summaries are fitting, but consider sharing a fact, insight, or observation from the material that is applicable to ARMN’s span of work.
Here are a few other considerations:
- This is not a book discussion group where we all read and discuss the same material.
- Magazines or journals (or specific articles) are fine too, as are apps, websites, or any resource that enhances your knowledge of Virginia’s natural resources.
- This is not a book swap. Feel free to bring books or magazines to give away or share if you wish, but that is optional.
- Please consider what you can share about the book in less than 5 minutes. If there is adequate time, you can expound beyond that.
- The book sharing portion counts as CE for ARMN members.
- No sign-up required this time.
We hope to see you at a future Book Share event!