ARMN Winter Book Share: Good food for the body, mind, and spirit!

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.

Photo of 2018 ARMN Winter book share
Book Share group enjoying the camaraderie.

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/.

Photo of 2018 ARMN Winter book share
Participants engaged in good discussions of the materials presented.

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!

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