This book was received for free in return for an honest review.
Josephine W. Johnson gives an intimate and in depth look at nature and wildlife over the course of a year at her 37 acre farm in Ohio in The Island Island. Written where one chapter covers a month, we see the seasonal and phenological changes of a year in Ohio. Johnson's writing makes everything seem beautiful, even when it is bleak. She has a talent for making the everyday and mundane leap off the page. I enjoyed her descriptions of the birds, toads, flowers and the weather. Johnson focuses on more than just the big picture. I loved when she got excited at new animal sightings. More than just descriptive of the world around her, Johnson incorporates her feelings into her observations and at the time she wrote The Inland Island, her feelings of the Vietnam War are heavily on her mind and mixed into her observations of the natural world. Reading The Inland Island felt like taking a walk through my backyard with a friend, enjoyable, eye-opening and peaceful.
This book was received for free in return for an honest review.
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Where We Call Home: Lands, Seas, and Skies of the Pacific Northwest is a collection of seven essays on the natural history and human collections of seven native species in the Northwest United States. The essays connect the land and the people who live there, often incorporating the Indigenous knowledge of the Kalapuys, Haida, Yakama and Makah people. More than just providing information, the essays tell of how climate change and human interaction has affected these species and in return, affected us. Camas are a beautiful purple flower that grows in the grasslands of southern Oregon north to British Columbia. The bulb of the flower is an important food for the native people. David Harrelson, Kalapuyan says "Our identities are tied together. To know yourself and to know a place, it becomes necessary to know both." The Camas like disturbed areas, but are being pushed out by invasive species. The Kalapuyan often did controlled burns to maintain a reciprocal relationship with the Camas, but were seen as irresponsible by settlers of the area. Now the Camas flower needs more room, unfragmented habitat that the Kalapuyan are trying to get back. Sandhill Cranes are a beautiful sight to see, a bird that has been around for at least 2.5 million years. Their vocalizations are unique and they are wonderous in flight. They dance together. The Crane's habitat, however, has drastically changed in a short period of time due to human involvement. They've lost their winter homes, and less chicks survive. Each spring might be the last spring that we see Sandhill Cranes. I loved the Hesquiaht story of the Yellow Cedar sisters. As Alice Paul said, "The story is so moving because it tells you that the yellow cedars used to be people. That story sums up the relationship that people have had with these trees." The people used the trees and in return made the environment around them better. The Yellow Cedars are an ancient tree, slow growing in areas that most other trees don't want to grow in. Their lineage is at least two hundred million years. These survivors are having a hard time adapting to our quickly warming world. Hopefully, these ancient trees have a few more tricks up their sleeves. We all know the importance of bees. However, one of the native bees, the Western Bumble Bee, that enjoys frigid alpine, coastal forest, sagebrush and desert habitats and pollinates the Camas flower is in decline. Their decline is probably due to disease spread by commercially used European Honey Bees. Native bees pollinate native flowers, without the bees, we might lose even more biodiversity. Coastal Tailed Frogs are unique to the Northwest streams of the Coast Range, Cascade Range, Columbia River Gorge, Olympic Mountains and Klamath Mountains. These frogs likely evolved 10 to 28 million years ago. Now, their homes are disappearing, the cold streams they need are warming. They have many special traits including their 'tail,' a unique way to move, they land in the water with a special belly flop. Conservation efforts plus the Coastal Tailed Frogs own survival traits will hopefully be enough to ensure their survival. The Yakama people celebrate and thank the summer Huckleberry fruits together before heading to the mountains to pick a year's worth of berries. Huckleberries like a volcanic landscape, they are pollinated by native bees. Huckleberries feed the people and animals of the region. There are ancient berry drying sites hidden in the mountains that the Yakama people once used. The berries and the landscape thrive with fire that the Yakama people maintained for them, but the Forest Service had put a stop to. With most of their fields gone, the Yakama people are listening to their elders about the way the land was to be able to apply adaptive management plans. Olympic Marmot are built for their Olympic Mountain habitat, adapted for steep cliffs, surrounded by ice. They hibernate, safe from predators for the winter. They have lived through many climate change events, but are struggling to keep up with climate change now. Marmots are social and have personalities, they can live for 50 years and their high whistles pierce the landscape. Olympic Marmots are important ecosystem engineers for the alpine meadows, they change the environment and affect the plant species around them. However, drier, warmer summers are changing the growing cycle of the meadow plants that the marmots feed on and use. While I may not live in the Pacific Northwest, I have admired the land there, especially the diversity of habitats. These seven profiles of species highlight what we may lose if we don't change our habits and behaviors towards climate change. I admire the Native people's connection to the land and the knowledge they have for keeping everything in balance. These stories show the beauty, diversity and importance of these plants and animals in our lives. Written with a combination of facts, data, stories and anecdotes, these essays are easy to read, informative and enjoyable. This book was received for free in return for an honest review. Searching Beyond the Stars profiles seven women within the field of astronomy from the mid 20th century through to present day. The focus is not only on their accomplishments and contributions within their fields, but the hardships they faced due to gender discrimination and racism. Beginning with Katherine Johnson, who most people know from Hidden Figures, her story details her perseverance in education for herself and the calculations she made for NASA. Jill Tarter is another name I know as the cofounder of the SETI institute. Jill made strides in listening to space through radio waves and cataloging star systems that could be habitable based on her research. Emily Lakdawalla is a contemporary scientist whose focus is to bring space education to the masses in interesting and easy to understand ways. Tanya Harrison helped to engineer the Mars Rovers and discovered many different geological aspects on the Mars surface. Sara Seager focuses her work on finding exoplanets, especially exoplanets that might support life. Renée Hložek studies how the universe changes over time and ultimately how it will end. Ashley Walker studies the chemistry of other atmospheres to see if life could exist elsewhere. Each woman's journey into their fields and what sparked their interest from chemistry, physics, geology, history or just the love of outer space, showing that there are many different routes into astronomy. Their stories are accompanied by easy to read facts that break down the science of what they are studying with background information and vocabulary. Written for middle grade readers, Searching Beyond the Stars encourages you to find your curiosity. This book was received for free in return for an honest review. |
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