Welcome to Browsing Books!
We are the Central Minnesota Libraries Exchange, a multitype system serving all types of libraries. We are here to help you find new books, for yourself or for your library.
This season, we continue to travel around Minnesota, but this time we’re learning about all the fascinating historical sites our state has to offer and giving you a book prompt inspired by each site.
We will share six book suggestions to meet that prompt, to get you started on reading new books. You can also take that prompt and find any other book to meet the challenge!
“People have long relied on the forests for food, shelter, and building materials. Today we also include recreation and enjoying the beauty of forests in that description. The Forest History Center tells the story of this changing relationship with the land.” To celebrate this relationship, read a book about trees.
In our show notes for this episode, we link each book to one of our state’s great independent bookstores: the Red Balloon in Minneapolis, MN. It gives you a description, so you can get more information about the book to help you make a decision about your reading or recommendations.
The Hidden Life of Trees: What They Feel, How They Communicate–Discoveries from a Secret World, by By Peter Wohlleben, Tim Flannery
Are trees social beings? In The Hidden Life of Trees forester and author Peter Wohlleben convincingly makes the case that, yes, the forest is a social network. He draws on groundbreaking scientific discoveries to describe how trees are like human families: tree parents live together with their children, communicate with them, support them as they grow, share nutrients with those who are sick or struggling, and even warn each other of impending dangers. Wohlleben also shares his deep love of woods and forests, explaining the amazing processes of life, death, and regeneration that he has observed in his woodland.
The Living Forest: A Visual Journey Into the Heart of the Woods, by by Robert Llewellyn & Joan Maloof
From the leaves and branches of the canopy to the roots and soil of the understory, the forest is a complex, interconnected ecosystem filled with plants, birds, mammals, insects, and fungi. Some of it is easily discovered, but many parts remain difficult or impossible for the human eye to see. Until now.
The Living Forest is a visual journey that immerses you deep into the woods. The wide-ranging photography by Robert Llewellyn celebrates the small and the large, the living and the dead, and the seen and the unseen. You’ll discover close-up images of owls, hawks, and turtles; aerial photographs that show herons in flight; and time-lapse imagery that reveals the slow change of leaves. In an ideal blend of art and scholarship, the 300 awe-inspiring photographs are supported by lyrical essays from Joan Maloof detailing the science behind the wonder.
The Island of Missing Trees, by Elif Shafak
Two teenagers, a Greek Cypriot and a Turkish Cypriot, meet at a taverna on the island they both call home. In the taverna, hidden beneath garlands of garlic, chili peppers and creeping honeysuckle, Kostas and Defne grow in their forbidden love for each other. A fig tree stretches through a cavity in the roof, and this tree bears witness to their hushed, happy meetings and eventually, to their silent, surreptitious departures. The tree is there when war breaks out, when the capital is reduced to ashes and rubble, and when the teenagers vanish. Decades later, Kostas returns. He is a botanist looking for native species, but really, he’s searching for lost love.
Years later a Ficus carica grows in the back garden of a house in London where Ada Kazantzakis lives. This tree is her only connection to an island she has never visited— her only connection to her family’s troubled history and her complex identity as she seeks to untangle years of secrets to find her place in the world.
A moving, beautifully written, and delicately constructed story of love, division, transcendence, history, and eco-consciousness, The Island of Missing Trees is Elif Shafak’s best work yet.
The Long, Long Life of Trees, by Fiona Stafford
Since the beginnings of history trees have served humankind in countless useful ways, but our relationship with trees has many dimensions beyond mere practicality. Trees are so entwined with human experience that diverse species have inspired their own stories, myths, songs, poems, paintings, and spiritual meanings. Some have achieved status as religious, cultural, or national symbols.
In this beautifully illustrated volume Fiona Stafford offers intimate, detailed explorations of seventeen common trees, from ash and apple to pine, oak, cypress, and willow. The author also pays homage to particular trees, such as the fabled Ankerwyke Yew, under which Henry VIII courted Anne Boleyn, and the spectacular cherry trees of Washington, D.C. Stafford discusses practical uses of wood past and present, tree diseases and environmental threats, and trees’ potential contributions toward slowing global climate change. Brimming with unusual topics and intriguing facts, this book celebrates trees and their long, long lives as our inspiring and beloved natural companions.
The Sacred Balance , by David Suzuki
A stunning exploration of the web of life that unites all living things.
Based on David Suzuki and Amanda McConnell’s best-selling The Sacred Balance: Rediscovering Our Place in Nature, a textual exploration of the web of life that unites all living things, this visual feast celebrates that connection in spectacular photographs, beautiful reproductions of artwork, and stunning electronmicrographs and satellite photographs. These images include photographs of dewdrops on a spider web, the Earth from space at night, a field full of wildflowers, vast herds of zebra, Inuit artwork, and more.
The accompanying text presents David Suzuki’s idiosyncratic, bold, and inspiring view of the human place on Earth, drawn from his life as a scientist, environmentalist, writer, and thinker. He identifies seven elements–earth, air, fire, water, biodiversity, love, and spirituality–which all human beings need to lead full, rich lives. The exquisite balance of these elements creates and maintains the web of life on Earth. We too are part of that web: like all living things, we are the sacred elements. We are made from and sustained by earth and air, fire and water. We are part of the totality of biological diversity that maintains the planet’s life support systems.
The Word for World is Forest by Ursula K. Le Guin
The Word for World is Forest
Centuries in the future, Terrans have established a logging colony & military base named “New Tahiti” on a tree-covered planet whose small, green-furred, big-eyed inhabitants have a culture centered on lucid dreaming. Terran greed spirals around native innocence & wisdom, overturning the ancient society.
Humans have learned interstellar travel from the Hainish (the origin-planet of all humanoid races, including Athsheans). Various planets have been expanding independently, but during the novel it’s learned that the League of All Worlds has been formed. News arrives via an ansible, a new discovery. Previously they had been cut off, 27 light years from home.
Terran colonists take over the planet locals call Athshe, meaning “forest,” rather than “dirt,” like their home planet Terra. They follow the 19th century model of colonization: felling trees, planting farms, digging mines & enslaving indigenous peoples. The natives are unequipped to comprehend this. They’re a subsistence race who rely on the forests & have no cultural precedent for tyranny, slavery or war. The invaders take their land without resistance until one fatal act sets rebellion in motion & changes the people of both worlds forever.
CONCLUSION:
Thanks for joining us! We’ll be back next week with a look at the next historic site and the next book prompt!