Posts tagged: books received

Received: From the Fishouse

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By , June 15, 2009 6:35 am

Terrain.org recently received:

From the Fishouse: An Anthology of Poems that Sing, Rhyme, Resound, Syncopate, Alliterate, and Just Plain Sound Great, edited by Camille T. Dungy, Matt O’Donnell, and Jeffrey Thomson, with a foreword by Gerald Stern

Persea Books, 2009

From the publisher:

From the Fishouse (http://www.fishousepoems.org/) is a one-of-a-kind on-line archive devoted to teh oral and aural aspects of contemporary American poetry. Based in a converted codfish-drying shack in Pittston, Maine, it showcases emerging poets performign their own work and responding to questions about poetry and the writing process.

Derived from the Fishouse Web site, the From the Fishouse print anthology is a jamboree of contemporary poetry at its acoustic best. It collects more than 175 poems by nearly 100 poets from the archive, dividing them into ten playful thematic sections. Each poem is a striking example of why poetry is meant not just to be read, but to be read aloud. To complement the poems, the book includes illuminating excerpts from the Web site’s Q&As with the poets and, in the Fishouse tradition of poetry as an oral/aural form, it comes with a compact disc that features dynamic recitations of 38 of the poems in the book. Indespensable for all poetry lovers, From the Fishouse is the most exciting, portable way to experience the array of poetry being written and performed in the United States in teh first decade fo the twenty-first century.

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We here at Terrain.org pretty much agree. Both the Fishouse website and book are really grand. Check them out!

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Received: The Author’s Guide to Publishing and Marketing

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By , May 31, 2009 6:12 pm

Terrain.org recently received:

O Books, 2009 (United Kingdom, distributed by Orca NBN in North America)

From the publisher:

Author Tim Ward and publisher John Hunt have teamed up to create The Author’s Guide to Publishing and Marketing, a must read for any would-be author, especially in tough economic times. The book is an invaluable resource for new and experienced writers navigating the challenging terrain of book publishing and marketing. Crammed full of time-saving advice and specific suggestions to help authors make the most of their literary creations.

The book draws from the experience of Tim Ward, author of four prevous books, and John Hunt, publisher of O Books. O Books operates a distinctive and ethical publishing philosophy in all areas of its business, from its global network of authors to productino, and worldwide distribution.

This book is produced on FSC certified stock, within ISO14001 standards and teh printer plants sufficient trees each year through the Woodland Trust to absorb the level of emitted carbon in its production.

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Terrain.org will not be reviewing this book in a future issue. However, it appears to be a comprehensive, very user-friendly book, and given O Books’s commitment to sustainable publishing, should be at the top of your list for books in this category.

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Received: Voices from the American Land, a New Chapbook Series

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By , May 23, 2009 8:25 pm

Terrain.org recently received:

Voices from the American Land : Winter 2009
Lo & Behold: Household and Threshold on California’s North Coast, by Joanne Kyger

Voices from the American Land chapbooks are published four times a year by the American Land Publishing Project, Inc., a New Mexico nonprofit organization, in partnership with the Center for American Places at Columbia College, Chicago. The ALPP produces four chapbooks a year, offered by subscription, and conducts on-the-land readings and classroom educational activities. The Center publishes an annual collection of the chapbooks as a single volume, distributed nationally to bookstores by the University of Chicago Press.

On the inside cover:

Here begins Voices from the American Land — Joanne Kyger’s chronicle of a literary life infused with the natural scene in a village on the northern California coast. Lo & Behold offers an evocative memoir of the animals, plants, landforms, strange and wonderful visitors, neighbors, an dfamous poets and artists that are part of the poet’s daily round.

Forthcoming authors include Quraysh Ali Lansans [out now] who writes of growing up black (and Native American) in the hard, dusty landscapes of Oklahoma. He is Director of the Gwendolyn Brooks Center for Black Studies and Creative Writing at Chicago State University. Patricia Clark, poet-in-residence at Grand Valley State University, reflects on the numinous interaction of the human spirit with the spirit of the woodlands of Michigan. And Levi Romero, poet and architect-planner, whose work, in English and Spanish, tells of the life on the land in Hispanic northern New Mexico. A critic writes: “No other poet can pull el duende from his labyrinth the way Levi can.” Such as the Voices from the American Land.

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Terrain.org will not be reviewing this chapbook in a forthcoming issue, but we do encourage you to investigate the good work of the American Land Publishing Project and the quarterly Voices from the American Land series at http://www.voicesfromtheamericanland.org/.

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Received: Crazy Love, new poems by Pamela Uschuk

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By , May 21, 2009 4:14 am
Terrain.org recently received:

Published by Wings Press, San Antonio, 2009.

From the publisher:

Through bold and innovative language, a strong female narrative explores the world and provides a voice for those who have been silenced in this empowering and inspirational collection of poetry. Examining a wide range of topics—love, spirituality, nature, and family—the poems give particular focus to politics, discussing how the actions of the government affect individuals on a daily basis. Filled with natural imagery and speckled with traces of the author’s Russian, Swedish, and American heritage, this fresh compilation dares to take risks and ultimately offers hope and inspiration to people from all walks of life.

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Pamela Uschuk is a professor of creative writing at Fort Lewis College, the editor in chief of the literary magazine Cutthroat: A Journal of the Arts, and the author of four volumes of poetry, including the award-winning Finding Peaches in the Desert and the Pulitzer Prize–nominated Scattered Risks. She lives in Durango, Colorado.

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Look for a review of Crazy Love, which Naomi Shihab Nye describes as “life lived at the fever pitch of awareness and care” in the forthcoming issue of Terrain.org.

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Received: The Edge of the Sea of Cortez, by Betty Hupp and Marilyn Malone

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By , May 11, 2009 7:02 pm
Terrain.org recently received:

A seashore adventure beyond beachcombing…

Published by Operculum, LLC and distributed by The University of Arizona Press

From the publisher:

The Sea of Cortez, also known as the Gulf of California, is framed by the Mexican mainland and the Baja California peninsula. Once called the Vermillion Sea, its long narrow shape results in tidal extremes that provide a unique home for a rich diversity of marine life. The beautiful waters entice tourists from all over the world and beckon marine scientists to discover their secrets.

Lavishly illustrated in the tradition of Dorling Kindersley’s reference books, The Edge of the Sea of Cortez: Tidewalkers’ Guide to the Upper Gulf of California is the only guide to the diverse sea creatures that can be observed along the rocky shores of the Gulf of California. In these pages, you will find a trove of valuable information whether you take this book with you along the beach, meeting the fascinating creatures at the tips of your toes, or simply read about these intertidal denizens from afar.

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While I’m afraid we won’t be able to fit a review of this book into a forthcoming issue, I assure you it is a beautiful, user-friendly book that would serve Sea of Cortez visitors well.

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Received: A Conservationist Manifesto, by Scott Russell Sanders

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By , May 11, 2009 6:33 pm
With this post, we’re committing to posting more often on this blog, in part by noting those publications we receive for review, which may or may not make it into an actual review on Terrain.org. Look for updates at least weekly and more often when possible.

We recently received:

Practical, Ecological, and Philosophical Grounds for a Conservation Ethic

From Indiana University Press, the publisher:

As an antidote to the destructive culture of consumption dominating American life today, Scott Russell Sanders calls for a culture of conservation that allows us to savor and preserve the world, instead of devouring it. How might we shift to a more durable and responsible way of life? What changes in values and behavior will be required? Ranging geographically from southern Indiana to the Boundary Waters Wilderness and culturally from the Bible to billboards, Sanders extends the visions of Henry David Thoreau, John Muir, and Rachel Carson to our own day.

A Conservationist Manifesto shows the crucial relevance of a conservation ethic at a time of mounting concern about global climate change, depletion of natural resources, extinction of species, and the economic inequities between rich and poor nations. The important message of this powerful book is that conservation is not simply a personal virtue but a public one.

Scott Russell Sanders, Distinguished Professor of English at Indiana University Bloomington, is the author of 20 books of fiction and nonfiction, including Writing from the Center (IUP, 1995), Hunting for Hope, and A Private History of Awe. Sanders is winner of the Lannan Literary Award, John Burroughs Essay Award for Natural History, AWP Award in Creative Nonfiction, and the 2009 Mark Twain Award. He lives in Bloomington, Indiana.

What others are saying:

“Sanders’s A Conservationist Manifesto is a book to be savored — for its language, its stories, its sense of place, and for how it reminds us of the profound relationships with nature and each other that can inspire us to change how we live on this planet. . . . A must read for all of us who are wrestling with the future of conservation and searching for how to express the values that will take us to a greener and more sustainable future”
— Will Rogers, President, The Trust for Public Land

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Look for a review of A Conservationist Manifesto in Terrain.org’s next issue, which publishes on September 10, 2009.

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Salmon: A Journey in Poetry

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By , October 21, 2007 5:46 am

Salmon: A Journey in Poetry 1981-2007 — edited by Terrain.org editorial board member Jessie Lendennie — celebrates 26 years of innovative and exciting Irish and international poetry. The organization of the volume is simple: two poems from the poet’s Salmon collection (or collections) and one uncollected poem. Detailed biographical notes for each poet and a complete bilbiography of Salmon’s publications, are also included.
Look for a review by poet Deborah Fries in Terrain.org’s upcoming issue.

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Annotation: Disturbing the Universe by Freeman Dyson

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By , February 2, 2007 3:59 am

Disturbing the Universe by Freeman Dyson

Disturbing the Universe is a mixed-genre account not only of Freeman Dyson’s academic and professional life, but of the scientific and often moral and spiritual development of the Western world, especially the United States as an intellectual melting pot, from World War II until the 1970s. I say mixed-genre because it is part memoir, part scientific reporting, part political commentary, part speculative and philosophical examination—and always utterly fascinating.

Of course, it does not account for all events nor even all major scientific advances during the time; it is not a catalog or encyclopedia, and it is much the better for that. Always told in the first person, Disturbing the Universe is divided into three sections: I. England, II. America, and III. Points Beyond.

As the sections evolve—the first section based primarily on a few specific, narrative examples of Dyson’s childhood as well as a more detailed account of his involvement in England’s Bomber Command, the second on his personal development and scientific involvement in a wide variety of math- and physics-related endeavors of national and global implication, and the third mostly discussing the future of science, and so the future of civilization—Dyson’s approach evolves, as well.

Memoir is strongest in the early sections. Scientific reporting and to a degree political commentary are strongest in the middle and largest section of the book. Philosophical exploration and resultant political commentary, though always specific and gentlemanly, define the third section. Personal essay combining flowing narrative and strong metaphor occurs throughout.

Dyson’s book is a classic example that you must first become an expert in your field to then wax poetic on it. By that I mean that Dyson thoroughly validates his concluding arguments—his vision of mankind’s future—by detailing his experiences, conjectures, and perhaps most importantly failures along with successes.

What captivated me most, however, was not the last but rather the first and second sections of the book. Here we find Dyson writing crisp, entertaining narrative that nonetheless covers complex subjects like nuclear physics and rocket science (particularly in the second section). Toward the end of II. America, though, Dyson weaves in a much stronger critique of political and military actions in relation to his own, clearly acknowledging his role, as much for worse as for better. The chapters “The Ethics of Defense” and “The Murder of Dover Sharp” are particularly pressing and poignant in this respect. Indeed, while we’ve learned a great deal about Dyson the scientist and even Dyson the critical thinker to this point, we may have learned the most about the man as a human being in these two chapters.

Even if we believe as Dyson does that time and space do not work in linear fashion, the book is mostly chronological. Given the technical nature of much of the subject matter, as well as the significant historical events—World War II and the Cold War, predominantly—a chronological approach both makes sense and works well. But Disturbing the Universe also does not rely solely on a linear pattern, as references to historic events, people, and arts (including and perhaps especially literature), and speculation and forethought are eloquently woven throughout the text.

Dyson’s major intents here are threefold. First, he wants to record the amazing time he lived in, as well has his place and role in that time. Second, he wants to demonstrate accountability for many of the actions of the day—both his involvement in scientific discoveries, and his responsibility in activities that he realizes were not right, or at least did not turn out as perhaps then the scientists thought it might. Dyson’s realization of the great harms of nuclear fallout from bomb tests and Orion rocket tests—if ever expanded—is perhaps the strongest example. Third, he wants to build upon his great experience to offer a vision of the future—with a passionate (and still scientifically credible) call for solar energy and an entertaining and thoroughly acceptable thesis on how humans will (not may; he has no doubt of this) expand into space.

While I think the third section is the weakest of the three—simply because it cannot rest on the imagery and compelling historical details of the first two sections—I do not consider the third section a weakness. All three sections and the entire book are wonderfully written, pulling from a wide array of literary techniques that in lesser collections could seem fragmented, but here work in harmony, not unlike the beautifully simple structure of a single atom.

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Annotation: Twilight of the Mammoths by Paul S. Martin

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By , January 22, 2007 8:43 pm

Twilight of the Mammoths: Ice Age Extinctions and the Rewilding of America
by Paul S. Martin

Paul S. Martin’s Twilight of the Mammoths is part academic discourse, part scientific review; yet all argument. The fundamental premise is that the megafauna of the “near history” of the late Quaternary era that are now extinct—large herbivores and carnivores such as mastadons, mammoths, giant sloths, saber-tooth tigers, North American lions, and a number of land-dwelling birds—are extinct worldwide due to the rapid expansion of humans. Martin’s thesis is based on numerous field research observations and subsequent analysis of fossils, facilitated largely by radiocarbon dating. His thesis is also based on critical scientific analysis of anthropogenic and paleontological research by peers over the last forty years. His conclusion is controversial for most in the field, as a radically changing climate was generally believed to be the cause of the mass extinctions. Martin’s intent, however, is not just to convince the reader and the full scientific community that the Clovis people, as the original pioneering North Americans have been called—for example—are responsible for extinction. His goal is to advocate strongly for a new, historically broader vision of what a “Wild America” should be; i.e., a “restoration ecology” that reintroduces animals that fill as closely as possible the niches of extinct fauna—not just bison and gazelle and other browsers that fill the equid niche, but elephants to replace mammoths and mastadons.
Martin’s approach is somewhat mixed, beginning with a heavily technical treatise on radiocarbon dating and Quaternary extinctions by genus, classification, and other categories. He then moves into an overview of his “overkill” idea, followed by a series of essays on field research in caves in the Grand Canyon, for example. Through these first chapters, I felt like I was thrown back into my wildlife biology days, with an academic journal-quality review that isn’t literary in nature but that, I now conclude, is essential to creating a baseline for Martin’s argument. Martin makes his case step-by-step, only occasionally stepping out of character to reveal his frustration with other scientists or, in some cases, with the inability to find good scientific data. Twilight of the Mammoths—and Martin’s thesis—finally come into their own beginning in Chapter 6, “Deadly Syncopation.” Here I realized, much to my delight, that as a reader I was clued in to a historically important scientific debate. Chapter 9 especially is a response to those who have openly doubted Martin—reading almost as a series of passionate letters. Or: Martin here has the pulpit, and is using a strong sermon—one growing in strength over the course of the book—to convince the congregation of fellow scientists (primarily; general readership secondarily) that the cause of the mass extinctions can only be the early humans, or their direct outcomes, such as rats devastating populations on Pacific islands.
Martin’s stylistic devices are primarily two-fold: 1) Persuasive scientific discourse—lengthy reviews of literature, fieldwork, and analysis, eliminating one-by-one arguments against his position; and 2) Personal asides, not quite as full personal essays—bringing a bit of Martin’s personality into the text, sometimes working for and sometimes against his otherwise consistent and determined approach.
What at first I thought was a weakness—the detailed academic review to begin the book—I now see as a strength, an essential establishment of a baseline, so that non-scientific (or, rather, those not in the general scientific field) have all of the taxonomic details from the get-go. Martin’s subsequent strength is to take all of this detailed information and press it into a logical, intuitive argument, even while realizing much more data and forthcoming data analysis tools and techniques—whatever they may be—will undoubtedly change what we know, and how we therefore consider these extinctions.
A single weakness may be that Martin does not spend more time on the ideas of restoration and resurrection. These chapters are succinct—but now that he has convinced me, I’m eager for more stories, more possibilities.
In all, Martin has presented a radical theory that should, I think, result in the elusive “paradigm shift,” not just about how we view the extinctions, but perhaps more importantly about how we view “unadulterated nature,” especially in the Western Hemisphere, Australia, and New Zealand.

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Annotation: Tristes Tropiques by Claude Lévi-Strauss

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By , December 26, 2006 4:55 pm

In Tristes Tropiques (translated beautifully in this edition by John and Dorren Weightman), Claude Lévi-Strauss presents a nine-part exploration of humans and the environment, and the anthropologist’s role in deciphering that exploration. Though centered mainly on Lévi-Strauss’s trips and research in Brazil, the book also ranges widely over sociology (Fascism, Capitalism, Marxism), religion (Muslem, Islam, Bhuddism), urban development, and education, in such other locations as Martinique, France, Chicago, India, and points in between—the latter mostly on-board ship.

Part one—An End to Journeying—is both introduction and manifesto, beginning, “I hate traveling and explorers.” Right away we learn much about the anthropologist—not so much his curriculum vitae (though there is a bit of that) but more importantly his feelings, his fears, his responses verbal and otherwise to the world around him. We also learn that he is an eloquent writer, an amazing assembler of beautiful imagery, and through-and-through a social scientist, both of the era and beyond.
In part two—Travel Notes—we get a more traditional “How I came to be an anthropologist” story, juxtaposed against what may well be the most detailed essay of a sunset, at 7½ pages, ever penned. We too wonder if, “after all these years, I could ever again achieve such a state of grace.”

Part three—The New World—brings us to the beginning of the heart of the book, concluding with a brilliant essay on urban design in the Americas (North and South), “São Paulo,” that should be required reading for students of architecture and urban planning alike.

Part four—The Earth and Its Inhabitants—takes us deeper into Brazil, literally and figuratively. Except it also takes us to India, takes us deep into the life of true poverty, of the utter failures of the caste system in India. In addition to excellent description, Lévi-Strauss is not shy about his opinions of the place, its people, its political systems—in sum, providing a detailed anthropological review and, in some cases, thesis on the place and its culture.

Part five—Caduveo—brings us to the first of four parts of true, sustained anthropological field study, each dedicated to a different tribe in Brazil’s vast interior. Parts six—Bororo—seven—Nambikwara—and eight—Tufi-Kawahib—are the apex of the book, as Lévi-Strauss and his (some few) associates spend dedicated time with each tribe, learning in fabulous detail about the culture of each. Though geographically similar, the tribes were otherwise absolutely unique in marriage, family life, religious belief, rituals, village design (or lack thereof), and the like.

Finally, part nine—The Return—is just that: a return from Lévi-Strauss’s long days in the field, and a closing discourse (following an almost dreamlike, unfinished play/parable he created called “The Apotheosis of Augustus”) about religion, about anthropology, about witness and inclusion.

Tristes Tropiques, then, is both memoir and (social) scientific field journal, with more than a sprinkling of travel writing mixed in to which Lévi-Strauss, from the get-go, confesses so strongly against. It presents a series of additional paradoxes that may not seem interrelated, but all relate to the variable human condition and therefore are critically connected. The challenge is what can be done about these problems—like the destruction of habitat and cultures both by the westward march of “progress,” like the incredible overpopulation and utter poverty of India, like religious intolerance. There is no solution presented, of course, but there is a concluding seed of hope, a sort of cosmic understanding, that presents itself sometimes in large and more often in very small, detailed ways.

Lévi-Strauss’s stylistic devices are primarily three-fold: imagery, metaphor, and inference. He has a wonderful ability simply to describe. He has a keen sense of comparison, sometimes sweeping but more often using metaphor in specific circumstances, sharp phrases. And, as a scientist, he has the important capability to infer from observation, at least partly answering the great scientific question: What does it all mean? Or at least: What does it mean in this particular situation, in this specific place? These are all his greatest strengths—that and timing, and by that I mean getting to these tribes before they too evaporated.

He may have two literary weaknesses: too much description (he who lives by the sword dies by the sword, and all that), and too strong opinions, which can contradict scientific validity. But as Tristes Tropiques is both memoir and field report, and accordingly social criticism, certainly he is entitled to that. Fortunately, we are too.

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