Bringing Up Beaver

Bringing Up Beaver: Two Orphaned Beaver Kits, Their Humans, and Our Journey Back to the Wild by John Aberth (Simon & Schuster, 2025)

This is the chronicle of a licensed animal rehab person who lives in rural Vermont. He takes in lots different animals, owls, hawks etc. This book covers a little over a year of his taking in a baby beaver, whos parents were killed when there lodge ws demolished. Many people see beavers as a nuisance and try to elimate them from their property. The amount of work that the author goes through to accomodate this baby beaver is amazing. What is especially challenging is that he is rehabbing this animal with the goal of ultimately being released back to the wild and not kept as a pet. He does a lot of evangelizing about how we treat wild life and what should change. A great story of a dedicated volunteer.

Shade

Shade: The Promise of a Forgotten Natural Resource by Sam Bloch (Random House)

A thorough analysis of a timely and important topic. The author is an environmental writer who has produced this interesting volume on the history and importance of shade its impact on people’s health. Historically shade was engineered into the planning of towns and cities. If we think of the narrow streets of warm weather countries like Spain and Mexico, the narrow streets provide a lot of shade for people in the street during the day when they don’t want to be exposed to the blazing sun. Also, and abundance of trees on streets and in public places like parks providing cooling shades for people walking or hanging out. Several factors have influenced the disappearance of shade as a standard feature of cities, first air conditioning has replaced the need for shade, but this also has had social implications. Instead of hanging out on our shaded front porches and under a tree, we are now all inside and not mingling with our neighbors and socializing. Also in urban settings, law enforcement has suppressed the planting of trees and encouraged their removal as the block the ability of provide surveillance of an area and they provide cover for the ‘bad guys’.

This book could also have been titled ‘Heat’. The author spends a lot of time illustrating the health affects of excessive heat, particularly on people who spend a lot of time out of doors, such as agricultural workers and the homeless. The ill affect of excessive heat becomes exaggerated in the elderly. With the warming of the planet places that were typically very temperate all of a sudden find that they have to deal with excessive heat. Many homes and businesses in these areas do not have air conditioning because they never needed it. This now puts an economic strain on communities and individuals who have to have AC installed and who have to pay for the electricity to operate it.

There are also societal implications to excessive heat, people are much more likely to get angry during heat waves. As the author points out “Heat is an irritant that makes us angrier, more aggressive, and even more vengeful. It can override more rational thoughts.”

Everest, Inc.

Everest, Inc.: The Renegades and Rogues Who Built an Industry at the Top of the World by Will Cockrell

As the title suggests this is a history of the industry of guides bringing people up Everest. It is an interesting evolution of the business. The first people were guided up the mountain in 1982. Which I was kind of surprised about, since I would have thought it would have happened much earlier. Before that it was private adventurers and national teams that would attempt Everest. It is also interesting that after Tenzing Norgay summited Everest with Hillary, he never went up the mountain again. The first companies that would take clients up the mountain, and other Himalaya peeks, were western owned, but employed many native Sherpa to carry loads and set rope. Over the years that evolved into a situation that now most of the companies guiding people in the Himalaya are native Nepalese owned businesses.

There is also a lot in this book about how Everest is viewed in the world and presented in the press. The many failed attempts and deaths on the mountain and the more dramatic moments that receive a lot of publicity. But also presented are the statistics that show that it is not as dangerous as the reputation that it has.

The Light Eaters

The Light Eaters: How the Unseen World of Plant Intelligence Offers a New Understanding of Life on Earth by Zoë Schlanger

Light eaters are plants, who through photsynthesis turn sunlight into energy. This is a well written history of how plants evolved, and how the continue to evolve to adapt to the planet. A lot of interesting bit of popular science.

The Fate of the Day: The War for America, Fort Ticonderoga to Charleston, 1777-1780

The Fate of the Day: The War for America, Fort Ticonderoga to Charleston, 1777-1780 Book 2 of 2: The Revolution Trilogy | by Rick Atkinson

The second in his trilogy of the revolution, this very thorough history took a while to get through but was worth it. It is very dense and detailed tracking these three years of the war. He also spends a lot of time describing what is going on in Europe and England during the war, which is a different approach than a lot of people take.

Hunger Like a Thirst

Hunger Like a Thirst: From Food Stamps to Fine Dining, a Restaurant Critic Finds Her Place at the Table by Besha Rodell

Besha is a food writer with an interesting story. This memoir tracks her life and career from Australia to the US and back to Australia, and provides insight into how writing about food has its ups and downs and has been changing drastically over the last 20 years. Very entertaining.

When the Going Was Good

When the Going Was Good: An Editor's Adventures During the Last Golden Age of Magazines by Graydon Carter

This is a memoir of Graydon, from his growing up in Ottawa, Canada to his career in the magazine business ending up as editor of Vanity Fair at a time when it was a major publication. Si Newhouse was major influence and guiding force that allowed him to excel at a gime when magazine's were at their height, arguably. Entertaining and personal.

Realm of Ice and Sky

Realm of Ice and Sky: Triumph, Tragedy, and History's Greatest Arctic Rescue by Buddy Levy

During the first part of the 20th century, great lighter than airships were very popular and were seen as the future of aviation. This is the stroy of 2 polar explorations that used these airships to explore the arctic. The first was a ship lead by Amundson to go to the North pole. This was an italian built ship so the Italian government under Mussilini used it a propganda device, not to the liking of the Norwegian crew that were the actual explorers of this ship.

The second air ship is the Italia which was an Italian government sponsored exploration, lead by the italian Umberto Nobile who was on the first ship in a minor role, but managed to leverage his participation to lead the expedition. This second air ship had a much more ambitious arctic exploration agenda, but ended in tragedy when the ship crashed in the far north and many of the crew perished. Nobile was rescued and while he was a hero in Italy, many others blamed him for the failure of the ship and the lives lost.

Into the Ice and The Third Pole

Into the Ice: The Northwest Passage, the Polar Sun, and a 175-Year-Old Mystery and The Third Pole: Mystery, Obsession, and Death on Mount Everest by Mark Synnott

Into the Ice is the story of the author sailing a small sail boat through the Northwest Passage and all the obticles involved. Also along the way lookinig for remnants of the Franklin expedition.

The Third Pole is Everest. Once both poles has been visited Everest was seen as the last great exploring opportunity. This is the story of the author going up Everest and at the same time looking for evidence of Mallory and Irvine who disappeared on the mountain in 1924. A lot of speculation but also interesting facts about what is known about them.

The Ride: Paul Revere and the Night That Saved America

The Ride: Paul Revere and the Night That Saved America

This is actually a petty inclusive biography of Paul Revere. The 'ride' where he warned Lexington and Concord is the last part of this book. The first part deals with his younger years and is a build up to his ride to alarm people. He was a very skilled horse rider, and interestingly for his rides, to New York, Philadelphia etc, he was actually paid for his time and effort. There is also information about how he became a legend, since others rode out to warn the patriots also, but his story resonated with people.

The Last Manager

The Last Manager: How Earl Weaver Tricked, Tormented, and Reinvented Baseball by John W. Miller

Biography of Earl Weaver, manager of the Baltimore Orioles in the 1970s and 80s. Earl was a very colorful baseball characters who lead the Orioles to many penant and world series wins. He was also ejected from ballgames more than any other managers. He was known for putting on a show by fighting with the umpires and this behavior helped to boost attendance at ball games, as fans came to see the 'Earl Show'. He played baseball in the minor leagues but never in the majors.

Sinkable

Sinkable: Obsession, the Deep Sea, and the Shipwreck of the Titanic by Daniel Stone

The story of the Titanic, but not really the last voyage and who survived and who did not. But the story of the Titanic became the legend, metaphore and symbal it later became. The autor points out that there have been thousands of ship wrecks over the centuries, but Titanic's story continues to evolve and remain relevant.

Ends of the Earth

Ends of the Earth: Journeys to the Polar Regions in Search of Life, the Cosmos, and Our Future by Neil Shubin

This is a memoir and history, the author is a arctic and antarctic researcher, lots of history and science and speculation about the future of the poles and the planet.

All the Beauty in the World

All the Beauty in the World: The Metropolitan Museum of Art and Me by Patrick Bringley

Interesting ture story of Patrick, he was working at the New Yorker when his brother passed away after a prolonged illness. Wanting a job that was completely different from his previous experience, he took a job working as a security guard at the Metropolitan Museum of Art. He stayed at this job for ten years, and this is the story of what that experience was like to go to work everyday and to be surrounded with the best art and artifacts in the world. During the ten years his life went through many changes, and there are many stories of his fellow employees and the museum patrons. Original to say the least.

Be Ready When the Luck Happens

Be Ready When the Luck Happens: A Memoir by Ina Garten

This memoir by Ina is more interesting than I had expected. The titles reflects her life in food perfectly. She never went to cooking school or worked as a commvercial chef. She followed her instincts and went from specialty food shop owner to caterer to cook book writer to television chef.

Paris Undercover

Paris Undercover: A Wartime Story of Courage, Friendship, and Betrayal by Matthew Goodman

The story of two women, an American and a Parisian, who were living in Paris when WW2 broke out and of course the Nazis occupied the city. The got involved in helping Allied troops trapped in France try to escape, and this went very wrong at one point. A unique true story of the war, which has so many stories that tend to be the same rote tales.

The Plot: A Novel and The Sequel

The Plot: A Novel and The Sequel by Jean Hanff Korelitz

These two novels are a real departure from what I usually read. The are classified as thrillers, so not really mysteries, though there are murders involved. I found them very engaging and enjoyable and they really held my attention. The Sequel is the second part of the novel The Plot. The characters are developed nicely and a big part of both of these is looking at authors and the publishing industry, so a bit of an insider vibe to these, but accessible to anyone who is an avid reader.

American Oasis

American Oasis: Finding the Future in the Cities of the Southwest by Kyle Paoletta

This is an extensive history of the populating of the SW US. Going back to Coronodo and Spain and Mexico trying to administer the region, up through the US taking over the region and the founding the major cities; Albaquerque, Tucson, Las Vegas and so on. A great description of the creation of the Colorado Compact that divided up the Colorado river among the states. Many of the things we live with today and their origins.

The Studio

The Studio by John Gregory Dunne

In 1967 Dunne was given complete access to Twentieth Century Fox by Richard Zanuck. This was the year that the movies "Dr. Dolittle," "Planet of the Apes," "Funy Girl" and "The Boston Strangler" were all being filmed and the author had access to the filming and meetings of executives and writers of these. He saw how the publicity machines in the studio worked and all the expectations around these films, some that worked, some that did not. A nice tale if insights into how things worked in the movie industry at the time.

Box Office Poison

Box Office Poison: A Hilarious and Revealing Journey Through Hollywood's Biggest Blunders with a Surprising Lesson, Discover the Untold Stories of the Film Industry's Most Memorable Failures by Tim Robey

This book tells the story of movies that were flops at the box office, and that cost a fortune. It goes from the silent film era to the present. These are of course not every movie that bombed, but the highlights of the ones have the best stories. Entertaining but does get a bit bogged down at times. Also interesting how the movie industry has changed and how the pandemic has affected movie going. Seems that there will be less expensive flops in the future and the corporations that run the movie business become less risk averse. (Also see 'The Future Was Now' previous post)

Aflame: Learning from Silence by Pico Iyer

This chronicles Pico's 30 years of going to the catholic monistary in northern California. (see also Fire Monks: Zen Mind Meets Wildfire by Colleen Morton Busch)

The Tiger Slam

The Tiger Slam: The Inside Story of the Greatest Golf Ever Played (Tiger Woods in 2000–2001) by Kevin Cook

This biography/Tribute to Tiger Woods concentrates on his amazing wins in 2002-2001. His upbringing and later issues with health problems and scandals is mentioned, but this really is a love letter to Tiger. In some ways very diservingly, he was an amazing athlete and arguably the best golfer of all time, having changed the game and revitalized interest in golf during his run.