March's Anatomy of a Rose, Exploring the Secret Life of Flowers by Sharman Apt Russell was pretty darn good. I especially liked the chapter on pollinators, 'Dirty Tricks'. Many of us think only of bees or maybe ants as pollinators but the list of possible sexual partners is pretty big. The love-hate relationships are pretty intense as well. Some flowers kill off the insect that has just impregnated them, some insects kill off the flower after taking the pollen. The possibilities for murder plots and intrigue are huge, for those writers looking for plot ideas.
This month, on the theme of non-fiction, I am headed into "Deep Economy, the wealth of Communities and the Durable Future" by Bill McKibbon.
here
The jacket back says this books makes a "compelling case for moving beyond growth as the paramount economic ideal and pursuing prosperity in a more local direction, with regions producing more of their own food, generating more of their own energy, and even creating more of their own culture and entertainment. Our purchases need not be at odds with the things we truly value...the more we nurture the essential humanity of our economy, the more we will recapture our own."
We've been doing the 100 mile diet, fair trade imports and searching for local/fair trade clothes for several years now and this snugs in. I like the idea of recapturing my humanity.
When you live in an isolated community like ours a local economy, rather than global, is an everyday issue. One of the things we are doing currently is a food production map of the area. Supplies are brought in Monday to friday on the ferry but if they failed to run we know the area stores only carry 3 days supply of food.
ReplyDeleteWhat an interesting non fiction choice!
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