Books

Pure Gold Pauses

| Flower Roberts

When I was teaching college biology I used to pause before an important point and alert my students that a gold nugget of knowledge was forthcoming. If I had been my student taking notes, I would have drawn an asterix in the margin, maybe skipped a line for the pause and breathed in.

I do this backwards as I read. I highlight the gold nugget and put an asterisk in the margin. If I consider the point really valuable, I flip to the front book jacket and write down the page number with a brief note or symbol.

I sometimes called these pregnant pauses because various facts were about to be birthed into a bigger concept. All the pieces finally came together to be joined forever, never to be seen as separate again. Like spinning gold from words.

Pure Gold Pauses take careful consideration and viewing a concept from all sides.  It is a skill that takes one’s full attention and relentless practice.

I just finshed a book with so much gold in it that I dried up three highlighters.  It was HOW TO KNOW A PERSON by David Brooks.  I am a fast reader but this book required quiet reading and pauses before and after each section. I will read it several more times as I wander where this book trail leads, but for now I will return to the asterisks, reread the pages I noted in the front cover and then site quietly for a time with my phone on silent.

I have always admired David Brooks, but now I love him. He is on every page of this book trying to see and be seen, hear and be heard, love and be loved. He has written other things and will write other things. This may be his magnum opus.

When I look back at my notes, page 164 got a grief post-poned note, page 165 got a WOW, page 250 got a heart.

If you have ever lost a soul-mate (mine was Sandra) you must read about his friend Pete. This part was raw and honest and helped me feel less bad about not doing everything right at the end. We cannot know what we do not know until we do know when it is too late.

Make time to pause. Read this book full of pure gold. Be ready to learn about yourself.

Thank you David Brooks.

FLOW

On the Book Trail

| Flower Roberts

I read books about things that interest me. Those books refer to other books on the subject that the author used to write their book. I look up those books and read those, too.
I call this ” following the book trail.” That is how I have found some of my favorite books. I have been following the book trail lately as I wait for my next hip surgery.
This book, Every Living Thing by Jason Roberts, is about the lives of two naturalist in the 1700’s who attempted to classify all living things.

I have read about them and even taught about them many times, but I never really knew their stories until now. This book starts at the early lives of Carl Linnaeus and Gorges-Louis Leclerc (de Buffon) and details their development into the important researchers they became.

Their stories involve the struggles of obtaining an education and a proper place in society and science. These two men followed very different paths to get to their goal. Both stories are amazing!

If you love biology, you will enjoy this book on how our present classification system came into existence.

FLOWER  (sitting still and silently reading about science)

A Beautiful Botany Book from Kew

| Flower Roberts

This is one of my favorite gifts from my daughter, Rose. It has the most gorgeous illustrations of plants. It is also organized into plant types and explains how those plants are related.

It is a book I wonder through on cold, rainy days. I can pretend I am in the rainforest among the tall trees and hanging vines.

Or I can dream of being in a warm Orchid House among the breathtaking blooms.

This very large book also serves as a piece of art in my library. Illustrator Katie Scott and writer Kathy Willis have created a treasure for anyone who loves botany or unusual plants. Brava!

FLOWER

An Enlightening Book of Botany

| Flower Roberts

I just finished this fascinating book investigating the possibility of plant intelligence.

It is written by a curious reporter who left her job to follow leads all over the planet so she could interview botanists in the field and in their labs.

What a dream, to mix a passion for writing and plants into a grand adventure.

BRAVO ZOE! You are my new hero.

Flower

Inside a Book

| Flower Roberts

It’s warm and dry inside a book.

I have a winter stash that I only allow myself to look at when the weather is bad.

It is raining again today. Hooray!

I finally get to enjoy the two books my friend Joyce gave me in June.

IMG_4629

They are Flora Forager books. Both by the brilliant Bridget Beth Collins.

IMG_4638

She does magic with flower and plant pieces.

Some of her art is mosaic pictures.

IMG_4637

Some are replicas of famous paintings.

IMG_4633

Many are mandalas made of natural materials.

IMG_4634

The seasonal journal has plenty of room

to write that poetry I have been putting off putting down.

IMG_4635

I plan to lose myself in these books on this dreary day.

Oh look. There I am now!

IMG_4632

FLOW

 

My Many Affairs with John Steinbeck

| Flower Roberts

I met John when I was in the ninth grade. He was too old and wise for me.

His Grapes of Wrath was too detailed and wordy. I only liked the “Turtle Chapter.”

Years later, I was so engrossed in the Joads’ struggles that I skipped the turtle.

We met again while I was in college. His Red Pony broke my heart.

The short story “Junius Maltby” made me a more empathetic teacher.

I read The Log from the Sea of Cortez while in graduate school.

I could smell the sea and hear the seagulls.  It was such an adventure.

An older,  fellow biologist sharing his life at sea.

“Travels with Charley” took me places I had never been while in my thirties.

I am traveling with Charley again. I have been to these places now.

My experienced eyes recognize the land and the people.

He has been a great traveling companion over the years.

Now I know, he was not some brilliant, mysterious, older man.

He was just a real person looking closely at life and recording it for the rest of us,

who were too young, inexperienced or busy to notice these things for ourselves.

I still love him,

but now we are just friends.

FLOWER

If I’m not Weeding, I’m Reading

| Flower Roberts

We had some snow here today, so the weeds had to wait.

I made progress in several of the books that I am reading.

I only read non-fiction right now.

My last book of fiction made me so mad that I tossed it.

I can read books simultaneously if they are dissimilar. Otherwise, I get them confused.

Tristan Gooley’s How To Read Water is a hit with me.  It is even better than his book, The Lost Art of Reading Nature’s Signs.

A Woman’s Place is at the Top by Hannah Kimberly is a fascinating story of the mountain climber, Annie Smith Peck.  I admire her determination, but she was not as civic-minded as my two heroes, Marianne North and Beatrix Potter.

Gretchen Rubin inspires me with her thoughtful pursuits at improvement.  I have just started Happier at Home,  but I really enjoyed her book, Better Than Before. 

Elizabeth Kolbert is a really great science writer. Do not let the “science” deter you. Her book, The Sixth Extinction is on my top ten list.

In case you are wondering what the bunnies do in wet weather, they chew on sticks.

I caught Charlotte wistfully gazing out the bottom panes of the French doors today. I know she would hate it out there in the cold, but she still wanted out.

They enjoyed eating bark off of fruitwood sticks. These are now ready to burn.

Tomorrow will be sunny, so I won’t be eating so much…I mean reading so much.

FLOWER