Leafing Through the Pages - 2011

The nominations have been presented! The ballots have been cast! The votes are in! During 2011, participants in Leafing Through the Pages, the book/film discussion group of the Sterling Morton Library, will be viewing, reading and discussing the following works:

• January 13 – The Curious Mister Catesby – Viewing of the film will begin at 10 a.m. with the discussion to follow.
• February 10 – Egan, Timothy. The big burn : Teddy Roosevelt and the fire that saved America, 2010.
• March 10 – Muir, John. A thousand-mile walk to the Gulf, 1916.
• April 14 – Lisle, Laurie. Portrait of an artist: a biography of Georgia O'Keeffe, 1997.
• May 12 – Biggers, Jeff. Reckoning at Eagle Creek : the secret legacy of coal in the heartland, 2010.
• June 9 – Freinkel, Susan. American chestnut : the life, death, and rebirth of a perfect trees, 2007.
• July 14 – Carson, Rachel. Silent spring, 1962.
• August 11, 2011 – Wulf, Andrea. The brother gardeners : botany, empire and the birth of an obsession, 2009.
• September 8 – Lewis, Charles. Green nature/human nature : the meaning of plants in our lives, 1996.
• October 13 – Plotkin, Mark J. Tales of a shaman’s apprentice : an ethnobotanist searches for new medicines in the Amazon rain forest, 1993.
• November 10 – Stegner, Wallace. Beyond the hundredth meridian : John Wesley Powell and the second opening of the west, 1954.
• December 8 – Greenfield, Amy Butler. A perfect red : empire, espionage, and the quest for the color of desire, 2005.
  
  Meeting the second Thursday of each month from 10 a.m. - 12 p.m. in the Sterling Morton Library of The Morton Arboretum
  
  Join us for a morning of spirited conversation, discussion and dialogue!

The Snoring Bird

Today’s gathering of Leafing Through the Pages, the book discussion group of the Sterling Morton Library, was a fascinating and insightful discussion of Bernd Heinrich’s The Snoring Bird. Heinrich’s page-turning memoir led to a thoughtful conversation about survival, biology, family dynamics, history, nature vs. nurture and a host of related topics. Heinrich’s frank and compelling tale provided an entry point for the group to explore the intriguing world of the naturalist.

Interested in exploring the writings of Heinrich? Stop by the Library and discover:

• Bumblebee economics, 1979. QL568.A6 H39
• In a patch of fireweed, 1984. CT9460.H45 I5
• One man's owl, 1987. QL696.S8 H45
• Ravens in winter, 1989. QL696.P2367 H45
• The hot-blooded insects : strategies and mechanisms of thermoregulation, 1993. QL495 .H38
• A year in the Maine woods, 1994. F26 .H45
• The thermal warriors : strategies of insect survival, 1996. QL495 .H39
• Winter world : the ingenuity of animal survival, 2003. QL753 .H45
• The geese of Beaver Bog, 2004. QL696.A52 H43
• Summer world : a season of bounty, 2009. QL753 .H44

Next month, we will temporarily transform ourselves into a film discussion group. With our start time slightly tweaked, we will begin at 9:30 a.m. on Thursday, March 11 with a viewing -- followed by a discussion -- of the film Enchanted April.

Leafing Through the Pages - 2010

Leafing Through the Pages, the book discussion group of the Sterling Morton Library, will be reading and discussing the following works during 2010:

• January 14, 2010 - Hensley, William L. Iġġiaġruk. Fifty miles from tomorrow : a memoir of Alaska and the real people, 2009.
• February 11, 2010 - Heinrich, Bernd. The snoring bird : my family's journey through a century of biology, 2007.
• March 11, 2010 - Enchanted April (1992) – Film - Showing times to be determined.
• April 8, 2010 - Wilke, Joanne. Eight women, two Model Ts, and the American West, 2007.
• May 13, 2010 - Cousteau, Jacques and Susan Schiefelbein. The human, the orchid, and the octopus : exploring and conserving our natural world, 2007.
• June 10, 2010 - Gentile, Olivia. Life list : a woman’s quest for the world’s most amazing birds, 2009.
• July 8, 2010 - Smith, Jane S. The garden of invention : Luther Burbank and the business of breeding plants, 2009.
• August 12, 2010 - Bryson, Bill. A walk in the woods : rediscovering America on the Appalachian Trail, 1999.
• September 9, 2010 - Bartram, William. Travels through North and South Carolina, east and west Florida, originally published in 1791.
• October 14, 2010 - Stewart, Amy. Wicked plants : the weed that killed Lincoln's mother & other botanical atrocities, 2009.
• November 11, 2010 - Buck, Pearl. The Good earth, originally published in 1931.
• December 9, 2010 - Ballowe, Jim. Christmas in Illinois, 2010.

Meeting the second Thursday of each month from 10-12 in the Sterling Morton Library of The Morton Arboretum.

Walk with us in the woods with Bill Bryson, swim underwater with Jacques Cousteau, tour with 8 women in a Model T, visit Alaska, discover some very dangerous plants, travel with William Bartram in the Carolinas (circa 1791) and spend Christmas in Illinois. If that isn't enough -- with the addition of a film -- we'll explore a small mediaeval Italian castle on the shores of the Mediterranean and discover the transformative power of landscape, space and setting!

A Man of Salt and Trees : the life of Joy Morton

At last! James Ballowe’s biography of Joy Morton, The Morton Arboretum’s founder, is tantalizingly close to publication. Jim made extensive use of the Sterling Morton Library’s Archives in preparation of this work which is the first full-length biography of Morton. “Using the voluminous correspondence of the Morton family, Ballowe tells the story of the Nebraska farm boy who grew up to be a small town banker who became a leading citizen of Chicago and Illinois and a major figure in the nation’s economic and technological development during the late 19th and early 20th centuries.” This biography published by Northern Illinois University Press, will be available for purchase at the Arboretum Store.

There will be several upcoming Arboretum events heralding this remarkable book:

Saturday, April 25, 11:00 a.m. - 3:00 p.m., Arboretum Store
Meet Jim Ballowe, author of "A Man of Salt and Trees: The Life of Joy Morton." Jim will sign copies and answer questions about his book documenting the life of Joy Morton, founder of the Arboretum and the Morton Salt Company.

Saturday, May 16, 1:30 p.m. - 3:30 p.m., Thornhill Education Center
Salt, Chicago, and Trees: Joy Morton’s Life
Register for this class within the Arboretum’s Education Program to learn more about Joy’s contributions to the City of Chicago, the Burnham Plan and the State of Illinois.

Thursday, June 11, 10:00 a.m. - 12:00 p.m., Sterling Morton Library
Jim will join the Library’s book discussion group, Leafing Through the Pages, for a discussion of Joy Morton and this biography.

Sunday, June 28, 12 p.m. - 4:00 p.m., Sterling Morton Library
As part of The Morton Arboretum's Open House, Jim will be signing copies of his book and answering questions about his research. In addition to meeting the author, visitors will have the opportunity to view images and artifacts associated with Joy Morton from the Library's Special Collections.

Leafing Through the Pages - 2009

The nominations were made, the votes have been tallied and the list has been compiled. Leafing Through the Pages, the book discussion group of the Sterling Morton Library, will be reading and discussing the following works during 2009:

• January 8, 2009 - Helphand, Kenneth. Defiant gardens : making gardens in wartime, 2006.
• February 12, 2009 - Frome, Michael. Strangers in high places : the story of the Great Smoky Mountains, 1966.
• March 12, 2009 - Dillard, Annie. Teaching a stone to talk : expeditions and encounters, 1982.
• April 9, 2009 - Friedman, Thomas. Hot, flat and crowded : why we need a green revolution--and how it can renew America, 2008.
• May 14, 2009 - Smith, Carl. The plan of Chicago : Daniel Burnham and the remaking of the American city, 2006.
• June 11, 2009 - Ballowe, Jim. A man of salt and trees : the life of Joy Morton, 2009.
• July 9, 2009 - Maloney, Cathy Jean. Chicago gardens : the early history, 2008.
• August 13, 2009 - Johnson, Wendy. Gardening at the dragon's gate : at work in the wild and cultivated world, 2008.
• September 10, 2009 - Campanella, Thomas J. Republic of shade : New England and the American elm, 2003.
• October 8, 2009 - Koeppel, Dan. Banana : the fate of the fruit that changed the world, 2008.
• November 12, 2009 - Kull, Robert. Solitude : seeking wisdom in extremes : a year alone in the Patagonia wilderness, 2008.
• December 10, 2009 - Zwinger, Ann. Wind in the rock, 1978.

Full particulars: Meeting the second Thursday of each month from 10 a.m. - 12 p.m. in the Sterling Morton Library of The Morton Arboretum

Join us for a morning of spirited conversation, discussion and dialogue!

Our morning with Joel!

Joel Greenberg, author and raconteur, joined us at Thursday’s gathering of Leafing Through the Pages, the book discussion group of the Sterling Morton Library. The group had selected his recently published Of prairie, woods, & water : two centuries of Chicago nature writing for our final discussion of the year. Happily, Joel agreed to join us and share his unique insight/stories/color about nature writing and nature writers of our region.

The Sterling Morton Library has an extensive collection of works by and about many of these writers including May T. Watts, Donald Culross Peattie, Henry Chandler Cowles, Edwin Way Teale, Jens Jensen, and a host of others! This is a sampling of some of the works on display during our discussion:

• Angle, Paul M. Prairie State: impressions of Illinois, 1673-1967, 1968.
• Bailey, Eli Stillman. The sand dunes of Indiana : the story of an American wonderland told by camera and pen, 1924, c1917.
• Cowles, Henry Chandler. A spring flora for high schools, 1915.
• Grese, Robert E. Jens Jensen : maker of natural parks and gardens, 1992.
• Long, Judith Reick. Gene Stratton-Porter : novelist and naturalist, 1990.
• Pepoon, Herman Silas. An annotated flora of the Chicago area : with maps and many illustrations from photographs of topographic and plant features, 1927.
• Quaife, Milo Milton. Checagou : from Indian wigwam to modern city, 1673-1835, 1933.
• Swink, Floyd and Gerould Wilhelm. Plants of the Chicago region, 1994.
• Tillson, Christiana Holmes. A woman's story of pioneer Illinois, 1919.
• Watts, May Theilgaard. Reading the landscape : an adventure in ecology,1957.
• Woods, John. Two years' residence in the settlement on the English Prairie, 1968.

During Joel’s meeting with us, he described some interesting natural areas in our region to visit. Since our gathering, a sharp-eyed group member found and forwarded this article by Joel -- A Naturalist's Tour of Southern Lake Michigan. If you weren't able to join us for Thursday’s discussion, there is a terrific WBEZ interview by Donna Seaman with Joel (appropriately presented on Earth Day) on Open Books Radio. Scroll through the page to Non-Fiction, select Joel's interview - and share in their remarkable conversation!

Return to Wild America

The featured book at Thursday’s gathering of Leafing Through the Pages, the Sterling Morton Library’s book discussion group, was Scott Weidensaul’s Return to wild America : a yearlong search for the continent's natural soul. The conversation about Weidensaul’s adventure was fascinating and presented another perspective on the original journey of Peterson and Fisher recounted in Wild America : the record of a 30,000 mile journey around the continent by a distinguished naturalist and his British colleague.
In addition to our discussion, we gathered a list of potential books to read in 2009. I’ve added this draft to the official Leafing Through the Pages wiki which can be found at: http://leafingthroughthepages.pbwiki.com/ This wiki also includes our reading history detailing what we’ve read since the founding of the discussion group on March 13, 2003. Whew! Lots of great books, stories, poems and conversations!

Enjoy the list and join us at an upcoming discussion!

Metamorphosis and Transformation

On Thursday, the Sterling Morton Library’s book discussion group gathered to discuss the remarkable life of Maria Sibylla Merian. Her life, adventures and contributions are recounted in this month’s reading selection, Chrysalis : Maria Sibylla Merian and the secrets of metamorphosis, by Kim Todd. Daughter of noted engraver Matthaus Merian the Elder, Maria was born in Frankfurt in April 1647. When she was three, her father died and a year later her mother married Jacob Marrel, a painter and art dealer. Encouraged to draw at an early age, she became a keen artist and naturalist. During and after her early marriage and birth of her children, she continued to study and draw insects and teach students. She became particularly interested in the lifecycle of caterpillars and butterflies, exploring this transformative process and struggled to illustrate all the stages of their development. During this time she also pursued a personal transformation, leaving her husband, joining the Labadist religious community and eventually moving to Amsterdam. In pursuit of her artistic and scientific interests, she then left Europe with her youngest daughter, Dorothea Maria, in June of 1699 to travel to the Dutch colony of Suriname. During her work in Suriname, she observed and illustrated the insect world and the plants connected to this life process. Living and working in this northern South American country for about two years, she studied and recorded the local flora and fauna. Returning to the Netherlands in 1701, she continued to illustrate the remarkable process of metamorphosis and eventually published her work. Whew! What an adventure! Her life and work were groundbreaking for many personal and professional reasons especially considering the fact that she was one of the earliest naturalists to observe insects directly.

It was a treat to discuss and consider this remarkable life and work at our discussion group gathering. It was especially helpful to view some of the works from our collections related to the Merian family:
Several works illustrated by her father, Matthaus Merian the Elder.
A book published by her beloved half brother, Caspar Merian.

Works by Maria Sibylla Merian. The present exhibit in the Sterling Morton Library has on display a Dutch translation (1719) of her seminal work - Metamorphosis insectorum Sarinamensium. This 1719 edition was published after Maria's death by her youngest daughter and Suriname traveling companion, Dorothea Maria.
Also in our collection are two exquisite original works by her eldest daughter, Johanna Helena Herolt. These watercolor and gouache works on vellum depict flowers and the accompanying insect lifecycles.

External resource of special note:

Presently, there is a wonderful exhibit at the J. Paul Getty Museum entitled Maria Sibylla Merian & Daughters: Women of Art and Science. This exhibit "charts the artistic and scientific explorations of German artist Maria Sibylla Merian (1647–1717) and her daughters Johanna Helena and Dorothea Maria." If you are unable to view this exhibit at the Getty in-person, be sure to view it on-line!

The Worst Journey in the World by Apsley Cherry-Garrard

The weather in northern Illinois seems positively tropical particularly since I’ve been reading The Worst Journey in the World by Apsley Cherry-Garrard. Tomorrow morning, the book discussion group of the Sterling Morton Library will meet to discuss Cherry-Garrard’s riveting Antarctic narrative. While the Sterling Morton Library’s polar studies collection is minuscule, there are a number of on-line resources that will provide more information on this dramatic area and adventure. Cherry’s narrative chronicles his trip to gather penguin eggs (the worst journey in the world) along with the heartbreaking account of Scott’s race to the South Pole. A great adventure book, this account presents a dramatic setting, complex scientific details along with a very poignant story of the challenges faced by these explorers.

Places to search for more information:
The Royal Geographical Society’s Image Library has over 800 images from the British Antarctic Expedition 1910-1913
http://images.rgs.org
(Search under the heading: British Antarctic Expedition 1910-1913)

Scott Polar Research Institute, University of Cambridge – http://www.spri.cam.ac.uk
Their image library has a number of images from the expedition at British Antarctic Expedition, 1910-1913 (Terra Nova) at http://www.spri.cam.ac.uk/library/pictures/expeditions/terranova/

Science battles for Scott's reputation – BBC News - http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/science/nature/1535989.stm

Different Approaches to Antarctic Exploration by Sian Flynn http://www.bbc.co.uk/history/british/britain_wwone/south_approaches_01.shtml

Lots of information about this Expedition can be found from our good friends at Wikipedia:
Terra Nova Expedition - http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Terra_Nova_Expedition
Details about some of the explorers:
Robert Falcon Scott - http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Edward_Adrian_Wilson
Edward Adrian Wilson - http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Edward_Adrian_Wilson

A digital copy of this books is available at Project Gutenberg at http://www.gutenberg.org/etext/14363

Leafing Through the Pages - 2008

Leafing Through the Pages, the book discussion group of the Sterling Morton Library

Meeting the second Thursday of each month from 10-12 in the
Sterling Morton Library of The Morton Arboretum

• January 10, 2008 - Cherry-Garrard, Apsley. The worst journey in the world, 2002 (originally published 1922).
• February 14 2008 - Peterson, Roger Tory and James Fisher. Wild America : the record of a 30,000 mile journey around the continent by a distinguished naturalist and his British colleague, 1955.
• March 13, 2008 - Kingsolver, Barbara. Animal, vegetable, miracle : a year of food life, 2007.
• April 10, 2008 - Egan, Timothy. The worst hard time : the untold story of those who survived the great American dust bowl, 2006.
• May 8, 2008 - Bjornerud, Marcia. Reading the rocks : the autobiography of the earth, 2005.
• June 12, 2008 - Littlepage, Dean. Steller's Island : adventures of a pioneer naturalist in Alaska, 2006.
• July 10, 2008 - Todd, Kim. Chrysalis : Maria Sibylla Merian and the secrets of metamorphosis, 2007.
• August 14, 2008 - Stutchbury, Bridget Joan. Silence of the songbirds, 2007.
• September 11, 2008 - Ray, Janisse. Ecology of a Cracker childhood, 1999.
• October 9, 2008 - Pollan, Michael. The omnivore's dilemma : a natural history of four meals, 2006.
• November 13, 2008 - Weidensaul, Scott. Return to wild America : a yearlong search for the continent's natural soul, 2005.
• December 11, 2008 - Greenberg, Joel. Of prairie, woods, & water : two centuries of Chicago nature writing, 2008. (To be published in March/April 2008)

Join us for a spirited discussion!

Chicago Humanities Festival

At the last gathering of Leafing Through the Pages, the Sterling Morton Library’s book discussion group, the upcoming 18th Annual Chicago Humanities Festival (October 27-November 11, 2007) was mentioned. After our discussion break, I printed/passed around a schedule of the Festival’s activities. If you haven’t had an opportunity to review the upcoming event, complete details can be found at: http://www.chfestival.org/ This year’s theme of The Climate of Concern is presented through “16 unforgettable days of talks, panels, readings, performances, exhibits, screenings, and conversations about the clear and urgent challenge we face: how do we, as a community of fellow humans, come to envision – with lucidity, vigor, and hope – our responsibilities toward each other, our progeny, and the planet?” On perusing the schedule, I discovered that some of the authors we have read/might be planning to read in the book discussion group will be participating at the festival. Imagine -- authors like Elizabeth Kolbert, Curt Meine, Bill McKibben, Terry Tempest Williams, Diane Ackerman, May Berenbaum and David Orr will all be participating. Festival events and activities will be presented in a number of different venues throughout the city. What a terrific opportunity to immerse yourself in this challenging global dialogue.

While flipping by the stations on Sunday morning, I came across a local public service program that featured the Festival. One of the guests described the hyperbolic crochet coral reef ("a woolly celebration of the intersection of higher geometry and feminine handicraft, and a testimony to the disappearing wonders of the marine world") on exhibit at the Chicago Cultural Center. As an earnest student of science, community and yarn, I found this to be a fascinating idea and project! From challenging speakers to concerts to a community of crocheters, find a way to involve yourself in this remarkable festival of events!

No doubt about the Rio da Dúvida

Yesterday’s gathering of Leafing Through the Pages, the Sterling Morton Library’s book group, was a spirited discussion of Candace Millard’s River of Doubt: Theodore Roosevelt’s Darkest Journey. Group participants were spellbound by the adventures of the Brazilian-American crew that surveyed the Rio da Dúvida (River of Doubt later renamed Rio Roosevelt), “a churning, ink-black tributary of the Amazon that winds nearly a thousand miles through the dense Brazilian rain forest.” Led by Cândido Mariano da Silva Rondon, famed explorer and Brazilian military officer, and Theodore Roosevelt, the former U.S. president, the author explores the high adventure, intrigue and drama of this expedition’s exploits. Of particular interest to our discussion was Millard’s riveting description of the challenging terrain and natural history of the region. As the story unfolds, the group discovered the expedition was ill prepared to face the many challenges (those unforeseen and those that probably should have been foreseen) that awaited them in their 1913-1914 expedition. Through diaries, interviews and extensive research, the author presents a compelling story.

Within the Sterling Morton Library, there are a number of resources that will provide further information about Roosevelt and Amazonia:

• Theodore Roosevelt : the naturalist by Paul Russell Cutright
• The Rough riders by Theodore Roosevelt
• Theodore Roosevelt's America : selections from the writings of the Oyster Bay naturalist
• Margaret Mee's Amazon : paintings of plants from Brazilian Amazonia by Margaret Mee ; text by Simon Mayo
• Amazon frontier : the defeat of the Brazilian Indians by John Hemming
• Flowers of the Brazilian forests collected and painted by Margaret Mee
• A botanist in the Amazon Valley : an account of the flora and fauna in the land of floods by R. Ruggles Gates
• Travels on the Amazon and Rio Negro : with an account of the native tribes, and observations on the climate, geology, and natural history of the Amazon Valley by Alfred Russel Wallace
• Naturalist on the River Amazons by Edward Clodd

Additional resources to investigate:

• Tracing Roosevelt's Path Down the 'River of Doubt' – NPR Morning Edition, November 3, 2005
• Film – Library of Congress - Includes a Roosevelt Memorial Association compilation of footage from TR's 1913-1914 trip to South America. In addition to the original footage, supplemental footage by George M. Dyott, an English explorer, is available for viewing. In 1926, Dyott was asked by the Roosevelt Memorial Association to retrace TR's voyage down the River of Doubt and to film this trip in order to supplement the original footage.
• Biographical information about Rondon - Wikipedia
• Theodore Roosevelt Association

Leave No Child Inside

The June gathering of Leafing Through the Pages, the Sterling Morton Library’s book discussion group, was a rich and thought provoking conversation about Last Child in the Woods: Saving our Children from Nature-Deficit Disorder by Richard Louv. Since our discussion, I’ve been exploring some additional resources on the topic.

In the recent issue of Chicago Wilderness (Summer 2007), there is a special report: People : Nurture & Nature by Katherine Millett. This report “examines how we and our children connect with nature—and how those behavioral patterns may affect the future.” It is a thoughtful article worth exploring. Part of a national movement, a new multi-year initiative called Leave No Child Inside recently has been launched “aimed at fostering generations of children who care enough for nature to protect it” by the 206 Chicago Wilderness member organizations. Many of the Chicago Wilderness organizations will be presenting a number of activities and events related to this initiative. For more, see http://www.kidsoutside.info/

Also within Millett’s report is a description of Conservation Psychology. For more details, see http://www.conservationpsychology.org/ As noted from the website: Conservation psychology is the scientific study of the reciprocal relationships between humans and the rest of nature, with a particular focus on how to encourage conservation of the natural world. This website has a particularly rich resource section highlighting key articles, books, journals, courses and research tools.

Within the Sterling Morton Library, there are a host of resources relating to children and nature, conservation psychology and plants/people. At the Arboretum, we’ve had a long history of leaders in these fields including May T. Watts and Charles Lewis. In the Library, we have papers, documents, photographs, and artwork of May T. Watts, founder of the Arboretum's education program and renowned teacher, author, and naturalist. Charles A. Lewis, horticulturist, long-time Arboretum staff member and author of Green Nature/Human Nature: the Meaning of Plants in our Lives, was a frequent library user and encouraged us to acquire resources exploring the relationship of people and plants. Additionally, to support the efforts of The Morton Arboretum, the Library has a children’s book collection, a number of resources on gardening with children and an exploration of people-plant interactions.

Additional resources of interest:

• Leave No Child Inside : the growing movement to reconnect children and nature, and to battle "nature deficit disorder" by Richard Louv. Published in the March/April 2007 issue of Orion magazine and at http://www.orionmagazine.org/index.php/articles/article/240/
• Getting Lost in the Great Indoors : many adults worry nature is disappearing from children's lives by Donna St. George from the Washington Post at
  http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2007/06/18/AR2007061801808_pf.html
• Leave No Child Inside : the remedy for environmental despair is as close as the front door by Richard Louv at http://www.sierraclub.org/sierra/200607/child.asp
• Children and Nature Network at http://www.cnaturenet.org/

So … get outside! Visit The Morton Arboretum! Or, if you have to be inside, spend your time in the Sterling Morton Library and challenge yourself to learn more about plants and nature.