reviews

Speaking in Petals Author: Vanessa Diffenbaugh Once upon a time, I worked for a florist.  In all honesty, I still have a little PTSD from the experience so approached reading The Language of Flowers with some trepidation.  It helped that it was selected for my book club by a fellow former employee who did not end up in the asylum after reading it, so I proceeded.  With caution, but with reasonable certainty that it would not leave me permanently scarred.  And happily, the flower and florist parts of the book are the ones I truly enjoyed. The Language of Flowers [...]

Nature Doesn't Suffer Fools Gladly... Author:  Laurence Gonzales A frequently cited adage, when it comes to surviving in the wilderness, is that it’s when you’ve finally become an “expert” that you’re in the most danger.  Mother Nature abhors hubris or overconfidence.   This is why I find it brave almost to the point of foolishness to write a book claiming to be an expert on wilderness survival.  It seems like it’s just asking for trouble.  But despite the risks – and with a sufficient dose of humility – Laurence Gonzales published Deep Survival in 2003.  When I last checked, he has [...]

Death Visits Everyone...  Author:  Marion Winik Statistically speaking, odds are that half of all the people you ever meet will die during your lifetime.  Some will be close family or friends, others just acquaintances, but each person’s life will end, possibly leaving only you to tell their unique story.  It seems like it was this kind of morbid sense of responsibility that prompted Marion Winik to write The Glen Rock Book of the Dead, a collection of short poignant essays about some of the dead people she has known. Collecting death dates over the past several decades, Winik – an [...]