Weekly Words about New Books in
Independent Bookstores
JUNE 20, 2021
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New Paperbacks Showcase the Art of Engaging Science and Nature Writing
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Why Fish Don't Exist: A Story of Loss, Love, and the Hidden Order of Life by Lulu Miller. NPR reporter and former host of the podcast Invisibilia Lulu Miller takes readers down a fascinating rabbit hole to tell the story of scientist David Starr Jordan, who lived in the late 1800s and early 1900s. Jordan was a taxonomist - a biologist that groups organisms into categories. He was single minded, organized, and extremely unlucky, having discovered in his time, nearly a fifth of the fish known to humans and having his specimen collections destroyed by lightning, by fire, and eventually by the 1906 San Francisco earthquake. This last event left more than a thousand discoveries, housed in fragile glass jars, shattered and destroyed on the floor.
But here's what hooked Miller on Jordan's story. As she writes in the book "He didn't give up or despair. He did not heed what seemed to be the clear message of the quake that, in a world ruled by chaos, any attempts at order are doomed to fail eventually. Instead, he rolled up his sleeves and scrambled around until he found, of all the weapons in the world, a sewing needle."
And thus begins a fascinating and surprising journey. Part biography, part memoir, part scientific adventure, the book has attracted widespread praise from critics and fellow writers alike, including this from Sy Montgomery, author of The Soul of an Octopus: “Riveting. Surprising. Shocking, even! Why Fish Don’t Exist begins with a mesmerizing account of the life of distinguished biologist David Starr Jordan — and then, quite unexpectedly, turns into so much more. Narrated in Lulu Miller’s intimate, quirky voice, this is a story of science and struggle, of heartbreak and chaos. This book will capture your heart, seize your imagination, smash your preconceptions, and rock your world.”
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The Bird Way: A New Look at How Birds Talk, Work, Play, Parent, and Think by Jennifer Ackerman. Many bird-loving readers are familiar with Ackerman's book The Genius of Birds, in which the noted science writer explores the remarkable intelligence of our feathered friends, brilliance that at times rivals that of primates and even humans. With her new book, she provides new understanding of birds by examining how they think and how they live. In synthesizing recent bird behavior research and adding her own observations drawn from bird-related travel around the world, Ackerman offers a wealth of information and specific stories of extraordinary, sometimes contradictory behaviors that make birds unique.
But don't take my word for it, or even that of the usual book critics. Let's see what what Birding Magazine had to say: "If there’s one thing Ackerman’s illuminating book makes clear, it’s that there is no single way to be a bird. Her opus is a celebration of the sheer diversity of avian behaviors, practices, predilections and the birds she writes about are 'iconoclasts and rule breakers' and remain 'layered in mystery.' It is this decision to focus on birds’ idiosyncrasies, to resist generalizations and categorizations, to break down assumptions about bird behavior, and to show how 'individual birds are every bit as distinctive as we humans are' that make this book so remarkable."
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Curious Culinary Celebrity Takes Readers on a Personal World Tour
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World Travel: an Irreverent Guide by Anthony Bourdain. As traveling slowly returns as one of our most popular pastimes, this engaging and very personal travel guide may give self-imposed armchair travelers motivation to rise up out of their seats.
These writings about some of the world's most fascinating places are enlivened by the experiences and idiosyncrasies of the late famed chef, television personality, and relentlessly curious traveler. What emerges is an entertaining, practical, fun, and frank travel guide that gives readers an introduction to some of his favorite places and offers essential advice on how to get there, what to eat, where to stay and, in some cases, what to avoid. World Travel shows why Bourdain found a place enchanting and memorable - from the hidden pockets of his hometown of New York City to a tribal longhouse in Borneo, or cosmopolitan Buenos Aires, Paris, and Shanghai to the beauty of Tanzania' and the desert solitude of Oman's Empty Quarter.
Also included in the book are a handful of essays by friends, colleagues, and family, including sardonic accounts of traveling with Bourdain by his brother, Christopher. Additionally, each chapter includes illustrations by Wesley Allsbrook.
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WHY THE COLUMN?
Hi, I'm Hut Landon, and I'm a bookseller in an independent bookstore in BerkeIey, CA.
My goal here is to keep readers up to date about new books hitting the shelves, share what indie booksellers are recommending in their stores, and pass on occasional news about the book world.
I'm not into long, wordy reviews or literary criticism; HUT'S PLACE is meant to be a quick, fun read for book buyers. If you have any friends who you think might like receiving this column, simply click on "Forward this email" below and enter their email address. There is also a box to add a short message.
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WHERE TO FIND AN INDEPENDENT BOOKSTORE
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