Book Stall

Field Notes by Richard Quinney
Borderland Books, 2008
Reading the four essays and prologue in this volume of nature prose is like taking a stroll in the woods with a literary philosopher whose penchant for rural life informs every step and observation. These rambling conversations draw inspiration from the transcendentalists Emerson and Thoreau and the naturalist Gilbert [...]

Death in the Marsh by Tom Harris.
Island Press, 1991
On certain dry plains and hillsides of the West, the Astragalus species of wildflower grows in abundance, spreading carpets of pea-shaped pink, purple or yellow blossoms across the arid landscape. The delicate colors and innocent-looking nature of the plants belie a deadly disposition.
Astragalus, more commonly known as [...]

Radical Ecology: The Search for a Livable World
by Carolyn Merchant
Routledge, 2005
How we comprehend our world determines, to a large extent, how we interact with its features — soils, water, air, plants and animals. Logical positivism, handed down from Aristotle and Isaac Newton, is largely responsible for a mechanistic worldview that looks at nature as individual [...]

Winter Sky
New and Selected Poems, 1968-2008
by Coleman Barks
University of Georgia Press, 2008
Four decades of poet Coleman Barks’ work are included in this retrospective, drawn from seven previously published books and accented by a half dozen new poems. They are presented in reverse chronological order and grouped according to the books in which they appeared: Scrapwood [...]

by Michael Hofferber. Copyright © 2008. All rights reserved.

A Radiant Curve
Poems and Stories
by Luci Tapahonso
University of Arizona Press, 2008

Each evening, the mountains surrounding us glow gold,
then pink, then purple that deepens into soft black.
The mountains know such evenings will be only memories decades from now.
Memories that will bring the sudden, light ache of [...]

Wings in the Desert
A Folk Ornithology of the Northern Pimans
by Amadeo M. Rea
University of Arizona Press, 2007
This is a bird book based on the ornithological knowledge of an indigenous tribe of Uto-Aztecans who speak the Piman language and reside in the tierra caliente (hot lowlands) between the Gila River and the Rio Yaqui of Arizona [...]

Field Guide to Wisconsin Sedges
An Introduction to the Genus Carex (Cyperaceae)
by Andrew L. Hipp
University of Wisconsin Press, 2008
“The diversity and ecological importance of sedges was not the starting place for this book… rather, it was their beauty.”
Andrew Hipp, author
Field Guide to Wisconsin Sedges
Hipp’s appreciation for the unique characteristics of sedges is well expressed in this [...]

The Secret Teachings of Plants: The Intelligence Of The Heart In The Direct Perception Of Nature
by Stephen Harrod Buhner
Bear & Company, 2004

Reviewed by Michael Hofferber. Copyright © 2007. All rights reserved.
Identifying the heart and its abundance of neural cells as the human body’s primary organ of perception and communication, this work demonstrates that linear scientific [...]

The Yew Tree: A Thousand Whispers
by Hal Hartzell, Jr
Hulogosi Books, 1991
reviewed by Michael Hofferber
Copyright © 1992. All rights reserved.
Claudius, the 1st century Roman Emperor, believed that the juices of the yew tree could be used as an antidote for snake venom. Germans of the Middle Ages were conivinced that yew pitch mixed with butter could [...]

Nymphs
Volume I: The Mayflies
by Ernest G. Schwiebert
The Lyons Press, 2007
Volume II: Stoneflies, Caddisflies, and Other Important Insects: Including the Lesser Mayflies
by Ernest G. Schwiebert
The Lyons Press, 2007
First published in 1973, Nymphs is a classic reference on the entomology specific to fly fishing for trout. The first edition has recently been revised and significantly broadened in [...]