Book Reviews
Take a look at the full catalog of our library’s collections.
Wednesday, September 3rd, 2008
By Michael Pollan
Michael Pollan guides the reader through his own education as a gardener throughout the course of a year in his Housatonic Valley garden in Connecticut. Pollan tells some wonderful family stories, amusing anecdotes from his own garden, and offers the reader the opportunity to look at gardening in a new way. Pollan challenges the American viewpoint that nature and culture are inherently separate. He then attempts to show the reader something that most of us experienced gardeners already know deep down: that the garden is where people can participate in a direct and intimate relationship with nature. He…
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Thursday, July 3rd, 2008
By Richard Preston
Richard Preston’s The Wild Trees: A Story of Passion and Daring is a story of Northern California’s redwood forests and the exceptional people who have devoted their lives to their exploration. This book is rewarding as an information source about these magnificent trees, and the technical aspects of their exploration, but also as a narrative describing the characters who are so in love with them.
Preston gives us an in-depth look at the amazing individuals who pioneered the exploration of trees taller than 350 feet and who proved to be incredible athletes, risk-takers, scientists, and adventurers. The reader quickly realizes…
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Thursday, May 29th, 2008
By Stanley Kunitz with Genine Lentine
Twice named as the U.S. Poet Laureate, Stanley Kunitz is not only a distinguished and celebrated poet, but he was also an avid gardener up until his death at age 100. This book, a new addition to the Scott Arboretum Horticultural Library, is a collection of conversations, essays, and poetry on the topic of Kunitz’s Provincetown, Massachusetts garden. Kunitz’s poetry is intermixed with essays about his inspiration, and the similarities between the processes of writing poetry and gardening. Kunitz even explains his connection with nature from an early age, where he found a place to…
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