The Natural History Society book club will read The Invention of Nature: Alexander von Humboldt’s New World by Andrea Wulf in September.  We will meet on Monday, September 26, from 3:30-5:00. For location, contact Jean at jltnatural@saveland.org 

Andrea Wulf,  the acclaimed author of Founding Gardeners , “reveals the forgotten life of Alexander von Humboldt, the visionary German naturalist whose ideas changed the way we see the natural world—and in the process created modern environmentalism” (quote from Amazon).  Although Americans may have heard of Humboldt, through such names as the “Humboldt current” or other place names, few know that he was a celebrity scientist in his time.  Wulf writes of his extraordinary accomplishments and travels, and details his interactions and influence on Thomas Jefferson, Simon Bolivar, Charles Darwin, Henry David Thoreau, John Muir, and others.

August’s book selection will take us to the Alaskan wilderness.  For our Monday, August 22nd gathering, we will read Two in the Far North by Margaret Murie.  We will meet at the Ilahee Preserve shelter, from 3:30-5:00. For additional information or questions, contact Jean at jltnatural@saveland.org.

Two in the Far North is an enduring story of life, adventure, and love in Alaska.  Margaret Murie grew up in Fairbanks, was the first woman graduate of the University of Alaska, and married noted biological Olaus J. Murie.  She embraced the remote Alaskan wilderness and became one of its strongest advocates.  She describes several of her trips to that wilderness, including her honeymoon in the mid 1920s. She states her view of the value of wilderness in her detailed descriptions of travelling in Alaska by dogsled, boat, and later airplane.

Margaret Murie and her husband founded The Wilderness Society.  Her work as one of the earliest female voices for the wilderness movement earned her the Presidential Medal of Freedom.

July’s Natural History Society Book Club selection is Lyanda Lynn Haupt’s The Urban Bestiary: Encountering the Everyday Wild.  We will meet on Monday, July 25, from 3:30-5:00.  For further information contact Jean at jltnature@saveland.org.

Haupt’s book examines the everyday wild in our urban neighborhoods.  It is a blend of myth, memoir, science, and stories.  Beautifully illustrated and with practical sidebars on such subjects as animal tracks  and opossum removal.

This book reminds us that we don’t have to travel to a national park or a wilderness area to encounter wild animals.  The live among us, although we often don’t pay attention to them.

The Jefferson Land Trust Natural History Society book club will discuss Jack Nisbet’s latest book, Ancient Places: People and Landscape in the Emerging Northwest on Monday, June 27. We will meet at the Ilahee Preserve shelter from 3:30-5:00. For directions to the Ilahee Preserve, contact Jean at jltnature@saveland.org.

This is the second title by Jack Nisbet the book club has read.  We previously read his biography of David Douglas, The Collector.

Jack Nisbet has proven himself to be an astute interpreter of Pacific Northwest history, an insightful naturalist, and an excellent storyteller.  His newest book of essays engages both the past and the present of the Inland Northwest.  He combines historic research with field work, personal interviews, and local knowledge gained through decades of living in a place.  He relates stories told by longtime residents and tribal people, as well as geologists, paleontologists, anthropologists, and university researchers.

The Natural History Society Book Club’s choice for the month of May is The Triumph of Seeds by Thor Hanson. We will meet on Monday, May 23, 3:30 – 5:00 at the Ilahee Preserve shelter.  E-mail Jean at jltnatural@saveland.org if you need directions.

We live in a world of seeds. From our morning coffee to the cotton in our clothes, seeds support diets, economies, lifestyles, and civilizations around the globe. In The Triumph of Seeds, award-winning author and biologist Thor Hanson explores both the natural and cultural history of seeds – why they are so dominant in nature, and why we are so utterly dependent upon them. Spanning locations ranging from the Raccoon Shack—Hanson’s backyard writing hideout-cum-laboratory—to the rainforests of Costa Rica and Nicaragua, from our flower patches and backyard gardens to the spice routes of Kerala, The Triumph of the Seeds is a book of knowledge, adventure, and wonder. Essential reading for anyone who loves who loves plants, or who may have wondered how the chili got its spice, what puts the buzz in coffee, or how seeds have influenced everything from the voyages of Christopher Columbus to the Industrial Revolution to the shape of the human face.