What we are reading, now that fall is upon us.
At Missouri Conservation Corps, we like to read. We enjoy reading books about forestry, native plants, invasive species, pioneering naturalists, and the culture of conservation. Each year we like to recommend a book or two for our followers, based upon what we have been reading. And now that fall is fully upon us and the winter season of warm socks, mugs of hot tea, and regimented indoor time is right around the corner, we thought it might be an appropriate time to share a few more reading recommendations. Now keep in mind that despite our ability to write monthly articles for this email newsletter, and a penchant for lengthy emails and sometimes poetically descriptive social media posts, none of us here at Missouri Conservation Corps are skilled at the art of book reviews.
For those of you who have been following this newsletter for a while, you might recall last winter’s review of Peter Wohlleben’s book, “The Power of Trees”. Wohlleben was the author of
“The Hidden Life of Trees”, and “The Power of Trees” was a critical and sobering follow-up to his earlier work. This year we have several book recommendations to share, primarily because we have been reading a lot of books. Because Missouri Conservation Corps has no skilled and seasoned professional book reviewers on its staff, we are going to be sharing these book recommendations in more of a list format, with minimal description. If you really want to know more about one of these books, reach out to us by email with a question, or just go to the public library or your favorite local bookstore and find the book. Would you like for us to pick a favorite? Of this list of three titles, my favorite was certainly Lynda Mapes’ “Witness Tree”, a book that inspired me to get up early on so many dark winter mornings to spend 15 or 20 minutes reading, before the start of the day’s toil and tasks. “Witness Tree” is a personal account of a journalist’s year-long experience in the Harvard Research Forest. Part history, part forestry, and part diary, this book kept me deeply interested, and made me yearn for a sequel. But in this lineup of three recommended books, there are no slouches. We have a long winter coming, so dig in.
A Natural History of Empty Lots: Field Notes from Urban Edgelands, Back Alleys, and other Wild Places
Christopher Brown
Timber Press
2024
Witness Tree
Lynda V. Mapes
Bloomsbury Publishing
2017
From the Bottom Up
Chad Pregracke and Jeff Barrow
National Geographic
2007
