Download or read book Brave the Wild River The Untold Story of Two Women Who Mapped the Botany of the Grand Canyon written by Melissa L. Sevigny and published by W. W. Norton & Company. This book was released on 2023-05-23 with total page 289 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: Winner of the 2023 National Outdoor Book Award for History/Biography Finalist for the Reading the West Book Award in Memoir/Biography A Booklist Top of the List Winner for Nonfiction in 2023 A New Yorker Best Book of 2023 "Thrilling, expertly paced, warmhearted." —Peter Fish, San Francisco Chronicle The riveting tale of two pioneering botanists and their historic boat trip down the Colorado River and through the Grand Canyon. In the summer of 1938, botanists Elzada Clover and Lois Jotter set off to run the Colorado River, accompanied by an ambitious and entrepreneurial expedition leader, a zoologist, and two amateur boatmen. With its churning waters and treacherous boulders, the Colorado was famed as the most dangerous river in the world. Journalists and veteran river runners boldly proclaimed that the motley crew would never make it out alive. But for Clover and Jotter, the expedition held a tantalizing appeal: no one had yet surveyed the plant life of the Grand Canyon, and they were determined to be the first. Through the vibrant letters and diaries of the two women, science journalist Melissa L. Sevigny traces their daring forty-three-day journey down the river, during which they meticulously cataloged the thorny plants that thrived in the Grand Canyon’s secret nooks and crannies. Along the way, they chased a runaway boat, ran the river’s most fearsome rapids, and turned the harshest critic of female river runners into an ally. Clover and Jotter’s plant list, including four new cactus species, would one day become vital for efforts to protect and restore the river ecosystem. Brave the Wild River is a spellbinding adventure of two women who risked their lives to make an unprecedented botanical survey of a defining landscape in the American West, at a time when human influences had begun to change it forever.
Download or read book Grand Canyon Women written by Betty Leavengood and published by Grand Canyon Association. This book was released on 2004 with total page 324 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: Grand Canyon Women tells the humorous and heartbreaking stories of twenty-six remarkable women--Native Americans, river runners, scientists, wranglers, architects, rangers, hikers, and housewives--each of whom, in the midst of nature's indiscriminate universe, discovers her identity.
Download or read book A Walk in the Park written by Kevin Fedarko and published by Simon and Schuster. This book was released on 2024-05-28 with total page 512 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: "The Grand Canyon is an American treasure, visited by more than 6 million people a year, many of whom are rendered speechless by its vast beauty, mystery, and complexity. Now, in A Walk in the Park, author Kevin Fedarko chronicles his year-long effort to find a 750-mile path along the length of the Grand Canyon, through a vertical wilderness suspended between the caprock along the rims of the abyss and the Colorado River, which flows along its bottom. Consisting of countless cliffs and steep drops, plus immense stretches with almost no access to water, and the fact that not a single trail links its eastern doorway to its western terminus, this jewel of national parks is so challenging that when Fedarko departed fewer people had completed the journey in one single hike than had walked on the moon. The intensity of the effort required him to break his trip into several legs, each of which held staggering dangers and unexpected discoveries"--
Download or read book Unrooted written by Erin Zimmerman and published by Melville House. This book was released on 2024-04-16 with total page 273 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: "Evolutionary botanist Zimmerman discusses her passion for plants and inveighs against sexism in the sciences in her marvelous debut memoir...Throughout, Zimmerman’s enthusiasm and expertise make the science accessible even to those without a background in the subject. The results are as edifying as they are galvanizing." - Publishers Weekly STARRED Review "Erin Zimmerman has exposed a rooted gender failure in science. Her book is important not for this alone. Her work is essential for understanding the future resilience of all flora on this planet." -Diana Beresford-Kroeger, author of To Speak for the Trees An exploration of science, motherhood, and academia, and a stirring account of a woman at a personal and professional crossroads . . . Growing up in rural Ontario, Erin Zimmerman became fascinated with plants—an obsession that led to a life in academia as a professional botanist. But as her career choices narrowed in the face of failing institutions and subtle, but ubiquitous, sexism, Zimmerman began to doubt herself. Unrooted: Botany, Motherhood, and the Fight to Save an Old Science is a scientist’s memoir, a glimpse into the ordinary life of someone in a fascinating field. This is a memoir about plants, about looking at the world with wonder, and about what it means to be a woman in academia—an environment that pushes out mothers and those with any outside responsibilities. Zimmerman delves into her experiences as a new mom, her decision to leave her position in post-graduate research, and how she found a new way to stay in the field she loves. She also explores botany as a “dying science” worth fighting for. While still an undergrad, Zimmerman’s university started the process of closing the Botany Department, a sign of waning funding for her beloved science. Still, she argues for its continuation, not only because we have at least 100,000 plant species yet to be discovered, but because an understanding of botany is crucial in the fight against climate change and biodiversity loss. Zimmerman is also a botanical illustrator and will provide 8 original illustrations for the book.
Download or read book Life After Dead Pool written by Zak Podmore and published by Torrey House Press. This book was released on 2024-08-27 with total page 255 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: Award-winning journalist Zak Podmore brings to life the magnificent terrain and complex politics of the Colorado River, its dying reservoirs—and the surprising revelation that the inevitable loss of Lake Powell could be a turning point for more a sustainable future. “A chronicle of ecological redemption.” —KEVIN FEDARKO After decades of drought, the American West is stretched to the breaking point. A changing climate and design flaws in the Glen Canyon Dam have pushed the once-massive Lake Powell reservoir to the brink of collapse—putting at risk millions of people who depend on the Colorado River for water, agriculture, and electricity. Now, as Glen Canyon reemerges, its surprising ecological rebirth reminds us that nature’s capacity to heal may well outpace our own imaginations. Environmental journalist Zak Podmore explores the complex challenges ahead and reframes the inevitable loss of Lake Powell as a turning point for a more sustainable future. Through an arresting mix of science and storytelling, Life After Dead Pool debunks the notion that the West’s water challenges are unsolvable and invites us to secure a future where the Colorado River once again runs free.
Download or read book Mary Colter Builder Upon the Red Earth written by Virginia L. Grattan and published by Grand Canyon Association. This book was released on 1992 with total page 148 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: This is the biography of an extraordinary woman. It will appeal to those interested in the history of the Grand Canyon buildings, the Fred Harvey Company, and the Santa Fe Railway as well as those with an interest in architecture, interior design, native american art, and women of accomplishment.
Download or read book Mythical River written by Melissa L. Sevigny and published by University of Iowa Press. This book was released on 2016-03-15 with total page 295 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: In a lyrical mix of natural science, history, and memoir, Melissa L. Sevigny ponders what it means to make a home in the American Southwest at a time when its most essential resource, water, is overexploited and undervalued. Mythical River takes the reader on a historical sojourn into the story of the Buenaventura, an imaginary river that led eighteenth- and nineteenth-century explorers, fur trappers, and emigrants astray for seventy-five years. This mythical river becomes a metaphor for our modern-day attempts to supply water to a growing population in the Colorado River Basin. Readers encounter a landscape literally remapped by the search for “new” water, where rivers flow uphill, dams and deep wells reshape geography, trees become intolerable competitors for water, and new technologies tap into clouds and oceans. In contrast to this fantasy of abundance, Sevigny explores acts of restoration. From a dismantled dam in Arizona to an accidental wetland in Mexico, she examines how ecologists, engineers, politicians, and citizens have attempted to secure water for desert ecosystems. In a place scarred by conflict, she shows how recognizing the rights of rivers is a path toward water security. Ultimately, Sevigny writes a new map for the future of the American Southwest, a vision of a society that accepts the desert’s limits in exchange for an intimate relationship with the natural world.
Download or read book Riverman written by Ben McGrath and published by Vintage. This book was released on 2022-04-05 with total page 281 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: “This quietly profound book belongs on the shelf next to Jon Krakauer’s Into the Wild.” —The New York Times The riveting true story of Dick Conant, an American folk hero who, over the course of more than twenty years, canoed solo thousands of miles of American rivers—and then disappeared near the Outer Banks of North Carolina. This book “contains everything: adventure, mystery, travelogue, and unforgettable characters” (David Grann, best-selling author of Killers of the Flower Moon). For decades, Dick Conant paddled the rivers of America, covering the Mississippi, Yellowstone, Ohio, Hudson, as well as innumerable smaller tributaries. These solo excursions were epic feats of planning, perseverance, and physical courage. At the same time, Conant collected people wherever he went, creating a vast network of friends and acquaintances who would forever remember this brilliant and charming man even after a single meeting. Ben McGrath, a staff writer at The New Yorker, was one of those people. In 2014 he met Conant by chance just north of New York City as Conant paddled down the Hudson, headed for Florida. McGrath wrote a widely read article about their encounter, and when Conant's canoe washed up a few months later, without any sign of his body, McGrath set out to find the people whose lives Conant had touched--to capture a remarkable life lived far outside the staid confines of modern existence. Riverman is a moving portrait of a complex and fascinating man who was as troubled as he was charismatic, who struggled with mental illness and self-doubt, and was ultimately unable to fashion a stable life for himself; who traveled alone and yet thrived on connection and brought countless people together in his wake. It is also a portrait of an America we rarely see: a nation of unconventional characters, small river towns, and long-forgotten waterways.
Download or read book Sunk Without a Sound written by Brad Dimock and published by . This book was released on 2001 with total page 312 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: In November 1928 an empty scow was found adrift and empty in the Colorado River. No bodies were found. But since 1971 several people have come forward claiming to be the occupants; one confesses to being a murderer.
Download or read book Land of Lead written by Brian Davies and published by . This book was released on 2021-04-23 with total page 144 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: A fascinating volume of history, shedding light on the lead mining industry in Ceredigion which shipped from Aberystwyth, through the story of four generations of interlinked families in north Ceredigion in the 19th and 20th centuries.
Download or read book The Star Scroll written by Melanie Rawn and published by Astra Publishing House. This book was released on 2005-07-05 with total page 555 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: Second in the bestselling Dragon Prince series returns to a lush epic fantasy world replete with winged beasts, power games of magical treachery, and a realm of princedoms hovering on the brink of war • “Marvelous!”—Anne McCaffrey When Rohan was crowned High Prince and his Sunrunner wife Sioned became High Princess, they swore to keep the peace of the lands and preserve the secret of the dragons, an inheritance they would one day pass on to their only child, Pol, heir to both princely and Sunrunner powers. But the evil influence of the former High Prince Roelstra had not ended with his death at Rohan’s hands. And even as Pol grew to manhood, other young men were being trained in the ways of war, youths descended from Roelstra and claimed by Rohan’s enemies as willing pawns in what could become a bloody battle for succession. Yet not all players in these games of power fought merely with words or swords. For now a foe vanquished by the Sunrunners ages ago was once again growing in strength, an enemy determined to desroy Sunrunners and High Prince alike. And the only hope of defeating these masters of dark sorcery lay in reclaiming the knowledge so carefully concealed in the long-lost- Star Scroll….
Download or read book The Dire King written by William Ritter and published by Algonquin Books. This book was released on 2017-08-22 with total page 353 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: The fate of the world is in the hands of detective of the supernatural R. F. Jackaby and his intrepid assistant, Abigail Rook. An evil king is turning ancient tensions into modern strife, using a blend of magic and technology to push the earth and the otherworld into a mortal competition. Jackaby and Abigail are caught in the middle as they continue to solve daily mysteries in New Fiddleham, New England—like who’s created the rend between the worlds, how to close it, and why the undead are appearing around town. At the same time, the romance between Abigail and the shape-shifting police detective Charlie Cane deepens, and Jackaby’s resistance to his feelings for the ghostly lady of 926 Augur Lane, Jenny Cavanaugh, begins to give way. But before the four can think about their own futures, they will have to defeat an evil that wants to destroy the future altogether. The epic conclusion to the New York Times bestselling Jackaby series features wry humor and a cast of unforgettable characters facing off against their most dangerous, bone-chilling foe ever.
Download or read book The Land Beyond the River written by Jesse Stuart and published by . This book was released on 1973 with total page 394 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: Using the loopholes in the welfare system, a Kentucky family abandons its former state of poverty and begins a new life.
Download or read book The Forgotten Botanist written by Wynne Brown and published by U of Nebraska Press. This book was released on 2021-11 with total page 386 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: WILLA Literary Award Winner in Creative Nonfiction 2022 Spur Award Winner 2022 Top Pick in Southwest Books of the Year New Mexico-Arizona Book Awards Finalist in Cover Design Honorable Mention in the At-Large NFPW Communications Contest The Forgotten Botanist is the account of an extraordinary woman who, in 1870, was driven by ill health to leave the East Coast for a new life in the West--alone. At thirty-three, Sara Plummer relocated to Santa Barbara, where she taught herself botany and established the town's first library. Ten years later she married botanist John Gill Lemmon, and together the two discovered hundreds of new plant species, many of them illustrated by Sara, an accomplished artist. Although she became an acknowledged botanical expert and lecturer, Sara's considerable contributions to scientific knowledge were credited merely as "J.G. Lemmon & wife." The Forgotten Botanist chronicles Sara's remarkable life, in which she and JG found new plant species in Arizona, California, Oregon, and Mexico and traveled throughout the Southwest with such friends as John Muir and Clara Barton. Sara also found time to work as a journalist and as an activist in women's suffrage and forest conservation. The Forgotten Botanist is a timeless tale about a woman who discovered who she was by leaving everything behind. Her inspiring story is one of resilience, determination, and courage--and is as relevant to our nation today as it was in her own time.
Download or read book Under Desert Skies written by Melissa L. Sevigny and published by University of Arizona Press. This book was released on 2016-02-25 with total page 184 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: "The book tells the story of how an upstart planetary laboratory in Tucson, the Lunar and Planetary Laboratory (LPL), would help create the field of planetary science, breaking free from traditional astronomical techniques to embrace a wide range of disciplines necessary to study planets"--Provided by publisher.
Download or read book There s this River written by Christa Sadler and published by . This book was released on 1994 with total page 208 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt:
Download or read book Guardians of the Valley written by Dean King and published by Simon and Schuster. This book was released on 2024-03-19 with total page 480 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: * “We see through this book the immense power of language…to change the minds of lawmakers and tourists alike.” —The New York Times Book Review * “A poignant portrait of an era when mere words could change the world.” —San Francisco Chronicle * The dramatic and uplifting story of legendary outdoorsman and conservationist John Muir’s journey to save Yosemite is “a rich, enjoyable excursion into a seminal period in environmental history” (The Wall Street Journal). In June of 1889 in San Francisco, John Muir—iconic environmentalist, writer, and philosopher—meets face-to-face for the first time with his longtime editor Robert Underwood Johnson, an elegant and influential figure at The Century magazine. Before long, the pair, opposites in many ways, decide to venture to Yosemite Valley, the magnificent site where twenty years earlier, Muir experienced a personal and spiritual awakening that would set the course of the rest of his life. Upon their arrival the men are confronted with a shocking vision, as predatory mining, tourism, and logging industries have plundered and defaced “the grandest of all the special temples of Nature.” While Muir is devastated, Johnson, an arbiter of the era’s pressing issues in the pages of the nation’s most prestigious magazine, decides that he and Muir must fight back. The pact they form marks a watershed moment, leading to the creation of Yosemite National Park, and launching an environmental battle that captivates the nation and ushers in the beginning of the American environmental movement. “Comprehensively researched and compellingly readable” (Booklist, starred review), Guardians of the Valley is a moving story of friendship, the written word, and the transformative power of nature. It is also a timely and powerful “origin story” as the towering environmental challenges we face today become increasingly urgent.
