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About The daily Astorian. (Astoria, Or.) 1961-current | View Entire Issue (June 25, 2020)
BOOKMONGER Adopting a naturalist’s mindset ‘Earth Almanac’ offers wisdom for staying in tune with your surroundings Just in time for the summer solstice, now is the perfect time to dive into the new “Earth Almanac: Nature’s Calendar for Year-Round Discovery.” Published by Skipstone Press, an imprint of Seattle’s Mountaineers Books, I expected that this book would focus on the Pacific Northwest, which would keep with my own regional partiality. But I was wrong. This book has a much wider scope. Author Ken Keffer is a Mid- west-based naturalist. He takes on the bulk of North America, with occasional for- ays out into the solar system and beyond, in this catalog of 365 daily entries, with heaps of sidebars that contain additional nuggets of wisdom. “Being a naturalist is a mindset,” he says in the book’s introduction. “Nat- uralists are always in tune with their surroundings.” And in pointing out the curiosities and wonders of the natural world, Kef- fer invites you to suss out the relationships and connections between life forms and the environment they’re situated in, both close to home and further afield. While Keffer organizes the book by beginning in December with the winter sol- stice, you can start reading at any point. And although the book is designed to be consumed in compact, one-entry-per-day doses, it’s likely you’ll find the information so intriguing that you’ll plow through sev- eral pages in one sitting. Here’s a sampling of posts: For Jan. 12, Keffer writes about irrup- tions, “the wild cards of bird migration,” which are driven by both food availability and population dynamics. On April 10, he writes about myrme- cochory, pollination by ants. Trillium and bleeding heart are two myrmecochorous species — who knew? On July 1, he notes that on that date in 1908, President Theodore Roosevelt created more than a dozen national for- ests, including Deschutes National For- est in Oregon. On Dec. 19, 2014, Presi- dent Barack Obama designated a Nevada 10 // COASTWEEKEND.COM archaeological site, Tule Springs Fossil Beds National Monument, that has fossils of mammoths and camels. Keffer writes about skunks and sturgeon, dandelions and the Per- seids. Every day is a new chance to ponder the manifold wonders of the natural world. This Week’s Book ‘Earth Almanac’ by Ken Keffer Skipstone Press — 256 pp — $24.95 He also points out how adap- tations to envi- ronment have led to resilience. One example is the oversized paws of Can- ada lynx, which help the big cat cross snowy ter- rain. But spe- cialized adap- tations can be a vulnerability when environ- mental condi- tions change or when humans interfere. Rather than despair, Keffer offers cit- izen science and environmental action opportunities. The almanac’s interesting entries are complemented by over 100 pen-and-ink illustrations by artist Jeremy Collins. We’re all living in a season of tumult right now, the kind of change that isn’t captured in “Earth Almanac.” But there is some comfort to be derived in leafing through the pages of this book and being reminded that nature’s pat- terns of ebb and flow take place reliably in our annual circuit around the sun. The Bookmonger is Barbara Lloyd McMichael, who writes this weekly column focusing on the books, authors and publishers of the Pacific Northwest. Con- tact her at bkmonger@nwlink.com.
