Books about the climate emergency, sisters, and birds
Under the Sky We Make: How to Be Human in a Warming World by Kimberly Nicholas, PhD
If I were to recommend just one book that summed up the climate crisis and what to do about it, it would be this one. In clear, easy-to-read prose, Dr. Nicholas summarizes the totality of climate science (a field she has contributed for multiple decades) with this series of sentences: "It's warming. It's us. We're sure. It's bad. But we can fix it." Each of the chapters tackles a different statement, explaining it clearly and concisely, but with extensive footnotes to back up her statements. Her writing is warm and specific, making plenty of room for the emotions that are bound to come up when faced with the enormity of the emergency. I finished this book feeling empowered and equipped to dive back into environmental activism with a renewed sense of what will make the most impact. (If you're not up to reading a whole book but want to check out her work, her free newsletter We Can Fix It is a wonderful resource!)
Huda F Cares? by Huda Fahmy
Fahmy's comics about life as a visibly Muslim woman in the U.S. are always great, and I was excited to learn that she had published another book! This fictitious story, inspired by her childhood, explores the relationships between sisters— the good, the bad, and the ugly— on the backdrop of a trip to Disney World. Entertaining, poignant, and unflinching about the nature of family relationships, this story was a lot of fun to read.
Ten Birds That Changed the World by Stephen Moss
This book was a gift from my mother-in-law (thank you, Sarah!), and it was a really fascinating read! It explores human history through the ways that we've interacted with ten birds (if you're curious, the ten birds are ravens, dodos, snowy egrets, turkeys, pigeons, Darwin's finches, bald eagles, Eurasian tree sparrows, Guanay cormorants, and emperor penguins), touching on everything from mythology and extinction events to the hat-feather and fertilizer trades of the 1800s and the Great Chinese Famine of the mid-20th century. Depressing and inspiring in turns, the stories of how we have related to birds throughout the centuries was a really interesting lens for exploring human history.
Previously on What I've Been Reading:
~~~
No comments:
Post a Comment