David Quammen’s new book Spillover, on emergent diseases; or more specifically, on emergent zoonoses, came out a few months ago to a series of middling good but somehow lukewarm reviews. I vehemently disagree, but it takes a bit of unfolding. Why do some readers find such a book fascinating while others find it dull? First: …
Month: April 2013
The Gang of Five
Off-season Jackson Hole is a pleasure for those of us who like to have short visits. Roads are undergoing reconstruction before the major traffic hits, and many businesses are closed for renovations or revamping before the summer season. With few people, the businesses that cater to high-end travelers offer great deals during this quiet time, …
Rungius Letter!
Serendipity: not only did I pick up several interesting books at Nick Potter’s in Santa Fe; in my “new” copy of the uncommon 1948 Knopf Borzoi sporting book, Russell Annabel’s Hunting and Fishing in Alaska (which I have been looking for for years) I found a letter by the greatest painter of American (or any?) …
Ian and Tom
Best concert ever– well, I am inclined to hyperbole– let’s just say the best set of popular music I have ever seen in NM. It could NOT have been any better, and I have seen & heard both (long) before; Ian first in 1967! Tom on stage spoke of one collaboration: “Ian wrote this when …
Returning to regular operation?
Slowly anyway. Learning everything from new Dragonspeak to IPad to keep work and communication going, still busy and rather too “Parky”. Rissy’s pregnancy failed. The car broke down while we were driving Jack and Eli to the airport! You all know the public horrors, but… Good Things are happening– work, art, music (yes we were …
Quote re Politics
“But wouldn’t it be Simpler if the Government Simply dissolved the People And elected another?” (Bertolt Brecht –A Marxist, but one wise enough to live out of reach of the more dangerous governments) They sure do carry on…
My relatives are OK
Federico wondered if my relatives were OK. As I have three sisters who regularly run the Marathon it was a serious question. The twins did not go up from Pittsburgh this year, and Anita St John was at mile 20 when the bombs went off at the finish line. However, my sister Wendy, a head …
Of Lane and Jane and dog relatives
Our blog friend and frequent commenter Lane Batot lives an enviable life in the wooded hills of North Carolina, working at the zoo, rambling the wild lands with his team of dogs and his spear, reading and collecting a natural history library that would rival mine. At the moment he has thousands of books, thirteen …
Riss
As some of you know, Larissa is pregnant by Tavi at Shiri’s.
Accipiters
Everywhere, doing their courting flights even in town. My reading indicates Coopers at least are becoming urbanized; the Eurasian gos nests in city parks in Russia. This is the first in my thirty some years here that they have ventured so close to humans this deep into their breeding cycle. The poor pic is of …