Book of the Day Roundup: February 5-9, 2024
A Darwinian Survival Guide
Hope for the Twenty-First Century
Daniel R. Brooks
Salvatore J. Agosta
The MIT Press
Hardcover $32.95 (360pp)
978-0-262-04868-2
Buy: Local Bookstore (Bookshop), Amazon
Timely, thought-provoking, and refreshingly optimistic, A Darwinian Survival Guide says that human beings must understand and apply the principles of evolution to survive climate change.
In this insightful book, field biologists Daniel R. Brooks and Salvatore J. Agosta emphasize that “survival of the fittest” is the antithesis of Charles Darwin’s model. As conditions change, they note, the “fittest” species are marginalized and must shift to more favorable locations or go extinct. Survivors are often misfits that occupy a “sloppy fitness space” but have the flexibility to adapt: “Whatever works, persists. Whatever doesn’t work, goes extinct.”
In a brilliant discussion about people’s relationship with nature, Brooks and Agosta resist the “neoprotectionism” that is popular in conservation biology—the idea that humans must protect nature by separating themselves from it or engineering it to a previous state that was “better.” The biosphere will survive climate change, they argue; some charismatic species may go extinct while others, such as the polar bear, may be more adaptable than expected. They detail restoration of a Costa Rican ecosystem where conservationists minimized efforts to “engineer” the resurging forest and recognized that people are part of nature.
The book also traces the paleoanthropology of human civilizations, arguing that humans took a wrong turn by establishing large, permanent settlements. While cities seemed to promise security and technological advances, they say, they also introduced a host of problems and prohibited easy migration as conditions changed. To survive climate change, then, humans must migrate away from threatened cities and abandon grow-at-all-costs economies, revitalizing rural areas and building moderate, localized economies. These enthusiastic proposals only touch on implications for national boundaries, division of labor, health care, transportation, and other institutions.
Applying the principles of evolution in thoughtful ways, A Darwinian Survival Guide tackles the complexities of climate change with creativity, optimism, and vision.
KRISTEN RABE (December 27, 2023)
Wildful
Kengo Kurimoto
Groundwood Books
Hardcover $22.99 (216pp)
978-1-77306-862-6
Buy: Local Bookstore (Bookshop), Amazon
A teenager explores the wide world of nature as it’s seen in her neighborhood in the graphic novel Wildful, a magical showcase of non-verbal storytelling.
Poppy’s grandmother died; her mother languishes on the couch. Poppy escapes, taking her dog, Pepper, on walks. But Poppy is distracted by her phone and music; she pays little attention to her environment until Pepper chases a fox past a fence.
Following Pepper and the fox, Poppy winds up in an old forest. There, she meets Rob; his enthusiastic curiosity about nature is infectious. He shows Poppy flowers and birds. They begin meeting in the forest on a regular basis to observe and enjoy nature. And as Poppy becomes more attuned to the daily lives of the plants and creatures around her, she seeks to help her mother out of her malaise by sharing her wonderment.
The book is short on text; instead, its narrative unfolds through detailed, dynamic art in which animals and plants are depicted with stunning realism. Birdsong contrasts with recorded music; watching deer forage is a grand alternative to looking at a screen. And the book deals with grief in a subtle, tender way, as with Poppy’s mother pointing out the stars and remembering her mother.
Modeling pure innocence, Wildful is an outstanding graphic novel in which people discover the healing power of nature.
PETER DABBENE (December 27, 2023)
The Thefts of the Mona Lisa
The Complete Story of the World’s Most Famous Artwork
Noah Charney
Rowman & Littlefield
Hardcover $32.00 (192pp)
978-1-5381-8137-9
Buy: Amazon
In The Thefts of the Mona Lisa, Noah Charney reveals fascinating details about the beguiling masterpiece’s artistic and social history, including its infamous 1911 theft and two years’ absence from the Louvre.
The book includes incredible details about museum security before the theft, with objets d’art displayed in a casual way—as if they were in someone’s living room. A century ago, artworks were uncased, unanchored, and unguarded—not safe behind bulletproof glass as the painting is now. Charney next relays how the startling theft was accomplished, reveals the intriguing motives behind the heist, and covers the worldwide media frenzy that followed. An account of how Pablo Picasso and Guillaume Apollinaire were involved in a contemporary art theft from the Louvre layers in even more astonishing details.
Charney’s assured, witty prose covers other art thefts too, alongside nerve-wracking accounts of how museum staff safeguarded and moved French art treasures throughout the countryside during World War II, helping the portrait to escape from the Nazis. There’s also consideration of The Mona Lisa “as a prism through which to consider the idea of fame”: Charney notes that The Mona Lisa is a familiar but “invisible icon,” with most knowing little about the subject and never gazing on the enigmatic portrait at length. He remedies this with appealing stories about Leonardo da Vinci’s life, Renaissance beauty standards, and modern techniques, musing on how The Mona Lisa looked when it was freshly painted. And he uses memorable passages about contemporary art crimes—some with violent, organized crime aspects—to dispel common myths about the art world.
The Thefts of the Mona Lisa is a thorough, diverting analysis of the Renaissance painting—the world’s most recognizable artwork and visage.
RACHEL JAGARESKI (December 27, 2023)
The Trouble with Earth
Alex Latimer
Andersen Press
Hardcover $18.99 (32pp)
979-876562529-3
Buy: Local Bookstore (Bookshop), Amazon
A lesson on kindness and an ode to nature merge in this whimsical picture book about the planet we call home. As Earth prepares for the planets’ annual vacation, she gets a surprise: she’s been uninvited! When she crashes the trip, she learns her friends think she has fleas; Earth patiently explains that she loves all the life she supports—even the fleas. Layered illustrations depict herds of wildebeest, flocks of birds, and fields of flowers in all the colors nature offers.
DANIELLE BALLANTYNE (December 27, 2023)
Trondheim
Cormac James
Bellevue Literary Press
Softcover $17.99 (288pp)
978-1-954276-23-9
Buy: Local Bookstore (Bookshop), Amazon
A crisis exposes faultlines in a marriage in Cormac James’s whipsmart, lyrical novel Trondheim.
In the winter, Trondheim ought to be magical, but to Lil and Alba, who are in the grip of a family emergency, it reads as surreal. They’ve received the worst of bad news: their healthy twenty-year-old son, Pierre, is in a coma. He might come out of it; he might not. If he does, he might have brain damage. Every day in the ICU is another day that death is kept at bay.
The Trondheim medical facility is top-notch; its staff is experienced and empathetic. Pierre’s young doctor has an interesting hobby of target practice on the hospital rooftop; it’s a curious metaphor for how she plays God. To wake Pierre out of his coma, doctors sink him deeper first, rest his heart, and then shock his system. The uncertainties riding on this procedure are vast.
As Lil and Alba travel from their Montpellier home to Trondheim for Pierre, scalpel-sharp lyricism pares back their emotional and psychological states. Meticulous details expose their private anxieties and maternal devastation too. Their methods of coping diverge: Lil is pragmatic and tough, worrying about astronomical medical bills; Alba leans on rosary beads and plastic optimism.
The book is compelling throughout. The psychological toll that Pierre’s state takes on Lil and Alba heightens through accounts of their day-to-day bedside vigil and each failed attempt of the procedure to wake him. Lil seeks solace in an ex-lover; Alba keeps mum about the betrayal. They drift apart even as they stand in solidarity for their son.
Trondheim is an exquisite novel that explores maternal love, the price of hope, and how bodies endure.
ELAINE CHIEW (December 27, 2023)
Barbara Hodge
