Kristen Rabe, Book Reviewer

View Full Profile

Book Review

The Last Pool of Darkness

by Kristen Rabe

Combining detailed descriptions of Connemara’s history, folklore, artistry, geology, and nature, Tim Robinson’s "The Last Pool of Darkness" is a sprawling, joyful romp along Ireland’s western coastline. The second volume in a... Read More

Book Review

The Two-Headed Whale

by Kristen Rabe

Sandy Winterbottom’s "The Two-Headed Whale" intertwines her engrossing 2016 Antarctica travel account with the story of a whaling ship deckhand in the early 1950s. Winterbottom spent six weeks on a “sleek, beautiful, hand-built—and... Read More

Book Review

Enchanted Forests

by Kristen Rabe

Boria Sax’s "Enchanted Forests" spurs the imagination with its wide-ranging examination of literature, folklore, and visual art related to forests and their creatures. This engaging, scholarly volume summarizes how, throughout history,... Read More

Book Review

Bringing Home the Wild

by Kristen Rabe

Botanist Juliet C. Stromberg’s engaging, effervescent memoir covers the ecological restoration of an abandoned four-acre farm in south Phoenix. In a twenty-year effort, Stromberg and her partner Matt created a verdant oasis on what had... Read More

Book Review

Over the Seawall

by Kristen Rabe

Stephen Robert Miller issues an appeal for realistic, long-term responses to climate change in "Over the Seawall", a book that examines failed attempts to control nature. Often, the expensive, complicated engineering projects that are... Read More

Book Review

The Beauty of the Flower

by Kristen Rabe

Visually stunning and astonishing in scope, Stephen A. Harris’s "The Beauty of the Flower" is a history of botanical illustration that has all the makings of a classic reference text. Hundreds of gorgeous images are used to trace the... Read More

Book Review

Sexus Botanicus

by Kristen Rabe

Joanne Anton’s "Sexus Botanicus" is an often playful, beautiful science book loaded with fascinating, substantive information about plants’ reproductive lives. Featuring clear, succinct prose and gorgeous color sketches, the book... Read More

Book Review

Inside Science

by Kristen Rabe

Persuasive and thought-provoking, Benjamin Lewin’s "Inside Science" examines how big data is changing biological research. Contemporary scientific methods, Lewin says, are driven by large research teams, aggregated results across... Read More

Load More