Word: Biophilia

I have a word stuck in my head, and that word is biophilia. I was introduced to it in Eric Weiner's The Geography of Bliss in a chapter on Switzerland:

The Swiss are a humorless, uptight nation. Everything works, usually, and envy is squelched, but at a cost: You’re always being watched, monitored, judged. Where’s the bliss? “It’s simple,” says Dieter. “Nature. We Swiss have a very deep connection to nature.”

Biophilia hypothesis: the more connected to nature, the happier we are.

Biophilia. Pronounce it. It's lovely to say. So lovely that it's become an earworm that is stuck in my head! Carrying the word around in my head for the past two weeks has lead me to surfing the web for it.

Introduced by Edward O. Wilson in his book Biophilia (1984), biophilia is a theory that humans have an instinctual bond with other living beings and systems including nature, landscapes, weather, and animals. Here is the Wikipedia version, and for those of you more hard-core and analytical, here's Bjørn Grinde and Grete Grindal Patil's study Biophilia: Does Visual Contact with Nature Impact on Health and Well-Being? published in September 2009 in the International Journal of Environmental Research and Public Health.

Did I mention björk has an album titled Biophilia? Actually... it's more than an album. It's a multimedia project and educational project - as best as I can sum up. Björk's version of biophilia is a whole other research project on to itself!

Prepping for Popcorn

In preparation for an upcoming storytime at Fulda Memorial Library, I was browsing through A Song of Popcorn: Every Child's Book of Poems. The title is a inspired by a the poem "Song of Popcorn" by Nancy Byrd Turner. I couldn't find what year this poem was published, nor could I find a picture of Turner. This poem is also found at poetry websites under the title "A Pop Corn Song." For a PDF print-out, click on the picture.

Song of Popcorn
by Nancy Byrd Turner (1880-1970)

Sing a song of pop corn 
When the snowstorms rage; 
Fifty little brown men 
Put into a cage. 
Shake them till they laugh and leap 
Crowding to the top; 
Watch them burst their little coats 
Pop!! Pop!! Pop!! 

Sing a song of pop corn 
In the firelight; 
Fifty little fairies 
Robed in fleecy white. 
Through the shining wires see 
How they skip and prance 
To the music of the flames; 
Dance!! Dance!! Dance!! 

Sing a song of pop corn 
Done the frolicking; 
Fifty little fairies 
Strung upon a string. 
Cool and happy, hand in hand, 
Sugar-spangled, fair; 
Isn't that a necklace fit 
For any child to wear? 

Review: Remarkable Creatures

Remarkable Creatures

by Tracy Chevalier

I can see why this story can be thought of as boring – it is a subtle story. It's about friendship that exists in the absence of the friends themselves. It describes the tedious effort it takes to work with fossils and that it takes to make a friendship between introverts. The title, Remarkable Creatures, refers to the ‘monster' fossils excavated from English beaches in the early 19th century. It also refers to the two main characters - Mary Anning and Elizabeth Philpot. Mary's a small town oddball yet widely known as lucky and, eventually, talented fossil hunter. Elizabeth is a fellow oddball but is well-read and well-connected. The characters of Mary and Elizabeth are real characters, known to history because the dinosaur and fish specimens they contributed to British and French science institutions. But the core of Chevalier's story is their friendship and their loneliness. In this story, evolution is a both a theme and a force. As a theme, evolution is introduced into public opinion as Mary's fossils spark discussions about extinction. As a force, evolution exists in Elizabeth's and Mary's private relationship. Their friendship evolves – they part ways but can't forget each other - and each woman's reputation changes as they carry out separate (yet connected) lives. There are layers in Chevalier's style and they can be hard to spot – much like the fossils and geology in which her story is rooted. (Originally posted as SquareSpot on PaperBackSwap.com.)

For a nonfiction account of Mary Anning’s life, check out The Fossil Hunter: Dinosaurs, Evolution and the Woman Whose Discoveries Changed the World by Shelley Emling

Review: The Victorian Internet

The Victorian Internet
by Tom Standage
The electric telegraph in the 19th century: an often overlooked innovation. But for my history-geek tastes, this book did not cover the subject with enough depth. It gives a brief history of early innovators of the electric telegraph and lists lots of amusing antidotes about how the public came to use the telegraph. (The parts I found most interesting were how telegraph operators created their own lingo and developed 'online' relationships within their profession.) Without admirable characters throughout or a unique storyline to drive the narrative (like the author's other book The Turk), this book is simply an easy-to-read overview about the telegraph. While amusing and informative, The Victorian Internet does not make history come alive. (Originally posted as SquareSpot on PaperBackSwap.com.)

Review: Men Are From Mars, Women Are From Venus

Men Are from Mars, Women Are from Venus: A PracticalGuide for Improving Communication and Getting What You Want in YourRelationships

by John Gray

I read this book of curiosity. It's not that this book is wrong; it's impractical. People do exhibit the behaviors described in this book, but not because they are one sex or the other. The theories I can tolerate; the sweeping generalizations, I cannot. (Originally posted as SquareSpot on PaperBackSwap.com.)

Review: Under a Flaming Sky

Under a Flaming Sky: The Great Hinckley Firestorm of 1894

by Daniel James Brown

Ditto what the previous reviewer said, "This book is not for the faint of heart." The book's narrative follows people fleeing - successfully and unsuccessfully - from a firestorm that raged across Northern Minnesota. I was "name-dropping" this one to my fellow Minnesotans weeks after I read it. Really got my adrenaline pumping. (Originally posted as SquareSpot on PaperBackSwap.com.)