currently reading

When life gets full of stress and chaos one of my escapes is to read. I read whenever I can. One of my favorite times to read during the week is at work during my lunch break. It is a great way to escape for a little bit during each day. Now that the warm weather is here I can sit out on the patio and enjoy to warmer, sunny weather and almost forget where I am.

I am currently reading another book for the local audubon nature book club. Meeting is on Monday nite so I hope I get to go.

The book is: "Sippewissett: or, Life on a Salt Marsh" by Tim Traver.


I have been enjoying reading about someplace local. I think we will take a ride down there to see the marsh for ourselves.

From Booklist
*Starred Review* Tim Traver has created a wonderfully unique piece of genre blending in his elegant rumination on Sippewissett, the Cape Cod salt marsh he has known since childhood. By including both a rich history of the nearby Woods Hole Oceanographic Institute (along with fascinating profiles of the many scientists associated with it over the years) and stories about his family's long relationship with the marsh, he provides the reader with a work that is equal parts natural history and memoir. As he ponders the accomplishments and impact of naturalist luminaries Louis Agassiz, Spencer Baird, and Rachel Carson, he places their historic research in the context of the marsh's present condition. This transition is made easy by his family's deep connection to the region, which he shares in passages echoing George Howe Colt's National Book Award finalist, The Big House (2003). Traver has the same deep attachment to the land as Colt, but his scientific background and attention to the region's marine biology raises the book to a higher level. Sippewissett is a rare book, as it both informs and entrances. A delight from beginning to end. Colleen Mondor
Copyright © American Library Association. All rights reserved --This text refers to the Hardcover edition.
Review
"Traver, a third-generation Cape Cod salt marsh inhabitant, has the distinctive and wonderful perspective that comes from loving--and sometimes leaving--a place of true natural wonder. Spending near-idyllic boyhood summers in Sippewissett, MA, Traver grew up exploring the natural world around him. Revisiting those childhood memories, now tempered by marriage and fatherhood, he looks at many vital and potentially contentious issues from both sides of the proverbial coin--that of the scientist/environmentalist and the local--and speaks with understanding and empathy for both. In this wonderful blend of natural history and memoir, Traver details both the ecology and the history of Sippewissett, describing the people and creatures that he encounters, and chronicles the daily turning of the tides. Educational, touching, and highly relevant in today's changing ecological world, this marvelous book is highly recommended for public and academic libraries."
--Susan E. Brazer, Salisbury Univ. Lib., MD, Library Journal Starred Review

Biologists (including Louis Agassiz and Rachel Carson) have long been drawn to the patch of Cape Cod marsh where Traver spent his boyhood summers and to which he still returns. His reflections on the fauna, flora, habitats, and human culture eloquently weave together ecology, history, and memory. He offers enticing discussions of tidal flows, spawning runs, eelgrass beds, clam hunts, and even the microbial communities in the muds. And his treatment of sometimes contentious conservation issues demonstrates his recognition of the challenges facing those who wish to sustain their sense of home.
Science, August 2007