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​​You are warmly invited to RPA's Nature Book Club, with Rama Hamarneh, PhD. The book club provides a space to discuss books related to nature, together as a community!
Several times a year, we will meet on Zoom to discuss a book we have read, and the work's relationship to nature. We will explore multiple aspects of nature in literature - represented through multiple genres and authors from around the globe.
Next Meeting:
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Tuesday, December 3 at 7pm on Zoom
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The Zoom link for each meeting will be sent out to the book club email list a few days before the meeting. ​The book club is free to attend, and all are welcome.
For December, we're reading The Nature Principle by Richard Louv.
The immediacy of Richard Louv's message in Last Child in the Woods: Saving Our Children from Nature-Deficit Disorder galvanized an international movement to reconnect children with nature. Now, in The Nature Principle, Louv reaches even further with a powerful call to action for the rest of us.
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Our society, says Louv, has developed such an outsized faith in technology that we have yet to fully realize or even adequately study how human capacities are enhanced through the power of nature. Supported by groundbreaking research, anecdotal evidence, and compelling personal stories, Louv shows us how tapping into the restorative powers of the natural world can boost mental acuity and creativity; promote health and wellness; build smarter and more sustainable businesses, communities, and economies; and ultimately strengthen human bonds. As he says in his introduction, The Nature Principle is "about the power of living in nature—not with it, but in it. We are entering the most creative period in history. The twenty-first century will be the century of human restoration in the natural world."
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Richard Louv makes a convincing case that through a nature-balanced existence—driven by sound economic, social, and environmental solutions—the human race can and will thrive. This timely, inspiring, and important work will give readers renewed hope while challenging them to rethink the way we live.
This book is available through the Upper Hudson Library System, on Hoopla through the library, at Market Block Books, and through other book sellers.
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Previous Nature Book Club selections:
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Alfie & Me: What Owls Know, What Humans Believe by Carl Safina
Crossings: How Road Ecology is Shaping the Future of Our Planet by Ben Goldfarb
The Life and Death of the Great Lakes by Dan Egan
Gathering Moss by Robin Wall Kimmerer
All Things Wise and Wonderful by James Herriot
Beaverland by Rachel Philip
Silent Spring by Rachel Carson
What an Owl Knows: the New Science of the World's Most Enigmatic Birds by Jennifer Ackerman
World of Wonders by Aimee Nezhukumatathil
Fuzz: When Nature Breaks the Law by Mary Roach
The Food Explorer by Daniel Stone
Forest Walking by Peter Wohlleben and Jane Billinghurst
All Things Bright and Beautiful by James Herriot
The Lives of Bees: The Untold Story of the Honey Bee in the Wild by Thomas Seeley
Moon of the Crusted Snow by Waubgeshig Rice
The Brilliant Abyss by Helen Scales
Underland: A Deep Time Journey by Robert Macfarlane
H is for Hawk by Helen Macdonald
The Book of Eels by Patrik Svensson
The Colors of Nature: Culture, Identity and the Natural World Alison H. Deming and Lauret Savoy, eds.
All Creatures Great and Small by James Herriot
Owls of the Eastern Ice: A Quest to Find and Save the World's Largest Owl by Jonathan C. Slaght
Braiding Sweetgrass by Robin Wall Kimmerer
Around the World in 80 Trees by Jonathan Drori
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​"For me, nature has always provided inspiration for both writing and reading."
- Nature Book Club Leader Rama Hamarneh, PhD.
Rama is a published writer with a PhD in Comparative Literature. She works as a staff adviser at RPI, is on the community committee for Poesten Kill Bends Preserve in Troy, and a member of the RPA Board of Directors.
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Questions about the Nature Book Club? Contact Dan at dan@rensselaerplateau.org.
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