Book Revew: Eating Aliens

This week's discovery that sea lampreys were imported from the Great Lakes and baked into a pie that was presented to the Queen of England on the occasion of her Diamond Jubilee made us recall a recent addition to our library's collection.  Eating Aliens: One Man's Adventures Hunting Invasive Animal Species details the unique approach its author takes to the problem of invasives, he eats them.  Author Jackson Landers researches and hunts these animals, cooks and consumes them, and shares all the details.  Some of the animals he samples include Black Spiny-Tailed Iguanas, European Green Crabs, Lionfish, and even our local foe, the Asian Carp. 

Ultimately one might conclude that we humans might be the greatest "invasive species" on earth for our large-scale impact on other species, so it prompts the question:

"Can this human ability to harvest wild food in dangerously efficient ways be harnessed for good ecological cause? ...If invasive species such as starlings and Asian carp were rediscovered as desirable food sources, we would clear our sky and water of them, just as surely as we've wiped out so many native plants and animals." (from Introduction, page 3)

Check out our Water Research Guide on the topic of "Aquatic Invasive Species" here.

If you are a Wisconsin resident and would like to check out this or any other book, please fill out our book request form. If you are a UW student, faculty or staff, please request books through the Library Catalog.

Book Review: Going Full Circle

Join husband-wife team Mike Link and Kate Crowley as they hike around the world’s largest freshwater lake, Lake Superior. The couple adds adventure memoir author to their already numerous list of titles such as, naturalists, travel writers and parents & grandparents.  Their recounting of the five-month's long hike through Minnesota, Wisconsin, Michigan and Ontario is compiled in this award-winning, recent addition to the Water Library's collection, Going Full Circle: A 1,555-mile walk around the World's Largest Lake. Their walk is filled with personal observations, scientific information, and passages that are certain to connect readers to the awe and beauty of the Great Lakes region.  There is also an abundance of information available of their website: http://www.fullcirclesuperior.org which they use to continue their advocacy of fresh water resource issues.

Next up for this adventurous couple is a 4,500-mile trip by bicycle and boat along the Mississippi River to the Gulf.  

If you are a Wisconsin resident and would like to check out this or any other book, please fill out our book request form. If you are a UW student, faculty or staff, please request books through the Library Catalog.

Book Review: Bird Songs - 250 North American Birds In Song

Hoot, hoot! Tweet, tweet!  Warble, warble! Chirp, chirp!

One of the highlights of Spring is opening your windows and hearing the birds sing outside.  We at the Water Library, have been enjoying those sounds outside our window as well.  We've even spotted a Great Horned Owl and Red Tailed Hawk perched in a nearby tree. 

The library has a number of books on birds, but we'd like to highlight one today that would be of great use for those wishing the could identify the nearby bird by the sing-song sounds its makes.  Bird Songs: 250 North American Birds In Song not only includes descriptive passages and photos, but an audio player that allows one to select the corresponding audio file and listen to the bird song.  They highlighted sections include Seabirds, Shorebirds, and Waterbirds, Forest birds, Woodland birds, and Open-Country birds.

Produced by the Cornell Lab of Ornithology, a world renowned resource, the fascinating book can lead readers and listeners of all ages to some wonderful discoveries.  Check out the Cornell Lab of Ornithology's website too.  Their Macaulay Library has a comprehensive collection of sounds made by the birds of North America.  Definitely worth

If you are a Wisconsin resident and would like to check out this or any other book, please fill out our book request form. If you are a UW student, faculty or staff, please request books through the Library Catalog.

Book Review: Boat Ride With Lillian Two Blossom

During our story time visits with the children at the Neenk Chungra Head Start program located within the Ho-Chunk Nation we have striven to include more Native American stories. On a recent outreach trip, we were able to share Patricia Polacco's wonderful  Boat Ride with Lillian Two Blossom. 

The story begins as a young boy named Will tries has hand at fishing and his sister Mabel begins asking him where the sun, wind, and rain all come from. Suddenly an elderly woman appears an promises to answer the girl's questions if she can be taken out on their boat for a ride.  What follows is a fantastical journey as they are swept up into the sky, and the woman, Lillian Two Blossom, keeps her promise and reveals the mythic sources of sun, wind, rain, and night.

The book is beautifully illustrated, full of vibrant colors, and was a real treat to share with the Neenk Chungra Head Start children.  Please consider checking it out and including it in your next story time!

If you are a Wisconsin resident and would like to check out this or any other book, please fill out our book request form. If you are a UW student, faculty or staff, please request books through the Library Catalog.

Book Review: Voices From The Sweetwater Seas: A Great Lakes Anthology

Would you like to dive down and explore the Leopard Frog Cave system near Tobermory, Ontario?
 

Attempt to break the speed record for the 600 plus mile trip from Chicago to Detroit?  

Or join a canoeist as he paddles more than 28,000 miles in one continuous journey?  

William F. Keefe has written profiles of Great Lakes adventurers who did all of these feats as well as 30 others who have accomplished remarkable environmental, artistic, recreational, or commercial achievements in the region.  Assembled as one anthology, Voices from the Sweetwater Seas is a welcome addition to our library's collection.

In informal interviews the subjects, men and women, Americans and Canadians, paint descriptions and relate narratives that show clearly, and sometimes poignantly, why the Lakes are a challenge, a means of making a livelihood, an esthetic treasure, a storehouse of wonders great and small, an inspiration, and a geologic miracle. (excerpt from book's back cover)

If you are a Wisconsin resident and would like to check out this or any other book, please fill out our book request form. If you are a UW student, faculty or staff, please request books through the Library Catalog.

Book Review: Fish In Art

Ranging from ancient Egyptian wall art to contemporary photorealist paintings, fish in their countless  aquatic forms have captivated and inspired artists as a subject matter to paint, draw, sculpt, and photograph.

Fish in Art may be the first study devoted to artistic representations of fish in art.  The almost 200 images are spread throughout chapters divided by their depictions in the sea, on the beach, in markets, in the kitchen, on the table, in still waters, in rivers, and on the riverbank.

The author, Christine Jackson combines her academic expertise in natural history with research into art history to illustrate how these depictions of fish connect significantly to the religious, social, political, and economic moments they reflect.

A richly visual treat we are happy to have added to our library's collection and hope you can check it out soon.

If you are a Wisconsin resident and would like to check out this or any other book, please fill out our book request form. If you are a UW student, faculty or staff, please request books through the Library Catalog.   

Book Review: Lost & Found: Legendary Lake Michigan Shipwrecks

We recently added another title to the Water Library's collection of books on the subject of Great Lakes shipwrecks.   Accomplished diver and author Valerie Van Heest uses her extensive experience and Great Lakes contacts to allow readers the tragic sinking of these ships.  Spanning the ages of sail, steam and diesel, the book details discoveries shared with the author by some of the lake's most prolific wreck hunters.

The book describes "the many shipwrecks that became even more famous after their discoveries than at the time of their losses, gaining notoriety as historic attractions, archaeological sites, and in some cases, over bold salvage attempts or precedent- setting legal battles."

 For more information about Wisconsin's Great Lakes Shipwrecks, visit the UW Sea Grant and Wisconsin Historical Society site, wisconsinshipwrecks.org. The Water Library also has a reading list of books about Great Lakes Shipwrecks.

If you are a Wisconsin resident and would like to check out this or any other book, please fill out our book request form. If you are a UW student, faculty or staff, please request books through the Library Catalog.  

Book Review: The Where, The Why, And The How: 75 Artists Illustrate Wondrous Mysteries of Science

We recently added this book to our collection, The Where, The Why, And The How: 75 Artists Illustrate Wondrous Mysteries of Science. It presents informative essays on "wondrous mysteries of science" matched to illustrations by a bevy of talented artists. Artist include such contemporary luminaries as Lisa Congdon, Jen Corace, Neil Farber, Susie Ghahremani, Jeremyville, and many more. 

Appropriate to this visual treat is the video book trailer shared above. Watch it and consider checking this newly acquired visual feast from our collection soon!  It truly is "a science book like no other"!

If you are a Wisconsin resident and would like to check out this or any other book, please fill out our book request form. If you are a UW student, faculty or staff, please request books through the Library Catalog. 

Book Review: Ocean Sunlight: How Tiny Plants Feed The Seas

A recent picture book addition to our library's collection of children's books shows the sustaining force behind the life cycle found within our oceans.  Authored and illustrated by Caldecott-award winning illustrator Molly Bangs and co-authored by award-winning M.I.T. professor and leading expert on ocean science, Penny Chisholm; Ocean Sunlight does not disappoint with its beautiful illustrations and clear, simple science.  Booklist's starred review exclaims "If a good picture book does what it sets out to do, a great one sets out to do something huge and succeeds" and concludes it's "an outstanding book to read and absorb."

We hope you'll take an opportunity to check it out and share it with any young readers who might appreciate it.

For further information on the book and other titles on "oceans":
Wisconsin's Water Library's Book Suggestions for Kids: Oceans
Molly Bang's website provides a great "About the Story" summary
 
If you are a Wisconsin resident and would like to check out this or any other book, please fill out our book request form. If you are a UW student, faculty or staff, please request books through the Library Catalog. 

Book Review: Eco Literate

Educators, environmentalists, activists, and students will be interested in this recent addition to our library's collection, Eco Literate: How Educators Are Cultivating Emotional, Social, and Ecological Intelligence.  Readers are told how education can engage students to develop knowledge of living systems, through stories, and by using lesson plans and professional development guides. The book includes in-depth discussions  that outline stories from the field including: Standing Strong on Coal Mountain, From Anger To Action In Oil Country, Shared Water: Moving Beyond Boundaries, and Nourishing Communities With Food.  

"Eco Literate provides a veritable how-to guide for educators to creatively engage young people in the most important ecological issues of the day, helping them gain knowledge of and empathy for all living systems, which is bound to enrich their lives and protect the future of our planet."
(Gail Connelly, Executive Director, National Association of Elementary School Principals)

Goleman, Daniel, Lisa Bennett, and Zenobia Barlow. Eco Literate : How Educators Are Cultivating Emotional, Social, and Ecological Intelligence. San Francisco: Jossey-Bass, 2012.

View Center for Ecoliteracy's Eco Literate Web Page
You Tube Clip - Dan Goleman speaks about the book Eco Literate (2:18)

If you are a Wisconsin resident and would like to check out this or any other book, please fill out our book request form. If you are a UW student, faculty or staff, please request books through the Library Catalog. 

Book Review: Water Drops - Celebrating the Wonder of Water

Want a quick sip of water knowledge?  Or perhaps you'd rather fill your glass full with a variety of thirst quenching, water-related topics?  This recent addition to our library's collection compiles an insightful collection of essays originally delivered as radio scripts during the author Peter Black's weekly broadcasts on WRVO-FM, Oswego, New York and later heard countless times on NPR.

The book's introduction promises that, "In this engaging book, hydrologist Peter E. Black celebrates the wonder of our planet’s most precious natural resource. In these brief, nontechnical essays, readers are introduced to water’s unique scientific properties, the vital role it plays in Earth’s ecology and ecosystems, and the impact it has had on human history, culture, art, law, and economics."

Definitely worth checking out!

Black, P. E. (2012). Water drops : celebrating the wonder of water. Albany: Excelsior Editions/State University of New York Press.

If you are a Wisconsin resident and would like to check out this or any other book, please fill out our book request form. If you are a UW student, faculty or staff, please request books through the Library Catalog.

Book Review: Mighty Fitz

When it first went into service in 1958, the Edmund Fitzgerald was one of the largest and most expensive freighters ever built.  Its tragic demise on November 10th, 1975 was to become one of the most legendary shipwrecks ever witnessed in America's inland waters.  Lifelong resident of the Great Lakes region Michael Schumacher has written twenty-five documentaries on shipwrecks and lighthouses.  We are pleased to add his latest book, Mighty Fitz: The Sinking of the Edmund Fitzgerald  to the Wisconsin's Water Libraries collection. 

Schumacher delves deep into the history of the ship, describing her many years on the Great Lakes, the fateful wreck, search efforts, and the subsequent controversy and investigation.  Booklist concludes that Mighty Fitz is "a thoroughly admirable addition to Great Lakes history."  We agree and encourage you to check it out.

If you are a Wisconsin resident and would like to check out this or any other book, please fill out our book request form. If you are a UW student, faculty or staff, please request books through the Library Catalog.

For more on Great Lakes Shipwrecks:

Browse Wisconsin's Water Library's Recommended Reading List on Great Lakes Shipwrecks here
Visit Wisconsin's Great Lakes Shipwrecks website here
Publisher The University of Minnesota Press' official website here
And finally, watch a clip of musician Gordon Lightfoot performing his song The Wreck of the Edmund Fitzgerald  here

Book Review: The Bark River Chronicles

Recently added to the library's collection is The Bark River Chronicles: Stories from a Wisconsin Watershed by Milton J. Bates .  The Bark River valley region of Southeastern Wisconsin is used to explore a diverse assortment of topics.  The book outlines the author's voyage by canoe from the Bark River's headwaters, through its confluence with the Rock River, and finally joining up to Lake Koshkonong.  The book connects the this meandering river route taken to corresponding stories including those of early settlements, glaciation, effigy mounds, the Black Hawk War, the development of waterpower sites, and the damage done by water pollution and invasive species. 

As the Wisconsin Historical Society Press review concludes, "for the two voyageurs who paddle the length of the Bark, it is a journey of rediscovery and exploration. As they glide through marshes, woods, farmland, and cities, they acquire not only historical and environmental knowledge but also a renewed sense of the place in which they live."

If you are a Wisconsin resident and would like to check out this or any other book, please fill out our book request form. If you are a UW student, faculty or staff, please request books through the Library Catalog.

Wisconsin Historical Society Press info on the book here
Milton J. Bates' author biography here

Featured Books Week: Ocean Drifters: A Secret World Beneath the Waves

Title: Ocean Drifters: A Secret World Beneath the Waves
Author: Richard Kirby
Publisher: Firefly Books, Ltd., 2011

Ocean Drifters: A Secret World Beneath the Waves is as interesting to look at as it is to read. Richard Kirby's beautiful photographs of plankton and microscopic marine organisms are accompanied by explanations of their characteristics and greater world impact. Since plankton play a crucial role in life on earth, this book, like others featured this week, asks readers to consider how humans are affecting the lives of our planet's ecosystems.

Image via WSJ

What can you do?

• Check it out!
• Click here to see more photography by Richard Kirby

Featured Books Week: Who Speaks for the Climate?

Title: Who Speaks for the Climate? Making Sense of Media Reporting on Climate Change
Author: Maxwell T. Boykoff
Publisher: Cambridge University Press 2011

We rely on the media for much of our information, but the media is affected by a number of factors, whether they be political, economic, cultural, or social. In Who Speaks for the Climate?, Boykoff aims to make sense of media reporting and how it affects our information and response to climate change.

Much of Boykoff's material for the book comes from interviews with journalists and those in the media industry, as well as climate change scientists and academics.  Boykoff makes his case accessible to readers of all disciplines, discussing the relationship and disconnect between these two groups and their public audiences, ultimately advocating for more informed public perceptions and environmental decision-making.

What can you do?

• Check it out!
• Use these library resources to become better informed:
• Climate change books from the Water Library
• Climate Change Data research guide
• Global Warming: An Undergraduate Research Guide
• Visit the book's official website
• Learn about climate change in Wisconsin from the UW Sea Grant