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BookShelf

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The BookShelf features monthly reviews of the latest environmental and energy books of interest to journalists, as well as an occasional question-and-answer in which published authors offer insight into the motivations behind their work and provide advice to environmental reporters and writers.

For questions and comments, or to suggest future BookShelf reviews, or to offer to review a book, email the SEJournal BookShelf Editor Tom Henry at thenry@theblade.com.

Public

December 11, 2019

November 6, 2019

  • “Giants of the Monsoon Forest: Living and Working With Elephants”

    A new book, “Giants of the Monsoon Forest,” offers an intimate look at the lives of working elephants in conflict-ridden Myanmar, where one of the planet’s most majestic animals faces increasing pressures. BookShelf reviewer Melody Kemp, based in Laos, describes her own experience with elephants, their surprising history with man and hopeful possibilities for their future.

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October 2, 2019

September 4, 2019

  • “Superpower: One Man’s Quest to Transform American Energy”

    The new book, “Superpower: One Man’s Quest to Transform American Energy,” takes what our reviewer calls an illuminating look into the politics and economics of energy development. The volume examines the decade-long effort to build long-distance transmission lines for wind-generated electricity. More in our latest BookShelf review.

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June 5, 2019

  • “Ocean Outbreak: Confronting the Rising Tide of Marine Disease”

    Marine ecologist Drew Harvell’s new book makes the case that the world’s oceans are sick and that few are paying enough attention. According to our latest BookShelf review, her “Ocean Outbreak” takes readers on a panoramic journey through the deep, while equipping reporters to better report problems that go well beyond climate change.

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May 1, 2019

  • Between the Lines: Forging a Future for a ‘Forgotten River’

    Washington, D.C.’s long-neglected Anacostia River bears both tragedy and beauty. And author Krista Schlyer plumbs its depths in her most recent book, “River of Redemption.” In this Between the Lines, she speaks of her connection to the urban waterway, as well as her latest reporting on the environmental impact of the border wall.

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April 3, 2019

  • “Bombs Away: Militarization, Conservation, and Ecological Restoration”

    Does the military use ecological restoration as a means to “green” over the complex relationship between nature and culture, undermining the impacts of history and warfare? Our latest BookShelf review of the new volume, “Bombs Away: Militarization, Conservation, and Ecological Restoration,” explores one author’s argument that it does.

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February 13, 2019

  • “Confessions of a Rogue Nuclear Regulator”

    A former head of the Nuclear Regulatory Commission has written a powder keg of a book, “Confessions of a Rogue Nuclear Regulator.” Author Gregory Jaczko left the post in 2012, far more critical of nuclear power’s safety claims than he came in, his concerns amplified by the Fukushima meltdown in Japan in 2011. Now, he worries that its lessons have not sunk in deeply enough with an industry that he believes is headed toward catastrophe. Read our latest BookShelf review.

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January 9, 2019

  • “Saudi America: The Truth About Fracking and How It’s Changing the World”

    The economics of fracking may be as big a worry as its environmental impacts, finds a new book on the energy extraction industry. Our latest BookShelf reviews the volume from a seasoned business reporter, who questions conventional views about a renewed U.S. energy “dominance,” probes the financial instability of the industry’s boom and raises the politically destabilizing spectre of a future decline for the fossil fuel market.

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  • Between the Lines: Getting Inside the Head of a Book Editor

    “Think big, but keep your feet on the ground” — that’s the kind of sound advice that would-be authors receive behind closed doors at the Society of Environmental Journalists’ annual conference, where book editors offer confidential feedback on author pitches in the yearly “Book Slam.” Now, SEJournal has tapped Slam moderator Meera Subramanian to gather book editors’ top 15 tips from the 2018 SEJ gathering in Flint. We share them with you in our latest Between the Lines.

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