BookShelf

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.

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January 9, 2019

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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December 5, 2018

“Diet for a Changing Climate: Food for Thought”

As our BookShelf column moves to a monthly schedule, we take a look at an imaginative take on how to deal with the spread of invasive species — eating them! A pair of children’s book authors offers insight into the problem for young adult readers (and the rest of us), along with recipes. Read our review.

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October 10, 2018

Between the Lines: From News to Nest, Veteran Reporter Follows Seabirds' 'Improbable Quest'

Pulitzer Prize finalist Derrick Jackson had written about everything from sports to politics. But then as his interest in the environment began to grow, he had a close encounter with some threatened puffin chicks that became a defining long-term project. Our latest “Between the Lines” author Q&A explores how this newsman and columnist came to co-author and photograph “Project Puffin: The Improbable Quest to Bring a Beloved Seabird Back to Egg Rock.”

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June 27, 2018

Between the Lines: Author Sees Flint at Intersection of Democracy, Environmental Injustice

A key figure in the Flint, Mich., drinking water crisis, Dr. Mona Hanna-Attisha, talks with SEJournal’s Between the Lines about her new book on the tragedy, and how she hopes telling the tale of the intersection of environmental injustice, racism, poverty and democracy might provide inspiration for other communities.

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“What the Eyes Don’t See: A Story of Crisis, Resistance, and Hope in an American City”

The tale of the Flint, Michigan, drinking water crisis is told anew in a just-released book by a key protagonist in the tragedy. Dr. Mona Hanna-Attisha’s “What the Eyes Don’t See: A Story of Crisis, Resistance, and Hope in an American City” is written with a grace, clarity, honesty and passion that our BookShelf editor Tom Henry says brings a unique perspective to this important story of American environmental injustice.

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“Pandora's Garden: Kudzu, Cockroaches, and Other Misfits of Ecology”

Weird and unwanted critters are the subject of a new collection of literary essays that mine the author’s experience to help tell a well-researched, entertaining story of invasive species and the pitfalls of ecological tampering. Read our BookShelf review of “Pandora's Garden: Kudzu, Cockroaches, and Other Misfits of Ecology.”

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May 16, 2018

Between the Lines: Scientist Finds Nature’s Art Beneath the Seas

In a unique initiative, an evolutionary biologist uses a collection of exquisite glass models to help people translate natural history to a human scale and to see living living things as masterpieces of nature. In our new Between the Lines, SEJournal speaks with SEJ award-winning author Drew Harvell about her volume “A Sea of Glass” and the power of art to inspire.

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February 28, 2018

“Whitewash: The Story of a Weed Killer, Cancer, and the Corruption of Science”

A hard-nosed account of Monsanto and its controversial and popular herbicide Roundup comes in a new book by a former wire service reporter, who pieced together documentation and fact-finding from over 20 years to make a case there was a dangerous cover-up. BookShelf reviews Carey Gillam’s “Whitewash.”

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“The Gulf: The Making of an American Sea”

A new book on the Gulf of Mexico earns kudos for the balance and passion of its tone, as well as for its historical storytelling about this important ecosystem and the overfishing, oil spills, hurricanes, explosive growth and poor land-use decisions it faces. BookShelf reviews Jack Davis’ “The Gulf.”

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“Yellowstone Migrations”

A photographer undertook an artistic and scientific odyssey that was inspired by an ancient migration now imperiled by human encroachment. His new volume tracks the mythical journeys taken by pronghorn, mule deer and elk through the Greater Yellowstone Ecosystem. BookShelf reviews Joe Riis’ “Yellowstone Migrations.”

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BookShelf

January 9, 2019

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

December 5, 2018

“Diet for a Changing Climate: Food for Thought”

October 10, 2018

Between the Lines: From News to Nest, Veteran Reporter Follows Seabirds' 'Improbable Quest'

June 27, 2018

Between the Lines: Author Sees Flint at Intersection of Democracy, Environmental Injustice

“What the Eyes Don’t See: A Story of Crisis, Resistance, and Hope in an American City”

“Pandora's Garden: Kudzu, Cockroaches, and Other Misfits of Ecology”

May 16, 2018

Between the Lines: Scientist Finds Nature’s Art Beneath the Seas

February 28, 2018

“Whitewash: The Story of a Weed Killer, Cancer, and the Corruption of Science”

“The Gulf: The Making of an American Sea”

“Yellowstone Migrations”

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