What We Are Reading Today: Brave the Wild River by Melissa L. Sevigny

Short Url
Updated 26 May 2023

What We Are Reading Today: Brave the Wild River by Melissa L. Sevigny

This is a story of adventure, pushing boundaries, disregarding gender norms, and setting historical precedents.

“Brave The Wild River” is the story of two women — Elzada Clover and Lois Jotter — who mapped the botany of the Grand Canyon.

The botanists’ story is exciting, interesting, and informative. It is a spellbinding adventure of two women who risked their lives to make an unprecedented botanical survey of a little-known corner of the American West at a time when human influences had begun to change it forever.

Meticulously researched and written like an adventure novel with page-turning prose, science journalist Melissa L. Sevigny’s work deftly weaves the women’s stories and discoveries that influenced botany for decades. Unlike those old-time newspaper reporters, Sevigny does not look at her subjects and see women out of place.

Clover and Jotter and their 1930s achievements remain relevant and their example does not fade with time, Sevigny insists.

Sevigny has worked as a science communicator in the fields of planetary science, western water policy, and sustainable agriculture.

Related


What We Are Reading Today: Goals

Updated 09 June 2023

What We Are Reading Today: Goals

Based on more than 20 years of experience and 40 years of research, this book presents a practical, proven strategy for creating and meeting goals that has been used by more than 1 million people to achieve extraordinary things in life, says a review published on goodreads.com.

Author Brian Tracy explains the seven key elements of goal setting and the 12 steps necessary to set and accomplish goals of any size. Using simple language and real-life examples, Tracy shows how to do the crucial work of determining one’s strengths, values, and true goals.


What We Are Reading Today: ‘The Enjoyment of Math’

Updated 08 June 2023

What We Are Reading Today: ‘The Enjoyment of Math’

Authors: Hans Rademacher and Otto Toeplitz

What is so special about the number 30? Do the prime numbers go on forever? Are there more whole numbers than even numbers? “The Enjoyment of Math” explores these and other captivating problems and puzzles, introducing readers to some of the most fundamental ideas in mathematics. With an incisive foreword by Alex Kontorovich, this Princeton Science Library edition shares the enjoyment of math with a new generation of readers.


What We Are Reading Today: ‘Volcanoes’

Updated 31 May 2023

What We Are Reading Today: ‘Volcanoes’

Authors: Richard V. Fisher, Grant Heiken, And Jeffrey Hulen

Whenever a volcano threatens to erupt, scientists and adventurers from around the world flock to the site in response to the irresistible allure of one of nature’s most dangerous and unpredictable phenomena.

In a unique book probing the science and mystery of these fiery features, the authors chronicle not only their geologic behavior but also their profound effect on human life.


What We Are Reading Today: ‘Tricks of the Light’ by Jonathan Crary

Updated 30 May 2023

What We Are Reading Today: ‘Tricks of the Light’ by Jonathan Crary

“Tricks of the Light” brings together essays by critic and art historian Jonathan Crary, internationally known for his groundbreaking and widely admired studies of modern Western visual culture. 

The book is enhanced by several expansive essays on the unstable status of television, both amid its beginnings in the 1930s and then during its assimilation into new assemblages and networks in the 1980s and 90s.

Related


What We Are Reading Today: ‘The Lion’ by Craig Packer

Updated 25 May 2023

What We Are Reading Today: ‘The Lion’ by Craig Packer

Lions are the only social cat. They hunt together, raise cubs together, and defend territories together against neighbors and strangers. Lions also rest atop their ecological pyramid, with profound impacts on competitors and prey alike, but their future is far from assured. Craig Packer interweaves his discoveries from more than 40 years of research—including a substantial body of new findings—to provide an unforgettable portrait of the African lion.