Rambling Lemurian

Editor’s Note: This was originally published on my LinkedIn page on 7/2/24

My 4 year old loves the Skokie Public Library. We’ve been going at least once a week for the past couple years. It might be the huge play area with magnet tiles, trains, and a mock farmer’s market, vet office, and spaceship that got her hooked. But now even though she can’t yet read on her own, she goes straight for the books before seeing which new kids she can play with. As I helped her check out a big pile of picture books for the 48th time that I knew I’d have to read to her that night while lying on her floor as she refuses to sleep, I had the realization that my borrowing history must look really odd for an adult. Considering that picture books were the only books I had read in recent times, I felt like I should try to balance it out a bit. It’s my library card account, some of the history should reflect my interests, right?

It was January 2024 when I decided to try to get back into a reading habit. Call it a new year’s resolution if you want; I prefer to think of the timing as a coincidence. It’s not the first time I’ve tried, but usually after 1-2 books my interest would fizzle out as the dust gathered on a pile of overpriced books on my nightstand for the next several months. This time I tried something different and opted for using the library to read nonfiction books instead of my usual choices of sci-fi and fantasy. Now that we’re halfway through the year I’m happy to report I’ve kept up with this habit. I’ll list some of my favorites below.

You can probably tell from the list below, I haven’t settled on a particular topic, and I don’t think I will anytime soon. I started this thinking I would be focusing on anthropology, archaeology, and history. But since then I’ve happily meandered through topics like true crime, memoirs, witch trials, and owls. I used my lunch break today to pick up a new set of books on the search for habitable exoplanets, how people get sucked into conspiracy theories, and Russian money laundering. Maybe I picked up this eclectic mindset from my daughter and her book-picking habits. I’ll probably shift back to my typical Star Wars and other sci-fi novels at some point, but for now I’m enjoying picking up bits of new random knowledge like a library magpie. Even if it makes my daughter jealous to know that I went to the library without her.

In no particular order, here are a few of my favorite reads so far in 2024.

Brave the Wild River: The Untold Story of Two Women Who Mapped the Botany of the Grand Canyon, by Melissa L. Sevigny

Really interesting and exciting story of the harrowing 43-day trek of Elzada Clover and Lois Jotter as they boated down the Colorado River in 1938 to catalog as much plant life as possible unique to the Grand Canyon. Worth a read to anyone interested in American history, botany, and/or adventure.

First Steps: How Upright Walking Made Us Human, by Jeremy M. DeSilva

An entertaining read explaining how the development of bipedalism led to us where we are now as a species. The author does a really good job turning an intimidating topic accessible to anyone curious about human evolution.

The War Below: Lithium, Copper, and the Global Battle to Power Our Lives, by Ernest Scheyder

Did you know that obnoxious leaf blower the landscaping company uses on your neighbor’s yard releases as much deadly and climate-harming pollutants into the air in just 30 minutes as a Ford pickup driving from Texas to Alaska? As we try to transition away from fossil fuels this book goes through some of the challenges and compromises being made to secure lithium, cobalt, and rare earths metals needed for the battery-powered near-future.

Mirage Men: An Adventure Into Paranoia, Espionage, Psychological Warfare, and UFO’s, by Mark Pilkington

Who doesn’t love a good conspiracy theory involving UFOs and aliens? This is a pretty fun but down-to-earth read about the history of the UFO phenomenon in the US and what may really be going on.

Finding the Mother Tree: Discovering the Wisdom of the Forest, by Suzanne Simard

This memoir tells the story of Suzanne Simard’s life-long research on tree’s usage of fungal networks to nourish and communicate with each other. It’s a good mix of hard science and personal story-telling that will put you in the mood to start a native pollinator garden and go forest bathing.

The Language of the Game: How to Understand Soccer, by Laurent Dubois

With the Euros and Copa America both in full swing and the Paris 2024 Olympics coming up quickly, and the expanding popularity of the NWSL (go Red Stars!), it’s the Summer of Soccer. If you’re relatively new to the sport, or even if you’ve been playing and watching your whole life, you’ll enjoy this history/tutorial/love letter to soccer.