Bøger af Sharman Apt Russell

While on a class trip, twelve-year-olds May and Evan are transported from contemporary Phoenix into a desert land peopled by six tribes, each of which has its own, innate magical skill. Soon May and Evan discover that these magical powers are fading, and they become caught up in the tribes' struggles between themselves, as well as with another mysterious new Enemy. This fantasy weaves together the natural history and folklore of the American Southwest into a story for ages 8-12.

A critically acclaimed nature writer explores the citizen scientist movement through the lens of entomological field research in the American Southwest. Award-winning nature writer Sharman Apt Russell felt pressed by the current environmental crisis to pick up her pen yet again. Encouraged by the phenomenon of citizen science, she decided to turn her attention to the Western red-bellied tiger beetle, an insect found widely around the world and near her home in the Gila River Valley of New Mexico. In a lyrical, often humorous voice, Russell shares her journey across a wild, rural landscape tracking this little-known species, an insect she calls "charismatic," "elegant," and "fierce." What she finds is renewed optimism in mysteries still left to be explored, that despite the challenges of climate change, there is a growing diversity of ways ordinary people can contribute to the research needs of scientists today in the name of environmental activism. Offering readers a glimpse into the pioneering field of citizen science, Diary of a Citizen Scientist documents one woman's transformation from a feeling of powerlessness to engaged hopefulness. Winner of the John Burroughs Medal and the WILLA Literary Award for Best Creative Nonfiction Named one of the top ten best nature books of 2014 by GrrlScientist in The Guardian

An award-winning science and nature writer "presents a lively, confident, and free-flowing history of archaeology in America" (Booklist). Digging up the relics of the past is not without controversy. With insight and eloquence, Sharman Apt Russell reveals here that when it comes to archaeological study, there is more than one way to examine history. Raising provocative questions anew about subjects such as the role of humans in the extinction of the large land mammals of the Pleistocene epoch and the repatriation of Native American graves, Russell, winner of the John Burroughs Medal--whose recipients include Rachel Carson--explores the question of what we owe to our past. Through a series of interviews with archaeologists and activists who have helped modernize the field, Russell provides fascinating ideas about the role of archaeology in the stewardship of antiquity, as well as the implications for our common future. "Russell's work is thoughtful, beautifully written, and well documented. A good way for lay readers to become more informed." --Library Journal "Agile, cerebral, ruminative, entirely satisfying." --Kirkus Reviews

"In the tradition of Jean Auel, this well-researched novel authentically recreates the world of the Clovis people." --Publishers Weekly These children had never seen a tapir. They had never seen a mammoth. So reflects Willow, clan elder of the Clovis tribe, hunters and gatherers who lived on the grassy plains of the great Southwest more than eleven thousand years ago. Looking back on her life, Willow tells the story of when the land was abundant with bison, camels, mammoths, and lions. When communication with animals, plants, and even stones was possible, even essential, for survival. Inventively linking Willow's chronicle with that of the woolly mammoth matriarchs, award-winning author Sharman Apt Russell explores the impact of human interaction with the environment, shedding light on the archaeological mystery surrounding the mass extinction at the end of the Pleistocene. Recreating the lives of a prehistoric people while highlighting our deep connection to the past and the world around us, The Last Matriarch is a book for our times. "Books like this one can teach us not only the facts of the Paleolithic past, but also allow us to share the experiences of our ancestors. The Last Matriarch does both and does them beautifully." --Elizabeth Marshall Thomas, author of The Social Life of Dogs and Reindeer Moon "With a fluidly poetic style and vivid characterizations, Russell brings the ancient Southwest alive." --Booklist

Filled with "honest" writing and "wise" observations, "Russell's well-written essays describe her life as an urban immigrant to the rural Southwest" (Library Journal). In 1981, newlywed Sharman Apt Russell moved with her husband to an agricultural valley in southwestern New Mexico, hoping to create a simpler life. From building their adobe house to the home-birth of their firstborn to growing their own food and navigating the seasonal flooding of the Mimbres River, these luminous essays chart Sharman's journey toward self-sufficiency in a land as mythical and remote as the image of the prehistoric fluteplayer found on the pottery in trading posts throughout the Southwest. Replete with wisdom and a reverence for the Native American people whose relics Sharman discovers everywhere on the land around her, this award-winning memoir pays tribute to the power and grace of nature, our deep connection to our prehistoric past, and the beauty of living in communion with the land. "A fine contribution to the literature of the modern American Southwest . . . [Russell] achieves just the right mix of fact and metaphor, humor and poetics." --Booklist "These essays say much about the difficulty of maintaining an alternate lifestyle." --Publishers Weekly "A lovely little book. To be kept and read and read again." --Tony Hillerman, bestselling author

To environmentalists, wilderness is a valuable resource and a sacred place; to many ranchers, wilderness means eviction and government interference. Russell, herself a westerner, here tackles the complex and controversial issues of land health and wildlife in the West. A provocative and enlightening account."-Publishers Weekly Rising larger than life against the Western horizon, the cowboy sits astride his horse right in the middle of American mythology, husbanding our ideals of freedom, independence, and valor. And grazing his cattle on the wide-open land, he leaves a dusty trail: weeds spring up, scrub brush flourishes, wildlife declines, ground compacts, soil erodes, streambeds turn into dry gullies. Treading a fine line between the idyllic myth and the harsh facts of real-life ranching, this book offers a measured look at the struggle over the future of the American West, where visions of the land sharply divide between those who want to use it, those who want to save it from abuse, and those who see a middle way. Fairly-though envisioning a revamping of the current grazing system-Sharman Apt Russell describes the present battles that pit ranchers against environmentalists, new Westerners against old, private concerns against government policies. The story she tells is dramatic, animated with the distinctive personalities and contentious episodes that have shaped current debates. It is also scrupulously attentive to the details of history, politics, and economics in the region. Grounded in a deep respect for land, this elegantly written, well-reasoned book begins the work of reevaluating our heroic myths and immediate needs in a way that will prove sustainable for all the West's inhabitants. "Take the cowboy, please, and send him packing, along with all his mythological baggage--or so argues Russell. . . in this provocative and iconoclastic study. . . . Russell takes a cultural icon and, in one bold stroke, brings it full circle from myth to menace. The West needs a new image, and she's given us many to choose from."-Kirkus Reviews

"Everything is connected, and the web is holy." So wrote Marcus Aurelius, the starting point of Sharman Apt Russell's wise and haunting new memoir about her life as a pantheist. In Standing in the Light, Russell explores the history of this tradition from the Stoic philosophers to the Transcendentalists while reflecting on her own life during a year spent in the mountains and desert of southwestern New Mexico. Nature provides the inspiration for meditations on subjects ranging from Buddhist thought to the death of her father, from global warming to the ineffable loneliness of human experience. With a humane heart, an inquisitive mind, and an astounding fluency of prose, Sharman Apt Russell invites skeptics, scientists, and seekers everywhere to join her in her exploration of the soul of pantheism. "An elegantly written mixture of history, science and memoir... an engaging journey through the full spectrum of hunger, from the familiar stomach rumblings to the global issue of famine... Observer "An elegant meditation... (Sharman Apt Russell) scoops every morsel of interest from her subject. She also writes beautifully. Not surprisingly, this produces a feast." The Economist

From the beastly horned caterpillar whose blood helps it count time, to the peacock butterfly with wings that hiss like a snake, this title traces butterflies through their life cycles, exploring the creatures' own obsessions with eating, mating, and migrating. It reveals the logic behind our endless fascination with butterflies.