Summer Reading

Karla and I just attended a family wedding back in MA. Long plane trips on aircraft that are not fitted with inseat videos are always a great chance to catch up on non-work reading. I tend to think of magazines and newspapers as "mind snacks", and of books as meals... and so was happy to fill my backpack with an eclectic collection of light eating (Time, Newsweek, Economist, etc.) and the more hearty gourmet dinners that I had been collecting for months but not really found time to read...

Given that I am bored with most contemporary fiction works (don't you just hate paying $20 for a novel then working out where it is headed at the start of page 2?) and that we have had a couple of great authors visit the Center recently (and left me a copy of their new books), its not surprising that my summer reading tends towards new insights into the natural world and how humans interact with that world.

My three traveling companions could not have been better chosen as each has that core theme.

First up was Cold - the stunning debut novel from our newest SAC member, Bill Streever, a biologist who lives in Anchorage. Bill has a big hit on his hands - Cold was reviewed well in both the NY Times and in this week's Economist and deserves the accolades. I won't spoil it by describing the subtle plot or how Bill brilliantly overlays an incredible array of scientific facts against a back plot of life in Anchorage with a rare dry humor... but for those who like being teased, tantalized or tricked then this one if a keeper! My only slight criticism was the ending - a bit too subtle, but maybe that is just me?

The next selection is a perfect plane read. A series of short stories by one of the best story tellers in the business, Alaska's own Nick Jans. Many of the stories feature the infamous Mendenhall Glacier wolf, Romeo who has quickly become the stuff of legends - this book formalizes the Romeo folklore. Nick just spent a week with us developing some stories about the Alaska Sealife Center and after reading Glacier Wolf, I have an even more eager sense of anticipation for what he will write about us. His writing style is sublime - the way he describes every day events has a Steinbeck like quality. When he gets into his favorite Alaskan settings and situations he holds a mirror up to all of us that is both comforting and provocative - kind of like realizing that really is how we look/live!

The final part of my summer trilogy was a new book from another well know writer - author of Cod and other maritime classics. Mark Kurlansky is a NY based author who dabbles in New England history, arts and politics. The Last Fish Tale is a sweeping tale about the Massachusetts coastal city of Gloucester and how the fishing industry there has changed over the past 400 years... its like reading the rise and fall of the Roman Empire! Along the way he weaves in a bunch of fascinating facts about great artists such as Winslow Homer and TS Eliot (a person favorite - I didn't realize he spent his summers in Gloucester as a teenager and how they influenced his writings), Sicilian fishers and their culture(s) in America and Sicily, the ineffectiveness of New England fisheries regulators and the dire impact of technologies that changed forever our relationship with nature even when nature seemed limitless... needless to say I saw much in this book of relevance to Alaska.

Three very different books, but all with much in common - a true three course meal that satisfies and stimulates...