November 6, 2022 - 12:35pm -- stone.91@osu.edu

Save The Dates for Upcoming Virtual Book Clubs in 2023

January – Lives of Weeds, by Dr. John Cardina

  • Mondays, January 9, 16, 23 and 30; 7:00 - 8:00 pm 

February – Braiding Sweetgrass, by Robin Wall Kimmerer

  • Mondays, February 6, 13, 20 and 27; 7:00 - 8:00 pm

March – Seeing Trees, by Nancy R. Hugo and Robert Llewellyn

  • Mondays, March 6, 13, 20 and 27; 7:00 - 8:00 pm

JANUARY BOOK CLUB READING

Lives of Weeds is written by Dr. John Cardina, a retired weed scientist with The Ohio State University. He shares not only the history of several weeds, but their relationship to humans. Dr. Cardina will be joining us for the first meeting sharing his perspective on how this book came to be. While reading you will learn about selected tenacious plants and their unique stories – why they are both inevitable and essential, and how their ecological success is ensured by tireless efforts to eradicate them. He links botany, history, ecology, and evolutionary biology to the social dimensions of humanity's ancient struggle with feral flora, and shows how weeds have shaped—and are shaped by—the way we live in the natural world.

FEBRUARY BOOK CLUB READING

Published nearly 10 years ago, Braiding Sweetgrass is a book by Robin Wall Kimmerer.

Her book explores the connection between all living things and our human efforts to cultivate a more sustainable world through the lens of indigenous traditions. She reflects on how modern botany can be explained through these cultures.

The book is a series of stories the author uses to teach, discuss, and explains the connectiveness of sustainability and cultures to solve problems through science and learning. Readers will learn about an Honorable Harvest, indigenous cultures, lichens and cedars, the windigo, and more through several stories compiled in her book and discussed in our virtual book club.

MARCH BOOK CLUB READING

Seeing Trees is an amazing book with awesome pictures created by the writing of Nancy R. Hugo and photographs captured by Robert Llewellyn. This easy read dives deep in the rarely seen, but easily observable tree traits and summons readers to watch trees with the same care and compassion that birdwatchers watch birds.

As we work our way through this book, we will be focusing on strategies to improve our field observations of trees in the future. We will be highlighting some of the most visually interesting tree structures, including leaves, flowers, buds, leaf scars, twigs, and bark. While the book highlights, in-depth profiles of ten familiar tree species—including such beloved trees as white oak, southern magnolia, white pine, and tulip poplar—we will learn together to be able to recognize and understand many of their most captivating, but usually overlooked, physical features and the skills to apply this to every plant in our landscape and natural areas. I am already thinking about offering a hands-on and outdoor component to put our skills and make these new observations out in the field together as a group in the spring, summer and fall.

For additional information, please contact Amy Stone at stone.91@osu.edu