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BookShelf

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The BookShelf features monthly reviews of the latest environmental and energy books of interest to journalists, as well as an occasional question-and-answer in which published authors offer insight into the motivations behind their work and provide advice to environmental reporters and writers.

For questions and comments, or to suggest future BookShelf reviews, or to offer to review a book, email the SEJournal BookShelf Editor Tom Henry at thenry@theblade.com.

Public

November 29, 2023

  • Between the Lines — Author Explores Experience of Living Through Climate Change

    To make climate change less abstract and more direct, writer Madeline Ostrander traveled the country to speak to those living with its impacts in the places they call home. In a BookShelf “Between the Lines” Q&A, Ostrander discusses her resulting book, “At Home on an Unruly Planet: Finding Refuge on a Changed Earth,” and addresses the lenses she used, the characters she portrayed and the surprises she encountered.

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October 25, 2023

  • Author Brings Far-Reaching Insight to ‘The Three Ages of Water’

    Leading water expert Peter Gleick’s new book on water’s past, present and future is an ambitious volume that offers a panoramic look at this essential resource — and hope for living in harmony with it in the future. BookShelf Editor Tom Henry calls “The Three Ages of Water” a rare book of breadth and depth, part history and part sustainable remedy. Read his review.

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September 27, 2023

July 26, 2023

  • Ursine Odyssey Seeks Insight Into Future for Bears

    A new book takes readers around the planet to better understand the world’s eight bear species and our relationships with them, including not just how we’ve popularized some but also the many ways we’ve mistreated or pushed others to the brink of extinction. In the new BookShelf, Frances Backhouse reviews Gloria Dickie’s just-published volume, “Eight Bears.” Plus, Freelance Files interviews Dickie.

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June 14, 2023

  • The Seven Stages of Beach Exploitation (and Restoration)

    When most people think of coastal tourist destinations, they imagine beaches lined by palm trees and exclusive resorts. But those are exactly the kind of realities that contribute to the environmental and economic decline of coastal communities and their local residents, argues a new book. Contributing Editor Jenny Weeks has our review in the new BookShelf.

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May 10, 2023

  • How Phosphorus Helped Feed a World — And an Invasion of Algae

    The world has heard all about how algae has spread harmfully in large waterways. Now a new book, “The Devil’s Element,” zeroes in on phosphorus, which not only helped feed humanity but also fueled algae’s dangerous blooms. Plus, why soap bubbles turned out to be bad for the environment. A review of the new volume, from BookShelf Editor Tom Henry.

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April 12, 2023

  • With 'Silent Spring Revolution,' Historian Brings Pivotal Environmental Era to Life

    For BookShelf Editor Tom Henry, historian Douglas Brinkley's latest volume is a remarkable opportunity for anyone seeking an in-depth understanding of the “Great Environmental Awakening” and the myriad personalities that helped drive it. And not just the names you’d expect, but unlikely ones such as convicted Watergate figure John Ehrlichman, MLK Jr. widow Coretta Scott King and UAW President Walter Reuther. Discover what other lessons abound in this “utterly brilliant” new book.

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March 15, 2023

  • Tracing Humanity’s Longtime Urge To Manage Moving Water

    When humans began to put down roots, we also started to forge what Giulio Boccaletti calls a “social contract” with water. In his new book, “Water: A Biography,” the London-based scientist explores that relationship through a long historical lens. BookShelf contributor Gary Wilson reviews the volume and finds that political ambitions and economic development are central to the story.

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February 15, 2023

  • Koalas, Under Pressure From Wildfires and Development, Are Beloved But Undefended

    The cuteness of the fuzzy koala appears not to be winning it special protection in its native Australia, despite dwindling numbers, per a new volume on the endangered marsupial. BookShelf contributor Melody Kemp offers praise for “Koala: A Natural History and an Uncertain Future,” with a review that begins amusingly with bodily functions but ends dispiritedly with yet more koala habitat lost to housing tracts and wildfire.

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January 18, 2023

  • Straddling the Narrow Divides Between Humans, Animals and Environmental Policy

    Prolific author-environmentalist Dave Dempsey’s new book, “Half Wild: People, Dogs, and Environmental Policy,” examines the complex boundaries between humans, wildlife and wilderness in a brief volume that includes vignettes of bears scouring trash heaps and of bourbon-fueled debates over the gap between conservationists and environmentalists. Not to mention bonus observations about his relationship with dogs. Contributor Gary Wilson has a review for our latest BookShelf.

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