Nature and the natural world: general interest Books

Book SynopsisSeeking a taste of unspoiled wilderness, more than nine million people visit the Great Smoky Mountains National Park each year. Yet few probably realize what makes the park unusual: it was the result of efforts to reclaim wilderness rather than to protect undeveloped land. Daniel S. Pierce tells how park supporters set about raising money to buy the land—often from resistant timber companies—and describes the fierce infighting between wilderness advocates and tourism boosters over the shape the park would take. He also discloses the unfortunate human cost of the park’s creation: the displacement of the area’s inhabitants.The new preface chronicles developments in the park since the book’s original publication in 2000. Over the past decade and a half, the park has experienced a dramatic and improbable improvement in air quality, a variety of successful animal reintroduction programs—including, most spectacularly, elk—numerous improvements to trails and roads, and the ending of long-standing dispute over the “Road to Nowhere,” which had its origins in the founding of the park eight decades ago. Pierce also points out new challenges that have emerged in the park—and there is none more dangerous than the invasive species known as the wooly adelgid, which threatens to annihilate the park’s 800 acres of old-growth hemlocks. The recent history of the Great Smoky Mountains National Park provides ample proof of Pierce’s conclusion: “just as people have the power to set aside places as wonderful as the Cataloochee Valley and the Great Smoky Mountains National Park, they also have the power to destroy it.”

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Book SynopsisIn 1925, Paul Adams was appointed custodian of Mount Le Conte, the third-highest peak of the Great Smoky Mountains National Park. His job was to welcome tourists, give guided tours, and establish a camp that would become known as LeConte Lodge, which still stands in what has become America’s most popular national park. Adams had everything he needed for the job: a passion for the outdoors, a love of hiking, a desire to preserve the native habitat while welcoming visitors, and the companionship of a remarkable dog.During his time on the mountains, Adams trained Smoky Jack to be a pack-dog–not just carrying supplies but actually making the four-hour trip to a store in Gatlinburg and back alone. Over the next nine months, Adams and his dog would become inseperable. Smoky Jack became his assistant, bodyguard, and best friend. Throughout Smoky Jack, readers will also gain a unique glimpse into the early days of the Great Smoky Mountains region during the decade before it was name a national park in 1934.Adams describes the trials and triumphs he and the indomitable German sherpherd faced as they exemplified the ancient relationship between man and dog on Mount Le Conte, building trails, guiding visitors, and making a life in nature. Paul Adams’s faithful Smoky Jack stays by his side until the end.

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Book SynopsisKentucky’s Daniel Boone National Forest is one of the crown jewels of the Bluegrass State’s outdoor attractions. Yet until now, there has been no detailed guidebook on this beautiful area. Johnny Molloy, a veteran guidebook writer, has compiled a detailed resource for enjoyable adventures in the Daniel Boone National Forest (DBNF). In this guide, Molloy leads readers through forty hikes within the natural wonders of DBNF, including Natural Bridge and Cumberland Falls. Descriptions of each hike are straightforward and accurate, so readers can focus on enjoying natural features, scenic overlooks, interesting geological formations, and landmarks along the trails. Hikers will see the best of the Cumberland Plateau, from exquisite arches to bluffs that offer extensive vistas to waterfalls that descend into sandstone cathedrals. The paths tread through deep forests in gorges cut by creeks and rivers and atop the Cumberland Plateau, where oak and pine forests range long distances. Rockhouses, caves, and other geological features stand out in these rich woodlands. Hikers may also encounter protected plants and animals along these trails, including the red-cockaded woodpecker, Virginia big-eared bat, freshwater mussels, white-haired goldenrod, and the black bear. Detailed, easy-to-follow directions for each trail will allow hikers to progress on their chosen course without frustrating detours. The hikes range in distance, difficulty, and destination, offering the full breadth of hiking experiences to be had within the DBNF. The shortest hike is under a mile, and the longest is ten, with most somewhere in the middle. Hikers can use the chart at beginning of the book to select the perfect trail for their experience level and desires. Also included are detailed trail maps and photos. For the new hiker as well as the experienced outdoor adventurer, Day Hiking Kentucky’s Daniel Boone National Forest is sure to become an indispensable guide to one of Kentucky’s national treasures. Johnny Molloy has published more than sixty books about hiking and other forms of outdoor adventure, including Trial by Trail: Backpacking in the Smoky Mountains, second edition, and Mount Rogers National Recreation Area Guidebook: A Complete Resource for Outdoor Enthusiasts, third edition.

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Book SynopsisThrough intertwined threads of autofiction, lyric science writing, and the tale of a newly queer Hawaiian volcano, Sabrina Imbler delivers a coming out story on a geological time scale. This is a small book that tackles large, wholly human questions-what it means to live and date under white supremacy, to never know if one is loved or fetishized, how to navigate fierce desires and tectonic heartbreak through the rise and eventual eruption of a first queer love."When two galaxies stray too near each other, the attraction between them can be so strong that the galaxies latch on and never let go. Sometimes the pull triggers head-on wrecks between stars-galactic collisions-throwing bodies out of orbit, seamlessly into space. Sometimes the attraction only creates a giant black hole, making something whole into a kind of missing." In vivid, tensile prose, DYKE (GEOLOGY) subverts the flat, neutral language of scientific journals to explore what it means to understand the Earth as something queer, volatile, and disruptive.

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Book SynopsisThis compelling memoir of one woman’s journey of enchantment, tragedy and romance unfolds against the backdrop of a stunning mountaintop in rural Virginia. Purchased on a lark for weekend camping by a clueless suburban couple, the mountain brings Marcia Mabee and her husband Tim surprising wildlife encounters, dramatic botanical discoveries, and a passion for conservation that leads to its dedication by the state as the Naked Mountain Natural Area Preserve. Naked Mountain veers in an unexpected direction when Marcia faces a life-threatening cancer diagnosis. Struggling with energy-sapping treatments, she continues to battle environmental threats to the beloved mountain where her ashes are to be spread. Just as her prognosis brightens, the story takes a darker turn, extinguishing the couple’s hopes for the future and throwing Marcia into the depths of despair. But in a surprising twist, she confronts the divergent forces of deep grief and new love to remake a life. Naked Mountain is an amazing personal journey that explores the joys of discovery, the uncertainties of life and the enduring bonds of marriage.Trade Review“Keep the Kleenex handy, for Mabee’s tribute to Tim’s love and life is so profound and poignantly rendered that it is impossible not to be moved to tears. Yet for all the tragedy that engulfed their lives, what endured was the mountain, and what sustained them was the serenity and beauty found within its hills.” —Booklist “…intensely personal and compelling. An honest depiction of a courageous, difficult journey.” —Kirkus Reviews “A highly engaging memoir, a fine blend of life’s images and passages. Her redeeming discovery of the Southeast's remote Blue Ridge outback enfolds a journey through joy and family tragedy. Marcia Mabee's pace doesn't falter, but she knows when to slow the story, for vivid details about both personal and natural history. Deeply felt, well told.” —Stephen Nash, 2015 winner, American Institute of Physics Science Writing Award for Virginia Climate Fever: How Global Warming Will Transform Our Cities, Shorelines, and Forests. “Conservationists, bird-lovers, healthcare advocates, and cancer patients will be touched and educated by this love story composed by a cancer survivor, a cancer caregiver, and a woman on a road to recovery.” —Susan Gubar, author of the Living with Cancer blog for The New York Times “A passionate conservationist, Mabee finds her commitment to survival of the endangered cruelly tested as she battles her way through ovarian cancer, only to have news of her hard-won remission upstaged by a shock bulletin: her husband has pancreatic cancer. As she navigates the onslaught of illness, death, and grief, Mabee offers a compelling portrait of love, tenacity, and resilience that will inspire both those who ail and those who mourn.” —Jill Smolowe, author of Four Funerals and a Wedding “Marcia Mabee is a professional working woman, wife, environmentalist, stepmother, entrepreneur, and cancer warrior. She provides an honest and raw account of both the successes and the limitations of cancer treatment. This is a book worth reading for anyone who has struggled with grief and personal challenges. I highly recommend it.” —Deborah K. Armstrong, M.D., Professor of Oncology, Gynecology and Obstetrics, Johns Hopkins Kimmel Cancer Center "What starts out as one man’s romantic gesture to impress the woman he loves, the purchase of a mountain in the Blue Ridge Mountains of Virginia, eventually turns into a shared love of another kind. What emerges is an enormous challenge to preserve the unique botanical treasures of the land they acutely love and then the challenge to survive cancer. Mabee’s grit and resolve are a source of wonder, a haunting testament to the fortitude of the human spirit." —Barbara Donsky, author of Veronica’s Grave "This is a memoir of love, place and a chance to love again.” —Northern Virginia Magazine

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