Seeing as how my last Under the Covers column was a summer reading list, and now it’s an entirely different season, I think it’s time I return with more eco-reading selections for what must be my terribly book-hungry audience.
First up, a delightful-looking book put together by the Fundação O Boticário, a conservation organization in Brazil. The book itself is titled Brazil naturally: A 15 year mosaic of conservation histories, but I can’t seem to find it on Powells or Amazon. It may be available on the organization’s website, but (during my brief search involving a few clicks here and there, all willy-nilly-like) I couldn’t find it, what with most of the site being in Brazilian Portuguese. But say you were able to get your hands on a copy, it could be a great coffee-table book. It’s full of colorful pictures of wildlife including jaguars, birds, whales, and alligators. And it’s all printed on recycled paper!
If you’re into books about wildlife conservation but prefer a higher word-to-picture ratio, you might like another book I’ve received in recent weeks: a biography of Jane Goodall by Dale Peterson, subtitled The Woman Who Redefined Man. The book’s chapters are dated, and begin about a few years before her birth (1934) and continue through 2004. Though I haven’t read it (see: high word-to-picture ratio), I’ve come to the conclusion that its 700-some pages (including footnotes and works cited) are full of drama about illicit affairs and foreign ailments. I arrived at that conclusion after flipping through the book and hitting pages 334 and 335 (of the advance reading copy), wherein a passage from a letter refers to cheating husbands and another passage starts, “Things got worse. Both Vanne and Jane came down with malaria …” I’ll leave you with that cliffhanger.
And finally, I must tell you about The Complete Organic Pregnancy because it has been sitting on my desk for months, and for the last time — let me be absolutely clear about this — I am not pregnant. So, dear coworkers, you can stop asking! The book covers topics ranging from food and home/work environment to beauty and wellness. So for those of you who are expecting, it might be worth a look.
