The 2022 Nonfiction Challenge in February: Welcome to the Anthropocene!

Welcome to February, to the Year of the Tiger --- and to a. new month's challenge!

For February, I'm suggesting that we all pick up a non-fiction tome about climate change, aka the anthropocene era that we're now living through (i.e., an era in which human beings shape the fate of the entire world and all other species.) Elizabeth Kolbert has written a new and fascinating book about this, Under a White Sky and then there's her classic, The Sixth Extinction. I'm going to read something by Porter Fox, The Last Winter (even as I stare out my window at 2 feet of snow on the ground...)

Then there are books like The Great Warming, which addresses a historic climate change, or The Great Derangement by Amitav Ghosh, or The Water Will Come, about flooding risk. There are books by Al Gore (natch) and Bill Gates.

What else can you find? I can't wait to see...

Keep us posted on your reading, what you love and what you found underwhelming.

Plans for the rest of 2022:

March – *Espionage (and Counter-Espionage) -- I thought this would be fun; I found myself reading a lot of non-fiction on this topic in 2021.

April – Armchair Traveling (in time or space) -- travel, but with an emphasis on places you've never been, or that takes place in an era that you didn't experience (eg historical travel, or people following in the footsteps of great historical travelers like Ibn Battuta.) A twist on a classic category

May – *From Wars to Peace -- Someone had suggested a challenge about wars. I'm tweaking it slightly, so that you can read about the lead-up to wars (the causes), the conflict itself (in any respect) and the aftermath, as people try to recover or move past the war. (Thinking of books like Margaret Macmillan's magisterial tome on the Versailles peace talks of 1919 here, as an example.)

June – Science & Medicine -- Gene splicing? Covid vaccines? Pandemics and healthcare system challenges? New surgical techniques??

July – *Cross-Genres -- Sometimes the most fascinating books are those that cross genres. For instance, a true crime book that involves the theft of an ancient manuscript. Or a travel book that's also about music or theater (I'm thinking of Bernard Levin's hilarious tour of opera/music festivals). Or a biography that is as much about history as it is the person being profiled. Or someone who is writing about gardening, but when the book itself ends up as a memoir. You know these when you see 'em...

August – Books By Journalists -- A returning fave

September – Biography -- but NOT memoir this time! (*grin*)

October – *From the 'Middle Ages' to the Renaissance. Yes, I know this is a largely European construct, but it also can involve stories of first contacts as Europeans set off to see what was along the coast of Africa or in the 'New World' in this time frame. Let's put this roughly from 1300 CE to 1600 CE? The earliest parts of the Renaissance (other than the Carolingian Renaissance, of course) were visible by 1300, but it was still the 'Middle Ages'. Open to books that explore ideas that would be developed in this time frame but that start earlier. For instance, Marco Polo's travels took him to China and he and others (including Crusaders) were bringing back new ideas and things that had traveled across the Silk Road, such as paper, which then would permit the creation of a hallmark of the new era, the printing press...

November – Books About Books -- a logical followup from a time-frame focused challenge that includes the birth of the printing press!

December – As You Like It -- Look at the year's best lists; wrap up something you've been wanting to finish; seek out something that defies description/categorization.

*New categories for 2022!

I will be reading The Anthropocene reviewed : essays on a human-centered planet by John Green for this challenge.

I don't own anything on this topic, so I searched my library's catalog to see what turned up. The subject heading that seemed to fit best is "Nature--Effect of human beings on" and that led me to Homo Deus: A Brief History of Tomorrow. One of the chapters in section I is "The Anthropocene" so at least part of the book fits the description for the month.

ENDANGERED SPECIES by Dierdre Luzwick (no Touchstone), with a heavy emphasis on human caused destruction,
will be my first choice.

I'm not sure how closely the book I've chosen counts for this month's challenge, it's probably more 'adjacent' than dead on point, but anyway here goes: I'm going to read Human, Nature: a naturalist's thoughts on wildlife and wild places by Ian Carter. It's about the interaction between humans and nature, but goes beyond that to consider "the conflicts and contradictions inevitable in a world that is now so completely dominated by our own species".

I will read The Sixth Extinction which has been on the shelf a while.

I am going to read Water Will Come by Jeff Goodell. I have been wanting to get to this one for awhile and I hope to finish it this month and get it off my shelves.

I would like to try to read a second book this month. This one would be Divide: Global Inequality from Conquest to Free Markets by Jason Hickel but I am not sure it fits into the category. It is about the economic divide between the global north and south. The South has most of the population and the north has most of the money. What do you think? If this one won't work for the category I have another book I would like to read and get off my shelves.

I am going to read The Uninhabitable Earth by David Wallace-Wells and I will also read Down Among the Wild Men by John Greenway which is not about climate change but is very much rooted in anthropology and technically would have met the challenge prior to the climate change clarification.

>9 benitastrnad: Hmmm, not sure whether that fits; depends on the extend to which climate-related issues (as they affect inequity between global north and global south.) Let us know what you find out!

>11 Chatterbox:
I am not sure either so I will look around for a different title - if I finish Water Will Come. That book is on my priority list for this month.

>10 PaulCranswick: Hmm, I have the Wallace-Wells too, may try and book-horn it in as well Paul.

I'll be reading Under a White Sky: The Nature of the Future by Elizabeth Kolbert this month. I read The Sixth Extinction a few years ago and highly recommend it.

>14 AnneDC: I thought The Sixth Extinction was brilliant. This follow up feels like more of an anthology, but flows logically from the previous book. Very eye-opening...

There is also a thread in Club Read called The Greenhouse for the discussion of environmental and natural history books, in case anyone wants to cross-post this month:
https://www.librarything.com/topic/338403#n7729449

I'm reading Making of the British Landscape: How We Have Transformed the Land, from Prehistory to Today. It's a long one so I'm crossing my fingers I can complete it this month.

I think Human, Nature: a Naturalist's Thoughts on Wildlife and Wild Places was probably more tangential to this month's topic than I had originally thought, although the later essays in the book did touch on issues of human interference in the natural world (eg looking at dealing with introduced/non-native/invasive species). I liked those essays a lot.

I found John Green's essay collection also be tangential -- even more so than >18 Jackie_K:, in spite of a promising title. Really, what it's about are the things that the Anthropocene has brought about, in miniature reviews. A bit odd, if sometimes enjoyable.

I'm now delving into Porter Fox's The Last Winter, and finding it much more on point. It's written by a former ski fanatic, who sets out to explore the linkage between a warming planet, declining snowfall, and wildfires. He delivers a chilling (pun unintentional) look at the magnitude and complexity of the challenge that we've created for ourselves...

>19 Chatterbox:
I can't wait to read your full review of Last Winter. This is a title that I have on my TBR list.

I started The Sixth Extinction and enjoying it so far!

I'm really finding The Last Winter fascinating, but have put it aside for a few days in order to read The Uninhabitable Earth by David Wallace-Wells. It's a more comprehensive (and more polemical) overview of the climate problems that we're confronting.

I won’t finish The Making of the British Landscape by the end of this month. It will probably take me a lot longer and I’m not sure if what I’ve read so far would qualify for being in the Anthropocene era. The main text excluding all the notes, references etc., clocks in at 695 pages and I’m at page 250 with the end not in sight. Francis Pryor’s look at the changes in Britain runs from the Ice Age to recent planning with a foray into the future. I’m currently reading about the Viking age. It’s interesting but not a page turner.

I didn't get Water Will Come read either. I am still working on my book for January. However, don't give up on me. I am reading books for this challenge. It is just that work is kicking my butt right now.

I read Homo Deus, which is about the anthropocene, but more about how Homo sapiens changing than on the relationship of Homo sapiens to other species and to the enviroment. It was longer than it needed to be.

>24 benitastrnad: No worries; I didn't finish my January book! Hoping to get it read this month or next. We'll see.
>25 cbl_tn: I think thee idea of homo sapiens as evolving to become what we are today -- a species that controls everything else -- is part of the story of the anthropocene. It's a new concept, and we're still all figuring out what it means for us all. Based on what I've read so far, I confess I feel depressed.

Anyway, it's onto espionage and tales of derring do for March. The challenge is up and going, and if you're feeling downbeat, find a story that's safely rooted in the past, perhaps? I've read some good books about Sir Francis Walsingham's innovations in spying in the 16th century!

Here's the link: don't forget to star it, as we never approach anywhere near the 150-post mark any longer... *sigh*

https://www.librarything.com/topic/340007

>26 Chatterbox: thanks for the link, I've been watching for it!

I know this is a little late... but... today I'm finishing Underland: A Deep Time Journey by Robert Macfarlane for Feb challenge. What a great book! Fascinating, adventurous and well written. I've been reading it out loud to my hubby who is a non-reader. I'm thinking I might even see this book in his hands soon. Highly recommend.

>28 -Cee-: I read that in January, and agree, it's wonderful! His best book yet, I think (and I say that as a fan already).

I don't think I have anything unread on my shelves that would work for the March challenge, so I'll sit out this month (and try and catch up on all the other challenges I'm behind on). See you in April! :)

I finished The Sixth Extinction today. I did not expect it to take this much time to finish this book but a certain geopolitical event has been keeping my attention lately.

I found the book quite interesting and it definitely made me think about a few topics.

>30 annushka:
I think that event has been keeping the attention of lots of us in the last 10 days. I have found myself glued to CNN for the first time in years.

>30 annushka: I really loved The Sixth Extinction, although I found it quite alarming (not that that's a bad thing.) I read Kolbert's latest book for this challenge, Under a White Sky. Here the starting point is that all these changes are more or less irreversible, and we need to start figuring out how to use technology to manage the effects our technology has caused.

I also read The Water Will Come: Rising Seas, Sinking Cities, and the Remaking of the Civilized World by Jeff Goodell, which was written in 2017 and which I've had sitting around since about that time.

Here are two alternative futures Goodell posits for Miami:

In a winning scenario, civic leaders address the risk of sea-level rise in a proactive way, lobbying hard for state and federal funds and demonstrating enough political courage to raise taxes so that the city will have the money to elevate streets and causeways, invest in better sewer systems, and keep the low-lying airport functioning smoothly. Foreign investors don't panic, property values don't plummet. Population declines and some buildings are abandoned,but innovation flourishes and new ways of living with water emerge--houses float, canals replace streets, rooftops host gardens. The water keeps rising and people keep leaving, but it is a slow, stable retreat buffered by waves of innovation and civility.

In the losing scenario, the more investors understand the risk of sea-level rise to buildings and infrastructure, the less willing they will be to invest in the region. As people sell, the supply of houses and condos rises and prices fall. Property tax revenues decline. Even a modest drop has enormous consequences for the city and county budgets. This means cuts in teachers and cops and firefighters, but it also means less money to buy pumps, fix roads, build seawalls, and build and maintain all the other infrastructure needed to deal with rising seas. Instead of having the courage to raise taxes to make up for the shortfall, politicians, fearful of spooking the market further, fight to keep taxes low. With no money for repairs or upgrades, infrastructure crumbles. And that, in turn, causes more people to sell, and the downward spiral continues. People with money leave, pirates and con artists arrive. Instead of innovation and civility, you get crime and lawlessness. Long before Miami is the New Atlantic, it will be broke and waterlogged and full of half-abandoned neighborhoods where mosquitoes breed and leaking septic systems turn Biscayne Bay into an algae-filled lagoon.

Anybody inclined to bet on which scenario will prevail?

>31 benitastrnad: Same here. I normally catch the news online.

>32 AnneDC: I think towards the end of The Sixth Extinction book the author made an argument that some irreversible changes are not due to technological advancement but rather due to new species arriving in new places. Technology does play a big part nowadays although it was not the case way back.

>32 AnneDC:
I wanted to get that same book read Water Will Come for February but work kicked my butt and I just didn't feel like reading in the evenings when I got home from work. I do hope to get to it this year as I have had it around my house for a long time as well.

>32 AnneDC:
I wanted to get that same book read Water Will Come for February but work kicked my butt and I just didn't feel like reading in the evenings when I got home from work. I do hope to get to it this year as I have had it around my house for a long time as well.

I'm going to keep an eye open for Water Will Come. I thought Kolbert's book was brilliant, if depressing.

And Underland was a marvel.

Ugh, geopolitical events. I actually tuned into CNN the night everything kicked off, suspecting when I heard about the Russians warning about airspace that it would start happening (especially now the Olympics is over -- exactly like Sochi/the Crimea). So for yet another time I got to watch a war start as a spectator, which is deeply bizarre when one stops to think about it.

>37 Chatterbox:
My friend, who lives in Germany, told me that his mother is very upset about this. She was born in 1938 and remembers WWII very well. Especially the bombing as she grew up in a suburb of Dusseldorf. She told my friend that she never thought she would ever live to see that happen in Europe again.

I went to college in the late 1970's and took a geography class. The teacher of that class said that Europe was a powder keg of discontent and that a war in Central and Eastern Europe was highly likely in the future. He said the cause was tribal, as the more natural boundaries of most of those countries were badly distorted in the settlements after WWII. He pointed to two places in particular - Yugoslavia and the areas of the Russian Republic of Ukraine along with the southern part of Poland. He got the cause for this war wrong, but he was right about the area.