Welcome to Plymouth Green and Science Book Club's May event. Our Zoom meeting this month comprises presentations on three books, followed by a Q&A and discussion after each one.
Twelve Words for Moss by Elizabeth-Jane Burnett | Presented by Tim Purches
Glowflake, Rocket, Small Skies, Kind Spears, Marilyn . . . Moss is known as the living carpet but if you look really closely, it contains its own irrepressible light.
Glowflake, Rocket, Small Skies, Kind Spears, Marilyn . . . Moss is known as the living carpet but if you look really closely, it contains its own irrepressible light.
In Twelve Words for Moss, Elizabeth-Jane Burnett celebrates the unsung hero of the plant world with a unique blend of poetry, nature writing and memoir. Making her way through wetlands from Somerset to County Tyrone, Burnett discovers the hidden vibrancy and luminous beauty of these overlooked places. She also takes strength from them as she recovers from her grief at her father's death. As she meditates on and renames her favourite species of moss, she finds a healing power in language, and draws inspiration from the resilience and tenacity of her plant – and human – friends.
'Burnett stretches the limits of prose, infusing it with poetic intensity to create a powerful, original voice' Guardian
(Book information from: World of Books)
Ultra-Processed People – Why do we all eat stuff that isn't food...and why can't we stop? by Chris van Tulleken | Presented by Alan Ramage
An eye-opening investigation into the science, economics, history and production of ultra-processed food.
An eye-opening investigation into the science, economics, history and production of ultra-processed food.
It's not you, it's the food. We have entered a new 'age of eating' where most of our calories come from an entirely novel set of substances called Ultra-Processed Food, food which is industrially processed and designed and marketed to be addictive. But do we really know what it's doing to our bodies?
Join Chris in his travels through the world of food science and a UPF diet to discover what's really going on. Find out why exercise and willpower can't save us, and what UPF is really doing to our bodies, our health, our weight, and the planet (hint: nothing good). For too long we've been told we just need to make different choices, when really we're living in a food environment that makes it nigh-on impossible. So this is a book about our rights. The right to know what we eat and what it does to our bodies and the right to good, affordable food.
(Book information from: Amazon.co.uk)
The Secret Network of Nature: the delicate balance of all living things by Peter Wohlleben (translated by Jane Billinghurst) | Presented by John Summerscales
An exploration of the invisible connections sustaining the entire natural world from the bestselling author of The Hidden Life of Trees. Did you know that trees can influence the rotation of the Earth? Or that wolves can alter the course of a river? Or that earthworms control wild boar populations? The natural world is a web of intricate connections, many of which go unnoticed by humans.
An exploration of the invisible connections sustaining the entire natural world from the bestselling author of The Hidden Life of Trees. Did you know that trees can influence the rotation of the Earth? Or that wolves can alter the course of a river? Or that earthworms control wild boar populations? The natural world is a web of intricate connections, many of which go unnoticed by humans.
But it is these connections that maintain nature's finely balanced equilibrium. Drawing on the latest scientific discoveries and decades of experience as a forester, Peter Wohlleben shows us how different animals, plants, rivers, rocks and weather systems cooperate, and what's at stake when these delicate systems are unbalanced. Peter Wohlleben doesn't merely look, he sees.
(Book information from: hive.co.uk)
