Okay, I'm starting to get obsessed, I think. Michael Pollan is a terrific writer, and though few will pick up on the following statement, I'm gonna make it anyway. I'm thinking Pollan is to the man-earth connection what Boreham was to the man-God companionship. I'm still reading his The Omnivore's Dilemma and am just as fascinated as the hour I started, and I'm working my way through the articles on his website. Concerning these last pieces, here's a tidbit of the ones I've read, with a link to each in case you're in the mood for what you get from the snippit...
Gardening Means War
A hilarious account of the author's battle with critters who would destroy his garden. Here's a bit written after he tried to burn a woodchuck out of his hole nearby: "MY BRUSH WITH CONFLAGRATION among the vegetables shocked me out of my Vietnam approach to garden pests before I had a chance to defoliate the neighborhood. I also began to think that there might be more going on here than a cartoonish war between me and a woodchuck."
Why Mow? The Case Against Lawns
A pleasant read concerning all things yard. It'll be time to mow 'em before long, so maybe this one'll help us get through the season with a few laughs. Check out this quote about what happened when the neighborhood attempted to get the author's dad to mow a much-too-tall lawn: "My father's reply could not have been more eloquent. Without a word he strode out to the garage and cranked up the rusty old Toro for the first time since fall; it's a miracle the thing started. He pushed it out to the curb and then started back across the lawn to the house, but not in a straight line: he swerved right, then left, then right again. He had cut an ''S'' in the high grass. Then he made an ''M,'' and finally a ''P.'' These are his initials, and as soon as he finished writing them he wheeled the lawn mower back to the garage, never to start it up again."
Weeds Are Us
I really enjoyed this one, and mentioned it actually in a previous post. This article is a terrific picture of what happens when you let weeds get away. Here's an interesting quote: "If I seem to have wandered far afield of my topic, consider what weeding is: the process by which we make informed choices in nature, discriminate between good and bad, apply our intelligence and sweat to the earth. To weed is to apply culture to nature—which is why we say, when we are weeding, that we are cultivating the soil. Weeding, in this sense, is not a nuisance that follows from gardening, but its very essence."
Putting Down Roots
Read this if you feel like it should be Arbor Day every day, or if you just like hugging trees, or if you've ever considered venturing out to pick up a tree and plant one just for the hell of it. Witness the deep psychology involved with deciding where, exactly, to plant that next tree: "It's a sobering responsibility, picking the site for a big tree; get it wrong, plant it too close to the house or a power line, and you will someday force a terrible decision on someone. I spent half a day walking around the property, straining mentally to add something the size of a brownstone to the empty scene before me. I traced one 50-foot circle after another in the grass, trying to picture the eventual footprint of shade. Shadows you can see are elusive enough; to plan for shadows decades hence is to deal in the shadows of shadows."
3 comments:
Boreham! Now there is a name I haven't heard in a while. I sold what few books of his I owned. I still have one remaining - it was a gift from "Bishop" BR.
Your enthusiasm is becoming contagious. If I wasn't reading such a good book right now I would go right out and get Pollan's. I will, however, read it next.
I'm surprised to hear that you parted with all of your Boreham books. Of all of the writers associated with our past religious leanings, he seems to be one of the better suited ones to carry forward, for both of us. For you, though he was a Baptist, he would no doubt provide some inspiration in your quest into Lutheranism, seeing that your faith's father was one of his heroes. For me, in my whatever you wanna call it phase, he's a non-threatening good Christian read who happens to be insanely witty. What possessed you to be rid of him?
I don't mean to go overboard with my giddiness about Pollan, but he's struck a chord with me. I'm very interested in all things health information, and subscribe to the old-fashioned "diet and exercise" mantra to promote healthy living. Concerning diet Pollan has given me a much broader view of what is and isn't "good" for us in presenting our "dilemma", and then suggesting what to do about it. That plus the fact that he is quite frankly an outstanding writer. I'm sure you'll love it when you get the chance to dig in...
I sold them mainly because I could get some money out of them to buy books that were a better fit with where I was going with my library. He's a great writer, but I hardly ever read what little I had of him.
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