12/30/2006

Reading Birds Without Wings, by Louis de Bernières, author of Corelli's Mandolin. It's set in the Ottoman Empire at the turn of the century and tells the story of people living harmoniously, Muslims and Christians together, that is, until war and ethnic cleansing stir things up. While we were talking, one of his friends walked by and told us about her PhD thesis, which is about how war affects educational systems. Here's a link to her blog where she talks about her research...and other relavent things--www.clevergirl.ca/journal/

Before this he read Blink, by Malcolm Gladwell, which he said wasn't as good as everyone said it was and Biomimicry: Innovation Inspired By Nature by Janine Benyus. Benyus gave a really great talk at the Green Festival a couple years ago.

A few of his favorite books are Guns, Germs and Steel, by Jared Diamond; A Prayer for Owen Meany, by John Irving, which he says has fantastic character development and ends leaving you stunnded with what's taken place; and Song of the Dodo, by David Quammen, which crosses the genres of travel, science and history and has changed the way he looks at the world--there are mini-ecoysystems everywhere, in both natural and semi-natural settings.