March 8th, 2010
by Frances Moore Lappe – $19.95
Getting a Grip: Clarity, Creativity, and Courage in a World Gone Mad
This book invites readers to see how assumptions and beliefs can disempower others, whether it is an assumption about a ruler’s ‘Divine Right’ or an assumption about the inferiority of a lower class or caste.
Lappe then invites readers to look at democracy as a problem solving device and suggests that it only works if we all play an active part. She describes what she calls ‘thin democracy’ where power is controlled by corporations and a warped system of politics.
Then she explores what she calls ‘living democracy’, which is infused with the power of citizens’ voices and values and which removes the power of money from governance.
In conclusion, Lappe reminds everyone that each person can make their own choices and that those choices can make a difference for the good of all. She encourages readers to become personally empowered and work for change.
The next book is The Fifth Agreement by Ruiz
Tags: Frances Moore Lappe, P'lovers Book Club
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January 26th, 2010
by John Vaillant – $21.00
A True Story of Myth, Madness and Greed
This haunting tale of a man driven mad by the environmental destruction he sees all around him is a true story and win the Governor General’s Award for Non-fiction. The subject of the book, John Hadwin, first visited the sacred forests of the Haida Gwaii, in British Columbia, in 1966.
There he first sees a special tree known as ‘the golden spruce’ and stumbles into a vortex of conflicting hopes, dreams, and ambitions. Hadwin is an exceptional logger and, as he works in this forest, with its cathedral like mystic presence, he becomes more and more of an environmentalist.
He tries to find some inner peace as he becomes more aware of the corporate lust for money and its lack of respect for people in general, the Haida and their sacred beliefs in particular, and for honouring the ecological balance of the coastal rainforest.
Increasingly tormented, Hadwin leaves his family, commits a surprising crime, and, ultimately, disappears.
The Golden Spruce is a story as majestic as the tree itself and presents both the mystery of Hadwin’s life and a history of the logging industry of British Columbia.
“A culture is no better than its woods.” – W.H. AUDEN
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December 15th, 2009
By Dave Eggers, $29.95
This is a very moving story about what happens to one family during the disaster of Hurricane Katrina. Abdularahman Zeitoun, a Muslim immigrant from Syria, lives in New Orleans with his children and his wife, Kathy. Zeitoun and Kathy have established a thriving construction business and they work together to enrich their community, business and family life.
Zeitoun is very conscious of his duty to his customers and community. As a result, when Hurricane Katrina strikes New Orleans, Zeitoun sends his wife Kathy, and four children, to the safety of relatives. He stays behind to care for his home and business. Using a canoe, he is able to help many people and abandoned pets who have no help and are in dangerous and unhealthy circumstances.
Eventually New Orleans becomes more deserted. It is taken over by military type personnel who ‘arrest’ (no charges are ever laid) Zeitoun and take him to a prison-like compound where he endures much discomfort and humiliation because of his race and religion. Kathy has no idea where he is and searches for Zeitoun for days and days.
Zeitoun is eventually freed and they are eventually reunited but the scars of Zeitoun’s treatment at the hands of fellow Americans left Zeitoun and Kathy deeply wounded. This is a gripping and amazing story highlighting much about the tragedy of Katrina and the post-911 life for Arabs and Muslims living in America.
Tags: Dave Eggers, P'lovers Book Club
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November 26th, 2009
The Salvation Army Great Stocking Stuffer Election
Liz Crocker, co-owner of P’lovers, is inviting you to do more than just shop this season….check this out!
Please CLICK HERE for more information.
Tags: Salvation Army
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November 11th, 2009
by Robert Kull, $21.50
Robert Kull decided to spend a year alone on a remote island in Patagonia’s coastal wilderness. He wanted to explore the effects of deep solitude on the body and mind and to find the spiritual answers he’d been seeking all his life.
But for a cat, named Cat, and his thoughts as companions, Robert Kull built his shelter, foraged for food, and survived alone for a year. He experienced both the real storms of nature as well as the inner storms of his mind and spirit.
Robert Kull kept a diary and these notations form this thoughtful bbok. Kull may not have found all the answers he was seeking, but he developed deep insights about the tensions between nature and technology and a kind of isolation that can occur within busy society.
Reading Solitude, even in the comfort of one’s home, somehow transports the reader to reflect on one’s own life and the beauty of nature around us.
The next Plovers Book Club book is Zeitoun by Dave Eggers
Tags: Robert Kull
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November 2nd, 2009
The first David Suzuki Foundation Book Club selection is The Sacred Balance by Dr. David Suzuki. To close and celebrate this book club title, we’d like to invite you to join us for a live webcast on Tuesday, November 10th at 4:30 PST (URL TBA).
During this event, we’ll be showing never-before-seen in public footage of David Suzuki talking about his personal journey and the book that transformed him from scientist to environmentalist.
Here are the DSF Book Club titles for the next 3 months:
November
Less is More, Embracing Simplicity for a Healthy Planet, a Caring Economy and Lasting Happiness by Cecile Andrews and Wanda Urbanska
December
Climate Cover-up, The Crusade to Deny Global Warming by Jim Hoggan
January
Not Just a Pretty Face, The Ugly Side of the Beauty Industry by Stacy Malkan
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October 5th, 2009
by Ernest Gallenbach, $16.50
ECOTOPIA is a reprint of a 1975 release and is, perhaps, an even more essential read at this time of both earth consciousness and general planetary degradation.
The novel is about ‘Ecotopia’, a new country which was founded when northern California,Oregon and Washington State seceded from the rest of the United States. The narrator is a top international affairs reporter who has been sent to Ecotopia by his newspaper, The Times Post.
This is a significant development because he is the first American to visit since secession cut off normal travel and communications.
While seeking to understand Ecotopia the reporter,William Weston, finds himself personally unsettled and challenged by various aspects of this new country such as a twenty hour work week, energy conservation and self-reliance, extremely unregulated schooling, shelter and clothing constructed of recycled material, hunting for food,controlled merchandise in stores, ritual war games, men and women sharing equal work, and women in control of their lives. By reflecting what Weston observes through both his public newspaper articles and his private diary entries, the reader is invited into his transformation from scepticism to support.
This book gives an intriguing outlook into an ecological lifestyle and, given that it is completely relevant to issues of 2009, it is fascinating to think that this book was published in 1975. A good read for all concerned with an environmental lifestyle and some choices, like William Weston, we might all have to consider.
The next book for the P’lovers Book Club is Solitude by Robert Kull – October 15th.
Tags: Ernest Gallenbach
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September 7th, 2009
The August meeting of P’lovers Book Club was held on Thursday, August 27th and “The Open Road: The Global Journey Of The Fourteenth Dalai Lama” by Pico Iyer was discussed. “The Open Road” chronicles the life and travesl of the global journey of the fourteenth Dalai Lama. ($16.95)
The book is a comfortable, easy and interesting read. Pico Iyer has travelled and been a friend to the Dalai Lama for over three decades, and thus is able to give readers an intimate sense of the Dalai Lama’s work and his ideas about politics,science, technology and religion. Readers also get a sense of the very human and physical stresses of travelling and giving talks to the many people who follow the Dalai Lama’s teachings.
The Dalai Lama likes to talk of ”human beings”, calling them “human becomings” and the ways each one of us can travel along the ‘open road’ to becoming more passionate and responsible.
“Change is part of the world” is how he once distilled “Buddhism” into six words. He reminds us that people and culture and buildings are perishable, but truth, possibilities and kindness are not.
This is a book one would like to have on hand for a gentle and informative read.
The next book to be read and discussed on September 16th is a novel titled ”ECOTOPIA” by Ernest Callenbach.
Tags: Dalai Lama, Pico Iyer
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September 7th, 2009
In July, the P’lovers Book Club met to discuss “anything by David Suzuki” and three books were ultimately discussed….The Big Picture; David Suzuki’s Green Guide; and David Suzuki – The Autobiography.
David Suzuki is somewhat of an inspirational hero in terms of bringing issues of the environment to the general public and so it was illuminating to sample some of his books. David Suzuki’s Green Guide ($19.95) provides useful and doable tips for greener choices – whether at home or traveling and whether about reducing waster or becoming an activist. One member of the P’lovers Book club said that this book could be the only book she would need to make sensible and doable changes for the planet.
The Big Picture ($24.95) is, as the title suggests,a book about looking beyond what is right in front of us and seeing the complete interconnectedness of everything. The Big Picture also examines the real forces in society that inhibit change. The book is recommended for seeing the connections between the environment and the economy.
David Suzuki – The Autobiography (22.95) is about Suzuki’s life, starting with the WWII deportation of his family to British Columbia because his family was Japanese in origin. Suzuki honestly and with candor describes his rise as a scientist and his lack of attention to his first marriage. We hear about his initial struggles with a radio show about science and also about the ultimate great success of his television show. The book ends with Suzuki’s hopes for the future. Overall, the book is both informative and thoughtful.
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July 2nd, 2009
by Joan Anderson – $21.95
This book chronicles the life of one woman during the year that she chose to walk away from her ordinary life and “live by the sea”. Joan Anderson realized, when her children had left home, she had replaced her own dreams with their dreams, but they no longer needed her and her life with her husband was stagnant.
She had no idea what she wanted to do with the rest of her life and so, in essence, took a “time out” from her husband (who had just been offerred a new job in another city to go live on her own by the sea. During the course of that year of self-discovery, Joan determined that she was “an unfinished woman” and that her life was full of possibilities.
While this is more a book about ‘mindful living’ than about the environment per se, the author does learn to appreciate her natural surroundings in new ways and shares them eloquently with the reader.
The next book is any book by David Suzuki – July 8th
Tags: Joan Anderson
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