What I'm Reading (Nov. 4)

Let us begin with a confession. I have been hiking, fishing, and shooting sporting clays with little time to read for the last week or so. I read two books, Farm, the other F words, an interesting piece on the real economic behind “sustainable farming. And Cloud Cuckoo Land, which is a fictional tale I have problems describing. So instead, I offer some older repeat readings; perhaps you missed them the first time around.

“And no country may be better positioned to capitalize on climate change than Russia. Russia has the largest land mass by far of any northern nation. It is positioned farther north than all of its South Asian neighbors, which collectively are home to the largest global population fending off displacement from rising seas, drought and an overheating climate. Like Canada, Russia is rich in resources and land, with room to grow. Its crop production is expected to be boosted by warming temperatures over the coming decades even as farm yields in the United States, Europe and India are all forecast to decrease. And whether by accident or cunning strategy or, most likely, some combination of the two, the steps its leaders have steadily taken — planting flags in the Arctic and propping up domestic grain production among them — have increasingly positioned Russia to regain its superpower mantle in a warmer world.”

Yes, even with climate change, there can be winners and losers. From ProPublica, The Big Thaw

“My private library consists of 3,000 books – roughly one third read, one third part-read and one third unread. New ones are regularly added, and every year I sort them out and get rid of some. 3,000 books are a modest library compared to that, say, of the late Umberto Eco which is said to have contained 30,000 books. And yet often, I can only vaguely remember what was in my books. When I gaze along their spines, inklings arise like wispy clouds, mixed with vague feelings, a lonely scene lights up here and there, and sometimes a sentence drifts by like a rowing boat lost in a silent mist.”

I couldn’t resist sharing this one, after all, if you are reading this you are a special type of person, a reader. An essay by Dolf Robelli, a Swiss author, How to Read a Book.

Finally, with the World Series over, Halloween in the rearview mirror, and the stores amping up for the lost weeks between Thanksgiving, Christmas, and New Years, it is time to pause.

It’s autumn in New York

Why does it seem so inviting?

Autumn in New York

It spells the thrill of first-nighting

Glittering crowds

And shimmering clouds

In canyons of steel;

They're making me feel:

I'm home

From the great American songbook, a classic from 1934. While I admit I am partial to Frank Sinatra’s recording, I offer you instead the beautiful saxophone of Charlie Parker.