Central to Suzanne Simmard's work on Finding The Mother Trees is cooperation, collaboration and this dance of "it is in giving that we receive." She talks about the 'wood wide web' - how older mama trees support seedlings and other trees through the mycorrhizal (fungal) networks. This is seminal work that has set the tone for a deeper understanding of how forests are communities, nurtured by older Mother Trees that support young seedlings - kin and strangers, alike.
Read MoreHow I learned Kannada and my Mum, Arabic
In her book on growing up in Iran Things I’ve been silent about Azar Nafisi talks about the times when she had trouble learning English. Her mother—who had not known a word of the language either—studied the assigned pages of the English text in order to test her and helped her memorize long lists of words every night.
In new strange lands the stories of our lives are all so similar.
Read MoreAtul Gawande's Checklist Manifesto
Got around to reading Atul Gawande’s Checklist Manifesto a full 3 years after reading an excerpt from his book in the New Yorker and finished it yesternight in a few hours.
Gawande starts the book by stating right away why in spite of all the vast knowledge we have at our disposal we fail at what we set out to do in the world. He says there are 2 reasons: Ignorance (We only have a partial understanding of how things work), and Ineptitude (We have the knowledge yet fail to apply it correctly). He makes a strong case for the checklist and how it could address both these situations of human fallibility.
Read MoreDana Velden's Finding Yourself in the Kitchen
Dana Velden, who asks us to seek deeper meaning in the kitchen space. Her book of essays, an extension of her popular Weekend Meditation column on TheKitchn.com, examines the kitchen as a place of awakening and joy.
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