Science and Natural History discussion

I am pleased to have found this group. I formerly worked as a naturalist and park ranger, though I am now employed in marketing here in Chattanooga, Tennessee, USA. I enjoy reading anything nature related and have a degree in biology.

So far I love this book - it tell me not just "what," but "how" and "why." More when I finish, although I am sipping it slowly.

Welcome to the group, Ray and Sara :)

Just joined goodreads and found this group. I'm retired, living on the northern California redwood coast, involved in conservation education writing and volunteering. I've read this month's book and was fascinated by the micro details of his observations and amazed at how long he must have been sitting in one place to see what he recorded!

And freezing on that one January day.

Welcome to our group Barbara. You will enjoy our readings.

Welcome to our group Barbara. You will enjoy our readings.

Hi there! It's ultra weird that it's been 9 months since someone has commented on this so I figured I would go ahead and break the cycle. My name is Tayler and I'm actually still in high school. When I eventually get to college I plan on double majoring in zoology and paleontology so I can become a wildlife museum curator. I love most all sciencie books put I especially love those dealing in zoology, environmental science, botany, entomology, and biographies of scientists. I'm also super interested in taxidermy and osteology!

Hi all--

Already commented in the current month's thread, and here is a follow up introducing myself :)

I was a software programmer and manager for ~15 years but got bored/frustrated and went back to school to pursue a degree in physics; I've since added math because I'm a masochist. I am currently (roughly) a senior in my physics classes and a junior in my math classes. I'm most interested in computational and astrophysics, and have been doing undergraduate research (though it feels a bit pretentious to call what I'm doing research) using SDSSS data for a few months.

So, yeah. I live in LA, am married, and am a Gemini :)

Hello, all. I'm a retired mineral exploration geologist, formerly based in Arizona and New Mexico, now living on the Central Coast of California. I'm an active editor at Wikipedia, https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/User:Ti...
-- and review books at Amazon and elsewhere,
http://www.amazon.com/gp/cdp/member-r...

Hi all, I already joined the last group read but haven't introduced myself yet. I'm on Goodreads already for a long time, but so far haven't joined any groups/discussions. I'm a biologist (animal behaviour and conservation, mostly) from the Netherlands, doing a PhD in philosophy of science, about Neanderthals in science and fiction and human's place in nature, among others.
I have many books to read for work so won't have time to join every group read :) but I think this is a very interesting group and I am looking forward to getting to know some new books!

Hi Susan. Hi everyone (Daniel, Peter, everyone). I just checked this topic. Welcome to Science and Natural History group. Feel free to check our discussions and take part in them, or start a new one

Hi everyone, I am a Naturalist-believing nothing exists outside the natural world.

That means I don't believe in ghosts, goblins, trolls, fairies, leprechauns, gods, angels, or demons, but sure do have a blast reading about them, and when I'm alone at night......................... I'm a little more open-minded, haha!

Hello all,

I believe Science is embedded into everyday life. I am currently working as a Business Development Manager at an Architectural and Design firm. With an Industrial Design graduate background, I often find all aspects of Sciences intriguing. Technology and Science have a very intimate relationship between them. To deepen my understanding in life and the world, I must understand and digest all the networks that I live in.

I aim to "connect the dots" between science, technology, economics, design, architecture, philosophy, health and businesses.

Given that I have just completed a Bachelor's Degree late last year, I also aim to pursue and complete MBA in the next 10 years. I would like to contribute to academia and gain PHD in my late 40s so that's still a long way away.

Currently I am reading about architectural philosophies, but am interested in knowing the featured books in this group.

Very nice to meet you all.
Polly

Hello, everyone! This group read my book Diary of a Citizen Scientist in May, 2015 and I wanted to share this news:
I’m uncharacteristically speechless. Diary of a Citizen Scientist (Oregon State University Press, 2014) has been awarded the 2016 John Burroughs Medal for Distinguished Nature Writing. The award will be presented this April 4 at the Annual Literary Awards ceremony of the John Burroughs Association at the Yale Club in New York City. You bet—Peter and I are going!

From the announcement: “The John Burroughs Medal was created in 1924 to recognize the best in nature writing and to honor the literary legacy of naturalist John Burroughs. The Medal has been awarded annually to a distinguished book of nature writing that combines scientific accuracy, firsthand fieldwork, and excellent natural history writing. This year's winner was selected by a review committee of Medal recipients.

Past Burroughs Medalists include Rachel Carson, Aldo Leopold, Joseph Wood Krutch, Loren Eiseley, Paul Brooks, Roger Tory Peterson, John Hay, Peter Matthiessen, John McPhee, Ann Zwinger, Barry Lopez, Gary Nabhan, Robert Michael Pyle, Richard Nelson, Carl Safina, Jan DeBlieu, Ted Levin, Robin Wall Kimmerer, Julia Whitty, Franklin Burroughs, Michael Welland, Edward Hoagland, Thor Hanson, Kathleen Jamie, and Sherry Simpson.”

Well, to be in such a list. What a thrill.

Congratulations

Sharman wrote: "Hello, everyone! This group read my book Diary of a Citizen Scientist in May, 2015 and I wanted to share this news:
I’m uncharacteristically speechless. Diary of a Citizen Scientist (Oregon State U..."

Sharman, This is wonderful news. I loved Diary of a Citizen Scientist, and strongly believe your name very much deserves to be among the above list of writers who have also received the John Burroughs Medal for nature writing. Enjoy the ceremony, thank you for sharing, & congratulations!

I have posted the announcement on my Facebook page.

Hi,

André, here, from Brazil. I am a professor at USP, doing research mostly on Interdisciplinary Physics. I just joined Goodreads, both to learn about books and because, as I am writing a book on my own results, it will be useful to see what is out there, get recommendations and speak about what I am doing.

Hello everyone ,
I am Ankit from India . I like all sciences though i have studied the lower levels (:-p) , the physical sciences and maths . I am a casual reader of life , mind and social sciences . I am happy to have found a group devoted to sciences. Looking forward to great reading and discussions . Thanks :-)

I hope to be able to help those interested in books about marine science. I am a citizen science person that helps NOAA monitor plankton. I love to collect books to help identify all sorts of marine and freshwater life. Check out my list at:

https://www.goodreads.com/review/list...

Hello! Anyone home? I've been reading a lot of books in this vein lately.

I think everyone has left here Jim, but If you have any suggestions I would love to buddy read a book with you.

Thanks, Trenton. I'm not organized enough for buddy reads, but I appreciate the thought.

The home page here shows almost 1100 members, so I'm surprised that no one is just chatting about all the neat new discoveries that seem to pop up every day. I've never seen such a large group just go silent like this & I've been on GR for a decade now.

The "Science & Inquiry" group is somewhat active.
https://www.goodreads.com/group/show/...

Hmm, I know a group with 6,000 members and less than 20 actively vote in polls. Less than 10 post in the thread. Large member numbers are typically reflective of how long a group has been on GR (as well as the topic) and not the activity level. Interesting things to ponder! :)

Hi!

I am 32, from Austria and totally into science fiction, fantasy, humor and science topics and always trying to widen my range.
Best regards

To give you a better picture of some of my topics, here is a short summary of topics out of 3 books I have read.

Pollution of the oceans

Some of the points that come to my mind are

1. feminization or infertility of the fish. Thus danger for the stocks up to the extinction. 2. The death zones in the deltas of rivers. The vast amounts of waste, toxins, pesticides, etc that carry the rivers.
3. The melting of the polar caps. The associated mixing of salt water with fresh water can in the worst case, for example, bring the Gulf Stream to a standstill. The shift of the climatic zones and the change of the water temperature endangers the spawning grounds.
4. Legal and illegal capping of various toxins
5. The long-term consequences of various atomic bomb tests, the sinking of nuclear submarines and toxic waste.
6. The relative legal freedom in international waters.
7. The microplastic and the toxins that accumulate in the marine animals. As the crown of the food chain, we also consume that too.
8. The noise of international shipping. This massively affects dolphins and whales.
9. Trash in the oceans. The effects on all depths from the sea surface to the deep sea. 10. Algal blooms and similar monocultures. Thereby
11 coral death.
12. Overfishing and general formation of ever larger, deserts of similar zones. In combination with monocultures of a dominant species that could adapt to the circumstances. It all comes together in the sea.

Disappearing of insects

1. The role of neonicotinoids.
2. The entire industrial agriculture. Over-fertilization and leaching of the soil.
3. Sprays such as fungicides, pesticides, herbicides, etc.
4. Use of genetic engineering for hybrid seeds.
5. Contamination of the natural varieties with the stronger hybrid seeds.
6. NRA sprays
7. The effects on animals that are not as popular as bees. But equally important for the ecosystem. Like ants and termites, supposed insect pests, beetles.
8. The ever-increasing resistance of pests and weeds to spray.
9. The dead soils where nothing can grow properly.

The dangers of plastic

The problem with plastic is so complex and multi-layered that one could argue for days at a time. A few of the key issues are:

1. Phthalates and other chemicals contained in plastics. Both the enrichment in the environment and in humans are massive. Whether animal or human, the masculine and the unborn baby are already massively impaired. The influence of the hormone balance and the control processes of the body are unclear.
2. Smaller and smaller particles: As the microplastic continues to degrade, it eventually comes in orders of magnitude that act at the cellular level. Plastic builds up in body cells and influences processes. Theoretically, the degradation could go on and on until you reach the genetic level. Especially with the advent of nanotechnologies, this option seems more and more likely. If the raw materials are already so small, there is no fair way to degrade to the right size to fit inside the DNA.
3. Pollution of the environment: On the one hand the garbage strudel. Furthermore, fouling one level of the food chain could destroy everything. When microplankton, plankton, algae, plants or certain small fish are extirpated, everything collapses.
4. The massive industrial interests of almost all lobbies.
5. Peak Oil. Not as a panic scenario, but rather in terms of the really irreplaceable raw materials. Such as essential components for many machines and infrastructure. Which one can produce in the right condition with no sustainable methods? The same problem arises with medicines and in other areas. With special fuels and liquids that you cannot or only very expensive products in other ways.
6. The conversion of the infrastructure to decentralized energy production, which must go hand in hand with a reduction of the dependence on plastic and fossil energy sources.

I hope one or the other useful new fact was included in this condensed summaries.
I have posted long reviews about some nonfiction topics and I will continue with the most popular and controversial nonfiction books. Yes, that´s some kind of shameless self-promotion, but at least for a good propose.

Best regards

Another reading topic for consideration is 'biological pollution'. Dan Egan's, "The Death and Life of the Great Lakes" is a gateway to this information rich subject. For art associated with this topic see Alexis Rockman's recent group of paintings collectively titled, "The Great Lakes Cycle". Here's a link to Alexis Rockman information along with examples of his art: http://alexisrockman.net/

Hello! It doesn't look like this group has been active for a while but we love science and natural history so we wanted to say hi! We just started our Goodreads and would love to be friends with all of you if you are interested :)

Western National Parks Association (WNPA) is a nonprofit education and retail partner of the National Park Service. We were founded as a publisher in 1938 and today we publish park-specific educational titles, including trail guides, general interpretive publications, and Junior Ranger activity booklets, and non-park-specific trade titles, including cookbooks, children’s books, regional travel guides, and scholarly and reference titles about regional history and geology.

Learn more by visiting our website at WNPA.org or following us on Facebook, Twitter (@wnpa1938), or Instagram (@wnpa_1938). You can also shop online at store.wnpa.org or at our store in Oro Valley, AZ. Your purchases support parks!

Western National wrote: "Hello! It doesn't look like this group has been active for a while but we love science and natural history so we wanted to say hi! We just started our Goodreads and would love to be friends with al..."

cool!