Orchids :-)
_____ From: [EMAIL PROTECTED] [mailto:[EMAIL PROTECTED] On Behalf Of K Barrett Sent: Wednesday, January 17, 2007 3:35 PM To: orchids@orchidguide.com Subject: [OGD] Science is where you find it. Under the category of 'Science is Where You Find It' I'd like to recommend Candice Millard's book 'River of Doubt'. It deals with Theodore Roosevelt's trip to the Amazon Basin in 1914. The trip started out as a light vacation but somewhere along the line changed to a full expedition along the here-to-fore unnamed river nicknamed River of Doubt by previous explorers. http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Rio_Roosevelt Catastrophe ensued. But that's another story and completely off topic. What I did like about Millard's work was the time she took dealing with a myriad of other topics, apart from Teddy Roosevelt. She went into the plate tectonics of the Amazon Basin, something I wasn't familiar with, the development of the Telegraph system in Brazil, some anthropology (I'm sure most of what was written at the time by the explorers was racist at best) and Brazil's humanist political movement that shaped Brazil's flag and politics for the 20th century. She does write quite a bit about botany, the intense competition for resources and methods of reproduction along with co-evolution of species. Something I didn't expect to find in a book ostensibly about Teddy Roosevelt. As someone once said about Eric Hansen's book 'Stranger in the Forest', 'River of Doubt' is a cracking good yarn. No orchids per se, but a cracking good yarn. A blend of excitement and science, what more could you ask for? K Barrett N Calif, USA _____ Get into the holiday spirit, chat with Santa on Messenger. Ho-Ho-Ho! <http://imagine-windowslive.com/minisites/santabot/default.aspx?locale=en-us >
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