The Cincinnati Arch: Learning From Nature In The City

Book Description

"What wilderness lover," asks John Tallmadge, "would ever dream of settling deep in the Rust Belt astride polluted rivers?" The Cincinnati Arch holds the provocative answer to Tallmadge's question, which was prompted by his unplanned relocation from rural Minnesota to urban Ohio. Tallmadge tells of dismaying early encounters with the city's seeming barenness, his growing awareness of its vitality and abundance, and finally his new vision of all nature, from the vacant lots of his neighborhood to our great New England forests and Western deserts.

New to the city, Tallmadge saw only its concrete, glass, smog, and debris. Soon his interest, stirred by the wonder of his children at their surroundings, focused Tallmadge to the "buzzing, flapping, scurrying, chewing, photosynthesizing life forms" around him. More deeply, Tallmadge began to learn from, and not just about, the city. Nature's persistence--within him and wherever he looked--wore away at old notions of wilderness that made no allowances for human culture.

The "arch" of the book's title is richly resonant: as the name of a geologic formation molding the urban landscape Tallmadge comes to love; as an archetypal building form; and, in its parabolic shape, as a metaphor for life's journey. Filled with luminous lessons of mindfulness, attentiveness, and other spiritual practices, this is a hopeful guide to finding nature and balance in unlikely places.

Customer Reviews:

A contemporary nature classic.......2006-07-21

Nature educators have a way of getting young people to look more intently at the natural world. They place a circle of string -- or even a hula hoop -- on the ground, and ask students to inventory just that enclosed part of the yard. The lesson is that even such a small patch will reveal more life than one might expect, and that what one finds there is a symbolic microcosm of Earth's entire environment. In "The Cincinnati Arch," John Tallmadge has thrown an invisible hula hoop around a city that he never expected to call home and one where he never expected to find Nature or the wild. He takes to heart Thoreau's admonition that "In Wildness is the preservation of the world," and he's surprised to find wildness in this new urban setting. It's not the wild of Minnesota's Boundary Waters or John Muir's Yosemite, of course, but it is Nature unleashed, albeit in small parcels.

What he discovers can be translated to any other urban or suburban environment. After a brief treatise on civilization's focus on time, money, and work, Tallmadge gets down to the dichotomies of nature study: indoor life and outdoor life; wildness and wilderness "out there" and "right here;" stewardship / husbandry and dominion; wildness and landscape restoration; old growth and succession; night and day; water and pollution; war and peace; and our relationship with nature and with other human beings. His observations include such succinct statements as "My backyard is still wilder than most of Europe," (p. 62), and "[W]e are the preeminent alien species." (p. 109) In typical Thoreauvian fashion, Tallmadge sometimes dissects words in order to study their original meanings, before we attached diluted definitions to them. In some discussions, he deftly includes both biblical legends and scientific explanations (like evolution), thus seamlessly covering both camps without favoring or insulting either one. He even approaches the idea of an afterlife, concluding that "One day we may wake up to discover that we have been living in heaven all along." (p. 215) In Cincinnati? Who knew?

In the middle of the book, Tallmadge interrupts his city study to take a side trip with a class of adult students to the Escalante region of Utah. The western canyonland is about as far as you can get from the concrete streets of Cincinnati, and the diversion offers a respite for the readers as well. We and the travelers have time to think about the concepts of beauty, our connectedness to the earth, and what it takes to really KNOW a place. Good lessons, all.

Another side trip is in the offing when Tallmadge visits his family-owned 40-acre woodlot in New Hampshire, intending to make the big decision: to keep it and preserve it, or to sell its resources to a logging company. His commitment to a place of his ancestral roots is admirable, as is his verdict: "[W]hat we do with the land always matters, even if we merely let it alone. We cannot escape playing a part in the story. All we can do is try to understand our choices and then choose as wisely and as responsibly as we can." (p. 182) That sentiment should be sent to every legislator and politician in America today.

I began reading a library copy of this book but soon realized I would have to buy my own so I could underline and savor the best passages. The writings of John Tallmadge belong on the natural history shelves between those of Gary Snyder and Henry David Thoreau. Or if you're filing books by title, put "The Cincinnati Arch" right next to "Desert Solitaire." This volume deserves more attention than it's gotten. Share it with your environmental friends and every nature-blind city-dweller you know.

One of Our Finest Writers Synthesizes Wilderness & City.......2005-01-01

John Tallmadge is one of the country's finest writers, widely acclaimed for his work on the wilderness. This new book creates a long-overdue synthesis between the natural world and what we ordinarily view as the artificial world of the city. Read it and understand your environment (and your humanity)in a startlingly new light.

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Studies in the genus Heterosporium, (Contributions de l'Institut botanique de l'UniversiteÌ de MontreÌal)
Joseph EÌmile Jacques
Manufacturer: Institut botanique de l'UniversiteÌ de MontreÌal
ProductGroup: Book
Binding: Unknown Binding

General | Plants | Biological Sciences | Science | Subjects | Books
ASIN: B0007JNB5U

Book Description

Examines the many travel pleasures and shopping treasures found in Istanbul, Bursa, Ankara, Cappadocia, Antalya, Mamaris, Bodrum, Kusadasi, Cesme, Izmir, and Canakkale. Includes shopping strategies and bargaining tips as well as advice on avoiding problems, selecting quality products, and shipping purchases home with ease. It also identifies the best shops, restaurants, accommodations, sightseeing, and entertainment.

Book Description

Fifteen-year-old Chan lives on the streets. She's run away from home and has no intention to go back. She doesn't care about anyone or anything . . . until ten-year-old Elizabeth comes into her life. A rough world becomes even rougher when you have someone you care about . . . .

Customer Reviews:

Captivating.......2005-03-07

It's not easy being fifteen and living on the streets of New York. It's especially not easy when you have a little girl to take care of too. Chan thinks she has it made until young Elizabeth wanders into her life. Chan instantly takes Elizabeth under her wing, protecting her as if she was her own child. The two develop a bond like no other, relying on each other for everything, but what happens when you start to grow up? What happens when you fall in love? What happens when it is time to let go? Is there bond truly strong enough to last forever? This page turner will keep you up all night long pondering love, family, and life. This is truly a book you do not want to miss.

Really great!.......2005-03-05

Although some parts of Tomorrow, Maybe are a little bit weird, it is a totally great book. it tells of a girl that ran away from home and meets elizabeth a 11 year old runaway. she learns to care for her. It's a touching book that almost made me bawl at the end! i recomend it to anyone.

a must read!.......2004-01-09

This captivating novel developes the story of one girls journey as she roams the streets of New York. Chan has been on the streets for several years with no one to depend on but herself. When she meets a younger girl, Elizabeth, she decides to take her in and care for her. Elizabeth helps Chan realize that life wasn't meant to be this way, that children shouldn't be on the streets. This causes Chan to make a plan of action, to get out of New York or merely to leave the life that she and Elizabeth are leading. This is a book you won't want to put down!

A Story That You Will Never Forget.......2003-07-08

This story is about a girl named Chan who is 15 and has been homeless for 2 years after running away from home. She is always moving around from place to place. Staying with people she doesn't know if she can trust. Until she meets 11 year old Elizabeth, another run away girl who she cares for more than anything. This story is about their adventure as a team, through the rough streets of New York. I loved this book because it truly made me fall in love with the character. I loved how the plot was well planned and there was always something new and exciting coming into Chan's world.

Maybe Tomorrow: A Hidden Child of the Holocaust

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Maybe Tomorrow: A Hidden Child of the Holocaust
Eric Cahn , and Marilyn Saltzman
Manufacturer: Casan Pub. Co.
ProductGroup: Book
Binding: Paperback

Holocaust | Historical | Biographies & Memoirs | Subjects | Books

General | Europe | History | Subjects | Books
ASIN: 0964541009

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famous knowledge about Aboriginies
A real believer
A peak into the Aboriginal mentality

Maybe Tomorrow
Boori Monty Pryor
Manufacturer: Penguin Books Australia Ltd
ProductGroup: Book
Binding: Paperback

Contemporary | General | Literature & Fiction | Subjects | Books
ASIN: 0140273972

Customer Reviews:

famous knowledge about Aboriginies.......2003-02-12

I bought that book in Australia. Monty Prior wrote his life and the hole culture of this spectacular people within 180 pages. It's a resumée of everything about this culture, we never had the chance to learn about. Just great. It's a must to have for every open human beeing. Greetings from Switzerland. Peter

A real believer.......2000-12-04

Maybe Tomorrow was a fabulous book. I was into Boori magnificent tale right away. I was about to say i feel his passion, but i could never feel the amount of passion that Boori has, and spreads throught the Australian land. I knew ther were many problems with Aborigonals in Australia, but never quite so bad. I thought people just didn't have any real respect for them. which made it hard fort them to get on in life. But i never knew of any of the harsh treatments they go through. Especially abuse from Police. The way he lived his life, and told his stories made me want to read on. I'm also into Djing and Basketball like Boori which caught my attention more. The other day I was thinking how great it would be to go and visit this man and his family in the Bush. I come from the same area as him too. I would love to see the way the traditional Aborigonals go through their days, preferably without hassle of 'white Australians.' Overall, definately an insperational book, and a must read for many people. Humerous, yet serious problems in life. Well done Boori(Monty)Pryor!

A peak into the Aboriginal mentality.......2000-07-12

Boori Monty Pryor's "Maybe Tomorrow" is a delightful, thought-provoking book, full of insightful stories (both humoristic and tragic) about Aboriginal and non-Aboriginals' interactions in Australia. It is easy reading, told in a vivid, story-telling language, and the stories mostly revolve around Boori's experiences with school children, when he talks to them about his Aboriginal culture, traditions, the Aboriginal situation today, etc. "Maybe Tomorrow" brings up a lot of prejudices that many non-Aboriginals unfortunately have against Aboriginals. Boori gives his side of the story in a neat, creative, non-bitter, and understandable fashion.

I would definitely recommend "Maybe Tomorrow". It gives you a great picture of Aboriginal culture, traditions, mentality, etc. It also helps give this amazing people the respect and appreciation, they so much deserve. In addition, I think that Boori's messages not only apply to Australian Aboriginals, but may also give an idea as to why other indigenous peoples across the planet live the way they do, in their attempt to adapt to non-indigenous (or white) society.

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Silly and over-written, but it has a glow

Golden Circle: A Tale of the Stage and the Screen and Music of Yesterday and Now and Tomorrow and Maybe the Day After Tomorrow : A Novel
Jerome Lawrence
Manufacturer: Sun and Moon Press
ProductGroup: Book
Binding: Hardcover

Contemporary | General | Literature & Fiction | Subjects | Books
Lawrence, Jerome | ( L ) | Authors, A-Z | Literature & Fiction | Subjects | Books
General | United States | World Literature | Literature & Fiction | Subjects | Books
ASIN: 1557130868

Customer Reviews:

Silly and over-written, but it has a glow.......2002-11-03

I was not especially surprised to find out that A Golden Circle is out of print. The writing is too exuberant for the events in the plot; the characters speak in language too elevated and gushing to be convincing; the plot is simple and predictable. However. There is beauty in this book. It glows with a larger-than-life vibrancy that may irritate you or make you smile; it infectiously sings the praises of musical theater. Don't make a huge effort to track it down--I'm sure better stories of the stage and screen abound. But if it's a rainy day, and if you come across A Golden Circle in a used-book sale as I did, it may make your day shine.

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Maybe It Will Rain Tomorrow
Jane Breskin Zalben
Manufacturer: Scholastic Paperbacks
ProductGroup: Book
Binding: Paperback

Mothers & Children | Women's Fiction | Literature & Fiction | Subjects | Books
ASIN: 0590328263

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Maybe Tomorrow
Sharlie West
Manufacturer: Norton Publications
ProductGroup: Book
Binding: Paperback
ASIN: 0843980354

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Maybe Tomorrow
Joan Weir
Manufacturer: Tandem Library
ProductGroup: Book
Binding: School & Library Binding

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Maybe Tomorrow
William E. Larson
Manufacturer: Bill-Mark
ProductGroup: Book
Binding: Paperback

General | Contemporary | Romance | Subjects | Books
ASIN: 1886273006

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Maybe Tomorrow
Pershing
Manufacturer: Dell Publishing
ProductGroup: Book
Binding: Paperback
ASIN: 0440149096

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Maybe Tomorrow
Sharlie West
Manufacturer: Tiara
ProductGroup: Book
Binding: Paperback
ASIN: B000V9BJ8M

Book Description

This book describes succinctly the factors which affect the incorporation of massive and morsellised allografts after transplantation. Unless special precautions are taken, massive allografts when implanted can undergo stress fatigue, due to the limited incorporation at the graft-host interface. Immunological and cell signalling growth factors can be shown to greatly influence the behaviour of the graft. The bone-biological processes are illustrated in terms of demineralised bone, which can initiate bone induction due to the protection and availability of the original bone-morphogenic protein. The main message is that transplantation without consideration of the underlying biological healing processes can reduce the effectiveness of the procedure.

Bone Morphogenetic Proteins and Collagen: An Advances in Tissue Banking Specialist Publication (Allografts in Bone Healing: Biology and Clinical Applications, 2)

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Bone Morphogenetic Proteins and Collagen: An Advances in Tissue Banking Specialist Publication (Allografts in Bone Healing: Biology and Clinical Applications, 2)

Manufacturer: World Scientific Publishing Company
ProductGroup: Book
Binding: Hardcover

Biochemistry | Biological Sciences | Science | Subjects | Books

General | Science | Subjects | Books

Physiology | Basic Science | Medicine | Subjects | Books

General | Medicine | Subjects | Books

Rheumatology | Internal Medicine | Medicine | Subjects | Books

All Titles | Qualifying Textbooks - Fall 2007 | Stores | Books
ASIN: 9812383182

Book Description

What are bone morphogenetic proteins (BMPs) and how can they be used in orthopaedic practice? Ever since Urist proposed in 1976 that protein factors from cortical bone appeared to modulate bone healing in animals, there has been a search for these mysterious osteoinductive components. Now that their structure has been elucidated, they have been purified and cloned, and are now available for the improvement of bone healing.

The best source of BMPs is demineralised bone. This bone allograft is used to achieve greater osteoinductive capacity. But are the actions of procurement, processing, demineralisation and sterilisation harmful to the BMPs? Unless the BMPs can be assayed, neither their clinical nor their scientific effectiveness can be appraised. All these aspects are logically and scientifically described in this volume. In addition, there is a review of the biochemistry of one of the two main components of bone, namely collagen. This subject is itself a confusing but rapidly growing field. This comprehensive review describes the procedures for building up bone in vivo and in vitro.

Bone Morphogenetic Protein and Collagen answers most of the questions of orthopaedic surgeons and tissue bankers on how BMPs can be produced and used to their maximum effectiveness.

Book Description

Over the last decade, the role of computational simulations in all aspects of aerospace design has steadily increased. However, despite the many advances, the time required for computations is far too long. This book examines new ideas and methodologies that may, in the next twenty years, revolutionize scientific computing. The book specifically looks at trends in algorithm research, human computer interface, network-based computing, surface modeling and grid generation and computer hardware and architecture. The book provides a good overview of the current state-of-the-art and provides guidelines for future research directions. The book is intended for computational scientists active in the field and program managers making strategic research decisions.

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A beautiful, graceful look at Chicago's past

dybek

A great writer

Amazing use of language

Its Inventiveness and Spirit are Undeniable

I Sailed with Magellan
Stuart Dybek
Manufacturer: Picador
ProductGroup: Book
Binding: Paperback

Contemporary | General | Literature & Fiction | Subjects | Books
General | Short Stories | Literature & Fiction | Subjects | Books
Similar Items:

The Coast of Chicago: Stories

Childhood and Other Neighborhoods: Stories

Streets in Their Own Ink: Poems

Sixty Stories (Penguin Twentieth Century Classics)

Brass Knuckles (Carnegie Mellon Classic Contemporary)

ASIN: 0312424116
Release Date: 2004-09-09

Book Description

Following his renowned The Coast of Chicago and Childhood, story writer Stuart Dybek returns with eleven masterful and masterfully linked stories about Chicago's fabled and harrowing South Side. United, they comprise the story of Perry Katzek and his widening, endearing clan. Through these streets walk butchers, hitmen, mothers and factory workers, boys turned men and men turned to urban myth. I Sailed With Magellan solidifies Dybek's standing as one of our finest chroniclers of urban America.

Customer Reviews:

A beautiful, graceful look at Chicago's past.......2006-03-23

I suppose I would love this book even if I weren't a Chicagoan. The characters are so richly crafted, and the action poignant yet well paced. Perhaps the most heartbreaking story is "Blue Boy," with its message in the final paragraph so lushly written I took a sharp intake of breath before reading it again--aloud. An interconnected series of short stories, not everything meshes, especially "Breasts," which takes a side trip into the life of a hit man. But for the most part this is a special, nostalgic look at a Second City that really doesn't exist anymore, but lives on in gorgeous detail in Dybek's prose.

dybek.......2006-02-26

stuart dybek is a gifted writer who truly understands the short
story. His characters are full of life and wonderfully human.
I highly recommend this to anyone who enjoys great writing.

A great writer.......2004-12-08

This is timeless fiction of the highest order, on a level with the finest contemporary writers from Stephen Dixon to Philip Roth to Bliss Broyard. Dybek writes with depth, precision and deep feeling; this is the work of a lifetime sketching out a milieu (the Chicago Polish workingclass community) with loving, compassionate and haunting details. James T. Farrell and Nelson Algren were the pioneers of Chicago fiction, but Dybek digs deeper. This is unforgettable work, sketching out the turf he knows so well and making it as universal as Sherwood Anderson, Chekhov and Dostoyevsky.

Amazing use of language.......2004-06-25

The review below posted by Reggieroy captures my thoughts on this book exactly. The writing was beautiful, the characters so real I felt I knew them. I especially liked the stories of young Perry with his brother and his friends. I think my favorites were of the prom date he took to the junkyard and the one near the end about Perry and his Babushka.

Its Inventiveness and Spirit are Undeniable.......2004-01-18

Stuart Dybek's I SAILED WITH MAGELLAN arrives more than a decade after his previous book, a short story collection titled THE COAST OF CHICAGO. While it's neither a blockbuster nor a doorstop tome like Jeffrey Eugenides's long-awaited MIDDLESEX or Donna Tartt's years-in-the-making THE LITTLE FRIEND, I SAILED WITH MAGELLAN is definitely worth the wait, serving as a reintroduction to a writer who captures his old Chicago neighborhood with documentary detail and raconteur flourish.

Despite its billing as a novel, I SAILED WITH MAGELLAN is actually a series of short stories that have locales and characters in common. All feature a teenage narrator named Perry and all are set in the Little Village community of Chicago during the early 1960s. Dybek lovingly and often humorously evokes this time and place through telling observations.

Poor families use old bed sheets for curtains and veterans order shots for friends who didn't come back from the war. It's a dangerous, often discouraging neighborhood, and in strong, unfussy prose Dybek describes "the daily round of life where bag ladies combed alleys and the homeless, sleeping in junked cars, were found frozen to death in winter. Laid-off workmen became wife beaters in their newfound spare time; welfare mothers in the projects turned tricks to supplement the family budget; and it seemed that every day someone lost teeth at one or another of the corner bars."

Fortunately, Dybek lets his lively characters --- including a junior high writing prodigy named Camille Estrada and a slob hitman named Joe Ditto --- run wild in this setting. Rather than engineering plots and scenes for them, Dybek simply lets them tell their own stories, a rare talent that gives the book a personal, unrehearsed quality. Plus, it makes for some truly weird goings-on. As a coming-of-age story, I SAILED WITH MAGELLAN eschews any predictability in favor of a dreamlike flow of events and characters, many of which are supersaturated with local color.

There is, for instance, the Chickenman, who walks around town with a chicken perching on his head and pecking corn off his tongue. And there's Little Village's unofficial child saint, Ralphie Poskozim, who was born with blue skin: "The blue was plainly visible beneath his blue-green eyes, smudges darker than shadows, as if he'd been in a fistfight or gotten into his mother's mascara. Even his lips looked cold."

All of these strange characters are filtered through Perry's perspective, and as the novel progresses, he grows up and his concerns become more adult. Fortunately, as Perry gains more freedom, the stories don't lose their charm or their sense of wonder.

Memory works in flashes, not in fluid narratives, and it allows for exaggeration of facts. In the end these chapters cohere into something larger than a short-story collection, but the book is not like a proper novel. This is certainly not a criticism: the form of I SAILED WITH MAGELLAN may be unclassifiable, but its inventiveness and spirit are undeniable.

--- Reviewed by Stephen M. Deusner

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I Sailed With Magellan

Manufacturer: Farrar Straus & Giroux
ProductGroup: Book
Binding: Hardcover
ASIN: B000GSMQ44

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Stuart Dybek. I Sailed with Magellan.(Book Review): An article from: World Literature Today
Alice-Catherine Carls
Manufacturer: University of Oklahoma
ProductGroup: Book
Binding: Digital

General | Literature & Fiction | Subjects | Books | Classics | Comic | Contemporary | Literary
General | Literature & Fiction | Subjects | e-Docs | Formats | Books
ASIN: B0009Y99H2
Release Date: 2005-07-25

Book Description

This digital document is an article from World Literature Today, published by University of Oklahoma on May 1, 2005. The length of the article is 644 words. The page length shown above is based on a typical 300-word page. The article is delivered in HTML format and is available in your Amazon.com Digital Locker immediately after purchase. You can view it with any web browser.

Citation Details
Title: Stuart Dybek. I Sailed with Magellan.(Book Review)
Author: Alice-Catherine Carls
Publication: World Literature Today (Refereed)
Date: May 1, 2005
Publisher: University of Oklahoma
Volume: 79 Issue: 2 Page: 87(2)

Article Type: Book Review

Distributed by Thomson Gale

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I Sailed With Magellan
Stuart Dybek
Manufacturer: Picador
ProductGroup: Book
Binding: Paperback
ASIN: B000OTNA3Q

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