Friday, March 11, 2011

River Time

Those who know me are not surprised that I'd review such a book...  FYI, I've been feeling a lot better this week! 

Mary A. Hood, River Time: Ecotravel on the World’s Rivers (Albany, NY: State University of New York, 2008), 276 pages including an index, bibliography and some photos.

“American literature is full of rivers. Indeed, the world’s literature is full of rivers, and rivers are more than just background; they are an essential element of our stories. Our most ancient stories are deeply entangled in rivers… That our earliest civilizations emerged on rivers reflects a broader truth: rives spawn civilization. Because of our deep roots in rives, because rivers provided sustenance and facilitated travel, they are one of our strongest connections to and precious elements of place.” (page 1-2)


The above is from the introduction to Mary Hood’s collection of essays centering on rivers of the world. In each essay, Mary explores a particular river, often examining something unique about it. On the Cumberland River, she explores the idea of “co-evolution” between beetles and magnolia trees and how, instead of being a “survival of the fittest,” the two species have grown together and depend on their relationship with the other. (43) In the Amazon, she discusses “green washings” and how tourism has grabbed a hold of the “green” concept as a marketing campaign.  “Ecotourism” is now big business. (138) However, as she later notes, tourism is the largest industry in the world, counting for over 700 million jobs. (227). A part of me questions this figure; it seems to be that if tourism is considered an industry, so is agriculture and it should be larger. Also, in the Amazon, she explores the healing properties of many plants native to the region, but then notes the irony of the high mortality rate among humans in such areas. (103) As she travels these rivers, she’s on the lookout for birds and unique trees and fish. In China, she looks at the nation attempting to meet the needs of its expanding population. 1/12th of the world’s people live along the Yangtze River. (192) Along the Ganges, she wrestles with the contradictions of India (225) and in Egypt, ponders the ancient civilization that grew up along the Nile and gave us the most ancient text in existence. (241)


I enjoyed these essays. About half of the book deals with smaller rivers in America such as the Conhocton where she questions the economics of windmill farms (58-9), the Alligator in Northeast North Carolina where she encounters wolves, owls and swans (81) or the Penobscot in Maine where she set out to learn about moose. (61f) In the second half of the book, she sets her sights on the mighty rivers of the world: the Mississippi, Danube, Yangtze, Ganges and the Nile. Most of the essays are short; many are half-dozen pages or so, allowing the reader to pick up and read an essay and sit it down and thereby savor the book. Hood’s essays combine the eyes of a scientist and artist and the mind of a philosopher and economist. I recommend this book, but wish more rivers had been explored. Missing was the mighty Congo, the Tigris and Euphrates, all mighty rivers in their own right, but also rivers that because of the political situation would have been more dangerous to explore. Also missing was the Mekong, a river that I’ve been reading a lot about lately.

19 comments:

  1. i've found that I very often have placed major plot elements of my fantasy stories at rivers or their conflux. That flowing water is so much a part of our humanity.

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  2. I've always said that Raleigh would be perfect if it had a river running through it.

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  3. Interesting...I'd like to hear more about the personal stories that come from these rivers. I wonder if something is written about that.

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  4. I don't think i ever read a book out of essays. I might give it a try!

    Thanks for the revieuw
    Leontien

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  5. Good review yet again.
    Hmmm....I think you may have introduced me to our next reading assignment and study for school.
    My kids will thank you;)
    It really sounds good...I may have to pick it up myself.:)

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  6. Charles, "flowing water a part of our humanity" YES!

    Kenju, what about the Neuse River?

    Ileana, although she travels to all these rivers, it's not really her personal story that she is writing about. However, there are many authors who do that

    Leontien, I love collections of good essays!

    Dawn, Your kids are going to hate me! What are their ages and I will make book suggestions (but only for those late elementary school up--I use to read many books with my daughter who is now 13)

    Ed, Enjoy!

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  7. I think rivers appear so often in literature because they are the best natural metaphor for life in general. There's nothing like sitting and watching one flow for an hour or two to get the philosophical juices flowing.

    Cheers.

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  8. Sage, there's sure a lot in this subject. We build highways and bridges and forget about the flow of both physical rivers and the ones that still flow in the collective unconscious, like Huck Finn's Mississippi and Lewis and Clarke's Missouri.

    A couple good river books come to mind: Rosemary Mahoney's DOWN THE NILE: ALONE IN A FISHERMAN'S SKIFF and Norman Maclean's A RIVER RUNS THROUGH IT. There's also Kent Meyers' novel THE RIVER WARREN, set in Minnesota. A Nebraska writer, Bryan Jones, has a memoir about growing up along the Platte River, called MARK TWAIN MADE ME DO IT.

    You asked about William Kloefkorn on my blog. I've not read his poetry but his memoir, THIS DEATH BY DROWNING. Another Nebraska poet I like is Ted Kooser.

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  9. Rivers are fascinating. I am drawn to them wherever I go.

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  10. I love rivers - I will definitely check this book out. The Hiawassee River that runs by my sister's mountain house is my favorite. I summon the sound of it up in my head when I need peace.

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  11. have spent plenty a day on a river in a kayak or just on the banks with a line in waiting ona fish...the river is a great inspiration

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  12. I could spend hours on a river - or beside one. What a wonderful idea for a book. Have you read "Goodbye to a River" by John Graves?

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  13. A terrific review, as always Sage. It's true that we often forget rivers!

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  14. Okay Sage ..... I have ordered the book from Amazon.com.

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  15. Sage ............. I apologize, I spoke before I ordered, I can't find it on Amazon.com or anywhere, maybe I'll have to drop over and borrow your copy - although I don't know when I'll get to it. Forgive me.

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  16. Sounds very interesting.
    I was going to take a cruise that's was going to the Gibraltar Straits and the Nile--it still might but we're not :)
    Glad you're feeling better!

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  17. Wow. You are such a free spirit...always looking at the next place you want to explore. I'm loving your appreciation for the rivers you've talked about. As a lucky next-door neighbor of the Hudson River (and someone who crosses it twice a day), I'll view it with renewed respect tomorrow. And, I'll think of you.

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  18. Wow, so interesting! Also, just stopped by to wish you Happy St. Patrick's Day, normally if my spirit wasn't dragging, I'd have posted something really green and Irish but that's what next year is for! Hope all is well with you and that you have the luck of the Irish behind you all year long!

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