JOINT BOOK SIGNING

These men are on a mission! In entirely different ways, two southern environmentalists spend one year honoring the sanctity of native forest ecology, one by gracefully illuminating the hidden world of forest life and the other by avidly hunting a predator set on destroying that world. In his book, The Forest Unseen, biologist David G. Haskell examines in near microscopic vision and daily observation a one-square-meter patch of old-growth Tennessee forest to reveal the secrets of an ancient and mysterious world. A biology professor at The University of the South, Haskell was named one of the South’s most creative teachers by The Oxford American in 2011. He challenges the notion that “you can’t see the forest for the trees” by focusing on the smallest inhabitants such as ferns, snails and microbes in leaf litter to understand how the forest functions as a whole in all of its complexity and beauty. In Year of the Pig, on the other hand, Mark J. Hainds takes an Indiana Jones approach to forest preservation as a bold, weapons-wielding adventurer. Hainds, a researcher with Auburn University and the Longleaf Alliance in Alabama, helps restore native longleaf pine forests only to have those forests damaged by invasive feral pigs. He, thus, embarks on a riveting adventure during the Year of the Pig according to the Chinese calendar with the goal of killing one feral pig in 11 states. Describing his hunts within the context of their unique natural environments, we learn about a variety of habitats across the country. For hunters, foresters, farmers and serious environmentalists as well as nature lovers who want to learn more, a joint book signing with Haskell and Hainds will surely provide interesting anecdotes, information and lively conversation.  AL

 

Haskell and Hainds will be at Off Square Books Friday, May 18, at 5pm.