Bees are such a win-win-win. These hives are in a clearing in Smithgall Woods State Park. They are maintained by Ally Bees Honey (who I highly recommend for local Georgia honey). They pollinate the wildflowers, native plants, and wildlife food plots…all while creating so much extra honey.
George L Smith State Park is small in acreage but dense in nature. The blackwater river (dammed by an old mill) is packed with majestic Bald Cypress. They are a joy to to paddle through – and incredible for birding.
Practical Mysticism by Evelyn Underhill is a 1914 book on Christian mystical practice. It’s available for free on Standard Ebooks, which is one of my favorite resources on the internet for beautifully formatted public domain books.
The Okefenokee Swamp is a forbidding place and a place that I could not imagine living in.
A Roundup of My Favorite Books About Trees…so far.
A Roundup of My Favorite Books on Southeast Asian Journeys…so far.
What makes people proud of their country? -> https://www.pewresearch.org/global/2026/02/17/what-makes-people-proud-of-their-country/
A Roundup of My Favorite Books on Religious History and Thought…so far.
Brad Stultenberg explains what Norway does well in youth sports the US doesn’t…
A Roundup of My Favorite Books on Financial System Critiques…so far.
The Atlantic assigned a writer to spend a year inside America’s new sports gambling industry (with real money at stake) -> https://www.theatlantic.com/magazine/2026/04/online-sports-betting-app-addiction/686061/
Appalachian Balds are a historical mystery. But they are very man-made now. This one is one of my favorites. I’ll gatekeep the exact location (it’s up an old logging road in a Georgia State Park donated by a dedicated conservationist near Cleveland, GA), but it’s maintained by the Georgia Department of Natural Resources as a wildlife clearing. There are views in the winter, but birds and wildlife year-round.
One of my favorite aspects of the culture of the National Park Service is their commitment to the principle that every American is an owner of their National Parks. It’s a beautiful, democratic ideal.
However.
Regarding the Iran War -> https://fundliterallyanythingbutthis.netlify.app/
Providence Canyon in Georgia is one of the most curious little areas in Georgia.
A Roundup of My Favorite Literary Travel Narratives…so far.
A Roundup of My Favorite Books on Financial Independence…so far.
A Roundup of My Favorite Books on Southern Ecosystems…so far.
A Roundup of My Favorite Books on The Art of Biography…so far.
Hardman Farm State Historic Site is a very underrated Georgia State Historic Site. The house is this incredible bit of Italianate architecture built right around the Civil War. The entire property is lovely with well-preserved buildings that highlight the rapid economic succession of the Deep South from the antebellum era to the modern era.
The Cohutta Wilderness Trail Volunteers spent a good bit of time in 2025 working on the Hickory Creek Trail. It is one of my favorite trails, but has been hit hard by storms in the last couple of years.
The Allatoona Dam on the Etowah River has some nice hikes with views across a small canyon. In the far distance, through the forest, you can see (ironically) the smokestacks of Plant Bowen, one of the largest coal-fired power plants in North America.
A Roundup of My Favorite Books on Medical Science and the Human Body…so far.
A Roundup of My Favorite Books on Dystopian Fiction…so far.
A Roundup of My Favorite Books on Political and Social Commentary…so far.
A Roundup of My Favorite Malcolm Gladwells Psychology Books…so far.
The Red Tailed Hawk that lives in Atlanta’s Grant Park is an absolute Boss. He’s also used to humans and will land incredibly close. In this case, he’s at the basketball courts – themed for the Atlanta Hawks – so I guess he loves a good pun too.
I’m always amazed at how clear Georgia’s rivers run near their headwaters in the Chattahoochee National Forest. The combination of running across rocks and being filtered by forest instead of being silted with erosion is lovely to see.
Fort Morris was an old fort that stood guard in front of Sunbury, one of the oldest European settlements in Georgia. The site is on the Medway River with beautiful views of coastal marshes.
A Roundup of My Favorite Books on Big Infrastructure Projects…so far.
A Roundup of My Favorite Books on American Political History…so far.
Everyone should know that this exists -> https://geospy.ai/
A Roundup of My Favorite Books on Walking and Hiking Philosophy…so far.
A Roundup of My Favorite Books for Nature Photography Enthusiasts…so far.
With so many Eastern Hemlocks dying, I’m always on the look out for a really good looking specimen. This one at Hardman Farm State Historic Site is one of the most symmetrical that I’ve ever seen.
Even though they aren’t all Longleaf anymore, I still love the expanse of Loblolly Pines in South Georgia.
Cloudland Canyon is one of Georgia’s most dramatic and interesting geological features.
A Roundup of My Favorite Books About Urban Planning and Cities…so far.
A Roundup of My Favorite Books on Education and Learning…so far.
A Roundup of My Favorite Books on Marketing and Persuasion…so far.
A Roundup of My Favorite Books on Rural America…so far.
Most years, I get to run either the full or the half marathon in Atlanta. It usually takes place early in the year, in late February or early March. It’s a great event with a great course, but it’s always funny just being part of such a giant crowd that is out to…run.
A Roundup of My Favorite Books on Tech Sociology…so far.
A Roundup of My Favorite Books on Personal Finance and Investing…so far.
A Roundup of My Favorite Books on Modern Monasticism…so far.
Phantom Fluency is an idea from Terry Godier describing the feeling that you are fluent in a concept, idea, story, but when you try to explain it in depth or find the source for it…you can’t.
A Roundup of My Favorite Books on Cultural Criticism…so far.
The Southern Appalachians are known for their waterfalls. There are tall, famous ones like Duke’s Creek, Amicalola, Ruby, Jack’s, etc but I also love finding smaller ones along an off-trail creek.
In the Cohutta Wilderness, the Jacks and Conasauga Rivers can rise fast after a rain. Due to a bit of poor planning, I woke up one morning to an uncrossable Jacks. Thankfully, this tall and otherwise healthy pine tree had fallen at just the right spot across the river. It provided a useful bridge and a bit of adventure.
A Roundup of My Favorite J. Maarten Troosts Travel Memoirs…so far.
A Roundup of My Favorite Derek Sivers Minimalist Guides…so far.
I got curious about Twitter again. And then I really looked at the algorithm…
A Roundup of My Favorite Books on Religion and Spirituality…so far.
A Roundup of My Favorite Books on Minimalism and Simplicity…so far.
I forgot to get the species name of this flower, but one of the most interesting things in the desert exhibit at the Atlanta Botanical Gardens is how colorful so many of the plants and flowers in the desert are.
A Roundup of My Favorite Books on Economics and Global Trade…so far.
A Roundup of My Favorite Books on Soccer/Football…so far.
A Roundup of My Favorite Books on Memory and Brain Science…so far.
A Roundup of My Favorite Memoirs and Autobiographies…so far.
I’ve been a Murakami fan for years. I’ve read most of his major works and loved the surreal, dreamlike quality…
The Georgia Piedmont is filled with so many interesting outcrops. The most famous is Stone Mountain, but they are all up and down the middle part of Georgia.
I picked up Atlanta Then and Now expecting to feel nostalgic about demolished buildings and lost architecture around Atlanta. Instead,…
A Roundup of My Favorite Books on European History…so far.
A Roundup of My Favorite Books on Negotiation Psychology…so far.
A Roundup of My Favorite Jo Nesbo Crime Novels…so far.
I read Nickel and Dimed by Barbara Ehrenreich in the mid-2000s, a few years out of college. It’s one of…
I re-read the entire Sherlock Holmes canon every few years. It’s my favorite mystery genre, and I never get tired…
A Roundup of My Favorite Books on Eastern Philosophy and Mindfulness…so far.
Main Street Millionaire by Cody Sanchez is one of the better business books I’ve read in the past few years….
I’m not going to write too much about Lake Conasauga because I want it to be known enough to where it keeps getting maintenance, visits, and appropriate use without being overrun…because if you know…you know.
A Roundup of My Favorite Seth Godins Marketing Wisdom…so far.
A Roundup of My Favorite Books Set in Asia…so far.
A Roundup of My Favorite Books on American Cities and Regions…so far.
Karen Berger is one of my favorite travel writers. I came across a foreword of hers explaining the idea of Wilderness that we (Americans) have constructed over the last 100 years in America’s Great Hiking Trails. I’ve read a lot of explainers of Wilderness, but this has to be one of the best I’ve ever seen.
A Roundup of My Favorite Books on Wilderness Skills and Survival…so far.
Allatoona Dam is on the Etowah River in Georgia, near Cartersville. It is an incredible piece of infrastructure, and I…
The Three Hares Motif is this weird, fun enigma -> https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Three_hares
The Appalachian Trail in Georgia has a lot of granite overlooks in the mountains but especially on the Appalachian Trail. During winter, you can see a long ways off, and in the summer, they are often the only break in the green tunnel of vegetation.
The Soccer Book provides a comprehensive breakdown of the world’s most popular sport, combining technical analysis with historical context and modern gameplay evolution.
The Philosophy Book: Big Ideas Simply Explained goes chronologically through 2,500 years of philosophical ideas & concepts, breaking down complex concepts into digestible pieces.
A Roundup of My Favorite Books on Copywriting and Advertising…so far.
In 2006, before his presidential run, then-Senator Barack Obama published The Audacity of Hope. It was part of a long tradition of presidential hopefuls publishing sort of a detailed personal & policy driven vision for the country. For myself, it was the only book of this genre that I’d ever read before or since. So, of course, I think it’s far and away the best.
A Roundup of My Favorite Books on Travel in Australia and the Pacific…so far.
Sensationalist title, but I like how it digs into the specific *jobs* in the music industry that are going away -> The future of country music is here, and it’s AI
Lovely post about an intriguing country -> The sights and sounds of Bhutan — Wait But Why
A Roundup of My Favorite Books on Conservation and Economics…so far.
A Roundup of My Favorite Books on Critical Thinking and Decision-Making…so far.
Northern Alaska is possibly the most sublime landscape on Earth. The sheer wild expanse and bigness is transcendent. And thanks…
Fort Morris State Historic Site had a small “children’s history” display that was fun for the family.
A Roundup of My Favorite Books on Creative Business…so far.
Yeah – I think this is broadly right -> Why are Americans Unhappy? – Chris Arnade Walks the World If…
This -> Why RSS matters
A Roundup of My Favorite Books on Independent Business Building…so far.
A Roundup of My Favorite Books on Happiness and Life Satisfaction…so far.
A Roundup of My Favorite Books on Race in America…so far.
Laura S. Walker State Park is a very underrated state park in Georgia. It is in between Waycross and the northern entrance of the Okefenokee National Wildlife Life Refuge. The park has lovely cabins, a great day use area, a beautiful lake, and the landscape is enchanting with pine trees and South Georgia flatwoods.
A Roundup of My Favorite Books on Appalachian Culture…so far.
A Roundup of My Favorite Books on Project Management and Completion…so far.
A Roundup of My Favorite Books on Islamic Fundamentalism…so far.
Snow makes everything look beautiful wen it first falls.
Ahh…I see you’re up for some extra inconvenience. Some Type 2 Internet Fun, if you will. Well then! Follow me with your favorite Fediverse app or server (e.g., Threads, Mastodon, Pixelfed, etc).
I’m Nate Shivar from Atlanta, Georgia, USA. I love nature, public lands, books, and the old-school Internet.
