Hey hey! Below are my most recent posts – see also popular & archives :)
Driving along I-5 in California, I was taken how seemingly every town was like the world’s producer of some random crop. We drove through a town that produces like 95% of the world’s apricots, another one that does rhubarb, another one that does sunflower seeds. It’s really incredible to see. Also, they all had huge bee boxes along the fields letting the bees do their thing.
I got to see a small Black Bear cub crossing State Highway 96.
On the same trip, I also had a massive male Black Bear dart across the highway in addition to weasels, birds of prey and more. The highway goes through some of the most remote areas that I’ve ever traveled through but still been on a State Highway.
It’s really hard to over-hype Redwood trees. They are the most majestic flora on Earth. And even though they are scattered throughout Northern California, seeing them clustered together in an intact ecosystem is awe inspiring.
The Complete Stories is the only collection that includes every short story Flannery O’Connor ever wrote — including “The Geranium,” which she submitted as part of her master’s thesis at the Iowa Writers’ Workshop. If you’re going to read her, this is the one to get.
The Grant Park Conservancy has been restoring old, abandoned features of Grant Park over the past decade. The Erskine Fountain is a special addition, which really shines with all the blooming lilies (and it’s very close to Zoo Atlanta’s entrance).
A Roundup of My Favorite Books About Trees and Forests…so far.
I don’t usually read best-selling political books of the moment. They feel too tied to whatever news cycle is happening right now, and I’d rather read something that has aged a bit.
But it feels like we’re at a genuine inflection point in American politics. The party coalitions that formed in the late 60s and early 70s—now going on 50 years old—are breaking down.
Consolations is a collection of short essays and poems. Each entry is just a page or two—a few hundred words at most. But Whyte packs an incredible amount of meaning into that small space.
I picked this book up after hearing the author interviewed on a podcast — and by “picked up” I mean it was on sale on Amazon and seemed worth a quick read.
A Roundup of My Favorite Books on Religious Violence…so far.
I picked up The Discourses by Epictetus from Standard Ebooks, then ended up buying the print Penguin edition as well. Stoic philosophy has had waves of popularity over the years, and I love that the most recent wave has brought a blossoming of new translations, resources, and accessible texts.
A Roundup of My Favorite Books on Urban-Rural Divides…so far.
The core premise is straightforward: humans create stories and frameworks that aren’t literally true, but are still incredibly useful. Not useful in a “white lie” kind of way. Useful in a “this is how civilization actually functions” kind of way.
A Roundup of My Favorite Philosophical Novels…so far.
I’ve found that printed travel books do something that no algorithm can – they help you discover places you don’t know that you don’t know.
Definitely one of the most underrated National Parks. There is not a lot of tourist infrastructure, but my goodness, it is wild, scenic, and alive.
Spring in Georgia brings azalea and dogwood blooms. They never get old.
A Roundup of My Favorite Books on Urban Wildlife…so far.
I picked up America’s Great Forest Trails by Tim Palmer after seeing it on a shelf at my local bookstore. It’s a coffee table reference book highlighting America’s great forest trails—of which we have thousands and thousands of miles.
A Roundup of My Favorite Books on Modern Africa…so far.
*like, sometimes I publish…a lot :O – though you can pick what categories you want.
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I’m Nate Shivar from Atlanta, Georgia, USA. I love nature, public lands, Atlanta, books, and the old-school Internet.
