To my usual delight with speculative fiction, the Hugo awards have been announced! These controversial awards raise lots of questions about voice, audience, and the politics of publication. Nonetheless, they are usually worth a gander as awesome literature. I, for one, adore a couple of these authors.
Published by Europa Editions, The Passenger series offers an unconventional take on typical travel guides with new writing, original photography, art, and reportage from around the world. The series was first launched in 2018 by the independent Italian publisher Iperborea, and was brought into English by Europa in 2020. It has also been translated into Spanish, Portuguese, and Korean.
The book-magazine travels far and wide to bring back the best writing from the places it visits. It assembles not only reportage, but also long-form journalism and narrative essays with the aim of telling stories of the contemporary life of a place and its inhabitants: “It takes readers beyond the familiar stereotypes to portray the shifting culture and identity of a place, its public debates, the sensibilities of its people, its burning issues, its pleasures and its pain.”
An Author Recommends section provides cultural tips on books, films, music and more from contemporary authors such as Valeria Luisell (Mexico), Banana Yoshimoto (Japan), Enrique Vila-Matas (Barcelona), Pitchaya Sudbanthad (Thailand), Paolo Macry (Naples), Chimamanda Ngozi Adichie (Nigeria) and more. Digging Deeper provides short bibliographies for further reading, and The Playlist links to curated Spotify playlists of music from the featured city, country, or region. To date there have been eighteen volumes published in English, and all are shelved in Morrison Library’s travel section, waiting for their next trip.
When you take a sip of a delicious caffeinated beverage—for example, a latte from FSM or a can of Guayakí Yerba Maté—did you know that you are enjoying a product of the evolutionary arms race between plants and insects? Coffee and tea plants, along with cacao and cola trees, produce bitter caffeine to deter insects from eating them, but humans have learned to enjoy (although in excess we can also be damaged by) the stimulating effects of this toxic compound.
Most Delicious Poison: The Story of Nature’s Toxins—From Spices to Vices by Noah Whiteman
Nature’s toxins and the sometimes surprising uses to which they are put by humans is the subject of Noah Whiteman’s Most Delicious Poison: The Story of Nature’s Toxins—From Spices to Vices. On March 5th, the Library’s Sciences Division hosted Whiteman, Professor of Integrative Biology and Molecular & Cell Biology at UC Berkeley, at the Morrison Library for a talk on his acclaimed book, recently out in paperback. Following the talk, Professor Whiteman was joined by Michael Silver, Professor of Neuroscience and Vision Science at UC Berkeley, for a discussion of the book’s themes: how humans became attracted to, learned to harness, and—in some cases—became dependent on nature’s toxins; and how our discovery and use of these natural products intertwine with global histories of colonialism and imperialism.
An interdisciplinary audience of students, staff, faculty, and members of the broader UC Berkeley community packed the Morrison Library reading room to hear stories of terpenoids in coastal redwoods older than the rings of Saturn, of alkaloids in coffee and nutmeg, and the evolutionary wars that produced these molecules in nature. One highlight of the audience Q&A was learning Whiteman’s preferred method for brewing coffee: pour-over through a paper filter. Most Delicious Poison is available in print at the Biosciences, Natural Resources & Public Health Library (QP631 .W45 2023) and as an ebook.
Do the Work!: An Antiracist Activity Book by W. Kamau Bell and Kate Schatz
On March 11th, the Engineering Library, the College of Engineering’s Inclusive Excellence team, and the Black Graduate Engineering & Science Students (BGESS) hosted W. Kamau Bell and Kate Schatz for a discussion of their book, Do the Work!: An Anti-Racist Activity Book, at Sutardja Dai Hall. Aaron Streets, Associate Professor in the Department of Bioengineering and Vice Chair of Undergraduate Affairs for Berkeley Engineering, moderated a fireside chat with the authors, who discussed how our STEM community can engage with the activities in the book, the challenges of Diversity, Equity & Inclusion work in the current political climate, and how educators can build safe and brave spaces for current and future generations.
Do the Work! is part of the Kresge Engineering Library’s Inclusive Excellence Book Collection, currently located and browseable at the Earth Sciences & Map Library while the Engineering Library is closed for construction. The Inclusive Excellence Collection brings together resources on the subject of diversity, equity, inclusion, and belonging to support students, faculty & staff in the College of Engineering in their efforts to foster a diverse and inclusive climate in the College and beyond. In fall 2024, the Engineering Library and the College of Engineering hosted Minette Norman, author of The Boldly Inclusive Leader, for the inaugural event in the Berkeley Engineering Book Talk Series.
