1666 Coffman
  • Home
    • Virtual Tour
    • Art Gallery >
      • Dreams & Woodcraft
      • Botanicals & Gold
    • Exercise Room
    • Flora & Fauna
  • Activities
    • Events Calendar
    • Ongoing Activities
  • Residents' Realm
    • Newsletter
    • Coffman Office >
      • Coffman Calendars
      • Exchange
      • Resident Absence
      • Accident Form
      • Room Reservations >
        • Social Room Reservations
        • Dining Room Reservations
        • Guest Room Reservations
        • Other Room Reservations
    • Dining >
      • MealOrder Calendar
    • Maintenance >
      • Maintenance Calendar
      • Trash
    • Governance Documents
    • Operational Documents
    • Board & Committees >
      • Long-Range Planning
      • Architectural Integrity Committee
    • Health & Safety >
      • COVID-19
    • Suggestion Box
  • Library
    • News & Updates
    • Book Checkout
    • Tour the Library
    • Recommended Reading >
      • Reader Reviews
      • Acquisitions
    • Book Night >
      • Book Night Archive
    • Donating Books
  • Available Units
    • Application Form
    • Condos for Sale
    • Floor Plans
  • Contact

Recommendation: “The Overstory”

5/4/2020

 
By Greta Micheals
Originally published in the May 2020 issue of the 1666 Coffman Newsletter

In The Overstory, his 2019 Pulitzer Prize novel, author Richard Powers focuses on trees. He gives the reader scientific and  historic information about trees in a narrative that is both complex and challenging. Part of the complexity lies in the structure of the novel. The long first section, entitled “Roots,” introduces the nine characters whose actions intertwine in succeeding chapters, named “Trunk,” “Crown,” and “Seeds.” Initially, the characters’ efforts to preserve trees and the natural 
Picture
Picture
environment are nonviolent; then frustration leads to violent eco-terrorism. This saga was inspired by the Redwood Summer of 1990, an effort to halt logging of California's giant sequoias.

The book contains an encyclopedic amount of scientific information about trees that makes them more visible to the reader. We learn that trees are alive and interconnected, and that we humans and trees share about a quarter of our genes. New insights into forestry are articulated by the character Patricia Westerford, a scientist who is at first ridiculed and later lauded for her work.

While the book is a challenging read, the real challenge in the message: that we humans have been using the earth as ours to exploit and plunder. We must stop. 

Richard Powers has written twelve previous books on scientific subjects and has worked as a computer field and as a professor of creative writing at Stanford. ​

Comments are closed.

    Newsletter

    Coffman residents, signup for monthly updates from the Library!

    Thank you!

    You have successfully joined our subscriber list.

    Posts by Year

    All
    2011
    2013
    2014
    2015
    2016
    2017
    2018
    2019
    2020
    2021
    2022
    2023

    Posts by Month

    January 2023
    December 2022
    November 2022
    October 2022
    September 2022
    August 2022
    July 2022
    June 2022
    May 2022
    April 2022
    March 2022
    February 2022
    January 2022
    December 2021
    November 2021
    October 2021
    September 2021
    August 2021
    July 2021
    June 2021
    May 2021
    April 2021
    March 2021
    February 2021
    January 2021
    December 2020
    November 2020
    October 2020
    September 2020
    August 2020
    July 2020
    June 2020
    May 2020
    April 2020
    March 2020
    February 2020
    January 2020
    December 2019
    November 2019
    October 2019
    September 2019
    August 2019
    July 2019
    June 2019
    April 2019
    March 2019
    February 2019
    January 2019
    December 2018
    November 2018
    October 2018
    September 2018
    August 2018
    July 2018
    June 2018
    April 2018
    February 2018
    December 2017
    October 2017
    September 2017
    July 2017
    April 2017
    March 2017
    February 2017
    January 2017
    December 2016
    November 2016
    October 2016
    September 2016
    March 2016
    February 2016
    December 2015
    October 2015
    September 2015
    January 2015
    April 2014
    February 2014
    September 2013
    September 2011


1666 Coffman Condominium Association

Amenities

Library

Activities

Virtual Tour

Sales info

Condos for Sale
  • Home
    • Virtual Tour
    • Art Gallery >
      • Dreams & Woodcraft
      • Botanicals & Gold
    • Exercise Room
    • Flora & Fauna
  • Activities
    • Events Calendar
    • Ongoing Activities
  • Residents' Realm
    • Newsletter
    • Coffman Office >
      • Coffman Calendars
      • Exchange
      • Resident Absence
      • Accident Form
      • Room Reservations >
        • Social Room Reservations
        • Dining Room Reservations
        • Guest Room Reservations
        • Other Room Reservations
    • Dining >
      • MealOrder Calendar
    • Maintenance >
      • Maintenance Calendar
      • Trash
    • Governance Documents
    • Operational Documents
    • Board & Committees >
      • Long-Range Planning
      • Architectural Integrity Committee
    • Health & Safety >
      • COVID-19
    • Suggestion Box
  • Library
    • News & Updates
    • Book Checkout
    • Tour the Library
    • Recommended Reading >
      • Reader Reviews
      • Acquisitions
    • Book Night >
      • Book Night Archive
    • Donating Books
  • Available Units
    • Application Form
    • Condos for Sale
    • Floor Plans
  • Contact