Conversations with Authors - Amy Tan & John Muir Laws (Virtual Event)
Sunday, July 19th • 7:00pm ET/4:00pm PT
Amy Tan & John Muir Laws
Conversations with Authors is our free virtual event series! Join us every Saturday and Sunday at 7:00pm ET/4:00pm PT for a new chat with a different author.
Hi Everyone,
Thanks for joining us. I hope that those of you who do nature journaling now feel charged to do something new this week. And if you have never done nature journaling, I hope you’re intrigued and will let go of inhibitions and try. It’ll give you a much-needed haven of peace.
In the meantime, here are some books I have enjoyed reading recently:
- Sparrow Envy (poems) and The Home Place: Memoirs of a Colored Man’s Love Affair with Nature by J. Drew Lanham, a naturalist, poet, birder and professor of Wildlife Biology at Clemson University
- White Feathers: The Nesting Lives of Swallows, and also Summer World by Bernd Heinrich
- Survival of the Friendliest: Understanding Our Origins and Rediscovering Our Common Humanity by Brian Hare and Vanessa Woods
- The Human Swarm: How Our Societies Arise, Thrive, and Fall by Mark Moffett
- Devotions: The Selected Poems of Mary Oliver
- Night. Sleep. Death. The Stars. by Joyce Carol Oates
Stay safe,
Amy
Dear Friends,
Thank you so much for joining me today for my conversation with Amy Tan. I hope you enjoyed it as much as I did.
If you’d like to learn more about nature journaling, please visit my website, johnmuirlaws.com, where you will find:
- Hundreds of hours of free nature journaling tutorials on my blog
- My events calendar, which includes weekly live, online classes
- A list of suggested nature journaling equipment
- Connections to our worldwide community of nature journalers
- Free resources for teachers, including a free PDF download of nature journaling curriculum
- Other free nature journaling resources
My book, The Laws Guide to Nature Drawing and Journaling, is another good resource to help you begin the powerful practice of nature journaling.
Other books I have been enjoying lately include:
- The Sketchnote Handbook: The Illustrated Guide to Visual Note Taking by Mike Rhode
- Mindset: The New Psychology of Success by Carol S. Dweck
- The Skeptics’ Guide to the Universe: How to Know What’s Really Real in a World Increasingly Full of Fake by Dr. Steven Novella
- Thinking, Fast and Slow by Daniel Kahneman
Your friend,
Jack
John Muir Laws
Below, please find links to purchase their recommended books as well as their own titles.
From the fertile soils of love, land, identity, family, and race emerges The Home Place, a big-hearted, unforgettable memoir by ornithologist J. Drew Lanham.
The surprising, rich life of tree swallows in nesting season—with Heinrich’s beautiful illustrations and photographs—by the acclaimed naturalist.
Heinrich is sparked one early spring day by a question: Why does a pair of swallows in a nest-box close to his Maine cabin show an unvarying preference for white feathers—not easily available nearby—as$16.99ISBN: 9780060742188Availability: Usually Ships in 1-5 DaysPublished: Ecco - April 6th, 2010How can cicadas survive—and thrive—at temperatures pushing 115°F? Do hummingbirds know what they're up against before they migrate over the Gulf of Mexico? Why do some trees stop growing taller even when three months of warm weather remain?
$28.00ISBN: 9780399590665Availability: Usually Ships in 1-5 DaysPublished: Random House - July 14th, 2020A powerful new theory of human nature suggests that our secret to success as a species is our unique friendliness
“Brilliant, eye-opening, and absolutely inspiring—and a riveting read. Hare and Woods have written the perfect book for our time.”—Cass R. Sunstein, author of How Change Happens and co-author of Nudge$32.00ISBN: 9780465055685Availability: Usually Ships in 1-5 DaysPublished: Basic Books - April 16th, 2019The epic story and ultimate big history of how human society evolved from intimate chimp communities into the sprawling civilizations of a world-dominating species
$30.00ISBN: 9780399563249Availability: Usually Ships in 1-5 DaysPublished: Penguin Press - October 10th, 2017Pulitzer Prize-winning poet Mary Oliver presents a personal selection of her best work in this definitive collection spanning more than five decades of her esteemed literary career.
$35.00ISBN: 9780062797582Availability: Usually Ships in 1-5 DaysPublished: Ecco - June 9th, 2020The bonds of family are tested in the wake of a profound tragedy, providing a look at the darker side of our society by one of our most enduringly popular and important writers
$34.99ISBN: 9780321857897Availability: Usually Ships in 1-5 DaysPublished: Peachpit Press - December 3rd, 2012This gorgeous, fully illustrated handbook tells the story of sketchnotes--why and how you can use them to capture your thinking visually, remember key information more clearly, and share what you've captured with others.
$17.00ISBN: 9780345472328Availability: Usually Ships in 1-5 DaysPublished: Ballantine Books - December 26th, 2007The updated edition of the book that has changed millions of lives with its insights into the growth mindset.
$17.99ISBN: 9781538760529Availability: Usually Ships in 1-5 DaysPublished: Grand Central Publishing - December 3rd, 2019An all-encompassing guide to skeptical thinking from podcast host and academic neurologist at Yale University School of Medicine Steven Novella and his SGU co-hosts, which Richard Wiseman calls "the perfect primer for anyone who wants to separate fact from fiction."
$18.00ISBN: 9780374533557Availability: Usually Ships in 1-5 DaysPublished: Farrar, Straus and Giroux - April 2nd, 2013Major New York Times bestseller
Over two million copies sold
Selected by the New York Times Book Review as one of the ten best books of 2011
Selected by The Wall Street Journal as one of the best nonfiction books of 2011
2013 Presidential Medal of Freedom Recipient$35.00ISBN: 9781597144902Availability: Usually Ships in 1-5 DaysPublished: Heyday Books - April 28th, 2020Expanding on the philosophy and methods of The Laws Guide to Nature Drawing and Journaling, John Muir Laws and Emilie Lygren have developed the first-ever comprehensive book devoted to helping educators use nature journaling as an inspiring teaching tool to engage young people with wild places.
$35.00ISBN: 9781597143158Availability: Usually Ships in 1-5 DaysPublished: Heyday Books - March 1st, 2016The ultimate guide to nature drawing and journaling A potent combination of art, science, and boundless enthusiasm, the latest art instruction book from John Muir Laws (The Laws Guide to Drawing Birds) is a how-to guide for becoming a better artist and a more attentive naturalist.
$24.95ISBN: 9781597141956Availability: Usually Ships in 1-5 DaysPublished: Heyday Books - April 1st, 2015John Muir Laws's guide to drawing birds is itself winged, soaring between a devotion not only to art but also to the lives, forms, and postures of the birds themselves. Here, artistic technique and the exquisite details of natural history intertwine, and drawing becomes the vehicle for seeing.
$13.00ISBN: 9781597144872Availability: Usually Ships in 1-5 DaysPublished: Heyday Books - May 28th, 2019Over 35,000 copies sold As a naturalist managing the field studies program at the California Academy of Sciences, John Muir Laws noticed that novice birders often distinguish birds by color and size rather than species. This inspired him to create Sierra Birds: A Hiker's Guide, a unique book that assumes no prior birding knowledge on the part of the reader.
$25.00ISBN: 9781597140522Availability: Usually Ships in 1-5 DaysPublished: Heyday Books - August 1st, 2007In this groundbreaking and meticulously field-tested guide, the rich variety of Sierra life--trees, wildflowers, ferns, fungi, lichens, fish, reptiles, amphibians, birds, mammals, and insects--comes alive.
Easy-to-use features include:
$16.00ISBN: 9780143038092Availability: Usually Ships in 1-5 DaysPublished: Penguin Books - September 21st, 2006“The Joy Luck Club is one of my favorite books. From the moment I first started reading it, I knew it was going to be incredible. For me, it was one of those once-in-a-lifetime reading experiences that you cherish forever. It inspired me as a writer and still remains hugely inspirational.” —Kevin Kwan, author of Crazy Rich Asians
$18.00ISBN: 9780143038108Availability: Usually Ships in 1-5 DaysPublished: Penguin Books - September 21st, 2006"Remarkable...mesmerizing...compelling.... An entire world unfolds in Tolstoyan tide of event and detail....Give yourself over to the world Ms. Tan creates for you." —The New York Times Book Review
$17.00ISBN: 9780143119081Availability: Usually Ships in 1-5 DaysPublished: Penguin Books - December 28th, 2010The "wisest and most captivating novel" (Boston Globe) from the author of the bestselling The Valley of Amazement and the new memoir Where the Past Begins
$18.00ISBN: 9780345457370Availability: Usually Ships in 1-5 DaysPublished: Ballantine Books - February 4th, 2003““As compelling as Tan’s first bestseller, The Joy Luck Club. . . No one writes about mothers and daughters with more empathy than Amy Tan.”
–The Philadelphia Inquirer
“[An] absorbing tale of the mother-daughter bond . . . this book sing[s] with emotion and insight.”
–People$18.00ISBN: 9780142004890Availability: Usually Ships in 1-5 DaysPublished: Penguin Books - September 28th, 2004Delve into the stories from Amy Tan's life that inspired bestselling novels like The Joy Luck Club and The Valley of Amazement and the new memoir, Where the Past Begins
$17.00ISBN: 9780345464019Availability: Usually Ships in 1-5 DaysPublished: Ballantine Books - September 26th, 2006“A rollicking, adventure-filled story . . . packed [with] the human capacity for love.”
–USA Today
“A superbly executed, good-hearted farce that is part romance and part mystery . . . With Tan’s many talents on display, it’s her idiosyncratic wit and sly observations . . . that make this book pure pleasure.”
–San Francisco Chronicle$16.99ISBN: 9780062319319Availability: Usually Ships in 1-5 DaysPublished: Ecco - October 30th, 2018From New York Times bestselling author Amy Tan, a memoir about finding meaning in life through acts of creativity and imagination
$8.99ISBN: 9780689806162Availability: Usually Ships in 1-5 DaysPublished: Aladdin Paperbacks - November 1st, 1995A MAGICAL NIGHT WHEN SECRET WISHES CAN COME TRUE
ISBN: 9780027888355Availability: Special OrderPublished: Simon & Schuster Children's Publishing - September 1st, 1994"The Truth is," Ming Miao told her five kittens, "you are not Siamese cats but Chinese cats. As a matter of fact, one of our family's ancestors from a thousand cat lives ago was the famous feline Sagwa of China..."
One day Sagwa was napping in the Foolish Magistrate's study.
