Reply to post #92 (show post):
I just wasn't sure you'd want to reread them, that's all.

Yep, I've also been hesitant to suggest a couple of books because I know several club/group members have already read them.

Reply to post #94 (show post):
I guess you can always throw them into the Book Suggestions thread to see if there's interest in a reread for some?

No, no - suggest and vote for whatever interests you! There are several on the current list I've already read but I'd be thrilled to have a reason to re-read them with everyone. I think a lot of these books lend themselves to being read more than once, because there's a lot of information in them - and I think too being able to discuss them with everyone will add perspective and context that a solitary read might not give.

Okay, I'll add Amy Stewart.

YES! I love her stuff. I was sooo tempted to add her earthworm book but I figured it would not be a hit, lol.

Reply to post #98 (show post):
Amy Stewart -- yes, absolutely! I thought about adding some of hers myself, but thought they might be a bit too much on the "popular science" side for some folks here. I'll add some of hers to the reading list, though (N.B.: I've also added the other titles that have cropped up in discussion recently, except for "Dirt", which was on the list already.)

Reply to post #99 (show post):
Haha. Yes, she is a bit toooooo "popular" for my taste, but that's my problem, not the group's.

Reply to post #100 (show post):
Based on what's already on the list, I suspect by the comments she may be for me too, although I haven't read her so I can't say for sure. Maybe the earthworm book....

Stewart is definitely more anecdotal than scientific, although the science is definitely there. I'd put her wicked bugs up against anything else I've read so far as the most scientific of her works although I now have an even stronger aversion to flies. That book is not for the faint of heart...

The earthworm book is great - not 'hard' science but a very, very good look at just how important this long ignored creature is to our soil and how it might help us humans fix some of the mess we've made over the centuries. Very readable.

I didn't know she wrote an earthworm book. I was looking for something on soil and earthworms etc, besides Darwin's earthworm book.

Reply to post #103 (show post):
The Earth Moved: On the Remarkable Achievements of Earthworms

It's written anecdotally and she ties a lot of it in to her own gardening experiences and her first go at setting up a worm farm, but she covers a remarkable amount of information from there - even the giant earthworms of Australia that you can hear underground. It's fun, but it's serious too.

Reply to post #104 (show post):
Thank you. I will see if I can find the book. :)

Reply to post #104 (show post):
Re "giant earthworms of Australia that you can hear underground" - Huh?! How giant and how noisy? I guess we are not talking Dune dimensions, but that is the image I get.

They've been measured at 3 metres long. And it's only one of several Aussie species - I quote from the Australian museum website:

"Some Australian native earthworms grow to an enormous size. Besides the well-known 'Gippsland Giant', Megascolides australis, cited in the Guinness Book of Records at 3 metres, others also grow large. A species of Digaster found near Kyogle in north-eastern New South Wales, often grows to a length of more than 150 cm and is as thick as a garden hose. Notoscolex grandis from Burrawang, eastern New South Wales, has been recorded as reaching a length of 100 cm. Large worms also occur in Queensland through to Tasmania, and these are all different species."

and from an article by the ABC (think the Aussie version of the BBC):
"Hard to track numbers of underground species. Giant Gippsland earthworms are a fragile species, and the worms do not usually survive being cut or severed. ... When the earthworms move through the ground, they create a loud sucking noise that has been described as being similar to the sound of water draining out of a bath."

Haven't read Dune, so I'm not sure how they compare, but I suspect these aren't as life threatening? :D