Smart Tanning | Nature | The Press

The sunny days are perfect for relaxing, but there’s no need to put your brain on vacation. Here are four suggestions from our columnists for entertaining and thinking in the sun, one theme at a time. This week, nature.

Time and water

Icelandic writer Andri Snær Magnason originally didn’t want to write this book about climate change. The subject was for him “a specialist matter”. He was convinced by a climatologist he met at a conference in Germany. Scientists shouldn’t be the only ones talking about the phenomenon, because “they’re not communication specialists”, the expert told him. So much the better! Time and water is certainly the most original book on climate change I have read – probably because its author is not only an essayist, but also a playwright and poet. He approached the subject “from behind, from the side, from below, by navigating the past and the future”. The result is at once delightful, effective and convincing.

Alexandre Sirois, The Press

Of Time and Water – Requiem for a Glacierby Andri Snær Magnason, XYZ, 336 pages

The shooting shadows

Quebec author Christian Guay-Poliquin has mastered the story of survival in the forest to perfection. In The shooting shadowssociety is disrupted by a widespread power outage. In this world without government where it’s every man for himself, a man walks in the forest to reach his family’s hunting camp. He then meets a 12-year-old boy, whom he takes under his wing. This novel deals with nature, generosity, mutual aid, and life in society. If you like The shooting shadowsyou would definitely like the previous novel by Christian Guay-Poliquin, The weight of the snowwhich deals with the same themes, this time in an isolated village without electricity.

Vincent Brousseau-Pouliot, The Press

The shooting shadowsby Christian Guay-Poliquin, La Peuplade, 344 pages

Forest

Forestby Gérald Le Gal and Ariane Paré-Le Gal, changed my relationship with Quebec nature. This book gives recipe ideas for just about everything that grows around us, from cattails to helicopters that fall from maple trees. Since reading ForestI pick Saskatoon berries on Mount Royal, I make lemonade with the lilac flowers in our yard, and I make the rest of the family sweat by stopping every two minutes, while hiking, to try to identify catherinettes here, black raspberries there. A fascinating essay.

Alexander Pratt, The Press

Forestby Gérald Le Gal and Ariane Paré-Le Gal, Cardinal, 384 pages

A Summer in the Sierra

In the environmental movement, John Muir is famous. He is considered the founding father of the national park system in the United States. He also founded the Sierra Club. His stays in the Sierra Nevada in the mid-19th century^e century were instrumental in protecting wonders like Yosemite Valley. President Theodore Roosevelt insisted on camping with him for four days in this region in 1903. What has been somewhat forgotten about Muir, however, is his talent as a writer. Each page of this story stands out for its precision and richness of language. His concern to describe well what he sees only deepens his contagious wonder. He does not play the intrepid adventurer. For him, the mountain is not an obstacle to overcome. Rather, a place in which to immerse oneself and slowly savor all its beauty.

Paul Journet, The Press

A Summer in the Sierraby John Muir, Hoëbeke, 240 pages