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David Schindler was early in his career when he was invited by Jack Vallentyne to be part of the Experimental Lakes project in Canada, that among other things would prove the role of excess phosphorus in human caused eutrophication of lakes, and get it banned from detergents.

Dr. Vallentyne saw eutrophication of lakes as the start of a crisis that would become the "Algal Bowl" - the equivalent of the Dust Bowl on land. Years later Dr. Schindler, now a world renowned champion of water quality, collaborated in an update of his book, which was published in 2008 just before Vallentyne's unexpected death from cancer. Algal blooms had become a whole new problem, a resurgence like never before, because while the phosphorus in detergents in now controlled, the huge increase in intensive livestock, fertilizer use, and human population is flooding lakes with pollutants from non-point sources. What can be done?

In this book you will learn everything from the physics of water molecules to how water circulates in lakes, how formerly clear lakes get "overfertilized" by humans , and the history of our struggle to recover these lakes. It's matter of fact and readable to the layperson, although I found the water chemistry parts went on a bit too long- but it was a great explanation!

When Mina embroiders, its not silly flowers that people call "broidery" - that's why SHE calls it "knitting". She can feel the colours dance and throb and call out for her to pick them and stitch them into unusual shapes and patterns, while she tells them the fairy tales she remembers from her childhood.

Mina at 39, with her own apartment, boyfriend, and job, seems like a success story for a woman with Down Syndrome, but things are starting to fall apart. She seems to be losing the ability or initiative to do things she used to do for herself. Her job at the recycling plant that she is so proud of is about to become automated. She has an ongoing feud with a neighbour, and she's a chronic shoplifter. Her brother Bruno is devoted but years of dealing with Mina's needs, demands, and crises are telling on him and his relationship with his longterm partner, who wants a child. Into this comes Iris, the only one who sees the high art in Mina's "knitting" hobby, and wants to get her pieces into a gallery, and make Mina an acclaimed artist. But she has to contend with Mina's secrecy and Bruno's protectiveness.
Very compelling story; I couldn't stop reading to see how things turned out for Mina, Bruno, Iris, and Gabriela. All good people, with blind spots like we all have, inspiring sympathy, frustration, and admiration.

Compelling book - I couldn't stop reading

Definitive book about eutrophication of lakes, written by two renowned lake scientists instrumental in the famous Experimental Lakes program. You will learn about everything from what gives water its unique properties at the molecular level to how detergent companies tried to argue nitrogen not phosphorus was the limiting factor for algal growth in lakes. In the end you will learn the three important things that must be done to prevent your favourite lake from becoming green and scummy: 1) Protect lakeshore vegetation and wetlands around the lake 2) Keep large fish-eating fish at the top of the food chain, and most difficult, now that non-point sources (mainly feedlots and excessive fertilizer use in big agriculture) have replaced point sources as the chief source of phosphorus, 3) stop excess phosphorus from flowing into the lake. Readable and interesting, although the chemistry and limnology background bits did drag on a bit.

Eerie tale set in the Peace River country near Beaverlodge, Alberta, and the landscape is very much part of the story! The Beaverlodge Research Station is real, but in this story, as well as agriculture they are investigating the paranormal. One scientist is being haunted by a devil, and a local teenager has disappeared into a paralell "country". The art is very expressive, especially people's faces, and little details, but there were a couple panels where I wasn't sure what was being depicted (it's all b&w line drawings). This is unusual and a rare find, definitely check it out if you appreciate authenticity with a good dose of spooks

I enjoyed this book; which is described as short stories but more like a novel with time skips. It will be relatable for anyone who has lived, or is living, that 20s to 30s life period of young adulting when partying hard evolves into responsibilities and purpose. Then there is the added twist that the four central characters are Native - well, more than a twist this is the centre of their story - and so there is that everpresent sense of being part of a subculture, one in which many have suffered terribly, and outsiders never quite get you. Written by someone who has lived this herself -growing up on a reserve and then "making it" in the city and the larger society, it gives a perspective that unfolds naturally as part of the story, in unfolding of their lives and the way they think.

It's not badly written. technically. It's just so miserable. And I don't mind a book with grim subject matter, but this book feels like the misery is piled on for effect, and I'm not convinced the situation it depicts is realistic, although it may be which is even worse.

One thing that bugs me is a lot of the publishers' and literary reviews, make out that the book is about ambiguous feelings around motherhood. It's not. The woman in the book wanted to be an engaged, loving mother but there was an extreme, unusual, but I think unfortunately not unheard of, factor. There is another book that deals with this topic that I read previously and also found disturbing, and when I read reviews for that book I could hardly believe how many people were stubbornly taking away the opposite message probably because they didn't want to believe, and it's always easier to blame the mother.

Maybe this book is doing a public service. But I really did not enjoy the subject matter or the treatment of it.

Argentine's childhood memories begin with a little girl who wanted to be able to do everything the other children did, but her legs didn't work, but she tried anyway, even though she had to go on her hands and knees. Her only hope is the Centre pour Handicapés in far off Goma, but when she gets there, against the odds, the struggles are far from over, because the Centre has certain expectations that you will see put the families of the disabled in terrible dilemmas. At no point are the struggles actually over, not even at the end of the book, (not even now in the relative safety of Canada where yes, the avocados are $2 and probably not even as nice as the ones in Masisi), and that is something you realize as you read, because this is a true story, and speaks to life. It speaks to a deep meaning within life, because when you are disabled, and poor, and living in a war zone, there is no hiding from the reality that time and time again, you will have to throw yourself on the kindness and mercy of others, but also, the relationships that come from this are golden, because you meet the best people this way, and sometimes they seem to come out of nowhere like angels when most needed! Argentine's mother's, and Argentine's own courage and caring and resourcefulness are demonstrated again and again, and you see how all of these, and their ability to reach out to others, were needed, for this story to come out as well as it did. 

A friend recommended me this book, but at first I couldn't read it. This book is hard to read, because of the domestic abuse, but if you can stand it, it is also such a fascinating window into the last few decades of Afghanistan's history, powerful, full of tension. You will be rooting for these two women and looking forward to the liberation of Kabul as much as they did - will it be in time to save them? Even more poignant given that we have now gone back to the days of the Taliban. OK, don't despair, there are light moments! - one detail that sticks with me is when the Titanic craze hits Taliban-controlled Kabul - Titanic burkhas!

A potential plot hole* that didn't quite sit right with me, but overall a delightful and atmospheric book 

*Message me if you want to know what I mean; I don't want to post a spoiler. And don't let this discourage you from reading the book - the best thing about it is the atmosphere, not so much the plot. A lot of the book is actually a series of vignettes about the people who visit the hotel and the characters in the nearby Mayan village.