DAVID CAMPBELL CALLENDER
David Campbell Callender, a name inspired by and in memory of the British gifted anthropologist RuthFinnegan’s Irishgrandfather, withassistance fromDrMTAgozzino.
GRASS MIRACLE FROM THE EARTH
206 pages $ 25.70 9781911221586
We see grasses everyday, tread on it, maybe touch, smell, or even plant it. But howmany of us noticed its beauty - let alone appreciate its amazingpresence and resilience and theway it somehowholds our planet together?Grasses is everywhere.
This beautifully illustrated book, engaging and readable, gives us the full picture. It tells us of the marvelously complex evolution of grass, the incredible number of species (did you know that bamboo and sugar-cane are forms of grass, and that three kinds of grass makeup themajor foodof humans and thegrazing ('grass'-eating) of innumerable animals?), leadingus into some appreciationof the abiding necessity of grass for humanity, for nature and for the arts. It has a place in folklore too, and in poetry. This book is a perfect gift and treasureone canever have.
P R E F A C E
I haveno ideahow I startedwriting this bookbut I'mglad I didandhope youwill be too.
It's true that I'd been walking on grass and seeing it and touching it just about every day of my life. But I had just never thought about writing a book about it— and appreciating its presence, about how it is everywhere, grows back whatever you do, delights us—even in a way holds our beautiful planet together, a foundation for nature andart andhumanity. 3Once I started writing about the Grass, I couldn't stop. Grass, that humble weed, is amazing. Its evolution is fascinating—not 'simple' at all as I'd thought—and covers hundreds of different species, including (could you have guessed?) bamboo and sugarcane, andwe couldn't live or feed ourselves without it. And then there is all the art and symbolismand poetry around grass in the imagination of our thoughts. Where could it have come from, this miraculous part of earthly life? We may never learn the answer to thatmystery, but at leastwe can track someof its adventures.
I hope youenjoy reading this story asmuchaswehavebothenjoyeddiscovering it.
4 EC Magazine | Christmas Edition 2019
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