Book cover of Heartbeats in the Muck: The History, Sea Life, and Environment of New York Harbor

Book description

Heartbeats in the Muck traces the incredible arc of New York Harbor's environmental history. Once a pristine estuary bristling with oysters and striped bass and visited by sharks, porpoises, and seals, the harbor has been marked by centuries of rampant industrialization and degradation of its natural environment. Garbage dumping, oil…

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Why read it?

1 author picked Heartbeats in the Muck as one of their favorite books. Why do they recommend it?

Written forty years after the Clean Water Act, this book discusses the arc New York City’s harbor took from biologically productive asset to deeply degraded dumping ground to recently rehabilitated ecosystem. This book is particularly interesting in how it provides a vantage point to what is going on below the surface, where wildlife thrives but is rarely noticed. 

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Book cover of December on 5C4

December on 5C4 by Adam Strassberg,

Magical realism meets the magic of Christmas in this mix of Jewish, New Testament, and Santa stories–all reenacted in an urban psychiatric hospital!

On locked ward 5C4, Josh, a patient with many similarities to Jesus, is hospitalized concurrently with Nick, a patient with many similarities to Santa. The two argue…

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Book cover of Mannahatta: A Natural History of New York City
Book cover of Taming Manhattan: Environmental Battles in the Antebellum City
Book cover of Gotham Unbound: The Ecological History of Greater New York

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The Bridge provides a compassionate and well researched window into the worlds of linear and circular thinking. A core pattern to the inner workings of these two thinking styles is revealed, and most importantly, insight into how to cross the distance between them. Some fascinating features emerged such as, circular…

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