“You wanna fly, you got to give up the shit that weighs you down” ~ Toni Morrison
The author is Edward Cutler and the subtitle is How Italy’s Nature Shaped its Culture and Civilisation. This is an excellent book on how “the Italy you know” has been shaped by its natural environment, such as its mountains, rivers, geology, and so on. Ever wondered why Sardinia is different? The book is good at sticking to specifics. Excerpt:
This extraordinary overlap has made Italy the continent’s botanical crossroads and one of its greatest arboreal sanctuaries. Within Europe, few countries host such a variety of native trees: at least 140 species, more than almost anywhere west of the Balkans. Some, like the Sicilian fir, Lobel’s maple and the Etna birch, are totally unique. The structure of Italy’s forests is equally diverse — dense, high-altitude canopies, open oak pastures, cork scrub and coastal maquis, each shaped by centuries of disturbance and renewal. This is the legacy of a land that sreved first as Europe’s refuge during the Ice Ages and later as its great corridor of return, where northern, eastern and African floras met and mingled in perpetual exchange.
Find the Place You Love. Then Move There.“The reward from moving just because you want to is hard to defend logically. Some people will think you are crazy…”
Do you believe in life after death? This is a great interactive piece by Alvin Chang about people’s beliefs about the existence of an afterlife and how those beliefs change over the course of our lifetimes.
Why Do Architects Keep Building Things Nobody Likes? Architecture and Tradition
Twenty things to listen to in classical music
Does Sex Help You Sleep Better?
