RIVER READING

I have two Mark Twain books loaded in my phone to read in the tent on evenings after we’ve started the river trip: Huckleberry Finn and Life on the Mississippi. I haven’t specifically looked for other Mississippi literature, but expect to encounter new titles as we follow the river. (Suggestions welcome!)

Last month, I bought and enjoyed The Control of Nature by John McPhee. The book consists of three essays about how humans battle nature on a huge scale, including how the Army Corps of Engineers controls the outflow of the Mississippi River at the confluence of the Mississippi at the Red River and the divergence of the Atchafalaya River. (The other two essays address lava flows in Iceland and mud/rock flows in Los Angeles). I gained a renewed appreciation for the tenacity/stubbornness of people and their ability to impact their environment.

Not long after I read the book, I happened on a news article about rising sea water levels in Miami—where humans have not yet begun to fight nature on such a massive scale. The article implies that humans are in denial about the future of global warming, and that, if there were only public will, the city could hold back the tides.