Ruth Kassinger's Blog

Amazon’s “Best Books of 2014” list just came out. I’m gratified to see A Garden of Marvels among the twenty best science books of the year.

Amazon’s “Best Books of 2014″ list just came out. I’m gratified to see A Garden of Marvels among the twenty best science books of the year.

I was delighted to find that A Garden of Marvels is on Publishers Weekly’s list of the best books of 2014. Meanwhile, I’m hard at work on my next book, which has taken me scuba diving in the coral reefs of the Caribbean and exploring kelp beds off the coast of Maine. Next stop, Korea.

I was delighted to find that A Garden of Marvels is on Publishers Weekly’s list of the best books of 2014. Meanwhile, I’m hard at work on my next book, which has taken me scuba diving in the coral reefs of the Caribbean and exploring kelp beds off the coast of Maine. Next stop, Korea.

I was driving to Steuben, Maine when I passed this amazing front yard flower garden. Whatever you think of the aesthetics, it does remind you that it takes a lot of manure to make your garden grow.

Last month I was scuba diving in Grand Cayman and Bonaire, doing research for my next book. (Tough life, I know!) Before I left, I did two radio interviews about A Garden of Marvels. You can find my conversation with Leonard Lopate at WNYC in New York at  http://www.wnyc.org/people/ruth-kassi.... I also spoke with Tom Hall […]

The Azolla fern isn’t much to look at. It has tiny leaves and floats en masse on top of water . Many people consider it a watery weed: it can cover the entire surface of a lake or pond, choking off sunlight to other water plants. No one thinks swimming with Azolla is fun. But […]

In Holland between 1634 and 1637, tulip bulbs that produced flowers with irregular stripes, streaks, and feathery patterns cost thousands of dollars. But those who bought the tulip bulbs in this era of tulipomania were regularly disappointed. They discovered that the seeds of the bulbs didn’t produce tulips that were “broken,” as these bi-colored flowers […]

I’m delighted to note that the New York Times Book Review of Sunday, April 27 included A Garden of Marvels in its “Shortlist.” You can read the review at http://www.nytimes.com/2014/04/27/boo...!

This is the season for Robert Frost’s beautiful “Nothing Gold Can Stay”: “Nature’s first green is gold, Her hardest hue to hold. Her early leaf’s a flower; But only so an hour. Then leaf subsides to leaf. So Eden sank to grief, So dawn goes down to day. Nothing gold can stay.” For me, the […]