Meianandhan Blog

"The Overstory" – A powerful novel weaving human lives with the secret wisdom of trees and forests.   🌲 A Story Rooted in Trees and Time The Overstory is a powerful and sweeping novel by Richard Powers that explores the deep and intricate relationship between humans and trees. Spanning centuries and continents, the story weaves together the lives of nine individuals whose experiences with trees shape their destinies. From a Vietnam veteran to a young botanist, each character is profoundly affected by the natural world, particularly forests, prompting them to act — sometimes in protest, sometimes in awe. 🌍 Nature as a Central Character In this Pulitzer Prize-winning novel, trees are not just background scenery — they are living, breathing entities with their own stories and timelines. Powers uses scientific facts, ecological philosophy, and vivid imagery to portray trees as intelligent, interconnected beings. The novel delves into themes like deforestation, climate change, ...

  "Why Fish Don't Exist" : A journey through chaos, science, and the illusion of order in nature. 1. The Story of a Forgotten Scientist Why Fish Don’t Exist is a genre-defying book that weaves biography, memoir, and scientific philosophy. Lulu Miller explores the life of David Starr Jordan , a taxonomist and the founding president of Stanford University, who dedicated his life to classifying fish. He identified nearly a fifth of the fish known to science in his time. His obsession with order and classification stood firm even when chaos struck — most notably during the 1906 San Francisco earthquake, which destroyed much of his work. 2. Chaos, Obsession, and Control Miller uses Jordan’s life to explore larger themes: the human need to impose order on a chaotic world and the danger of unchecked obsession. While Jordan’s determination seems admirable at first, his dark side is later revealed through his involvement in the American eugenics movement. This shift forces Mille...

A groundbreaking warning about pesticide dangers and their devastating impact on nature, especially birds and ecosystems.   🌿 The Birth of Environmental Awareness Published in 1962, Silent Spring by marine biologist Rachel Carson is a groundbreaking work that sparked the modern environmental movement. Carson raised public awareness about the dangers of indiscriminate pesticide use, particularly DDT, and how it threatened wildlife, especially birds. The book’s title symbolizes a future where spring is silent—devoid of birdsong—due to widespread environmental destruction. 🧪 The Danger of Chemical Pesticides Carson meticulously documented how chemical pesticides were being sprayed across farmlands, forests, and even suburban areas without proper research on their long-term effects. She explained how these toxins did not simply disappear after use but accumulated in the food chain, harming animals and potentially affecting human health. Her research challenged the practices of c...