NATURE
Eye candy for environmentalists
Above, winter 2009-2010 issue
The new issue of the eco-art magazine Above hit U.S. newsstands in early February with the somewhat startling price of $10 -- but it is imported from England and 218 chlorine-free, fully recyclable pages long. The mag's goal is to showcase the scientists, artists and entrepreneurs who "battle every day against apathy and despair, who pick up the gauntlet and fight against the ferocious forces aligned against Nature and its indispensable beauty," according to editor Nicolas Rachline. To that end, Above interviews media mogul Ted Turner for his views on the environment ("We're just sucking the world dry like you would with a couple of straws in a chocolate soda") and provides a surreal photo spread of a Taos, N.M., community of "earthships" -- self-sustaining homes made from recycled materials.
ENGAGING THINKERS
Up in the air
"Einstein's God" (Penguin Books, $16)
In 1941, Albert Einstein said, "Science without religion is lame. Religion without science is blind." In this book of interviews conducted for the public radio show "Speaking of Faith," journalist Krista Tippett discusses with physicist Freeman Dyson how Einstein reconciled science and spirituality. Tippett also talks to a dozen other thinkers, including surgeon and author Sherwin Nuland and heart surgeon and media personality Mehmet Oz. These high-level discussions might take a few readings to sink in, especially when the conversation wanders, as it does with astrophysicist Paul Davies, into mind-benders about the concept of eternity and how it relates to quantum physics. It's a rewarding investment.
-- Rachel Saslow
