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Recent Posts
- On “Die My Love”: Jennifer Lawrence Channels Her Inner Kristi Noem, and Does Not Write the Great American Novel
- “The Salt Path” (2025): An Underappreciated Film That Includes Actual Humanity
- Our “White Lotus,” Or Life as a Set-Jetter
- On Sleeping With Dogs
- The Year Without a Winter (in the Southwest): 2025-2026
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Category Archives: Weird Weather
The Year Without a Winter (in the Southwest): 2025-2026
So here’s a story that hasn’t been featured much in the news media: The Southwest has had a pitiful winter so far—parched and warm. It’s drier than a tumbleweed here in south-central Colorado. And it’s worse elsewhere south and west … Continue reading
Posted in 2025-26 Drought, Climate Change, Michael Mann's The Hockey Stick and the Climate Wars, The West, The Year Without a Summer, Uncategorized, Weird Weather
Tagged 2025-26 Drought, Climate Change, Michael Mann's The Hockey Stick and the Climate Wars, The West, The Year Without a Summer
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How To Write a Book About the Wind: On Simon Winchester’s “The Breath of the Gods: The History and Future of the Wind”
So I have to begin with a confession: I’m most definitely a fan of the much-acclaimed nonfiction writer Simon Winchester. One of my first Winchester reads and still one of his finest (and my favorite) was Krakatoa: The Day the … Continue reading
Review of Francisco Cantu's Memoir "The Line Becomes a River" in the Dallas Morning News
So my review of Francisco Cantu’s The Line Becomes a River, a memoir about his experience working as a Border Patrol Agent, appears in the Dallas Morning News today, and can be found here. It’s a good book, thoughtful and … Continue reading
The West Is Burning: On Michael Kodas's "Megafire: The Race to Extinguish a Deadly Epidemic of Flame"
So after having owned a home in Custer County, Colorado (Go Wildcats!) for fifteen years and having been a frequent visitor to the Rockies since 1978—the year of my first trip to Yellowstone—I’m both fascinated by and have a fear … Continue reading
Posted in Climate Change, The West, Weird Weather
Tagged Book Reviewing, Climate Change, Drought, Michael Kodas's Megafire, The West, Wildfires
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On Flying Rivers and Ghost Forests: A Visit to Mesa Verde
So I spent last weekend at Mesa Verde National Park—a bit west of Durango, Colorado, in the famous Four Corners region of the American Southwest—grokking with the spirits of our Native American ancestors, hiking through ancestral puebloan cliff dwellings, and … Continue reading
Review of Kent Wascom's "The Blood of Heaven," Plus a Mission Debrief
So my review of Kent Wascom’s impressive debut novel, The Blood of Heaven, appears today in the Dallas Morning News, here. It’s a rollicking book, and I have to say I keep thinking of that Hatfields & McCoys miniseries whenever … Continue reading
On "The Road," Choking on Smoke
So I’ve owned a house in southern Colorado for ten years, and during that time have seen our summer weather go up and down, some years wet and some years dry, only it always seems to be trending toward hotter … Continue reading
On Kent Haruf's "Benediction," Fyodor Dostoyevsky's "The Brothers Karamazov" and the Colorado Fires, Again
So this post should be a candidate for some kind of parlor game like “Try to pinpoint the logical connection (though there may not be one)”: I finished Kent Haruf’s Benediction, which includes a scare at the end (I won’t … Continue reading
"The Bird Saviors" as an Example of "Cli-Fi": The Hot, New Literary Subgenre—Climate Fiction
So I’m amused to see this piece on NPR books, which defines a new literary subgenre called Cli-Fi, for Climate Fiction, via a good friend (Thanks, Elizabeth!), here. I’ve noticed a number of novels that have elements of Climate Change … Continue reading
Posted in Birding, books, Climate Change, Cormac McCarthy, Economics, The West, Weird Weather
Tagged Birding, Climate Change, Cormac McCarthy, Good Fiction, The Bird Saviors, The West, Water Crisis, Wildfires
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Brace Yourself for Weird Weather: On Reading "The Year Without Summer" in the Year Without a Spring
So one of the reasons books like William and Nicholas Klingaman’s The Year Without Summer: 1816 have much resonance at the moment is that scientists are warning we’re at the cusp of a period of chaotic and unpredictable weather, due … Continue reading
Posted in books, Climate Change, The West, Weird Weather
Tagged Book Reviewing, Climate Change, Drought, The West, Water Crisis
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