Mud City Press

Book Reviews

Mud City Press is, in part, a literary endeavor. Along with our essays on environmental matters, short stories, and novels, we offer reviews of books old and new. Our literary editor is a salty, iconoclastic fellow who sails the Seas of Read with a wary eye for the meaningful and profound. Below are his thoughts on books he feels are worth a look or, perhaps, a revisiting.

Table of Contents

REVIEWS BY DAN ARMSTRONG:
HOW TO CHANGE YOUR MIND: What the New Science of Psychedelics Teaches Us About Consciousness, Dying, Addiction, Depression, and Transcendence
Michael Pollan's latest book, HOW TO CHANGE YOUR MIND, reopens the discussion of psychedelic drugs, including commentary on Pollan's own experiences with mushrooms, LSD, and DMT. Dan Armstrong reviews this fascinating book by one of the world's most respected science writers.
THE DISPOSSESSED
Ursula Le Guin wrote many noteworthy pieces of science fiction, but this one is her masterpiece.
A CONVERSATION WITH KEN BABBS
Listen to audio file: Dan Armstrong, owner and webmaster of Mud City Press, talks with Ken Babbs, Merry Pranster and author, about his new book CRONIES: Adventures with Ken Kesey, Neal Cassady, the Merry Pranksters, and the Greatful Dead.
BONNIE AND CLYDE Book I: RESURRECTION ROAD
RESURRECTION ROAD is Clark Hays' and Kathleen McFall's first installment in their rolicking ride with Bonnie Parker and Clyde Barrow.
EPIPHANY'S GIFT
EPIPHANY'S GIFT is the first book in Mallory M. O'Conner's new psychic/cli-fi series, featuring Epiphany Mayall, a feisty psychic sleuth with courage, daring, and smarts reminiscent of Murder She Wrote's Jessica Fletcher–but aided by remote viewing, visionary dreams, and a team of spiritual guides.
CULTIVATING AN ECOLOGICAL CONSCIENCE: Essays from a Farmer Philospher
Frederick L. Kirschenmann's recently published collection of essays, CULTIVATING AN ECOLOGICAL CONSCIENCE, with its clear concern for the part petroleum plays in modern agriculture, offers significant common ground for farmers and carbon-footprint conscious, twenty-first century environmentalists. This alone would make Kirschenmann's book important, but it also does such a thorough job of describing the current state of agriculture, it would be difficult to find a more comprehensive compilation of essays on the subject.
COSMIC INFLUENCES ON AGRICULTURAL PROCESSES
Half wizard and half scientist, Harry MacCormack weaves together sources as diverse as the teachings of Native American elders, the interpretation of the Mayan Calendar, the work of Rudolph Steiner, and data from NASA's fifty years of space exploration and places them into a single context–seeking resonance with these cosmic cycles in a way that both advances personal self-realization and allows insight into the optimization of agricultural processes on planet earth.
THE TRANSITION DOCUMENT: Toward a Biologically Resilient Agriculture
Harry MacCormack has written an important book about the most crucial task of our time–the transition from conventional agriculture to organic farming practices.
EATING FOSSIL FUELS
Dale Allen Pfeiffer adds a disturbing corollary to the thesis of peak oil.
OSWALD'S TALE
Norman Mailer uses a masterful psychological portrait of Lee Harvey Oswald to re-visit Dealey Plaza, November 22, 1963.
GARDEN PLANET
William Kötke takes a clear clean look at rebuilding after the collapse of empire.
REVIEWS OF BOOKS BY DAN ARMSTRONG
BOOK REVIEWS BY FRANK KAMINSKI
WHO GETS TO ADAPT?: Environmental Elites, Blue-Collar Communities, and the Climate Divide
"Robert W. Collin's WHO GETS TO ADAPT?," writes Frank Kaminski, "is a solid examination of one of the most overlooked dimensions of climate change: not who is at risk, but who has the power to respond."
THE CLIMATE ADAPTATION GENERATION: A Blueprint for the Future
"Robert W. Collin's THE CLIMATE ADAPTATION GENERATION is both a call to action and a guide for living in an age of climate disruption," writes Frank Kaminski. "The book presents a comprehensive program for not only surviving but thriving amid the ecological challenges ahead."
THE FRAGILE BLUE DOT: Stories from Our Imperiled Biosphere
"For me," writes Frank Kaminski, "the greatest joy in reading Ross West's eco-short story collection THE FRAGILE BLUE DOT lies in the sheer brilliance of imagination and storytelling prowess on display in each piece."
BOTANICAL TREASURES: Multi-use Plants for Renewable Resources and a Nature-based Economy
"This lively reference by veteran permaculture designer and eco-forester Joshua Smith looks at a variety remarkable plant species. In the process, it offers great insights and practical advice for those striving to embrace sustainable, nature-based ways of living–and to liberate themselves from the pernicious, ailing technosphere that dictates life for most people in the industrial world. The blessings that these plants could confer on future human and ecological well-being are legion, and Smith covers them comprehensively and engagingly."
Frank Kaminski has been a steady contributor to Mud City Press. All of his his non-fiction book and documentary reviews are archived here. Kaminski's fiction and film reviews are archived here. And Kaminski's reviews of books written or edited by John Michael Greer are archived here.
FILM REVIEWS BY FRANK KAMINSKI:
GROUNDED BY DESIGN
"In late winter 2023," writes Frank Kaminski, "more than 40 volunteers in Willunga, South Australia constructed an Earthship known as Earthship Willunga."
COUPLE BUILDS HOMESTEAD OF 12 EARTHEN DOMES LINKED LIKE PRIVATE VILLAGE
The title pretty much tells the story of this YouTube documentary. Frank Kaminski’s review might entice you to watch it.
MY OCTOPUS TEACHER is both a gorgeous wildlife documentary and a moving tale of how a man in crisis found joy and purpose through his immersion in nature and a remarkable relationship with an octopus.
SNOWPIERCER
SNOWPIERCER, reviewed by Frank Kaminski, is a searing satire, a smart action epic and a cautionary tale about the folly of trying to solve crises caused by human technology with ever-greater applications of human technology.
CONTAGION
"When the medical thriller movie CONTAGION came out in 2011," writes Frank Kaminski, "it was widely praised for its realistic portrayal of a global pandemic scenario. In recent weeks, as the real-life outbreak of coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) has spread around the world, there's been a surge of renewed interest in the film."
CHASING CORAL
"By raising sea temperatures, climate change is eradicating the world's coral. Because coral reefs provide sustenance and protection to vast numbers of humans and marine organisms," writes reviewer Kaminski, "it would be a big deal for them to go extinct." A very big deal.
STAND
This documentary, writes reviewer Frank Kaminski, "is presented from an uncommon and intriguing point of view, that of an avid paddleboard athlete and outdoorsman named Norm Hann. In the spring of 2010, Hann traveled 400 kilometers along the B.C. coastline on his stand-up board, tracing a proposed tanker route from Kitimat to Bella Bella."
CHASING ICE
Frank Kaminski reviews Jeff Orlowski's documentary film on the work of photographer James Balog. Balog's still photos and time-lapse photos of melting Arctic ice serve as sure proof of climate change and what it's doing to our planet.
ADAM AND I: One Real-life Aspie's Personal Response to the Movie Adam
If you haven't heard of Asperger's syndrome, then you need to read this movie review. If you have heard of Asperger's syndrome, than you also need to read this review. The point being–everyone should read this review!
WHAT A WAY TO GO
T.S. Bennett and Sally Erickson's documentary "What a Way to Go: Life at the End of Empire" is a grim and emotional view of our world through the lens of peak oil, climate change, and population overshoot.