Category: Book Review

Atlas of Kinship: Stories of Connection between Seabirds, People & Place By Alice Hotopp, illustrations by Coco Faber (2026, Littoral Books)   Ecologist Alice Hotopp’s book, Atlas of Kinship, has one explicit, overriding theme: Everything in nature is connected. The particular connections in question involve the seabirds that make their… SEE MORE

The Rise and Fall of the Maine Coast: A Geological History from Formation to the Future By Joseph T. and Alice R. Kelley (2026, Down East Books)   Anyone familiar with Maine’s coast knows to head south for big sandy beaches. North of the Kennebec River, the swimming areas tend… SEE MORE

If you’re curious about the nuts and bolts of doctor-patient interaction, Radis recreates conversations that reveal the state of patients—usually in pain—and his process of trying to diagnose and treat illnesses in the most helpful, respectful, and empathetic way possible. SEE MORE

The most revealing passage in Murray Carpenter’s book Sweet and Deadly appears toward the end, almost as an aside. SEE MORE

In the foreword to his new book, Bernd Heinrich explains the reasoning behind its title. “Ensconced for forty years in the Maine woods,” the famed biologist and author writes, he has explored his forest retreat, focusing on the “common uncommon,” natural phenomena that have “not been sufficiently noticed.” SEE MORE

Boothbay Now and Then: New and Historic Images of the Boothbay Peninsula By Kevin Johnson (2026, Penobscot Marine Museum)   Photographer Kevin Johnson’s new book, Boothbay Now and Then, is a selection of photos depicting the Boothbay region. This subject matter is attractive enough for anyone interested in Maine’s coast.… SEE MORE

New and Used Poems and Objects By Mike Silverton // Photographs by Kevin Johnson (2026, Sagging Meniscus Press)   It has now been 109 years since Marcel Duchamp’s urinal was not shown in an art exhibit in New York City. This was because the Society of Independent Artists couldn’t decide… SEE MORE

Clipper ships, splices, knots, cowboys, pyramid-builders, bridge engineers, tightrope walkers, executioners—this book has them all. Like Salt, Cod, and other thoroughly researched books about familiar things and their many lives, Rope considers the bundled and twisted combinations of plants, metals, and synthetics we humans all use to keep our world running—or standing, as may… SEE MORE