If you’re looking for something to do as you’re relaxing outdoors this spring, you might want to consider picking up a book and joining the Winnebago County Conservation Board’s Book Club! The next meeting will be over Zoom on Tuesday evening, June 14th, from 7:00-8:00 PM.
The book that the club will be reading this time is Henry Beston’s The Outermost House, first published in 1928. Henry Beston was a Harvard graduate who was an ambulance driver and a correspondent during World War I. After the war, he needed some peace and solitude and found it by spending most of a year living alone in a small cottage along the shoreline of Cape Cod. The Outermost House is his journal of that time, a classic book that details the rhythms of the seasons, the ebb and flow of life along the seashore, and how nature contributes to our humanity. But, you don’t have to live near the ocean to appreciate his love and reverence for nature, no matter where it is.
Beston is considered one of the foremost nature writers of the 20th century and one of the fathers of the modern environmental movement. In fact, it is said that The Outermost House contributed to the designation of the Cape Cod National Seashore. And, Rachel Carson said that Beston greatly influenced her own writing.
To participate in the WCCB Book Club, people should contact Winnebago County Naturalist Lisa Ralls at [email protected] to sign up and receive the Zoom meeting link. The book itself is widely available in bookstores, libraries, and online. Club participants will then meet on the evening of June 14th to discuss the book! For more information about the WCCB Book Club, people can contact Lisa Ralls at the above email address or at 641-565-3390.
