Weekly links to interesting things

A quiet week here. I do want to share a bunch of links again.

I just finished reading Karen Bakker’s The Sounds of Life, a fascinating book about bioacoustics and how a range of digital technologies are enabling us to hear sounds of the world around us. Not only are we becoming aware of the complexity of communications various species engage in, but we are making baby steps in actually starting interspecies conversations. Bekker also wrote a story for Noēma on the topic. In her book, Bekker references a TED Talk from 2013 featuring Diana Reiss, Peter Gabriel, Neil Gershenfeld and Vint Cerf. It’s their announcement about the Interspecies Internet. It all reminded me of one of my favourite movies, Arrival.

And maybe all of this sounds completely out there, but I find some comfort that on the day we decide to actually do something about our burning world, we won’t be alone trying to save as much of it as possible.

The other day, we ran into our neighbours on the street and I discovered that our neighbour who I knew through work has a really interesting connection to the Western Balkans region through some programs Canadians have been running in Kosovo. We got talking about all kinds of things you encounter while travelling the region and that got me thinking about two stories I read some time ago. The first one is a serious essay by one of Bosnia’s most celebrated writers Sasha Hemon and deals with the word katastrofa. The second one is more tongue-in-cheek, but nevertheless, if you have not grown up in the region, you cannot comprehend how seriously we take draft, bare feet, and wet hair as some of the deadliest conditions a human can experience.

This week, I also read Stephen Marche’s On Writing and Failure and in the process discovered that Biblioasis runs a series of these smart, funny and personal long form essays on a range of topics through their series Field Notes. Check it out!

In the photograph is the magnificently restored staircase in the Colonial Building in St. John’s. If you are in town it’s worth a visit. The entry fee is $6 and they only take cash!