Alumni

Fall 2010

Legacy of Angels

9781434383334_cover.indd

B.J. Scott ’68

Authorhouse.com, 2008

The issue of whether to review self-published books resurfaces here at WSM periodically, as it does in many other review venues. The argument against reviewing such books assumes that publication by a commercial publisher promises some standard of quality, whereas self-publication is relegated to the “vanity” press. However, a half hour of browsing in any bookstore should at least shed doubt on that assumption.

Of course there are many presses … » More …

Spring 2010

Libera

libera

Marco Bittelli ’98 MS, ’01 PhD

Pacific Coast Jazz, 2009

Some things you expect to find on the Palouse: tractors, football fans, a smattering of laboratories probing the molecular basis of life and the reaches of space. The rural alchemy of agriculture and academia would seem less likely to nurture the great urban art form of jazz, but somehow it does. Several nights a week, you can wander into a club like Rico’s and find … » More …

Winter 2009

The Rising Sea

risingsea-cover

Orrin H. Pilkey ’57 and Rob Young

Island Press, 2009

The island nations of Tuvalu and the Maldives, the Inupiat Eskimo village of Shishmaref, and Soldado Island off the Colombian coast might be tough to find on a geography quiz. But all of these locations foretell a future of oceans overwhelming coastlines. In each of these remote places, residents are either moving or preparing to move to higher ground before their homes get swallowed by the … » More …

Winter 2009

Olive the Little Woolly Bugger :: Olive and the Big Stream :: Olive Goes for a Wild Ride

olivebugger-cover

Kirk Werner ’85

Johnson Books, 2007, 2009

Flyfishing— a sport and an art practiced for centuries—fascinates me with its smooth casts and rhythm, but I had never connected flyfishing with kids. At least not until Olive the Woolly Bugger, a cartoon “streamer” fly starring in a series of three books that introduce flyfishing to children.

Playing off goofy fly names—like zonker, yellow sally, and gold-ribbed hare’s ear—author and angler Kirk Werner (’85 Comm.) creates a … » More …

Winter 2009

Yolandé McVey ’07—Taking life back

The heroine of Love’s Secrets puts on perfume, goes to a barbecue, and meets Rod: caramel skin, wavy hair, muscles, and commitment issues.

The author of Love’s Secrets can never do two of those three things. Exposure to perfume or barbecue smoke could kill Yolandé McVey ’07, who suffers from severe asthma and allergies. “I’m so allergic to everything that when I was given an allergy test, I went into shock,” she said. “They had to call an ambulance to take me to a hospital.”

McVey began to lose ground in her lifelong battle with respiratory problems in 1997. She had just moved to … » More …

Fall 2009

“They are all Red Out Here”: Socialist Politics in the Pacific Northwest, 1895-1925

"They are all Red Out Here": Socialist Politics in the Pacific Northwest, 1895-1925 book cover

Jeffrey A. Johnson
University of Oklahoma Press, 2008

Few if any aspects of the Northwest’s political and labor history have been so thoroughly documented as the region’s most radical era, from the 1890s to the First World War. Books and articles have highlighted such topics as the rise of the Industrial Workers of the World (IWW), Idaho Governor Frank Steunenberg’s … » More …

Summer 2009

1200 Weeds—of the 48 States & Adjacent Canada

Richard Old ’77, ’81
XID Services, Inc., 2008

When you don’t know what you’re dealing with, weedy plants may be hard to handle. Richard Old, a longtime Pullman resident and weed identification expert, has put together this comprehensive database of weeds for both public and private use.

The DVD, a sequel to Old’s CD 1,000 Weeds, contains more than 6,000 images of weeds found throughout North America. With details like the color of the plant juice, height, flower traits, … » More …

Summer 2009

Uncle Phil and the Atomic Bomb

John Abelson ’60, and Philip H. Abelson ’33, ’35
Roberts & Company, 2007

I was lucky enough to meet Philip Abelson in 2002 on the occasion of his visit to Pullman for the dedication of Abelson Hall (formerly Science Hall) in honor of the scientist and his wife Dr. Neva Abelson ’34.

During our brief interview, Abelson downplayed his own story, instead emphasizing his family’s ties to Washington State University. In 1905, his parents … » More …

Summer 2009

Plowed Under: Agriculture and Environment in the Palouse

Andrew P. Duffin PhD ’02
University of Washington Press, 2007

This is an important and disturbing book, both for the environmental degradation it documents and the message of what little progress our agricultural practices on the Palouse have made.

In a sense, the precursor of Plowed Under was a series of lectures by William Spillman in 1924. Spillman, a versatile and prescient scientist, was one of Washington State Agricultural College’s first faculty members, hired by … » More …

Summer 2008

Sam Ham – The adventures of

The first time Sam Ham ’74 was in the Galapagos Islands, he took a two-foot-long telephoto lens to capture nature up close. He was thrilled when, on a hike with a graduate student, he came across a stunning brown Galapagos hawk. Ham raised his camera, aimed, and discovered he was much too close. “I had to back up practically 50 yards to get it in focus,” he laughs, noting how “up close” nature in the Galapagos can sometimes be.

Ham, a natural resources professor at the University of Idaho, has been bumped by sea lions while snorkeling, has watched nesting sea turtles from a few … » More …