In Praise of Used Book Stores and David McCullough

Used bookstores are my favorite. What could be better than a store full of cheap books? Not much.

When I'm bored, looking for gifts, or in a new place, I usually search the area for a used bookstore. It's interesting to see how interests change from one area to another and to see how the books are arranged.

Garth at our local used bookstore in downtown Lafayette.
Look at those farmers' market fresh tulips!

Last winter, when I was in Bismarck, ND waiting to meet up with someone, I searched the area for a used bookstore. I came across one not too far from the mall and wandered the small shop for interesting finds. Unsurprisingly, I made a beeline for the nonfiction section and came across a book by American historian, David McCullough. I had heard rave reviews about McCullough's writing in the past but had never picked up any of his books to read. Three dollars later, I owned Brave Companions: Portraits in History and now, an immense appreciation for McCullough's incredible history writing. 

My bedside copy of Brave Companions.

Brave Companions is a compilation of short stories written by McCullough on American historical figures. Each story is ten to twenty pages long and is penned in a way that makes the history vibrant and interesting. After each story I feel an immense appreciation for the figure/place written about and usually end up doing an intensive Wiki search on what I've just read. I have thoroughly enjoyed this book.

This spring, McCullough appeared on C-SPAN's Q&A to talk about his upcoming book, The American Spirit: Who We Are and What We Stand For. 

McCullough on Q&A, April 2017

Halfway through the interview, McCullough is asked how his age has impacted him. The historian admits that of course it has; it's changed the way he thinks about time. After the admission, he makes it crystal clear that the passion for his craft, of writing, learning and uncovering details of the past has not waned at all with age. 

Then, McCullough says something that has stuck with me ever since: "I like to finish the day thinking I've done, that if I hadn't been around, it wouldn't have happened. And I'm pleased that I did it, pleased that I've spent my day, or much of my day, doing that."

What great insight. I keep thinking about that, what can I get done today, or what can I make, write or think about today that wouldn't have been created had I not done it? I think about this often. 

With that, I have a goal of reading every book McCullough has authored. I won't get around to reading all of them in the next year or so but I look forward to the reading journey. The list: 

The Johnstown Flood - 1968

The Great Bridge - 1972

The Path Between the Seas - 1977

Mornings on Horseback - 1981

Brave Companions: Portraits in History - 1991

Truman - 1992

John Adams - 2001

1776 - 2005

In the Dark Streets Shineth: A 1941 Christmas Eve Story - 2010

The Greater Journey: Americans in Paris - 2011

The Wright Brothers - 2015

The American Spirit: Who We Are and What We Stand For - 2017

I hope you'll pick up one of the titles and read it with me too.

Weed Science... What Science?

Wheat Science? No, Weed Science.
Weeeed Science? No, not that kind of weed science.
Oh, Weed Science? What's that?

That's a good question, and a question I may be able to answer as I complete the first year of my training as a graduate student in Weed Science.

Some might say that weeds are just plants out of place. If that's the case, Weed Science is the study of managing and gaining knowledge of plants that grow in areas where they are unwanted.  An example of this could be figuring out ways to rid your luscious, green lawn of that pesky dandelion problem that keeps popping up each spring. Weed scientists can suggest ways to control that dandelion, with methods ranging from changing the type of grass that is grown to chemical control.

Dandelion, maybe the most infamous weed of all.

Another example of managing plants out of place is ridding soybean fields of corn plants. That sounds a little weird, right? Corn is a crop, not a weed! That isn't always the case though. If corn is left in a field after being harvested (the harvesting process doesn't collect 100% of the seeds that come out of a corn field in the fall), corn that grows the next season is a weed. If it's growing in a soybean field, the farmer growing those soybeans isn't looking to harvest any corn at the end of the season and the corn only detracts from the overall success of the growing soybeans. This is another situation in which Weed Scientists can suggest ways to manage a plant (in this case corn) that's out of place.

Volunteer corn in a soybean field. 

Okay, so Weed Scientists control plants out of place. Is that it?

No. Weed Scientists also study how plants out of place grow and develop. They also study how these plants interact with the environment around them. This knowledge helps Weed Scientists understand why some plants are better at being weeds than other plants. It also helps in their management. For example, scientists discovered that certain types of flea beetles love eating the leaves and stems of leafy spurge, a very competitive, long-lived plant. In states like North Dakota, where leafy spurge is a problem, flea beetles have been released to decrease the overall number of leafy spurge plants. 

Flea beetles munching on leafy spurge.

More recently, Weed Scientists have worked on understanding why some weeds are harder to control with herbicides than others. This involves using molecular techniques (looking at a weed's DNA) to look for differences between weeds that are easy to control and weeds that are more difficult to control. 

Extracted DNA, an invaluable tool that Weed Scientists
use to look for differences between weeds. 

In short, the discipline of Weed Science studies plants out of place by looking at how they respond to management techniques, how they interact with their environments, and how they differ genetically. The science of making sense of plants out of place. That is what science Weed Science is. 

Photo credit: [1][2][3][4]

American National Park Units - 413 Unique Sites

If you know me, you'd know that I like National Parks... Okay, that I am obsessed with National Parks and collecting NP stamps and want to visit every single one of them.

With that in mind, my goal is to create a blog post to tie together all of my National Park Unit visits in one place. This is that post.

Across the country, 413 unique sites exist, each associated with a unique piece of American history or natural splendor.

Below is the complete list, organized by state. Units that I have visited will be marked accordingly. My goal is to see all of them in my lifetime!

Alabama

-       Horseshoe Bend NMP

-       Little River Canyon NPRES

-       Russell Cave NM

-       Tuskegee Airmen NHS

-       Tuskegee Institute NHS

Alaska

-       Alagnak WR

-       Aniakchak NM&PRES

-       Bering Land Bridge NPRES

-       Cape Krusenstern NM

-       Denali NP&PRES

-       Gates of the Arctic NP& PRES

-       Glacier Bay NP&PRES

-       Katmai NP&PRES

-       Kenai Fjords NP

-       Klondike Gold Rush NHP

-       Kobuk Valley NP

-       Lake Clark NP&PRES

-       Noatak NPRES

-       Sitka NHP

-       Wrangell-St. Elias NP&PRES

-       Yukon-Charley Rivers NPRES

American Somoa

-       National Park of American Samoa

Arizona

-       Canyon de Chelly NM

-       Casa Grande Ruins NM

-       Chiricahua NM

-       Coronado NMEM

-       Fort Bowie NHS

-       Glen Canyon NRA

-       Grand Canyon NP

-       Hohokam Pima NM

-       Hubbell Trading Post NHS

-       Montezuma Castle NM

-       Navajo NM

-       Organ Pipe Cactus NM

-       Petrified Forest NP

-       Pipe Spring NM

-       Saguro NP

-       Sunset Crater Volcano NM

-       Tonto NM

-       Tumacacori NHP

-       Tuzigoot NM

-       Walnut Canyon NM

-       Wupatki NM

Arkansas

-       Arkansas Post NMEM

-       Buffalo NR

-       Fort Smith NHS

-       Hot Springs NP

-       Little Rock Central High School NHS

-       Pea Ridge NMP

-       President William Jefferson Clinton Birthplace Home NHS

California

-       Cabrillo NM

-       Castle Mountains NM

-       Cesar E. Chavez NM

-       Channel Islands NP

-       Death Valley NP

-       Devils Postpile NM

-       Eugene O’Neill NHS

-       Fort Point NHS

-       Golden Gate NRA

-       John Muir NHS

-       Joshua Tree NP

-       Kings Canyon NP

-       Lassen Volcanic NP

-       Lava Beds NM

-       Manzanar NHS

-       Mojave NPRES

-       Muir Woods NM

-       Pinnacles NP

-       Point Reyes NS

-       Port Chicago Naval Magazine NMEM

-       Redwood NP

-       Rosie the Riveter/World War II Home Front NHP

-       San Francisco Maritime NHP

-       Santa Monica Mountains NRA

-       Sequoia NP

-       Whiskeytown NRA

-       Yosemite NP

Colorado

-       Bent’s Old Fort NHS

-       Black Canyon of the Gunnison NP

-       Colorado NM

-       Curecanti NRA

-       Dinosaur NM

-       Florissant Fossil Beds NM

-       Great Sand Dunes NP&PRES

-       Hovenweep NM

-       Mesa Verde NP

-       Rocky Mountain NP

-       Sand Creek Massacre NHS

-       Yucca House NM

Connecticut

-       Weir Farm NHS

Delaware

-       First State NHP

District of Columbia

-       Belmont-Paul Women’s Equality NM

-       Carter G. Woodson Home NHS

-       Constitution Gardens

-       Ford’s Theatre NHS

-       Franklin Delano Roosevelt Memorial NMEM

-       Frederick Douglass NHS

-       Korean War Veterans Memorial NMEM

-       Lincoln Memorial NMEM

-       Lyndon Baines Johnson Memorial Grove on the Potomac

-       Martin Luther King Jr. Memorial NMEM

-       Mary McLeod Bethune Council House NHS

-       National Capital Parks-East

-       National Mall & Memorial Parks

-       Pennsylvania Avenue NHS

-       President’s Park (White House)

-       Rock Creek Park

-       Thomas Jefferson Memorail NMEM

-       Vietnam Veterans Memorial

-       Washington Monument NM

-       World War II MEM

Florida

-       Big Cypress NPRES

-       Biscayne NP

-       Canaveral NS

-       Castillo de San Marcos NM

-       De Soto NMEM

-       Dry Tortugas NP

-       Everglades NP

-       Fort Caroline NMEM

-       Fort Matanzas NM

-       Gulf Islands NS

-       Timucuan EHP

Georgia

-       Andersonville NHS

-       Chattahoochee River NRA

-       Chickamauga & Chattanooga NMP

-       Cumberland Islands NS

-       Fort Frederica NM

-       Fort Pulaski NM

-       Jimmy Carter NHS

-       Kennesaw Mountain NBP

-       Martin Luther King, Jr. NHS

-       Ocmulgee NM

Guam

-       War in the Pacific NHP

Hawaii

-       Haleakala NP

-       Hawai’i Volcanoes NP

-       Honouliuli NM

-       Kalaupapa NHP

-       Kaloko-Honokohau NHP

-       Pu’uhonua o Honaunau NHP

-       Pu’ukohola Heiau NHS

-       World War II Valor in the Pacific NM

Idaho

-       City of Rocks NRES

-       Craters of the Moon NM&PRES

-       Hagerman Fossil Beds NM

-       Minidoka NHS

-       Nez Perce NHP

Illinois

-       Lincoln Home NHS

-       Pullman NM

Indiana

-       George Rogers Clark NHP

-       Indiana Dunes NL

-       Lincoln Boyhood NMEM

Iowa

-       Effigy Mounds NM

-       Herbert Hoover NHS

Kansas

-       Brown v. Board of Education NHS

-       Fort Larned NHS

-       Fort Scott NHS

-       Nicodemus NHS

-       Tallgrass Prairie NPRES

Kentucky

-       Abraham Lincoln Birthplace NHP

-       Cumberland Gap NHP

-       Mammoth Cave NP

Louisiana

-       Cane River Creole NHP

-       Jean Lafitte NHP&P

-       New Orleans Jazz NHP

-       Poverty Point NM

Maine

-       Acadia NP

-       Saint Croix Island HS

Maryland

-       Antietam NB

-       Assateague Island NS

-       Catoctin Mountain Park

-       Chesapeake & Ohio Canal NHP

-       Clara Barton NHS

-       Fort McHenry NM&HS

-       Fort Washington Park

-       Greenbelt Park

-       Hampton NHS

-       Harriet Tubman Underground NHP

-       Monocacy NB

-       Piscataway Park

-       Potomac Heritage NST

-       Thomas Stone NHS

Massachusetts

-       Adams NHP

-       Boston NHP

-       Boston African American NHS

-       Boston Harbor Islands NRA

-       Cape Code NS

-       Frederick Law Olmsted NHS

-       John Fitzgerald Kennedy NHS

-       Longfellow House – Washington’s Headquarters NHS

-       Lowell NHP

-       Minute Man NHP

-       New Bedford Whaling NHP

-       Salem Maritime NHS

-       Saugus Iron Works NHS

-       Springfield Armory NHS

Michigan

-       Isle Royale NP

-       Keweenaw NHP

-       Pictured Rocks NL

-       River Basin NBP

-       Sleeping Bear Dunes NL

Minnesota

-       Grand Portage NM

-       Mississippi NRRA

-       Pipestone NM

-       Voyageurs NP

Mississippi

-       Brices Cross Roads NBS

-       Natchez NHP

-       Natchez Trace PKWY

-       Natchez Trace NST

-       Tupelo NB

-       Vicksburg NMP

Missouri

-       George Washington Carver NM

-       Harry S Truman NHS

-       Jefferson National Expansion MEM

-       Ozark NSRW

-       Ulysses S. Grant NHS

-       Wilson’s Creek NB

Montana

-       Big Hole NB

-       Bighorn Canyon NRA

-       Glacier NP

-       Grant-Kohrs Ranch NHS

-       Little Bighorn Battlefield NM

Nebraska

-       Agate Fossil Beds NM

-       Homestead National Monument of America

-       Missouri NRR

-       Niobrara NSR

-       Scotts Bluff NM

Nevada

-       Great Basin NP

-       Lake Mead NRA

-       Tule Springs Fossil Beds NM

New Hampshire

-       Saint-Gaudens NHS

New Jersey

-       Morristown NHP

-       Paterson Great Falls NHP

-       Thomas Edison NHP

New Mexico

-       Aztec Ruins NM

-       Bandelier NM

-       Capulin Volcano NM

-       Carlsbad Caverns NP

-       Chaco Culture NHP

-       El Malpais NM

-       El Morro NM

-       Fort Union NM

-       Gila Cliff Dwellings NM

-       Pecos NHP

-       Petroglyph NM

-       Salinas Pueblo Missions NM

-       Valles Caldera NPRES

-       White Sands NM

New York

-       African Burial Ground NM

-       Castle Clinton NM

-       Eleanor Roosevelt NHS

-       Federal Hall NMEM

-       Fire Island NS

-       Fort Stanwix NM

-       Gateway NRA

-       General Grant NMEM

-       Governors Island NM

-       Hamilton Grange NMEM

-       Home of Franklin D. Roosevelt NHS

-       Martin Van Buren NHS

-       Sagamore Hill NHS

-       Saint Paul’s Church NHS

-       Saratoga NHP

-       Statue of Liberty NM

-       Stonewall National Monument NM

-       Theodore Roosevelt Birthplace NHS

-       Theodore Roosevelt Inaugural NHS

-       Vanderbilt Mansion NHS

-       Women’s Rights NHP

North Carolina

-       Blue Ridge PKWY

-       Cape Hatteras NS

-       Cape Lookout NS

-       Carl Sandburg Home NHS

-       Fort Raleigh NHS

-       Guilford Courthouse NMP

-       Moores Creek NB

-       Wright Brothers NMEM

North Dakota

-       Fort Union Trading Post NHS

-       Knife River Indian Villages NHS

-       Theodore Roosevelt NP

Ohio

-       Charles Young Buffalo Soldiers NM

-       Cuyahoga Valley NP

-       Dayton Aviation Heritage NHP

-       First Ladies NHS

-       Hopewell Culture NHP

-       James A. Garfield NHS

-       Perry’s Victory and International Peace Memorial

-       William Howard Taft NHS

Oklahoma

-       Chicksaw NRA

-       Washita Battlefield NHS

Oregon

-       Crater Lake NP

-       John Day Fossil Beds NM

-       Lewis and Clark NHP

-       Oregon Caves NM&PRES

Pennsylvania

-       Allegheny Portage Railroad NHS

-       Delaware NSR

-       Delaware Water Gap NRA

-       Edgar Allan Poe NHS

-       Eisenhower NHS

-       Flight 93 NMEM

-       Fort Necessity NB

-       Friendship Hill NHS

-       Gettysburg NMP

-       Great Egg Harbor NS&RR

-       Hopewell Furnace NHS

-       Independence NHP

-       Johnstown Flood NMEM

-       Steamtown NHS

-       Thaddeus Kosciuszko NMEM

-       Upper Delaware S&RR

-       Valley Forge NHP

Puerto Rico

-       San Juan NHS

Rhode Island

-       Blackstone River Valley NHP

-       Roger Williams NMEM

South Carolina

-       Charles Pinckney NHS

-       Congaree NP

-       Cowpens NB

-       Fort Sumter NM

-       Kings Mountain NMP

-       Ninety Six NHS

South Dakota

-       Badlands NP

-       Jewel Cave NM

-       Minuteman Missile NHS

-       Mount Rushmore NMEM

-       Wind Cave NP

Tennessee

-       Andrew Johnson NHS

-       Big South Fork NRRA

-       Fort Donelson NB

-       Great Smoky Mountains NP

-       Obed WSR

-       Shiloh NMP

-       Stones River NB

Texas

-       Alibates Flint Quarries NM

-       Amistad NRA

-       Big Bend NP

-       Big Thicket NPRES

-       Chamizal NMEM

-       Fort Davis NHS

-       Guadalupe Mountains NP

-       Lake Meredith NRA

-       Lyndon B. Johnson NHP

-       Padre Island NS

-       Palo Alto Battlefield NHP

-       Rio Grande WSR

-       San Antonio Missions NHP

-       Waco Mammoth NM

Utah

-       Arches NP

-       Bryce Canyon NP

-       Canyonlands NP

-       Capitol Reef NP

-       Cedar Breaks NM

-       Golden Spike NHS

-       Natural Bridges NM

-       Rainbow Bridge NM

-       Timpanogos Cave NM

-       Zion NP

Vermont

-       Marsh-Billings-Rockefeller NHP

Virgin Islands

-       Buck Island Reef NM

-       Christiansted NHS

-       Salt River Bay NHP&EP

-       Virgin Islands NP

-       Virgin Islands Coral Reef NM

Virginia

-       Appomattox Court House NHP

-       Arlington House, The Robert E. Lee Memorial NMEM

-       Booker T Washington NM

-       Cedar Creek & Belle Grove NHP

-       Colonial NHP

-       Fort Monroe NM

-       Fredericksburg & Spotsylvania County Battlefields Memorial NMP

-       George Washington MEMPKWY

-       George Washington Birthplace NM

-       Maggie L. Walker NHS

-       Manassas NBP

-       Petersburg NB

-       Prince William Forest Park

-       Richmond NBP

-       Shenandoah NP

-       Theodore Roosevelt Island NMEM

-       Wolf Trap National Park for the Performing Arts

Washington

-       Ebey’s Landing NHRES

-       Fort Vancouver NHS

-       Lake Chelan NRA

-       Lake Roosevelt NRA

-       Manhattan Project NHA

-       Mountain Rainier NP

-       North Cascades NP

-       Olympic NP

-       Ross Lake NRA

-       San Juan Island NHP

-       Whitman Mission NHS

West Virginia

-       Appalachian NST

-       Bluestone NSR

-       Gauley River NRA

-       Harpers Ferry NHP

-       New River Gorge NR

Wisconsin

-       Apostle Islands NL

-       Saint Croix NSRW

Wyoming

-       Devils Tower NM

-       Fort Laramie NHS

-       Fossil Butte NM

-       Grand Teton NP

-       John D. Rockefeller, Jr. MEMPKWY

-       Yellowstone NP

46 out of 413, so far. It's a start!