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Trieste Devlin

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Trieste’s Bookshelves

to-read‎ (890)
currently-reading‎ (5)

read‎ (502)
did-not-finish‎ (2)

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permaculture-women‎ (96)

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work-books‎ (5)

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Trieste is Currently Reading

Trieste Devlin is currently reading

Galileo's Dream

by Kim Stanley Robinson

bookshelves: currently-reading

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Jul 21, 2026 02:25PM

Trieste Devlin is currently reading

What the Robin Knows: How Birds Reveal the Secrets of the Natural World

by Jon Young

bookshelves: work-books, permaculture-women, currently-reading

Reading for the 2nd time

read in July 2019

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Trieste Devlin said: " I don't write reviews, usually, but this book has literally changed the way I exist in the world since the day I started reading it! Seriously. Prepare for some proselytizing. What the Robin Knows introduces a method of noticing what's going on by as I don't write reviews, usually, but this book has literally changed the way I exist in the world since the day I started reading it! Seriously. Prepare for some proselytizing. What the Robin Knows introduces a method of noticing what's going on by assuming communication in the nature around me and therefore being open to observe it and learn about my surroundings in the process - it's always there, I just feel more clued into it now, and I know that with practice it could become a sort of super-power like it is for Jon Young. The other day I found a red-tailed hawk and a great-horned owl on a walk in the city park after noticing the way the songbirds were indicating their presence with actions and vocalizations. All just from accepting the physical reality of those birds, having a tiny introduction about their day-to-day lives, and trying to notice a few more things than I did before. It leans on a theme that I've dwelt on for a while now - that we humans aren't usually trained to try to understand and learn from physical reality any more. If we do focus on it a bit though, there's so much we can gain! Be it in the realm of baking, or taking better care of our bodies, or feeling more connected to the ecosystem that is the tree outside our window.

I had an interesting conversation with a friend and excellent birder who read the book about how the tone Young uses in his writing could be interpreted as condescending or overly anthropomorphizing. My take is that he was tutored in a native tradition, and so his communication style is different than we might be used to for science writing. There's definitely a story-telling vibe, but he is also extremely knowledgeable and well-educated, he cites sources, and he prefaces his own less scientific terms as such. For me, the level of honor that he pays to the existence of other creatures around him is just so evident that this style built on rather than detracted from the reading experience for me.

PS: This weekend I used my body language to tell a deer that I wasn't a threat, and I watched his body posture change from about-to-bolt back to grazing. It felt MAGICAL. Read it! ...more "

Jul 12, 2019 08:20AM · see review

Trieste Devlin is currently reading

Vesper Flights

by Helen Macdonald

bookshelves: currently-reading

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Jun 09, 2026 06:39PM

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Trieste’s Quotes

“Give a man a fire and he's warm for a day, but set fire to him and he's warm for the rest of his life.”
― Terry Pratchett, Jingo

tags: humor, proverb

12980 likes

“In the beginning there was nothing, which exploded.”
― Terry Pratchett, Lords and Ladies

tags: humor, metaphysics, physics, science

3527 likes

“Outside of a dog, a book is man's best friend. Inside of a dog it's too dark to read.”
― Groucho Marx, The Essential Groucho: Writings For By And About Groucho Marx

tags: animals, books, dogs, friends, humor

38058 likes