Rating: 
Summary: Filled in Many Gaps in My Understanding of New England
Review: Growing up in California, I learned little about the specific history of the development of New England beyond key events like the Pilgrims, the American Revolution, and advent of the Industrial Revolution in the mills. So even though I live only about 7 miles from Bullough's Pond and often drive past it, I knew nothing about it. That attracted me to the book, and I was well rewarded for my effort. If you are like me, you will be, too!Bullough's Pond is not Walden Pond. It is a man-made pond originally designed to serve a mill. Later, it was reshaped by a land developer to help attract home owners to suburban Newton, Massachusetts. When changes in road maintenance meant that more sand was used on streets in the winter, the pond threatened to become a meadow instead until it was dredged with state money. With the dredging, the population of flora and fauna changed substantially. Bullough's pond is symptomatic of the ecology of New England. The original forest is long gone, and what we see as nature here is usually a reflection of what we have done to economically exploit her.
The book uses Bullough's Pond as an anology for a larger story about all of New England. So you will learn about Bullough's Pond, but that is only 5 percent of the book.
Starting with the arrival of Native Americans across the land bridge from Asia in Siberia to Alaska, the book portrays a geography with a fragile environment that is easily upset by people. While hunter-gatherers lived here in small numbers, the impact was small. Later population pressure caused the numbers to climb past what hunting and berries could sustain. Harvesting of oysters and farming of maize and beans became important sources of food.
When the European colonists arrived, they found a countryside that was already prepared for and employing sustainable agriculture. But the newcomers did not realize nor care about how to make the best use of the land. There was always more land, so it was quickly exploited in ways that soon robbed the land of its first-growth timber and its topsoil. Farming soon played out. The fisheries were eventually exhausted. Dams and pollution made drinking water dangerous. Drifting hydrocarbon emissions from Ohio power plants helped punch holes in the ozone layer. Diseases from around the world attacked favorite trees. The future of this ecology would depend on the decisions made to sustain and improve it.
In parallel, Ms. Muir tells the story of Yankee ingenuity in turning to new resources when old ones played out. New England found itself economically transformed into a manufacturing region by the opportunity to export finished goods rather than heavy raw materials (first as ships, and later as rum), water power, new inventions, the railroad, and the steam engine. When lower labor costs drove manufacturing of shoes and textile out of New England, MIT's prowess brought new generations of economic development based on first chemicals, and later weapons systems. The way the story is written, you get an optimistic sense of human potential to solve problems.
But humans as a predator of nature and of nature's creatures are the villain of this piece. Environmental progress has occurred in some areas. Beavers and other wild life hunted to extinction during the early settlement are returning from mountain enclaves in other parts of the country. The water is cleaner in some areas.
The book is beautifully illustrated with drawings, photos, and maps to help you understand the points Ms. Muir is making.
Ms. Muir sees a resource versus resource-use trade-off with population control as an option on one side and more conservative use of resources on the other. The history of New England convinces her that there is more potential in the use-of-resources side of the equation than in population control or reduction. She argues for that better use of the resources presuasively.
I'm not so sure I agree. Population expansion has slowed very rapidly since the advent of modern birth control methods were introduced. This is not only true of New England, it is true of advanced economies everywhere. Italy has the lowest population growth of any country in Western Europe, even though many would suspect the opposite in this mostly Catholic country. So the adjustment goes beyond religious beliefs in this subject area. Also, our generally lousy New England climate increasingly encourages people to leave for sunnier, milder areas.
At the same time, governments are starting to clean up the water and the air in New England.
But individuals have become more profligate. The SUV, the second home in the country, and heavier use of natural areas by tourists are rapidly expanding the use of our fragile ecology. I think we need to look to ourselves for the solution at this time in New England. The tragedy of the commons is being replaced by the rapacity of the landowner and tourist. This is the area where no significant improvement is occuring. I am not as optimistic about her hope that individuals will become more careful.
Whether you agree with the book's thesis, with mine or have a different view, I think you will find this economic-environmental history of New England to be a pleasant read and to provide stimulating material for thought. I will certainly never visit any part of New England again without a much better understanding of what I am seeing, and how it probably used to look 400 years ago.
After you finished enjoying this outstanding book, I suggest that you also think about what it is that you know little about in your area. Then find someone who can help you learn. The local historical society can be a good place to start. The local nature advocacy group can be another. With more appreciation of your surroundings, you will enjoy life more and make better choices for yourself, your descendants, and for us all.
Have a great time reflecting on nature!
Rating:
Summary: on reflection, dazzling
Review: I purposely took my time reading this book. It's not a long book; indeed, it's only 258 pages long. But each page was so packed with new things for me to learn, that I wanted time to think about it all. The subtitle is "Economy and Ecosystem in New England", but it is much more than that. It is the result of years of research by Diana Muir, starting with the surroundings of her own home which is located on Bullough's Pond in Newton, Massachusetts and branching out to include all of the New England area. Written in clear, easy-to-understand language, this is the story of a place and how it has changed over the years. It is the story of rocky land and beaver dams and oyster beds. It is the story of Yankee ingenuity and invention. It is the story of making shoes and shipping goods and cutting down trees. I never really thought about these things, but now I could actually understand, right down to the manufacturing details, how interchangeable parts for clocks and firearms changed the nature of commerce. I understand now how paper is manufactured. And how a simple invention of a plug to attach leather soles to shoes affected the economy.
Best of all, the book doesn't preach. Even though we can now understand the havoc brought to the environment as the population increased and there was a need for more manufactured goods and a system of plumbing and waste removal, this was all inevitable. Yes, it does show how the lumbering industry destroyed the forests and the manufacturing polluted the waters, but there was also no turning back the clock on the industrial revolution. The book didn't simple raise my consciousness regarding the need to preserve our environment, it showed me how and why in a technical way. Finally, I understand.
It is not surprising that this book won an award as the best nonfiction book about Massachusetts by a Massachusetts author. And I expect it will win even more accolades as more and more people discover it. There are maps, there are photos, and there are charts and graphs as well as 36 pages of footnotes and reference sources. And there's something to learn on every page, including some examples of positive changes that have been made as well as hope for the future. I thank Ms. Muir for writing this book and I hope it becomes required reading in schools everywhere. It might be specifically about New England; but its message is universal. Highly recommended.
Rating:
Summary: A fine book! And destined to win even more accolades!
Review: I purposely took my time reading this book. It's not a long book; indeed, it's only 258 pages long. But each page was so packed with new things for me to learn, that I wanted time to think about it all. The subtitle is "Economy and Ecosystem in New England", but it is much more than that. It is the result of years of research by Diana Muir, starting with the surroundings of her own home which is located on Bullough's Pond in Newton, Massachusetts and branching out to include all of the New England area. Written in clear, easy-to-understand language, this is the story of a place and how it has changed over the years. It is the story of rocky land and beaver dams and oyster beds. It is the story of Yankee ingenuity and invention. It is the story of making shoes and shipping goods and cutting down trees. I never really thought about these things, but now I could actually understand, right down to the manufacturing details, how interchangeable parts for clocks and firearms changed the nature of commerce. I understand now how paper is manufactured. And how a simple invention of a plug to attach leather soles to shoes affected the economy.
Best of all, the book doesn't preach. Even though we can now understand the havoc brought to the environment as the population increased and there was a need for more manufactured goods and a system of plumbing and waste removal, this was all inevitable. Yes, it does show how the lumbering industry destroyed the forests and the manufacturing polluted the waters, but there was also no turning back the clock on the industrial revolution. The book didn't simple raise my consciousness regarding the need to preserve our environment, it showed me how and why in a technical way. Finally, I understand.
It is not surprising that this book won an award as the best nonfiction book about Massachusetts by a Massachusetts author. And I expect it will win even more accolades as more and more people discover it. There are maps, there are photos, and there are charts and graphs as well as 36 pages of footnotes and reference sources. And there's something to learn on every page, including some examples of positive changes that have been made as well as hope for the future. I thank Ms. Muir for writing this book and I hope it becomes required reading in schools everywhere. It might be specifically about New England; but its message is universal. Highly recommended.
Rating:
Summary: Not only a New England book
Review: I thoroughly enjoyed this book as I think others will , wherever they live. Muir has a wondefully engaging style which makes the broad scope of the book very accessible. This is both good story telling and fascinating history, a must read for anyone interested in how the events of history shape and have been shaped by the land around us.
Rating: 
Summary: Economies and consequences from the stone age to the present
Review: In her introduction to "Reflections in Bullough's Pond", Diana Muir states that despite the presence of "Ecosystem" in the sub-title, the book is not a jeremiad. And it's not. A bit of a nag, perhaps, but a well-written nag, supported by researched detail.
Physically the book is a little bigger than 6 by 9 inches. It runs 312 pages, of which around 40 pages are devoted to notes and about 15 pages to an index. The text is supported by several maps and a few graphs that are clear and easy to read, and several pictures that are a bit murky in reproduction.
I enjoyed reading "Reflections in Bullough's Pond. It is a history of the New England area from the arrival of Native Americans (although mostly just before the arrival of English colonists), concentrating not on wars and generals and presidents, but instead telling how ordinary people made a living, why they did what they did, and the consequences of their actions both to themselves and to the ecosystem. The pond in the title serves to tie the events of the past into consequences in the present.
Diana Muir writes well. She obviously researched her subject well, but knows the difference between including supportive or even fascinating details and browbeating the reader with them. An example of this is the fate of the beaver. While I vaguely knew before reading the book that beavers were largely exterminated to satisfy a whim of English fashion, I had no idea of the importance of wampum and the destabilization of the Native American culture by diseases imported by the Colonists. Nor did I understand the importance of the beaver in the New England ecosystem.
I had few quibbles with the book. While in general it was easily readable, I had a little trouble keeping track of the timeline in the second half. I disagreed with Ms Muir's reasons for population control or it's lack, but since I've been reading a lot of Evolutionary Psychology lately my opinions on that may not be exactly mainstream.
In all I found "Reflections in Bullough's Pond" to be a worth reading.
Rating:
Summary: An imaginative and dramatic account
Review: In Reflections In Bullough's Pond: Economy And Ecosystem In New England, Diana Muir utilizes a pond in Newton, Massachusetts to develop and present her fascinating interpretation of New England's natural history -- including the people who have lived there since pre-Columbian times. Muir deftly weaves together an imaginative and dramatic account of the changes (sometimes dramatic, sometimes subtle) that successive generations of human kind and animal life (ranging from beavers to sheep) have worked upon the land. Muir draws upon an impressive range of scholarship ranging from archaeology to zoology to offer the reader a totally engaging tour of Paleolithic megafauna, the population crisis faced by New England native Americans before the coming of the Europeans, the introduction of indoor plumbing, even the invention of the shoe-peg. Very highly recommended and "reader friendly", Diana Muir's Reflections In Bullough's Pond is ideal for both students of New England's ecological development and the non-specialist general reader with an interest in environmental issues and histories.
Rating:
Summary: breaks new ground
Review: It is hard to imagine how Reflections in Bullough's Pond could have been better written. Diana Muir gives an account of the interplay between New England's economic history and its environment in a lapidary prose which never leaves the reader behind. By the end of the book we are enlightened about the ebb and flow of these matters over the five hundred-odd years from early European settlement to modern times without ever being overwhelmed, for Ms Muir always wears her erudition lightly.
She breaks new ground in her treatment of the environment as both an economic resource and as a complex-often vulnerable-amalgam of ecosystems. Her thesis is that we are living on capital, be it fossil fuel, topsoil or forest-she is particularly compelling on the vulnerable biochemistry of these last. Unusually, however, Ms Muir is scrupulous in her use of statistics and fastidious in her argument. She never seeks to undermine the legitimacy of the economic impulse, though she does not flinch from her conclusion: an argument for restraint in economic activity and population.
Nor does she lose sight of the propensity of ecosystems to renew themselves, albeit often in new forms: she is pleased-almost amused-by the return of the beaver and the moose, while regretting the extinction of the elm and the emergence of local spruce monocultures. Indeed Ms Muir expresses herself more forcefully on the loss of flora than fauna. Perhaps this is because the long life cycles of the former make it harder to take an optimistic view of their capacity to renew themselves. Alternatively it may be because the collapse of agriculture in New England following the opening up of the West, has stimulated the return to southern New England of so many species formerly evicted to Canada.
Reflections in Bullough's Pond is no naïve elegy for a Paradise Lost; it never loses sight of a human interplay with the landscape which long antedates industrialisation, not to say European settlement. In a particularly ingenious section of the book, Ms Muir reminds us that in the middle of the nineteenth century, the courts and legislatures altered common law doctrines of liability to free up industrial activity. This reflected the climate of the times. Ms Muir argues that the climate of our own times may well give rise to more extensive liability concepts to restrain the corporations, notions very much with the tail wind of popular and professional thinking.
Given the book's generosity and elegance, it seems curmudgeonly to cavil at any part of it. But a couple of issues do arise. First forests. Since the invention of agriculture, we have cleared them for the simple reason that we have better uses for the land. This has been going on in the Old World for millennia. Of course there have been local environmental disasters, eg in North Africa and Mesopotamia, but nothing sufficiently general to justify veneration of forests as a precautionary measure. This is an artefact of late-twentieth century sentiment in the New World. There such virgin forests as have not lost within living memory are being destroyed even now, thus the local salience of the issue. Over the past fifteen years their defenders have sought to enlist support by arguing that they served one or another vital purpose: producing oxygen, acting as feedstock for drugs, now Ms Muir points to their role in topsoil. The first two arguments are infrequently heard these days. As to the last, let me point out that where I grew up in the eastern part of England, the ground was cleared eight or nine hundred years ago, but the topsoil remains sufficiently fertile for the local farmers to get out record yields.
I was also left uncertain as to the course Ms Muir might prescribe for the several billion who have never seen Bullough's Pond, and whose habitats have been profoundly altered by economic activity for millenia rather than centuries. The residents of Asia's great river valleys cleared the forests long before Columbus saw the New World. They have to eat-with luck raise themselves above thoughts of the next meal. Ms Muir has practical suggestions as to how the courts might restrain US corporations, but nothing on how to restrain the aspirations of those who dream of a fraction of American prosperity. I suspect she is wise enough to know that there is nothing to be done on this score. In a rare nod towards the nether reaches of environmental alarmism, she hints that she expects nature to impose population restraint, if we do not. I am more sanguine. In whatever might come to pass as in what has come before, we will wade through. As we must.
Rating:
Summary: Came for the topic, stayed for the author
Review: Ms Muir is a great storyteller. I was interested in the topic and prepared to slog through boring text to learn something, but this was AMAZING. Read like a novel. She sees inter-relationships and draws conclusions which taught me a lot. Now I want to read everything she's written. I was sorry when I finished this book.
Rating:
Summary: A voyage of discovery and understanding
Review: On the front cover of this book, there is a photograph of an Autumn day in New England. The picture is a very inviting one, with trees beginning to change color; gently sloping down to a still body of water. The vision given is one of peace and beauty on Bullough's Pond. There is very often a deep underlying sense of beauty within this book. Diana Muir describes many miracles of nature in New England: from the importance of humble algae to the development of vast forests and watersheds. She writes about the fabric of life that is always around us, but that usually is invisible to our eyes. The interdependence of all aspects of life is stressed throughout the book. This book is a history of the economy and nature of New England, and it answers the question of why so many changes have taken place in society and the ecosystem. We learn that nature has always been greatly changed by the influence of man. Most of the changes have been driven by the constant growth in population. There was an urgent sense of necessity behind the Industrial Revolution in New England. In this book there are many engrossing and fascinating accounts of that revolution; and how inventions created in New England helped to change the world. The limited resources in the region actually helped the revolution to grow. With the increase in populations of the world today, we need to understand as never before the world that is around us. This book has that sense of needed understanding, both of the past and for the future. This book helps to prepare for the future that is before us, by understanding what has gone before.
