Diane Cook

Helen Phillips meets Miranda July in this daring and imaginative debut novel that explores a moving mother-daughter relationship in a world ravaged by climate change and overpopulation, a suspenseful second book from the author of the acclaimed story collection, Man V. Nature. Bea's five-year-old daughter, Agnes, is slowly wasting away. The smog and pollution of the City--an over-populated, over-built metropolis where most of the population lives--is destroying her lungs. But what can Bea do? No one leaves the City anymore, because there is nowhere else to go. But across the country lies the Wilderness State, the last swath of open, protected land left. Here forests and desert plains are inhabited solely by wildlife. People are forbidden. Until now. Bea, Agnes, and eighteen others volunteer to live in the Wilderness State as part of a study to see if humans can co-exist with nature. Can they be part of the wilderness and not destroy it? Living as nomadic hunter-gatherers, this new community wanders through the grand country, trying to adhere to the strict rules laid down by the Rangers, whose job it is to remind them they must Leave No Trace. As the group slowly learns to live and survive on the unpredictable and often dangerous land, its members battle for power and control and betray and save each other. The farther they roam, the closer they come to their animal soul. To her dismay, Bea discovers that, in fleeing to the Wilderness State to save Agnes, she is losing her in a different way. Agnes is growing wilder and closer to the land, while Bea cannot shake her urban past. As she and Agnes grow further apart, the bonds between mother and daughter are tested in surprising and heartbreaking ways. Yet just as these modern nomads come to think of the Wilderness State as home, its future is threatened when the Government discovers a new use for the land. Now the migrants must choose to stay and fight for their place in the wilderness, their home, or trust the Rangers and their promises of a better tomorrow elsewhere.

The New Wilderness

San Francisco Chronicle Notable Book of the Year Boston Globe’s “Best Fiction of 2014” Roxane Gay’s Top Ten Books of the Year An Amazon Best Short Story Collection of 2014 An iBook Best of 2014 A refreshingly imaginative, daring debut collection of stories which illuminates with audacious wit the complexity of human behavior, as seen through the lens of the natural world. Told with perfect rhythm and unyielding brutality, these stories expose unsuspecting men and women to the realities of nature, the primal instincts of man, and the dark humor and heartbreak of our struggle to not only thrive, but survive. In “Girl on Girl,” a high school freshman goes to disturbing lengths to help an old friend. An insatiable temptress pursues the one man she can’t have in “Meteorologist Dave Santana.” And in the title story, a long fraught friendship comes undone when three buddies get impossibly lost on a lake it is impossible to get lost on. In Diane Cook’s perilous worlds, the quotidian surface conceals an unexpected surreality that illuminates different facets of our curious, troubling, and bewildering behavior. Other stories explore situations pulled directly from the wild, imposing on human lives the danger, tension, and precariousness of the natural world: a pack of not-needed boys take refuge in a murky forest and compete against each other for their next meal; an alpha male is pursued through city streets by murderous rivals and desirous women; helpless newborns are snatched by a man who stalks them from their suburban yards. Through these characters Cook asks: What is at the root of our most heartless, selfish impulses? Why are people drawn together in such messy, complicated, needful ways? When the unexpected intrudes upon the routine, what do we discover about ourselves? As entertaining as it is dangerous, this accomplished collection explores the boundary between the wild and the civilized, where nature acts as a catalyst for human drama and lays bare our vulnerabilities, fears, and desires.

Stories

Man V. Nature

'Een schokkende toekomstroman, maar ook een schitterende verkenning van een moeder-dochterrelatie onder extreme druk.' Jury Booker Prize De nabije toekomst. Bea's vijfjarige dochter Agnes is langzaam aan het wegkwijnen. De smog en vervuiling van de overbevolkte stad verwoesten haar longen. Er is maar één alternatief: naar de nieuwe wildernis: het ongerepte natuurgebied waar de mens zich nooit heeft mogen wagen. Bea en Agnes voegen zich bij 18 andere vrijwilligers voor een radicaal experiment. Ze moeten leren overleven in de wildernis zonder zich te vestigen of sporen achter te laten. Terwijl Agnes het nieuwe bestaan omarmt, realiseert Bea zich dat ze haar dochter op heel andere manier zal verliezen. In prachtige taal schrijft Cook over de onbestendigheid van het leven, over wat ons tot mens maakt en vooral over de liefde tussen moeder en dochter: hoever gaan ze om te overleven, en welke offers wil Bea brengen voor haar dochter?

De nieuwe wildernis

Yeni Yaban

Un mondo quasi perfetto

La figlia di cinque anni di Bea, Agnes, sta lentamente deperendo, consumata dallo smog e dall’inquinamento di una metropoli dallo sviluppo incontrollato. Se rimangono in città, Agnes morirà. C’è solo un’alternativa: lo Stato delle Terre Vergini, l’ultima fascia di terra incontaminata e protetta, da cui gli uomini sono sempre stati banditi. Fino a ora. Bea, Agnes e altre diciotto persone si offrono volontarie per andare a vivere nello Stato delle Terre Vergini, cavie di un esperimento volto a verificare se gli uomini possono convivere con la natura senza distruggerla. Come nei tempi antichi, la loro situazione è quella di nomadi, cacciatori-raccoglitori che imparano lentamente e dolorosamente a sopravvivere in una terra imprevedibile e pericolosa, combattendo per il potere e per il controllo, tradendosi e salvandosi a vicenda. Ma mentre Agnes abbraccia la libertà selvaggia di questa nuova esistenza, Bea si rende conto che aver salvato la vita di sua figlia significa ora perderla sul piano affettivo e personale. Più si allontanano dalla civiltà, più il loro legame viene messo alla prova in modi sorprendenti e dolorosi. Raffigurazione straziante del nostro disprezzo per la natura e ritratto profondamente umano della maternità, Un mondo quasi perfetto è un romanzo straordinario di una forza letteraria unica nel suo genere.

Dystopický román, který se dostal do nejužšího výběru na Bookerovu cenu, se odehrává v budoucnosti, kdy lidé žijí v přelidněném a znečištěném Městě, mimo které existuje jen přísně chráněná Divočina, zbytek přírody. Bea s pětiletou Agnes žije v přelidněném Městě zahlceném smogem. Agnes trpí úporným kašlem a chřadne Bee před očima. Znečištění vzduchu přesáhlo únosnou mez, ale zdravotní problémy s tím související už nikdo neřeší. Kam totiž jinam jít, když kromě Města existuje už jen Divočina, poslední pás divoké přírody? Jedinou nadějí je ale změna prostředí, a proto se Bea odhodlá k extrémnímu řešení - tím je účast ve výzkumu, který má zjistit, zda lidé mohou žít v divoké přírodě, aniž by po nich zůstávaly nevratné stopy. Nová divočina předkládá apokalyptickou vizi světa vychýleného z rovnováhy, který se potýká s následky klimatické změny a přelidněnosti. Zároveň je empatickou studií vztahu matky a dcery za vyhraněných okolností a fungování lidské povahy v podmínkách, kdy jde o přežití. Nakladatelská anotace.

Nová divočina

“Astonishing. . . . The stories are surreal, with the sharpest edge and in one way or another, each story reveals something raw and powerful about being human in a world where so little is in our control.” — Roxane Gay A refreshingly imaginative, daring debut collection of stories which illuminates with audacious wit the complexity of human behavior, as seen through the lens of the natural world. Told with perfect rhythm and unyielding brutality, these stories expose unsuspecting men and women to the realities of nature, the primal instincts of man, and the dark humor and heartbreak of our struggle to not only thrive, but survive. In “Girl on Girl,” a high school freshman goes to disturbing lengths to help an old friend. An insatiable temptress pursues the one man she can’t have in “Meteorologist Dave Santana.” And in the title story, a long fraught friendship comes undone when three buddies get impossibly lost on a lake it is impossible to get lost on. In Diane Cook’s perilous worlds, the quotidian surface conceals an unexpected surreality that illuminates different facets of our curious, troubling, and bewildering behavior. Other stories explore situations pulled directly from the wild, imposing on human lives the danger, tension, and precariousness of the natural world: a pack of not-needed boys take refuge in a murky forest and compete against each other for their next meal; an alpha male is pursued through city streets by murderous rivals and desirous women; helpless newborns are snatched by a man who stalks them from their suburban yards. Through these characters Cook asks: What is at the root of our most heartless, selfish impulses? Why are people drawn together in such messy, complicated, needful ways? When the unexpected intrudes upon the routine, what do we discover about ourselves? As entertaining as it is dangerous, this accomplished collection explores the boundary between the wild and the civilized, where nature acts as a catalyst for human drama and lays bare our vulnerabilities, fears, and desires.

In 1835, Halley's Comet blazed across the sky. In a small house in a village in Missouri, the wail of a newborn baby shattered the night. He was the family's fifth child. They called him Samuel Langhorne Clemens. His works remain alive, bringing pleasure to generation after generation of children and adults around the world.

19th Century French Painter

Henri Toulouse-Lautrec

Een man die zonder pardon hulpeloze kinderen uit voortuinen steelt. Een verleidster die achter die ene man aan gaat die ze juist niet krijgen kan. Een roedel overbodige jongens die zich verschuilen in een duister woud en daar met elkaar strijden om hun volgende maaltijd. Drie vrienden in een roeiboot die reddeloos verdwalen op een meer. Een vraatzuchtig monster dat een kantoorpand binnendringt. Een einzelgänger die de zondvloed misschien zo erg nog niet vindt. Dit zijn de personages die Cooks verhalen bevolken. Dit is de wereld die zij schetst, waarin onder de alledaagse werkelijkheid de donkere, verslindende kracht van de natuur schuilgaat.

verhalen

Mens vs. natuur

Candy Abbott

Scott Gregory

Olympian Gregory's story ignites the inner winner and fans potential into flame. He explains how to develop a champion mindset in sports, business, academics, and any significant endeavor.

Refusing to Give Up Your Dreams

Champion Mindset

Len Jenshel

Wise Trees is a photography book about trees that have a remarkable story to tell us. To create it, photographers Diane Cook and Len Jenshel spent two years traveling to five continents to photograph more than 50 extraordinary trees that were carefully selected for their historic and cultural significance. From Luna, the coastal redwood in California that became an international symbol for conservation, to the Bodhi Tree, the sacred fig in India that is a direct descendent of the tree under which the Buddha attained enlightenment, Cook and Jenshel reveal trees that have shaped our lives and our feelings about nature. The project both reflects and inspires awareness of the enduring role trees have played in nurturing and sheltering humanity.

Wise Trees

Park in Alaska, Death Valley National Park in California, Hawaii Volcanoes National Park in Hawaii, Crater Lake National Park in Oregon, Mount Saint Helens National Volcanic Monument in Washington, and Yellowstone National Park in Wyoming. Following the portfolio section are descriptions of each photograph, which include a wealth of geologic background as well as the myths surrounding volcanoes and the authors' accounts of their adventures during the years spent.

America's Volcanic Landscapes

Hot Spots

Charles Darwin's On the Origin of Species changed the way we understand the beginnings of life on earth. Darwin's ideas challenged people to think differently, to question long-held beliefs, and to explore a new field of scientific discovery. As a young man, Darwin worked to join the priesthood, but his life took a turn toward science after he joined a government mission to South America and the Pacific. Darwin's work on the trip pushed him to come up with new ideas about life and nature, including his famous theory of evolution. Learn the story of one of the most important scientific thinkers of all time in Charles Darwin: British Naturalist.

British Naturalist

Charles Darwin

Sajal Kumar Das

Smart Environments contains contributions from leading researchers, describing techniques and issues related to developing and living in intelligent environments. Reflecting the multidisciplinary nature of the design of smart environments, the topics covered include the latest research in smart environment philosophical and computational architecture considerations, network protocols for smart environments, intelligent sensor networks and powerline control of devices, and action prediction and identification.

Technology, Protocols and Applications

Smart Environments

A cool, unsettling story of grief and starting over – from the Guardian First Book Award long-listed collection Man V. Nature After the death of her husband a woman is relocated by the Placement Team to a prisonlike shelter for widows and the unwanted. There she is offered only one option: to prepare for her next husband. “Moving On” is the bold and brilliant opening story from Diane Cook’s critically acclaimed, award-winning debut collection Man v. Nature. Praise for Man V. Nature ‘A knockout ... every single story could make a great movie.’ Miranda July, author of The First Bad Man ‘Man V. Nature could also be called Diane Cook V. The Challenges of Writing Fresh, Invigorating Fiction in Our Age. In the latter contest, Cook crushes. Here is a bold debut.’ Sam Lipsyte, author of Home Land ‘Astonishing ... the stories are surreal, with the sharpest edge and in one way or another, each story reveals something raw and powerful about being human in a world where so little is in our control.’ Roxane Gay, author of Bad Feminist

Moving On

Leading landscape photographers Diane Cook and Len Jenshel present Wise Trees—a stunning photography book containing more than 50 historical trees with remarkable stories from around the world. Supported by grants from the Expedition Council of the National Geographic Society, Cook and Jenshel spent two years traveling to fifty-nine sites across five continents to photograph some of the world’s most historic and inspirational trees. Trees, they tell us, can live without us, but we cannot live without them. Not only do trees provide us with the oxygen we breathe, food gathered from their branches, and wood for both fuel and shelter, but they have been essential to the spiritual and cultural life of civilizations around the world. From Luna, the Coastal Redwood in California that became an international symbol when activist Julia Butterfly Hill sat for 738 days on a platform nestled in its branches to save it from logging, to the Bodhi Tree, the sacred fig in India that is a direct descendent of the tree under which Buddha attained enlightenment, Cook and Jenshel reveal trees that have impacted and shaped our lives, our traditions, and our feelings about nature. There are also survivor trees, including a camphor tree in Nagasaki that endured the atomic bomb, an American elm in Oklahoma City, and the 9/11 Survivor Tree, a Callery pear at the 9/11 Memorial. All of the trees were carefully selected for their role in human dramas. This project both reflects and inspires awareness of the enduring role of trees in nurturing and sheltering humanity. Photographers, environmentalists, history buffs, and nature-lovers alike will appreciate the extraordinary stories found within the pages of Wise Trees!

Diane Cook

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