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“To live within limits, to want one thing, or a very few things, very much and love them dearly, cling to them, survey them from every angle, become one with them—that is what makes the poet, the artist, the human being.”
- Johann Wolfgang von Goethe (1749–1832) German writer, philosopher, polymath
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2018 CHOICE Award
American Library Association Outstanding Academic Title (Click Cover)
Oak Ridge talk
Natural Histories
UT Press 2007
Ghost Birds
"Ghost Birds: Jim Tanner and the Quest for the Ivory-billed Woodpecker, 1935 to 1941." UT Press 2010
Ghost Birds talk
Yakima Valley College 2017
Smithsonian article
(Click for article) or to buy a copy of the September 2010 "Smithsonian" with my ivory-bill article signed by Nancy Tanner contact me.
Ghost Birds: Reviews
Cornell Review
THQ Review
French review
Tribute to Mom
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Smoky Mountain Roots
Alex Cole cabin at great-granddad Jim Bales homesite Great Smoky Mountains National Park
WBIR Channel 10
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Articles published 2020
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2018
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2018
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Author's photo blog
My favorite photos from blog are for sale (Click photo)
Articles to look for
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Ghost Birds blog
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Ivory-bill notecards
Notecards of my ivory-bill cover art are available, either singularly (with envelope) or boxes of eight cards (with envelopes) For more information, contact me.
Ivory-bill print
11X14 prints, suitable for framing, of my ivory-bill cover art are available. For more information, contact me.
also available
Natural Histories notecards with illustrations from the book
Click for David Keffer poem
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4 comments:
To live within limits... Doesn't that restrict us. I mean where's the freedom to go out and explore new things .. New experiences... May be i missed the point.. MY BAD
Hello friend Aby.
Thank you for your comment. I hope you are well.
What I think resonates about this quote from Goethe, is in the Thoreauian sense of living modestly within your economic means, within limits. America is going through an economic crisis mostly because people were not living within limits, they were living way beyond their means, spending too much, charging too much. People are losing their houses because they bought too expensive of a house in the first place. Thoreau would say, live simply, modestly, only take what you need and nothing more because you will spend your entire life working to pay for things you really didn’t need.
To live within limits doesn’t mean you cannot learn, explore, discover. IN fact, you have greater freedom because you do not need to work as many hours and have more time off to enjoy life.
OK?
Johann Wolfgang von Goethe may only have lived from 11 minutes to 6 until 28 minutes to 7, but boy did he learn fast.
A timely reminder, Stephen.
Yes indeed Rambling. He did.
It's good to hear from you again.
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