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Sharon Gilbert and Paul Huddy Picks

Bruce Aiken's Grand Canyon: An Intimate Affair
By . Grand Canyon Association
Bruce Aiken is an artist with a strong sense of place. His place is the Grand Canyon, within which he and his family lived for over thirty years, while he tended the Park’s precious water supply at Roaring Springs. From this most fortunate niche, he was able to paint the wonders of the world’s most famous Canyon in all kinds of light, times, and seasons. Happily, the Grand Canyon Association welcomed the project of documenting this man’s body of work and sharing with us his very blessed life.The result is a beautiful volume which includes 70 full page, color reproductions of his paintings and numerous smaller paintings and photographs. Accompanying maps and appendices invite further study.
Bruce Aiken's Grand Canyon: An Intimate Affair
By , Susan Hallsten McGarry. Grand Canyon Association
Bruce Aiken is an artist with a strong sense of place. His place is the Grand Canyon, within which he and his family lived for over thirty years, while he tended the Park’s precious water supply at Roaring Springs. From this most fortunate niche, he was able to paint the wonders of the world’s most famous Canyon in all kinds of light, times, and seasons. Happily, the Grand Canyon Association welcomed the project of documenting this man’s body of work and sharing with us his very blessed life.The result is a beautiful volume which includes 70 full page, color reproductions of his paintings and numerous smaller paintings and photographs. Accompanying maps and appendices invite further study.
Guide to Prehistoric Astronomy in the Southwest, A
By J. McKim Malville. Johnson Books


Long ago, a number of ancient civilizations around the world understood the regularity of astronomical movements in the sky, and regularly used observations to measure seasonal variations as the basis for annual calendars. Peoples who had to travel over distances of many hundreds of miles on foot could find this very useful in establishing times to get together for regular trade gatherings. Professor J. McKim Malville, a respected astronomer and elected Fellow of the American Association for the Advancement of Science for his work in solar astrophysics, has done pioneering work around the word investigating these early cultures, one of which was here in the Southwest. In this book he describes findings, theories, hypotheses and conjectures about the meaning and function of stone alignments and buildings of the prehistoric Southwest.


For advanced reading, we also recommend Foundations of New World Cultural Astronomy, edited by Anthony Aveni (2008), a Notable Southwest Book of the Year, which includes papers on many of these sites.
If I Die in Juarez
By Stella Pope Duarte. University of Arizona Press
Nearly 15 years after local rights workers began documenting the Juarez deaths, over 500 young women have been brutally murdered, the killings continue and few of the crimes have been solved. Organizations like Amnesty International and Human Rights Watch report that crimes against women are on the rise in much of the world, but Mexico is one of the worst cases anywhere. After years of investigation, Southwest author Stella Pope Duarte concluded that she could best express the full reality of the story in a fictional format. Her poignant eulogy to the brutalized women and their devastated families is so sad on so many levels that it is difficult to read. It vividly reflects, in the very human struggles of the families, the horrific effects of poverty, lack of education and opportunity. It is a war zone in Juarez and Duarte has stunningly realized in her novel a place and a people trying to survive amidst the greed, avarice and predation of a failed state and two failed governments.
Otero Mesa: Preserving America's Wildest Grassland
By Gregory McNamee. University of New Mexico Press
Otero Mesa is 1.2 million acres of one of the largest remaining natural Chihuahuan Desert grasslands left in the U.S. It is also one of a diminishing number of large public lands in the Southwest that are not open to oil and gas exploration. As we go to press, the outgoing administration plans to change that. The move is opposed by the government and people of New Mexico. This book’s story is important because it is representative of the on-going battle over the long term management of public lands and choices between development and extraction or preservation and nature, old paradigm consumption or new paradigm sustainability, corporate influence vs. public interest. Thanks to award-winning nature writer Greg McNamee, and the remarkable photography of scientist Stephen Strom and naturalist Stephen Capra, it is a story well told. Bill Richardson, Governor of New Mexico and former U.S. Secretary of Energy, wrote the forward.
Rainwater Harvesting for Drylands and Beyond. Volume 2, Water-harvesting Earthworks
By Brad Lancaster. Rainsource Press
Tucson and the Southwest have a problem: we live in a desert, we have used water like there was no end to it, and now we realize there is. What can we do? Thanks to the pioneering work of Brad Lancaster and others, there are good solutions to that with little or no cost. In this, his second volume of three, Brad shows in a easy to understand manner, supported with lots of illustrations, how to re-form yards, parks and other landscapes to capture rainfall and care for landscaping in natural ways. Because the average urban home in the Southwest uses more potable water on the yard than in the house, these measures can easily cut water bills in half for most people. For putting practical sustainability to good use, this is a top pick for those who live in the Southwest, and elsewhere
Southwestern Indian Jewelry: Crafting New Traditions
By Dexter Cirillo. Rizzoli International Publications, Inc.
In this sequel to her earlier authoritative work, Dexter Cirillo introduces a new generation of Southwest Native American jewelry makers and their stunning work. Over 85 top Navajo, Hopi, Zuni, and other artists are featured with gorgeous photographs of their stunningly beautiful pieces. Through innovative designs, dazzling techniques and amazing use of materials, the younger generation is taking the art in new and daring directions. In just under 250 pages, Dexter Cirillo and photographer Addison Doty delight the eye, inform the mind and expand the spirit with beautiful photographs of the artists’ work and world, a succinct but excellent history placing the current art into historical context, and in depth discussions of the numerous jewelers, with equal attention to their dazzling art.

About Paul Huddy

Sharon Gilbert is a librarian with the Pima County Public Library. Besides books and reading, she has a passion for art, architecture, interior design, gardening, cooking, crafts, travel and martial arts. Paul Huddy is a scientist with the Solar Institute whose passions include exploring and understanding the world around us and the nature of things. They grew up in Tucson and have known each other since high school. They say that they opened their first books at a young age and have never forgotten the thrill.