Other website:    www.montereynature.com

https://www.amazon.com/dp/B0BGN8YC8W/ 

Like most die-hard NBA fans, the author gets frustrated by bad ref calls determining the outcome of a game or play-off series, fouls stopping fast breaks, strategic tanking for play-off positioning, imbalanced talent distribution, and watching a horrendous dunk contest that has the potential to be so much more.

Now that his analytical/creative capabilities surpass his jumping/shooting skills (more from a decline of the latter), he decided to do something about it. Drawing on his experiences from playing and conducting economic/statistical research on basketball, Arkes offers some mostly-sensible-and-easy-to-implement ideas to improve the NBA. These include, among other ideas:

• Rules to reduce the influence of bad ref calls

• A redesigned fun play-off format to reduce any incentive to tank for play-off positioning

• A revamped Slam Dunk competition and new exciting contests for All-Star Weekend

• A sensible approach to the proposed in-season tournament

• A revolutionary idea of a redesigned draft that gives players more power to determine their career trajectory.

These ideas support the guiding objectives of adding excitement, promoting fair treatment of players, having fair play determine games and play-off series, and promoting competitive balance. 

https://www.amazon.com/dp/B09NGYCD3N?ref_=pe_3052080_397514860 

Jeremy Arkes gives us the nature book he wanted to have when he moved to the Monterey Peninsula 14 years earlier. This book provides all you need to know for appreciating nature from Monterey through Carmel and to Big Sur - one of the most pristine, abundant, and diverse ecosystems in California. With a tinge of humor, Arkes:

• describes the “nature” of the trees, whales, sea otters, seals, sea lions, egrets, herons, tide-pool critters, and more

• tells you how to find and recognize these species

• discusses the role of some of the species in the local and global ecosystems

• helps you better appreciate a walk in the forest

• explains in simple terms how the Big Sur mountains and Point Lobos rocks formed

• tells you where you can enjoy a calm or restless ocean

• provides his own vivid photos of the species, the geology, and the best hikes

• suggests a photographic scavenger hunt and a photo contest you can have with friends (or with kids)

• fluidly weaves in how John Steinbeck, in Cannery Row, used Monterey nature as a metaphor for the harsh reality of post-Depression life.

In addition, Arkes draws connections between some animal (and tree!) behaviors and human behaviors, including some of the root causes of the divisiveness and dehumanizing behavior we have witnessed recently. Making these connections helps us understand the various species better. More importantly, it could help us better understand ourselves.

This is more than a nature guide. It is also a story on how various species are inter-connected and how removing a species from or introducing a species to an eco-system can disrupt a long-established harmony. 

https://www.amazon.com/dp/B0BMJ6DT7J/

This is an exploration of discovery of both nature and humans. Starting in early October 2021, in the spirit of John Steinbeck, the author began writing a few unplanned essays (or simple nature entries) per week on the wonders of the Monterey Peninsula’s natural world over the course of the year, the chaos in the country (and world) as the growing divisiveness and repercussions from the attempted coup play out, and how those two themes relate to each other. This includes reflections on books (such as Isabelle Allende and Steinbeck himself) and movies that have meaning in today’s world. Making such connections between nature, human chaos, and culture (as Aristotle alluded to) could help one appreciate better the magnificent traits of the animals and trees, and might help us better understand humans.

In Arkes’ essays, you will feel the combination of his frustration, anger, and sadness with environmental destruction and the insanity in the country, as well his appreciation of beautiful things in nature and life to remind us of the stakes. He raises interesting questions on matters such as whether humans comprise one of few species for which ignorance has not been mostly evolved out of the species, whether courage has become an evolutionary disadvantage, whether it would be better that we outlive various species or they outlive us, and whether we should trust those who have impostor complex (and understand what they don’t know) more than the more-confident among us. He discusses these issues while the Whales still (mostly) show up at their regularly-scheduled times of the year and other species go about their normal business – all unbothered, for now, by the chaos ensuing not that far away.