David G Haskell
@dghaskell.bsky.social
Writer, biologist
🌻How Flowers Made our World = new book in March 2026
Sounds Wild and Broken
13 Ways to Smell a Tree
The Songs of Trees
The Forest Unseen
🌻How Flowers Made our World = new book in March 2026
Sounds Wild and Broken
13 Ways to Smell a Tree
The Songs of Trees
The Forest Unseen
Pinned
David G Haskell
@dghaskell.bsky.social
· Aug 12
Coming in March 2026: Flowers! When flowers appeared, nothing was ever the same. They are the world’s great collaborators and creators. Writing this book transformed how I see life’s history and future. Cooperation, beauty, and illusion transform the world. Can't wait to share these stories
Giving one of my books as a gift? I'd be absolutely thrilled to send you a (free) signed and customized bookplate. Here's how to get one: dghaskell.com/custom-bookp...
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💚
Bookplates
For 2025: last day to request bookplates is December 1st. Thanks! Giving one of my books? I’d love to send you a signed bookplate (free). Here are the options: Bookplate options: Art Deco bor…
dghaskell.com
November 25, 2025 at 10:59 PM
Giving one of my books as a gift? I'd be absolutely thrilled to send you a (free) signed and customized bookplate. Here's how to get one: dghaskell.com/custom-bookp...
💚
💚
Bird list from dreams, continued:
Northern shoveler that I first mistook for a smew. Disappointed that smew wasn't for real, but enjoyed seeing that spoony beak.
Pied-billed grebe with glowing red eyes, swam right past me in weirdly clear-watered canal.
Northern shoveler that I first mistook for a smew. Disappointed that smew wasn't for real, but enjoyed seeing that spoony beak.
Pied-billed grebe with glowing red eyes, swam right past me in weirdly clear-watered canal.
November 22, 2025 at 12:58 PM
Bird list from dreams, continued:
Northern shoveler that I first mistook for a smew. Disappointed that smew wasn't for real, but enjoyed seeing that spoony beak.
Pied-billed grebe with glowing red eyes, swam right past me in weirdly clear-watered canal.
Northern shoveler that I first mistook for a smew. Disappointed that smew wasn't for real, but enjoyed seeing that spoony beak.
Pied-billed grebe with glowing red eyes, swam right past me in weirdly clear-watered canal.
Reminders (while raking) of the amazing creatures in the leaf litter. Restoring functional and locally-appropriate leaf leaf layer so important!
DeKay's brown snake and giant leopard moth caterpillar
DeKay's brown snake and giant leopard moth caterpillar
November 21, 2025 at 1:00 PM
Reminders (while raking) of the amazing creatures in the leaf litter. Restoring functional and locally-appropriate leaf leaf layer so important!
DeKay's brown snake and giant leopard moth caterpillar
DeKay's brown snake and giant leopard moth caterpillar
Celebrations of genocide and lynching are, according to the regime, merely politically divisive.
November 21, 2025 at 3:12 AM
Celebrations of genocide and lynching are, according to the regime, merely politically divisive.
We are deep into word-by-word censorship. Not only are universities purging/rewriting their websites based on centralized edicts, they are sending lists of forbidden words to guest speakers...
This week, I withdrew from a speaking engagement at a public university because they sent me a list of prohibited “words & concepts.” I will not humor this censorship. It does a disservice to the stories I’m discussing & the audience, who deserve unfettered access to information & conversation.
November 21, 2025 at 12:15 AM
We are deep into word-by-word censorship. Not only are universities purging/rewriting their websites based on centralized edicts, they are sending lists of forbidden words to guest speakers...
Meanwhile, in the US, we're steeped in neonics and barreling towards deeper deregulation
Good news: Study shows France’s birds making tentative recovery after neonicotinoid pesticide ban
UK has only just closed loophole in neonics ban (‘derogations’) so may be too soon to see recovery here?
www.theguardian.com/environment/...
UK has only just closed loophole in neonics ban (‘derogations’) so may be too soon to see recovery here?
www.theguardian.com/environment/...
With neonicotinoid pesticide ban, France’s birds make a tentative recovery - study
Analysis shows small hike in populations of insect-eating species after 2018 ruling, but full recovery may take decades
www.theguardian.com
November 18, 2025 at 12:03 PM
Meanwhile, in the US, we're steeped in neonics and barreling towards deeper deregulation
Reposted by David G Haskell
The absolute misogynistic delusion of claiming women don't succeed in academia because they aren't that smart is bad enough, but Larry Summers was also asking Epstein for advice on harassing a woman under the guise of mentorship. www.thecrimson.com/article/2025...
As Summers Sought Clandestine Relationship With Woman He Called a Mentee, Epstein Was His ‘Wing Man’ | News | The Harvard Crimson
When former Harvard President Lawrence H. Summers was pursuing a romantic relationship with a woman he described as a mentee, he turned to a longtime associate for guidance: convicted sex offender Jef...
www.thecrimson.com
November 17, 2025 at 3:26 PM
The absolute misogynistic delusion of claiming women don't succeed in academia because they aren't that smart is bad enough, but Larry Summers was also asking Epstein for advice on harassing a woman under the guise of mentorship. www.thecrimson.com/article/2025...
🦜eBird life list for dreams?
Can we report the creatures that wing through our consciousness when we're in slumberland? Last night's tally: five brown noddies, one wagtail, four bald eagles, and 16 immature turkey vultures. No pear tree, sadly, but some interesting branched cacti of unknown species
Can we report the creatures that wing through our consciousness when we're in slumberland? Last night's tally: five brown noddies, one wagtail, four bald eagles, and 16 immature turkey vultures. No pear tree, sadly, but some interesting branched cacti of unknown species
November 17, 2025 at 3:02 PM
🦜eBird life list for dreams?
Can we report the creatures that wing through our consciousness when we're in slumberland? Last night's tally: five brown noddies, one wagtail, four bald eagles, and 16 immature turkey vultures. No pear tree, sadly, but some interesting branched cacti of unknown species
Can we report the creatures that wing through our consciousness when we're in slumberland? Last night's tally: five brown noddies, one wagtail, four bald eagles, and 16 immature turkey vultures. No pear tree, sadly, but some interesting branched cacti of unknown species
Sickening, as is the fact that Epstein was invited to editorial meetings for Scientific American.
A trove of e-mails from convicted sex offender Jeffrey Epstein was released by a congressional committee on Wednesday
Jeffrey Epstein E-mails Reveal Depth of Ties to High-Profile Scientists
A trove of e-mails from convicted sex offender Jeffrey Epstein was released by a congressional committee on Wednesday
www.scientificamerican.com
November 16, 2025 at 3:21 AM
Sickening, as is the fact that Epstein was invited to editorial meetings for Scientific American.
To be published in January 2026. @berondam.bsky.social's new book is absolutely wonderful and you should do yourself a favor and pre-order now!
Thanks @dghaskell.bsky.social re: When Trees Testify (@henryholtbooks.bsky.social)
"Absolutely essential reading for anyone interested in the convergences of human & plant lives. Full of joy, sorrow & brilliant insight, this book forever changed how I think about trees & American ecology & history."
"Absolutely essential reading for anyone interested in the convergences of human & plant lives. Full of joy, sorrow & brilliant insight, this book forever changed how I think about trees & American ecology & history."
November 13, 2025 at 10:21 PM
To be published in January 2026. @berondam.bsky.social's new book is absolutely wonderful and you should do yourself a favor and pre-order now!
Northern lights in Atlanta!!! Happening right now (Tuesday evening). Never thought I'd see them, let alone in ATL
If your skies are clear in N hemisphere, head outside!
If your skies are clear in N hemisphere, head outside!
November 12, 2025 at 3:17 AM
Northern lights in Atlanta!!! Happening right now (Tuesday evening). Never thought I'd see them, let alone in ATL
If your skies are clear in N hemisphere, head outside!
If your skies are clear in N hemisphere, head outside!
Reposted by David G Haskell
For anyone too young to remember what it was like before ACA…
IT WAS A FUCKING NIGHTMARE.
IT WAS A FUCKING NIGHTMARE.
One of the most important provisions of the ACA was eliminating pre-existing conditions exclusions from insurance plans.
Folks need to be reminded that if the ACA goes away, so does that provision.
Folks need to be reminded that if the ACA goes away, so does that provision.
November 9, 2025 at 8:29 PM
For anyone too young to remember what it was like before ACA…
IT WAS A FUCKING NIGHTMARE.
IT WAS A FUCKING NIGHTMARE.
This is one of those books that changed how I see and understand culture and history. I learned a huge amount from @juliaioffe.bsky.social's telling of these stories, and I greatly appreciated her writing voice which is both rigorous and imbued with distinctive and compelling energy.
MOTHERLAND is finally out today! And she's a finalist for the National Book Award.
Get your copy today!
bookshop.org/p/books/moth...
Get your copy today!
bookshop.org/p/books/moth...
November 9, 2025 at 6:46 PM
This is one of those books that changed how I see and understand culture and history. I learned a huge amount from @juliaioffe.bsky.social's telling of these stories, and I greatly appreciated her writing voice which is both rigorous and imbued with distinctive and compelling energy.
"Beneath its humdrum requests, every email said more or less the same thing: Can you explain how reading certain things can turn a person into a socialist—and, possibly, a terrorist-sympathizing antisemite? It’s a storied gambit of the right at its most grimly predictable"
lithub.com/maybe-dont-t...
lithub.com/maybe-dont-t...
Maybe Don’t Talk to the New York Times About Zohran Mamdani
It’s remarkable, the people you’ll hear from. Teach for even a little while at an expensive institution—the term they tend to prefer is “elite”—and odds are that eventually someone who was a studen…
lithub.com
November 8, 2025 at 10:11 PM
"Beneath its humdrum requests, every email said more or less the same thing: Can you explain how reading certain things can turn a person into a socialist—and, possibly, a terrorist-sympathizing antisemite? It’s a storied gambit of the right at its most grimly predictable"
lithub.com/maybe-dont-t...
lithub.com/maybe-dont-t...
Insane mast year
Water oak covering Atlanta with the cutest acorns ever
Water oak covering Atlanta with the cutest acorns ever
November 8, 2025 at 2:44 PM
Insane mast year
Water oak covering Atlanta with the cutest acorns ever
Water oak covering Atlanta with the cutest acorns ever
Reposted by David G Haskell
Thinking only of Rosalind Franklin today, and what was stolen from her (and so many other female scientists alongside her).
Rosalind Franklin and the damage of gender harassment
Spurred by a recent report on sexual harassment in academia, our columnist revisits a historical case and reflects on what has changed—and what hasn’t
www.science.org
November 7, 2025 at 7:58 PM
Thinking only of Rosalind Franklin today, and what was stolen from her (and so many other female scientists alongside her).
Media coverage of James Watson's death rightly notes his white supremacy (and misogyny, notably his refusal to credit Dr. Rosalind Franklin with her role in the elucidation of the structure of DNA). His were not an isolated set of beliefs, though. thread...
November 7, 2025 at 9:25 PM
Media coverage of James Watson's death rightly notes his white supremacy (and misogyny, notably his refusal to credit Dr. Rosalind Franklin with her role in the elucidation of the structure of DNA). His were not an isolated set of beliefs, though. thread...
Reposted by David G Haskell
The man who ended USAID is the world's first trillionaire
November 7, 2025 at 2:14 AM
The man who ended USAID is the world's first trillionaire
Eastern Forest playing cards are back in stock! Each card a different species, each suit a different sense. Art by Ellen Litwiller, micropoems on natural history by me. All my proceeds to enviro ed and conservation. Celebrating human play and forest biodiversity 💚
www.artofplay.com/products/eas...
www.artofplay.com/products/eas...
October 20, 2025 at 5:53 PM
Eastern Forest playing cards are back in stock! Each card a different species, each suit a different sense. Art by Ellen Litwiller, micropoems on natural history by me. All my proceeds to enviro ed and conservation. Celebrating human play and forest biodiversity 💚
www.artofplay.com/products/eas...
www.artofplay.com/products/eas...
Reposted by David G Haskell
Those with sharp eyes might detect a subtle difference in NYT play last month of an event in one city, w 100,000+ attendees, versus play this morning of some 2500+ events w many millions of attendees, in all 50 states.
See if you can spot it! /s
Then you can find today's story on p A23
See if you can spot it! /s
Then you can find today's story on p A23
October 19, 2025 at 2:35 PM
Those with sharp eyes might detect a subtle difference in NYT play last month of an event in one city, w 100,000+ attendees, versus play this morning of some 2500+ events w many millions of attendees, in all 50 states.
See if you can spot it! /s
Then you can find today's story on p A23
See if you can spot it! /s
Then you can find today's story on p A23
Reposted by David G Haskell
Timeline cleanser 🐈
September 26, 2025 at 5:37 PM
Timeline cleanser 🐈
Reposted by David G Haskell
Today I am mostly thinking about the popular inter-war literary genre 'animal stories written by fascists'. Join me.
October 14, 2025 at 9:56 AM
Today I am mostly thinking about the popular inter-war literary genre 'animal stories written by fascists'. Join me.
Reposted by David G Haskell
This had me on "ribbit."
October 13, 2025 at 10:03 PM
This had me on "ribbit."
Reposted by David G Haskell
'When authoritarians seize power, it is crucial to recognize courageous defenders of freedom who rise and resist,' the Norwegian Nobel Committee said as it announced Maria Corina Machado as the winner of the 2025 Nobel Peace Prize
October 10, 2025 at 9:31 AM
'When authoritarians seize power, it is crucial to recognize courageous defenders of freedom who rise and resist,' the Norwegian Nobel Committee said as it announced Maria Corina Machado as the winner of the 2025 Nobel Peace Prize