## Metadata - Author: [[Marcia Bjornerud]] - Full Title: Turning to Stone - Category: #books ## Highlights - I grew up in a rural part of Wisconsin in the 1970s, an odd and awkward girl who found trees and stones to be good companions. Like most children, I simply assumed that objects were sentient, had preferences and personalities. As an aspiring scientist, however, I had trained myself to set any such notions aside in order to develop an objective, analytical understanding of nature. Surviving graduate school requires that one become an orthodox adherent to the rules of one’s academic sect, and in the sciences, one of the deadliest sins is animism—describing inert entities like glaciers and mountains as if they were living beings. ([Location 97](https://readwise.io/to_kindle?action=open&asin=B0CW1L6JDM&location=97)) - Tags: [[blue]] - Contrary to their reputation, rocks are alert, responsive, communicative. They are the force field in which we live, the infrastructure of our existence, playing central roles in the “economy” of the world, as aquifers, architects of topography, managers of ocean chemistry, regulators of climate. They are also shape-shifters and fortune tellers. Once one becomes attuned to the language of rocks, it is obvious that Earth is vibrantly alive—and speaking to us all the time. Although we have sickened ourselves and vandalized our own home through ignorance and hubris, we may be restored by turning to stone and heeding its lessons in durability. ([Location 153](https://readwise.io/to_kindle?action=open&asin=B0CW1L6JDM&location=153)) - As I imagine that school bus chugging up and down the hills, I realize how all of us—our families, the farms, and the town—like the land, were wholly shaped by sand. It defined the topography, determined the makeup of the forests, dictated where houses could be built and wells could be sunk, what crops could be grown, who got rich and who slid into debt. ([Location 197](https://readwise.io/to_kindle?action=open&asin=B0CW1L6JDM&location=197)) - Tags: [[blue]]