PelicanZell Blog

This 320 page book is subtitled “A true story of money laundering, murder, and surviving Vladimir Putin’s wrath”. It was published in April 2022. Book review completed by Richard Zell Donovan, November 2024. Given to me by my nephew Daniel (Booie) Donovan, this is a surprisingly easy to read book, with 41 well-written chapters that…

Book written by Klaus J. Puettman, K. David Coates, and Christian Messier, published in 2009 by Island Press and book review by Richard Zell Donovan, November 2024. This short book – 188 pages including references and index – explores how over time forest complexity has been driven out of conventional silviculture in the interests of…

Richard Z. Donovan, September 2024 In November of 2023 I offered some perspectives on the continuing evolution of the FSC system to FSC colleagues around the world – particularly founding and current members of FSC and other forest experts or aficionados. Following is an update on those previous thoughts, plus a couple additional items, as…

A brief perspective by Richard Zell Donovan, May 2024 Sometimes it takes a long time to learn something. I have been part of the process of creating the Forest Stewardship Council (FSC) system since November 1990. Subsequently, during 27 years at Rainforest Alliance, I was involved in managing parts of the system. I was at…

Review done by Richard Zell Donovan, May 2024. The subtitle is “The Klu Klux Klan’s Plot to Take Over America, and the Woman Who Stopped Them”. The hard copy paper version is 432 pages long. I listened to this unabridged book on an Audible podcast whilst biking. Egan also wrote the 2009 book called “Big…

Written April 9, 2024 by Richard Zell Donovan The Musk biography is very well written, highly readable and moves fast. It is a long at 688 pages, and presents the complex, often times perplexing and confounding dynamics of Elon Musk the person. It covers his life up until late 2022-early 2023, and includes coverage from…

Book published in 2020 & review by Richard Zell Donovan, February 2024 This intriguing 258 page book, loaned to me by another swimmer, is basically a tribute to swimming. The California-based author tells stories from around the world about competitive and non-competitive swimmers, including survivors of unplanned cold water adventures (typically long) and also just…

Published in 2018, with translation from German by Jane Billinghurst, 165 pages, sponsored by the David Suzuki Institute of Canada and published by Greystone Books. The book was a gift from my wife Karen. Review done by Richard Zell Donovan, January 2024. This engaging book is beautifully illustrated with photos from various “Shutterstock.com” and other…

January 2024 by Richard Zell Donovan Note: In 2021 I produced a perspective on forests and biomass energy. For better or worse, the following is a mild rewrite of that, with some updating after my last 4-5 years of experience in the sector. My fundamental message is that biomass energy, based on wood or forests,…

Book by Richard Powers, W.W. published in 2018 by Norton & Company, 502 pages, reviewed December 2023 by Richard Zell Donovan This Pulitzer Prize-winning 2018 novel is perplexing to review. It received many incredibly positive reviews by luminaries around the world….making my own independent reflections on it a bit daunting. But here goes…. Through the…