The SS Empire Howard, though it was after they fell asleep. See http://books.google.se/books?id=2Zc9AAAAIAAJ&pg=PA73&... .

The story you read was likely from Bill Bryson's book "A Walk in the Woods", which talks about 12 Danish fishermen, but that story doesn't seem to be correct in its details.

Your comment made me think of Bill Bryson's accounts of how people change on the trail in 'A Walk In The Woods'. Good book if anyone is considering a thru-hike, and it's just a fun read anyway.

Bill Bryson. Enough said.

"A Walk in the Woods" or "Notes from a Small Island" had me in stiches.

"The Electric Kool-Aid Acid Test" by Tom Wolfe (RIP). One of my all time favorite book, one of my all time favorite authors.

"The World According to Garp" by John Irving. Again, one of my favorite authors, one of his best books, but I really recommend almost all of his books.

"Starship Troopers" by Robert A. Heinlein. Just read this a couple weeks ago, highly recommended.

"A Walk in the Woods" by Bill Bryson. Just another of my favorite authors, I recommend any of his books if you like travel books. Very witty and well written stuff. A Walk in the Woods is probably his best known book about his attempt to thru-hike the AT.

"Story of Your Life and Others" - Ted Chiang. Really really good sci-fi short stories. Some great stuff. The movie Arrival is based on the title short story, Story of Your Life.

Honorable Mentions (from things I've read in the past year):
"Meddling Kids" by Edgar Cantero
"The Island of Dr. Moreau" by H.G. Wells
"Furiously Happy" by Jenny Lawson

I could keep listing books, but this is probably already excessive.

If you're interested in the industrial sites as I am, you might find it interesting to know that the New Jersey Zinc in Palmerton, PA once had two sites: the now demolished West Plant, shown in pictures on the site, and the remaining East Plant.

The East Plant and the damage it has wrought are famously described in Bill Bryson's book A Walk in the Woods[0]. It's still standing just north of the ridge the Appalachian Trail passes by on.

When I thru-hiked in 2010, vegetation was starting to take hold on the ridge and the slope leading town to the plant, but it was still pretty barren. The experience following that ridge is unique and unlike anything else on the entirety of the trail. Even if you walked that stretch without any knowledge of what had happened, it would be pretty clear that something had.

Bryson, I think rightly, takes a nuanced view of the site. It's easy to condemn the destruction and deforestation today, but most of us have benefited from the widespread use of zinc.

I wish I had popped into Palmerton to see the plant from the road instead of just from the ridge; I hiked through Lehigh Gap without hitting town, and I kind of regret it.

If you find yourself in the area and are inclined to take a hike to see the site from above, you should know that the hike up out of Lehigh Gap is both steep and completely unshaded. As long as you're in the area, it might also be of interest to know that Centralia isn't far away[1].

[0] And if you were turned off from ever picking it up by seeing the movie, I don't blame you. I assure you the book is better in every way.

[1] https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Centralia,_Pennsylvania

"A Short History of Nearly Everything" is an amazing book. Bill Bryson is one of my favorite authors, and even though the book can get a little slow at times (for me, at least) in some of the later chapters, his wit and writing style still make it entertaining.

If you haven't read A Walk in the Woods, or In a Sunburned Country by him, I highly recommend those as well.

> The parks are heavily curated and managed

The Bill Bryson book on the Appalachian Trail (A Walk in the Woods) gives a very different impression. It seemed to him to be underfunded and pretty badly managed with individuals trying very hard despite limited funds and support. Alarmingly there was even logging being done. I have never been to any of them.

A Walk in the Woods - Bill Bryson.

- I've been participating in https://www.reddit.com/r/ayearofwarandpeace since January 2nd of this year. I've stuck with it and we're very close to the end of the book. It's true that the book's long, but nearly every chapter can be read in 15 minutes or less, which is how we've been able to stretch it out.

Books that I've started but haven't finished (primarily due to W&P):

- Dune (Frank Herbert)

- Men At Arms - Discworld (Pratchett)

- The Diamond Age (Stephenson)

- Neuromancer (Gibson)

- The Shadow Rising - Wheel of Time (Jordan)

- Count of Monte Cristo (Dumas)

Books that I plan on reading in 2020:

- Little Women (Alcott)

- Broad Band: The Untold Story of the Women Who Made the Internet (Evans)

- A Walk in the Woods (Bryson)

I thru-hiked in 2002 and at that point a lot of discussion was about the surge in hikers due to Bill Bryson's "A Walk In The Woods". The movie comes out this fall so I expect even more hikers next year.

Bad behavior by a few was a problem in 2002 and the offenders were mostly ignorant of the effects for those who came after them that year or in subsequent years.

Taking on an endeavor like a thru-hike is a huge challenge and a small number of hikers definitely let it go to their head resulting in the false belief that they are VIP hikers exempt from rules, regulations, and common etiquette.

It wouldn't surprise me if or more stringent permitting system gets enacted although I think some town complaints could be addressed by requiring some sort of a membership/registration system, perhaps administered by ALDHA (Appalachian Long Distance Hikers Association).

This is not communication. The subterranean insects probably know nothing at all about the above ground insects feeding on the leaves.

Thinking about it evolutionarily in two ways
1) plants into which the subterranean insects unknowingly inject their distasteful chemicals live longer because above ground insects do not eat them to death, thus the subterranean insects live longer and propagate more.

2) in A Walk In the Woods, I read about trees that when chewed upon by an outside force, will produce a chemical that will drive the predator away. They can even send signals to other trees. This same chemical may be the one that fends off the above ground predators, but the subterranean ones are immune.

Anyway, there are many explanations for this phenomenon that do not include the conscious "use" of the plant to communicate with other animals of other species.

The article is misleading at best. using a telephone is a process which implies that the caller believes to some degree that someone else will answer the phone and a conversation can be had.

There's nothing of that sort going on here...