Elizabeth Bradfield Recommends...

“There is phenomenal beauty in the language developed for a particular field—whether it’s architecture, dentistry, tree pruning, or accounting.

Stories lurk in the specific tools and tasks. For me, the natural sciences and seafaring are muses. Science News and the American Practical Navigator come to mind as sources I’ve turned to. But immersion in the language and concerns of any profession can unveil rich sounds and provide a new lens through which the world can be seen. Take the scupper, the hole that allows water to drain from a boat’s deck—how can you not be inspired by the word scupper? Using that ‘other’ language and making sense of the view it describes—bridging the plumber’s or the neurologist’s vision and your own—is a challenge and a delight.”
—Elizabeth Bradfield, author of Approaching Ice (Persea Books, 2010)