Keith County Journal

by John Janovy Jr.

To learn from nature, not about nature, was the imperative that took John Janovy Jr. and his students into the sandhills, marshes, grasslands, canyons, lakes, and streams of Keith County in western Nebraska. The biologist explores the web of interrelationships among land, animals, and human beings. Even termites, snails, and barn swallows earn respect and assume significance in the overall scheme of things. Janovy, reminiscent of Henry David Thoreau in his acute powers of observation and search for wisdom, has written a new foreword for this Bison Books edition.

Genres: Nonfiction, Nature, Biology

212 pages, Paperback

First published January 1, 1978

About the author

Emeritus Professor of Biological Sciences at the University of Nebraska.

Reviews

[Kate · Rating 5 out of 5]

This was an odd book. I couldn't really get into it at first, couldn't find the thread of the book as it were.

And then it all came together in the last chapters, and I understood. I've suffered from the Ogallala Blues: that yearning to be outdoors and gone when you're chained to a desk, tidying up the paperwork, writing your report, earning your daily crust in some office building somewhere -- an office building with no windows, or if there are windows, they look out over the industrial section of town.

Other than that, I can't find the words to describe how mystic this book is, and yet how intimately connected to each of us, and to the planet. You'll just have to read it yourself to find out.

[Tuck · Rating 4 out of 5]

Very nice natural history, mostly on the microscopic level, but up to and including humans and their structures, of southwestern Nebraska. An area noted for the sand hills, a vast area of tall grass prairie and clear cold springs and creeks, all flowing southeast to the north and south Platte rivers. The water comes from the Ogallala aquifer which is normally 100’s of feet below the surface, but in this northern terminus of the aquifer erosion has tapped the pool and some springs bubble up in the middle of very dry great northern plains. Author Janovy worked at u of Nebraska for many years and did mountains of research in this area, looking mostly at malaria in birds, amoebas on fish gills, chiggers on kangaroo rats, and much more of the like on swallows, toads, dead carp, dead coons, etc etc.
An international oil pipeline is proposed to ship tarsands crude through her from Alberta to lousiana.
A lyrical, meditative, and funny book here of science, scientists, rednecks, ranchers, and nature.

Here is an excerpt about barn swallows:
“The Keystone-Paxton road is made of sand and cattle guards, and runs generally parallel to the North Platte River, having crossed that river at the Paxton bridge north of town. Paxton is down the asphalt highway a few miles from the roadside ditch where the spadefoot toads breed. The town is world-famous for Ole’s Bar, and Ole’s is famous for its animals. Just inside the door is a polar bear killing a seal. Further inside are some equally dramatic prey-predator relationships. Covering the walls are mounted specimens of every conceivable kind of potential “game” animal, ranging from a king vulture to a marine iguana, with the normal series of wart hogs and antelope between. I found Ole’s very educational; there are not many zoos or museums where one can drink beer in the middle of the day and hold class to the strains of Merle Haggard or Hank Williams, Jr. Cliff swallows are starting a new colony beneath the bridge north of Patxton. The road turns left across a cattle guard and heads out through termite country to Keystone [a local lake].
Keystone is on the north shore of the North Platte River and consists of a special small white church and a laundry-grocery store-filling station, a ball diamond, a gravel fork in the road, and a few frame house with no one around. It was near Keystone that Killer was captured, running across the water in a roadside ditch beneath some small stray willows. A brave and healthy plains lad pursued Killer with a mayonnaise jar and deftly scooped her up just before she reached the shelter of the dense brush. Ensconced in a gallon jar labeled “home” and “visitors,” she promptly dispatched all comers, including a large centipede from under a local rock. Killer was never identified as to species, and I am not sure our spider literature is complete enough to accomplish that even if we had tried. Not far from Killer’s ditch is Hirundo’s culvert, a very special kind of culvert, transmitting a spring-fed creek beneath the Keystone-Paxton road, and containing a concrete slide, which is great fun to play on, and barn swallow nests. The nests are snug up against the ceiling of the culvert. A swallow appears always to cover its back, if not with a seventy-dollar apartment or a mud flask of its own making, then with a ceiling of a culvert. The barn swallow nests are mud and dried grass and are stuck to the culvert wall just under the ceiling. There may be many nests in a culvert, but one always gets the impression the gathering is fortuitous, and that the animals are not really dependent upon on another’s company, or at least not directly dependent in the manner of purple martins and cliff swallows.
Barn swallows are incredibly fast. They are incredibly streamlined, especially in the air. They are incredibly numerous, and abound in and around culverts on every mile of every road in the United States……..”
Etc

[Ron · Rating 5 out of 5]

There are books by scientists and nature writers that inspire an attitude of awe and wonder, and they do it with a graceful style of coolly elegant prose. This is not one of those books. Janovy, a University of Nebraska biologist specializing in parasitology, is often awestruck by nature, but his style is wonky and comically ironic, using the kind of classroom lecture technique meant to engage undergraduates by seeming to be anything but reverential about subjects he loves, enjoys, and deeply cares about.

Unscientifically, he personalizes and humanizes the species he discusses (termites, snails, fish, birds) and even the places where he and his students do their field work - the Platte River, the waters of man-made Lake McConaughy, the streams and marshes that feed into it, and the Nebraska Sandhills. And there are references as well to beer drinking, the Doors, and Waylon Jennings. He refers to himself sometimes in the third person and easily reveals his own embarrassments and frustrations as his attempts to unravel nature's mysteries are sometimes less than successful. Waxing philosophical at nearly every turn, he eventually reaches a state of mind he calls the "Ogallala blues."

Meanwhile, like a great teacher who inspires with his enthusiasms, he opens a world unknown to anyone unaware of the subtle and complex relationships between species. And he's able to do this by focusing on just a few life forms, including one-celled animals, in a small area of western Nebraska. Janovy invites you to take the nearest exit ramp within range of open fields and streams - even a patch of weeds - and just feast your senses on the flora and fauna. His book is full of fascinating material for the nonbiologist and a pleasure to read.

[Angie (Bussen) Siedell · Rating 2 out of 5]

I love nature. I enjoy science. I love learning new things. I'm an absolute fan-girl of all things Keith County/Paxton/Sandhills/North Platte River. This is the part of the world that most fills my soul. With that said... *yawn*. Also...*eyeroll*.

I was a bit perplexed in the beginning of chapter one, until I figured out what the author was doing. I was pulled in completely by chapters two and three. "This could be interesting!" "Yay! I'm really going to enjoy this!"

Then, I began fighting the urge to eyeroll. Being one to not give up on a book, I powered through... Until I began skimming. I'd read a bit, skim a paragraph or two, read a bit. Then came the part where I began to wonder, "Will this yammering never cease?" "Does he just like hearing his own voice?" "What's he blabbering about now?" "Oh for crying out loud! Will someone make it stop?"

*sigh* I really wanted to like this one.

[Elisha Hartzell · Rating 2 out of 5]

I don't think I should even rate this. I had to read this for a book club. I think what the book is about is not that interesting and hard to follow. John rambles on. He is a great writer, funny, but goes on a lot of tangents...his other Keith County book is by far better. I feel like if I was a biology student I may love this book. So this rating is maybe more towards the Book Club pick than the actual book. Sorry John.

[Teagan E · Rating 5 out of 5]

I absolutely loved Janovy's style - completely poetic and filled with insights and connections, with just enough mystery that I stayed entranced.

[Tanja · Rating 4 out of 5]

I picked up “Keith County Journal” by John Janovy, Jr. after I heard about the Nebraska 150 Challenge, an initiative that is supposed to encourage readers to learn more about Nebraska and/or read books by Nebraskan authors. It reminded me a little bit of “A Short History of Nearly Everything” by Bill Bryson, more in the story telling form rather than dry textbook style, though it was neither as elaborate, nor as lengthy.
John Janovy, Jr. is a biologist with a sense of humor who seems to not only look at tiny parasites but also at their role in the big picture of nature. Especially the chapter “The Interface” made me wonder about other transmission ways of the Zika virus. Janovy’s chapter about “Painting Birds” touched me in a personal way as I have my own memories about holding birds. Overall, I really enjoyed this book and found it quite interesting.

[Carl · Rating 4 out of 5]

Thought this a different, intriguing way of thinking like a naturalist. Author's academic background was in parasitology, which also gives it an interesting spin.