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A New Index for Predicting Catastrophes
A striking poetic debut that brilliantly illuminates and celebrates the intersection of poetry and science, and the ways they can mediate our discovery of the world and our place in it.
Originating from her living room, backyard garden, university office, or the field sites in boreal or tropical forests, the poems in Madhur Anand’s captivating debut collection compose a lyric science; they bring order and chaos together into a unified theory of predicting catastrophes, large and small. Anand’s ecologist poetics are sophisticated and original; her voice is an “index,” a way of cataloguing and measuring the world and human experience, and of illuminating the interconnectedness at the heart of all things. Narrating the beauty of her perceived world, the poems unabashedly embrace the scintillant language of scientific evidence as they interrogate crises of personal and global concern. The result is a poetry that is as complex as it is compassionate. Anand’s modernist intervention into “nature” poetry is a sparkling addition to poetics in Canada and beyond.
Originating from her living room, backyard garden, university office, or the field sites in boreal or tropical forests, the poems in Madhur Anand’s captivating debut collection compose a lyric science; they bring order and chaos together into a unified theory of predicting catastrophes, large and small. Anand’s ecologist poetics are sophisticated and original; her voice is an “index,” a way of cataloguing and measuring the world and human experience, and of illuminating the interconnectedness at the heart of all things. Narrating the beauty of her perceived world, the poems unabashedly embrace the scintillant language of scientific evidence as they interrogate crises of personal and global concern. The result is a poetry that is as complex as it is compassionate. Anand’s modernist intervention into “nature” poetry is a sparkling addition to poetics in Canada and beyond.
- GenresPoetryCanadaNonfiction
112 pages, Paperback
First published April 14, 2015
5 people are currently reading
236 people want to read
About the author
Madhur Anand
6 books46 followersMadhur Anand's debut book of creative nonfiction "This Red Line Goes Straight to Your Heart" (2020) won the Governor General's Literary Award for Nonfiction. Her debut collection of poems "A New Index for Predicting Catastrophes" (2015) was a finalist for the Trillium Book Award for Poetry and named one of 10 all-time "trailblazing" poetry collections by the Canadian Broadcasting Corporation (CBC). Her second collection of poems "Parasitic Oscillations" (2022) was also a finalist for the Trillium Award for Poetry and named a Globe and Mail Top 100 Book. "To Place a Rabbit"(Knopf Canada) is her first novel. She is a professor and the director of the Global Ecological Change and Sustainability Laboratory at the University of Guelph, Ontario.
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Displaying 1 - 18 of 18 reviews
August 11, 2017
I enjoyed this science-based approach to poetry, but although I thought the technique was intriguing, the poems didn't make a huge impact on me. This lack of interest I think is entirely on my part though as nature poems don't thrill me as much as poetry about people and feelings. There certainly were more than just descriptions in the book, but the topic wasn't one I enjoyed that much.
May 8, 2019
A collection of nature poetry that dares to step out of the artist's perspective and view the world with a more scientific eye. I don't know that poems with footnotes to ecological journals will ever become a trend, but I loved seeing it here.
September 26, 2015
Absolutely incredible poetry written by a SCIENTIST of all people!! It's breathtaking!!
February 7, 2018
The premise of this was so intriguing and exciting to me. My experience with science mostly ended after high school but I have a deep admiration for people who work in both science and the arts, and even more so for people who can combine their passions for the two.
I once took a philosophy seminar with a classmate who had done graduate work in both philosophy and physics -- reading this was a little like that experience. While I was fascinated and interested in everything she was saying, I just didn't get so much of it. That wasn't her fault and it's not Madhur Anand's either, but looking back, I don't know if this was the book for me.
While I wouldn't say you necessarily need a science background to enjoy this, not having one made me have to pause and look up concepts so many times that the thread and magic of the poetry often got lost. There were some poems in here that I found very clever and moving but most of them felt a bit too clinical for me. I like my poetry to be more emotion-driven and I felt too distanced from this for the most part. Again, this may very well have been an issue on my end of translation, but I had a hard time getting into a number of these works.
Again, I did really enjoy some of the poetry here. The imagery was very effective and I'm still excited about the intersection of poetry and science that Anand was exploring. On a personal note, this was also special to read for some of the references to Anand's personal life and background -- we're both Indian-Canadian women and the smallest references to it were so memorable to me (seriously, I took a picture of "Parle-G" and sent it to my sister who always has a pack of them handy with six exclamation points).
If this sounds like something you might be interested in, I would definitely recommend checking it out! It's an innovative work of poetry, both subject- and technique-wise and Anand has a great voice. I just had a harder time than I'd hoped connecting to it meaningfully.
PS If you're going to check this out, I would also recommend getting a physical copy if you can, or at least reading on something with a larger screen. I read mostly from apps on my phone nowadays which is great for convenience but not great for respecting the structure of the poetry in this volume.
I once took a philosophy seminar with a classmate who had done graduate work in both philosophy and physics -- reading this was a little like that experience. While I was fascinated and interested in everything she was saying, I just didn't get so much of it. That wasn't her fault and it's not Madhur Anand's either, but looking back, I don't know if this was the book for me.
While I wouldn't say you necessarily need a science background to enjoy this, not having one made me have to pause and look up concepts so many times that the thread and magic of the poetry often got lost. There were some poems in here that I found very clever and moving but most of them felt a bit too clinical for me. I like my poetry to be more emotion-driven and I felt too distanced from this for the most part. Again, this may very well have been an issue on my end of translation, but I had a hard time getting into a number of these works.
Again, I did really enjoy some of the poetry here. The imagery was very effective and I'm still excited about the intersection of poetry and science that Anand was exploring. On a personal note, this was also special to read for some of the references to Anand's personal life and background -- we're both Indian-Canadian women and the smallest references to it were so memorable to me (seriously, I took a picture of "Parle-G" and sent it to my sister who always has a pack of them handy with six exclamation points).
If this sounds like something you might be interested in, I would definitely recommend checking it out! It's an innovative work of poetry, both subject- and technique-wise and Anand has a great voice. I just had a harder time than I'd hoped connecting to it meaningfully.
PS If you're going to check this out, I would also recommend getting a physical copy if you can, or at least reading on something with a larger screen. I read mostly from apps on my phone nowadays which is great for convenience but not great for respecting the structure of the poetry in this volume.
June 24, 2020
Knowing that Madhur Anand is a scientist who writes poetry might make you expect a book of peoms about science. But this isn't that. Instead, it’s a book of poems about life – but life observed and narrated by a poet who is also a scientist; and life narrated using some tools drawn from science. Like "found poems" drawing on phrases from Anand's published papers!
I found a lot to enjoy in A New Index, and if it sometimes left me with more questions than answers, perhaps that’s one of the functions of poetry.
Full review: https://scientistseessquirrel.wordpre...
I found a lot to enjoy in A New Index, and if it sometimes left me with more questions than answers, perhaps that’s one of the functions of poetry.
Full review: https://scientistseessquirrel.wordpre...
January 4, 2025
I read this one in hopes of using an excerpt for a POI, but was unable to use one; however, I do not regret reading this little book one bit! It so beautifully captures intersections of nature, science, and the arts; and, as an undergraduate environmental science student with a deep love for the arts I fell in love.
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August 16, 2021DNF
Unlike her memoir, which I really liked, her poetry did not speak to me. Which is surprising because the subject matter- wonder and reflections on nature and matter- is usually something I can really relate to.
Unlike her memoir, which I really liked, her poetry did not speak to me. Which is surprising because the subject matter- wonder and reflections on nature and matter- is usually something I can really relate to.
February 26, 2024
Novel for its use of science as inspiration! That raised it up a half a star. This is a well conceived and interesting volume by a first time poet. I found several remarkable poems or thoughts in this book. I look forward to acquiring another volume of hers.
March 1, 2024
The premise of this collection appeals to me enough that I was genuinely excited by it. There are two poems in this book I really love. Unfortunately, the rest stirred nothing in my heart or mind. One in particular made me laugh out loud at how silly it is.
March 16, 2024
Didn't light my world on fire like Parasitic Oscillations, but I am a fan of Anand's style nevertheless.
February 21, 2020
Maybe 3.5 but closer to 4. I had to come up for air a few times, so perhaps reading in shorter bursts would have been advisable, but overall I think the effect of this collection is bold, intelligent, and, importantly, beautiful. Science + poetry turns out to be a smart match.
July 20, 2015
I was pleasantly surprised by the poems I found inside “A New Index for Predicting Catastrophes”. Science is not my strong point, although several areas of it, like astronomy, I have come to love over the years. It was a great surprise and delight that I found many of the poems were highly successful in bridging the gap between science and literature in a way that was very subtle. That was the great beauty of the entire collection: it was very genuine from beginning to end, especially the found poems that were written only using words in scientific articles that Anand took part in writing.
Having some knowledge in science really helps, however, and I would say that was the only weakness of these poems. Some were slightly overloaded with scientific terms or ecological facts that I wasn’t aware of, so it took longer for the full impact of the words to sink in. My own knowledge in organic chemistry really helped as well (despite how big a pain it was to learn), especially with the one poem that listed different types of sugar. My favourite poems were perhaps the ones about the irises and oranges, as there were a couple of them. But I also loved the way in which culture also quietly sunk into Anand’s work, the saris and rice and traditions that danced with scientific names and various animals and plants. It was a real treat to read that is worth reading for poetry lovers and science lovers alike, as well as quite an innovation in the poetry field in general I think. It was new, clever, and refreshing to read. I loved it.
Having some knowledge in science really helps, however, and I would say that was the only weakness of these poems. Some were slightly overloaded with scientific terms or ecological facts that I wasn’t aware of, so it took longer for the full impact of the words to sink in. My own knowledge in organic chemistry really helped as well (despite how big a pain it was to learn), especially with the one poem that listed different types of sugar. My favourite poems were perhaps the ones about the irises and oranges, as there were a couple of them. But I also loved the way in which culture also quietly sunk into Anand’s work, the saris and rice and traditions that danced with scientific names and various animals and plants. It was a real treat to read that is worth reading for poetry lovers and science lovers alike, as well as quite an innovation in the poetry field in general I think. It was new, clever, and refreshing to read. I loved it.
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April 23, 2015A New Index for Predicting Catastrophes by Madhur Anand is an innovative mix of science and poetry, that as a (at least semi) creative person in graduate school for science, I was pretty excited about. That said, while I definitely appreciate what Anand does, I can’t say it always successful. Some poems to end up too heavy on the science, like ‘Empty Calories’ where each line is a list of sugars such as “fructose / galactose / glucose”, which may flow nicely at times but comes across more as jargon than something to evoke emotion.
Still, in many cases Anand offers beautiful thoughts with a profound double meaning, often in a scientific context, such as in ‘Iris germanica‘ where she writes “The price of the root is not the price of the flower.” In ‘Hill Country, Old Mercedes, and Parturition’ she offers, “There’s a new index for predicting catastrophes / It’s the decreasing rate of recovery from small / perturbations. The critical slowing down before / a tipping point.”
Interesting, not only are many of the poems written in 13-syllabel lines, and, as Anand explains, only carbon with an atomic mass of 12 and 13 are stable (occurring in a 99:1 ratio in the natural world), but in fact 13 of the poems draw their text and phrases entirely from her own scientific papers. It is with those poems that Anand truly shows the blurred line between science and art, as she writes in ‘No Two Things Can Be More Equal’, they are “Two lines of one length, parallel.”
Still, in many cases Anand offers beautiful thoughts with a profound double meaning, often in a scientific context, such as in ‘Iris germanica‘ where she writes “The price of the root is not the price of the flower.” In ‘Hill Country, Old Mercedes, and Parturition’ she offers, “There’s a new index for predicting catastrophes / It’s the decreasing rate of recovery from small / perturbations. The critical slowing down before / a tipping point.”
Interesting, not only are many of the poems written in 13-syllabel lines, and, as Anand explains, only carbon with an atomic mass of 12 and 13 are stable (occurring in a 99:1 ratio in the natural world), but in fact 13 of the poems draw their text and phrases entirely from her own scientific papers. It is with those poems that Anand truly shows the blurred line between science and art, as she writes in ‘No Two Things Can Be More Equal’, they are “Two lines of one length, parallel.”
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September 17, 2015http://rabble.ca/books/reviews/2015/0...
Review by Sarah Hipworth
When Percy Shelley wrote that "poets are the unacknowledged legislators of the world," he is understood to have meant that artists make and maintain the mores of a civil society by laying the groundwork for other branches of learning. Had he written his Defence of Poetry today rather than in 1820, Shelley would likely have to support his statement with a little scientific theory. He might have used conceptual metaphor theory from linguistics, which tells us that metaphors organize and express our experiences while creating our realities. Poetry, more than other forms of communication, uses metaphor. Metaphor conditions thought.
Infinite Citizen of the Shaking Tent by Liz Howard and A New Index for Predicting Catastrophes by Madhur Anand blend the languages of science with the aesthetics of poetry. Howard, a cognitive researcher, remixes the languages of neuroscience, philosophy, literary theory and environmental science; Anand, a theoretical ecologist, the language of complex systems theory, mathematics, and evolutionary biology.
Beyond the learned vocabulary, an enmeshment of the ecological and the human, and the implicit expression of the feminist edict "the personal is the political," the similarities in their poetic styles end.
Read more here: http://rabble.ca/books/reviews/2015/0...
Review by Sarah Hipworth
When Percy Shelley wrote that "poets are the unacknowledged legislators of the world," he is understood to have meant that artists make and maintain the mores of a civil society by laying the groundwork for other branches of learning. Had he written his Defence of Poetry today rather than in 1820, Shelley would likely have to support his statement with a little scientific theory. He might have used conceptual metaphor theory from linguistics, which tells us that metaphors organize and express our experiences while creating our realities. Poetry, more than other forms of communication, uses metaphor. Metaphor conditions thought.
Infinite Citizen of the Shaking Tent by Liz Howard and A New Index for Predicting Catastrophes by Madhur Anand blend the languages of science with the aesthetics of poetry. Howard, a cognitive researcher, remixes the languages of neuroscience, philosophy, literary theory and environmental science; Anand, a theoretical ecologist, the language of complex systems theory, mathematics, and evolutionary biology.
Beyond the learned vocabulary, an enmeshment of the ecological and the human, and the implicit expression of the feminist edict "the personal is the political," the similarities in their poetic styles end.
Read more here: http://rabble.ca/books/reviews/2015/0...
March 10, 2019
. . . Too many. Too rich. Anand’s poems are too rich to paraphrase, too varied to describe, dauntingly allusive and joyfully elusive, and ultimately as concrete and as mutable as Art and Science and Human existence.
A New Index for Predicting Catastrophes is a volume to read from cover to cover, to read again, to make notes on, and to return to again throughout a life.
Seek it.
Find it.
Savour it.
Read more here:
https://behindthehedge.wordpress.com/...
A New Index for Predicting Catastrophes is a volume to read from cover to cover, to read again, to make notes on, and to return to again throughout a life.
Seek it.
Find it.
Savour it.
Read more here:
https://behindthehedge.wordpress.com/...
June 12, 2024
I had a lot of feelings about this poetry which felt really opaque and unapproachable generally. That is until I read the notes at the end, which exposes how much thought and depth was put into all of these works. It’s the layers that make the writing feel dense, and I’m grateful for the context that made me look harder for them.
January 31, 2016
Using the language of science to create beautiful and personal images, this is one of the most original books of poetry I have read in a while.
October 18, 2016
A beautiful collection of poems. I really enjoyed the book.
I recommend this book.
I received this book as a free giveaway from Goodreads.
I recommend this book.
I received this book as a free giveaway from Goodreads.
Displaying 1 - 18 of 18 reviews