We lost another friend of East Side Books this week.  Derham Giuliani was one of those quiet and unassuming people who amazes you with a many faceted life as you get to know him over stacks of books.  In Derham’s case, it was usually stacks of books-on-tape that he listened to while traveling hundreds of miles to his “campsites”.  Derham studied nature, insects and butterflies, chipmunks and squirrels, all the little creatures that populate the desert.  I know he did field studies for other scientists as well as his own observations, but he never shared or bragged about his official job titles.  I do know he was an expert by any definition.  It always struck me as funny that he listened to so many police procedural mysteries and suspense books, plus a little romance or general literature, focused on the darker or odder side of human life when he was so grounded in the natural world. Then it dawned on me that he listened to those tapes because that is what we had on the shelf….like so many things he made do with what was available in order to do what he really loved, observing the earth’s creatures.  I am glad to know he was doing what he loved until he passed away, and I am happy to have known, even briefly,  a person who truly followed his passions with his life work.  He will be missed.