The Way of Natural History - by Thomas Lowe Fleischner (Paperback)

About the Book

A testament to the importance and reward of paying attention to our fragile world

Book Synopsis

In this eclectic anthology, more than 20 scientists, nature writers, poets, and Zen practitioners, attest to how paying attention to nature can be a healing antidote to the hectic and harrying pace of our lives. Throughout this provocative and uplifting book, writers describe their various experiences in nature and portray how careful, and mindful, attention to the larger world around us brings rewarding and surprising discoveries. They give us the literary, personal, and spiritual stories that point a way toward calm and quiet for which many people today hunger. Contributors to The Way of Natural History highlight their individual ways of paying attention to nature and discuss how their experiences have enlivened and enhanced their worlds. The anthology is a rich array of writings that provide models for interacting with the natural world, and together, create a call for the importance of natural history as a discipline. Contributors include Robert Aitken, John Anderson, Paul Dayton, Alison Hawthorne Deming, Cristina Eisenberg, Dave Foreman, Wren Farris, Thomas Lowe Fleischner, Charles Goodrich, R. Edward Grumbine, Jane Hirshfield, Robin Wall Kimmerer, Ken Lamberton, Robert Macfarlane, Kathleen Dean Moore, Robert Michael Pyle, Sarah Juniper Rabkin, Scott Russell Sanders, Laura Sewall, John Tallmadge, Richard Thompson, and Stephen C. Trombula.

Review Quotes

"Exciting new trends in natural history....there can be no better introduction to these trends than Fleischner's anthology.... Most of Fleischner's contributors offer completely new insights." -- Bloomsbury Review"A gem of a little book." -- Terrain.org

"This eclectic collection has much to offer anyone who cares about the environment, sustainability, and, yes, nature. " -- SEJournal [Society of Environmental Journalists]"There is so much to admire in these pages, and to love." -- Loree Griffin Burns, founder of A Life in Books blog

"A collection of compelling essays....this book is a welcome reminder that our relationship to nature might be much better if we simply started paying some honest and accurate attention to it." -- San Antonio Express-News

"Nature writing with a contemplative bent." -- Shambhala Sun

About the Author

Thomas Lowe Fleischner is a naturalist, conservation biologist, teacher, and Director of the Natural History Institute. The author of two books--Singing Stone: A Natural History of the Escalante Canyons and Desert Wetlands--and numerous articles, he is a professor of environmental studies at Prescott College, in Arizona, where he has taught for over two decades. Cofounder of the North Cascades Institute and founding president of the Natural History Network, he has also served on the board of governors of the Society for Conservation Biology and as president of its Colorado Plateau Chapter.