The Way of Natural History

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

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.