Nature Writing: The Tradition in English

by Robert Finch

Book Overview

Encounters with nature have produced some of the great literature of our age. Darwin's ruminations on the Galapagos Islands, Thoreau's communion with Walden Pond, and Rachel Carson's evocation of the rocky coast of Maine are monuments in the history of writing and thought. No less significant are the searching essays of such contemporary writers as Wendell Berry, Terry Tempest Williams, Annie Dillard, and Bill McKibben. Nature Writing: The Tradition...

• Format: Hardcover
• Language: English
• ISBN: 0393049663
• ISBN13: 9780393049664
• Release Date: February 2002
• Publisher: W. W. Norton & Company
• Length: 1152 Pages
• Weight: 2.85 lbs.
• Dimensions: 1.9" x 6.1" x 9.4"

Customer Reviews

A widereaching collection

From Charles Darwin and Aldo Leopold to Edwin Teale and Laurens Van Der Post, this covers the history and tradition of nature writing in English. Essays and insights by some of the most famous nature writers in the language include writers of diverse ethnic backgrounds and from around the world. A widereaching collection, this will appeal to both science and literary collections.

Wonderful Read, But Oh My...

I love nature writing, so to my mind, this is a grand book. All the great writers are here, with one exception: there is a signal lack of modern nature writers (last half of the 20th Century). Beyond that, the selection of great nature writers is first rate.The real problem with this book is that it is so big and the binding so weak you really can't take this book into nature to read it. I took it with me during a trip to the north end of the Queen Charlotte Islands; the moment I found a spot to relax and got the book out, I found I was wrestling with a ten pound weight that flopped all over the place. So, a warning: this book is for the fireside or a cozy evening in bed, not the field. Otherwise, wonderful!