Product Description

The first anthology to represent the full range of nature writing's rich and flourishing tradition, from lyrical essays to thoughtful encounters with new ethical and ecological concerns.

Product Details

• Amazon Sales Rank: #505005 in Books
• Published on: 1990-04
• Original language: English
• Number of items: 1
• Binding: Hardcover
• 921 pages

Amazon.com Review
This fine, well-annotated anthology offers selections from familiar writers such as Henry David Thoreau, John Muir, Annie Dillard, and Barry Lopez. It contains surprises as well, including George Orwell's little-known essay, "Some Thoughts on the Common Toad" and Herman Melville's musings on how the great white whale came to be so white in the first place, the fruit of the deep natural-historical research that underlies Moby-Dick. At more than 900 pages, The Norton Book of Nature Writing is too hefty to pack into the wild, but every page is an inspiration to take into the world outdoors.

From School Library Journal
YA-- The range of this anthology indicates the breadth of its appeal--authors from 1789 to 1987 and concerns as diverse as the destructive majesty of elephants and friendship with pigs.
Copyright 1990 Reed Business Information, Inc.

From Library Journal
Nature is the language of the Earth and its creatures--the windstorm in the forest, the tadpole in the pond, snowflakes on the summit, the fins and forms of most fish, toadstools, moss, tarantulas, and the silk of spiders. The "children of Linnaeus," nature writers such as Darwin, Emerson, Thoreau, Melville, Audubon, and Muir, have captured the essence of wilderness and beast. This anthology draws upon the works of these and 83 other authors, spanning two centuries of English and American literature to provide a concise introduction to this literary form. A worthy addition to general and academic collections.
- Mikey Scott, Torrey Pines High Sch., Del Mar, Cal.
Copyright 1990 Reed Business Information, Inc.

Customer Reviews

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!

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.

Non-Sensical Writing
Annie Dillard's book is mostly a composition of nonsense. Here is an execrpt from the book;
"I look at [the grasshoppers'] tapered, chitin-covered abdomen, plated and barred as a tank tread, and was about to turn away when I saw it breathe, puff, puff, and I grew sympathetic. Yeah, I said, puf, puff, isn't it? It jerked away with a buzz . . . and continued to puff in the grass. So puff it is, and that's all there is; though I'm partial to honey myself."
The book is full of nonsensical garble like this. If anyone has an explanation to this, feel free to correct me!