The Forest Unseen
A Year's Watch in Nature
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4.1 • 29 Ratings
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- $9.99
Publisher Description
A biologist reveals the secret world hidden in a single square meter of old-growth forest—a finalist for the Pulitzer Prize and the Pen/E.O. Wilson Literary Science Writing Award
Combining elegant writing with scientific expertise, The Forest Unseen "injects much-needed vibrancy into the stuffy world of nature writing" (Outside, "The Outdoor Books That Shaped the Last Decade")
In this wholly original book, biologist David Haskell uses a one- square-meter patch of old-growth Tennessee forest as a window onto the entire natural world. Visiting it almost daily for one year to trace nature's path through the seasons, he brings the forest and its inhabitants to vivid life.
Each of this book's short chapters begins with a simple observation: a salamander scuttling across the leaf litter; the first blossom of spring wildflowers. From these, Haskell spins a brilliant web of biology and ecology, explaining the science that binds together the tiniest microbes and the largest mammals and describing the ecosystems that have cycled for thousands- sometimes millions-of years. Each visit to the forest presents a nature story in miniature as Haskell elegantly teases out the intricate relationships that order the creatures and plants that call it home.
Written with remarkable grace and empathy, The Forest Unseen is a grand tour of nature in all its profundity. Haskell is a perfect guide into the world that exists beneath our feet and beyond our backyards.
Customer Reviews
Astounding
Haskell's detailed account of his year perched near his mandala illuminates the splendor surrounding us all. His writing is intellectual, with the poetic, lyrical quality of a song. Through his observations of nature and his probing, restless thoughts, we are introduced - or reintroduced - to a world that burns and sparkles with life.
A fun skim
"We are Russian dolls, our lives made possible by other lives within us."
A gentle reminder of the symbiotic nature humans have with the environment. We come from the same place as trees and animals, and that can be easy to forget in the society of metal that we have built up around ourself.
This book is a collection of short essays that describe the author's perceptions of nature, and contains as many interesting anecdotes as it does pointlessly extravagant language. The parts I enjoyed I loved, and the parts I did not enjoy had me skimming to the next section.