she is also a brilliant writer who can bring together all aspects of nature
928098
Not only is she a fabulous ecologist, she is also a brilliant writer who can bring together all aspects of nature, including human nature, into one seamless understanding. I've had this book for many years and still love going back to it.
3699529
Jay Griffiths Savage Grace is a tour de force of nature writing, displaying an absolute mastery of the massive and multidimensional subject of wilderness. She rivals both Muir and Thoreau in the exuberance of their prose, but far supersedes them in the power of metaphor. And it is metaphor that forms the core of this book, and the content is riddled with Griffith playing loosely and imaginatively with language. In the damp and steaming humidity of the jungle she sees the post-coital erotic, the sexual in its untamed and wild places. She sees different settings of nature as predominantly feminine in its nurturing but temperamental ways and she does so persuasively. But at points she comes a bit unhinged as her clearly oxer-sexed personality finds male and female genitalia in anything and everything, from deer hoof-prints to chopping wood, damp logs or even just taking a walk in the woods. You get the feeling her pounce might be more ferocious than a Jaguars.
But the book is much more than Griffiths demonstration of her literary prowess; in addition she takes us on a transcontinental journey in anthropology and study of linguistics, exploring and analyzing the way the diversity of nature has shaped the language and thought in an equally diverse set of cultures. To the Aboriginals of Australia, nature is viewed both metaphorically and literally as a family member, and people speak of going to visit a particular land as they would visiting an aunt or an uncle; required to keep up their relationship with it. In other cultures, their idea of democracy is specifically derived from that which they have witnessed in nature; in how everything has a share of space and food and how no one is a glutton. In Eskimos frame of thought, they speak of voicing their concerns and angst lest they get iced in, violent and dangerous. But through it all, Griffiths returns to critiquing the exceptions of the civilized world to view nature as an enemy and a force to be conquered.
Griffiths ability to see the many expressions of nature, to find unique beauty by her employment of metaphor is exceptional and is really the centerpiece of the novel. Being in the wilderness for me has been a lifelong passion of mine, but with Griffiths powers of language she revealed a dramatic new way to appreciate the inner poetry and subtle beauty of nature. She describes how ice is strangely alive in her section about wild ice How glaciers calve, and that there exists a vocabulary for young ice formed in autumn, and parent ice. She writes of how wind inscribes the snow, leaves its signature on the water, it delves and inclines, writes the narrative tension of a cornice, an overhang of snow or etches a deep memory of moods in the miles of a glacier. By the same token however, if you do not have any interest in linguistics, vocabulary or metaphor, you will almost certainly not enjoy this book.
She has thus managed to recapture the spirit of nature and the sacredness of the wild in almost perfect emulation of the cultures who take similar views, but she does so with her own voice and uniqueness. She makes bleak landscapes feel alive and intimate; sees connectedness in everything, and beauty, beauty everywhere.  Her tone is almost religious in its fanaticism. And if we let ourselves be carried away in her book, we may too share in letting nature become our holy place, and a place to cherish and protect along those with the cultures who dwell harmoniously in it.
2287849
An unexpected pleasure by a talented writer who continues to find adventure and amazement in the large world and the small details of living.
1522874
One of her best and that is saying something since they are all wonderful. Characterization, plotting, prose- all beautiful. I would love to live in her written world, even if there are quite a few murders for such a small place.
3277712
Alice Munro's Lives of Girls and Women displays the talents of an author who knows how to craft stories that connect, enhance, and weave words together into a patchwork quilt of definitive legacy. A true master of narrative structure, characterization, and setting, Munro shows a young girl's--protagonist Del Jordan--formative years in a small town, country outback as deep and rich and complicated as any other young girl's wing-spread in any other locale. The feminist subtext, the shifting/conflicting cultural imperatives throughout stories unafraid to tackle passionate womens' choices head-on is refreshing. It is refreshing to read Del's secret adolescent fantasies in "Lives of Girls and Women," a lengthier story that became the title of this book. Complexity is what the author intends to show--and she does it well--providing dense emotional/psychological vignettes.

Munro's artistic genius lies in her ability to paint portraits of characters that come to life on the page. With a flair for depicting women as multidimensional, reflective, and pensive, Munro allows readers to empathize with not only the narrator, but also every character introduced and sketched in semi-anecdotal scenes. The mark of a great writer is to create memorable stories that linger in readers' minds long after the final word, long after the final page is turned. Alice Munro succeeds and takes this short story cycle to new levels: she accomplishes a tightrope act in writing--each story could stand alone, yet placed next to each other, the stories qualify as a novel.
4619861
This woman is amazing and so wise.
There's a lot to learn from her.
4956544
Beautiful writing full of the wonders of the natural world, and a poignant study of the relationship of human and animal.
2390969
The way Elizabeth Ayres is detailing the events in her life is an amazing accomplishment, and the way she so easily works in the earththe landscape, its flora, its fauna as well as its history--and her personal history with God and religion, is better than beautiful. Her choice of words opens up whole new worlds. Here, her sentences slap the reader smack in the face, there they lovingly caress. Ayres masterfully uses the language she clearly loves as a tool to awaken her reader's soul and to activate the mind. If her primary intention was to wave her own, not so average, personal story into the story of an emerging Universe, which is the story that holds all of us in belonging and wholeness, she fully succeeded.
3450341
The writing in her books is so rich that you can see, feel, and almost smell the places she describes. Trying to figure out if we are heading in the right direction with our life is a common theme many of us experience every 10 or so years. She wrote the feelings of it very well.
4751870
This is one seriously fantastic book.
I love the stand-alone chapters, tiny books inside a book that you can take in with pleasurable fits and starts.
Nature-loving bibliophiles will be astounded at the intricate details compilated so masterfully, and sprinkled with delightful sense of humor.
I GUARANTEE that you will learn things you did not know, no matter how well you know your natural history.
659135
I recommend all the nature topics by this great writer.  He is a keen observer of detail and has a way of putting it to paper so that I feel that I am along on the adventure with him.
787308
This personal journey in three parts is the work of a thoughtful, adventurous soul. We know the author as an actress who is able to expose the deep interior life of her characters (from Eleanor Roosevelt to Calamity Jane and others) through her professional work. In this book, we discover more of the interior life of Jane Alexander, the woman, the individual, captivated by the natural world, in love with birds, supportive of people who share her passion for the Earth and all its life-forms. We also learn that she is a world traveler, an adventurer, a friend of field scientists, and an environmentalist.

She begins with a thoughtful Author's Note that immediately tells the reader that this is a confident writer and advocate for animals who intends unapologetically to adopt the unusual practice of capitalizing the names of all animal species throughout the book. It is an important and telling choice. In the Prologue, she foreshadows Part I when she writes of meeting then-thirty-year-old Alan Rabinowitz, who was working on Jaguar preservation in Belize. She continues her portrait of Rabinowitz and his grueling endeavors in Part I as she travels through Mexico, Belize, Thailand, Idaho, Nepal, Myanmar, India, and Brazil. Each chapter provides a portrait of the area and an account of the challenges of preserving endangered wildlife therein. She reveals in Part 2 more of her own childhood and life, with chapters on Birds, Peru, Papua New Guinea, Hawaii, Galapagos, Newfoundland, Amazonia, East Africa, and Madagascar. In Part 3, she organizes her observations around a smattering of other subjects: Desert, Killers, Bhutan, Bahamas, Ecuador, and Ocean.

Although few have both the adventurous spirit and the resources to travel and learn first-hand in the way that Alexander has, there is no overlay of privilege about the author or the book. The writing is refreshing and accessible. The adventures are remote and intriguing. But, despite the authors admonition that you cannot be a conservationist and a pessimist. It is an oxymoron. The endeavor of conserving anything is one of optimism and hope, there is a strong thread of sadness that runs through the volume. Indeed, how could there not be given the tremendous devastation humans wreak upon our planet and its creatures? The stories told contain many extinctions and habitat losses and too few successes. The book is eye-opening in its revelations of destruction in almost any direction you turn. Nevertheless, it is good to learn that Alexander holds on to her optimism. An Appendix of organizations involved with the protection and conservation of wild things and wild places follows the main text. I will send checks to a few of them and work on my own optimism. I do recommend the book.
1103545
I have long believed in the idea of multiple universes and to have one of the most talented authors write about it is so much more than I could have hoped for.
4171096
Margaret Lowman is a gifted biologist with a knack for finding ways to teach others the importance of her field and the need for conservation.  Her adventures range from the humorous to the frightening and are guaranteed to hold the reader's interest.  I held off a five-star rating only because I would have liked a little more information on some of the animals she's studied.  Her impressions of Nature's little-known and often-overlooked creatures are valuable and fascinating, and I wish more space had been devoted to them.  That's a minor quibble, though.  As a writer on nature myself, I came away from reading this book with an improved understanding of how complex the "web of life" is,  not to mention a determination to get my own children out into the forests more often.
226388
I had this book recommended to me by a friend who has a deep interest in bears ,has travelled widely and seen and watched many up close in their natural habitat;including in Alaska. She has shown me photos of standing only a few feet from wild Grizzly bears. I could hardly believe it, when she told me how approachable they were for experts and the pictures convinced me. Not to say, that I wouldn't keep my distance and give them utmost respect. When she told me this was an excellent book,and that I would enjoy it,I knew I was in for a great read. In other words,since it impressed her so much,it was sure to be good.

  I read a lot of "Nature" books and spend an awful lot of time outdoors birding and am very familiar with the enjoyment and spirituality one gets from that wonderous combination of people,animals, landscape,sounds and silence,weather and atmosphere,and all that is encompassed when one partakes in a relationship with nature.

  The excitement one gets when finding something new or just observing something seen before, is undescribable; but Schooler does as good a job of it as any nature writer that I have come across. He writes from the soul and great love he gets from living. Yes,this book is about the Blue Bear,Alaska and his friend and soulmate Michio,along with many other things,but what he really is writing about is the great enjoyment life is if one really learns to appreciate it. From this book you should learn that it is not only in Alaska that such enjoyment can be found. It is in the desert looking at sunsets,cactii and Roadrunners,in the forest searching out a Barred Owl,on the ocean watching a Tropicbird,sitting at a campsite when a Moose appears,or watching and trying to identify up to 20 different species of Gulls around Niagara Falls in the winter when it is wet windy and bitterly cold;or any of the millions of things the Creator has provided.

  I'd like to quote a few things that demonstrate the excellence of the author's writing skills:

  "Everything always gets what it needs."

  "Home is not always a door at the end of a sidewalk.

  Sometimes it is a broader place that holds the shape of the

  sky,the water we drink,and the food that becomes the minerals

  of our bones,Sometimes it is the sum of our experiences and

  memories,and sometimes it is wherever we happen to be-if

  we are with the right companion."

  "As a photographer,,"Michio taught me how to 'look' with

  my eyes-- but as a friend,how to 'see' with my heart."

  An excellent read for anyone who enjoys life,and a great  eyeopener for anyone who thinks life is boring.
2049124
A disclaimer. The book is a fictionalized account of a class I used to teach together with Aaron Hirsh [...]

The book weaves together the story of one place - Bajia de Los Angeles - and the surrounding Midriff Islands in the Sea of Cortez. The book uses literary, historical, and scientific analyses to probe the role of memory in our understanding of the world as we encounter it. The writing is beautiful, the science is top notch and presented clearly for a lay reader, the history from Cortez to the present is fascinating, and the characters are interesting, three dimensional, and very human. You wouldnt be able to put it down and you will learn a lot in the process.

The book just won the 2013 National Outdoor book award and has been very positively reviewed.
Here is one such review in WSJ: [...]

Here is one quote that I like: "A book as rich and intricate as the oceanic world it evokes, Telling Our Way to the Sea is hard to pigeonhole but easy to savor. Using the dramatic backdrop of the Sea of Cortezfertile waters rimmed by brutal desertHirsh plumbs marine biology, evolutionary change, ecological memory, the history of science, and much more to explore the past and possible future of this fecund ecosystem. One of the most thoughtful books on nature, and our place in it, that Ive read in years." Scott Weidensaul, author of Living on the Wind and The First Frontier
2351157
Fantastic sequel, wonderful writer, can't wait to read more of her work!