This indispensable guide encourages the practicing amateur to become an expert in the natural world. In tours of nine North American ecosystems ranging from backyards to woodlands, mountain peaks to sandy shores, a diverse group of experienced naturalists show how to approach nature with a trained eye. Special features include: * Hundreds of photographs and dozens of specially commissioned watercolor paintings that illustrate the rich array of plants and animals, and their exquisite adaptations to the world we share with them. * Detailed drawings for easy-to-make tools such as a pond viewer and a home barometer. Step-by-step instructions for pressing and mounting plants and making casts of animal tracks. * Expert explanations of simple field techniques such as recording animal sounds and calculating the distance of a thunderstorm.
Author
Diane Ackerman has been the finalist for the Pulitzer Prize for Nonfiction in addition to many other awards and recognitions for her work, which include the bestsellers The Zookeeper’s Wife and A Natural History of the Senses. The Zookeeper’s Wife, a little known true story of WWII, became a New York Times bestseller, and received the Orion Book Award, which honored it as, "a groundbreaking work of nonfiction." A movie of The Zookeeper’s Wife, starring Jessica Chastain and Daniel Brühl, releases in theaters March 31st, 2017 from Focus Features. She lives with her husband Paul West in Ithaca, New York.
