Reading the Landscape of America / Edition 3

by May Theilgaard Watts

Overview

In this natural history classic, the author takes the reader on field trips to landscapes across America, both domesticated and wild. She shows how to read the stories written in the land, interpreting the clues laid down by history, culture, and natural forces. A renowned teacher, writer and conservationist in her native Midwest, Watts studied with Henry Cowles, the pioneering American ecologist. She was the first to explain his theories of plant succesion to the general public. Her graceful, witty essays, with charming illustrations by the author, are still relevant and engaging today, as she invites us to see the world around us with fresh eyes.

Product Details

ISBN-13:	9780912550237
Publisher:	Nature Study Guild Publishers
Publication date:	03/15/1999
Edition description:	Reprint
Pages:	372
Product dimensions:	5.50(w) x 8.50(h) x 0.83(d)

About the Author

May Theilgaard Watts was a renowned teacher, writer, naturalist, and defender of native plants and landscapes in her native Midwest. Watts was the first staff naturalist at the Morton Arboretum, and a founder of the rails-to-trails movement. Her successor at the Morton Arboretum, Alfred Etter, said of her, "Many were the causes May Watts might have worked for during her life. She was so capable, dependable, sure, imaginative; such an acute and sensitive observer, an artist, writer, poet, gardener. But she chose to encourage in people an appreciation of nature. It was a fortunate choice for us all. Thousands of people have been entertained, inspired, subtly informed, and often converted by her books, lectures, and field trips. Her book, Reading the Landscape, took the jargon out of ecology, and made it approachable by anyone.

Editorial Reviews

Stargazer, artist, poet and naturalist, Watts' interests were many. It shows in her Reading the Landscape, a beautifully written book used for decades by educators, which explains just how glaciers, climate change and farming altered our landscape.

Chicago Wilderness