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The Forest Unseen: A Year's Watch In Nature (2012)

by David George Haskell(Favorite Author)

4.26 of 5 Votes: 2

ISBN

067002337X (ISBN13: 9780670023370)

languge

English

genre

Nonfiction

publisher

Viking Adult

review 1: The book, “The Forest Unseen,” is seductive and delightful. Every one of the short chapters takes you on a journey from an overview down to a microscopic and then sometimes genetic level of an organism. All of this is part of the author’s visits to a small section of a forest in the Southeastern United States.These chapters take surprising turns, but seem crafted to keep the reader comfortable and close, even while taking us far inside a molecule or a historic evolutionary branch or the chemistry of photosynthesis. We are omnivores in this journey, sampling from a wide variety of delicious scientific flavors, while our guide remains true to his emotional and philosophical musings.Biologist professor David Haskell teaches at the University of the South, but writes tha... moret he held his “scientist” way of looking at bay while he visited the same square-meter section of forest for a whole year. “This year, I have tried to put down scientific tools and to listen: to come to nature without a hypothesis, without a scheme for data extraction, without machines and probes.”
review 2: This is a collection of the author’s observations as he revisits a one-square-meter plot of Tennessee forest throughout a calendar year. He returns almost everyday at different times, in order to observe and meditate on his chosen patch of land. Reading the book was an exercise in patience, and I often failed the exercise. Reading the more scientific chapters often seemed like a chore, but when read slowly they were truly fascinating. In the epilogue, the author shares an insight that he learned in writing the book, and I learned in reading it: “Hoping for excitement, beauty, violence, enlightenment, or sacrament gets in the way of clear observation and will fog the mind with restlessness.” I summoned the patience to enjoy maybe 40% of the book. I take responsibility for the other 60%, and for my 3-star rating. At times, it is really insightful. less

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