Customer Reviews

Mountains of the Heart: A Natural History of the Appalachians

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If someone assigned you the task of writing a history of the Appalachian Mountains, how would you organize it? Keep the information in its separate realms of geology, botany, zoology, and anthropology? Start in Alabama and work northward? Go state by state, province by province, and look at the smaller specific mountain ranges? Well, Scott Weidensaul has taken none of those approaches, thank goodness. His is an education by general themes: basic geology (for it must start there), bird migrations, habitat specialization, forestry, mammalian zoology, archaeology, pollination, extinction, survival. Each chapter has a pure focus; and yet all of the chapters somehow touch on all of these topics. Weidensaul's conversational style has the reader walking through the woods with him, chatting seemingly aimlessly, all the time seeing and learning about the life that abounds. Gems of detail sneak up on us while we read. If you travel 1000 feet up, the habitat and ecosystems change as if you had traveled 100 miles north. Wow. And then there are the interspecies connections, some well-known and some new to us: squirrels and oaks, oaks and gypsy moths, migratory birds and fatty fruits, white pines and ship masts, bears and wetlands, fishers and porcupines, crossbills and spruces. The natural world makes sense after reading this book. Highly recommended for naturalists everywhere and mandatory reading for residents of the Appalachian states and provinces.

Our family squabbled over who was reading next when we borrowed the hardcover edition from the local library. We each became completely immersed in these mountains as Scott's vivid and descriptive writing drew us in. For the casual outdoors person who wants to learn more about the flora and fauna along the trail; for the naturalist who reads and nods in agreement with the text; for who appreciates the natural history of this region; this is the book to add to the top of the reading list. And you might want to buy two copies! Leave one at home. Put the second in the backpack for field notes.

Scott Weidensaul has produced with "Mountains of the Heart" one of the finest examples of popular natural history writing I have ever seen. Thorough and authoritative, yet an easy read and quite engaging, he tackles an immensense subject with enthusiasm and obvious experience. Discussing the geology, ecology, fauna, flora, and conservation of the entire Appalachian mountain chain from central Alabama to Belle Isle, Newfoundland, you will never find a better book on the subject.

In reading the book I have learned so much about the natural history of this great eastern wilderness. Unlike many other natural history books which discuss faraway, exotic lands like Antarctica, Thailand, the Amazon jungle, or the Australian Outback, Weidensaul makes an area where I live in fascinating, bringing to my attention a variety of things I never even suspected, making this book a unique treasure. An area I took for granted, had lost my sense of wonder about now seems new and interesting to me. I am sure those reading this review would be similarly enlightened.

No you say? Do you know why leaves change color in fall, and how? Or why some trees turn one colors while others don't? Do you know what effect this leaf change has on the animal community in forests (ever hear of foliar fruit flagging?)? Did you know that many Appalachian tree species can survive winter temperatures as low as 80 degrees below zero, far colder than the mountains ever get today? Do you know what tannin is, and why trees produce it, and what effects this has on the forest community? Weidensaul makes what to me was a fairly mundane subject, perhaps suitable for a grade school science book, fascinating and weird. Trees are rightly one of the stars in this book, as Weidensaul recounts the sad tale of the American chestnut, the plight of the Fraser fir, the role of oaks in modern forests (and the potential problems their predominance could cause), and the magnifence of the white pine among many other plants.

However, animals receive a great deal of attention in this book as well, as by no means it is only about botany. Almost an entire chapter is devoted to the awe-inspiring annual hawk migrations down the length of the Appalachians. The many unique and highly local species of the mountains salamander fauna, one of the richest in the world, are recounted in great detail. Another unique fauna, the mussel fauna, again one of the world's richest, is also discussed, a subject not much to the lay naturalist. Weidensaul discusses some of the chain's fauna winners - such as black bears, successfully co-exisiting with people in crowded Pennsylvania, moose, which are rebounding in the northern Appalachians, and the raven, formerly a bird of deep wilderness but that one that is increasingly adapting to disturbed habitat - and its losers as well - such as brook trout, a species in decline in all but the most pristine streams, the red wolf, long gone from most of the range and yet to be successfully reintroduced, and the passenger pigeon, once a the most common land bird in the world, thriving on the vast crop of acorns in the Appalachians, now extinct.

A truly excellent book with nice illustrations in it, this will please any lover of natural history.

Natural history writing is often like porridge. Sometimes it is too hot, and we see nothing but the author's passion for the place he/she is describing. Other times it is too cold, and the writing is merely a dull list of species descriptions and scientific concepts. Weidensaul's book strides that narrow middle ground of being just right. His chapters span the length of the Appalachians, covering topics as diverse as soil science and hawk migrations. However, he never becomes bogged down in dry scientific writing: his love of the Appalachians resonates throughout the book. In a country where most natural history writers turn their eyes west, Weidensaul's book is a much needed overview of an underappreciated mountain range.

Scott Weidensaul wrote a fantastic book. He is probably one of the most "technically strong" nature writers we have seen in a long time, which is not surprising considering he is a certified bird bander and all. This book has a wealth of information, which is just what I was looking for in a book about the Appalachians.

Initially I thought he would organize the book in a south to north route, as a casual glance indicated that he started from the southern tip of the mountain chain and ended up at the northern terminus. But in fact he organizes the chapters by topic (rocks, migrating birds, water and aquatic life, etc.), although he does not rigidly confine the topics strictly within their chapters, some themes such as the behavior, migration and in some sad cases the extinction of bird species emerge again and again. I think this is a fine way of organizing such a book: it gives the author the freedom to cover the geology, ecology, human history and many other aspects of one of the greatest mountain systems in the world.

This book also contains pearls of information scattered throughout, such as the many hidden spots of inner gorges and valleys, the scarcely visited and written about northern end of the Appalachians, the bird watching stations, the last stands of American chestnuts, etc. For a person like me who also likes to hike in the great mountains, this will be a indispensable guide indeed.

This is the first book by Scott Weidensaul that I have read and I am pleasantly surprised and richly rewarded; it has converted me to a fan of his writing and I am sure I will read many more of his books in years to come.

I have lived in the shadows of the Appalachians my entire life but have never really taken a close look at it. I was looking for a volume that would serve as an introduction to the Appalachians, its natural history, and how the ecology of the mountains and its human inhabitants have coexisted. This book was a perfect addition to my library.

Through a lifetime of research and experience, Weidensaul is able to describe the complexity of this ecosystem. His writing is touching but can be a bit overly poetic at times. I am looking forward to some of his other books.

This collection of beautifully-crafted essays should be required reading in all Appalachian Studies classes. When readers tell me that they enjoy the natural history references in my Ballad novels, I urge them to read Scott Weidensaul. This wonderful book traces the natural history of the Appalachian Mountains all the way from Alabama to New Brunswick, Canada. In clear and lyrical prose, Weidensaul describes the formation of the mountain chain, touching on plate tectonics and the configuration of the prehistoric continents. Several chapters describe the plants and animals past and present which make for the unique ecosystem that is Appalachia: the use of the mountains as a migration path for birds and monarch butterflies; the 20th century chestnut blight which destroyed a species of tree, and the extermination of the passenger pigeon. With a keen understanding of nature and an obvious love of the land, Scott Weidensaul writes a guide to the mountains that is both informative and enchanting.

Okay. I had to read for a college class. I wouldn't read it for pleasure, but it did have good information.