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Natural Magic by Jordan Bear Three up and coming 19th-century scholars offer new views on the use and employment of the salted paper print photographic process in North America. Learn more | See related books
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Product Details
Hardcover: 304 pages
Publisher: University Of Chicago Press; 1st edition (April 14, 2014)
A tree 2000 years old, another a 13,000, and a clonal copse of trees 70,000 years old - or maybe a few hundred thousand. Bacteria somewhere around a half-million years old. Yet odder beings in the thousands to ten-thousand-plus range. If the individual organism isn't at least 2000 years old, it doesn't make the cut.
This book is simply awe-inspiring - to be among beings that live such lives, where ice ages might come and go around the one individual. That time scale simply boggles the mind. Then the chill sets in: a few of these beings have died since their pictures were taken. A tree of 3000 years succumbed to fire, another of 13,000 was killed in a construction project. What lived so long can die in minutes, and you can't just plant some seeds and grow a new one, not 13,000 years old. Gone, after all that time, because of natural hazards or human carelessness.
And, in the current Great Extinction, we'll lose a lot more, mostly never having known they ever lived. Environmental threats and climate change can move faster than these living things can respond. I find it humbling, too - so few human artifacts or cultures have the power to last as long as these beings have.
Although the naturalist who collected these images took care with proper identification, she's not a scientist by trade. She's an artist, a photographer. But she's a part of the scientific venture, too, making it humanly understandable, even personal, and stirring the sense of awe and respect that underlies nearly all scientific research. (I first became aware of this book through a review in Science magazine.) Really, she just proves that the dichotomy of science and art is artificial and arbitrary, more an artifact of the viewer's preconceptions than of the fields themselves. This has my highest recommendation.
-- wiredweird
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57 of 59 people found the following review helpful
I agree with the other two reviewers who gave this book five stars, but I don't think they touched on what was so meaningful to me about the book. The photography is good, even though many of the subjects don't really lend themselves to easy framing or notable settings - try photographing a fungus if you don't believe me. The theme is engaging as well, but what really made this book for me were the stories, thoughts, ponderings that accompany each chapter. Despite writing only about living things over 2,000 years old, Sussman has made this into an intensely personal book, part story, part quest, and all heart. Please read this, you'll be better for having done so.
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This is an amazing book! With pictures and short fascinating essays this book tells about the oldest living organisms on the earth. If you thought, as I did, that the redwoods were the oldest (and biggest), boy were we wrong! There are far older and far bigger things on our planet and Rachel Sussman has gone in search of them. Best gift ever for your smartest friends, colleagues, curious children, yourself, and anyone who loves nature and our planet. It starts with a map of the world indicating where each plant can be found. Since they are sprinkled on all the continents, this is a great book for travellers who love to have destinations planned for their adventures and for armchair travellers too. There follows a wonderful photograph and essay on each of the oldest living things. A really beautiful unique book at a surprisingly reasonable price.
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Beautiful and informative. I've shared this book with many of my friends and they've all just loved it. I picked it up for myself for the pure enjoyment of the facts it holds and the pictures but it's taken me on quite a journey. The author leans toward evolution - something I just cannot stand behind - but it doesn't take away from the gathered information.
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Absolutely every family should have a copy of this gorgeous and informative book as well as the personal 20 year journey described by the author. Three generations in my family loved it. I gave it to 4 families for Christmas.
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