The Quotable Nature Lover: A Nature Conservancy Book [Hardcover]

John A. Murray (Editor)

Book Description

Series: Quotable | Publication Date: October 1, 1999

The Quotable Nature Lover will provide nature lovers-birders, hikers, fishermen, gardeners, backpackers, philosophers, adventurers-with hours of reading pleasure, endless inspiration to get out and hit the trails, and plenty of food for thought during time spent in the great outdoors. The quotations in this book were assembled in the spirit of The Nature Conservancy's work: conservation and respect for the land. As such, it is an ideal gift for anyone who loves nature and cares about the natural world-and a great companion for those days when they can't be in the great outdoors.

Included are quotes from:

* Edward Abbey * Ansel Adams * Basho * Black Elk * Lord Byron * Rachel Carson * Willa Cather * Charles Darwin * Emily Dickinson * Robert Frost * Ernest Hemingway * Homer * John F. Kennedy * Barry Lopez * Norman Maclean * Margaret Mead * John Muir * Georgia O'Keefe * Theodore Roosevelt * William Shakespeare * Wallace Stegner * Henry David Thoreau * Oscar Wilde

"If I had to choose, I would rather have birds than airplanes." --Charles A. Lindbergh

"It is not down on a map, true places never are." --Herman Melville

"One swallow does not make a summer, but one skein of geese, cleaving the murk of a March thaw, is the spring." --Aldo Leopold

Editorial Reviews

Amazon.com Review

John A. Murray, author or editor of 30 other books on nature, edited this slim book of quotations for The Nature Conservancy, which will benefit from its sales. Murray provides brief essays introducing the 10 chapters that comprise it: "Beauty," "Seasons," "Solitude," "Community," etc. All the usual suspects are here: Aldo Leopold, Henry David Thoreau, Rachel Carson, Shakespeare, and nearly 200 others. Their most famous wisdoms are here too: "As soon as we take one thing by itself, we find it hitched to everything in the universe" (John Muir), "The land was ours before we were the land's" (Robert Frost). Other quotations are less familiar and, in some cases, perhaps should have remained so.

This book, when at its best, lives up to its billing and provides pithy quotations that quicken and inspire thought. Others are short on pith and tend to ramble on. The 35 quotations in the "Beauty" chapter, for example, are fairly evenly divided between the provocative and the prosaic. Perhaps this pot should have simmered longer on the stove. The stew might have been more hearty. --Pete Holloran

From the Back Cover

Anyone who loves nature - birders, hikers, fishermen, gardeners, backpackers, adventurers - will find hours of reading pleasure, endless inspiration to get out and hit the trails, and plenty of food for thought in The Quotable Nature Lover. Capturing the wit, wisdom, and passion that the great outdoors has aroused in a diverse group of people over the centuries, this inspiring collection has been assembled in the spirit of The Nature Conservancy's work: conservation and respect for the land. From antiquity to the present, you will find pithy sayings from Edward Abbey, Emily Dickinson, Robert Frost, John Muir, Ernest Hemingway, Oscar Wilde, Theodore Roosevelt, Homer, Charles Darwin, John F. Kennedy, Socrates, William Shakespeare, Georgia O'Keeffe, Norman Maclean, and many others.The Quotable Nature Lover features some of the best things ever said about place, solitude, exploration, nature's fury, beauty, seasons, mystery, and stewardship. In capturing the wealth of emotions created through our relationship with nature, this volume is sure to both inspire and enlighten. (5 7/8 X 6 7/8, 244 pages, b&w photos)

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Product Details

• Hardcover: 240 pages
• Publisher: The Lyons Press; 1st edition (October 1, 1999)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 1558219420
• ISBN-13: 978-1558219427
• Product Dimensions: 7 x 5.8 x 1.1 inches
• Shipping Weight: 12.8 ounces
• Average Customer Review: 5.0 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (1 customer review)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #1,579 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)
  • #1 in Books > Science & Math > Nature & Ecology > Essays
  • #12 in Books > Education & Reference > Quotations

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Most Helpful Customer Reviews

8 of 8 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars A Book for a Lifetime!, June 4, 2000

By A Customer

This review is from: The Quotable Nature Lover: A Nature Conservancy Book (Hardcover)

This book is truely excellent. It is divided into catagories from community to place to stewardship, with quotations from well, and less well, known naturalists and other people like Thoreau, Emerson, Jane Goodall, Aldo Leopold, John Muir, Wendell Berry, Wallace Stegner, David Brower, Margaret Mead, Rachel Carson, Willa Cather, Robert Frost, Emily Dickinson, John Muir, Theodore Roosevelt, Darwin, Skakespeare, and so many more. There is an index, so you can look someone's name up and find quotations made by them. There is also a section called "Selected Biographies," which has short biographies of some of the people who wrote the quotations in this book. It is truely a pleasure to read, inspirational, and provides plenty of food for thought. A great book for "anyone who loves nature - birders, hikers, fisherman, gardeners, backpackers, adventurers..."