Thoreau's Method: A Handbook for Nature Study [Paperback]

David Pepi (Author)

Product Details

• Paperback: 199 pages
• Publisher: Prentice Hall Trade (February 1985)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 0139198792
• ISBN-13: 978-0139198793
• Product Dimensions: 7.9 x 5.4 x 0.5 inches
• Shipping Weight: 12.8 ounces
• Average Customer Review: 3.0 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (1 customer review)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #3,534,566 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)

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5 of 7 people found the following review helpful:

3.0 out of 5 stars Dated, but still somewhat useful in its own way, June 24, 2005

By 

Corinne H. Smith (Athol, MA USA) - See all my reviews
(VINE VOICE)    (TOP 1000 REVIEWER)   

This review is from: Thoreau's Method: A Handbook for Nature Study (Paperback)

Wouldn't it be great to experience Nature the way Henry David Thoreau did? Well, you might come close by using the techniques and tips offered in this book. "Qualitative Natural History" is a four-part process that involves an event, meanings, feelings, and felt-significance. Thoreau's own method of inquiry followed those lines but was less formal. Since long walks and independent exploration were part of Thoreau's regimen, author David Pepi focuses on those activities. "Skills" chapters provide tips about the art of walking as well as choosing appropriate clothing, gear, books, and binoculars. "Excursions" chapters describe habitats and circumstances where you will encounter flora and fauna. Published in 1985, this book is outdated in many respects. The encouragement to submerge oneself in a bog is especially disturbing. Natural peat bogs are fragile and unique environments that are now often under state or federal protection, so walking on the spagnum moss mat or taking a brief dip in the muck is no longer a good idea and usually isn't possible. But the basic tenet of venturing afield and seeing what's out there is still valid -- perhaps even more so today, when many folks are disconnected from the environment. A marginal addition to either Thoreauvian or nature studies.