The Wild Out Your Window (Paperback)

by Sy Montgomery (Author)
Key Phrases: vernal pools, native bees, New England, New Hampshire, The Wild Out (more...)

Editorial Reviews

From Library Journal
Nothing is commonplace about nature-even in your own backyard. It is full of sex, violence, intrigue, and mystery. Montgomery, a regular guest on National Public Radio's Living on Earth and author of Search for the Golden Moon Bear (reviewed above), offers 49 essays that examine nature in New England, from carnivorous plants to birds that impale their prey to the wonders of migration. The pieces, most of which were first published in Montgomery's Boston Globe column, "Nature's Journal," are short and entertaining, aimed at catching the reader's eye. But this is not simply popular science. Montgomery cites fascinating studies and quotes scientists searching for answers to these natural mysteries. Although most of the essays discuss a particular animal or plant, some explore habitats, such as vernal ponds, or the microscopic life among sand grains. Others explain events such as bird irruptions, the effects of a sparse acorn year, and what happens to bugs during the winter. Everyone will learn something new from these delightful essays. Highly recommended for public libraries.
Maureen J. Delaney-Lehman, Lake Superior State Univ. Lib., Sault Ste. Marie, MI
Copyright 2002 Reed Business Information, Inc.

Product Description
What could be better than watching the natural world out your window or on your television? Going out and experiencing it firsthand. In these fifty essays, acclaimed nature and science writer Sy Montgomery takes her readers on a season-by-season tour of the wilderness that is often as close as the backyard. Sy invites -- almost dares -- readers to follow her and form hands-on relationships with the plants, animals, birds, and even the insects that share space with people. These essays, most of which originally appeared in Sy's Boston Globe column Nature Journal, are by turns enlightening, entertaining, sometimes amusing, and always absorbing and informative. Filled with natural history and lore, the essays urge readers to appreciate what they find around them.

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Product Details

• Paperback: 250 pages
• Publisher: Down East Books (July 25, 2002)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 0892725753
• ISBN-13: 978-0892725755
• Product Dimensions: 9.1 x 6.1 x 0.7 inches
• Shipping Weight: 13.8 ounces (View shipping rates and policies)
• Average Customer Review: 4.3 out of 5 stars See all reviews (3 customer reviews)
• Amazon.com Sales Rank: #84,985 in Books (See Bestsellers in Books)

  Popular in these categories: (What's this?)

  #63 in	Books > Science > Nature & Ecology > Natural Resources
  #82 in	Books > Outdoors & Nature > Natural Resources
  #91 in	Books > Outdoors & Nature > Nature Writing

Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

5 of 5 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Insightful, poignant, filled with reverence and wonder, October 8, 2002

By	Midwest Book Review (Oregon, WI USA) - See all my reviews

The Wild Out Your Window: Exploring Nature Near At Hand is a wonderful and highly recommended collection of fifty essays by naturalist and Sy Montgomery, most of which originally appeared in the Boston Globe column "Nature Journal," in which Sy invites the reader to share in a season-by-season exploration of the wonders of nature. Insightful, poignant, filled with reverence and wonder for the splendor of the world, The Wild Out Your Window is a "must read" for both armchair travelers and active nature enthusiasts.

2 of 2 people found the following review helpful:

4.0 out of 5 stars Another Sy Montgomery winner., February 5, 2005

By	William Oterson (About 50 miles, or so, east of Manhattan.) - See all my reviews (REAL NAME)

Right off let me say I'm a Sy Montgomery fan. Within this book the reader will find a seemingly endless amount of interesting information on an incredible array of topics such as moss, flowers, bird irruptions, where bugs go in winter, plants' healing poisons, canned wildlife and on and on. Of course not an in depth study but enough valid information, gleaned from reliable sources, to inform in a fashion I find exciting as well as educational. Certainly enough to entice further investigation. Frankly, I enjoy subjects presented in this fashion and if it wasn't for the not so great editing this book deserves 5 stars.

1 of 1 people found the following review helpful:

4.0 out of 5 stars The Wild out Your Window, January 13, 2008

By	J. Morris (North Alabama) - See all my reviews (REAL NAME)

This is an interesting and engaging way to enjoy nature. I've been reading the book to my 8yo daughter, then the next day we'll try to find correlates in our local environs (the book is from the Massachussets area, I live in Alabama). Very entertaining.