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metagnat
Dear Internets...
Oct 23, 2009 17:44
Who is your favorite science writer and why (
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sylvanstrom
October 24 2009, 18:54:49 UTC
William Cronon, hands down, for science writing and general historical nonfiction.
I can definitely recommend
Uncommon Ground: Rethinking the Human Place in Nature
and
Nature's Metropolis: Chicago and the Great West
.
I want to read everything else of his, especially the one I just found out about since you asked -
Changes to the Land: Indians, Colonists, and the Ecology of New England
- since I'm on a Thoreau kick at the moment.
He gets the right level of scientific and historical detail, he gets it accurate, he gives all kinds of context for it, and he makes it interesting.
Speaking of Thoreau and science writing, I found this the other day, which is worth reading if you're into the origins of ecological thinking, like me:
"Speaking a Word for Nature: Science and Poetry in the Rhetoric of Thoreau’s Transcendental Ecology"
And this isn't William Cronon, but Charles Mann's
1491: New Revelations of the Americas before Columbus
is fantastic historical anthropology nonfiction, and stuff that more people should be aware of.
Enough for now? :)
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Up
I can definitely recommend Uncommon Ground: Rethinking the Human Place in Nature and Nature's Metropolis: Chicago and the Great West.
I want to read everything else of his, especially the one I just found out about since you asked - Changes to the Land: Indians, Colonists, and the Ecology of New England - since I'm on a Thoreau kick at the moment.
He gets the right level of scientific and historical detail, he gets it accurate, he gives all kinds of context for it, and he makes it interesting.
Speaking of Thoreau and science writing, I found this the other day, which is worth reading if you're into the origins of ecological thinking, like me: "Speaking a Word for Nature: Science and Poetry in the Rhetoric of Thoreau’s Transcendental Ecology"
And this isn't William Cronon, but Charles Mann's 1491: New Revelations of the Americas before Columbus is fantastic historical anthropology nonfiction, and stuff that more people should be aware of.
Enough for now? :)
Reply
Leave a comment